If I saw a nutcracker nobody could stop me

𝖬𝗒 𝖬𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋? | 𝖩𝗎𝗇𝗀 𝖩𝖺𝖾𝗁𝗒𝗎𝗇

PAIRING: teacher! jung jaehyun x teacher! fem reader 

GENRE: flufff, humor

WC: 2.7k

NOTES: tiny mention of blood

SUMMARY: you think it’s cute how your seventh grade students can’t get enough of Mr. Jung. or in which the whole middle schools ships you and jaehyun together.

ღ  

“Miss y/l/n! Miss y/l/n!” You look up from your computer. “Yes?? What is it?” One of your students suddenly asks, “Do you have a boyfriend?” You raise an eyebrow. “What? Um, I don’t think that’s appropriate for class.” Your students protest. “No, Miss Y/l/n, we just wanted to know more about you... that’s all!” one kid pipes up. You scoff. “How many months has it been since I started teaching you guys?” You stand up and grab the papers you were about to hand out to the students for homework. “It’s none of your business, but no, I don’t have a boyfriend.” You hear whispers, and someone faintly says, “But you’re so pretty...” causing your heart to warm. 

After you finish passing it out, you let the kids go. You didn’t think much about the question, not knowing what was to come.

ღ 

It’s a few weeks later when you sit by Naeun at the teacher's table for lunch, that the topic comes up again. She greets you as you place your lunchbox on the table, unpacking your food. “How were your classes?” she asks. Humming, you reply, “Busy as usual, you know.”  Naeun nods, sighing as she laments, “I wish I at least had someone at home to care of me with all this work... Hey, y/n, do you have a boyfriend?” You pause. “No, not anymore.” Naeun sits up. “Oh, sorry.. I didn’t-“ Cutting her off, you laugh. “You don’t need to be sorry about anything. Let’s just relax during our break as much as we can, right?” She smiles in relief. 

The two of you are interrupted by the lunchroom doors opening. You immediately hear whispers and giggles. Turning your head, you see Jaehyun Mr. Jung and another teacher walk in. This was only your second year teaching here at a big school, so you didn’t know all the staff yet. 

“Wow, I have to admit Mr. Jung’s very handsome, no matter when. And I think all the kids agree too.” It was a known fact that Jaehyun was the definition of a teacher-crush. He was extremely handsome, and all students liked him and his class. You’re not sure how many times you’ve heard his name being mentioned in class by your students. It could be about his face, his outfit of the day, or even what he ate for lunch. You nod absentmindedly at her words, mostly focusing on your food. 

Naeun raises her eyebrows at you. “Ohh, so you think he is too??” You stuff a mouthful of food into your mouth, “Well-“ “Who is too?” a voice cuts in. You harshly swallow, coughing. “Are you okay??” You recognize the owner of the voice. It’s Jaehyun. You turn, meeting his eyes. “Yeah, it’s all good..” He nods before placing his papers on the table and leaving to get something to eat. 

“Oooh...” Naeun sings. You roll your eyes. “He was being polite.” You two continue eating until Naeun abruptly says, “You know, you and Mr. Jung would actually look good together.” You squint at her. “Naeun... don’t start shipping me with every guy I speak with now.” “But,” she protests, “it’s not any guy, it’s Mr. Jung. Jung Jaehyun. I don’t believe he’s dating anyone so, think about it.” She stands up to get to her next class, leaving you to sit and contemplate. 

ღ

You’re walking to the office when you’re stopped by a small gathering. Jaehyun’s here, you notice. Getting closer, you see him kneeling next to a crying girl. Two other girls were standing there as well. Must be her friends. You quickly walk closer. Jaehyun senses your presence and his head turns to yours. 

You see a flicker of recognition in his eyes as you ask what’s going on. “She lost her book and was searching for it. She was going to be late for her next class, that’s why she panicked. Her friends here were helping search, but they still couldn’t find it.” 

You slowly nod in understanding. Squatting next to Jaehyun, you reassure the crying girl. “It’s fine. We’ll find your book, and you won’t be counted late to your next class. You should go to the restroom and get yourself cleaned up, alright?” She shakily nods and heads off. You dismiss her friends, the two of them whispering and glancing at you and Jaehyun. 

He stands up, offering you a hand. You gratefully take it as he pulls you up. “Well, that was something, wasn’t it?” You fight back a smile, agreeing with him. He scratches his head, about to say something, but you remember you had to go somewhere. You quickly bid him goodbye before running off.

ღ

Some students were staying after school for tutoring. You’re helping a kid when one girl speaks up. “Miss y/l/n, you said you don’t have a boyfriend, right?” You frown. This topic again? You look up and see the other students have tuned in on your conversation. “No, I don’t. Why are you asking?” She shrugs, fiddling with her pencil. “I mean, you’re so pretty. We all thought you were dating someone.” 

You shake your head and laugh. “Thank you, but no, I’m not dating. I don’t do that anymore.” She nods thoughtfully. “Well, I think we can find you, someone..” You notice a mischievous look on her face before you cut her off. “Get back to work! This isn’t school-related!” She salutes. “Ma’am yes ma’am!!”

ღ

You didn’t know how fast word spreads between kids. It’s only been like what, three days? and rumors were flying everywhere. “Are Miss Y/l/n and Mr. Jung dating?” “ I think he likes her.” “They would look freakin good together...” You sigh as you write on the board, hearing the whispers behind you. And while all these rumors spread, you had no idea what Jaehyun was thinking. 

It became the talk of the school. Even the staff knew and shipped you two. Naeun brings it up one day in the teachers’ lounge. “What’s all this stuff with you and Mr. Jung?? My kids keep talking about you two, and they don’t even have you or him as your teacher.” You shrug. “I don’t know. Kids like to make a big deal of out anything.” 

“But this time, they aren’t wrong.” she teases. “I agree with them. You two would be like the power couple of the school.” You make a disgusted face. “I don’t want to be known as the power couple of a middle school.” Naeun laughs, the two of you getting into other boring topics. 

It didn’t help when Jaehyun had to go to an emergency meeting one day, and he couldn’t get a substitute for his sixth graders. You’re not sure why you’re surprised when he comes knocking on your door, a sheepish smile on his handsome face. You’re pretty sure there were several rooms between your and his classrooms’, so why did he come to yours? 

“Miss y/l/n, you wouldn’t mind watching my students for a couple of hours?” You immediately shake your head, “No, of course not. Come in!” The kids slowly shuffle in, some of them shooting you both weird looks. 

After he leaves, you continue teaching as the little kids watch on. In the middle of it, your neighbor knocks on your door and tilts their head in. It was Mrs. Park. She catches your eye and beams. “So sorry to interrupt, but thank you for taking Mr. Jung’s kids. I had no more space in my classroom, you know...” You let out a forced laugh. No way... could she have done that on purpose?? Nah.. “No! It’s no problem! We’re all fine in here. His kids are really well behaved too!” 

“It’s only because Mr. Jung is awesome!!” one of his kids suddenly says. You hear a chorus of agreements, even your kids who must’ve previously had him were nodding. “He’s so kind and a really good teacher as well!” a student says, purposely looking at you. You attempt to smile, but it comes off as a grimace. How long would this go on for??

ღ

The audience was silent, attention focused on the bright stage before them. The dancers held a special performance for the school in the auditorium, AKA a break for you. You watched, entranced as the dancers seemed to effortlessly glide across the stage. Suddenly the thought popped into your head that you left the classroom door open. There was nothing wrong with that, but you wanted to be on the safe side. 

Not wanting to bother the onlookers, you slowly get up from your seat, ducking down to stay as low as possible. Curse the darkness, for you didn’t notice that one darn kid whose foot was sticking partially out into the walkway, and you trip over it. You gasp, bracing yourself for the hard ground, but you only feel something strong in front of you, holding you inches from the ground. 

Your eyes open, seeing the ground in front of you. Your head turns, and it’s Jaehyun. He was conveniently sitting on the end where you tripped and luckily stuck out his arm to catch you. His eyes are full of concern, staring at you. People are whispering all around, you think Jaehyun silently mouths a question to you. 

You squeeze your eyes shut, get a freakin grip y/n!!, before detaching yourself from him and quickly walking out-you’re not sure what exactly happened- it was too dark, and you were too embarrassed. You briskly walk into your classroom, shutting the door behind you. 

You let out a silent scream. Did you really just trip and fall in front of a bunch of students!?!?? You slowly breathe in and out, collecting yourself. It was dark. Maybe some people didn’t see. You remember the whispers and stares, cringing. 

You’re not surprised when during the next period, all your students are talking. Probably definitely about you and Mr. Jung. You’re furiously typing away on your keyboard, trying to drown out the sounds of the kids gossiping. “Miss y/l/n,” one kid says. 

“Yes?” you call out distractedly. “Are you interested in anyone?” Wow, way to be discreet. Your typing comes to a cease, but you don’t look up. “Well, I’d hope not, since I already have a husband.”

Immediately gasps and whispers break out. You continue typing and clicking away. “B-but Miss y/l/n... I.. I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend??” “Yeah, I don’t have a boyfriend anymore. We got married so I have a husband now.” The students remained shell-shocked for the rest of the day until they’re released from school. They run out, probably to spread the news that you’re actually married. 

Once everyone’s out, you sigh and examine your desk. You pick up the small photograph (that no one noticed apparently) of you and your husband. The two of you were red-cheeked and had identical shining grins on both of your faces. You smile, the happy memory fresh on your mind. 

Suddenly someone knocks on the door before opening it. Your head turns around to see Jaehyun. He steps into your classroom, looking around. “What are you doing?” he asks. You grin. “Just looking at an old picture..” Cocking his head, he asks, “And what picture might that be?” 

You place the photograph down before walking over to him and placing your arms around his neck. “Hmm.. I think you should know. After all, you were in it.” He laughs before leaning down to kiss you. 

ღ

You met Jaehyun in college, both of you wanting to become teachers. You started as friends until all your friends kept commenting on how good the two of you looked together. At first, you laughed it off, but over time, you started thinking about how it would be like if you actually started dating him. And apparently him too. I mean, he was handsome, kind, polite, your mom LOVED him.. so what kept you from liking him so much?  

You went over to his apartment (now your shared apartment) one night for a celebration after finishing finals. “Ughhhhd,” you groan, throwing your bag on his couch. Jaehyun smiles, looking at you from the kitchen. “Rough day?” You nod, slowly walking over to examine what he was doing. “What are you cooking?” He chops some veggies. “Noodles. But healthy.” 

You make a confused expression. “What kind of healthy noodles now?” Jaehyun laughs at the look on your face, not paying attention to the knife and cutting his finger. “Ow!” he hisses. Your eyes widen, walking over to him and grabbing his hand. Examining the cut, you see blood well up. Immediately you bring his hand to the sink, turning on warm water and running his finger under it. 

You look up at him, slightly annoyed and amused at the same time. “Jaehyun. How did you just cut yourself right in front of me?” He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. You drag him over to his couch, sitting him down as you grab his first aid kit. 

Rummaging through it, you hear him say, “Y/n, it’s not a big deal. It’s just a cut you know..” Huffing, you respond, “Just a cut my ass, you didn’t sound like it. Now shut up and let me take care of you.” Grabbing the medicine, you sit closer to him and take his hand. 

You carefully put on the ointment and wrap the bandaging around it. Finished, you look up to see his face extremely close to yours, already staring at you. You raise your eyebrows, cheeks reddening. “Uh-“ but Jaehyun’s hand that reaches for yours silence you. “I was distracted by you.” 

You open your mouth, but no words come out. He continues, “I was too busy looking at you to pay attention.” You gulp. “Why?” You notice him lick his lips before responding. “Because I like you. Isn’t that obvious?” You’re shocked. This guy? No, he wasn’t even a guy, this fine man... liked you? You can’t even get a word out as he places his lips on yours. You immediately move your hands to his hair, feeling the soft strands. 

Breaking apart, he chuckles. “So I guess that means you’ll be my girlfriend?” You pretend to think for a second, before saying, “I guess... if you’ll finish making time dinner.” Jaehyun freezes. “Oh shoot. The noodles!!” 

After that, the two of you dated until graduation when he proposed. You didn’t cry. You still insist on that to this day. You didn’t purposely apply to the same school he was teaching at, the offer just came up, and it was convenient that you could go to work together. (Strangely, no one saw you two when you arrived at school) And you don’t know why you never told anyone about your relationship, no one really asked, and you both just kinda went along with it. No one assumed anything, probably because you preferred being called by your last name instead of his. You just liked it more, and Jaehyun didn’t mind. That is until the whole school started pairing you two. 

ღ

The memory resurfaces in your mind as you sit in Jaehyun’s lap, snuggling comfortably as the TV blares in the background. You smile, and he notices, pinching your side. “What’re you smiling about?” You bury your face in his neck as you say a muffled response. “Nothing.” 

You continue watching whatever’s on the tv until you suddenly ask, “Do you think the students know yet or?” Jaehyun shifts, tightening his arms around you. “Nahh, my students feel bad for me. They think I don’t know anything and still have a crush on you.” Your head shoots up from his chest. “And you don’t?” you ask indignantly. He laughs, sitting up. “What?” 

You don’t know why you suddenly become embarrassed. Looking down, you fiddle with the end of his shirt. “Have a crush on me?” There’s a moment of silence where Jaehyun stares at you. He bursts out laughing before grabbing your hands and pulling you back into him. Kissing the top of your head, he responds, “Y/n, we’ve been married for almost a year now. Yes, I always have a crush on you.. idiot.” 

“I had to make sure!”  

The Promised Neverland S2EP8

aka: scared for the anime and my health

Happy TPN train wreck Thursday. How’s the anime gonna upset the majority this week? Not sure. Can’t hear the complaints with “Identity” blasting.

“Emma’s Agony” as the bastard finally reveals himself.

The look on Norman’s face is how we all look while watching this season: scared and confused.

Jeez, there’s like no life in Isabella’s eyes when she hugs Norman.

I’m not gonna say the anime re-used shots of him taking the test but.. that’s exactly what they did.

At least we’re getting ch74 animated..

Is this other dude Smee though?

