#you're not a hero you're a child playing dress up. now take off that silly mask and go home

[iwritewhump]

"you're not a hero, you're a child playing dress up. now take off that silly mask and go home" + villain mentor + in over their head + trembling

day 19 of @whumptember

421 words

warnings: young whumpee, building on fire, cursing, passing out

---

Hero’s arms shake with effort, trying to keep the building from falling. The rest of the occupants run outside crying at the sight of their home in flames. Hero grunts and almost falls when someone puts their hands next to his on the support beam. 

“No!” he shouts, “Get out! It isn’t safe for you here.” 

The person almost scoffs, “I’ll manage.” 

Hero turns his head and stumbles back at the sight of Villain. She stands next to him, arms high above her head. “What are you doing here?” 

“Oh,” she says. “I started the fire. But, when I saw you struggling to keep it up, I ran in to save you.” she repositions her hands and rolls her eyes. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I live here, dumbass.” 

Hero shakes his head and coughs, “No, you-you must’ve had something to do with this. Buildings don’t just set on fire.” 

“They do if the landlord doesn’t give a fuck about his tennants and cuts corners to save a few bucks.” she scolds. “Now, get out of here and go home.” 

He shakes his head again and holds the bar up, making no difference on Villain’s weight load. The fire heats the beam and burns his hands, it takes everything in him not to recoil. “I need to do a sweep of the building and make sure everyone’s out.” 

She lets go of the bar with one hand and lifts him off the ground. “Look at me, you are not a hero. You’re a child-" she's overtaken by a coughing fit, nearly dropping him and letting go of the beam- "playing dress up. Now take that silly mask off and go home before you get hurt.” 

She coughs and throws him toward the door before letting go of the beam with her other hand and barreling toward the doors, grabbing Hero’s collar and dragging him out with her just before the building collapses. 

She rolls over and stares at him, searching his chest for signs of breath. After a few seconds, she sees a shallow breath and almost laughs in relief. In a fit of coughing, Villain stands up and waves her burned hands high above her head.

“I need a doctor over here!” she shouts, tearing the mask off of his face and throwing it back into the burning building. “I need a fucking doctor!” 

She sees two people in uniform run up to her, a bag in one’s hand. Before they reach her, she collapses next to Hero.

[wardenred]

Whumptember 19: "You are not a hero."

I'm once again not sure if this even fully qualifies as whump, but... it's implied? :D

"You are not a hero. You’re a child playing dress up. Now take off that silly mask and go home."

Charlie's heart was done trying to break through their ribcage and proceeded to flutter somewhere in their throat. They swallowed several times in a row, trying to recover their voice. The villain was already turning away, ready to stalk off into the night, but his words kept echoing in Charlie's skull: matter-of-fact, barely laced with disdain.

This was their chance. They couldn't let their anxiety blow it for them. They couldn't.

The villain's black-clad form was about to get swallowed by the night.

"You're right!" Charlie called desperately after him. It came out as an embarrassing squeak, and they cleared their throat before trying again. "You're right. I'm not a hero. I don't even want to be one. I've never wanted that."

For a few moments, they were so certain they were talking to the empty space. But they blinked, they took a step forward, and, miracle of miracles, the villain was still there. He had stopped, his broad-shouldered shape a faint outline in the darkest corner of the junkyard, between a useless crooked lamppost and the carcass of a long-dead car.

"How curious," he drawled after a pause so long that Charlie had forgotten how to breathe, re-learned this skill, lost it again, and became painfully aware of their uncontrollable nervous trembling. "Next, you're going to tell me that League of yours is kidnapping kids and forcing them to fight evil?"

Charlie's supervisor had warned them the villain would ask them. She had also strongly suggested not going along with it. Even though it was technically true.

"Not that I know of," they said, and hoped the way they stalled and stumbled could easily be attributed to their stupid anxiety. "I wasn't kidnapped. I—I fought to get in, actually. But I didn't do it so I could stay." Their tongue was sticking to the roof of their mouth. They had to swallow again, and then to fight against choking. "I did it so I could get to you."

"Get to me," the villain repeated, emotionless.

"Yes. You... You killed my parents, you know."

"I have killed many parents."

"I'm very grateful to you for that. Not for, you know, the many. Um. For mine. They were, they were really bad people, so. Yeah."

