#y’all are always welcome to interact and add your own thoughts to any ask

[farmerlesbian]

i have been enjoying the asks y’all have sent in lately! it usually takes me a couple days to a couple weeks to answer asks so i hope y’all anons who send em in do eventually see the answer when i post it. i really do hope you find it helpful!

[samwrights]

Baby Fever

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 600 times. I need Hanamaki Takahiro to put a baby in me. Y’all are going to be so tired of me after this one. Fluff and slight NSFW. @dreamyjaems not totally daddy related, but pretty darn close ;)

Hanamaki;

The first time he notices it is when you’re both out with another pair of couple friends.

They’d been married for six years, while the two of you were entering three years together, and they’d just had their first baby less than a year ago.

Despite never mentioning a future desire for them, Makki watched the way you interacted with that little girl and he knew straight away.

Haha, I’m in danger.

The way your eyes soften when you hold her or the way you’ve created a new, soft persona that only spoke in high pitched gibberish

The way you were constantly buying the baby’s clothes for no reason. At all.

It becomes more apparent when the two of you are out shopping and you somehow end up in the kids clothing section.

Baby vans is where Makki draws the line. Do y’all know expensive baby vans are? I’d draw the line too.

“Sweetie...sweetheart...love of my life...” Makki has a grin on his face, his eyes aren’t open, and he’s holding your guys’ statement for your joint bank account. “Mind telling me why the fuck you spent $138 at the vans store when you didn’t buy any new vans?”

“How do you know that I didn’t?”

“Because you would have shown me them.” His grin drops into an entirely unamused look. “What did you do?”

Sighing in defeat, you walked over to a nearby shoe closet, pulling out three boxes of baby vans in varying colors and sizes. “They were just so cute 🥺”

Makki takes a seat beside you on the couch, hunching over his knees while covering his face with one hand. “I wish you’d just talk to me about this first before you went splurging on a kid we don’t even have yet.”

Yet?? Y E T??

“I was under the impression you didn’t want any.” And that wasn’t necessarily wrong, per se. The two of you were still young, trying to work through college debt, and weren’t as stable as you could be. But Makki was in this for the long haul, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t want you to be the mother of his future children.

“I mean I’m not opposed to the idea of trying.”

“...wanna start trying right now?”

“You son of a bitch, I’m in.”

Iwaizumi;

Iwaizumi was going to tear his hair out if he heard you coo at a baby one more time.

At first, it was fine. Yeah, the baby you spotted while the two of you were in line at Starbucks was cute. Even cuter when the baby waved to you, he wasn’t denying that.

But nearly every chance you got when the two of you were out in public, you’d smack him on the arm when you’d see a baby.

Legit, it was like you had a fucking radar on you.

“Haji, Haji, look! Look at how cute the wittle baby is!”

It was endearing, really, because he’d see the pout form on your lips as you tried to catch the infants attention. But again, that damned radar you had was driving him wild because it seemed to happen everywhere you went.

If there were toddler siblings or, heaven forbid, twins, you absolutely lost your shit. You fawning over one was bad enough but two? Or more? Good god.

Iwaizumi has banished all walks to the park. Walking your dog together? He made a new route away from the nearest children gathering place.

He couldn’t even bring you to McDonald’s anymore because you’d just stare at the fucking play place.

“D-do you really just not want kids, Hajime?” You’d asked him one time after seeing how red he turned with near anger? Maybe anger wasn’t the right word.

“That’s not it...”

???

He groans out of embarrassment cause he really doesn’t wanna admit this out loud. “Every time you talk about kids, I literally just wanna go home and fuck a baby into you.”

“Okay, so what the fuck are we waiting for?”

“College graduation???” Damn him and his logical rationalizations.

“We’re almost done with school—if we start now we’ll have already graduated before the baby’s even born.”

“You’re gonna be the death of me.”

Oikawa;

Oikawa actually entertains your baby fever—which is no help at all.

I see him totally being the dude that indulges watching 16&Pregnant, Teen Mom, etc. with you.

Half the time, you guys make bets over which couple’s going to break up, who loses custody of their child, so on and so forth.

But one thing remains consistent with the two of you—who the cutest babies are.

A constant topic of conversation between the two of you during these times is how idiotic some of the parents were. Have y’all ever seen Unexpected? Diego was the worst, and both of you had a unanimous opinion on that.

Unfortunately for you, these shows really start piquing your curiosity as to how yours and Oikawa’s little one would actually be.

And how the two of you would be as parents. It does upset you a little bit, considering he’s heavily focused on his pro career.

Oikawa notices the lack of desire to watch any of the aforementioned shows, despite that being a typical Friday night thing for the two of you. Friday night (baby) Fever.

“Alright, what’s wrong, love?”

“Nothing? I just feel like we should do something else.”

“Uh, no. I know you’re dying to see what the hell Max was doing while Chloe was giving birth.” 💀💀💀 he’s not wrong.

You gnaw on your lip while you make dinner—as per usual for your Friday nights. You always made something that required a bit more love while Tooru kept you up to date with his career.

“Do you think we would be better parents?”

“Duh,” he responds without skipping a beat. “both of us know how to make a bottle and change diapers.” He adds, referencing to the multitude of times you’d babysat friends’ kids or his newly born niece.

“Tooru, I’m serious.” A dry yet light laugh leaves his lips before he’s standing behind you, wrapping his arms just under your breasts and resting his chin on your head.

“I am too. I’ve just been waiting for you to give me permission.”

Oya? Wait, shit wrong person sorry

Needless to say, y’all don’t need to watch anymore pregnancy shows after this—too occupied with your own journey into parenthood.

Matsukawa;

Oh Mattsun, my clueless bunny.

He probably wouldn’t even notice, tbh, that you literally are in near tears when you see a cute baby.

Cause I imagine his s/o would be one that cries over all the cute things. Puppies? Cry. Kittens? Cry. Otter pups? Double cry.

But he seems to be missing the key theme here—b a b i e s, Issei.

He kinda dense.

You’ve always been good with kids without really trying, he learned, when you started watching your best friend’s five year old son once a week.

The little bean was your best friend, besides his mom and Issei of course. Every Thursday, you got up early so you could welcome the boy, make him breakfast, and hang out with him all day.

At first, it did funny things to Mattsun to see the way you’d glow while making slime or watching your favorite kid’s movies with him.

He learned quickly you could quote the entirety of Hercules and Mulan, and often acted out the singing parts with great theatrics.

When your best friend would come for her son, you’d get a little sad, enough for Mattsun to notice. He’s not that dense.

But dense enough not to notice the way you longingly stare at mothers holding the hands of their toddlers or carrying their babies while the two of you are out grocery shopping.

You’ve never wanted anything more than to have a kid with Issei. Even if he is kinda 💀💀

He’s so good to you, and it kinda hurts your heart the way he brushes off hanging out with you and the kiddo. Like he doesn’t want children period.

So, like any other healthy relationship, you actually decide to sit down and have a talk with him about this. Low key, it kinda scared him cause he thought you were about to dump him. “Do you see yourself having kids in the future?”

“Babe, I physically cannot.”

“I fucking hate you, Issei. I’m being serious.” Despite your words, you try not to laugh. You failed.

“What brought this on?”

“You just never seem to want to hang out with me and the rugrat when he’s over.”

“Not gonna lie, it’s just really hot watching you play mom.”

“You know, I don’t have to play mom.”

“Bedroom. Now.”

[x-lulu]

hii y’all, so I wanted to say thank you to some people and wish them a lovely new year. we of course have to deal with time zones and different religions that have influence on when the new year starts, so i’m just gonna post it now.

I love you all, to some I talk every day, to some just a few asks so now and then and others presence I just enjoy on my dash, nonetheless I love all of you and I’m grateful you put up with my shit haha x

I also wanted to say a quick thank you to all the lovely anons, your asks make my day and I’m honoured that you take time to send me some :) so thank you and I hope y’all have a lovely 2021!! ofcourse I wish everyone a happy new year as well, all my followers, everyone on this site, no matter who you are have a wonderful 2021 and may you get all the love and happiness you deserve x

@rafej-cambanks​

dani, my older and wiser sister! I love you, I haven’t been texting you as much as i used to sorry, i think we’re both quite busy. anyway this doesnt make me love you any less, i love you lots bby! you were one of the first people that welcomed me, supported me and cared about me, most important of all, you were the first that gave me the feeling i wasn’t completely worthless and that you did that means so much! you are such a talented person and your writing is incredible!! but the most amazing thing about you is how lovely of a person you are. you care so much and you’re there for everyone, you defend your friends and anyone who needs defending. you always know how to cheer me up with pics of your lovely princess, chels is just absolutely gorgeous!!! I think you’re a wonderful friend, someone who you can laugh and cry with, thank you, im grateful i’ve met you this year and i hope that there are a lot of conversations to come. have a lovely new year babe

@deionswannabegirl​ 

bubba, bella, how gorgeous are you ma’am????? i dont think it’s fair for the rest of us!!! i dont know where to start, you honestly mean so much to me. which may suprise you because we havent talked that many times, but i loved every single conversation we’ve had. you really helped me become the person i am, you helped me feel comfortable with my sexuality and gave me the confidence to come out to my parents, ill forever be grateful. but apart from how much you helped me, i think you are such a lovely woman, who sadly had too many things thrown at her by life. Im so sorry you’re having these hard times and i wish i could take those away from you. you are one of the most beautiful persons i’ve ever met, inside and outside!! you’re funny, you’re caring, you’re intelligent, you’re talented, you’re loving, you’re amazing bella and im honoured to have my cuddle bear be named after you hahah. I love you bub and i know it can be hard to talk to people or ask for help or just a distraction, because sometimes we dont need help or dont know what to talk about, i just want to let you know that i will always be here and i promise you can talk about anything with me, you are so strong love and i believe you will get through this and that you are gonna make beautiful memories, i love you! may 2021 be a year to make wonderful memories and may you get the love you deserve and you deserve lots of it <3

@aquariusholland​

kyr! hi! i love you and every time i see you on my dash i get a smile on my face. you really have your own sense of humour and randomness, both which i adore. your jokes make me laugh in public and people are like wtf she laughing about haha. i relate to a lot of things you post haha and while we might not talk that much, i feel close to you. you kind of feel like a sister to me haha. you’re also a queen and come up for yourself and your believes, but also in a respectful way and i just admire that about you. I hope you have a wonderful new year and that it exists of a lot more of your random asks ;)

ps. can i call you kyr bear? idk i was thinking about you and my mind went to kyr bear hahah

@https-luna

lunaaaa bby! we both thought the other didn’t like them haha, but gosh i love you 👉👈 we haven’t been talking for that long yet i think two weeks maybe? idk but you’re already really important to me! i wish i could do more for you than just listen and maybe give some advice, but sadly i cant hold you in my arms and protect you from the world. i will however always do my best and ill be here for you no matter what. you deserve the world my love and things will get better and im here along the way and so are lots of other people, you really are loved bubba!!! i also started watching hannah montanna since you mentioned you loved that show ;) and finally someone with the same love for the little mermaid hahah. I hope that in 2021 we can get even closer, but i think we’re going down the right path <3 i love you and wish you a wonderful new year with lots of love, healing and health, because you deserve it so much! you’re also so strong and i fully believe that you will get there x

@sortagaysortahigh

hey love, we don’t really talk but i wanted to add you to the list. i really admire you!! you stand up for what you believe in, you educate so many people and do what’s right in this world!! you love your friends and i believe you’d anything for them!! you’re also hella funny and seeing you in my dash can make my day. i just wanted to tell you that you’re a wonderful human being and you make the world a lot better!! i hope you keep being the amazing person you are and i wish you all the love and happiness in the world!! also you’re a badass haha, happy new year angel 🖤

@annab-nana

anna bby, you’re the sweetest person i’ve ever met!! i love interacting with you so much, you always bring a smile to my face and i believe you do that to a lot of people. you’re an incredible presence on tumblr and in the world, i believe you make everyone’s life a bit brighter and i hope i can do the same for you. on top of that you’re also hella talented, idk what god thought when he made you ;) I love that we have gotten closer in the past few weeks, i cant believe that i hadn’t made the connection between you and your sideblog hahah, but now i know you and im grateful for it!!! you’re a loving, caring and supporting lil bean and i love you! i feel like i can come with anything to you and you’ll be there for me and that is an amazing feeling, so here just a reminder that you can also come with anything to me <3 i hope 2021 is gonna be a good year for you, you deserve it!! 

ps - you’re absolutely gorgeous

@mxltifandoms06

hi sweetheart!! when i think of christmas i think of you ;) (i wrote this when it was almost christmas not new year haha) you’re such a cozy and sweet human being!! you’re supportive, caring and loving!! you always make my days better and i’m so grateful to have met you!! also your dog is just the most adorable ever!! im so glad you decided to come in my ask box and start interacting, i love you babe, i hope all the love you give you’ll receive in 2021, you’re deserving of a lot of love <3

@killingbxys

my queen! hi! we don’t talk as much as I would want to, but gosh i just have a comfortabel vibe with you, i feel like i can come with anything to you and every time i see you on my dash, asks, dm anything it brings a smile on my face. i’ve said it before, but you’re that one friend who you can both laugh and cry with. i feel like you’re this amazing presence here on tumblr and everyone is grateful to have you x i love you babe and i hope we will get closer in the new year :) if you’re up for that as well ofcourse hahah, im not going to force you to be friends with me (well... maybe i am... but we’re not gonna talk about that...). I wish you the best and i hope 2021 will treat you wonderful x

@jellyfishbeansontoast

izzy hi!! babe i love you and all your randomness, every time i see you in my dash i get a smile on my face!! also your work is incredible!!! and i love seeing you simping haha!! your whole blog is basically a mood and i love it 🥰 thank you for being your lovely self!! i hope you’ll get the love and happiness you deserve and i also hope to get closer in 2021 hehe ;) you’re just this amazing person and im honoured to be moots! have a lovely new year x

@demxters

elle my love, if we’re gonna talk about lovey and talented people ofcourse we have to add you to the list. you’re one of my favourite writers of all time, your titles, your aesthetic, your concepts, your way with words, it’s all so perfect!!! you always amaze me and then we started talking and omg you’re such a sweet person and every time i get an ask or a message from you it puts a smile on my face. i’m grateful i met you this year and i wish you all the best, i believe in you, you’re so strong!! i know you go through some difficult stuff, but i will always be there for you, remember you are worthy and so loved!!! i love you, have a wonderful 2021.

@pink-meringues

pink gosh im gonna miss you so bad, but i’m also really proud of you for doing what’s best for you and i really hope it will have positive effect on your well being and your happiness!! you’re such a loving and welcoming person!! thank you for being who you are and making so many peoples lives better, we all care about you babe!! have a lovely 2021 <3

@sunsetholland

hey love, if i’m gonna be honest here, you were the person who gave me the confidence to start being myself on this site, you probably don’t remember but once you send me an ask and wished me a lovely week, which brought a smile to my face!! that was the moment that i decided to be myself, thank you for that!! apart from that you are so freaking talented, i say it all the time but your work is like reading poetry, how you come up with your sentences i have no clue, but it’s wonderful and i’m amazed every time!! you’re also a lovely human being and your posts on my dash always make me smile!! i hope you have a lovely 2021 babe, i love you <3

@skiesofthesketchy

sky my love, you’re such a loving and supporting human being. you really bring peace on my dash and give me a calm feeling!! I honestly still can’t believe that my tumblr crush knew who I was and wanted to talk to me haha. I’m obsessed with your work and there are so many people who admire you, which you totally deserve!!! It’s almost unbelievable how talented you are haha and your music taste is also on point!! and how cool is it that you can play the guitar and have a job to do with music, I love it and you’re so talented and well deserving of every good thing that comes on your path. have a lovely new year x

@cognacdelights

hi bub, you’re one of my role models 🙈 you’re a classy badass who I admire so much, you’re one of the most talented persons I’ve ever met! you’re also so lovely and sweet!!! and you’re a really fascinating and interesting woman as well!! I wish you all the best my love, remember to take some time for yourself and try to ignore those toxic people, you’re more than enough and deserve to feel happy and loved

@mind-with-a-melody

tess, i know you haven’t had the best time lately and i wish 2021 could be a whole new start for you, sadly mental health doesn’t work that way. however i really hope it will be better for you and you’ll learn to have hope and maybe love yourself, because you are so worth it. you are beautiful on the inside and on the outside. you send love to people and make others peoples days better and that is the most wonderful trait someone can have, i believe in you, you are strong and even tho it may not feel like that but it will get better and i’m always here!! you’ll get help along the way, from me but also from so many other people who love you!! i hope 2021 will treat you better, you deserve all the love and the happiness ma’am, happy new year!!

@all-alone-he-turns-to-stone

hi audrey, we haven’t talked that much yet, but you’re the first blog i followed on here. you’re so talented and seeing you on my dash always brings a smile to my face. so i decided to send you an ask and then i found out that you’re a lovely human as well!! i wish you the best for 2021, you deserve all the happiness and love in the world!!

@nxsmss​ 

well lara, where do I start, last but definitely not least. I just had to put you last because I knew your message would be one of the longest haha. it feels so weird for someone to accept me completely as who i am, but you do exactly that! okay now im starting to cry again, but you mean so much to me. you’re the best that happened to me in a long long time and you’re honestly the person who helps me the most, gives me the best feelings, it’s incredible how much talking to you can cheer me up and when i think about you i start to smile (and sometimes cry hahah, jeez i come over like a cry bby, i promise im not hahaha). you’re one of the most loving and caring persons i’ve ever met. you were so welcoming since the first time we met and i feel like we kinda immediatelly hit it off. we didnt have that ‘how are you and where do you live’ kind of conversations, while there is nothing wrong with small talk, i feel like we pretty much immediatly started being our weird selves around each other and i love it. we have like three dates every week haha and those are honestly what gets me through the week. and we basically interact almost every hour, no matter if it’s trough text, snap, tumblr or tiktok hahah. ive never felt more myself, more loved or more capable than with you. on top of that you are hella talented, wise, intelligent, gorgeous, pretty much perfect ;) i absolutely love everything about you, from the clumsy stuff you do to the sweet good morning and good night messages, from the random snaps to the deep conversations, from the weird asks to just basically acting like we’re a couple hehe. i just love everything and i cant imagine my life without you, im never letting you go babe. 