Oohh we actually get to see Vincent in Lambda! With the little note Norman left for him! I know those were extra pages in the mange but for the life of me I can’t remember which chapters they’re from right now.

Ah, okay, wow.. I wasn’t expecting to see Cislo and Barbara LIKE THAT!!

Oh my god Zazie too!! They have his little tiger plush on the table aw.

Wait, I lied. Those quick shots of the crew are from ch153!

So the facility does have the other children in that colorful room and.. demons eating them in the next room, okay..

If I ever coughed up blood I’d freak out so bad.

“I can obtain explosives.” Bro HOW??

Also, can’t tell if this is “Cold-hearted Isabella” playing or not but the song sounds fairly the same.

Hey, at least they’re showing us more of the Lambda escape, sorta.. along with all the casualties.

Ahh that guy really was Smee! i can’t believe we live in a world were we see him animated and not yuugo, like wth.

Oh that quick glimpse of ch129 too. We’re jumping around all over the place today huh?

So, question! Since Norman brought up dying, is he and the crew actually going to? Because Adam is no where to be seen and he was the cure for the seizures. I know people have been wondering about this already but still a major problem!

I can’t believe we’re getting snippets of ch143 and Ayshe is no where to be seen. I’m hella sad right now.

And here comes “Tension”.. again.

Shit! This demon’s large ass foot just scared the crap outta me!!

Yeah, that’s a lot of poison the Lambda crew has. I mean, I knew that but not that many crates full! Damn.

At least the voice actors have it easy with the kids wearing their demon disguises. They wouldn’t have to worry about matching lip flaps.

“But he’s certainly rushing things.” Ah, Norman must also work for Cloverworks.

Oh special necklace, what purpose do you serve in this adaptation I wonder..

“January 29th, 2047.” Oh look, a full year after Goldy Pond was supposed to go boom.

Okay but the red sunset they have going on right now in the forest looks real pretty.

Norman’s cape is.. black? Not white?

“I will gladly become a god or a devil, Emma.” AAhh he said the thing but they didn’t give us the fantastic angel/devil panel that goes with it! Sure he’s giving such an intense look and the sun setting behind him is a nice touch but it’s not the same! How disappointing.

Fuck these demons and their goddamn jump scares! Holy fucking shit!

Aahh Emma! Is that how she gets hurt?

Don’t lose the necklace, darn it! I still haven’t a clue on what it can do for you in this timeline but it’s important! Somehow! I hope?

Emma fighting back despite her injury, HELL YEAH! That’s my girl!

Oh? Mujika found the necklace though. That’s good.

Did they just.. re-use the scene from ep1 for Emma? When Ray was running from the demon and jumped over the tree exactly like that? C’mon Cloverworks, ya serious?

I know what y’all are gonna say and I don’t care, I absolutely love all the fantastic kills Ray is getting!

Aww my boy was so scared too! But he’s relieved now! As he should be!

OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE! Stop stop STOP! This is the THIRD DAMN TIME demons managed to make me scream this episode!

Thank you Sonju.. ah, help me, I need to breathe.

Aww Emma is so happy to see them.

An explosion.. Norman started his plan early hm?

Shit, that poison works fast!

I believe this song played in ep1 as well, when we first met Sonju & Mujika. Also reminds me that I need to listen to the new s2 soundtrack eventually.

The Lambda crew be looking like Itachi during the Uchiha clan massacre.

Friendship with head pats ended, now Ray putting his hand on Emma’s shoulder is my best friend.

Ooohh I’m really loving this song though!

Aw the blind demon was worried for Emma!

NORMAN!! Don’t you fucking dare kill that demon child!

Oh.. the demon child’s name was actually Emma.. no wonder the blind demon was happy upon meeting our Emma and why Norman just hesitated.

“I knew this day would come.” OHH! THIS SONG!! This is the one Obata teased back in October on twitter!! We finally get to see what scene it plays in! Yeesss! I’m so happy!!!

The blind demon didn’t degenerate? ... wait a damn second! Is he the same old demon from ch163?? Did he have a name? I know blind demon has a name but I honestly didn’t think we would see him again so I didn’t care to remember it.

Norman! Can you not please!!

Does the small child demon have the same voice actor as our Emma? Because they sounded so similar when saying “I don’t.”

BOI! I’m about to jump through this damn screen and knock you out if you kill these demons! I swear!

Ah shit, here comes our Emma. You’re in big trouble now boss.

Aw my god, they really gave us tiny, scared Norman for a quick second.

But I won’t be fooled by cuteness and neither will my girl!

So we’re kinda back at ch153 now right? Oh boy. This ep was a roller coaster, but the good kind!

Anime, if you’re gonna include new scenes ya better have Emma slap Norman when she confronts him this time.

Sweeter Than Sugar

Hi this a new mini series! It’s Bucky x Reader. This will probably be 2 or 3 parts. I made this story all cause I really like seeing flustered and in love Bucky! The word count is about 1.3K Hope you enjoy! Tag list is open.

Warnings: fluff fluff fluff, emarrassed Bucky, swearing, and flirting

Sam's voice stuck in Bucky’s head for days after he embarrassed himself in front of the new server at their favorite diner. It was normal for him and Sam to head over to Gina’s Diner after a mission. 

Gina’s was open 24/7 and not many people went there, and their coffee was great. It was the ideal place to sit and relax for as long as they need. 

Three nights ago that changed though, it was 3AM and both Sam and Bucky needed a cup of coffee to keep them awake to write out their reports. Coming back from the mission, they were both covered in dirt, bruises, and dried blood. 

The owner of the diner, whose name was actually not Gina, told them once he didn’t care about their appearances, just if they liked the coffee. So of course, after that conversation, both Sam and Bucky didn’t care about their looks, just the coffee they needed. 

“Hey welcome to Gina’s, would y’all want to try our new scones?” a voice called out to them. Bucky looked up and swore he was standing in the presence of an angel. 

You were beautiful, you were wearing a loose hoodie, some sweats and an apron. You had a great smile. Bucky was lost now. How is this possible? You were the most beautiful living person he has seen, he’s not sure if he’s dreaming or not but he feels extremely lucky. 

Sam’s tired face quickly turned into a surprised happy one. “Hi there, who are you?” Sam walked over to the cashier, pushing his hand out for you to shake. “I’m Y/N, heard about you guys from Daniel, said y’all like just black coffee? Oh and some sugar for the sweetie standing over there! Take a seat let me pour y’all a cup.” You introduced yourself. And wow, you were shocked. You didn’t realize you were going to meet two Avengers on your first day of work! You also didn’t know they were so darn attractive! 

You don’t realize the word “sweetie” sent Bucky further into a spiral. He never had a honey like you call him sweetie, and well, he was in love with that nickname now. 

Even though you probably called everyone “sweetie”, he was now officially swooned by that name. He now thought he needed to address this. He needed you to now know that your nickname for him was sweeter than sugar. He wants to get back into the dating field right this second just so he could take you out on a date like he did with those dames back then.  

“You’re all the sugar I need for my coffee, don’t worry doll.” Bucky called out to you while you pulled out two mugs. Sam, who was already sitting down, staring at Bucky, astonished Bucky would actually say that. Sam’s laugh comes out immediately at the sight of Bucky now regretting his introduction to you. Bucky now looking down at himself, covered in blood and dirt, smelling like sewage, realizes he screwed up. His face is now blushing red, even his ears are burning, and his eyes are squeezed in tightly, silently cursing himself for being such a dork. He’s lost his game.

You, on the other hand, turn around somewhat shocked at his quick pick up line. You absolutely adore pick up lines, flirting, any type of cute joke, so when Bucky says this, you get giddy. It’s been too long for you to innocently flirt with others since you’ve moved here, and my goodness are you happy when he says that. Doll? How adorable! 

Feeling quite pleased, you put the mugs down and pour the coffee in and decide to play along, “You sure there sweetie? My charm can’t exactly pull the bitterness out.” You really do hope he continues, this is fun. 

Bucky however is sweating. He goes to sit down and now he is sweating because of you, not the mission. He really hopes you don’t think of him as scum, especially dressed like this. He sends out a small smile and grabs the mug and chugs the coffee. He doesn’t know why he decided to do that, especially when the coffee is blazing hot, burning his mouth and throat. Oh that bitterness as well, man he did not expect that, so now Bucky knows he looks like an idiot.

He’s got burning coffee spilling down his face, with you and Sam staring at him in shock. “Are you alright man? Why the hell did you do that?” Sam punches him lightly, while you’re grabbing napkins, still confused. 

“I uh, fuck. Yeah that was bitter.” Bucky coughed out. He’s now done. He’s gone past embarrassment and he just wants to dash out. You watch as he struggles to act or appear normal for a second, then he puts his head down in shame. Sam is of course, laughing again and making Bucky even more embarrassed. 

“Oh sweetie!” You know what you’re doing and what effect you have on him now. You dab the napkins lightly on his outfit, then slowly on his face, hoping, wishing, you didn’t cross any lines with this. 

Bucky’s head is now up, his eyes just staring right at you, wondering how and why are you doing this? Well, it’s obvious now, you enjoyed this, in fact you really do want to talk more to both of these men. The moment they stepped in here and the way your boss described them, you knew they would be some good ass friends if you spoke to them.

Being a good partner, Sam quickly pulled Bucky up and excused the two of them from Gina’s. You smiling and waving to them bye, Bucky continues to look at you and finally says, “Can we get some breakfast sometime?” Now that was one of the dumbest things Bucky has ever said. Yeah, that was his go-to line back then but now, in a diner, after embarrassing himself like that, not the smoothest. Yeah, that was really fucking stupid. 

Sam is still laughing at everything, but hearing Bucky say that triples his laughter! Sam knew Bucky needed a girl, Sam actually thought Bucky was chill with the ladies, but nope. Not at all it seems with you. After they leave Gina’s, Bucky mutters over the coldness, “Not a word of this to anyone, Wilson.”

 Sam doesn’t actually say anything for a day. He just sits and glances over to Bucky for half a second, and he’s chuckling. The next day though, Sam spills over into the seat next to Bucky before a briefing, “You are such a dumbass. Can’t believe she actually said yes though.”

“She what?!”

—

You said yes? Of course! You really did want to get to know them both more, and Bucky’s cute. But you’re wondering if he’ll actually come and “get breakfast ” with you, since you haven’t seen him since. It’s been 5 days and today was now your last shift till your break. Bucky stayed in your mind ever since, and each second longer, you found him even more cute and adorable. You knew of his past and everything but you didn’t see him as a threat, you just saw him as a flustered boy. 

Today, Bucky decided he needed to go face his fears (of rejection) and he was also really needing a coffee from Gina’s.The coffee machine broke in the building and no one bothered fixing it or getting a new one. And besides, Gina’s coffee was the best, and that was a fact. 

Dressed in his best casual attire, Bucky strides into the diner, feeling his confidence fading away. It was 2AM at the moment, no one in the room except the very beautiful and glorious Y/N. “Hi.” Bucky chucks out, you look up at him and smile, fucking finally.

“You feeling up for a coffee with sugar, or you wanna come back in a few hours to grab some breakfast?” You ask, playfully teasing. 

Pragma or  Philia

Summary: I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to re-read it. I think Y/n has trouble opening up to people and then something happens between her and Nico

Word count: nearly 2k

A/N: Sorry in advance of I don't get the personalities of the characters right. It's been a while since I read the books. The characters do not belong to me and neither does the story. They belong to Rick Riordan and you belong to you. I'm sorry if it's kinda weird. It's okay if you cringe (I cringed as I wrote it). Also, Pragma is longstanding love in Ancient Greek and philia is deep friendship in Ancient Greek.

Warning: none that I remember.

I looked over at my brother, Percy, as he trotted towards me. I started speed walking away. I knew he wanted to introduce me to his friends. But my anti-social ass always told him that I already had enough friends. Which was half true. Half true because I already did have enough friends. Half lie because I didn't have any friends,

I started to jog when I felt that my half-brother was gaining up on me. Soon, I was sprinting across camp to get away from Percy. Other campers watched in amusement as the two children of Poseidon chased each other. Well, for them the one child of Poseidon. As they surely didn't know who I was. There were only a few people who I had actually talked to. Those people were Percy, Chiron, Annabeth, Connor & Travis Stoll, Nico di Angelo and Jen, the satyr that had brought me to Camp Half-Blood over six years ago.

I had been in camp longer than Percy had. For most of my life here, I had slept in the Hermes cabin and lived there with the Stolls. No, they weren't my friends. Like I said before, I have no friends. They are more like allies or partners in crime. But anyway, I wasn't claimed until one year after Percy had arrived.

On one hand, I was glad I didn't have to sleep in a cabin crowded with thieves every night. On the other hand, I felt left out. Why hadn't my father noticed me until after two of his sons arrived at the camp? One of them being a cyclops. Was I not enough to be noticed? I mean, for more than half of my life I spent it on praying to Olympus for one of the gods to claim me. And then, after a lunatic with a sword comes along is when I finally get noticed. That lunatic had no idea what he was doing half of the time by the way. But he saved the world twice so I guess that makes up for it.

I held no grudge against Percy or Tyson though. What was the point? They didn't have the fault and besides, what was done was done.

"Y/n!" Percy panted as he grabbed my arm, stopping me and my thoughts. "Stop! I want to introduce you to my friends."

"That's exactly what I've been avoiding Percy," I say as I squirm out of his grip. "I also have enough friends as it is."

"You don't have any friends," he says bluntly. 'Wow,' I think to myself. 'So nice.'

"That's the point."

"Whatever," he says and grabs my hand. "You are going to meet my friends." I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"You can be so annoying sometimes," I say, but Percy ignored me and continued to drag me to the Poseidon cabin. He slammed open the door and seven faces turned to look at us. Between them, I recognized Annabeth, Nico and a girl that Annabeth seemed to hang out with a lot. Although I did not know her name. Percy sat me down on one of the bunks. He later sat down next to Annabeth on the bunk opposite mine. The others were already sitting down. I was sat down. I was next to Nico, who had a look that read he was sorry for me. I gave him the same look.

Nico was the closest thing I have to a friend. We used to have talks together about how the camp could improve and how the gods always sent demigods into their fights. In fact, it was our very first conversation together.