"There are easier ways to thank me than joining my enemies and getting sent on a suicide mission," the villain remarked. "You could have written a letter. I do read fan mail sometimes."

The night was getting chillier, or maybe Charlie had reached that stage where their body refused to process warmth. This was a ridiculous plan. It had seemed doable back in the compound, when they'd been rehearsing with their supervisor. Now, though? It was bonkers. Why they'd ever agreed to do this, they had no idea.

"It's not that. I." They swallowed once more; it was pure bile. "I want to join you. I know I've made a bad first impression, but I'm good with things that are not..." They went for a broad sweeping gesture and ended up just angling their arm weirdly like a broken robot. "This. Like computers. And numbers. I'm really good at numbers and making them make sense. And, and..." Stop, they begged themself, just stop now, you've said all you've been instructed to say, don't go off script, you know you can't improvise. "And my entire surviving family is in the League. My brother, and both of my cousins, and my aunt. My aunt is Snailscale, actually. We're on good terms."

"Is that so?"

Crap. Crap, fuck, shit, why did they have to say it?

"Yeah."

Another pause, and then, "Well, tell you what. Bring me the keys to all four Snailscale's apartments and copies of her legal IDs, for her League and civilian identities alike, and then we can continue this conversation."

They were so in over their head.

[pickalilywrites]

Heeey there I saw you're taking requests again, so I'd like to ask for Rivetra slow dancing in the middle of the night (no nsfw) if that's not too much

Thank you for requesting. I am grateful you asked me to write for such a sweet prompt ^^ 

Last Dance of the Night

Rivetra. Canonverse. 

2097 words. 

Buy me a ko-fi!

He watches her from the corner of his eye as she waltzes across the room, the skirts of her pale blue dress swishing against her ankles. He’s not sure if he’s ever seen her smile so widely before – an open-mouthed smile that is sometimes accompanied by a delighted laugh whenever her dance partner says something particularly clever. He should be happy that she’s enjoying herself at these military balls. He finds them a nuisance – dressing up and trying not to scoff at every military policeman that he comes across – but he can understand why she likes them so much. After all, it’s not often that members of the Scouting Legion are allowed to drink and dine so lavishly and dance across such pristine marble floors as an orchestra plays in the background and glittering chandeliers hang overhead. Even if he can’t appreciate it, he should be happy Petra can, but the sight of her smiling only seems to irritate him. The worst of it is that he knows exactly why, and the reason is so childish that it frustrates him even more.

“You know, you could always just ask her to dance with you,” Eld points out.

He’s right about that, but this does nothing to lighten Levi’s mood. If anything, it only makes the Captain’s frown deepen even more and he scowls at his subordinate.

“As if I’d ever want to dance at one of these shitty balls,” Levi sniffs, but his eyes still follow Petra wistfully across the room as she takes yet another dance with Auruo.

Had it been a few years ago this statement would be true, but his mind has changed about military balls and dancing after seeing Petra gliding across the dance floor into the arms of other men. He doesn’t even want to claim her for the entire night; he would be content in just having even a single dance with her, but he’s never danced before and is too cowardly to try. He realizes it’s ridiculous to shy away from dancing when he goes out on expeditions to slay Titans that are fifteen-feet tall, but there’s a reason. At least if he dies in battle, he would be a hero. If he were to trip over his feet on the dancefloor, he would just be a laughingstock. No, he’d rather just sit in his seat and grumble all night instead of making a fool of himself in front of everybody.

Eld simply shrugs, used to the Captain acting like an unhappy child whenever they attend one of these events. As the next piece begins to wind down, he waves over Petra who is slowly making her way over there with Auruo.

“Let me have the next dance, Pet,” he tells her with a grin, already standing up from his seat and holding out a hand for her while Auruo slips between them and takes up the empty chair.

“Ah, be careful. She’s going to beg you to keep dancing with her until you dance your feet off,” Auruo says, loosening his bowtie and slouching in his chair. Although the dances had been at a moderate tempo, there are a few beads of perspiration at the top of Auruo brow and he dabs them away with the handkerchief that he fishes from the pocket of his blazer.