@dmonchld @jiaraendgame @vintageobx @rafeyybabyy @camillemonty, @amorejjaygron​ 

we may not interact that much but every time I see you on my dash or asks or something it brings a smile to my face!! 

also @dmonchld you are my icon 🙈 and i admire you so much, im just a scared lil bean which stops me from interacting with you hahah, but you’re so strong and brave. i think you are a wonderful friend and just an incredible person in general

@jiaraendgame your music taste is just on point!! and im so grateful for you, when ive posted about tough subjects you comment and even when we didnt know each other you supported me and comforted me, thank you, i think you are this amazing person and i love every interaction with you

@vintageobx and @rafeyybabyy you guys were some of the first people I started talking to and you’ve always been supportive thank you for that!! you’re both really kind and i hope 2021 will treat you with nothing but love 

@camillemonty and @amorejjaygron you both make me feel welcome on this site and I’m really grateful for that!

i wish you all a wonderful new year and may it be filled with love, laughter and making wonderful memories 

i love you 

btw i started writing this like a month ago, because i never work on the stuff that i need to work on and knew i wouldn’t be able to finish it if i didn’t start already haha, so yeah, with some people the relationships might have changed a bit, like we’ve already become closer, but i think it’s all pretty up to date, but if it isn’t then you know that that’s why <3 and there are probably a lot of errors because it’s barely proofread and i’m a horrible at typing so that’s that 🙈

[aspenflower17]

Finding You (Part Fourteen of ??)

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all having a good New Year so far! I have a bit of an update after the chapter for y’all.

Edit: Oop! I forgot the link to Part One for any new people! My bad!

Tags (ily all!):  @simpingforsatan @naimena @hachimochi @wrathandgreed @magi-minminxiii @rensphilia @a-dream-at-night @chloelikesobeyme @getbehindme-satan @theuglypugling @oofthelazyweeb @mammonismyfirstman (as always, if you’d like to be put on the tags list, juust let me know in a comment down below, or a DM)

Word Count: 1,961

TW: None? I’m pretty sure?

Mc didn’t know what she was expecting from the song Satan’s brothers pressured him to play, but a gorgeous melancholic love song was not it, though she should have guessed it was a love song from the title. She was entranced from the first couple notes, and the lyrics pulled her in further. They spoke of someone experiencing love for the first time, though they were afraid of their Love fading away and leaving them. She smiled at the cat lyrics, finding herself not surprised Satan would write about them. He seemed like a cat lover, though she had no real basis for the belief.

 Satan’s singing voice was just as nice as his speaking voice and she found herself impressed. It also held a lot of emotion, enough that she was surprised it didn’t affect his singing. Though she had never heard the song before, it seemed extremely familiar. Though, it was a fairly universal concept, so it probably just seemed she’d heard it before. She hadn’t realized she was crying until Mammon offered her a handkerchief. When he finished, everyone clapped, and he started on another song.

“I never thought I’d hear tha’ song again,” Mammon spoke to Mc in a low voice.

“Why?” she asked.

“Oh… Uhhh… Well, it’s about a lost love of his. Once she… disappeared… He played it one more time and then said he’d never play it again.” 

Mc felt her throat constrict a bit at the revelation, “He must be doing better then. When he got his next… lover, he probably started feeling better.”

“He… Uhhh... '' Mammon floundered for words, and Mc found herself eagerly awaiting his next words, “I don’ think he’s dated anyone before or since her. If nothin’ else, she is his firs’ and only love.”

“Did she hurt him?”

“Huh?”

“I just ask because I’ve seen a lot of people, well, humans, who had relationships go sour and closed themselves off emotionally. I was just wondering if that’s what happened to him.”

“Not… Not exactly… She was human and she… died…” Mammon seemed really anxious at this point, and Mc decided not to push the subject further.

A human? Really? Well, that adds another layer to the song. It’s the most permanent level of “leave” there is. He knew going into the relationship it would end. But… If she had been corrupted enough by him, wouldn’t she have gone to the Devildom? Then they could’ve been together… Does that mean she went to the Celestial Realm? Do I know her? Or… Did she get stuck as a wanderer? Either way, why would he play it now? Mammon said he’d sworn off playing it ever again… The questions swirled around in her head as she watched Satan play.

“Ooooo! Ooooo! My turn!”

“Asmo, you can’t play piano,” Satan sighed, already getting up.

“But I can play music off of my DDD now can’t I?” Asmodeus said, waltzing up to what had become a stage.

As Asmo scrolled through what Mc could only assume was his list of songs, Satan came and stood next to her. Mammon even moved over so he could. Mc gave him a small smile and then turned her attention back to Asmodeus, who was gushing about the song he’d found to sing. She was still thinking about all the unanswered questions she had when she felt a breath next to her ear “What did you think?”

Mc almost jumped, but instead found herself glued to her chair, “Of the song? Or your singing?”

“Hmmm… Both.”

“You play and sing wonderfully. The song was beautiful. I could really feel your emotions.”

“Thank you,” Mc felt Satan retreat back to a standing position, and she found she missed his presence.

A huff from the other side of the room caught her attention. Looking over, she caught the tailend of Michael watching Satan with narrowed eyes before turning back to Asmodeus. How strange.

When Asmodeus finished, Lucifer was both begged and forced to play by those in the room. While Mc had to admit he was definitely in a league all his own, she found herself preferring Satan’s playing to Lucifer’s. She cocked her head slightly at the realization.

“Excellent Lucifer! Just exquisite!” Diavolo boomed, giving the Avatar of Pride a standing ovation, “I can’t remember the last time I heard you play!”

“Well, it has been awhile,” Lucifer smiled. His pride seemed to have recovered enough he could properly interact with people again. Mc was happy she was able to avert a crisis, not interested in finding out how a brawl between Michael and Lucifer would go. Though… Would either of them actually get into a physical altercation?...

Mc was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t realize the brothers were leaving until they were all asking if she would come to the House of Lamentation at some point.

“... And I would love to paint your nails,” Asmo prattled on, grabbing her hands, “And I know the Devildom’s lack of light can make your skin lose some of its radiance, but I have a moisturizer that can help with that. Oh and-”

“Asmo, come on! Ya want Mc to come visit or not?” Mammon interrupted,

“Mammon, you don’t understand the nuances of keeping yourself looking perfect.”

“Uh, yes. I do. I’m a model. Ya been smellin’ too many of ya fancy products and it’s melted ya brain?”

“I think you’re thinking of yourself, though it was probably when you were trying to con those witches into buying acid, and you drank some.”

“Oi! How do ya know about that?”

“Ugh, there they go again,” a head rested itself on Mc’s shoulder, and she almost jumped until she saw who it was, “Seriously though Mc. You should come over.”

“Yeah. You’re even welcome to bring Luke,” the one brother who she hadn’t talked to added, “Barbatos told me he’s gotten even better at baking.”

“Of course I’ve gotten better at baking! I’m also very good at cooking too,” Luke said, having joined the conversation.

Mc watched at Beelzebub, which is who she figured he must be through the process of elimination, actually started drooling, “Does that mean you’re actually going to come over then?”

Luke smiled fondly, a look Mc wasn’t sure she’d have ever thought he could have for a demon, “If you’d like Beel, I could probably make that happen.”

Beel rushed over to Luke and pulled him into a huge hug. Belphegor removed himself from Mc, walking over to Beelzebub, “Beel, you need to let go of the chihuahua or he’s going to suffocate. Luke can’t make you food if he’s been squished.”

“I’m sorry. I hope these idiots haven’t been bothering you too much.”

“Not at all Lucifer. They were just inviting me over sometime.”

“Well, I suppose it’s time for us to head out,” Lucifer said, starting to gather his brothers.

“You are welcome anytime you want to come over,” Satan’s voice came from behind her.

“I… Thanks. I would really like that.”

“Satan! We’re leaving.”

“I’m coming Lucifer,” Satan called, rolling his eyes, then back to Mc with a smile, “Bye.”

“Bye,” Mc called after him.

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

Mc sat in her room hours later, the events of the evening still running through her head. Though she knew Michael wouldn’t approve, she found herself much more at ease and even happier around them than she did around most angels. There was a non-judgmental kindness they all exuded (well, all except Lucifer) that made her feel like she belonged. She found herself excited about the prospect of spending more time with them at the House of Lamentation. She had to laugh a bit, the fact she didn’t fit in with the rest of the angels never more clear than it was now. 

Simeon had told her his time in the Devildom had been extremely enjoyable, the less structured lifestyles if the Devildom a welcome change from the Celestial Realm. She had read his work from that time and it was obvious he had felt a lot more creative in the Devildom, even though he had school responsibilities at the time. While she hadn’t doubted his words, she had always figured the change was mostly due to the fact he had been able to communicate with his lost brothers again. Now she understood what he had been talking about. 

Simeon generally gets along with the other angels too. What would they all say if they found out I prefer the company of the Fallen to them? Everything is just more natural with them. It’s almost like I already know who they are, as strange as that sounds. Especially Satan, though I’ve felt connected to him since I got his letter. Speaking of which, who was it that he mentioned? Lil… Lilly? Lillah? Lillian? Hmmm… I can’t remember. I do know I’ve never heard that name before. Whoever it was seemed to have a great impact on all of the brothers. It can’t be someone they Fell with. I’ve read all the literature about the Fall and I don’t recognize the name. Though there’s a lot about the Fall the Celestial Realm doesn’t talk about. But... Simeon’s also never mentioned anyone with that name before… Maybe it’s time for me to do some more research.

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

Mc stretched, and checked the time on her DDD. She had been in Diavolo’s personal library for over three hours, and she still hadn’t found any mention of the mysterious “L” person. She found plenty of references to Lucifer though. It seemed he and his brothers had been instrumental in helping Diavolo establish order when the old King had started his slumber. What caused this slumber, why it happened, or if it would end was not covered. Mc wanted to research the topic further, but she couldn’t get distracted until she had answered her initial question.

There was a knock at the door, and Barbatos came in carrying a teacup on a saucer, “I thought you might be in here.”

“Oh, hello Barbatos.”

The butler entered the room, and set the tea down on the table Mc was studying at, “I thought you might like some tea.”

“I would actually, thank you. If you would like to, you can take a seat.”

“I suppose that’d be alright,” Barbatos smiled, and sat down in a chair. His eyes glided across the books strewn around Mc, “You’ve got some heavy reading here.”

“Well, I’m trying to figure something out,” Mc sighed, sipping her tea.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

“Maybe, though I don’t remember what it is I’m looking for exactly,” Barbatos simply cocked his head slightly until she continued, “Satan was telling about… Well, a personal experience, and he mentioned someone. I don’t remember their name, but it was someone very close to all the brothers and they had passed away. I was just trying to figure out who it was.”

“You seem very interested in this person,” Barbatos’ tone wasn’t accusatory, but he seemed to expect and answer.

“... I guess I’m just trying to understand them better. Him better,” The last part slipped from Mc’s mouth easily, surprising even her.

“I think I may know who you’re talking about. If I’m correct, you won’t find any references to her in these books. It’s not my place to explain the situation to you however. You should probably go speak with the brothers about her…” the butler paused for a second before continuing, “I believe Michael also knows a lot about the situation, though he doesn’t know the full story,” with that, he got up and pushed his chair in, “I must continue with my duties, but I appreciate the short reprieve. Good night.”

“Night,” Mc called after him. Huh. Michael knows?

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

Part Fifteen

 I wanted to let you all know that as it is January, ever since 2014 the first moth of the year has been terrible for me. So far, we are 3 days into 2021, and I have already gotten a near constant tooth ache meaning I’m going to have to go to the dentist, and have gotten sick. I don’t know what else this month has in store for me, but I just wanted to warn you all, if my updates get sporadic or short, that’s why 😬 

[honeypiehotchner]

Alone Together part three -- Bucky Barnes x Reader (College AU)

It’s been too long! This is all fluff. Pure, tooth-rotting, fluff. You’re welcome. Oh and obviously this is an AU so there’s no fighting in here like in the gif, but I added it because...his face. He’s so hot. That’s how he looks here, if y’all wanted another visual.

Oh, and one more thing! You’ve caught me. I’m too attached to this story to end it here. There will be a few more parts :)))

Summary: While Bucky battles with his feelings, you take a phone call from home that reminds you of reality. And after a few days of hiding, Bucky finally runs into you again.

Another day passes, and Bucky is nowhere to be found.

You feel a little bit like you’ve been thrown back a few centuries. You don’t have his phone number and all you do have is where he lives, but knocking on his door doesn’t seem appealing to you. Because the last thing you want to come across as is desperate. 

So, you settle for taking your daily walk alone. At least you can use the time to call your sister.

She answers on the second ring. “Y/N!”

Your smile is out of relief when you hear your sister’s voice, as bubbly and alive as ever, not a trace of tiredness anywhere. “Hey pumpkin. How are you doing?”

“I’m great,” she gushes. “I finished that show you told me about on Netflix. We’ll have to watch it all over together when you get back!”

“Okay,” you chuckle. “We can do that. We’ll have a marathon like we used to.”

“Please!” Your sister exclaims. “When can you come home?”

You sigh, kicking at a pinecone on the ground. “I don’t know.”

“Isn’t it just two weeks? So you could come home next week?”

“Well…” You trail away. You haven’t exactly told your mom or your sister that you ran into some company while staying on campus. They both also assumed you’d be here alone and the plan was, in fact, that you’d spend two or three weeks here in isolation, and then move back home. Because after three weeks of quarantining yourself, you should be okay to go back.

That was the plan. Before you ran into Bucky.

You hate yourself for even leaning toward staying here to be with Bucky, but he can’t go home at all. There are no flights for him and if you leave, then he’s here all by himself, except for Clint. You spent a few days believing you were alone, but even after those few days, you felt yourself slipping.

You don’t know Bucky that well, obviously, but based on what you do know, he seems like someone who would need some sort of physical social interaction before he goes insane. Despite the circumstances, you’ve at least been able to give that to him, all because you both happened to stay here.

But if you leave…

“Y/N?”

“Sorry, pumpkin, I’m here,” you shake your head, trying to regain your focus. “I’ll talk to mom about it, okay? And then I’ll see. I’ll definitely be coming home for summer break, though.”

“But that’s...months away!”

“I know, I know,” you pinch the bridge of your nose. Sometimes you forget that even though she acts extremely mature for her age, she’s still your little sister. She’s still the same girl who cried her eyes out when you moved away to college and who you had to Facetime with every night to keep her sane. She’s relied on you her whole life, as little siblings do, and the two of you are inseparably close. “I don’t want to bring anything home to you,” you add quietly, hoping that will make her understand.

And it does. After a moment, you hear her reply, “I know.”

You look around at the trees, thinking of something that could possibly cheer her up. “Hey, I found this other new show that you should watch.”

“What is it?”

“Well...I was thinking we could watch it together. Netflix party later tonight?”

She gasps, clearly excited, and all traces of sadness have gone. “Please?”

“Of course, pumpkin,” you smile. “I’ll call you around eight?”

“Okay!”

You laugh, glad to see her spirits lifted once again. “I’m gonna go so I can make some lunch. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Love you!” You can still hear her smile.

“I love you too,” you murmur, waiting for her to end the call. It’s a weird unspoken rule that she ends the call first. She always has.

You enter your dorm room once more, shoving your phone in your back pocket. You glance around the common room and see that it’s empty. Normally, this would be a rare sight. Now, though, it’s normal.

It still causes an unsettling feeling to rest in your stomach, though. You were hoping Bucky would’ve been sitting down here.

Your mind wanders as you climb the stairs, wondering if you did something wrong. All you did was tell him to keep his charming ways far, far away from you -- which you meant...at the time. And he has. But you didn’t think that would mean he would hide from you entirely. That was not what you meant at all.

+++

“When I said be yourself, I didn’t mean avoid her like the bubonic plague,” Steve laughs loudly. “If only I was there to see this. Playboy Bucky Barnes has no idea how to act.”

“Remind me why I call you about this stuff?” Bucky grumbles, stuffing his dirty clothes into his hamper, shutting the closet door loudly.

“Because I’m your best friend, and I don’t give you any crap.”

“It sounds like you’re giving me a lot of crap right now.”

“Because you’ve been hiding in your room like a petrified toddler!”

“No, I haven’t,” Bucky replies fiercely. “I’m giving her space.”

“Did she say she wanted space?”

“...not exactly.”

“Then what the hell are you doing, man?”

“I don’t know!” Bucky nearly yells, wishing Steve was on Facetime so he could glare at him. “I have no idea what I’m doing. I told you I’m not cut out for this.”

“For making friends? You’re being ridiculous.”

“This is...This is different.”

“You know you have to get to know someone, like you have to be their friend first before you date them. You know that, right?”

“Yes, but she already told me to not flirt with her.”

“Bucky. She doesn’t know you.”

“She knows plenty about me.”

“Listen, she might know of you because word gets around, and I’m sure she’s heard about you, but she doesn’t know you. Personally. Yourself. If you want to get through to this girl, you’re going to have to show her that. Or quit acting like a child and be strictly her friend if you don’t want to get involved. You’re the only two there. You might as well, at the very least, be friends.”

Bucky knows Steve is right. But it’s so different, trying to just be friends with you. He can’t describe it, because Steve is also right that you don’t know him. And Bucky doesn’t really know you, not really. Obviously jumping right to a relationship right now wouldn’t work. But Bucky can’t figure out how to navigate the stages before one. The friendship. His hands clam up, his guard goes up, he falls right back into his stupid flirty attitude.

He’s going to have to figure it out, though. He’ll never let himself live it down (Steve won’t either, to be fair) if he leaves here not even as your friend.

+++

As promised, you call your sister back around eight. You set up the Netflix party and venture down to the common room for a change of scenery. And if Bucky is going to keep hiding -- or whatever it is he’s doing -- then you’re at least going to go on as things used to be.

With a blanket around your shoulders and a freshly popped back of popcorn sitting next to you, you start the show, smiling wide as your sister watches intently. This seems to be doing the trick in lifting her spirits and letting her forget about when you’ll come home. You set a reminder in your phone to call your mom tomorrow about it. 

You’re dreading it because you know you’ll have to tell her about Bucky or else she’ll ask why your three weeks have started over. But you know she’ll tease you about him because of the simple fact that he is an attractive boy that you’re more or less living with for the time being. It isn’t the same as sharing an apartment because the two of you are in a dormitory, but it might as well be the same with how frequently you two see each other.

Or...saw, you correct yourself. Because you haven’t exactly seen him in a few days.

You focus back on the show, not wanting to risk your sister noticing your momentary train of thought. She’s insanely perceptive, way too good for her age, and it has gotten you in a few tricky situations.

Halfway through the first episode, you think you hear footsteps on the stairwell. But it is around the time that Clint does his rounds, so you think nothing of it.

A few seconds later, Bucky comes skidding to a stop in the doorway of the common room.

It takes you a few moments to notice he’s there, and in those few moments Bucky watches your facial expressions as your laptop screen lights up your eyes. He’s not sure what you’re watching, but with the way it’s making you smile, he’d give his arm to know what it is. Just so he could figure out how to make you smile like that.

When you do look up, you freeze, not expecting Bucky to be there, and moreover, not expecting to catch him already looking at you. 