I leaned back against the wall as Percy introduced me to the group. I put on my annoyed face, but on the inside, I felt touched that Percy really cared for me enough to take his time to gather up people for me to meet them. As soon as he found out that I was his sister he tried to break down the walls that I had created around me. But so far the only person that had managed to do that was the person that was sitting next to me.

"How come I've never seen you around then?" asked the Latino boy next to the girl whose name I learned was Piper. I shrugged.

"I tend to keep to myself," I say. "I don't think you should be asking that question. I don't see you that much around camp either."

The boy blushed a deep crimson and I saw a bit of his hair go on fire before it went out. I huffed out a laugh. 'Okay,' I think. 'He has pyrokinesis.'

There was silence in the room and the tension was so thick you could've cut it with a knife. Percy must have noticed this and coughed to catch everyone's attention. "How 'bout we play some game?" he says. "Any suggestions Piper?"

Piper sighed. "Do I really need to say it? I think you already know what I'm going to say."

Percy had a confused look on his face as he said, "Seven minutes in heaven?"

Piper, who had already stood up to the center of the room whacked him on the back of the head. "No you dumb ass," she says. "Don't make me any more of an Aphrodite child than I have to."

I smirked. 'I like her.'

"I think you might just be the only person that I actually like in this room, Piper," I laugh out. I heard Nico making a choking noise next to me. I wondered but left it for later. Percy, meanwhile, looked at me with a hurt look. "Oh don't be a baby Percy. You'll always be my brother, I have to love you."

Annabeth smiled and Piper sat down on the floor. "Nice to know Y/n," she says. "It's also a refreshing sight to see Percy the one being sassed so thank you."

"It's no problem," I say. "If you want any more refreshing sights you should hang out with us at the Poseidon table during lunch."

"Could we just move on with what we were previously doing?" asks Percy, looking between me and Piper with a desperate look.

"Well, I was going to say we should play truth or dare."

I jumped off of the bed. "Truth or Dare!?!! This is my jam!" Nico looked at me weirdly. Probably because of my change in attitude around him. I was usually more like him, now I was showing my more Percy-like self. I moved to sit in front of Piper.

"Since you're so excited, Y/n, why don't you go first?" says Leo. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," I say.

[Time Skip. I'm sorry.]

We had played a few rounds of Truth or Dare. At the moment, Percy was dressed up as Ariel (which he didn't mind), Leo had red war paint and Jason was wearing a pink princess dress. Nico's face, unfortunately, had been decorated with makeup and glitter by Hazel.

"Y/n," says Piper and I looked at her. "Truth or Dare?"

"You already know my answer Piper," I say and she smirks.

"I dare you to kiss the person to your left," she says and my heart drops. I look over to my left and see that Leo's face was flushing a deep red. Judging from the heat I felt in my cheeks mine was probably in the same condition. He turns to look at me and we both lean in. Our lips met in a kiss. It wasn't just a peck, but it wasn't a full-on makeout session. We both pulled apart and I looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

I didn't dare to look at anyone. Especially Nico. 'Darn it,' I curse to myself. 'Why couldn't Piper have said "to your right"?' Yep that's right. I had a crush on the Ghost King. On the only person that managed to break down my walls. 

I was still looking down when Nico finally decided to stand and leave. I looked up just in time to see the door slam shut. 

"Nico!" I called out for my only friend. I stood up and headed outside to look for Nico. I looked around to see if I could find him. After about ten seconds I saw him going to the forest, and even from here, anger radiated off of him. "Nico, wait!"

I chase after him but he seemed to walk faster when he heard my voice. 'Now I know how  Percy falt about a half hour ago.' I started to run as to not lose him from sight. I nearly crashed into him when he stopped all of a sudden.

"Why don't you just go and play Truth or Dare with Leo," he said as he gestured to the cluster of cabins behind me. 'Wait, did he say Leo?'

"Nico, I wasn't playing Truth or Dare with just Leo," I say and he mumbles something under his breath. "What?"

"I said that it looked like it," Nico rolled his eyes and continued walking into the forest. But he didn't go very far after I grabbed his arm. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to read his poker face. Then I realized what was going on.

"Are you jealous of Leo?" I ask and Nico looks down. I burst out laughing and Nico goes even more red in the face. I wipe away a tear from my eye. "You are jealous of a guy I just met literally less than an hour ago. Oh, my gods." I catch my breath and Nico looks at me with a grumpy pout. I pinch his cheek. "You are actually really cute when you're jealous." 

I give him a peck on the lips and he blushes fifty different shades of red. My eyes widen as I just realized what I had done. "I'm so sorry Nico," I say as a fidget with the hem of my shirt. "You probably don't even like me."

Before I could say anything else he cupped my face in his hands and placed a soft kiss. I slowly kissed back and hugged him once he pulled away. "I really like you Y/n," he says into my hair.

"I really like you too, Nico," I say and peck his nose. There was a moment of silence. "I'm guessing this is the part where you ask me out?"

"Well, I was thinking more about asking you to be my girlfriend-"

"Yes," I said interrupting him. "I'll be your girlfriend." He grinned his grip around my waist got stronger. "Should we go and share the news?"

Nico paused to pretend he was thinking, "Nah," he says after a while. "They've been trying to get us together for the past year. Let them suffer."

The Sparda Family's Pet

Chapter #01

It was another normal day for you. You woke up in your dingy old mattress and dust-covered room. You lived in an abandoned building so this was normal for you to say the least. You had been given away to an orphanage at birth but as soon as you turned 18, you were kicked out and was forced to live on your own accord. You had nowhere to go so you wandered around a bit and eventually came across the oh so lovely, almost falling apart building.

You yawn loudly and stretch your limbs then throw your legs off the bed to sit up slowly. The light from the window across from your bed, temporarily blinding you as you stand and start to make your way over to the small dresser where you stuffed all your belongings in, which wasn't much, just a few changes of clothes and some miscellaneous objects. You take out a new pair of clothes for the day, you wonder what and how you were going to eat today. You didn't have money and without that, you were either left with dumpster food or stealing whatever you could and you were definitely going with the latter. You continued your daily morning routine and once finished, you left your little and barely standing paradise and headed into town where you'd hopefully find breakfast.

While walking, you spotted a man in a leather jacket swiftly following quite an attractive young lady with brown hair and glasses. You hummed to yourself and continued on, barely even acknowledging that the man had some sort of robot arm. After walking quite a bit past the loud couple that were now yelling at each other from behind you and could be heard about a block away, you saw a few small rocks roll past your feet and abruptly stopped. Turning your head left, the direction the rocks came from, you found yourself peering into a dark alleyway that you had failed to notice before. You shuffled your feet a bit nervously because you knew that rocks didn't just go rolling themselves. Swallowing the spit in the back of your throat, you inched closer towards the alleyway. "Hello?" your better judgment being thrown out the window even though you knew you probably should have walked away and not looked back.

A small cough that echoed through the alleyway and a small boy walked into view. He looked hungry and scuffed up. His clothes were dingy and his skin had small cuts everywhere and dirt-caked his face. He had tears brewing in his eyes as he huffed lightly. "Please help me. I'm hungry and have nowhere to go..." You were heartbroken the second he said "hungry" and frowned lightly. You crouched down and got eye level with the boy and beckoned him to come closer. When he finally got close enough for you to reach out and grip his shoulders firmly but not enough to hurt the poor boy, you looked him over to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly and once finished your eyes returned to the boy's face which had contorted into some sort of monstrous-looking being. Your eyes went wide and you screamed loudly which alerted the couple down the block that you had passed. Your breathing quickened as you were face to face with the demon child that had grown a pair of sharp teeth and huge claws. The demon boy coiled his arm back and was getting ready to impale you with his sharp claws when suddenly the man in the dark coat jumped over you and the demon boy. Guns in hands while still in the air, he shot multiple rounds into the back of the demon head causing him to fall forward and nearly landing on you if the brunette from before hadn't pulled you into her chest before so. Blood poured out of the monstrous child's head and pooled at your feet. Your mouth had gone dry as you stared at the deformed and deceitful demon child.

The pretty lady brought her hand up to your face and blinded you by covering your eyes from the horrendous sight. "Nero! Was that really necessary? Right in front of this poor gal?!" The man, apparently called Nero, clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Well if I didn't then she wouldn't be standing there, would she? No. she'd be cabobbed onto the shit's arm and bleeding out." the man sassed the woman in front of him, not really upset or anything, it's just how their relationship kind of works.

While the two bickered, you could feel the creature's blood seep into the holes on the bottoms of your worn-out shoes. You cringed and panted, wanting nothing more than to get out of the bloodied alleyway. She tried to step backward, which only succeeded in getting the pair's attention. "Hey now Nero, we should probably get her outta here, she's probably scarred cause of your dumbass." and with that, she grabbed onto your hand with her other hand that wasn't shielding your vision from the gory sight in front of you and guided you away. When she deemed you both to be a safe distance away from the alley, she removed her hand from your face and smiled down at you. "Well aren't you a cute little thing." she snorted and grinned down at you. You blushed a bit and looked down at your blood-soaked shoes "Thank you..." you mumbled lightly and looked behind you to see how far away you were from the crime scene that just took place, only for you to see the man named Nero instead who was most likely intentionally blocking the view from you.

Nero stared down at you for a few seconds, taking in your appearance before huffing lightly and crossing his arms only to turn his head and look the other way. He sort of had a pink hue on his cheeks but you couldn't tell if he was blushing or if he had any kind of adrenaline rushing after that onslaught. You cleared your throat and began to speak. "Um....thank you for saving me back there. I almost became monster food." you then proceeded to give a small, nervous chuckle. The pair nodded and gave you a "No problem". You were about to say goodbye and go your separate ways until your stomach decided that now would be the perfect time to remind you of the reason you were out and about anyways. Your face began to turn a crimson color as they both chuckled at the sound of your stomach making gurgling noises. "Well, I see no reason to leave a pretty little thing such as yourself out on the streets and hungry. Hop on in the van and ill make ya a good ole breakfast that'll stop all that noise!" the pretty brunette exclaimed loudly and grabbed hold of your hand once again and dragged you into her van. "I'll even cook for ya for free since you're so darn cute!" she said in her raspy voice and gave another little snort. Your blush only seemed to darken at her words and you took a seat at one of the barstools by the kitchen area inside the van. "By the way Darlin, the name's Nico and that there is Nero." she pointed to the male who had killed the demon as he was taking a seat next to you on another bar stool. He looked over at you and gave a small smile and a nod before uttering a simple "Hey" which you returned. "It's nice to meet you both, my name is y/n" you gave both a small smile and continued "Thank you both for saving me".

While Nico was cooking and had most of your attention on her, Nero couldn't help himself but look you over again like he did outside. He found it attractive and after Kyrie broke up with him, claiming she was lesbian and started seeing some girl, he needed something to distract himself from the degrading thoughts he had about himself, claiming that he wasn't good enough for the woman he thought he'd marry. He licked his lips and took in your curves....or wait...curves? The more he looked at you, he could see just how hungry you truly were. You looked so small to him and compared to Nico, you were basically skin and bones. How long have you been in need of food? He also noticed all the holes and how dingy your clothes looked. He frowned and came to the conclusion that you were probably trying your hardest and living out in the streets. "Hey" he spoke up "You live around here?" you turned your attention to the white-haired male and pursed your lips. "Yeah, I live down the road. Two blocks away to be exact." Nero's eyebrows furrowed. "Nico and I just came that way. The only house that way is abandoned and falling apart". After hearing his words, your face turned red once more but not because you were shy but because you were embarrassed he now knew that you lived in some old and dusty building. He noticed that you looked upset at his words and mentally cringed at himself for being too blunt. "Hey there, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset... I just... I don't think you should have to live there is all." Nero then thought about his next words carefully and decided that any punishment he'd get out of this would be worth it. "I was thinking that if you wanted to, you could come live with my uncle, my father and I at my uncle's shop?" he peered down at you with what looked like puppy dog eyes and honestly, who were you kidding, it's not like you were going to say no anyways. You were hungry and living in poor conditions. "I... id be more than happy if you'd let me stay with you guys. I'll help around with your uncle's shop and make sure to pay you guys back in any way possible for letting me stay". Nero blushed at your words and felt his cock twitch in his jeans after hearing that you'd pay them back in any way possible. He bit his lip and looked away "yeah yeah whatever. We'll deal with all that when we get to the shop. While we're here though, do you have any belongings you want to pick up before we head out?" You shook your head no and finally turned your attention back to Nico who had just finished breakfast for everyone.

BNHA Headcannon: You Go To A Haunted House And They End Up Losing You

Author’s Note: So this actually happened to me. I went into a Haunted House with my younger brother and we were having a good time. Haunted Houses don’t scare me because I used to work at them. I’ve worked at this particular haunted house for five years. I’m used to making jokes when going through them. However, I ended up losing my brother during the Haunted House this year and started panicking. He was too freaked out by one of the chainsaws so he had to leave. Thankfully, we ended up finding each other when I exited the building. The scariest part of the whole thing wasn’t the Haunted House but me thinking I lost my brother or that he was hurt somewhere. Chainsaws were nothing compared to thinking that he was gone. So I decided to write this little BNHA head cannons of what would happen if you and your boyfriend were separated and lost each other during one. Now that the introduction is out of the way, let’s continue.

Didn’t really like the idea of going into a Haunted House.

But since you’re his precious girlfriend he went with you, despite all rational thoughts that he shouldn’t be here.

Admires the decorations up front and the makeup details all of the people were wearing.

Of course, you two dressed up as well. With him as a spooky ghost and you as a witch.

Took a few photos of you because gosh darn it he loves you and you’re so cute.

Was getting nervous when you two approached the entrance to the attraction and instinctively grabbed your hand. 

His heart exploded when he was told to go.

Creeped out the whole time and flinched every time there was a jump scare. 

Doesn’t like the clown horns. They get him every time.

Your kisses however called him down a lot and helped him get through the worst of it.

However, he got spooked out by a Leatherface looking at him eerily with an active chainsaw and he booked it.