“Don’t make things up! You were the one who was begging me to keep dancing,” Petra says, but she doesn’t scowl at him like she usually does when they bicker. She’s still grinning, and it makes Levi wonder if her cheeks hurt from smiling so much tonight. “I’m pretty sure I might get blisters after tonight,” she adds, but she still accepts Eld’s arm when he offers it to her.

Eld tilts his head as he listens to the music start up again. It’s faster this time, more upbeat, and he smiles over at Petra, pulling her back on to the dancefloor. “Are you ready for a foxtrot, Ral?”

“Oh, I could out-dance you any day, Ginn!” she laughs, but she doesn’t come with him right away. She slips away from him for just a second, hanging back to return to the table and ask Levi, “Will I have a dance with you later, Captain?”

He was sure he would be able to give her a firm “no,” but he finds himself struggling to find that simple word as she looks at him with her flushed cheeks and her inviting smile. He thinks maybe if he dances with her, it won’t be so bad. It won’t be impossible if he just copies what everybody else is doing, right?

A “yes” is on the tip of his tongue, but he makes the mistake of glancing at the couples behind her in the ballroom as they gallop across the room, moving together so perfectly and without mistake that Levi remembers why he has never stepped foot on the dancefloor.

“No,” Levi finally says, clearing his throat. “I’m tired enough as it is. I’d probably be a shitty dance partner in the state I’m in. Go dance with Ginn.”

For the first time that night, Petra frowns. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but she’s promptly whisked away by Eld, who insists that they’ll miss most of the dance if she keeps standing around like that. Levi can only watch as she disappears into the crowd of overdressed nobles and military figures, enjoying herself without him, and spends the rest of the night regretting his decision.

He had planned on going straight to sleep that night, but the images of couples twirling around on the dance floor keep him awake and Levi finds himself fumbling for the light in his room. He stumbles to the center of his room, frowning and feeling more and more foolish with every passing second because he’s thinking about practicing the same waltz he had seen the men and women dance to that evening. Still, it’s not as if anyone can see him, and he ends up shuffling across the floor awkwardly, his arms outstretched as he dances with his invisible partner.

It should be easy, he thinks. All he has to do is move in the same way that all those other people did – a step here, a step there, a twirl, a step back – but it proves to be far harder than he could have ever imagined. Although he wouldn’t consider himself a graceful man, he’s not the type to bump into things and yet Levi finds himself repeatedly bumping into his desk and shelves as he tries to navigate himself around the room.

It must be the room, he’s sure, that is preventing him from dancing properly. It’s not a small room, but it’s not spacious either. It had always been enough for him until tonight. Now, the room seems too cramped and crowded with his few possessions, leaving him hardly any floor space to glide across the room. Instead, he must be content with mimicking the waltz with horribly constricted and stiff movements.

Even though he isn’t practicing for all that long, he becomes more frustrated with every flubbed step he takes. He’s red-faced and muttering curses under his breath after a few minutes of practice. Really, he’d prefer fighting a hundred of those shitty Titans to dancing any day.

Thinking that perhaps music will help him to dance better, he foolishly begins humming under his breath, but it doesn’t change anything at all. If anything, it’s as if he’s become worse and he bumps into everything twice as much, even colliding with the wall at one point because he’s having too much difficulty focusing on so many things at once. When Levi bumps into the sharp corner of his desk, he lets out a loud curse only to regret it immediately afterward when he hears his door crack open and a familiar voice ask, “Captain?”

Petra stands there at his door, a sleepy but confused expression on her face as she wonders what on earth her captain is doing at this time of night. She tilts her head at him and brushes a lock of her hair behind her ear, her brow furrowed. “What are you doing?”

He could probably lie and say that he’s cleaning, but even he knows that it’s ridiculous to be cleaning at this hour. He could make up some other nonsensical lie. It doesn’t matter how silly it is. Somehow, nothing can be more humiliating than telling her about his midnight dance practice, but he can’t bring himself to lie to her either.

“I’m…dancing,” he finally tells her, looking down at her feet because he can’t bear to see the expression on her face. He’s sure that she’ll laugh at him for being so strange, but not even one giggle comes from her.

“Oh? I thought you didn’t like dancing, Captain,” Petra says. She lingers at the door for just a second more before slipping inside after she sees that the captain hasn’t chased her away yet. She smiles at him kindly and asks, “Are you just shy about dancing in public?”