Your sister notices you’re looking away and leans closer to the screen. “What is it?”

You lightly tap the spacebar and pause the show, flashing her a smile. “Uh...nothing. A friend just walked in.”

“Oh,” she replies. “Who is it?”

Well. No escaping now. “His name is Bucky,” you say softly, waving him over.

Bucky’s feet move on their own accord as he walks over, smoothly sliding down on the spot next to you on the couch. You turn your laptop screen to the side, letting your sister see him. He waves with a smile.

“Hi there.”

“Hi Bucky,” your sister replies, not phased at all, which surprises you. “Are you gonna watch the show with us?”

“Uh…” Bucky stammers, looking to you to see if you even want him here, but you surprise him as you nod, mouthing, please. “Okay, yeah. What are we watching?”

Your sister launches into an epic retelling of the first half of the episode (which Bucky has already seen, but he listens as if she’s telling him about her plans to cure cancer). Once she’s finished, you press play, sharing a look with Bucky as things settle back down.

Two episodes go by before either of you notice that you’ve scooted closer. You blame it on the fact that you’re watching Netflix on your laptop, but you don’t shy away when Bucky shifts, his shoulder brushing against yours.

You glance down and notice goosebumps on his arms. Instead of saying something aloud -- because you know he’ll have something to say -- you silently lean forward and tug on the blanket, nudging Bucky’s arm. He has no idea what you’re doing until you give him a look that essentially tells him he better take the blanket. He does without argument.

Another episode passes and your head is leaned on Bucky’s shoulder. You’re too focused on the show and not falling asleep that you don’t notice your sister’s small smile.

Before the next episode can start, your sister lets out what can only be described as a painfully fake yawn, stretching her arms over her head before announcing that she should get some sleep. It’s barely eleven at night, but you let her go, knowing you’ll hear all about this tomorrow when you call your mom.

You close your laptop and slide it off your lap, leaning your head back on Bucky’s shoulder. He hopes you can’t hear his heart beating as loud as it is. He feels like it might break one of his ribs any second now.

“Sorry about that,” you murmur. “She can get over excited sometimes.”

“I thought it was sweet,” Bucky replies. “That’s your little sister?”

“Yep,” you smile. “She really wants me to come home, so we compromised with this.”

Bucky ignores the tight feeling in his chest. “When are you going home?”

“I don’t know yet,” you answer truthfully, lifting your head from his shoulder. 

Bucky hides his look of disappointment as best he can.

“I’m gonna call my mom tomorrow,” you continue, pushing away the fleeting thought nagging at you for telling him any of this. “I just want to be sure it’s safe before I do.”

“I understand,” Bucky says quietly. He doesn’t want you to go -- or to even think about you leaving, but he knows it’s unrealistic to not think about it.

“What about you?” You ask, craning your neck to look at him. You could probably scoot away from him to make it easier, but you don’t want to. Your mind screams at you some more for that.

He shakes his head. “It’ll be months before I can. My family doesn’t want me to come back and get it. I’m safer here right now, and they want me to stay.” He pauses, shrugging half-heartedly. “So I guess I’m staying for a while.”

You frown. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head again. “It’s okay. I understand where they’re coming from. It’s like how you’re staying here -- for now -- for your sister. You want her to be safe, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” you nod. “It’s still tough, though. I miss her.”

“She misses you,” he replies. “I could tell.”

“She really does,” you agree. “We’ll probably watch Netflix every night together now.” You pause. “You can join us, you know. She seemed to like you.”

“Did she?”

“Believe it or not, she doesn’t normally let someone else in on our Netflix parties. You’re a good one, apparently.”

“Huh,” Bucky smiles, trying not to smile too big, but he fails. “If she’ll have me, then I’d love to join.” He looks down at you, his smile morphing into a grin. “If you’ll have me too, of course.”

“Duh,” you snicker, lightly shoving his chest. “Where have you been, by the way?”

Bucky hesitates. Steve’s voice rings in his head. You’re gonna have to open up. That starts here, he supposes. “I uh...I thought you wanted some space,” he says softly. “I thought I came on too strong and you asked me to tone it down, so I was-- I was trying to do that.” You stay quiet, so he continues. “I didn’t want to overstep or anything -- and I’m sorry if I did, it won’t happen again, I swear.”

You stop him before he can apologize anymore. “You didn’t overstep at all, I promise, but thank you anyway for the apology,” you smile gently.

“Okay, cool,” he breathes deeply. “Or-- You’re welcome.”

You stare at him in disbelief, watching him stutter and stumble over his words. It’s something you never thought you’d ever see James Barnes do in front of someone like you. But here he is, stammering, apologizing, sincerity all over his face.

“Bucky...I’ve got a confession,” you blurt before you can stop yourself. “I thought you were different. A lot different.”

“What?”

“I told you to tone it down because I thought you just-- I thought you wanted a hookup. That’s your thing, you know. Everyone knows it is,” you murmur and Bucky watches with guilt clouding his features. “So when I realized you were stuck here, too, I just thought you’d try it with me, too. I’ve avoided you for so long so you would never get the idea, but...being stuck here with no one else, I thought all my defenses were gone.

“But you’re not…You’re not like that. Or you haven’t been to me. So I’m sorry for having that misconception. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“Thank you…?” He replies hesitantly. “I think?”

Your heart is beating rapidly as you think about what you want to tell him next. But is it worth it? Something about the way he’s been acting, the different side of himself that you’ve seen -- it makes you think it is.

“Bucky, I avoided you because I had a raging crush on you,” you laugh, hoping your laughter will diffuse the situation if he’s uncomfortable.

But Bucky isn’t uncomfortable. He’s in disbelief. “You...what?”

“I know, I know, prime time to tell you, too, after we just watched a TV show with my little sister,” you shake your head, sitting up to move away. He definitely doesn’t feel the same, but that’s not the point. You needed to get it off your chest for yourself. “And you’re-- Sorry, I should’ve prefaced that with the fact that I’m not expecting anything. I just needed to get that out for me--”

“Y/N...I…” Bucky pauses. “I like you. A lot.”

Now you’re in disbelief. “What?” James Barnes, resident fuckboy, liking a girl like you? Unheard of. Impossible, even.

“I do,” he nods vigorously, sitting up further to be at your eye level again. “It’s why I’ve been so-- I’ve been a wreck, frankly, and that’s why. You can ask Steve, so you know I’m not shittin’ you, but I swear, I like you. So much that I’ve been so damn worried about screwing it up.”

How could he be worried about messing things up? “You haven’t,” you shake your head. “Screwed things up, I mean.”

“Thank God,” Bucky breathes, running his fingers through his hair. “Okay, well, I know this is...probably kind of forward, so you can definitely tell me no, but...would you wanna go on a date with me?”

You nearly laugh, but catch yourself, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. “I mean, yes, but,” you furrow your eyebrows. “Where?”

“We don’t need to go somewhere to have a date,” he replies simply. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

You don’t like the sound of that because you don’t like anyone taking control, but it’s Bucky, so you nod. You cave. “Okay. What time? It can’t run into Netflix party time, she’d kill the both of us.”

“Of course not,” he shakes his head. “Before. I’ll come pick you up.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You’ll pick me up?”

“Yeah,” he replies, some confidence seeping back in as he grins. “I’ll knock on your door, you know, as a gentleman should.”

“I never thought I’d hear you talk about being a gentleman,” you admit.

“I’m always a gentleman,” he defends himself gently. “You’ll see. I’ll show you, I swear. I won’t screw it up.”

“I don’t think you will,” you say quietly, meaning it, and scaring yourself that you do.

The two of you share a look before Bucky stands to his feet, holding out his hand. You stare at it, skeptical, before placing your hand in his.

“I’m walking you to your door,” he explains, noticing your confusion as he picks up your laptop for you in his free hand. He pauses, a moment of panic as he wonders if this is too much. “If that’s okay.”

“Yeah,” you squeeze his hand. “It’s okay.”

You never thought Bucky could be this sweet, but he’s behaving like it’s his nature. He walks you up the staircase, waiting at the edge for you to guide him in the direction of your room. And as promised, he drops you at your door.

“Thank you,” you smile, taking your laptop from him. “Do you want my number?”

“Oh.” Red tints his cheeks. “Sure.”

You snicker quietly as he hands you his phone. You type in your number and send yourself a text, a simple “hi” so you’ll know it’s Bucky’s number.

“See you tomorrow?” You say quietly.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I won’t hide anymore.”

“Good,” you murmur.

Stepping forward, you rest your free hand on his chest as you press a kiss to his cheek, wondering where you got the nerve. But the grin on Bucky’s lips and the blush dusting his cheeks makes it all worth it.

[writersrealmbts]

Treasured Hoard: Part 2

Part 1

Description: Dragon Hoseok! You're spelunking when you come across a dragon, and suddenly your life is a lot more complicated as he adds you to his hoard.

Warnings: Not really

Posted: 01/07/2020

Tags: Dragon!Hoseok, Shapeshifter!Hosoek, Hoseok X Reader

Fluff?: 2,465 words

A/N: I know y’all still want a second part to Different Skins, we’re honestly lucky I’m getting any writing done so. Have this instead!

As if being trapped in a dragon’s den against your will wasn’t bad enough, this one also didn’t seem to know what humans needed to survive, or understand why you were upset that he wouldn’t at least get you your own belongings from the house you were renting.

“You don’t need those things anymore!” Hoseok frowned, huffing out another plume of smoke.

You choked before you could respond. You’d been arguing with him for over an hour, already. If you didn’t die from lung cancer, it would be a miracle. But you needed to make some sort of hyper-logical point or he would never listen to you.

“I can get you anything you need, and more. You’re part of my hoard now, after all.”

“Just…” You sighed, then let your gaze snap up as you thought of the appropriate words. “It’s a human’s own special sort of hoard. Yes, we can part with it, but those things hold importance to us! I have family photos and relics that I can’t bear the thought of losing, and clothes that would work much better for in here than what you’ve been getting me because they’ll actually fit me!”

He looked thoughtful now. “I suppose that does make sense. My mother usually had things that she guarded possessively, I suppose I always thought it came from when she would shift into a dragon.Will…will it make you happy—to have your hoard?”

“Yes,” You answered, shrugging a little. Not that you minded wearing clothes that were too big, but it got a little chilly at night, and you didn’t even have your pictures or anything that had sentiment to you.

He straightened and smiled. “Alright, I will retrieve your hoard, but you must stay here. I’ll not risk my treasure.”

You groaned. “Fine. Here’s the key to the house.”

He took it, examining it carefully, then nodded. He shifted as he walked away and some wind buffered your face as he took off.

You sighed and went back to the kitchen-like area, making a face at the food he’d brought you. Sure, you’d been there a few days now, so you were partially used to him bringing you very fresh meat, but you couldn’t help but wonder what that meat actually was before he’d skillfully butchered it and brought it to you.

But he’d also ‘collected’ a wood-burning stove for you to use after he noticed you struggling to cook over a tiny campfire you’d managed to make the day before, and the face you made when he cooked your meat to a char the first day. He’d been waiting outside the cave designated as yours (which he’d filled with lush cushions and blankets—something he appeared to have an abundance of) that morning, pulling you excitedly to where he kept his food to show you the stove. He’d even gotten a ton of firewood for you and piled it nearby, and made sure the chimney part of the stove was high enough to catch the smoke and be pulled out with the rest—a phenomenon you still couldn’t quite explain.

You had found a knife sometime during your first day, and you used it to cut the meat into smaller pieces. As you cooked (with one pan that you’d found laying in a corner collecting dust), you could hear him coming and going, and you barely held yourself back from going to make sure he got everything. Wondering if he’d clean out the house or leave things behind. You’d just gotten groceries…

“Okay, I have retrieved your hoard,” He said, sounding very proud of himself.

You glanced back and smiled, washing your hands and following him out.

Your eyes widened. “Oh…you brought the fridge?”

“Yes, and I realized it used that electricity so I also asked my mother for a power source and she has given it to me. Where should I put this…fridge?”

“Uh, same room as the stove. Do you…know what a refrigerator is?”

He shook his head, blinking at you.

“It keep food cold. This one also has a freezer, which—”

“Freezes things?” He guessed, looking pleased.

You nodded. “Yeah. Oh, good, you didn’t bring the cabinets.”

“Cabinets?”

“Wooden boxes attached to walls.”

“No, they were much attached to the den, so I removed their contents, but left the wood. You have a strange way of organizing your hoard, and your den did not seem very secure. I did not realize that humans used magic so much.”

You tilted your head, a little confused. “We…don’t…?”

“But your water goes up pipes?”

“Oh, just because we found a way to use pressure to push the water. But I suppose it would seem like magic. Um, thank you, for retrieving my, um, hoard.” You patted his arm, then noticed the pile of pots, pans, and food. You went over to it, grabbing some seasonings and oil, heading back to the kitchen to cook properly for the first time in a few days.

“You are pleased?” He asked, trailing after you.

“Uh, yeah. Pleased.” You frowned as you measured seasoning by sight, trying to decide if it was too much or too little. You’d organize your kitchen stuff later. Maybe see if he had a chest or something you could use. Or use one of the bookshelves.

“May I keep this?”

You looked back and saw him holding a photo album. “Um…why?”

“It has many likenesses of you, and you smile in them. You must have been more than pleased,” He said, opening it and looking down at the photos.

You stood there, blinking as you gazed at him, remembering his question about whether having your hoard would make you happy. Asking you if you were pleased.

Adorable.

You giggled before you could stop yourself, and his gaze snapped up to your face, eyes getting huge. “Come here and start the fire in the oven.”

He hurried over, opening the door you pointed to and blowing fire into the wood until it caught.

“Thank you, and no, you cannot have that, it is part of my super-special hoard.” You took the album and hugged it to yourself.

He looked disappointed, but nodded. “I see. Best not to fight my treasure over her hoard.”

“Now, about the pile of stuff out there,” You gestured toward the entrance while you waited for the stove to heat up more.

He blinked a few times. “You wish to organize your hoard?”

You nodded. “I don’t think it looks quite right piled in the middle of our living-area. If you can move the big pieces of furniture, I’ll organize the rest.”

He nodded in agreement, looking up to release a puff of smoke so that it wouldn’t go into your face. “Okay, shall I start with the fridge?”

You nodded. “That would be nice, yes.” You graced him with a smile and he suddenly smiled back and you just about died. That was a fantastic smile.

He jogged off and a while later the fridge (plus a couple dents) was pushed through the cave entrance, then he shifted again, coming in and moving it against the cave wall and then plugging it into the strange-looking power-source his mother had apparently given him. It looked like a strange blue box with smooth sides, but the plug seemed to fit right in.

You gave him another smile, nodding when he looked over at you for approval.

His grin came easily, and he almost skipped off.

You started laughing to yourself. You’d thought he was a little strange when you first met him, but this was just…adorable. He was so eager to please you, and you honestly weren’t sure why, but it was very endearing. It made you feel welcome in the cave, not that he hadn’t been welcoming before, he’d made sure you were comfortable and provided everything you needed, but it gave the stone walls in which you lived a certain sort of warmth that the magic lights didn’t provide.

You turned back to the stove and put the pan on the stove to heat the oil.

He grunted behind you and you jumped as a clatter followed, turning to see a bright red, antique baking cabinet.

You looked at Hoseok in surprise. “That’s not part of my hoard.”

He shook his head. “It’s part of mine. But it looked like the wooden boxes in your cooking area so I thought you might want it here. You have many food items. Do you hoard food for winter like squirrels?”

“Um, sort of? Did your mother not…nevermind, she probably summoned her food if she’s a witch.”

He nodded.

“Okay, well, normal humans can’t do that. So, as a collective we sort of gather food and make it last. Ship it all around the world. You don’t get out much, do you?”

“I go flying everyday.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that, you don’t interact with humans much, do you?”

“They hunted us. We don’t want that to start again,” He said, but there was a nervous quality to his tone.

You tilted your head, suppressing a smile. “You’re scared of them.”

“Am not.”

You nodded. “You are. Which story did it? Beowulf? Or St. George and the Dragon? Or was it an Arthurian tale?”

He kicked at the leg of the cabinet with a scowl. “St. George.”

You giggled outright, earning a hurt look from him. “You realize humans honestly think those are just folk tales, right? Legends? Told with awe and wonder but not believed? You could completely pass as human. I mean, you’d get yelled at for smoking in a public place, but most people wouldn’t even notice that you didn’t have a cigarette. They’re oblivious that way.”

“But you’re not?”

“I didn’t say that, I just meant humans as a whole are pretty stupid. Heck, I bet some people saw you flying today and those people are probably already getting called lunatics and drunks, or the kids’ parents are laughing and telling them that they have such vivid imaginations. And there are a lot of publications that write good things about dragons nowadays. Like Eragon, or Dragon Slippers, and so many others that I can’t even think of right now. I’ve got a few in my hoard. I’ll lend them to you.” You turned back to the pan and started carefully adding the meat to the pan. It was strange how easily you switched to referring to your belongings as your hoard.

“Oh…thank you…” He seemed a little flustered.

“Only if you want to, though, I mean, I understand if you don’t. Not everyone likes reading,” You quickly amended, wondering if you’d crossed some sort of line.

“No, no, I just…most dragons don’t share their treasures.”

“Ah, but I’m technically part of your hoard, so technically, my hoard belongs to your hoard, you just have to respect it and my decisions of how to use, share, or not-share my hoard.”

He looked at you blankly, then looked absolutely gobsmacked once it set it. “Wow, you’re really smart. You’re one of the best treasures I’ve ever collected for my hoard.” His gaze shifted to the stove, and you noticed him lick his lips.

“Would you…like to eat with me when I’m done?”

He nodded. “I would very much like that.”

You nodded. “Alright. I’ll call you when the food is ready.”

He nodded and slowly slunk away, as if reluctant but wanting to respect your space.

You loved the way he always referred to you as a treasure, but everything else just seemed to be part of his hoard. You were pretty, and you were his treasure.

You were also his prisoner, but something told you he was a sucker for your smiles and might be worked on. You just needed to get to know him better, and let him get to know you better. You honestly kind of liked it here. It was better than that creaky house you were renting that had been built and decorated in the seventies and never escaped it. He was good for conversation too. Not to mention you actually felt safe, despite being trapped with a dragon, because he had added you to his hoard.

“Y/n?”

“Yes, Hoseok?”

“Um, you can call me Hobi. My family does. And my friends. I just…wanted to tell you that you could as well.”

“Okay, Hobi,” You answered easily. Very cute.

“Okay.”

You smiled when you could tell he was hovering in the doorway. “Did you want to taste test this with me? See if I have the balance of spices right?” You pulled out a smaller piece of the meat and managed to separate it into two pieces.

He was by your side in a hurry, easily opening up like a little chick and taking the piece of meat from the chopsticks you held.

You watched his face for a reaction.