Eventually, he stopped once he no longer heard the sound of a chainsaw after him. 

He however, starts to panic when he realizes you’re nowhere to be found. 

Asks a couple of people if they’ve seen you but they don’t.

Doesn’t want to overreact and knows you can take care of yourself.

Decides to get through the rest of this Haunted House quickly so he can find you.

Brave hero Deku blazes through the rest of the spooky stuff because he was too preoccupied to find you.

Eventually, gets back to the entrance and desperately starts searching for you. 

Finds you holding a poor kid in your arms. The kid is crying and wants his mommy.

You explain that you found the poor kid crying and refusing to go on further. 

Picking him up, you took one of the emergency exits and left telling the staff that there was a lost boy who was looking for his mom.

Is relieved you’re okay but begs you next time to let him know so that way he doesn’t have to worry.

He also admires your kindness to help this poor kid out.

The child reunites with his mom and Izuku explains the rest of what you missed while you were busy.

He was very adamant about not going to this but you tried every trick in the book until he accepted.

The only thing that convinced him to go was when you called him a chicken and that you would ask Deku to go since he’s brave.

“THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! LIKE HELL DEKU IS BRAVER THAN ME! I’LL GO WITH YOU TO THE SHITTY HOUSE!”

And just like that you were here with your growling boyfriend who only came here because of your teasing.

He was dressed as a werewolf and you were little red riding hood. 

Takes a sneak photo of you when you were admiring the decorations and makes it his lockscreen.

Almost gets into a fight with one guy because Katsuki thought he was checking out your ass.

Eventually, the two of you made your way inside.

Had his arm wrapped around your shoulder and pulled you close into him.

Wasn’t all that bothered by the employees but the loud sound effects were kind of annoying.

Thought some of the gore was pretty cool though.

Eventually, the two of you had to climb up a ladder and he went first so he didn’t have to hear anymore of the loud horns.

Waited at the top for you even though he was impatient and started to wonder what the hell is taking so long.

Goes down and frowns when he realizes you’re not down there. Starts yelling for you and walking the opposite way despite the protests of the employees.

Internally starts worrying that you got too scared or some shitty villain kidnapped you while you two were out.

Hates himself for going up the ladder first rather than you going first or together.

Hears distant screams out on the exits and runs out it.

See’s you glaring down at the creep who was eyeing you earlier.

That’s when you explain when you climbed up the ladder, the pervert flipped up your skirt and made disgusting comments about your body.

You punched him in the face and went after the sicko when he ran off.

Katsuki’s eyes blazed with fury and he kicked the creep in the stomach.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! TREAT MY GIRL LIKE THAT AGAIN AND I’LL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?!”

You cheered him on in the back, which made Katsuki’s chest swell with pride.

Katsuki took you both back to his place for his own Halloween fun with you~

At first, he thought you meant like an actual haunted house like with pagan rituals and spirits.

“You want us to have a date at the Ancient Ram Inn?”

“Shoto, that’s not what I meant!”

You had to clarify what exactly you mean by a haunted house.

He decided to go, since you were very adamant about going yourself.

Of course you two dressed up as Dracula and his bride.

Took a selfie together because Shoto with his hair slicked to the side is something you love with all your heart. 

Shoto admired all the pumpkin carvings and you two promised to carve on some pumpkins together.

As the both of you were getting closer to the entrance, he noticed how stiff you had become. 

Asks if you were okay and you assured him nothing was wrong.

Didn’t think much of it and went into the Haunted House with you.

Wasn’t scared during the attraction and just focused on holding your hand and not tripping on any props.

Wonders how that person can see without their head and how they got some of the props to move.

He sees a man in a pig mask with a chainsaw and takes off running with you.

Didn’t like the chainsaw noise and he wasn’t sure why. It just made him uncomfortable.

However, he realizes that your hand slipped away from his and starts to fret over what happened to you. 

Heads back, calling your name and desperately trying to find out where you were.

Thinks he’s a terrible boyfriend for not realizing you were missing and he should have noticed sooner.

Is thinking about calling the police but he eventually finds you huddled in a dark corner whimpering.

Quickly scoops you into his arms and holds you closely to him.

Asks what happened and you explained that you got too scared and accidentally let go of his hand.

He feels like an idiot for not noticing that you were freaking out earlier before they even started the Haunted House.

Carries you the rest of the way through as your head is buried into his arms.

Shoots ice cold glares at anyone who gets to close.

The two of you exit the Haunted House and he kisses you on the cheek saying that you two could just stick to carving pumpkins instead.

Mentions how UA is throwing a Haunted House and invites you to join in on the fun.

Wanting to be the supporting wife, you agree.

He was dressed up as a skeleton, you called him handsome and he couldn’t stop blushing after that compliment.

You are dressed up as Morticia Addams and Toshi is living for it.

Call him mon cher in a sexy voice and he’ll cough out blood.

You two are going to be Gomez and Morticia Addams together next year.

Loves how you interact with some of the kids and compliment their costumes, thinks you’re so lovely. 

You kiss him under the black rose mistletoe and he almost fainted.

Midnight and Present Mic tease him about the red lipstick that’s on him and he rushes to the bathroom to wipe it off.

You two decide to participate in the Haunted House for fun and began your adventure together.

Toshi admires how creative the students got with their quirks when they did the attraction and compliments all of them.

Thought using Bakugou’s explosion as the sound effect was cool but very jarring to his poor ears.

Suddenly, he notices you aren’t behind him and begins nervously looking around for you.

Wonders when he lost you or if you got distracted along the way.

Starts getting more concerned when he doesn’t see anyone else around.

Thinks you might have gotten hurt and is ready to head to the exit to call in a search party for you when he was making no progress.

He then see’s a bloody Mina say in a creepy voice.

“The Devil King has the fair maiden....you must rescue her...”

Without fail, he continued on and ended up seeing you wrapped in tape courtesy of Sero while the Devil King Kirishima laughed wickedly.

“I have captured the lovely woman and she will become my bride! And not even you Skeleton King can stop me!”

Looks at you with a playful look in his eyes.

“You have nothing to worry about my love! For I AM HERE!”

With his best All Might voice he raced to you and scooped you into his arms.

“Haha! Very clever Skeleton King! But you’ll have to get passed my minions first!”

Sees more of Class 1-A in scary costumes but he continues playing the part of the hero and rescuing you away from these nefarious foes.

The two of you made it back to the entrance and ended up laughing at the ridiculous stunt the students pulled on you two.

Even though he retired as All Might, he was still the hero of your little adventure.

However, you did reward Toshi with an extra special treat for rescuing you that night~

Why of all the things did Nezu agree for the students to have a Haunted House attraction set up at UA?

He sees them enough as it is, why can’t he catch a break?

You come along for the ride to help and keep your husband company.

Forces him to be more festive and wear a Halloween costume.

He’s a mummy and you’re Cleopatra.

The kids snicker when they see his getup and he’s not amused in the slightest.

He does think you look beautiful in your costume though and is appreciative that you took the time out of your day to help him out.

Gets mad at Mic when he mentions how gorgeous you are in the dress and Aizawa gets back at him with a fake spider.

The students insist that he goes through the Haunted House as they were close to wrapping up ha and he’s reluctant to go until you offer to go with him as support.

The two of you walk through the Haunted House as he’s mostly aggravated by the loud sounds and people.

However, he does notice how the scares get to you and he puts an arm around your waist to ease you.

Gets distracted when Bakugou starts a fight with Denki and scolds the two of them harshly.

But he’s lost sight of you as you went on ahead.

Starts going through the corn maze and hears a distant roar up ahead.

Along with your screams of terror.

“Shit.”

Starts picking up the pace as he worries about what was going on or if one of the students possibly took it too far.

Is ready to kick ass to keep you safe.

Your curled up in a ball shaking and tearing up as Tokoyami looks ashamed.

“I’m sorry sir. Dark Shadow got out of control and really terrified her.”

Will talk to him about it later but wants to get you somewhere safe.

Picks you up and takes you out one of the exits and rubs your back smoothly as he whispers words of assurances to you.

Eventually, you become calm and apologize for ruining it.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. Now, let’s get this place cleaned up so we can go home and sleep.”

He held you very close to him that night.

Why are you insistent on going to a Haunted House? The League of Villains is full of actual evil people!

You want to go for fun and he starts wondering if you were Toga in disguise.

Agrees to go to keep you safe and to make sure no horny pigs try to flirt with you.

Doesn’t dress up because he’s not going to go looking like some clown.

Although you tried to convince him that him being dressed up as the Grim Reaper would be super hot.

He might dress up like one next year since you said that though.

You dressed up as Harley Quinn and he can’t stop staring at your legs and ass.

Wants to disintegrate that costume and have his way with you.

As you’re both standing in line waiting, a guy in creepy Halloween costume started flirting with you.

Tomura wanted to kill him but you turned down the man with your response.

“Sorry but I’m happily taken with my boyfriend.”

The guy looked miffed but walked away.

Avoids eye contact and just sticks to being close at your side while you do most of the chatting with the ticket person.

Keeps his arm wrapped around your shoulder with a pinky out.

Gives everyone his death glare and some are too afraid to even try and scare him. 

He did chuckle a few times when you got scared.

However, the two of you were stopped by some guy that had a mask and  butcher knife with him.

He mocked your boyfriend about his creepy appearance and how you would have a much better night with him.

Tomura had enough of the guy and began choking him one hand against the wall.

“(Y/N) is mine and mine alone!”

With that, he turned to man to ash and that’s when he noticed you weren’t with him.

With a groan of frustration he went on ahead looking for you. He was really starting to regret coming here now.

Was getting kind of worried because he couldn't find you.

His hands start twitching and he's about ready to crumble this place to pieces.

Eventually, he heard the sound of a door slamming shut and he went out it.

That’s when he saw his girlfriend holding the man in a headlock as he was gagging for air.

You had a knife that Toga gave you as a birthday gift, up to his throat and threatening to slice him.

Tomura noticed it was the same man that had flirted with you in line as you explained to him and his buddy from earlier were attempting to kidnap you.

The friend was supposed to distract your boyfriend while you were going to be taken away from behind.

Unfortunately, the two idiots didn’t know you were both members of the League of Villains so that backfired on them.

Tomura witnessed as you killed the man as he begged for mercy, the leader was extremely giddy seeing his woman take down that chump with ease and no witnesses.

The two of you went home to celebrate the rest of Halloween and for Tomura to show who you truly belonged to~

Dabi thought it sounded like a huge waste of time.

But when he hears up you’re going dressed up as a sexy nurse and want him to play the part of the Mad Doctor, he’s in.

Because he wants you to do some roleplaying with him when you’re both finished.

It takes everything he has in him to not peel off that outfit slowly when he first sees you in it.

He does feel flattered when you comment on how handsome he looks as a doctor.

Keeps you close to his side so no assholes try anything on you.

Had a few people who really enjoyed his “makeup” to which he just shrugged and thanked them.

Someone is dressed up as the flame hero Endeavour, which made Dabi very grumpy.

To make Dabi laugh you use your telekinesis quirk to pull down the guys pants.

It works, Dabi loses his shit and laughs like a maniac.

The two of you began going through the Haunted House while making jokes all the way through it.

One of the demons comes up to you.

“Leave...”

“Okay.”

Dabi likes it whenever one of the jumpscares gets to you and he teases you for it.

You both groaned when you realized you had to crawl through a wooden pathway and Dabi went in first to get it over with.

It was a real pain to get through with his long doctor coat but he finally managed to make it through.

He was waiting for you and called out your name but you didn’t respond.

With a furrowed brows he kept calling your name over and over again but he still got no response.

Starting to get worried, he was about to crawl in and see where you went when he heard your voice call his name.

You explained to him that your top got stuck on one of the splinters and your shirt ended up getting ripped in the process.

Dabi felt relieved that you were okay but brushed it off by whistling that you were planning on giving him a show early. 

You snapped at him that other people were beginning to crawl through as well and asked to borrow his doctor coat.

Being the best boyfriend he was, he gave you with white doctor trench coat to wear as you wrapped it around your torso.

You thanked him for the coat and Dabi said with a wink.

“You can thank me all you want to later babe.”

Scared and Alone / Ben Hanscom Fluff

Request: Hi! Do you think you can do an imagine where 2019! Ben and his 15 year old daughter come back from Derry, but that night she has a nightmare about Pennywise, so she go into his room and sleeps in there 

I’m sorry for the Ben flush today but this is just too darn cute <3

Uni is being a real bench right now, so all comments are much appreciated ;3

The low rays of the glistening moon reflect through your half-opened blinds and cast low shadows on the flowery wallpaper like fire, like a childhood monster finally creeping it’s way inside and consuming the last remaining light of the day. As you twist under your duvet, sleep slipping through your fingers as the velvety blanket of midnight falls its shadows onto your face, the clear night is illuminated only by the glint of yellow lamplight that falls onto Ben’s desk in the living room, his pen bouncing off the table with a rhythmic beat as he gazes down at his latest blueprints and sighs to himself, your golden Labrador nudging her wet nose into his hand, which he eagerly cups.  

The ghost was more silent than the cold bedroom tile it arose from, staring with heavy lidded eyes and a slack mouth. His cheekbones accentuated the skeletal look and in his gaze your mind was robbed of emotion. Instead of running, or screaming, you stood more still than the figure looking back at you, just with slightly wider, more panicked eyes. He coughs a little bit of blood, his mouth blubbering open and shut in pain as he grasps desperately at his abdomen, his eyes squeezing shut as if he can block all the damage done to his insides out.

Eddie Kaspbrak.

Your back hits your bedposts the second orange pom pom balls begin to sprout out from his shirt, his head falling back, and when he tilts forward to stare at you again, drool pooling out of the corner of his jowls, you begin to scream when you see the jagged white collar around his neck. His eyes only roll back into his head, showing their whites as he mumbles out a faint-

‘R-Richie-’

Small thumps break you out of your dream, and sitting up, your pyjama shorts rolling up and the coarse cotton sheets scratching against your thighs as you shift your torso, you slap a hand against your mouth to stifle a scream, certain that impending doom was approaching.

‘Y/n! It’s me, it’s dad!’