“No,” he scoffs, but his cheeks flush and he folds his arms defensively across his chest. Turning away from her, he faces the wall, his gaze fixated on the shadow of her because it’s easier than looking at her directly. “I just…never learned how to dance.”

“Oh…!” the solider says, finally understanding. She steps towards him with the same warm and inviting smile she had when she had asked him for a dance earlier that evening. “Would you like me to teach you?”

He should say no. After all, he’s already practiced on his own and confirmed how poor of a dancer he is. He’s sure that having a partner won’t change any of that. He’ll probably just step on her toes the entire time and embarrass himself further. It would just be best if he told her to forget about it and leave him alone.

Still, he hesitates when he sees her expression and instead tells her, “I’m a shit dancer…gavotte, foxtrot, waltz…it doesn’t matter. I’m shit at all of them.”

“That’s alright,” Petra assures him. She reaches out a hand to him, inviting him to take it, and says, “We’ll start with an easy one – it’s one my dad taught me when I was a child.”

He’s sure that she says this to make him feel better, but the thought of having to begin at the level of a child makes him frown. Still, he takes her hand and allows her to guide him.

Petra pulls her towards him, guiding his hands around her waist while she rests her hands gently on his shoulders. They stand much closer than the other couples did at the ball tonight, Levi notices, but he doesn’t object. With Petra so close to him, he can count the light freckles across her cheeks and even count all her long lashes. He’s so distracted by her that he’s hardly listening to her as she instructs him on how to move. Luckily, the dance is as simple as she says, and he doesn’t struggle at all as they move slowly across the floor together.

It’s not dancing like he had seen before. It’s more like holding each other and rocking side to side, he thinks, but it’s still pleasant in a way. He likes the steady rhythm at which they move together and the little song she hums as they sway. He had been stiff and unsure in his movements before, but he’s become more relaxed after having Petra gently encourage him and offer him little bits of advice.

“I’m sorry you have to have such a shitty partner for your last dance,” Levi tells her. Although he hadn’t trod on her toes and she’s kept that pleasant smile on her face the entire time, he can’t help but feel that this dance is nowhere near as fantastical as the dances she had during the ball.

“What do you mean? You’re the perfect dance partner,” Petra says, looking up in surprise, “and this is the perfect dance to end the night.”

He’s so surprised that he doesn’t respond, but she must not need a response because she simply smiles at him again and continues dancing with him, closer this time so that she can rest her head on his shoulder.

He thinks she’s wrong about him being the perfect partner – he wouldn’t even call himself good – but does agree with her on one thing. This is the perfect way to end the night.

[cutegirlmayra]

I know you're in the middle of doing the prompt I already requested, but I've seen you finished one just now and am just wanted to request a small one lol. Can you do a prompt where Sonic and Amy are married, has kids, still protecting the world from Eggman and all of that?

Prompt:

Eggman, in the grim of the morning mist and still half-darkened skies, coughed at the smoke and steam fuming out of his torn up Egg-o-bot.

He hunched up and leaned, broken and beaten, over the side of his contraption, before looking sorrowfully with desperation in his eyes over to Sonic’s back… walking away from him.

“W-wait!” he reached out his hand, “How could you do this to me!?” he slammed his fists on the wrecked machinery, looking hurt as he hung his head down a moment, before then shaking it off and angrily ranting again.

“It’s not like you! What did she do to you!? Do you realize what you’ve done!? By doing this… you’ll never be able to fully get rid of me!” he propped himself a little more upright, gripping the side of his robot for support, and then shaking a betrayed fist in the air. “You’ll have more responsibility picking up mundane tasks like… like taking out the GARBAGE instead of the pure exhileration of fighting me! You’ll be a washout! A hasbeen! You’ll be-!”

“You?” Sonic stopped in his footsteps.

Eggman’s face dragged down, his eyebrows inching upwards and back.

The hurtful tone froze him in Sonic’s very speech, and Eggman began to shake in astonishment.

“What has… become of you? My greatest rival and.. worthiest adversary…” he almost mouthed the words, as if unable to recognize Sonic anymore. “She’s humiliated you…” he looked down, shaking his head.

Sonic turned his head- sharply- as if to scold Eggman.