He grinned. “Oh! That’s good!”

You tasted it and nodded, adding a little more pepper. “Very. What kind of meat was that?”

“Cow. My father had some leftover and I’d already had a tasty deer, but I thought you’d like some since he was taking some home to my mother.” He shrugged, eyes on the pan. “How did you think to cook it like this?”

“Well, I only had one pan when I started cooking and I want to wash my pots and pans and stuff before I use those. This seemed like the best option.” You put more meat into the pan, then turned and went to the fridge, grabbing some veggies and such to cut up and have with your meat since you hadn’t had veggies since before you were trapped here. Hoseok didn’t seem to think of anything other than meat.

He was hovering over your shoulder, watching. “Smells…fiery.”

“Peppers. Bell peppers. I’m not really going to cook them, probably just eat them with the some veggie dip,” You shrugged and went back in the fridge to grab the previously chopped veggies and the veggie dip.

He was tasting the peppers already, looking pleased. “Mmm. Nice heat. We should have more of these.”

You nodded. “Well, this is all I have aside from my hot sauce and salsa. Actually, I probably have some habanero sauce. Somewhere.” You shrugged.

He hummed softly.

“Maybe I’ll make something spicy tomorrow.” You shrugged, not looking to him.

He nodded, then suddenly he was very close, his nose booping your cheek before he was gone. Slipping out of the room with a grace you didn’t know a dragon could possess.

You just hoped that one day the sunshine dragon would actually let you see the sun shining again soon.

--

Part 1 ~ Part 3

Masterlist ~ Hoseok Masterpost

[knightofameris]

—𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬—

◦ 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ◦ 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠! ◦ 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠! ◦ 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒! ◦ 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠!! (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠!)

𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠' 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒: blacklist “ameris 500 celebration!” if you don’t want to see any of my posts about this celebration! also if this flops i will cry. jk i won’t but it’ll definitely take a hit on my heart u__u (and if it does flop, you didn’t see this post)

—𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍—

Ahhhh! I’m so amazed that I got to 500 followers despite the fact that I barely?? Post?? And sometimes I just talk about random shit but even then, I still appreciate all of you guys so much? I have a few options on what I have to celebrate and I am so excited heheh. But before I get started I just,,, Have a few more things I’d like to talk about (cus I like to talk LOL). Feel free to skip though!! 

content continued below the cut!! (warning; introduction is long because I just have a lot of thoughts I want to share LOL. seriously, feel free to just skip) 

I know that I only really started posting Haikyuu!! around my 300 mark, and I feel like the people after my 300 mark are the one’s who are active because of how much I come onto tumblr and then disappear. 

If you don’t know this, I’ve actually been writing on Tumblr since 2015/2016. I’ve just changed blogs so many times that it’s like, hey, this is my new blog. Or like, I would write for a few months, disappear, come back but then everyone who followed me was dead so I was like eh I’ll just start again or whatever. And I think this makes me very very soft because out of all the communities I’ve been in, I’ve truly felt more welcome/at home even?? With everyone in Haikyuu? Like yeah there’s shit that goes down every few days or whatever but it’s always so fun to see people interact with each other and though I was hesitant at first (because before this the only writer I’ve ever interacted with was Scout for marvel oop) I’m really glad I reached out to a few of y’all and vice versa. 

But despite that, Marvel will always hold a place in my heart and to everyone who followed me from my Marvel days, thank you for supporting me way back when. And even to my Narnia days (AHAHAHA). I don’t think I would’ve continued writing on tumblr without your guys’ support. I know that younger me appreciated you all for reading those old works (even if I hate my old writing now). 

And to everyone now, thank you for sending in asks or commenting on my works. I actually think I would’ve disappeared by this time from this blog if you guys didn’t interact. I’m not saying I’m writing for the follows or the notes, if that makes sense. But it’s more like, I feel less of a robot that people expect to churn out works. Idk, it makes me feel like a person? And it just gives me a lot more serotnin than you might think!! 

One last thing though, it’s not me saying I expect you guys to always read my work and always comment. It’s more so, I’d actually rather have you guys comment or whatever because you want to and you want to read it. Like on one hand yes it does make me feel appreciated but I also don’t want you to feel obligated or feel guilty of you don’t read my things. No matter what, I will always be writing. It definitely does feel nice tho LOL 

I promise in the future, if I ever do intros they won’t be this long lol. 

Phew. Anyway. 

For this celebration, this is only for Haikyuu!!

—𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒—

I love love love self ships SO much. So I want to hear about your guys’ self ships! 

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬

this will only be open from 12am september 23 — 11:59pm september 25 PST 

any requests received before or after will be deleted (may be extended depending on how many requests I get!)

do keep in mind that i’m starting classes soon so it will take me some time to get through this.

send it in through asks or submissions! 

send in as many asks as you’d like

if you use an emoji to show who you are, include it on all asks :3c

nothing nsfw for this, thanks!

since this is a follower celebration,,, i do have to ask that you be following me! honestly, i won’t check if you are, thats too much work on my part but it would mean a lot if you’re following me to participate in this celebration! ); 

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 [example]

i will be creating two instagram posts with one of them having a comment section (3-4 screenshots)

i might also include a screenshot of your profile and/or your s/o if I can put in more pictures!

chats with your s/o ( heheh (; ) (1-2 screenshots)

chats with your s/o’s team! (1-2 screenshots) (this will possibly be with the entire team or just a select few)

take a look at the example as that’s what i’ve done for a friend of mine!!

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨

send in 1-2 headcanons about you and your s/o

send in a little bit about your personality!!

your pronouns! and a name you’d like to go by!

give me your instagram handle! (not your real one, but what it would be within haikyuu) otherwise, i’ll make a random one based off your name!

what are your ~aesthetics~ 

what phone nickname would u have for your s/o (or any other people on the team) so it can be more personalized! or if ur like me where everyone is just their name besides a select few

do u have particular texting habits?

what’s your favorite animal? this is what I will be putting as your profile picture! alternatively if you submit all of this through my submissions and give me a piccrew, I will use that!

you could give me the most BASIC description, you don’t need to do all of these points, and i’d be fine with that. It’s up to you how much you want this to be personalized <3

(also this one’s not necessary, it’ll just be more ~fun~ but lmk if u wanna be a manager of the team! or if u have ur own little AU so u might have other certain details u want to throw in. otherwise i’m gonna make it a sorta free for all lol)

𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒: hi! my name’s ameris and i ship myself with suga! my pronouns are she/her/hers and i like to think that suga and i have a sort of childhood friends to lovers trope. i also like to think that we go stargazing at least once a month no matter what! my aesthetic is definitely space heh. i’m a little bit like suga where i’m chaos and baby! i curse a lot and i have way too many interests to count but i always like trying new things! my instagram handle would be ameris_stars (dude idk lMAO) and suga’s name in my phone would be Koushi <3 i make a lot of typos and i like using a mix of emojis and emoticons/occasional kaomojis. my favorite animal is a fox or dog!

this,,, is a lot but i’m okay with that! heheh

to protect you, I won’t publish your ask! I will make separate posts titled w/ your name + s/o + emoji (if you use your emoji). If you do it off anon, I will tag you! 

Request List!! If you don’t see your name on here, just submit it again :3c I will not be tagging for the sake of not spamming you guys lol. 

—𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐔—

I would love love love to get to know you! So tell me about yourself! 

what’s your favorite color?

who’re your favorite haikyuu characters?

favorite haikyuu teams?

you got any writers you want to give a shout out to?

maybe a little self promo too?

adsfasdfasdflj i will keep bringing this up but like any,,, spice asks,,, about the haikyuu characters cus like,,, lol

horn knee asks will be tagged with: “ameris needs a drink” which honestly sounds like i need an alcoholic drink and at this point, yeah 

please be 18+ if you do send in any spicey asks!!

This can go on for as long as y’all want really, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I’ll just answer these like normal and spread them out too lol

—𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄—

I have a few ask games I’ve reblogged before, so I have a few linked for you LOL 

intrusive asks 👁👄👁

~space~ asks! (this has a lot more!)

zodiac asks (just about my writing!)

writer’s asks

a little game I got from my friend which I think is absolutely so much fun

this is a version of fuck-marry-kill, but send in THREE characters (this one can be from any mix of my interests!) and I’ll choose which one I’d rather have a fanfic trope with: 

“enemies-to-lovers” 

“childhood friends-to-lovers” 

and “fake dating”

would definitely prefer haikyuu characters

but doing a mix and match from all my interests is a lotta fun

things i used to or am currently into: haikyuu, marvel, bnha, demon slayer, rwby, sailor moon, voltron, dc, overwatch, tales of vesperia, legend of zelda, bungo stray dogs, narnia (lmao), one piece, uhm, i’ll add more if i can think of more, tbh u can even just say random characters and i’ll just google them 

As always though, feel free to ask me any other questions!!

this will also go on for as long as whenever, i’ll probably spread out this one! 

—𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒—

AH. It was lookin a little long so here’s the link to the post :3c (will edit post later!!! when I come back from my exam!!!)

to those who got to the end, omg i’m sorry. i talk so much. but thank you for your support and just getting through this block of words hakdfhkasf

[malnatihq]

— MALNATI UPDATE!

alrighty friends !! it’s about that time where we rollout another one of our updates && we’re  rather excited for this one !! truly, we wouldn’t be able to do all of these fun things without all of you wonderful members and we couldn’t be more grateful !! that being said, we hope that you’re as excited for all of the new additions in this update as we are !! there’re also some housekeeping things towards the end that we just wanna remind everyone of, and it’s really important to read that section !! okay, i’m starting to ramble, so let’s get on with it:

NEW SUITES: we never imagined in our wildest dreams that we’d be able to run a group of this size, and we are so honored to do so !! with that being said, this will most likely be our final expansion for the malnati hotel as we introduce: FOUR NEW GUEST SUITES. we added new staff suites with the pet daycare plot drop, and we figured we may as well even it out for the guests just for the fun of it. we can now add up to eight new muses to our group, and that is likely as large as we’ll ever be !! we are so thankful for all of you wonderful people for being a part of this group and allowing it to be as grand as it is. we admins never thought we’d get to steer a ship with this many characters and muns, and we’re just so lucky and happy to do it !!

JULY 19th: mark your calendars, y’all !! this is like, an announcement for the announcement, but we did want to get everyone pumped up for something very fun that we have coming this sunday !! an event may or may not be in the works, and there may or may not be some vague emoji reveals coming soon enough as hints for what it just might be... we don’t want to give too much away, but it should be a hoppin’ good time !!

DIVERSITY: as it’s always been, diversity is really important to us, and we’ve been thinking about ways to make this group even better in terms of its diversity. we are updating this post because we did think that a diversity rule would be helpful, but we now have realized thanks to our members who shared their thoughts that it wasn’t the way to go about it and could possibly lead to more harm than good and feel restrictive. we made a mistake, even if our intentions were good, and we truly do see that now and we apologize to all of you for that from the bottom of our hearts. instead of any rule, we are just going to strongly encourage people to take on more diverse muses so long as we as muns feel as though we can and want to. we don’t want to force anyone into writing characters they can not genuinely create, but we’re just encouraging of playing more muses of color, trans and nb muses, body-positive and disabled muses. of course, guides can only help us so much and have their own limitations, but we will be adding links to guides and resources to help educate us to play these characters on the main soon. this is only an encouragement, a suggestion, so please do not feel forced to do anything you are not comfortable with or confident in when it comes to our group. we are here to celebrate diverse muses always, but we do want to make sure moving forward that it’s happening in a way that we feel good about !!

HOUSEKEEPING: now onto the lesser fun stuff: activity && bubble rping. we just wanna talk activity for a sec and remind anyone who may need a semi hiatus or a hiatus ( now or ever ) to please just reach on out to us and ask !! we are always willing to work with you and whatever’s going on to make sure that the group is one less thing you gotta stress about !! we’re super lax and understanding, but for those who may repeatedly pop-up on our activity checks, we will have to start using our strike system and we really do want to avoid that !! we’re also always glad to see everyone interactive && active in the group chat, but being active on the dash is even more important for the success of the group && we really wanna stress that !! we’re not asking everyone to be on the dash every single day, but it’s important to pop in and do some writing both ic and ooc. in terms of bubble rping, this is also something that we have been noticing as of late, and we just wanna touch on that for a moment. we absolutely understand that it can be easier to crank out replies to those established connections or threads we have a lot of muse for, but we are a group rp and it’s really important to both each other as well as our characters that we branch out of those, too !! it’s the only way for this group to shine, and we all very much deserve that cause we really are such a wonderful little rp fam !! there are plenty of open starters and plotting calls to help make it easier to branch out and write with muses and muns that maybe you haven’t yet, and we will continue to do all that we can to help out, too !! you can defs expect more partner tasks && events in the future !! but we also need everyone’s help to make this space as welcoming and inclusive as we know it can be so that no one feels left out, so please consider this a gentle reminder to step outside of any bubble you may potentially be in and write / plot with other muns and muses !! even if it wasn’t a raging, roaring ‘success’ the first time around, why not reach back out and give it another go !! moving forward, for those we continue to see bubble rping, we will have to use our strike system and like we said, we always wanna avoid that !!

THANK YOU: and you’ve made it all the way to the end !! oof, we know this was a long one and we want to thank you for taking your time and giving this a read !! please LIKE this post once you have, and know that we appreciate you times infinity !! we love you all, and this group, and we are looking forward to continuing to make this better and better as the months roll on by !! speaking of - happy four months y’all :~)

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Let’s talk about The Twist of Good Omens (Pt. 1 of 2).

This is HALF a meta / scene analysis and praise for the actors, and HALF an Ineffable headcanon following the meta, so I hope you’ll bare with me as my brain spews out this shit that’s been going through it all week. It’s gotten really long, so I’m going to split up the meta / analysis and the headcanon into two separate posts because as I was writing this, it was getting long, and I know some people are here for either/or.

Spoilers follow, obviously.

A little known fact about me (or perhaps well known if you’ve been here for a long time) is that I LOVE the body swap / face swap trope. OBSESSED ABOUT IT. Loved it since I was a kid. I think it’s more the psychology of it that interests me (like I also consider “plopping a brain into a robot” part of this trope too, and the ensuing crisis intrigues me... a lot of my old Sonic fanfiction dealt with this type of thing). That and my innate desire to not be me, but I digress. One of my favourite movies ever is Face/Off... not a fantastic movie by any means, but damn if I didn’t obsess about it because of the psychology of it all. I LOVE watching actors pretend they’re the other actor playing their role. It’s amazing to me.

And AS someone who has consumed this trope like life since as long as I’ve consumed media, it probably took me less than a couple minutes to spot the twist ending in Good Omens. I immediately sensed something was off, mainly in their discussion in the park and  the mannerisms of the characters when they went to their respective places. 

When Aziraphale hesitated on saying “ineffable”  before death showed up, THEN Crowley’s hesitation on what Death’s appearance was, and THEN the “tickety-boo” from Crowley, is when something was niggling at me upon first watch of the scene. I wasn’t REALLY certain about my suspicions until C!Aziraphale and Gabriel were talking in the scene immediately following. Azzie was VERY subdued in Heaven, more like he was just trying to buy time or he was bored, when in the past he would... well, essentially not shut up and try to make small talk when he was confronted by the Gabriel or the other Angels. 

Instead he looked like a man who was lowkey annoyed and bored of being there, like he’s seen it all before. He didn’t question the demon bringing up the Hellfire. Just placid indifference.

It threw me for a loop, and that’s when I said, “Oh, they switched bodies, didn’t they??”. And it’s upon rewatches that I really REALLY became obsessed with this entire ending scene, because that’s when everything sort of falls into place, and you begin to see the minutiae of Sheen’s and Tennant’s acting in these scenes, and ALL the previous mannerisms from their characters are absorbed into each other’s portrayal of, well, each other. Essentially: “David, play this scene the way Michael would play this scene as if he were pretending to be you shamming the demons.” It’s amazing.

Here’s where I need to fucking praise Sheen and Tennant on their acting, because GODDAMN did they ever get each other’s mannerisms down pat, because upon subsequent rewatches, this is where I’m seeing all the clues about the twist ending that are GLARING, and I AM LIVING FOR IT.

So let’s jump back to the beginning of the scene, where they each return to their respective favourite material things: Upon returning, each character, if they were themselves, would have been OVERJOYED by their material items being back in tact. Azzie loves his books, and Crowley LOVES his car. Instead we just see... indifferent satisfaction that everything was restored? It was odd, but not alarming. You could stock it up to them being tired from the events of the day. It was still red flag one, for me.

Now, I’m not going to point this one out as “red flag two” because I can’t recall at all a time BEFORE this scene if this next thing ever happened, and perhaps someone can let me know if they recall before I get a chance to do my fourth run-through of the series: The flavours of ice cream they each end up eating; it would be a tell if they’re each eating what the other normally does. It would be a neat little clue that they each don’t realize they’re really doing that’s out of character. So... red flag 1.5 I will say until confirmation. 

The “tickety boo”, I’m going to label as a Red Flag 2: rewatching the series, we see Azzie uses the phrase when shit’s going tits up. Crowley mocked him for it, but never ever said it other than that one time. On first watch, you just write it off as Crowley picking up Azzie’s phrases, since Crowley says a lot of silly phrases, but upon second watch, you’re like, OH SHIT, wow, it’s totally Azzie, should have seen that.

Then there’s each of them in Heaven and Hell. I already talked about my tip-offs for Azzie, so let’s talk Crowley. A!Crowley was stammering on his speech, in that way that Azzie does when he’s nervous and unsure of himself and he’s trying to formulate his thoughts and understand what is happening. He was SURPRISED about Michael working with the demons, because – even though he saw Beelzebub and Gabriel interact, he had no idea how twisted in their own schemes both sides were. This is uncharacteristic behaviour for Crowley, I think anyway, because he would know that some of the Angels get away with all kinds of shit and STILL never Fall. Azzie... ahh, I love him, but I don’t think he would.

And A!Crowley STOOD like Azzie would... Crowley has this... way he sort of stands still (ie. trying to be cool but he’s really not). He wasn’t doing that at all in this scene. And the fact he was concerned about his clothes getting ruined? Yeah, when has that ever stopped Crowley? It was sort of a sweet thing that  this Lovely here pointed out and I only remembered about it when I read this post. Azzie didn’t want Crowley’s brand new coat to get ruined, aww. 

Jumping back to C!Aziraphale, still super quiet and indifferent and almost ANNOYED at the proceedings, and not once does he stammer at all. Azzie always stammers (a little more than his usual speech patterns, anyway) when facing the Angels, especially Gabriel, but this is legit the first time he doesn’t. Just smart-arse remarks and a “devil may care” (hur dur) attitude about the proceedings. 