A biting shiver ran down your spine, like a bolt of electricity as you take in the dishevelled appearance of your dad, yellow light floating through the still banging door as he stands in its outline, his hair a mess and his mouth agape.

‘P-P-Pennywise. He’s here. He’s here dad, and he has Eddie, and we’re next and he’s seen us and we’re all going to die just like Uncle Eds did because we just left him there in the dark and he wants Richie and-’

‘Oh love,’ he says, his voice laced with concern and comfort at seeing you in such a state. He backs his bottom up the bed, his jeans crinkling against the cotton sheet, his laced boots kicking against the iron bedpost. His hands fumble your reaching ones tenderly out of the way as his fingers come up to splay against your forehead, twitching slightly as they take your temperature. He takes a deep, trembling breathe, his thumbs swirling against your temples as he tries to remember that old nursery rhyme he had always used to sign to you when you were plagued with relentless nightmares. 

‘It’s okay, I’m right here, and I’m not going. Plus, that clown is gone, okay. He’s gone. And I will always protect you.’

Your dad had a way of enveloping you in an embrace that made you feel safe, protected and shielded form the world. His arms wrapped securely around you, his chin pressed gently against your head as you buried yourself against his neck like a burrowing rabbit as he sighed softly, trying not to rustle you too much.

Your eyes fluttered closed as you were cocooned in a nest of safeness; wrapped in blankets Ben gingerly kicked back up the bed with his feet and wrapped in Ben’s arms, and he had no intention of letting you go. Feeling the stress leave your body, you let yourself be lulled with the gentle caress of his hands and the steady beat of his heart.

As he stroked your hair your breathing slowed, and Ben was glad you were starting to fall asleep so you couldn’t see the tears drip down his face in little hurried bumps. Then he began to sing the lullaby he'd always sung to you at bedtime when you were a baby. As his eyelids became heavy and drooped, he pulled you against him and cuddled into your warmth until you both fell into a dreamless sleep. 

Pragma or Philia?

Pragma or Philia?

Nico di Angelo x Female! Reader

A/N: Sorry in advance of I don't get the personalities of the characters right. It's been a while since I read the books. The characters do not belong to me and neither does the story. They belong to Rick Riordan and you belong to you. I'm sorry if it's kinda weird. It's okay if you cringe (I cringed as I wrote it). Also, Pragma is longstanding love in Ancient Greek and philia is deep friendship in Ancient Greek.

Fandom: Percy Jackson/ Heroes of Olympus

Pairing: Nico x Reader

_________________

I looked over at my brother, Percy, as he trotted towards me. I started speed walking away. I knew he wanted to introduce me to his friends. But my anti-social ass always told him that I already had enough friends. Which was half true. Half true because I already did have enough friends. Half lie because I didn't have any friends,

I started to jog when I felt that my half-brother was gaining up on me. Soon, I was sprinting across camp to get away from Percy. Other campers watched in amusement as the two children of Poseidon chased each other. Well, for them the one child of Poseidon. As they surely didn't know who I was. There were only a few people who I had actually talked to. Those people were Percy, Chiron, Annabeth, Connor & Travis Stoll, Nico di Angelo and Jen, the satyr that had brought me to Camp Half-Blood over six years ago.

I had been in camp longer than Percy had. For most of my life here, I had slept in the Hermes cabin and lived there with the Stolls. No, they weren't my friends. Like I said before, I have no friends. They are more like allies or partners in crime. But anyway, I wasn't claimed until one year after Percy had arrived.

On one hand, I was glad I didn't have to sleep in a cabin crowded with thieves every night. On the other hand, I felt left out. Why hadn't my father noticed me until after two of his sons arrived at the camp? One of them being a cyclops. Was I not enough to be noticed? I mean, for more than half of my life I spent it on praying to Olympus for one of the gods to claim me. And then, after a lunatic with a sword comes along is when I finally get noticed. That lunatic had no idea what he was doing half of the time by the way. But he saved the world twice so I guess that makes up for it.

I held no grudge against Percy or Tyson though. What was the point? They didn't have the fault and besides, what was done was done.

"Y/n!" Percy panted as he grabbed my arm, stopping me and my thoughts. "Stop! I want to introduce you to my friends."

"That's exactly what I've been avoiding Percy," I say as I squirm out of his grip. "I also have enough friends as it is."

"You don't have any friends," he says bluntly. 'Wow,' I think to myself. 'So nice.'

"That's the point."

"Whatever," he says and grabs my hand. "You are going to meet my friends." I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"You can be so annoying sometimes," I say, but Percy ignored me and continued to drag me to the Poseidon cabin. He slammed open the door and seven faces turned to look at us. Between them, I recognized Annabeth, Nico and a girl that Annabeth seemed to hang out with a lot. Although I did not know her name. Percy sat me down on one of the bunks. He later sat down next to Annabeth on the bunk opposite mine. The others were already sitting down. I was sat down. I was next to Nico, who had a look that read he was sorry for me. I gave him the same look.

Nico was the closest thing I have to a friend. We used to have talks together about how the camp could improve and how the gods always sent demigods into their fights. In fact, it was our very first conversation together.

I leaned back against the wall as Percy introduced me to the group. I put on my annoyed face, but on the inside, I felt touched that Percy really cared for me enough to take his time to gather up people for me to meet them. As soon as he found out that I was his sister he tried to break down the walls that I had created around me. But so far the only person that had managed to do that was the person that was sitting next to me.

"How come I've never seen you around then?" asked the Latino boy next to the girl whose name I learned was Piper. I shrugged.

"I tend to keep to myself," I say. "I don't think you should be asking that question. I don't see you that much around camp either."

The boy blushed a deep crimson and I saw a bit of his hair go on fire before it went out. I huffed out a laugh. 'Okay,' I think. 'He has pyrokinesis.'

There was silence in the room and the tension was so thick you could've cut it with a knife. Percy must have noticed this and coughed to catch everyone's attention. "How 'bout we play some game?" he says. "Any suggestions Piper?"

Piper sighed. "Do I really need to say it? I think you already know what I'm going to say."

Percy had a confused look on his face as he said, "Seven minutes in heaven?"

Piper, who had already stood up to the center of the room whacked him on the back of the head. "No you dumb ass," she says. "Don't make me any more of an Aphrodite child than I have to."

I smirked. 'I like her.'

"I think you might just be the only person that I actually like in this room, Piper," I laugh out. I heard Nico making a choking noise next to me. I wondered but left it for later. Percy, meanwhile, looked at me with a hurt look. "Oh don't be a baby Percy. You'll always be my brother, I have to love you."

Annabeth smiled and Piper sat down on the floor. "Nice to know Y/n," she says. "It's also a refreshing sight to see Percy the one being sassed so thank you."

"It's no problem," I say. "If you want any more refreshing sights you should hang out with us at the Poseidon table during lunch."

"Could we just move on with what we were previously doing?" asks Percy, looking between me and Piper with a desperate look.

"Well, I was going to say we should play truth or dare."

I jumped off of the bed. "Truth or Dare!?!! This is my jam!" Nico looked at me weirdly. Probably because of my change in attitude around him. I was usually more like him, now I was showing my more Percy-like self. I moved to sit in front of Piper.

"Since you're so excited, Y/n, why don't you go first?" says Leo. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," I say.

[Time Skip. I'm sorry.]

We had played a few rounds of Truth or Dare. At the moment, Percy was dressed up as Ariel (which he didn't mind), Leo had red war paint and Jason was wearing a pink princess dress. Nico's face, unfortunately, had been decorated with makeup and glitter by Hazel.

"Y/n," says Piper and I looked at her. "Truth or Dare?"

"You already know my answer Piper," I say and she smirks.

"I dare you to kiss the person to your left," she says and my heart drops. I look over to my left and see that Leo's face was flushing a deep red. Judging from the heat I felt in my cheeks mine was probably in the same condition. He turns to look at me and we both lean in. Our lips met in a kiss. It wasn't just a peck, but it wasn't a full-on makeout session. We both pulled apart and I looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

I didn't dare to look at anyone. Especially Nico. 'Darn it,' I curse to myself. 'Why couldn't Piper have said "to your right"?' Yep that's right. I had a crush on the Ghost King. On the only person that managed to break down my walls.

I was still looking down when Nico finally decided to stand and leave. I looked up just in time to see the door slam shut.

"Nico!" I called out for my only friend. I stood up and headed outside to look for Nico. I looked around to see if I could find him. After about ten seconds I saw him going to the forest, and even from here, anger radiated off of him. "Nico, wait!"

I chase after him but he seemed to walk faster when he heard my voice. 'Now I know how  Percy falt about a half hour ago.' I started to run as to not lose him from sight. I nearly crashed into him when he stopped all of a sudden.

"Why don't you just go and play Truth or Dare with Leo," he said as he gestured to the cluster of cabins behind me. 'Wait, did he say Leo?'

"Nico, I wasn't playing Truth or Dare with just Leo," I say and he mumbles something under his breath. "What?"

"I said that it looked like it," Nico rolled his eyes and continued walking into the forest. But he didn't go very far after I grabbed his arm. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to read his poker face. Then I realized what was going on.

"Are you jealous of Leo?" I ask and Nico looks down. I burst out laughing and Nico goes even more red in the face. I wipe away a tear from my eye. "You are jealous of a guy I just met literally less than an hour ago. Oh, my gods." I catch my breath and Nico looks at me with a grumpy pout. I pinch his cheek. "You are actually really cute when you're jealous."

I give him a peck on the lips and he blushes fifty different shades of red. My eyes widen as I just realized what I had done. "I'm so sorry Nico," I say as a fidget with the hem of my shirt. "You probably don't even like me."

Before I could say anything else he cupped my face in his hands and placed a soft kiss. I slowly kissed back and hugged him once he pulled away. "I really like you Y/n," he says into my hair.

"I really like you too, Nico," I say and peck his nose. There was a moment of silence. "I'm guessing this is the part where you ask me out?"

"Well, I was thinking more about asking you to be my girlfriend-"

"Yes," I said interrupting him. "I'll be your girlfriend." He grinned his grip around my waist got stronger. "Should we go and share the news?"

Nico paused to pretend he was thinking, "Nah," he says after a while. "They've been trying to get us together for the past year. Let them suffer."

____________________________________

Thank you for reading through this (nearly 2,000 word long) Nico x Reader. I hope you like it and I will be trying out some requests i

Kietthen (Keith)

Summary: You've always wanted to approach the Red Paladin, but he's being as fickle as a kitten. Will you ever get on his good side?

Warnings: none. 

Chapters: 1 [completed] 

Words: 2,019

READ IT ON AO3. 

**

Sometimes (or rather, most of the times), Keith reminds you of a kitten.

Not a cat, but a sweet and angry little kitten. He couldn’t possibly grow in your eyes into something more mature because Keith…

...oh, Keith, my dudes, was the epitome of adorableness. 

Don’t believe me? Come on, you must see the resemblance. Keith was moody and he did whatever the fuck he wanted, regardless of everyone else’s opinions (or at least, kept their opinions at a minimum). He acted independent, was a lurking loner, standing to the side and pouting all the time. The boy might seem calm and collected, acting all mysterious and cool, but approach him and he’ll bite your head off (if he could). He’s fussy—he’ll scratch, hiss and run if you stepped on his tail or rubbed him the wrong way. So most didn’t dare to approach him because he acted this way, despite having moments when he was goofier than even Lance, if you can imagine that (don't tell him, he'll only get confused).

But there's one thing he can’t do to deceive your keen eye--he wasn’t scaring you at all. Because you could see through his actions and he wasn’t convincing: he craved affection yet he had no idea how to ask for it. You just wanted to make Keith feel at home and safe—plus, it was a sweet guilty pleasure trying to tease him and push his buttons just to see his adorable reactions.

And mostly because you loved cats and you missed the ones on Earth. Alien creatures that acted like pets were cute too, but you still preferred having a real feline next to you. So you resorted to torturing Keith, although he has no idea of your intentions. And you knew (sort of) how to approach cats, to tame them. You also wanted to tame Keith and earn his trust—but approaching him with food wasn’t the best of ideas. He bristled the first time you offered him a piece of your cooking creation and almost choked on it. You were confused: what was wrong with it? You put your heart in it and he just spat on it. You tasted it later: it was ok. Maybe too much alien salt... Wait—he didn’t like it because it was hot? 

The idea of Keith having a cat’s tongue was too darn adorable.

You tried a different tactic, but nothing seemed to work. Taking him by surprise and smothering him with affection made him run away. When you tried to casually touch him, he flinched and shrug you away—at least that happened less and less now, having gotten used to your random acts. His fluffy hair was out of question, forbidden zone. You tried running your fingers through it once and almost got a bruise by how tight he grabbed your wrists. He apologized for that, though, saying that it was his survival instincts kicking in. Why he needed a defensive mechanism for his hair, that was beyond your comprehension. But you believed that he was simply not used in people showing him some interest. He was an orphan, after all. He probably spent all his life alone, wandering the universe and wondering what his true purpose was. You hoped he found it by now..

You weren’t going to give up, much to his chagrin. Probably due to your rather ‘aggressive’ approach, he got scared and mostly avoided you. Whenever he saw you getting close to him, he ran; much to your disappointment. Looked for any excuse to not be near you. It hurt you a lil’ bit, but you could understand where he was coming from. Maybe you should’ve given him some space—but your kink for cuteness got the better of you. Cats shouldn’t be forced; they had their own free will and if they felt like it, they’ll come to you on their own. You’ve learned that the hard way countless times, but you thought that maybe Keith was more malleable. Seemed like your theories were wrong. He was still prickly, albeit a bit tamer lately. At least he smiled more. You feel like you need to apologize for your straightforward behavior but you never got the chance. With the approaching battle, you all had other thoughts to worry over.

You let him alone, not bothering him—you found a new target, though. Lance was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

And so days passed (not as if you could really count in space) and a lot happened.