“No. She’s shown me that living is one thing… but being alive is another.” he then lifted a hand up, closed his eyes, gently bent his head down… and gave Eggman a signature shrug.

“I’m still springy, egghead. I’m still me. But I’m more than me now… and I owe that to all my friends.”

Eggman gripped the robot tighter… his enraged face blasting into more threats and falsehoods… before he collapsed and cried, knowing Sonic would now have everything he could never have…

Or even hope to achieve now…

Sonic watched him break down, unable to stop himself, but then kept walking on…

—

Sonic came over a hill to a small home, and stepped into the grass… before looking down at the cement…

He looked long and hard at it.

His eyes shifted over his foot, lifting it up to the side to look over the beautiful, free crushed grass under his feet…

The contrast… between spark white-ish grey and bright, brilliant green…

Two worlds… two steps away from each other.

He took a moment to look up and feel the wind…

He would still have this.

But now… he needed to do something else.

Be something else…

He made a brave face, and passed onto the solid concrete, a literal switching of mindsets.

Before he even got to the door, a beautiful- but worn out face emerged, looking overjoyed to see him.

“Sonic!” In her hands, was the thing he had fought so hard to protect…

Every muscle in his body tensed.

It had been almost a year… and Eggman finally knew.

That would complicate things… but Amy didn’t need to know about that now…

She happily sped up to him, directly in front of him, and held the small blanket.

She turned to give it one last coo before gesturing for Sonic to take it.

He hesitated, looking her over before the tiny, squirming thing in her arms…

Looking back, he saw the permission in her eyes, the gentle nod, and the gesture she made with her eyes to the blanket… then back at him.

He had never held a baby before.

Let alone one that possessed his eyes.

The tiny child was fast asleep… but blinked when it felt the cold, and dug deeper into Sonic’s warm chest.

Something swarmed him. Was it instinct?

Immediately he turned, before looking to Amy for permission.

She let her hovering hands… slowly drop and hold each other in front of herself… then she nodded.

He looked back at the child, and started back up the hill…

—-

After a little while of walking, he looked up, hearing the baby cough before letting out faint noises of discomfort, he watched the clouds… before looking back at it.

“This… is the world.” He stated, “I’m….”

The child blinked his eyes up to him.. and Sonic had never felt more fulfillment, a greater desire to protect and love,… then looking in the eyes of his own child.

“…I…” he felt his mouth cave in, unable to continue.

The child tilted his head, as if he could even understand the concept of puzzlement.

Sonic took a deep breath… then smiled. Looking gently to his offspring, he pulled him out of the blanket and held him up over himself.

“Kid… I’m your Hero.” He happily bounced the kid a moment in his hands, before bringing him to his face and letting the child’s small hands dance around the features of his face.

Amy made her way up the hill, held her heart with a smile, before her motherly instincts kicked in and she had to break up the moment.

“Sonic! He’ll freeze to death!” She called, upset he would forget such an important survival fact.

She huffed with a puffed up cheek to one side, shifting her weight as she folded her arms, pouting at his carelessness.

“Huh?” Sonic turned to blink at her, as the child laughed, seeming unphased by the cold.. well, at the moment.

It was still the brr of the early morning light… barely sufficient to call that warmth.

“Ohh…” she rolled her eyes, deciding to stomp over, pick up the now dew-damped blanket on the ground, and held it out to receive the baby again.

“He’s gonna catch pneumonia.” she explained.

Sonic pulled the child back down, chuckling as his son’s weak hands tried to grip his father’s spines and pull them down with him; but they only whip-lashed silently back into place. “Or he’ll have strong lungs.” Sonic kid, before handing the child willingly back to it’s mother.

“To think.. one night…” Sonic rubbed the side of his head, before Amy gave him a look and he twitched. “J-just contemplating the miracles of life.” he tried to recover, but she just narrowed-in on his thought. “Honest!” he held his hands up in defense, and his charming smile dispelled any further comment from her.

“Come on… he needs to get back inside…” She then started doting on the baby, “What’cha doin’? Whosa good baby?! Ohh~ You are! Yes~ Momma’s little boy~”

Sonic raised an eyebrow at her strange, new behavior… but figured he’d get used to that…

As long as it wasn’t directed at him…

He nervously sweat-dropped and was beginning to follow her into the home, before looking back at the grassy hill.