I think I was 90% sure about my theory about the twist when the the bathtub scene that follows appears, because it didn’t really make sense to me in my head that the Holy Water WASN’T doing anything. The demons later surmise it’s because they’ve “gone native”, but are they really sure? Hmm. Anyway, this whole scene is HILARIOUS to me upon rewatch, because it’s now Azzie CERTAIN that he can’t be harmed here from the punishment even if he’s wearing Crowley’s face, and he FINALLY lets himself BE his own person. Funny how him seeing through a demon’s eyes is WHY he finally lets go (which, you know, is kind of what happened with Crowley 6000 years before... realized the world wasn’t fair and it wasn’t going to treat him with kindness). He finally understands Crowley, I think, in a way, because of this incident. 

Azzie is FINALLY certain and unafraid of being himself. He no longer stammers, and literally strikes fear into the demons in the dorkiest of ways and THEN secures Crowley’s future of being left alone. That tiny little thing there is really sweet and so Azzie. 

As for C!Aziraphale, he’s a dramatic bitch in the Hellfire to scare away the Angels. And though it’s not seen, I’m certain Crowley would have guaranteed Azzie’s safety in the same way that Azzie did his... I’m just assuming since it’s alluded to in their final park-bench conversation.

And – segue! – as we switch back to the park bench scene, I think this was when I was, on my first watch, all “yep, they switched”. Look at even just the camera pan-in: they’re sitting on the wrong sides (Crowley has ALWAYS sat to Azzie’s left-hand side), and Azzie is slouching. Azzie NEVER slouches, just as Crowley is never straight-backed and proper when he sits. I absolutely adore Tennant playing a reassuring-Azzie so beautifully, and then the uptick in the intonation of “Anyone looking?” is SO Aziraphale, that if you hadn’t picked up the clues by now, that should have set you off, as well as... why would Aziraphale know if “anyone is looking”? Crowley has ALWAYS been the one who’s able to sense other beings around, and I feel like it’s BECAUSE of his status as a demon that he can do this (as a former angel, it might be a “skill” he retained when he fell, and then gained the skill to sense other demons, so then he would be able to tell if either-or are around, whereas Azzie would only be able to sense love, happiness, and other angels, is my theory).

AHHH And then. AND THEN, Sheen’s impersonation of Tennant’s speech patterns when he says “Right. Swap back then?” and then with the face he makes. It’s ALL Crowley right there. GAWD, perfection.

I love their little interaction after the switch... Azzie is just SO DAMNED PROUD OF HIMSELF, WHAT A PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL. And Crowley is enamoured by it all. He VISIBLY sees the change in Azzie, what seeing the world through Crowley’s eyes has done to him. So much so he chances to ask Azzie out, and he FINALLY accepts, no hesitation.

AH. That’s a WHOLE other meta in-of itself.

Next, Part 2, is my head canon for the lead up to this scene. It’s more of a musing than anything else, spawned by a thought I had about why are they able to switch so easily... and how did they know that they could? It won’t be nearly as long as this so I should have it up in a few days when I have a free moment :)

Anyway, I’d love for y’all to add your own thoughts or expand upon mine here if you’ve anything to say!

Cheers everyone, and welcome new people to my blog that my other GO meta may have enticed you to here <3 We’ll see how many meta this show squeezes out of my brain, probably not nearly as much as Johnlock does, but there we are, LOL <3

[dontdoitluke]

We Could Be Heroes - Ch 5

Sky High AU, but instead, it’s a superhero University.

Summary: First aid class proves to be much more complicated than what’s expected, a self proclaimed princess is knocked down a peg or two, and Michael is being suspicious.

Chapter: 5/?

Word Count: 3,132

CHAPTER INDEX

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The university had decided to add a required class on first aid to their curriculum. Sky High and S.A.V.E.U. had been training heroes for decades and the higher ups had only just now decided that first aid was necessary to a school made for people who are meant to rescue others.

Ashton thought it would be a good idea if everyone in their group went together since the impromptu first class was more like an open workshop. Most of the group knew there was deeper meaning behind that, regardless of the reasoning that he gave. He was convinced that he was only good for destruction and demolition. He wanted to learn how to heal, but he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to control his anxieties about the subject without his closest friends nearby.

They were the bulk of the class sitting in the metal chairs, but aside from them, there were only six other students. An elderly woman who appeared to be sleeping sat at a folding table while her jade-haired assistant gathered white three ring binders in her arms and moved to the front of the waiting students.

“Hello everyone. Thanks for coming to our first session. I just wanna apologize on behalf of the school for not having a legit classroom setting yet, because sitting on those chairs for almost an hour is gonna be about as comfortable as sitting on a pile of rocks.” Most students nodded and chuckled while shifting in their seats at that.

“I’m Persephone Quinn, but you can just call me Persey. This sleeping beauty is Professor Ko’zabah. She’s agreed to let me take over the class for this semester to earn internship credits. I’m gonna be real with you, that’s probably best for all of us involved. Also, I don’t like to waste time with unnecessary bullshit, so I’m gonna give y’all these binders and... uh, yeah. Let’s get crackin’. Take one and pass it around, please.”

Persey handed the stack of folders to Calum, who was nearest to her, and moved to the table at the front and perched herself on top of it to wait until everyone had a folder of their own.  

“These are just some one-inch binders for you guys to keep your stuff in, but I already added the syllabus and some paper and dividers so that you don’t have to worry about it yourselves. The first page is just like a run-through of exactly how hands-on this class is g-”

“Excuse me, but I just have to ask something really quick.”

Persey and the rest of the class irritably turned toward the asker. It was the same pretentious red headed girl who always had something to say in every one of her classes. Jenna groaned loudly while pulling her water bottle out of her backpack, preparing to shut her up if needed.

“Uh... yeah, okay, what is it?”

“So, you’re telling me that this class is going to be taught by someone who isn’t even qualified to be a teacher?”

Persey hopped down off of the table and stared daggers at the girl, who just leaned back in her chair nonchalantly, waiting for her answer.

“I don’t believe I caught your name.”

“Cherice Alistair, Montgomery Alistair’s daughter.”

“Am I supposed to know who that is, Sharon?”

“It’s Cherice. And everyone who’s anyone knows who he is.”

“Guess that says a lot about me, then, doesn’t it, Shirley? And... what exactly makes you think I’m not qualified to be a teacher? Do you think you could do a better job? Or would you rather we wake up Madam Snores-A-Lot so that we can read medical journals instead of actually learning how to deal with real issues?”

“It’s CHERICE. And I mean, what is there to learn? My father, since you don’t seem to know, is the guy who owns the Alistair Regional Hospital, and he could teach me everything there is to know in, like, less than a day. It’s literally just first aid. Any idiot could tell you how to put on a bandaid. It’s not that hard, and it’s not that much to learn.”

Inhaling deeply, Persey put her palms together and closed her eyes. She held her breath for a few seconds before exhaling slowly. The rest of the class was dead silent; most of them tried to stay out of it and busied themselves with reading through the syllabus, and Jenna slowly put her water bottle back into her bag and watched the two carefully. Michelle tapped Luke’s knee and directed her thoughts toward him.

“Daddy’s girl is about to fucking get it.”

Persey cleared her throat and opened her eyes, smiling sweetly at her smug student.

“Okay. So, what do you do when you find a victim of a bank robbery with a bullet wound in their leg?”

Cherice scoffed and shrugged her shoulders. “Easy. Apply pressure to stop the bleeding.”

“And what else?”

“You wait until the bleeding stops, then wrap it up.”

“What do you do before all of that?”

“Uh... I’m pretty sure that’s it.”

“What do you even wrap it with?”

Papa’s pride and joy was beginning to get nervous. She flexed her fingers and fidgeted with a button on her shirt.  

“Ace bandage?”

“What’s the first thing you do when you find someone that’s been stabbed in the chest?”

“What are y-”

“And what do you do when you’re cutting into, I don’t know, a mango, and you accidentally slice your thumb off? What’s the first step you take, Debra?”

“Okay, that’s not even close to my name, I-”

“Let me guess? Apply pressure? What do you do when you find someone who’s got severe burns all over their body? How do you identify what kind of burns they are? What do you do when a villain with acidic spit licks your arm and your skin is corroding? What do you do when you find the survivor of an earthquake staked to the ground with a steel support beam sticking out of their gut?”

Cherice turned bright red and huffed in anger, averting her eyes toward the floor.

“First aid is not just about applying pressure. What are you gonna do, finish capturing the criminal while applying pressure to the injured? Most of us don’t have powers that allow that. You need to learn how to quickly create a durable makeshift tourniquet with nothing around you but the clothes on your back. You need to know when a person should NOT have a knife removed from their body. You need to know the difference between hypovolemic shock and septic shock, and you need to know the symptoms of dehydration, hypothermia, and hyperthermia as well as remember how to treat them. And this isn’t just basic first aid, honey. This is HERO first aid. You’re in this school to learn how to save the world. You’re gonna have to deal with extreme situations. If you don’t wanna find out what to do in extreme situations, you’re more than welcome to hit the road. And if you haven’t figured it out by now, I really don’t like being interrupted, so I recommend that you don’t do that shit again.”

The students tried, and failed, to cover their giggles. Most professors and even most of the student body just went along with Cherice’s antics, since her father had a finger in pretty much every pie and could easily ruin someone’s reputation with a simple flick of his checkbook. Cherice was mortified and her eyes brimmed with furious tears as she stood, throwing her binder to the ground.  

“You’re gonna regret pissing me off like that.”

Persey grinned and clapped her hands together with every word she spoke. “Come at me, bitch. I. Dare. You.”

The self-proclaimed Princess stormed out of the room, slamming the door with one hand and furiously typing on her phone with the other. Persey, however, simply took off her cardigan and draped it over Professor Ko’zabah’s still sleeping figure while moving on with the lesson.

“So anyway, as I was saying... what was I saying?”

“You were talking about the first page of the syllabus,” Michael reminded while adjusting his headphones.  

“Right, okay, so yeah, you heard a lot of it when I was sassing Sheldon a second ago, but I’m gonna say it again because I feel like it. This isn’t basic grade school first aid. Someone’s gonna get yeeted out of a window and you’re gonna have to know what to do with their injuries.”

Throughout the rest of the lecture, Ashton drank in every word that Persey spoke. He wrote down as many notes as he could and listened harder than anyone else in the room; he wanted so badly to help people, even if he couldn’t use his power to do so. Everyone seemed to have a first aid use for their power, Jenna can remove liquids from a drowning person’s lungs, Michael can listen for irregular heartbeats or breathing issues, and Persey suggested that Calum could even digest deadly parasites and disease cells to prevent them from spreading. Ashton, however, felt like he couldn’t do anything except make buildings crumble.  

“Once we get, like, an actual classroom, you guys are each gonna get a personalized first aid kit. It’s gonna have the basic shit in it, like bandages, alcohol pads, stuff like that, but it’ll also contain equipment and supplies that cater to your specific powers,” Persey continued gleefully. “I’m so excited about this, y’all have no idea. I’m not gonna get too far into it right now but trust me, it’s gonna be great. For example, Calum, we just mentioned that you could digest parasites, right?”

Calum turned a pale shade of green and nodded slowly. “Unfortunately.”

“I’m not a parasite, you could just swallow me instead.”

“Val please, I’m queasy enough already.”

Persey tried desperately to ignore the interaction and cleared her throat. “Well, your kit could possibly contain something like capsules to trap the little assholes in so that they don’t, like, cling to your insides on the way down and hurt you.”

Calum closed his eyes and squeezed his lips together tightly. “Why couldn’t I have been born with super strength or something?”

“Fate gave you this power, just like fate gave me mine,” Val argued. “We were meant to be together.”

“I think I’m gonna fucking vomit.”

“Actually,” Persey interjected. “With the shrinking and digesting, that could work well together. Val can shrink down and trap the parasite or whatever it happens to be, and Calum can dispose of it.”

Emma raised her hand. “What about mine? I’m a shifter, how could I use that?”

“Some animals have heightened senses, right? You can possibly diagnose problems that aren’t easily seen. That... holy shit, guys, I just got the best idea. I’m gonna give y’all some homework.”

The class collectively groaned, but Persey held up her hands in defense. “Hold on, hear me out, this is gonna be awesome. I want you guys to think about how you could use your powers in a first aid situation. Come up with as many scenarios as you can, it can be as simple or as complex as you want. You don’t have to write an essay, because fuck that noise, just like, take a note in your phone or write it in your binders or something and bring it with you the next time you come in. Oh, and if you could, fill out the contact cards in the back of your binders for me and bring them up here on your way out, please.”

Ashton sunk lower in his chair and chewed on his thumb nail. This was what he was dreading; he had anxiety attacks relatively often, but he loathed having them in public. He already knew that he couldn’t use his power to help people and the mere thought of it made his head spin, and he couldn’t even imagine the damage he’d cause if he spent all night trying in vain to come up with something. He nervously tapped his foot on the ground and took a few shaky, deep breaths. Hiding it was worse, but he’d rather suffer in silence than let the whole class in on what was happening to him. His palms and forehead were beginning to sweat, his skin was hot, yet he felt cold, the pounding in his chest and the ringing in his ears were the only thing he could hear. Next to him, Viv and Luke sensed his panic and placed their hands on his shoulders to calm him and bring him back down, and after a few seconds, he was able focus on the warmth of his friends’ palms and he slowly began to relax and control his breathing. Jenna took his binder out from under his arm and filled out his contact card for him and handed it back once she felt he was relaxed enough to focus, and Ashton was so glad that his friends were there to help bring him back before it turned into a full-blown attack. He was even more glad that no one else in the room noticed what was going on.  

Everyone in the room lined up to turn their cards in. Ashton held his head low and handed his to Persey, who tapped his arm softly and leaned in to whisper.

“Hang out here for a sec, please.”

His heart raced and his palms grew sweaty again. A million thoughts rushed through his mind. Did he do something wrong? Should he have interacted more? Does she know his power is useless and is going to excuse him from the homework? He waved goodbye to his friends and waited nervously.  

Once all the students were gone and she was sure she could speak with him privately, she faced him and gave him a gentle smile.

“First off, you didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing is wrong, so don’t worry,” Persey began, turning around and bending behind the table to dig into her bag. “I just wanted to give you something.”

Ashton scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Give me something? Do I need like, extra credit work?”

She stood up shook her head with a smile. “No, nothing like that. Really, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to give you some of this.”

She held out her hands to show him what she had. In one of her palms she held an amber colored bottle with a rubber dropper, and in the other she had a smaller, clear bottle with the same kind of dropper. She set the items on the desk to work on transferring some of the liquid from the larger bottle to the smaller one.

“I always keep some of this in my bag with me. It’s just some lavender oil, it’s completely safe, I promise.”

“I... I don’t understand.”

“Listen, I know anxiety attacks when I see them. I saw your friends helping you. They did a good job, and kept quiet about it. But sometimes you can’t always have them around, so this should help. Lavender is known for being very soothing and that alone helps, but it’ll give you something to focus on as well to help bring that anxiety down. If you’re ever alone and feel like you’re about to have one of those attacks again, put some of that oil on your wrist or the back of your hand or something and focus on the way it smells until you come back down.”

Ashton’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. He was really hoping that no one had noticed, but if any stranger did, he was glad it was someone who could help.

“Thanks, I... thank you. I’ll definitely use this.”

“Come back to me if you need more, okay?”

He nodded and smiled shyly. “I will.”

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

“Show me the rule that says I can’t have him with me.”

“There isn’t... this library is for students only!”

“He’s technically a student, he’s a literal copy of me, and I’m a student.”

“That doesn’t even make sense...”

Skyler looked up from her laptop and glanced toward the library door, where Michael and the librarian argued about whether or not Mickey was allowed inside. She sighed and set her things down next to her and stood, preparing to defend Mickey’s honor with her life. And Michael’s, of course.  

“He won’t cause a ruckus, I promise. He can’t be alone, and I just need to print out some forms. Come on, have a heart?”

The librarian groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose irritatedly. “Fine, fine, but hurry up. I can't be-”

Michael, with Mickey riding in his book bag, was already halfway to the computer area where Skyler was standing before the exasperated librarian could finish his sentence.

“Hey, guys. Is everything okay? I’ll throw hands if I gotta,” Skyler joked. Well, half joked. She would one hundred percent throw hands for her friends. She’d throw whatever body parts that she needed to.

“Oh yeah, it’s all good now.”

“Am Mickey!”

“He says hello.”

“Hello to you too, little dude,” Skyler chuckled, reaching out to hold one of Mickey’s tiny hands. “You’re growing some more hair! And you look so handsome in your new clothes!”

Both versions of Michael blushed and hummed in unison. “He knows it too. He likes to check himself out in the mirror while I’m getting ready in the morning.”

Mickey squealed and hid his face in Michael’s neck while Michael connected his thumb drive to a nearby computer. His face showed no signs of emotion, but Skyler could tell he was excited about something.

“What’s got you so riled up today?”

Michael sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth and his eyes remained unblinking and focused, his expression illuminated by the soft blue light coming from the screen.

“Oh, nothing in particular.”

She hummed disbelievingly and went back to work on her list of first aid scenarios. So far, she’d only come up with two. She could use her forcefield to protect the victim and herself while she tended to the wounds, and she can also turn herself and the injured invisible to safely remove them from a dangerous situation. She furrowed her brows and tried to come up with a third scenario when Mickey suddenly trilled loudly, causing her to jump and almost drop her laptop onto the floor.

“What the f... you good, little bit?”

“Mickey!”

“Yeah, we’re good. See you later, Sky!”  

Michael jumped up and grabbed his thumb drive, his printed documents, and his bag and took off running toward the door, much to the dismay of the librarian. Sky narrowed her eyes and stared at the spot Michael was sitting and took out her phone, sending a quick text to Michelle.

“somethings up with mikey. can you meet me at pablos?”

[selanpike]

Unfinished Trollcops thing

I remembered I had this thing, and figured I’d post it because it’s good, but it is never going to get finished.

I had this idea that I wanted to write a big Trollcops AU fic, from Team Sleuth’s perspective, but it sort of collapsed under its own weight. I wanted to include all the trolls, plus the kids, PLUS Team Sleuth (including the girls), the Crew, Kingpin.... I couldn’t find things for all these characters to actually contribute, and also, I’m not great at writing all the trolls!!

But I did write the first three chapters, which were the introductions for Sleuth, Pickle and Ace respectively, so here u go. Abandoned Trollcops fic.

Chapter One

Spending any amount of time with Spades Slick is dangerous at best, you knew that. You also knew that you were making things worse by spending so much time with him, but you were counting on bruises and stab wounds, not this.

The interrogation room is sickeningly bright. The lights make it impossible to know what time it is outside. You know it was close to sunrise when they brought you in, but you’re not sure how long you’ve been here. Even the ticking of a clock would be a welcome reprieve from this boredom. You wish they’d just throw the book at you already.