The team barely managed to escape their last fight against the Galra and you were waiting for them in the castle, alongside Coran. Being the medic and supporter of the team, you were always confronted with a hard task of seeing them hurt and bruised. But you were there for them and that’s what you did that today too. When they came tumbling out of their lions, you wanted to run to your first target: Keith. He was always the reckless one that got hurt the most (second being Lance). So you knew he needed help—but his angry gaze quickly stopped you in your tracks. That look wasn’t directed at you, as he clutched his arm and limped towards you. But it was enough to remind you that you weren’t welcomed in Keith’s presence, no matter how serious the wounds were. You let Coran handle that and, with a sharp inhale, you focused on another target: Lance.

“Hey, babe…” the Blue paladin coughed out, attempting to smile despite the bruises on his face and general weakness in his body. “Happy to see you so worried about me..”

You pursed your lips, focused on carrying him out of there. “Shut up and let me help you.” But you weren’t strong enough: Lance was darn heavy.

“Here, let me…” Shiro’s voice is heard behind you and you’re grateful for the help, offering the man a smile. “I’ll go with him where the pods are, ok?” You nodded, standing there and unsure what to do.

Until you heard some yelling to your right. You turned around and saw Keith angrily pushing Coran away from him. “Don’t touch me!” You sighed: here he goes again. What was his problem now? He obviously needed help, so why was he refusing it? He never did before when Coran gave it to him. Keith didn’t let you. So you never bothered. Wounded pride? Sounded like Keith…Maybe you should try to—

“[name]!” Keith barks your name out of the blue and you realize he’s staring heavily at you. You blinked: was he serious? “You’re capable. Come help me.” Coran scoffed in annoyance and muttered a "Earthlings" under his breath. 

“Oh—Ohh?!” but, seeing him so impatient made you act, so you rushed by his side. “Umm, ok, let’s see here…” Quickly you slipped into the role, making Keith sit down on a random box with a grunt. You scanned him over, trying to determine the source of his pain because of his grimace. “Tell me where you’re hurt.”

“Ugh, probably—my ribs and back,” he spat out between shallow intakes of air. He was incredibly pale and sweating a lot. “I fell on a rail, I got pushed…”

“Mmm, that’s nothing I can fix,” you muttered, knowing that he should be in the healing pod, not wasting time with you.

“And my ankle—I’ve sprained it.”

You nod; he was indeed been limping before. “I can at least help ease the pain. Take off your boots.” He barely moved. “Ok, I’ll do it.” You did so and gently examined it, testing to see how much it hurt. Judging by his face, it looked serious enough. “Stay still.” He simply shot you a ‘are you serious’ look as you searched the aid kit for the appropriate tool. You two stayed in silence as you wrapped the bandages around his ankle as gently as possible, not wanting to hurt him more. It must’ve hurt like a bitch because he kept his grunts at a minimum—only a hiss escaped his gritted teeth, probably trying not to seem weak. He was an idiot; nothing could’ve changed your opinion that he was anything far from brave. But you let him too it—it was a miracle he let you touch him, more so to leave himself in your care. He most likely trusted you more when there was a serious thing on the line.

“Done!” you exclaimed, finishing with carefully tying the bandages. “It shouldn’t hurt as much when you’re walking, but don’t do anything extreme. The pod should fix all. Can you take it until then?”

Keith nodded, looking slightly offended at the presumption that he wasn’t strong enough to take it. You raised your hands in defense and sighed. Continued with another subject, eyeing his face strongly. He was taken aback by the intensity of it and cocked his head to the side in confusion. So cute!

“And who dared to break your nose, huh?” He was like a dirty and fight-ruffled kitten, dust and dirt covering his forehead and cheeks, while there was a trail of dried blood from his nose to his lips. You grabbed his chin and brought him closer, unaware of this dangerous proximity. He was more aware of it and his hair stood on its edge, face heating up and mouth moving wordlessly. “Did someone actually manage to slip through your defenses and hurt your pretty face?”

“P-P-P-Pretty??” he mumbled in a whisper, at a loss.

“I’ll clean you up and then—Woah!”

Keith pushed you away by the shoulder, softer than ordinary. Oh my, his blush was totally adorable! It made you giggle, only deepening his furrowed eyebrows and pout. “I-I’ll clean up myself!”

“He he, that’s right, you’re a big boy,” and you involuntarily took the opportunity to pat him on the head, ruffling his soft hair in all directions. The fluffiness of it only amplified your pleasure and you continued on rubbing his head, unaware of his reaction. “Ahh—your hair is so soft, geez—“ and then you stopped, hand frozen over Keith’s head. You forgot. It completely slipped your mind that he hated being touched there. And he wasn’t saying anything, which was even worse than being told off! You retracted your hand, hoping you didn’t make him incredibly mad. Strands of hair fell onto his expression, so you couldn’t see his eyes or anything else. “I’m so so sorry, Keith, just a reflex. Ha ha, I’ve always been wanting to do this, I guess I just took the chance without asking, I apologize. And I’ve also wanted to apologize for all the times I’ve bothered you and made you wary of me, I promise that I’m not like that. It’s just that you’re so cute and—“

“I don’t…” a timid murmur.

You leaned in towards him seeing that he was clearly tame. “Sorry? I couldn’t hear yo—“

“I said that I don’t mind.” The dark haired boy lifted his head, his locks dancing a little bit in the motion. He was still pouting, though, conflicted. “…Anymore…”

“Anymore? Ah! You don’t hate this—“ His glare made you shut up. “Sorry, I won’t ask.” So you grinned innocently.

“It’s better than you staying with Lance..”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“N-No, nothing. Just…If you like my hair, then you can do it…It—It calms me…” Hearing him say this so sheepishly made your heart rate increase. He was too adorable.

“Alright, but don’t regret it afterwards. If you want me to stop, just tell me.” He nods, glancing away. “Aww…” and you simply petted him again with both hands, a bit rougher than intended.

Keith hissed as a response and told you to stop. You immediately pulled your hands, holding them by your side (even if your fingers were aching for action). “Remember that I’m still hurt?”

You snapped back to attention “Yes! Sorry!” you stood up, reprimanding yourself for getting distracted. “Let’s get you there.”

But you were secretly happy.

 Mission complete: earned the kitten’s—I mean, Keith’s trust.

-

[masterlist]

ђคгɭєץ ợยєєภ

↠ summary: jisol isn’t the only who got run over by the gossip train... and in the process, she learned a lot more than she was ever supposed to... (lmao this is such a trashy summary!!)

↠ idea: jungkook x oc!! bts mafia au!! kpop universe!!]

↠ part 1 [] part 2 [] part 3 [] part 4?

“I’ll bring you your stuff later, ok sis? Just please don’t trip on yourself if you see Han Jisung. Please.”

“For the last time! I DON’T LIKE HIM!”

“Sure sis… you definitely don’t have a sketchbook of drawings of him.”

“You can stop talking now!”

The two had arrived at Jeongmi’s new room, because college dorms were way too expensive. And lucky for her, there was a Min Jisol who was looking for a roommate.

“I’ll bring your stuff around later, ok?”

“Ok… bye!”

But in his defense, Jungkook believed he had the right to be worried about his little sister. Because he was pretty darn sure he knew exactly how her roommate was: the infamous Min Jisol of Daegu Town High School. She was the girl that everyone warned you about. It was obvious she smoked because she always coughed as if she had smoker’s lung and could literally collapse at any given moment. And Jesus Christ, she always smelled like goddamn alcohol! She always seemed as if she had tried to get the stank of alcohol off, but in the end she miserably failed and the smell basically radiated off of her. But of course, can’t forget that she was always late and skipping class. The problem? She never got in trouble for it. To top it all off, she graduated as valedictorian. Combined with her popularity amongst the boys for her looks, it was no surprise when the gossip train tooted about Jisol sleeping around with the administration to get straight A’s. Hence, she was basically the queen of the school in all aspects. Despite all the obvious warning signs, people loved her. Earning her the nickname, Harley Queen.

But Jungkook was barely any better and he knew it. His reputation wasn’t exactly spotless since he hit high school. Puberty had treated him very kindly, earning the attention from all the girls within the school district. Especially at sport competitions. And every so often, a girl would ask to speak to him somewhere quiet. Alone. Like a lost lamb, he would follow. He never did anything, didn’t even touch them, yet the gossip train tooted that Jungkook had a knack for quickies and breaking the girls’ hearts once he was done with them. Because of this one fact, Jungkook had begrudgingly agreed to let Jeongmi room with Jisol. Maybe she was just another victim of the gossip train, just like him.  Or maybe it was just his grudge against her for… a number of reasons.

“Ok… bye Jungkook!”

“I’ll bring your stuff up in like, two hours ok?”

“Uh-huh. Goodbye!”

Obviously, Jeongmi was super embarrassed that her brother was basically dropping her off at her first apartment. And she didn’t want to make a bad first impression, so she did everything in her power to shoo him away. But as soon as the door opened, Jeongmi was shocked by the girl’s beauty in front of her. All of her doubts disappeared into thin air and she found herself bowing awkwardly.

“Hello, my name is Jeongmi. It’s really nice to meet you!”

But Jisol was already busting a lung with laughter.

“You are so cute!! But anyway, you don’t have to act so formal around me. We’re roommates now Jeongmi. As you probably know, my name’s Jisol and welcome to the apartment!”

Despite having only met once or twice, Jeongmi already felt the bond forming between them.

“Do you need any help bringing your stuff up or anything?”

“Actually, my brother is bringing up my stuff in a couple of hours.”

“Girl, that’s honestly sibling goals. My brother would tell me to suck it up and be independent like all the girls in the world preach about.”

But now, Jeongmi was confused as hell. How in the world did Jisol have such awful rumors circulating about her? She was honestly one of the sweetest, most wholesome Jeongmi had ever met. But for Jisol? She was just over the moon that there was someone who was willing to give her a clean slate and actually get to know her. Not try to kiss up to her just so she could be referred to one of the guys. The reason everyone thought she was a slut was that most of her friends were guys. Mostly because the other girls at school were entirely too judgemental. And super bitchy.

“Feel free to explore, Jeongmi. Lol, you don’t have to be so nervous. You kinda live her now?”

And Jeongmi was like, why the hell does it literally smell like freaking daisies? Smoker’s lung, my foot! There wasn’t even the slightest whiff of smoke or alcohol anywhere. That’s when the knock came faintly. Which Jeongmi barely heard.

“Hi, I’m Jungkook, Jeongmi’s older brother. I came to drop off her stuff?”

Already, Jungkook was gaining attention from the neighbors. Mostly because the apartment was a hot spot for college kids who couldn’t afford or didn’t want to live in a dorm.

“Unnie, do you mind if he comes inside? Because there are literally people crowding the hallway just to stare at him. And it’s kinda gross?”

“Yeah, of course! Come on in.”

See, Jeongmi was totally clueless to the history between Jungkook and Jisol. They had been rivals at everything, all the way up until high school. But that was a different story. Sighing, Jisol let him in, promising herself to be civil for Jeongmi’s sake, if not hers.

As for Jungkook, he was surprised to see the two three-star black belts hanging in the open closet and the sheer amount of beat-up medical textbooks on the kitchen table.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“Uh, no. I’m good actually. But thanks.”

And he was 100% surprised at how well Jisol was keeping her cool. Taking the heavy box from him, Jisol gave Jungkook a tight smile.

“I  can help Jeongmi unpack if you have somewhere you need to be.”

But Jisol knew that look in his eyes all too well. There was no way this could be the apartment of the Harley Queen, right? There was no way that the Queen would actually be reading and studying to get good grades, right? She had to be hiding the booze somewhere, right? The drugs? The weed? The cigarette packs? And Jungkook understood the tone of dismissal in her voice all too well.

“Then I’ll be going then. Bye, Mi!”

But as Jungkook made his way down to his car, he couldn’t but think of the little collage of Jisol’s baby pictures on the wall. One of them was of the two of them holding hands as they crossed the street. Groaning out loud, Jungkook looked towards the sky.

“STOP BEING IN MY LIFE MIN JISOL!!!!!”

Why was his life so intertwined with Jisol’s?!! On top of already being entangled with every aspect of his life, why was she his ex-girlfriend from preschool too?!! He thought he’d erased his memory of her a long time ago!!

When Jungkook got back to the house, he wasn’t surprised to find Yoongi watching TV on the couch.

“So… how did it go?”

“I mean, Jeongmi seems to really like her, so I guess that’s all that matters.”

Shaking his head, Yoongi sat up straight.

“But I asked what your thoughts on Jisol are?”

“She’s… a lot different from what I expected.”

“How so?”

“She seems a lot more… put together than everyone takes her for. There’s not a single trace of cologne, smoke, drugs, or alcohol in there. I honestly have no idea how the hell these rumors formed about her. She seems really nice.”

“Well… she has changed a lot since high school ended. Plus, the rumors are mostly my fault. But I thought you were-”

“What are you talking about, hyung?”

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Jungkook. However, this story isn’t entirely mine to tell, so it’d be a tad unfair if she weren’t here to explain the entirety of the situation.”

“But-”

“No.”

Grumbling, Jungkook made his way to the shower. He knew where he stood among the seven guys as the youngest: at the top. But when it came to Yoongi? That was all null and void.

“YAH JUNGKOOK-AH! JOONIE HAS A MISSION FOR YOU, JIMIN, AND TAE!!”

Jin yelled through the door, banging on it to disrupt the peace of the hot, running water.

“Ok hyung! I’ll be out soon! BUT YOU BREAK THAT DOOR I SWEAR-”

“BYE!”

But why was Tae coming on this mission? That almost never happened. He was the one who usually stayed back to work the comms and get all the inside info that was necessary to send to whoever was out in the field. But if he was coming, Joon-hyung’s mission for them had to be insanely top priority if Tae was coming out to play. 10 minutes later, the boys were seated on the floor in front of Joon.

“Does everyone here know Song Yuri?”

“Yeah. We’re all in the same biology class.”

“Well we just found out from our spy that Yuri is actually the heiress of the Ahn Empire in Daegu.”

“Wait… aren’t they the ones-”

“Who created a memory implanter and have passed down some secret through generations, using it?!!”

“Yes, that one. And if everyone else knows, then everyone is going to be gunning for her. She’s dating one of the NCT boys so we have to be careful. From what we know, she’s close with all of the NCT boys so we have to be careful. The reason I chose you three is because you have a subconscious memory of Yuri’s behavioral patterns So please bring her back alive. Got that?”