… doubts… was Eggman right? Would he still be able to be himself with a family now to take care of?

“Sooooniicc~?”

He turned to his mate’s calling, and smiled.

She tapped her foot, having the baby in one arm and the other hand gripping her waist’s corner.

She leaned forward, “You’re not an old man, yet! So come on!” she scolded, but he saw the loving after-look she gave him, and turned her affections back to the baby, walking inside.

…One faithful night….

He rubbed his head, a faint pink upon the sides of his muzzle.

Marrying her wasn’t the hard part… it was accepting that half his life would now be…

“How did Eggman put it?” Sonic placed a finger under his chin, slightly scratching it as he looked to the corner of his eye and thought about it. “Oh yeah!” he ‘heh’d, bouncing with his steps to the home.

“Taking out the trash~” he found that amusing.

Didn’t he normally do that? By taking out Eggman all the time, anyway?

He looked back at his hands, then his arms.

The sensation of holding his child for the first time… it never left him.

He flexed his hands out and then tightened them closer in, curling his fingers.

What kind of man would he be? What legacy would he live? Would he become a fighter like himself? Or a romantic… like his mother…

Sonic rolled his eyes, not sure how that’d pan out.

He lightly stepped into the living room and watched as Amy set the baby in the crib Tails had made for them.

She bent over and attended him, happily satified that her ‘Mothering Books’ were coming in handy.

She then dusted her hands off and happily turned to Sonic.

She also looked fulfilled.

Seeing that made Sonic feel another sensation. Different from pride, it was more like satisfaction. 

“You look terribly happy.” He perked up a little, leaning on the door frame and folding his arms.

“And you look engrossed in happiness~” she played back, chiming in and swishing her dress back and forth, teasing him a little.

“Engrossed?” He raised an eyebrow, “Ha! That sounds disgusting.”

“Oh, not that kinda gross, Sonic.” she picked up a pillow, puffing it up before he got a funny idea…

He sneered… and then raced forward to take the pillow-

“Hey!���

“Watch it!”

He threw the pillow back at her.

She laughed before scoffing with a huge open-grin. She took the pillow and swung it right back at him, in which they both circled around the baby in the pillow fight.

He had reached up to intercept her last throw and caught it in midair, holding it close to his chest like a football, he then held out a hand.

“Wait!”

She stopped, not sure what was wrong.

A mischievous smile appeared across his face.

“….Charrrgeee!!” he suddenly came at her, gently ramming into her and making her laugh as they tumbled to the ground.

“Uh oh.” he kid, moving a little off of her as she continued to giggle like a lovestick hedgehog.

“I’ve forgotten. No more ‘pillows-in-the-middle’ right?” he teased, referencing what appeared to be an inside joke, and pulled the pillow out from under him that once lay between themselves.

He lowered himself and lightly moved his nose over hers, before angling himself to the right and looking up a the carriage.

The baby cooed.

“So he didn’t sleep through that?”

She once again laughed, “Silly. He’s a baby! He has good hearing…” she whispered, as Sonic frowned and looked up at it.

“…He’s gonna ease-drop on us… isn’t he?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Hmm…”

He then looked down at her, and her up at him.

They lightly kissed, just seeming to start off a romantic ending to his adventurous day before-

The baby started to cry a little… before wailing in agitation.

Sonic released and gave the baby a funny pout.

“If he’s not ease-dropping… then he’s keeping us up at night.” Sonic retorted with a huff, as Amy patted his head to try and calm him, giggling at his comment before moving up to treat the baby.

“Does this mean we can’t… well… you know… anymore?” Sonic sat down and asked probably the most ridiculous question Amy had ever thought she heard before.

“What?” she turned around, confused. “Sonic. Heh. Of course we can still do that!” she laughed, and then went back to silencing the baby.

Sonic leaned back on the end of the couch, and sighed in relief, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

For a moment.. this new life seemed to make him… pretty content.

Then Amy had to open her big mouth…

“We’re obviously not done here~”

He looked back up with that statement, seeing the hunger in her eyes for more children… he suddenly nervously smiled… sweat dripping from the side of his face… eyes widening.

Uh-oh…

       ’I better get Eggman to make some excuses for me staying out late…’

He rotated his head to the door.

Too late now.