The door finally opens, creaking a little as it does so. Apparently the Alternia Police Department can’t even afford a can of WD-40. Two officers walk in. You recognize them from your various interactions with the police in the past few years--Sergeants Terezi Pyrope and Sollux Captor. Sergeant Pyrope pulls up a chair and sits down at the table across from you, lacing her fingers together. You can’t read her expression through her opaque red glasses. You’ve heard that she’s blind, but she seems to stare right through you.

“Problem Thleuth.” Sergeant Captor reads from your file, standing behind his partner. “Thirty-five yearth old. Prothpitian. Failed out of polithe academy at age twenty-four. Ith that right?”

“I wouldn’t say failed,” you say, choosing your words carefully. “I jus’ didn’t like how y’all--I mean. I wasn’t a fan ‘f the bureaucracy.”

“Is that so,” Terezi says.

You nod.

“So you dropped out and became a private investigator,” she says. “Is that right?”

“You know the answer to that,” you say, rubbing your temples. “Don’t pretend like we’re strangers.”

The silence that breaks out is painful. You run a hand through your hair, quietly wondering if your hat is okay, wherever they’ve taken it. Why the hell did they take your hat? What sort of monsters would mess with a man’s hat? This sort of shit is why you could never cut it as a cop.

“You’re charged with being an accessory to arson,” Pyrope tells you.

“Do me a favor ‘n arrest th’ guy who actually did th’ arson-ing,” you mutter.

“The alleged perpetrator is one Thpades Thlick,” Captor says, reading the file. “Damn, man. Thpades, really?”

“I ain’t an accessory t’ nothin’ that asshole does,” you say, slamming a hand on the table. “I was tryin’a stop that goddamn arson!”

“We have multiple witnethheth who thay they thaw you making out with the thuthpect before the fire broke out,” Captor says.

You wilt under their stares.

“I was tryin’a distract ‘im,” you say, weakly. “He’s a dangerous customer, after all. ‘S the ol’ honey pot maneuver, y’know?”

“It didn’t work,” Pyrope says, grinning her sharp-toothed grin.

“N--no,” you admit.

Sergeant Captor hands Pyrope the file, and she makes a show of flipping through it. It’s a pointless gesture since you know damn well she can’t read it. You try to look at what’s written on the pages, but she pulls the file away so she can give it a good long sniff. You slump over, leaning your arms on the table, thinking about how fucked you are, and what you’re going to do to Slick to get back at him for this. They’ll put you away for ages for this, you just know it. The APD have never been fans of yours, and you’re sure they’ve been waiting for the opportunity to put you away.

You jump when Pyrope snaps the folder shut. She puts it down on the table, sliding it to the edge.

“I’m going to admit,” she says, slowly. “That, considering your history of making trouble, we took this opportunity to get a warrant to search your office.”

“You--you what?!”

“Well, the thusthpect is thtill on the looth,” Captor explains, and you wonder if you punch him hard enough if he’ll stop with that goddamn lisp. “We had to check and thee if there were any clueth ath to hith whereaboutth.”

“And what did you find, huh?” You’re raging mad now, and you aren’t bothering to hide it. “A whole bunch of jack shit. Or are you going to charge me with possession of a deadly writing implement or something?”

The two of them stare at you for a moment, and then Pyrope pulls a photo from her jacket. She places it in front of you. It shows your evidence wall, a large corkboard you’ve set up in your office to collect clues in the murder you’re investigating.

“So, what? You gonna charge me with murderin’ th’ District Attorney now?”

Pyrope and Captor look at each other, then back at you.

“We’ve been investigating the DA’s death too,” Pyrope says. “But we haven’t turned up a thing.”

“And here you are,” Captor adds. “With evidenthe we never even thought to look for.”

You grin a little. “Oh darlin’s, are you jealous?”

“We know Kingpin was behind it,” Pyrope says, and her voice is uncharacteristically devoid of humor. “Like he’s behind every other high-profile murder in this city. I’m sick of him making a mockery of this force.”

“Stop bein’ such a joke, then.”

She stands up, slamming her hands on the table. “Take this seriously!”

You raise your eyebrows and wait for her to get to the point.

“We’re willing to offer you a deal,” she says. “We’ll ignore this latest… indiscretion, and you’ll help us put Kingpin behind bars.”

You laugh.

You can’t believe they’re actually coming to you for help. How many times have they impeded your investigations? How many times have they told you to buzz off, leave this to the real cops? How many times have they told judges not to accept your evidence, or straight up confiscated your evidence and claimed they found it themselves? And now they want you to help them?

“Sorry, sorry,” you say, still chuckling. “I musta misheard. Y’ couldn’t possibly be askin’ for my help. I mean, I ain’t a cop or nothin’. I ain’t got no authority.”

“Don’t be a jackathh,” Captor snaps.

“This is in your best interest,” Pyrope says. “You are, after all, still under arrest.”

She does sorta have you, there.

---

You have your hat back when Sergeant Captor takes you outside, to the back of the department. The sun has definitely risen by now, and you’re treated to all the sounds of the city waking up.

“Thith whole thing ith completely off the record,” Captor tells you as he closes the door behind him. “Honethtly, I think it’th dumb ath hell, but at leatht if you get into trouble, nobody’ll blame uth.”

“As long as I don’t trail it back to you,” you add.

“Obviouthlly,” Captor says. He pulls out his phone and types into it. “But we need one of ourth with you. Making thure you’re not fucking up too bad.”

“I’d really prefer we skipped that part,” you say, fixing your hair and trying to find just that right angle at which to wear your hat. “I don’t need no cops following me everywhere. It’ll slow me down.”

“Think of it like exthtra security,” Captor says, still typing into his phone.

The door opens and a short troll walks over, hands shoved in his pockets. He isn’t wearing a uniform, save for a badge he has hanging on a lanyard over a ratty red hoodie. He approaches you and Captor, then squints at you.

“I know you,” he says.

“I get around,” you reply.

“You’re that drunk fucknut that’s always making a scene in Crew territory.”

“Guilty as charged. Y’all’re jus’ gettin’ me on ev’rythin’ t’day!” You nudge Captor. “Sorry officer, looks like y’ gotta charge me for another crime.”

Captor groans and rolls his eyes. He slaps the newcomer on the back and mutters, “Good fucking luck,” before heading back inside.

You wait for the door to click shut before you say, brightly as you can manage, “The name’s Problem Sleuth. Solicitations for my services are--”

“I’m sorry, do I look like someone who gives a fuck?”

You drop the friendly act. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Vantas,” He says. “Karkat Vantas. I’m the undercover guy. I figure I got stuck with this because they figured I could tell the Captain I’m investigating you.”

“‘N I’m sure she’ll buy it,” you add.

“Yeah.” He sniffs, and looks you over in more detail. “I don’t think I’m the only one they’re gonna hand you. I know for sure they said they’re putting my partner, Nepeta, on this case too.”

You rub your face. “Great. Good. More cops, beautiful.”

He asks for your phone, and you exchange numbers. You then tell him to find something else to do with his day, because you’re going home and going the fuck to bed. This investigation can wait until tomorrow.

---

It’s well after 8am by the time you get home, and all you want to do is sleep for ten years. Pickle and Ace will bitch about you not being at the office, but you can’t bring yourself to care. They’re already going to bitch when they hear about this new arrangement, so what’s a little more?

Unfortunately when you walk in, you find Spades Slick rummaging through your refrigerator.

You toss your keys onto the table and sit down. He turns around, cold pizza hanging out of his mouth, and slams the fridge door shut behind him.

“I figured they’d have ya’ in th’ slammer a few weeks,” he explains through a mouthful of pizza. “So y’ wouldn’t mind if I ate yer food ‘fore it went bad.”

“Y’ couldn’t possibly post bail for me?”

“Fuck no. Who do y’ think y’ are, my Crew?” He moves his mug of coffee from the counter to the kitchen table, and then sits down across from you. “So who’d y’ call. Th’ stickbug? Did ‘e hafta give up his booze fund for th’ month?”

“No, nothin’ like that,” you say, reaching over and taking the coffee. Obviously sleep isn’t happening anytime soon, so what the hell. “They let me off.”

There’s a loud clatter as Slick’s chair falls over, and a knife is at your throat. It always amazes you how fast he is. You raise your hands in a conciliatory manner as he snarls at you.

“You fuckin’ snitched, didn’t you?”

“Slick, my most precious of darlin’s,” you say. “I would snitch on you all day, ev’ry day. But that ain’t what happened.”

“Bullshit!” The knife presses harder against your neck, and you feel blood beading along the blade. “Th’ APD don’ jus’ let people go, ‘specially not when they been with me. Th’ fuck did you do?”

“They hired me.”

He looks at you like you just sprouted a second head. He doesn’t move the knife at all.

You go on. “They’re investigatin’ Kingpin. They wanted my help.”

He finally pulls the knife away, but he doesn’t sit back down. “Great. Jus’ what I need.”

“Yeah, Slick,” you say, sipping the coffee. You’re not surprised that it tastes like shit. Slick probably isn’t used to brewing his own. That’s what he has lackeys for. “It’s exactly what you need. You want Kingpin outta th’ way? Jus’ let me ‘n the cops handle it.”

“Kingpin’s mine,” he growls.

“‘Scuse you.” You put the mug down. “‘M sorry, but did you know th’ stiff we found last week? No. Fuck no, y’ didn’t, ‘cause he was th’ law, ‘n he was my fuckin’ friend, not yours. Kingpin’s mine. He owns this fuckin’ apartment, my fuckin’ office, he’s got me by th’ balls without even tryin’ ‘n he murdered th’ DA ‘n none’f that’s got anythin’ t’ do with you.”

Slick narrows his eye at you, before pocketing his knife and stealing the mug back. He chugs the coffee down.

“Fuck you,” he says, slamming the mug back onto the table. “I’ll do it my fuckin’ self.”

“Right,” you say as Slick grabs his jacket and makes for the door. “So I guess I’ll see ya’ tomorrow, then?”

He grunts in response, and slams the door behind him as he leaves.

You know he’ll be back. Partly because you know he can’t resist making your life miserable--the two of you have been caught up in your fucked up little dance for too long, and he’s not about to give that up--but also partly because you know he can’t take down Kingpin on his own. He’s tried for months to do things his way, to just murder his rival crime boss, but Kingpin is careful, and he’s elusive. In the end, the best way to go about bringing him down is to turn the city against him, to get the law on your side. If you can get an arrest warrant on him you can have the whole of the city’s resources helping you track him down. You could freeze his assets, plaster his face on every bulletin board in town. You’ll leave him no place to hide.

You’re going to do it. Your name is Problem Sleuth, and you are going to bring down Mobster Kingpin’s criminal empire.

The APD are definitely going to steal the credit when it’s all said and done, though, and that fact makes you sick to your stomach.

---

Chapter Two

> Be Pickle Inspector.

You feel as though you’re being punished for Sleuth’s poor life choices.

Nepeta Leijon is a new hire at the APD. She, and her friend Karkat, used to be common criminals. Pickpockets, for the most part, although you remember seeing a few other items on their rap sheet. You’d encountered them once or twice. Never up close--their crimes were never complicated enough to necessitate your intervention--but they’d show up sometimes as witnesses.

Uncooperative witnesses.

You were aware of their being hired. Something about the APD seeing them as valuable assets for undercover investigations. You see the logic, but you’ve never been a fan of undercover operations. You stand out too much. You’re too tall, too gaunt, too recognizable. Your preferred method has always been surveillance. You set up cameras and wiretaps all over the city, in all the seedier bars and meeting spaces. Nothing escapes your omniscient ogle.

Nothing except Kingpin. He’s careful. He doesn’t discuss anything important on the phone, least of all the phones in any of his businesses. You can’t figure out where he lives or where he holds any of his most secret of meetings. Even if you could, he always has too many guards patrolling his places, making it impossible for you to sneak in and plant anything.

It was infuriating before, but now with the death of the DA it’s got you on the end of your rope. And now they want you to babysit this rookie cop? How the hell are you supposed to get anything done?

You asked Sleuth what he did to invite this upon you, but he won’t tell you. You suspect Slick was involved. Slick is always involved these days.

You have a solution to this problem, though. Well, not to the Sleuth-Slick problem, there’s no solving that, but the Nepeta problem was easy: let her work on transcribing your recordings so the two of you can finish them twice as fast. It leaves you with just enough free time to make tea and doodle in the margins of your notes.

You’re halfway through a wonderful drawing of a horse wearing a bonnet when your phone rings. You have specific ringtones for every person who calls you often enough, and you put your head in your hands when you hear this one. Nepeta notices, and watches you as you sigh and answer the phone.

“I’m busy enough,” you whine into the receiver.

“That’s a shame,” says the smooth, dark voice of Diamonds Droog. “And here I had something I thought you’d be interested in.”

“What is it?” you ask.

“Meet me on the corner of 34th and Feldings,” he says.

“D--do I have to?” you say, clicking your pen. “Can’t you just, just tell me? On the phone? Like a normal person? I p-promise the line’s secure.”

“34th and Feldings,” he says again. “Now.”

He hangs up. You put your phone down, put your head on your desk, and groan loudly. Why is this your life? All you wanted to do today was transcribe audio logs and not interact with anybody. You even packed a lunch so you wouldn’t have to go out and talk to any fast food workers.

Without your realizing it, Nepeta has picked up your phone and unlocked it. You make a mental note to change the passkey and not let her see you input it next time. “Diamonds Dickhead?” She makes an exaggeratedly surprised face, and puts your phone back on the desk. “Is that who I think it is?”

You stand up and fix your tie. “I have to go out.”

“Oh! Let me get my coat.”

“No.” You grab your own coat, put it on, and start buttoning it. You make a deliberate effort to put the buttons in the right holes, and you’re secretly glad you haven’t had much to drink yet today. “S--stay here and, and keep transcribing.”

“I’m paws-itively sure that’s super important,” she says, putting extra emphasis on her pun. You’ve noticed that she likes cat puns. In less infuriating circumstances, you’d think it was cute. “But I’m not here to help you so much as to watch you.”

You smooth your hair out and put your hat on. “That’s a terrible idea. N-no, you should just stay here, and not tell a soul I went out. U--unless I don’t come back. Then tell Sleuth. Understood?”

She grins a catlike grin and says, “Nope!”

Droog is never going to let you hear the end of this.

---

34th street is where his tailor is, so Diamonds Droog didn’t have to go out of his way to meet you. It is also clear on the other side of town relative to your office, so you had to go especially out of your way to meet him.

This is par for the course, and you make an effort not to look exhausted when you get there.

He’s waiting for you on a street bench outside his tailor’s, smoking one of his expensive cigarettes. You approach him, but don’t look at him directly. You stand behind the bench, facing away from him, pretending to read a bulletin board. Nepeta follows along, but she sneaks a few glances at Droog when she thinks you aren’t looking.

He breathes out a long puff of smoke before speaking. “Is the detective business so bad that you had to take up babysitting?”

“I n--needed the second job to, to support my tea habit,” you respond.

“That’s a funny way to say whiskey.”

“Oh, no. I steal that all from m-my boss. You see, he has a wealthy patron with a vested interest in, in keeping him too drunk to make good decisions.” You lean back onto the bench, crossing your arms. “I’m s-sure you don’t know anything about that.”

“I’m sure I don’t. Can she leave?”

“I don’t know.” You look down at Nepeta. “C-can you leave?”

“I can, yeah,” she says.

“A--are you going to?”

She shakes her head.

“Sorry,” you say to Droog. “It’s a, a long story.”

He pauses and takes another drag from his cigarette. He taps some ash out on the ground, then reaches into his jacket pocket. You have just enough time to hope that he isn’t pulling out a weapon with which to kill the witness you’ve brought along, before he pulls out a couple of photographs. He passes them to you. They all depict various old-looking artifacts. You’re pretty sure you’ve seen some of these in the museum.

“All of these have gone missing in the past month,” Droog explains. “Obvious signs of a break-in, but no evidence pointing to a culprit.”

“D--do you think Kingpin was involved?”

“Absolutely.”

You scrutinize the photos further, and notice that all the artifacts share a theme. Every one of them either depicts a horrorterror, or symbols associated with said terrors. “This, um. It looks like your sort of thing.”

“Hardly,” he says. “The four of us get our magic from the Terrors, but we don’t need trinkets like this to channel Their powers. They give it to us freely.” He illustrates this by producing a small purple flame in his hand. “Kingpin, though. He’s Prospitian, like you. He doesn’t have the connection to the Terrors that we Dersites have.”

You think about that as you pocket the photos. “Do you think he’s trying to make a pact with the Terrors?”

“Perhaps,” he says, extinguishing the flame. “It’s possible he’s seen what we can do and wants that power for himself. I doubt he’ll be successful.”

You wonder whether it would be possible for a Prospitian to make a pact with the dark gods. You’re almost tempted to let Kingpin try, just to get an answer. It’s not your best idea. If nothing else, these robberies give you one more thread you can follow in your attempts to get any charge at all to stick to him.

“I’ll look into this,” you tell him. “Call me if--if you hear anything.”

“As usual,” he says, before standing up.

He smooths out his suit, throws his cigarette to the ground and snubs it out with his heel. Without once looking at you, he strolls away. Nepeta waits until he’s out of earshot before she says, “You know, Mister Detective, you don’t act much like a detective.”

“H--how’s that?”

“All the wiretapping, and purr-tive meetings with shady guys,” she says. “You’re more like a spy.”

You let out a small laugh. “Don’t say that one to the others. They’ll start coming up with spy names for me.”

“Pickle Inspector’s okay for a spy name,” she says. You start walking, and she follows you. She has to trot a little to match your walking stride. “Spies don’t put ‘spy’ right in the name! It’s too conspicuous.”

You’re enjoying this flight of fancy, despite yourself. “I’ll need to imagine up some clever gadgets, to uh, to get me out of pinches.”

“And you’ll need a car,” she says. “A fancy one, that turns into a submeowrine.”

“And a, a dangerous love interest,” you add.

“Oh? You don’t have that already?” She grins up at you. “You and Diamonds Dickhead had an awful lot of chemistry. You aren’t caliginous?”

“What?” You shove your hands in your pockets and look towards the street. “No. Obviously not. Th-th-that’s just, just gross, ew.”

She giggles, and you don’t like the knowing look she gives you. You reach into your jacket, produce a flask, and take a long gulp. It doesn’t help your mood any. It just reminds you of the last time Droog caught you drinking in the middle of the day, and had the audacity to call you “pathetic”, as if lots of people don’t drink before noon on a weekday.

She’s still giving you that look. Fuck.

“A--anyway, the, the case,” you stutter, trying to get back on the subject of work.

“I know somebody,” she says. “That might help.”

“Who?”