“Yes hyung.”

“Good. We’ve also got word that it’s one of the Dreamies’ birthdays today so they’ll be vulnerable. I will take the other hyungs to take them out, ok?”

“Ok hyung. See you later!”

________________________________________________________________

A/N: OKAY YAY PART 1 IS DONE OF THE BLOOD UNIVERSE SERIES!! lmao idek if i actually want to turn all the “books” of this series into the same universe but we’ll see:) btw i literally just fangirled so hard in the car when dream glow came on LOL!

↠ part 1 [] part 2 [] part 3 [] part 4?

C+L

Title: C+L

Pairing: Clementine x Louis

Word Count: 1455

Summary: Clementine tries to explain to AJ what love is and ends up explaining her feelings for Louis.

A/N: I kept thinking to myself ‘what if this happened during the party’ and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I also needed to write some happy to forget about everything I witnessed in Episode 3. I hope you enjoy this simple fluff :)

-

There was something about the music, the way it filled every crevice and crack, that excited AJ. It was his first every party, it seemed like a new realm. The walls no longer appeared to be caked in grime and dried blood but a rather lovely shade of purple that his eyes hadn’t been introduced to. “Jazz” as Clem had called it, made AJ want to twirl around in circles till he fell from the dizziness.

“Why is it called jazz?” He asked Louis, the man seemed to know the most about music.

Louis was tapping his feet along to the tune, he would have preferred classical but Clem was bobbing her head along in time with his feet, so it was worth it. “I believe it’s slang that translates to ‘spirit’ or ‘vigor’ from the 1860s’.”

“It sounds cool, I like it.” AJ smiled as he began to bop his head along with Clem. Team Fun had now somehow become mediocre dance trio. “Hey Clem, can we dance?” He twirled the tip of his toe into the floor, nerves bouncing through him.

Clementine beamed. “Of course goofball.” She gently took AJ by his little hand and swung him into the centre of the room. “Do you want to lead?”

AJ blinked slowly. “Lead?”

“Here, stand on my feet,” AJ did as he was told, his toes poking Clem’s ankles. “I’ll lead us this time. One day I’ll teach you how to dance properly.” She began to sway slowly back and forth, stepping around in tiny circles.

AJ giggled as the room swirled, the other kids becoming a blur. “Why do people dance Clem?’

“Some people find it fun, others do it to show their love for another person.” Her eyes fluttered over to Louis, who was leaning against the side of his piano, his smile bursting with pure light as he watched Clementine.

“Love? There other kinds of love?”

Clementine nodded. “There are many reasons to love someone AJ. For their looks, personality, sometimes their status-”

“-what’s that?”

“It’s like how popular you are. Sometimes people only love others for how well known they are, which isn’t fair.”

AJ soaked in the knowledge. “So there are wrong reasons to love someone?”

She lifted up his body and spun him around in the air. “Yeah, there are. Promise me that if you ever fall in love it’ll be for the right reasons.”

The idea of being in love never crossed AJ’s mind. He loved Clem, wasn’t that enough? “But how will I know?”

Clementine gazed into his large eyes, they twinkled like the lights around them. “Because you’ll want to do everything you can for that person. You’ll want to see them happy, even in a world like this.”

AJ smirked, happy in the fact that his love for Clem was right. Seeing her happy, after everything they had been through together, was enough for AJ to be happy also.

Her toes began to pinch beneath his weight, he was heavier than she originally thought. “Hey AJ, can we stop for a bit?”

“Okay,” He huffed, hopping back onto the solid ground. AJ caught Louis smiling at Clementine, he appeared to be caught in some kind of dream. AJ shifted his focus onto the grand piano, maybe Louis could play a song for everyone? His eyes travelled along the keys until he noticed a peculiar shape. “Clem, what’s that on the piano?”

She turned to where his finger was pointing, her blood going cold as her eyes focused on the carving. Her special carving from a special night. “Oh, it’s...uh…”

“What’s C+L?”

Clementine frantically waved her hand at Louis, snapping him out of his fantasy world. She directed her head towards the piano, trying to articulate what she was trying to point out. He understood alright, biting his lip softly.

“C+L?” Now it was Ruby’s turn to be curious, she set down the mystery crate and crept up alongside Clementine. “What does that mean?”

Louis tried to stifle his laughter. “Do you want to tell them or shall I grace them with the news?”

Goddamn him and his nonchalant nature.

By now all the other kids had gathered around the piano. “Tell us what?” AJ asked, his eyes darting back and forth between Clem and Louis, his patience was wearing thin.

Clementine wanted to sink into her hat and hide. This was not how she wanted to tell the others, especially AJ. “Louis and I...you could say that we’re a thing now.” She flinched when Ruby squealed in her ear.

“When did this happen?!”

“That’s crazy!”

“This is amazing.”

She looked across at Louis, who was nodding along to what their friends had to say. It was crazy and utterly amazing. “I’d say it’s more than ‘a thing’. It happened the night the raiders came, this charmer admitted her burning feelings for me.” Louis placed a hand over his heart and squeezed his shirt lightly.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” She rebuffed his lies. “You’re the one who named a song after me.”

The hopeless romantic in Ruby was absolutely bounding around inside her heart. “Y’all are adorable!”

“I can’t believe Louis got a girlfriend!” Willy shouted. He and Mitch would joke for hours on how Louis would be the last of the group to find a girl, let alone one who would be remotely interested in him.

Clementine raised an eyebrow at her small friend. “Girlfriend?”

“You bet your ass, Willy.” Louis hollered, the death stare from Clem was worth it.

AJ tried to figure it out. He loved Clem, so did Louis love her in the same way? Did he love her for her personality? Was she considered pretty to him? “Do you love Clem?”

Louis almost choked on nothing, coughing up his buried embarrassment. “I know that I like her, a lot. Who knows what the future holds little dude.”

Clementine held her own hand and gave it a tight squeeze as the room filled with a choir of “Oooooh”.

AJ was still confused. Maybe this was a type of love that Clem hadn’t explained yet. “So you two like each other, like Violet and Minnie did?”

A hush fell over the room as the kids eyed down Clementine and Louis. “Yeah AJ. Violet and Minnie were dating, just like Clem and I are.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ruby pat Clem on the back. “Somehow you two managed to find romance in the middle of all this. That’s darn impressive.”

Clementine felt a wave of peace come over her, no one was turning it into as big of a deal as she thought. “You guys are taking this better than I thought.”

“Well, we had a feeling,” Tenn mumbled. “You guys act the same way Minnie and Violet did when they were first dating.”

“God, we’re not that obvious,” The unconvinced glances didn’t cure the sinking feeling in her stomach. “Right?” Clementine never expected to have her feelings exposed like this, by a child nonetheless.

Louis ran a hand through his hair. “If you didn’t want to be obvious, why did you carve our initials in a heart on my piano?” Now it was his turn to tease his sweet Clem. She was so cute when in a flustered state.

There was so explanation, her words spluttered out of her mouth. Clementine couldn’t lie to herself, Louis and his devilish charms were part of the reason as to why she likes him, why she wants the world to know that they belong together. There was also his kind heart, unique sense of humour...out of this world good looks...wait what point was she trying to make again?

“Alright let’s leave these two alone now,” Ruby turned back to the box set upon the ground and sat beside it. “I found them. Okay Clementine, these here are our official Ericson’s psych evaluations and probationary reports.”

Clementine stood over her, eyeing the box. “Okay.”

“I don’t get it.” Said AJ with a cross look on his face. What was the big deal about a box full of papers?

“Well, these explain why all of us got sent to this school in the first place.” Despite the information that some of the records held, Ruby was keen to go down memory lane.

Louis nabbed himself a spot on the floor. “And how we got stuck here for as long as we did.”

“So, what’s the game?” Clementine humoured Ruby and sat beside Louis.

“I figured if we’re all going on this crazy mission together, you might as well know who we really are. Especially now that Louis is your boyfriend.” Ruby winked at the lovebirds.

Louis gazed at Clem, appreciating how the purple light fell upon her face. “Boyfriend and girlfriend, I like the sound of that.”

1.01 - Pilot Recap/Review

Original Air Date: 13 September 2005

Episode 1 of a 327 Episode Watch

Lawrence, Kansas, 22 years ago…

…Nope, more like 37 now… sobs

Love this episode, so many iconic brother moments and the start of the epic love story of Sam and Dean (creators words, not mine).  Where do we even start?

Intro is a little difficult to watch now, with so much changed with Mary from this original episode over the years –with her a) being a hunter, b) making the deal and c) the family not actually being as happy as they are portrayed in this episode which kind of screws up John’s story for me, but this is my only negative, and it certainly wasn’t an issue at the time the pilot aired.  

Weechesters!  First words from Dean to Sam: “Night, Sam” and if these are the last words (and both are alive), I will be a very happy bunny!

John (handing baby Sam to Dean): Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!

Wee!Dean telling Wee!Sam it will be okay.

I love how John picks them both up as he runs.  Also love that shot of John and his two boys on the hood of the Impala at the end of the intro.

Now, Stanford University...

Nope, almost 15 years ago – add a few decades for each brother for their hell experiences

Our first glimpse of Baby!Sam as he peeks around the door, reluctant to go out for Halloween: “Do I have to… you know how I feel about Halloween?” Boops nose, he’s so gosh darned cute! Ignores the later canon that he doesn’t like Halloween because he puked in front of a girl (or similar story as I can’t remember it fully).  Also forever bitter we don’t get the deleted scene where it’s suggested that Sam dress up in something slutty. “Slutty Dorothy, Slutty Alice…” 

Jess is rightfully proud of her boyfriend for scoring a 174 on the LSAT which is “scary good.”  I’ll take her word for it as I have absolutely no idea what an LSAT is.

I love how Sam is instantly alert at the noise in the apartment. Hunter instincts.

Urgh, the first ever broment. I mean they’re fighting, but it’s still a broment!  I love the whole fight scene and how it was shot.  Instant chemistry.  Excuse me while I watch it several times.  Will never be tired of the “Woah, Easy Tiger!” from Dean.  Question though, why was Dean fighting Sam?  He broke into his brother’s apartment and he didn’t think to go “Wait, Sammy, it’s me, stop trying to punch me!”  Also, Jensen is gorgeous, these are my favourite Dean years.

Dean, stop hitting on Sam’s girlfriend!

Call to action that starts the whole thing: Dad’s on a Hunting Trip.  And he hasn’t been home in a few days.

Exposition Kripke!!  Though we do find out a lot, Sam was chucked out, wouldn’t pick up the phone if Dean had called, and they were “raised like warriors”. Dysfunctional family?  Hello, yes, I’d like to watch 327 episodes of this show, please!

Brother feels!

Dean: I can’t do this alone

Sam: Yes, you can

Dean: Yeah, Well, I don’t want to

What the hell is a gold wave?  Was that made up?  That sounds made up.  Me as a writer.

Dean: “You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.”  This is so sad their relationship got to this point and they hadn’t seen each other or spoken. 

Dean telling his brother to skip the job interview.  He really wants his Sammy back.

Before the end of the show, I want to see Sam using that lethal looking knife he packs in his duffel in this episode. Just once.

I like the MOTW in this one, Lady in White was a good starting point for the show.  Troy is the first victim we see with her and since he’s a cheating scumbag, I don’t feel sorry that his guts are now splattered all over his car.

Dean asking Sam if he wants breakfast.   Lawyer boy is concerned about how Dean paid for it – “You and dad still running credit card scams?” Sam is also concerned about Dean’s music collection

Sam: I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection.

Dean: Why?

Sam: Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two… Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?... It's the greatest hits of mullet rock. (*cough* Vince Vincente Sammy *cough*).

DEAN: Well, house rules, Sammy, Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.

Sam protests Dean’s use of Sammy, but as we know, Dean’s the only one who gets to call him that (except later seasons where everyone seems to call him that).

I love Sam’s face when Dean is searching through the box of fake ID’s.  He’s horrified.  He can’t believe Dean is going to use a fake badge.  Oh Sam.

So much brotherly bickering in this episode:

Sam stomping on Dean’s foot and Dean whacking Sam on the head.

Dean smacking Sam’s hand and Sam wheeling Dean’s chair out of the way so he can take over control of the computer in the library when they look up the case.  Dean smacks Sam on the shoulder in return. (first ever scene they filmed according to Jared).

Also First Ever Winsync!  When they interview Troy’s girlfriend and say at exactly the same time: “What do they talk about?”  

Also, in this same scene, someone needs to remind Jensen he’s playing Sam’s brother, not his boyfriend.

Love the whole scene on the bridge at night, Dean slamming Sam up against the side just because he talked about their mom.  You. Are. Brothers!  

Sam may not be happy about using fake credit cards, but he’s more than at home with a lock picking kit.  I like how Sam yanks Dean inside the room.

Sam tries to apologise for talking about their mom.  

Dean: No chick-flick moments

Sam: Jerk…

Dean: …Bitch

Dean leaving the motel, spotting the police then calling his brother to warn he’s been made and telling him to take off.  

Sam placing a false 911 call to allow Dean to escape and Dean being resourceful in getting out of the cuffs.

Sam demonstrating exactly why you shouldn’t talk and drive.  Luckily he runs over a ghost and not a real person.  

Uh, That Constance bitch is in the car with Sam demanding to be taken home. Sam refuses and she takes over controls, locking the car and mentally driving it home.  Constance: “I can never go home.”

Sam: You’re scared to go home.

Constance, you get your hands off Sammy. Sam: You can’t kill me.  I’m not unfaithful.  I’ve never been!  Constance: You will be.  Uh no, he said he wouldn’t, stop cheating Constance and go after the real douchbags!

Hurt!Sam – Constance is digging into his chest, going for his heart.

Big Brother Dean to the rescue – he shoots her in the face, but she keeps reappearing.

Sam’s had enough, “I’m taking you home.” To Dean’s shock, Sam drives his baby straight into her house.  

Dean helps Sam out of the car, while Constance looks at a photo of her and her children.  She’s not happy with Sam and Dean, tking the sideboard to slam right into them and pin them against the car.  Luckily, before she can do any more damage, her ghost kids turn up and they all melt into the floor.