She shrugs. “Old friend of mine. She knows all sorts of things about old stuff like what got stolen.”

“That would be, it’d be really useful,” you say.

“I’ll call her when she gets off work,” Nepeta says, adjusting her hat. “In the meantime we can get back to listening to your wiretaps. The part I was on was pretty juicy.”

You’re relieved she’s so easily given up the subject of Droog and gotten back to the task at hand. She might, despite your initial misgivings, be useful to have around.

“I’ve also started a shipping chart for everyone you’re surveilling,” she adds.

After she explains to you what a shipping chart is, you are simultaneously horrified, and intrigued at the new avenues this gives you when cataloguing and interpreting your data.

---

Chapter three.

> Be Ace Dick.

Once upon a time, you were a police detective. You like to give Sleuth shit over his lack of occupational experience, but he seems to think that his two weeks of police academy are all he could need. For someone who brags about his charisma, he really doesn’t understand the importance of making connections.

You haven’t been working on the Kingpin case with Sleuth and Pickles. You think they’re out of their league. Kingpin’s ruled this city since Sleuth and Pickles were still in grade school, they didn’t stand a chance. So while they ran around on their fool’s errand, you were out hitting the pavement, solving more sensible cases and keeping the agency afloat. Sergeant Pyrope was a rookie when you left the force, but she remembers you. Whenever you have a case that requires some APD know-how, you hit her up. There’s a little diner next door to the station that’s popular with the coppers, and that’s where she meets you to give you the low-down on some two-bit drug dealer who skipped out on a debt.

You buy her a second coffee once she’s said her piece and you’ve finished writing it all down. Then you tuck your notepad back into your coat pocket and say, “So I heard y’ gave Sleuth a job.”

She shrugs, grinning. “It should be worth a laugh. He always says he can do better than us, so let’s see it!”

You shake your head. “Here ‘m always tryin’ to tell him to stay off that case, and you’re just eggin’ him on.”

“So you’re not going to help?” she asks, before taking a sip of coffee.

“Hell no,” you say. “I quit the force to get away from that malarkey. You at least payin’ him?”

She laughs. “Do you think he’s going to ask?”

“He damn well will, because I’m goin’ to tell him to,” you say, jabbing a finger at her. She can’t see the gesture but she usually can tell that you’re doing one. You’re not sure if she hears the movement or somehow smells it. You don’t know how her weird sense of smell works. “We got rent to pay, missy. If he’s runnin’ around chasin’ Kingpin he isn’t doing other cases.”

“We’ll have to set up a collection,” she says. “I’ll put a little can in the break room. ‘Pay Mister Candy Corn’s rent’.”

Detective Vriska Serket walks over, whacking your hat off your head as she passes you to sit next to Terezi. “Can’t be too much, right? Doesn’t he live in a cardboard box?”

“That sounds right,” Terezi says. “But in this city that’s what, 500 bucks a month?”

“Depends on how new the box is, probably,” Vriska responds.

Terezi nods. “Either way, Kingpin owns it so it is absolutely drafty and leaks in the rain.”

“I’m not opposed to makin’ jabs at my dumbass not-boss,” you say as you straighten your hat out. “But I’m serious. You’re payin’ him. And Pickles too, if you got him involved.”

“We do,” Terezi says. “He’s got poor Nepeta bored to tears.”

“That’s a lie,” Vriska says, taking Terezi’s coffee and putting it in front of herself. “She started writing fanfiction about those counterfeiters on seventieth street. I’m going to try and convince her to submit it as evidence.”

“While that is hilarious, don’t. The Captain doesn’t need to know about any of this.” Terezi takes her coffee back and chugs down the remainder before Vriska can make another attempt. She coughs.

“Now there’s an idea,” you say. “If you don’t pay up, I’ll go let Captain Peixes know what you’ve been up to.”

“Why Ace,” Terezi says, leaning forward. “Are you threatening me?”

“Might be.”

“Maybe if the Captain finds out she’ll get embarrassed enough to put me on the case,” Vriska says.

“Gettin’ tired of solvin’ murders?” you ask.

She throws her arms up in the air. “The only interesting crimes are the mob ones! All the regular crimes are just dumb shit, there’s usually a witness or a camera or something, there’s no challenge!”

“I thought you liked racking up wins,” Terezi said.

“I fucking love racking up wins,” Vriska says. “But I want ones worth my time. Kingpin’s the biggest baddie there is, I gotta get in on that.”

“Maybe you should let her follow Sleuth instead of that angry kid,” you say to Terezi.

She snickers. “No, I’d give her to Tootsie Roll Frankenstein.”

Vriska slaps the table. “You think you’re kidding around but I’d love having that guy work for me! He’ll do all the tedious boring shit so I have more time to pound pavement and beat in faces.”

“I’m glad you appreciate Pickles’ special sort of appeal.” You stand up, straightening out your suit. “Thanks for the tip, Pyrope. Now please stop takin’ advantage of my teammates.”

She salutes at you, and it’s dripping with irony. “No, I don’t think I will. You’re welcome to come get taken advantage of, though!”

“Fat chance,” you scoff, getting out your wallet. You pull out a few bills, enough to pay for your coffee and Terezi’s, and drop them on the table. “Take care of yourselves, ladies.”

“Tell Sleuth if he gets evicted I just got a washing machine and he might fit in the box if he gets on all fours!” Vriska calls as you leave the diner. You hear the two girls snickering behind you.

They laugh, but you know the APD’s pay is shit. You do much better for yourself working as a private dick. The lack of benefits are a kick in the nuts, but at least you don’t have to deal with all the paperwork and politics, and every now and then you got a client who paid you a ridiculous sum for some dumbass thing. Sleuth could do as well as you. He’s certainly got the sleuthing skills for it. He just keeps wasting his time worrying too much about justice and too little about the real world.

You figure he’ll learn eventually. Kids like him always do.

(i can’t remember if this ace chapter was even finished but EYY THERE U GO)

[oh-mother-of-darkness]

asks (40)

Anonymous said: Holy frick that is so encouraging and I needed that so much bc I literally visited my college to measure my dorm room and drove home in tears bc I panicked myself into a frenzy about whether or not everything leading me to this point has been a mistake and what if I fail and ruin my life before it even starts (I have since calmed down a little) so your encouragement was much needed & is much appreciated

I’m glad I could help <3 <3 <3 Good luck at school! I’m sure you’ll kick its ass

areverieofchaosdreams said: It's Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day. So thank you for all your amazing stories!!!

Oh goodness I’m all a blushin :’)

Anonymous said: *HAPPY WRITER APPRECIATION DAY* Send this to someone whose talent has blown you away, who you'd like to encourage to keep on writing always, and who you'd like to thank for working their butt off to provide fandom members with breathtaking stories to consume! THANK YOU :D

Aw thank you!

Anonymous said: Hi! I Hope you're well! Do you still take fic requests? Because I really miss Colin Wilkes and I'd love to a story of him with your writing!

Unfortunately I don’t often take requests these days, but I’ll definitely keep Colin in mind!

dirtycherrypie said: hey! applying for WE for the R&D department (may or may not be aware of producing bat gadgets)

dirtycherrypie said: SHit forgot my name - Bea, at your service!

[Bruce Wayne voice] hired

tigers-and-weeds said: Literally just fell down the rabbit hole on your tumblr for the last 12-24 hours. I am in love with with you headcannons and fics! The angst feeds my soul... So I figured I would request: anything angsty with Dick and Damian please please please

Okay again I don’t usually take fic requests BUT I like me some angst so the odds that this will eventually happen.... are extremely high. I’ll try to remember to dedicate the next one to you :) And thank you!

math--ew said: I went on a little birthday vacation to california and I've never been to the beach before. I was bending down to grab a pretty shell and this huge wave knocked me face first into the sand. Like, five people saw and laghed but I got the shell so I guess it's a win win.

Duuuude back at Lake Michigan last month the same thing happened to me. I was taking care of my little sister and her five year old friend, so I was so busy making sure they were okay that the wave plowed me halfway across the beach

babybatbrat said: when i was in ap physics i once spent an entire study period in my physics teacher's room working on one problem. as far as i could tell i was doing all of the work correctly and had all the initial values right so i was racking my brain trying to figure out why i wasn't getting the right answer. the third time i went up to my teacher and asked for help he told me to start at the beginning and walk him through my process bc he couldn't tell why i was getting it wrong either (1)

babybatbrat said: (2) so i start the problem and explain how i got through all the values - "okay so the rod is 5 inches long and half of 5 is 3 and a half -" and i stopped there bc it occurred to me that 3.5 is not half of 5. "it's what?" My teacher asks. i put my head in my hands and stood there for a minute before picking up my work and walking to the back of the classroom while he laughed, bc i had just spent 45 minutes convinced that half of 5 was 3.5 and not, in fact, 2.5, and that was the only thing wrong

Honestly??? Relatable

babybatbrat said: One time i woke up at six in the morning to hear the neighbor's dog barking and instantly realized that meant my dog had jumped the fence, so i went racing outside and sprinted down the street to catch her. when i did i picked her up and turned around to go home and then saw my neighbor standing on their front porch, realized i was in only an oversized spiderman tshirt and snowman pajama shorts, holding a twenty pound labrador and thats how i met my new neighbors

Incredible...... 10/10.....

thrakaboom said: Not a funny story,but two days ago at comic con I met Tom King and he showed me a picture of his kids while he was signing my books

Well hey that’s pretty cool

Anonymous said: I adore your Tumblr. It was a wonderful way to get into the Batfamily fanbase; prior, I thought that there was only one Batman and a single Robin, dearie me was I wrong. And those stories you write, just great. The Headcanons are just as enjoyable. As for Batman, that has come to be a sibling enjoyment. Thank you for your contributions and existence!

!!!!!! Welcome to the crew!

frnkensteingrrrlz said: hey!!! i just went through ur reasons to be happy tag and!! i'm so so happy bc of it (esp the damian hcs, they're spot on imo and he's my favourite) so i hope u have a good day!!!

Thanks! I am having a good day today! Although I’m sure it’s been a long time since you sent this :////

Anonymous said: HELLO I have just discovered and binge-read all of your fics with my homeboy Damian in them, and just wanted to pop by and say that I love you & you are my hero & you write my boy so well so thank u and I hope your life is blessed & you achieve your wildest hopes & dreams

My day is made :D

badfaith00 said: Best batman storyline you've ever read ?

Ooooooh hm I’m mighty attached to n52 Batman and Robin? Particularly the first storyline, but the second is also fantastic

Anonymous said: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHAMELESSLY REBLOGGING YOUR OWN WORK BC I HADNT SEEN IT BEFORE AND ITS HONESTLY SO PHENOMENAL ITS GOING ON MY LIST OF ALL TIME FAVORITES THANK U AND BLESS U

THANK YOU!!! THAT ONE IS MY FAVORITE AND I AM VERY PROUD OF IT

onwardmotley said: In today's Detective Comics someone finally told Bruce and co that Tim's alive. They didn't explain where he is, or how to get him back, but hey. It might've had more impact if anyone was seen actually mourning Tim and it wasn't just played as him being in cosmic time out, but at least it should end soon idk. Hopefully.

Tim Drake? It’s been years since I heard that name.....

Finally. Thank goodness.

Anonymous said: Idk if I prefer your soul crushing angst or your heartwarming fluff... actually I like to suffer so I'll stay with angst lol

Y’all seeing this? Anon gave me permission. Can’t yell at me next time because it won't be my fault (thanks babe :))

Anonymous said: for music, idk what kind of music u like so here is variety: St. Vincent - Paris is Burning, Sea Wolf - Dear Fellow Traveler (tbh everything by Sea Wolf is great), Dirt Poor Robins - Eleanor Rigby, Between Wind and Water- HAEL, Ellem - Kings and Queens and Vagabonds, The Rigs - Rise & Fall, Tally Hall - Light and Night, and Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands that Thieve.

Thank you! I’m excited to listen to these! I’ll start right now!

Anonymous said: 1) What are the good comics to read for Batfamily stuff (from any point in time) and 2) what are the best Jason Todd comics? Thanks!

Okay for Jason I would definitely start with the big ones, which are A Death In the Family and Under the Red Hood. After that you could try Red Hood: the Lost Days and Countdown to Final Crisis. I would avoid the n52 series until you have a good enough grasp of the character to recognize bad writing when you see it. 

For the generalized batfam.... that’s pretty broad. My personal favorites are Red Robin, Batgirl (2009), and both B&R series. If you have more specific questions, you should IM me! I promise I’m better about answering those than asks

yellowwallsbluesky said: Have you heard Swooner by The Zolas? I've really been jamming to it lately

Listening to it right now! Sounds like a bop so far :)

Anonymous said: Hidden citizens paint it black 💜

Much obliged!

Anonymous said: Harry styles "sign of the times".

[adds to list] thank you!

neo669 said: I MISS CASA OLE!! Sorry just read that you lived in Bryan/College Station and I used to live there as well. It's kinda hard to find people that even know that it exists. But I'm sure you can kick law schools butt. You got this!

Yooooooo I miss cstat too :((((

palliddark said: Adalgiza, and I'll be a translator (English to Brazilian Portuguese)

[Bruce Wayne voice] also hired

maeofthedead said: I love your headcannons and now I sort of want to cry thank

Excellent that is the exact target response 

Anonymous said: Love your rant in the tags about the pizza making I'm laughing so hard

Listen..... I have strong feelings

Anonymous said: Did you hear they're making an omnibus of Tomasi's entire run on Batman & Robin?? I just heard and now I kinda want to get this massive book in honor of my favorite batkid and the series that made me love him so much

Man I already have all the individual volumes but if I didn’t......

sonicboom00724601 said: Hi. :) Nice headcanon. :)

I’m not sure which one you’re talking about, but thank you! You're real sweet

Anonymous said: can you maybe write an interaction between Wonder Woman and Captain America? I absolutely adore your style and would love to see your take on it.

Hmmmm I don’t really have a good enough grasp of Captain America’s characterization to try that one :////

Anonymous said: i tried to kill on mosquito that was on my ceiling by slamming it with a book but mosquito was on the move so i bounced swiftly and jammed both my wrist and thumb and now my existence is Pain. also my thumbs swelling and looks purple, so that's nice

Oh shit anon you good???

daziy said: Do we know who Barbara's mother usually is?

Yeah! In her original version, Babs had a birth mom and an adopted mom. She was originally Jim’s niece, so her birth mom’s name was Thelma Gordon. After the adoption, her parents were Jim and Barbara Gordon, with her adopted mother being her namesake. So two Barbara Gordons.

I think for awhile the canon was that her mother died in a car crash, but the current version has her still alive. She left Jim when Babs was young, taking her son (Babs’s brother) with her. James Gordon (the son) turned out to be a serial killer. 

Barbara Gordon Sr. and James Gordon Jr. both appeared in the n52 Batgirl series during the Death of the Family arc. There’s also a very good story about James from the Dickbats period. That one’s called The Black Mirror, if I’m not mistaken?

Anonymous said: Hi! What do you think of the upcoming metal event? Dick and Damian seem to have a big role in it ( I hope Jason is involved too but there's still no sign of it)

Hmmmm I don’t know that I have an opinion just yet, but as always, I hope to be pleasantly surprised 

Anonymous said: bless you are your wonderful tagging system. know that i may have avoided death because of how easy it was to f ind the thing I wanted in your tags. bless

Oh goodness anon I hope you’re not serious about almost dying.... but thanks?

Anonymous said: hi amy! would u say that damians narrative is written as a child abuse one? like there are definitely many allusions to it but its also not as explicit as say, cassandra or rose. like how much of it would u chalk up to comic world dynamics and how much to actual abuse? also would u consider jason to also be a case of this?

Oh I have very strong opinions about the role of abuse in Damian’s narrative. It’s absolutely there, and the effects are staggeringly large. There is no doubt in my mind that the league was an abusive environment, and I can’t justify some of the things Bruce did either.

I think I would say the same thing for Jason, if not quite as strongly. I definitely think that some of the things that happened to Jason as a child shaped his story later on, but less of those were abuse than outside circumstances. The n52 takes a different track on that one, I think, but I don’t put much stock in that characterization. 

Anonymous said: has jason forgiven bruce for not killing joker? if so, what made him?

Unlikely. They get along better these days, but I would argue that comes from poor characterization of Bruce, not an actual resolution process. 

mellenabrave said: My mom accidentlly threw my Damian doll away (╥_╥)

Tossed in the garbage by yet another parent--

Anonymous said: Whoa where'd you get that bat and oracle shirt you're wearing in your necklace pic? It's so cool! (The necklace is also gorgeous!)

Shoot I think it was from Redbubble? But I can’t find it now

Anonymous said: Omg that necklace was so cool!!! Kudos to the maker of it!! Also I really like your top!!

Thank you <3

[tubbotums]

A Serious Talk

*This talk is very long and ranty. I understand not everyone wants to see that on their feed, and I know you guys don’t come here to see personal biznasty. I’m going to cut this off so you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to, but I please ask you do so if you follow my blog for the most part. I feel it’s important for you guys to see this, and I hope it’ll clear up any questions you might have for me and also give you a little insight on who I am. Thank you for reading in advance if you do so, and I hope you have a great day. <3*

It’s time I sit you all down and have a talk with you guys, my lovely followers, roleplay partners and friends. This is a talk I feel like I’ve needed to have for a while with all of you, just to be honest with you guys about me and what I feel about this blog. I think honesty is the best policy, and getting this out there is something that I feel like needs to be done.

So, as all of you are probably aware at this point, I change muses on this blog as quickly as I change pairs of socks. Some come, some go, some stay for a while and then fade away and end up getting booted. For a while, I really felt like I had a good list of muses to use, and I actually really thought that my current batch was nice. That being said, now that I take a more serious look at them, I realize that there are a few problems with it. A lot of my muse picks are for characters that I really love and want to see fat. characters that can really fit a specific thing I’m trying to do when I feel it a certain day. However, that’s the problem:

My muse list isn’t flexible

There are a couple of muses that get attention by the masses (heh puns), such as Yang or Mia and most recently Momo (seriously y’all love her so much). But that leaves another half that I’m not satisfied with, the “niche” characters if you will. These are the characters that when I’m in a certain mood I’ll be like “hey I wanna play them”, but they aren’t ones that’ll catch anyone’s attention. I’ve come to notice around here that Fate, Touhou, DanganRonpa, and a couple of other series are very popular around here, while others such as Fairy Tail or Skullgirls aren’t, and that’s perfectly fine. I have no problem with that because quite honestly the girls in all those series are on a god level of cute/perfect for these situations. But unfortunately for now, that leaves me stuck. I’ve never watched a Fate series, played a match in Touhou or touched a DanganRonpa game, but I’ve watched 200+ episodes of Fairy Tail and played the mobile game of Skullgirls to basically its entirety at this point. I don’t have a lot of muses that are flexible with things people know and that I know, which really does stink at times. I should know better than this at this point, but quite honestly I don’t because part of me thinks it’s on me for not being a good enough writer and keeping you guys interested in my muses. So, at this point I’m going to make clear who the muses I’m going to be trotting out for now:

Yang Xiao Long

Tohru

Mia Fey

Pharah

Momo Yaoyorozu

Now that leaves Erza, Cerebella and Akira gone. Most of you will probably ask why I would get rid of Akira. After all, he’s from a very popular game a lot of you know, and he’s the only male muse on here that I can’t stop talking about. The issue I’m having with Akira now is that he’s certainly fallen into that niche roll. I won’t always be in the mood to do a thread for him and I’ll leave my RP partners on wait for weeks on end, which isn’t right for them at all. I’m not at a point on my blog where it’s active enough to maintain keeping him here for asks at this point, and quite frankly I’m starting to think having male muses on here was a mistake. It has nothing to do with anyone, but I think it would just be best to focus on female muses from here on out. I love my big boi’s, but with how niche I can be with them I don’t think it’s worth it anymore and it’s time for me to really focus on how flexible I can be with characters I like to write and people know. I’ll be adding another Persona 5 muse in the coming days however, since it is my favorite game of all time. I have it down to about three people I’m considering adding, so if you guys want to hear more or don’t care, I’m fine with giving you whatever information you guys wanna hear.

Moving on to the next thing I wanna talk about, I want to talk about my writing and my feelings for the future of this blog. As of now, I’m a college student who wants to write his own TV shows in the future. I want to make worlds, tell stories and inspire others to do the same. That being said, I am probably my biggest enemy when it comes to this. I’m scared of myself, my shortcomings, of others, and the world itself. I have goals that I’m too scared to pursue because I worry about what others think of me. I do the same thing on here, mainly because there are so many of you I want to RP with but am too scared to even approach. I feel like my writing is insignificant and bad, and when I start threads with someone and they die, I’ll always blame myself for the cause. I want to be the best RP partner possible for all of you guys and entertain you guys, but being the person I am, I don’t feel like I can be that at all...

For a while, I was considering shutting this blog down and moving on from here. I didn’t think it was worth feeling shitty about myself all the time, but I started realizing that this place was probably my biggest safe haven. There are a ton of other places I’m involved in that don’t feel nearly as welcoming as this community. Other places, I feel like my words hold no value and that I’m just someone who doesn’t contribute anything positive. I just make people angry because I say a stupid thing, and then I feel terrible about it and want to apologize correctly, but I can’t even do THAT right and I make things worse because of the stupid person I am. The more I take a look around me, the more I start seeing people that don’t really care about me at times. They say they do, but they’re just as quick to move on from me when I want their help.

I’m not afraid to admit that I’m needy and love attention. I need people around me to talk to and keep me positive because I hate being alone. I like talking with all of you guys because you all make me feel special and wanted. I have made so many good friends on here that I talk to almost everyday, whether it be on here or through discord. They’ve helped me through some tough times, supported my ideas and encouraged me to go beyond what I feel comfortable doing. For the past three or more months, this place has been my safety net, my pride and joy because of how afraid I was to do other things at times. This blog actually got me watching new shows and playing new games I might’ve never tried before, and it still is. I don’t know where I’d be in all honesty had it not been for some of the amazing friends I’ve made on here.

So how does this tie in with my writing? How does this affect me and most importantly, you the fan of this blog or potential partner/friend. I’ve decided that I’m going to keep this blog going, and I’m going to write for me now. I’m going add muses that I’ll think are fun to play and flexible enough to use in certain situations as well as ones you all can interact with. I’m going to write whatever the hell I feel like on here and not feel like I’m being judged for it. I want to write because it’s fun, and I don’t want to feel pressured to be perfect. I’m nowhere near a perfect writer at this point in time, but trial and error will help me develop these skills that are essential to mold me into what I want to be. My writing from here on out is going to be something I can take great joy in and feel proud to show it off to everyone. I’m not going to pressure myself with feeling like I have to write this for everyone.

I’m going to write this because I want to write this, and I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.

Granted, it’s not going to be easy to break out of old habits that have kept me down for years on end at this point, but I’m going to try my best. So please, bear with me and I promise that I’ll be better than ever for myself and for you guys. You guys deserve so much credit and praise for sticking by me for soon to be a year in February. Almost eight months going strong on here has been a treat, and I hope that it’ll continue being that.

As for a couple other small things, I haven’t forgotten about the Lucy X Erza feeding session fic I promised you guys. Time and motivation have probably been my biggest downfalls when writing this fic, but I promise that soon I’ll have it done and it’s going to be amazing. Just give it time and I’ll reward your patience. I’ll also give updates on muses as time goes by, maybe even hint at some if I feel like it warrants it. But as for now, the only muse I know for a fact that I want to play on here is Android 21. UNFORTUNATELY FOR MUN, Dragon Ball FighterZ doesn’t come out until February, and because we don’t have enough information on her personality, I don’t feel comfortable playing her. Sure, I could make some stereotypical observations based on her clothes and fanart, but I feel like that would be really... weak? ( I can’t think of the right word) on my part. I want to give you as close of a canon representation as possible, so waiting for the game is really the only option. Aside from that, I’m going to be delving into some of these more popular series that I see floating around here to familiarize myself with the content, maybe even pick a muse from some of them if someone catches my fancy.

With that, I think that about does my little rant. I really just want to thank all of you for sticking by me and supporting you, especially my close friends on here. There are way too many of you to list, but you guys certainly know who you are. This probably won’t be the last time I switch up my muses again, but I’m hoping I have a long interval in between the next time I do so. Thank you all for being awesome, and I promise I’m going to be better for me, which in turn will be better for you. <3

-Your very sappy mun

[aceofstars16]

Recovery

I wrote/edited the next part! Here is the first part for anyone who hasn’t read it. I’m not sure if I’m 100% pleased with how this turned out...and I feel like I should add a section with Ezra and Kanan interacting more, but for now I stuck with Zeb and Sabine interactions.

I might write more for this AU/idea, but this is all I have actually written for now and my muse has still been finicky...but I hope y’all like it! It’s almost 3,000 words so, have fun reading! xD

Fic below the cut:

Ezra hated therapy. He hated how much his body hurt. He hated how his legs still didn’t seem to work. But most of all he hated how little progress he was making. Hera told him he was doing well, and even the doctors agreed. It wasn’t fast enough for him though.

At least my body is getting a little better, he thought to himself as he lifted his arm shakily into the air before lowering it down again.

It had been a few weeks since he had woken up, or at least that’s what he assumed. Counting the days tended to make him feel even more depressed, so he had given up trying to keep track. But despite the time, his memory was still a blank. Hera had told him stories, tried to fill him in on different missions he had gone on. But it felt like she was telling a story about someone else for as much as he could remember. Kanan had talked with him a few times as well, but as much as Ezra felt like he should trust the man, there was something about his clouded eyes that shook him. When he told Hera, Kanan had started wearing a green mask when visiting, but something still felt off to Ezra. The blank in his memory couldn’t suppress the feeling that Kanan wasn’t supposed to be blind…

“Focus, Ezra.”

Hera’s calming voice shook Ezra out of his muddled thoughts. And he sighed and shook his head. “What’s the point?”

A sigh escaped Hera as well and she gently grabbed Ezra’s hand. “I know it feels hopeless sometimes Ezra, but you are getting better. You have to keep fighting, I believe in you, Ezra. We all do. You have to believe in yourself too.”

Her words sounded good, Hera almost always had the best encouragement, but that couldn’t fix him. It couldn’t heal him any faster.

“Tell you what. If you keep up with your therapy, maybe I can convince the doctors to let you come aboard the Ghost for a few hours.”

That got Ezra’s attention. He didn’t remember the ship, but Hera talked about it a lot. It was where he had supposedly lived for the past few years. “Do you think it could trigger my memory?” Ezra didn’t want to hope, but he couldn’t completely quell the excitement in his chest.

“It might,” Hera said, giving him a smile he had learned to recognize. One that was meant to comfort or encourage others, while hiding the doubts she was carrying.

It was just another reminder that he wasn’t the only one who was distraught at his blank memory. He knew Kanan was effected, and he guessed Zeb was too, though he had only seen glimpses of the Lasat a few times – mainly because he still creeped Ezra out. But that didn’t mean Ezra had been blind to the looked of hurt on Zeb’s face at being shooed away.

“Come on, let’s try those exercises one more time.”

Once again, Hera brought Ezra back to reality and he nodded. Visiting the Ghost might be a long shot, but it was one he wanted to take, even if it meant having to suffer through more seemingly useless therapy.

The Ghost wasn’t like any ship Ezra had seen -or at least not any that he could remember- but it was impressive in its own unique way. Hera and presumably the rest of the crew had helped make it more friendly to his hoverchair, which he would have to use for the foreseeable future, possibly forever if his legs never healed. But at least he could use the controls to lead himself around so he didn’t feel entirely helpless. His memory on the other hand, was still a blank even as he moved about the ship. Not even his old bunk – which he had apparently shared with Zeb – sparked a memory.

Despite that however, Ezra was glad to be away from his recovery room. It had grown stuffy weeks ago, and while he had been able to go outside a few times, this was the furthest he had been and it felt slightly freeing. After a few hours of exploring the ship, he found himself pleading to Hera to live aboard the ship. Even if he couldn’t remember, being able to see the place where he had supposedly had adventures helped him feel a little better. Even the possibility of seeing Zeb couldn’t damper his enthusiasm to get away from his recovery room.

Hera and Kanan had been all for it. The nurses took a little more convincing, but eventually Ezra was allowed to move out of his room. He was given Sabine’s old room – a member of the crew he didn’t remember, but who he had heard plenty of stories about. It was a colorful room, almost a little too colorful, but it was a welcome change from the blank walls of the recovery room.

It took a little while to adjust to the change in routine. Ezra still had to do his exercises and visit the med center almost every day, and he still had to use his hoverchair to maneuver around, but it was nice to feel like he had some semblance of control in his life again. He didn’t feel half as helpless anymore. He could do things on his own again, even if he couldn’t do everything he wanted to…not yet at least.

Another adjustment he had to make was seeing Zeb on a daily basis. The Lasat still scared him more than he would’ve liked to admit, but he tried his best not to show it. From what he had seen, Zeb never did anything that put Ezra in danger, in fact it almost seemed the opposite. Not that Ezra wanted to hang out with the alien or anything, but after a few days he got used to seeing him walking around the ship. That is until fate decided to change that as well…

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…” Ezra muttered as he stared up at his hoverchair, floating a few feet away from him. He must have forgotten to lock it down last night and when he had tried to scramble onto it, the blasted machine had drifted away and resulted in him falling on the ground. Pushing up with his arms, he crawled towards the chair and reached up to grab it, only to have it float a few inches away.

“Kriffing chair…” he muttered to himself as he ran through his options. His best bet would be calling for help, but he hated feeling so helpless. Maybe it he could grab onto one of the dressers he could pull himself up and…then what?

A swooshing alerted him to the opening of his door and he quickly looked up, relieved that someone had come into help. But when he saw who it was he froze.

Zeb was looking down at him in surprise, but as he saw the worry on Ezra’s face, he tried for a smile – even though it didn’t really make him look less intimidating.

“Need some help?” He asked in his gruff voice.

“No, I’ve got it,” Ezra said. Even though he could deal with seeing Zeb, he didn’t want to be indebted to him, even if he could use the help.

Zeb sighed and glanced at Ezra, and then the chair. “Look, kid. I know you don’t…like me,” the last two words seemed almost choked out, reminding Ezra had in the past he must have actually cared for the Lasat. “But I won’t hurt you. Here…” Grabbing the chair, Zeb pushed it closer to Ezra before activating the lock.

Ezra looked at the chair as he mulled over his predicament. He could probably pull himself into it if he really tried – though his arms weren’t nearly as strong as they could be – but even as he reached for the chair, he hesitated. Over exerting himself was one thing the nurses always warned him against, it could set him back from the improvements he had made.

A movement shook Ezra from his musings and he saw Zeb stepping hesitantly closer, an arm stretched out in an offer of help and assurance that he wasn’t a danger. Looking at the Lasat, Ezra took a deep breath then sighed. He may not trust the large alien, he may even be a little scared of him, but Zeb had given no indication he would hurt him.

“You’re a little too far away to help,” Ezra said, using a little bit of sarcasm to help distract him from the fact that he was willingly asking for help from Zeb.

The Lasat seemed surprised at Ezra’s words as well, but he crouched down and helped lift Ezra onto his chair, stepping back carefully once he had done so.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Ezra looked up at Zeb and felt the semblance of a real smile growing on his face. “Thanks, Zeb.”

A smirk grew on Zeb’s face and he nodded. “No problem, kid.”

Things got better after that. While Ezra still occasionally got a little tense around Zeb, he willingly spent a little more time with him. Occasionally Zeb would even sneak Ezra an extra space waffle, or would take him to a nice spot outside of the Ghost to just relax and listen to music. He would also fill Ezra in on some of their missions, even telling him a story about how they had ended up stealing a tie fighter on a supply run.

It was a nice change for Ezra. But it also reminded him of just how much he didn’t know, how much he couldn’t remember. He wanted to remember more than anything. But while he could go to therapy to help his body, everyone was at a loss as to how to help his mind.

One member of the crew did have some ideas though.

Sabine’s return to the Ghost was a welcome surprise for almost everyone. While Ezra had heard stories of the artist, and had even talked with her a few times over comms, he still didn’t know her. She would be someone else he would have to get to know, have to learn how to be comfortable around…and have to disappoint with his lack of memory. While they tried not to show it too much, Ezra knew his predicament wasn’t easy on the crew. Bonds that had once been stronger than steal were fragile, only slowly being rebuilt. Any sane person would be hurt by that. So, when Sabine arrived at the Ghost, Ezra was more nervous than anything, afraid to disappoint yet another forgotten friend.

What he hadn’t been expecting was what kind of effect she would have on him. Seeing her in the flesh for the first time, Ezra found himself dumbstruck as just how beautiful she was. The holo didn’t do her justice, and her smile was ten times brighter than he could’ve imagined. Ezra didn’t realize he was staring until Sabine’s voice broke through his shock.

“Oh, please tell me we aren’t going to have to go through you acting like a love-sick loth cat again,” Sabine said, looking at Ezra and rolling her eyes, an amused smile on her lips.

“Uh…what? No, I uh…” Ezra fumbled, not quite sure how to respond. He didn’t remember acting love-sick, he hadn’t even heard stories of him acting that way. But as he looked at her, he couldn’t suppress the slight elation he felt.

Sabine’s smile was replaced by a frown at his response and she glanced at Hera. “He really hasn’t remembered anything?”

Ezra’s shoulder’s slumped at Sabine’s response, and the sad look she gave him when Hera confirmed that he didn’t seemed to remember anything. But then she gave him a small smile and rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Ezra. I’ve got some ideas that might help.”

Sabine’s ideas turned out to be her paintings. She spent hours painting scenes, people, places they had visited, all while recalling every detail that she could. It didn’t spark any grand revelations - Ezra still didn’t remember anything - but he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy spending time with her. The way she got sucked up in her work and how she put a unique spin on seemingly common objects was amazing. He could watch her work for days on end. And with as much time as she spent painting, he often did.

Then one day, Sabine mixed it up.

“Here,” she said, holding out a paint can.

Ezra narrowed his eyes but grabbed it. “What’s this for?”

“I’d think you’d know what a paint can is by now,” she said as she grabbing another can before adding a few details to one of her older pieces.

“Haha, very funny. I mean why did you give it to me?” Ezra said, absent mindedly fiddling with the can as he watched her work.

“So you can paint,” she said, looking at him for a moment then pointing to a bare patch on the wall.

“And what am I supposed to paint?” Ezra asked as he maneuvered his newly decorated chair closer to the wall. His legs were on the road to recovery, but he still had quite a way to go before he could walk again. Right now he could only stand for a few minutes, and that was with support.

“Anything you want.” As she spoke, Sabine continued to work, but she glanced over and gave him a smile. “When we were out in the field, I’d sometimes stop to paint. A few times you joined in. Your signature mark was a loth cat.”

“I don’t even remember what a loth cat looks like…” Ezra muttered quietly to himself as he focused on the bare patch of wall and painted a line on it. He wasn’t sure what he was even doing, but he continued to add more lines, creating a geometric pattern that didn’t make sense at all - just like his mind.

“Maybe we can visit Lothal sometime soon,” Sabine said, genuine happiness in her voice as she voiced the thought.

Ezra’s hand dropped into his lap and he sighed. “What’s the point? I don’t remember it, and it won’t help me remember anything. At this point I don’t know if anything will.”

“Ezra…” the pain in Sabine’s voice weighed down on Ezra, but he couldn’t keep pretending things were going to get better. Because what if they didn’t? What if this was his life now? The sooner he accepted that, the better it would be.

A hand rested on his shoulder, but Ezra barely registered it. He did notice Sabine leaving the room however, and his spirits dipped even lower. Was she giving up on him too?

But then Sabine walked in a few moments later.

“I didn’t want to show this to you, it…it’s not the happiest part of your past but…I thought it might help you,” she said as she plugged a small disc into a projector.

An image flickered to lift and when Ezra turned to look at it, he froze. It was a family, a small one, just two parents and a child. But he knew without a doubt that the child was him. Which meant… “Are those my parents?”

“Yeah…I found this is your old house and cleaned it up a few years ago. As a birthday present.”

Silence spread out between them as Ezra studied the picture. Just looking at it made his chest constrict. He knew they were gone. Not from anything anyone had told him, but he knew it in his heart. If they were alive they would’ve been there with him right then, but they weren’t.

“I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you right now, Ezra. And I know it’s tempting to just…give up and accept that this is your lot in life. But you can’t give up, no matter how painful it is. You have to keep fighting, keep trying, because there is still hope. Lothal might not help, but one day something will, I know it will. Please don’t give up yet.”

Sabine’s words echoed around Ezra’s mind. He heard them, but it was hard to listen to them, to accept them. Then a hand rested on his.

“You always reminded me not to give up, to keep fighting, to confront things I…I didn’t want to confront. I know it’s hard, but you aren’t alone, Ezra. We are all here for you, and we will be here no matter what happens, okay?”

Ezra glanced up at Sabine and saw the absolute conviction and dedication in her eyes, she meant what she said. The smallest hint of a smile touched Ezra’s mouth and he nodded. “Okay.”

She returned the smile and then glanced at his painting and handed him a new color. “Want me to help you think of something to paint?”

A light laugh escaped Ezra’s mouth, it was forced, but even a forced laugh felt better than nothing. “Sure…and thanks, Sabine.”

“Anytime, Ezra. Anytime.”