Sam gets the kill count on this one. Sam: 1, Dean: 0.  Dean’s proud as he slaps Sam on the chest right where Sam had been injured. Dean: You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy.

Sam: Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?

Dean: Hey. Saved your ass…. I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car?... I’ll kill you

Oops, the car is damaged, one of the headlights is out.  Sam seems okay though, he checks co-ordinates their dad left earlier while Dean drives.

Dean just wants to hunt with his brother and Sam just wants to be safe, but at least Sam wants a relationship with Dean: “And maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?”

Dean: You know, we made a hell of a team back there.

Sam: Yeah.

Jess made Sam cookies ☹

Sam’s tired and flops down on the bed, it’s such a peaceful moment and he’s happy and then blood drips on his forehead and it’s just…

Big brother Dean to the rescue again (though I don’t think they should have cut what brought Dean back). Dean literally has to drag Sam out of the room and I’m always here for Dean manhandling Sam.

The scene at the end, Dean looking at Sam, worried about his brother, Sam looking at him, sighs and nods, tossing the shotgun he’s been checking into the trunk.

Sam: We got work to do

Yes Sam, 326 more episodes of work to do!  I really miss these early boys so much, they’re both so dragged down with constant crap over the last few years to the point of being almost unrecognisable.  

Evil Overlords Have Feelings Too - Part 3

by Jenifer Irwin Part 3 "Hahaaa! I won again! Well, sort of," Robotnik said as he rode along in the pod on the Steel Snake's back. Arashi, sitting next to him, smirked slightly. "Well, he probably lost a lot more valuable equipment than you did, so I'd say you won."

"Plus, I've got the Chaos Emeralds... I really could have used these BEFORE I took over the world. Urh. Now, the only problem left is finding a suitable place to rebuild a base..." Arashi smiled slightly and turned to pet the chao that were sitting behind the seats. The little creatures were so cute, especially Devlin the Devil Chao. For all his diabolical appearance, he was still just an innocent little baby-like creature, toddling around looking for food. I'm really proud of him, Arashi thought as she glanced up at Robotnik briefly. And really glad that I met him. Life has never been so fun and adventurous. Plus, I never thought I would get to witness him personally ending Sonic's life. With me having betrayed Sonic! Hah! Ah, my hero... He had been concentrating on flying the Steel Snake, whose movement was controlled by his mind alone, when he glanced casually at Arashi. The look on her face, it was... AUGH. The ship lurched to the side, rocking violently, a manifestation of the doctor's inner reaction. Four chao were thrown into the wall and Arashi gasped as she was jerked sideways in her restraining harness. Robotnik quickly stared straight ahead again, bringing the ship under control. Great. Just great, Robotnik thought to himself. Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I think it was there from the start. But I definitely knew when she darn near kissed me back there at the ruins of the base... I'm too fat, too ugly to be attractive, right!? Well, like I told Takar... just being diabolical has a certain charm to it... but I can't let feelings get in the way of my work. He glanced carefully over at her so she didn't notice. She was too busy calming the chao down. ...can I? He shook his head suddenly at his own thought, then masked the apparently reasonless motion by sneezing violently. Arashi looked up, blinking. "Getting a cold?" she asked, snickering slightly. "Nah," Robotnik replied. "Dust in my nose." He sniffed slightly. No way. I can't let people know I have too many feelings. Just isn't me. I have to keep that nasty, heartless image that Sega gave me. Right? He was approaching a city. Glad of this, he growled to himself as he struggled with his thoughts, and blew up the nearest building. Arashi glanced at the cloud of dust that resulted, metal flying everywhere, and wondered what he was doing. "Yes! Boom! Explosions! Scrap metal! I am evil! Verrrry evil!" Robotnik seemed almost in his own little world as he continued to shoot rockets into buildings, watching with a strange glee as they exploded all over the place. "I'm hungry," he said suddenly after about 6 places exploded, and descended towards the streets. The Steel Snake weaved its way through the city, frightening people in their cars and causing sirens to blare. The police didn't dare touch him, though--after all, he was Emperor Ivo Robotnik. Hearing the sirens, a McDonald's employee glanced out a window, just as the wall opposite of that window burst in, bricks collapsing to the ground and dust flying up as a giant, silvery, robotic snake slithered in through the huge hole. Workers and customers alike screamed and trembled, some frozen, some running out of the restaurant and away. The pod flipped open and Ivo Robotnik vaulted out, dropping to the ground, Arashi Codiv jumping out with four chao in her arms. "Aherm, twenty Big Macs, twenty super-size fries, a large Dr Pepper, a large Mountain Dew, and four happy meals with small Dr Peppers, for here. And, of course, free," Robotnik said. He casually drew his laser gun, holding it down at his side as he shifted his weight to one leg, fist on hip. "U-uhh... s-sir, w-we don't s-serve those d-drinks..." Robotnik pondered. "Now let's see, I forgot how to work the safety on this..." He fiddled with the laser gun, one finger precariously gripping the trigger. The cashier gulped loudly and said, "Uh, I'll... be right back, I'm going to go rob another restaurant and bring you your drinks! Very quickly!" He ran away with speed that could impress even Sonic. Adrenaline can do funny things to people. The fear-inspiring customers took a seat at a large booth, waiting for their food. It was delivered to them quickly. The chao were given their happy meals, and the 20 pairs of big macs and fries sat on the table before Arashi and Robotnik. He gestured to them, saying, "Take what you can eat." She moved just one big mac and fries over. Gladly, Robotnik took the rest, scarfing it all down with disturbing ferocity. By the time Arashi was finished with her food, Robotnik was too. Which was frightening, considering he was eating 19 times more than she was. Customers and employees stared, jaws dropping. Robotnik looked up, acting quite annoyed, though he loved the attention. "What? I'm having LUNCH, for crying out loud." He brandished the laser gun, practically giggling inwardly as he watched them all force themselves to pretend to be overly interested in something else. Even after they all looked away, the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The chao were playing happily with the toys they got from their happy meals when one of them broke. Balor, the one who had the broken toy, started to cry. Robotnik grinned across the table at Arashi and got up, approaching the cashiers, who went pale and started trembling in fear. Oh, how he loved having that effect on people. It gave him chills. He leaned casually on one of the registers and said, "You know what to do, right?" With quick, frantic movements, the cashier produced every toy they had in the restaurant, shoving them all across the counter. Robotnik gestured to the four chao to come over, and they skipped over gleefully, picking out the toys they wanted. He snickered to himself and grinned over at Arashi. Arashi had to do a double-take. The grin was almost... goofy. Like a teenager who just thoroughly impressed his girlfriend and is practically intoxicated from the victory. She gave him a slightly bizarre look, and he realized... Gaahhhh! What am I doing!? Coughing suddenly, Robotnik resumed his gruff, nasty demeanor and gestured with the laser gun at the toys. "Yeah, that's it, take lots of'em," he said to the chao. Getting a power high, Robotnik decided to terrorize more people as he ambled from table to table, looking down at the trembling customers who sat in booths or chairs. He snarled unexpectedly at a little boy, sending him running away crying in fear. Another person had to give up all of his money or be shot. Arashi noticed there were police cars sitting outside, but the policemen stood next to their cars, looking just as scared as everyone else. Everybody knew. Everybody knew that this was Emperor Robotnik. Everybody knew that you do not mess with Emperor Robotnik. Dozens of people trembled in his presence as he demanded money from random people. Nobody was hurt, but lots of people went broke that day. Robotnik smiled pleasantly and approached the Steel Snake as Arashi gathered up the four chao and hopped in. Turning back to the crowd, Robotnik silently slid a plate back on the laser gun, exposing the battery chamber. Nothing was in it. He had held them all at gunpoint, threatening and robbing them, with an unloaded gun. When they all realized this, he could see the disbelief and despair on their faces, and he laughed maniacally before hopping into the Steel Snake and heading out. Arashi grinned as they flew above the city and eventually away from it, just cruising along. There was no real direction to their travel, because Robotnik couldn't stop laughing. His laugh wasn't the severely masculine, deep, diabolical one that he usually used, it was an almost drunk half-giggle. He was completely high to the point of insanity on ego and power, and loving every second of it. It was infectious; soon, Arashi joined in the laughter. Ah, yes, nothing like a couple of mad scientists laughing crazily as they soar over the plains on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Very suddenly, Robotnik stopped laughing, his jaw dropping as he stared straight ahead at something in the distance. Arashi looked at him in alarm, following his gaze. What was... oh, no... something racing through the high grasses with such speeds as to set them on fire... something spiky... something blue... ** (30 minutes ago, in Takar's secret Earth-based lab) "Yes... yes, that's it... Right... go on, computer, you can figure this out, I know you can..." Takar urged the supercomputer on as it crunched numbers, furiously scanning the ash samples for data. He watched the screen hopefully, desperately. "YES! YES! I LOVE you, computer! I love you, Windows XP! You're so good to me! Well, usually!" The DNA data for both Sonic and Tails was coming up, clear as day, no pieces missing. Takar grinned evilly. "Time to give you two a bit of a boost." The alien walked up to the strange device that he had created, which had a large door on one side and a funnel on the other. He cut his finger slightly, squeezing a few drops of purple blood into the funnel, and sealed the wound with his regenerative powers. Sitting back down at the computer, he typed a few things in at a furious pace, watching as some diagrams and 3-D renditions of Sonic and Tails changed and shifted. Tails became a bit leaner, Sonic a bit taller. Sonic's eyes glowed an even more vibrant green than they did before, almost a glow-in-the-dark quality coming to them, and Tails' blue eyes started glowing oddly too. A few checks over the data, and Takar saved his file. He clicked the 'compile and run' button, then sat back and waited. The big device with the door churned and shuddered, and after about 5 minutes, Sonic spilled out of the door, looking quite surprised. Tails soon followed while the hedgehog was still trying to accustom himself to being alive again. "What the heck!?" were Sonic's first words. He glanced up to see Takar and the lab, becoming alarmed for a moment. Then he realized that this was probably someone from the same band of aliens that brought him back to life from a corpse with a resurrection beam before. "Welcome back to life," Takar said, grinning. "I'm Takar, Ykrian Leader. Would you like to get back at Robotnik? I've... enhanced you two a bit. I'm sure once you go out and start doing things, you'll find out what I mean." He leaned back in his chair, smiling smugly and quite willing to allow Sonic and Tails do all the dirty work for him. Sonic stood up, panting slightly, and glanced at Tails. "Hey, you shrunk. And you lost weight." "I think you grew, Sonic..." The two glanced at each other uncertainly, noting the odd quality of their eyes and the slight change in physical appearance. Suddenly, Sonic remembered his main goal and said, "Time to go kick some butt! Thanks, green dude!" With that, he raced towards the door, Tails on his heels. "Wait!" Takar yelled. Sonic stopped and turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. "Dr. Robotnik has all seven chaos emeralds... so watch out." "Okay, Tails," Sonic said, turning to the fox. "You find a way to build another Tornado, and wait here. I'll get the chaos emeralds away from Eggman, and then I'll come back so we can power the new ship. You don't mind if Tails uses some spare parts of yours for it, do you, Takar?" "Anything... and I mean anything, to rid the world of Ivo Robotnik." Tails nodded, then happily ran over to a pile of stuff to start his building. Feeling a little different, thus slightly unsure of himself, Sonic emerged from the underground lab and jogged in place for a moment. He started to run at about 20 miles an hour. He gradually picked up speed, arms and legs moving quickly as he became more accustomed to his form. Within moments he was moving faster than the speed of sound. It didn't seem like it, though. He wasn't having to strain like he used to to do this. Quirking his mouth slightly in thought, he decided to really open up and give it everything he had. With reflexes even faster before and a strange hyper-awareness to any obstacles that he had to clear, Sonic blazed through a forest, literally running across the surface of a large lake, sending a huge column of water rising up behind him. He began to feel out of control as no matter hard he tried to exhaust himself, he just kept accelerating. The skin on his face was pulled on by the air that rushed past him, pulling the corners of his mouth back. His legs were moving so fast that their entire range of motion was like a solid entity. Instead of jumping that next log, he ran right into it, his legs sawing it in half like a knife through warm butter. Forgetting the fact that he might be out of control, Sonic just watched the scenery blur past him, exhilarated. He had never experienced speed like this before, even in his super and hyper forms. And he wasn't even breathing hard. Occasionally, he squinted at something in the distance, and found that his vision 'zoomed in' on it, but his hearing and sense of touch slightly diminished when that occurred. When he stopped squinting, everything went back to normal. Listening closely to the wind, the sound was amplified as his sight dimmed slightly... odd... Sawing through a boulder and a few more logs, Sonic suddenly blazed out onto a plain, setting the grasses on fire as he moved over them like a bolt of lightning. Accelerating with every step, he continued on. When he saw the Steel Snake, he gasped, and jerked his feet out in front of him to bring himself to a stop, creating some long ruts in the ground, but he managed. He looked up to see Robotnik lean out of the side of the pod, aiming a laser gun at his head. I am NOT going to die a THIRD time like this! It is just getting old for both me AND the readers! Sonic screamed to himself. He tried to dodge, but the laser caught him in the head anyway, searing through it. Oddly enough, he felt the pain. He was still alive. How!? However, he tried to make it look like it did work, and slumped to the ground, limp. Oh, it hurt. It hurt bad. But he had to stay still and expressionless. Robotnik stopped the Snake nearby and jumped out, carefully approaching the hedgehog with laser gun drawn. He noticed Sonic was, at the least, unconscious, and watched him carefully for a moment. He wasn't breathing, either. Lifting one of Sonic's wrists, Robotnik felt carefully for a pulse. There was none. Laughing, Robotnik yelled to Arashi, "Again, the hedgehog falls to my laser!" He pulled Sonic out of the ground and threw him in the cargo bay of the Steel Snake, then hopped into the pod and flew off. Inside the cargo bay, Sonic lay wondering. He really could play dead. His heart and breathing stopped just as he thought it would be nice for them to do so, when Robotnik approached him. Takar really did infuse him with some interesting new abilities, including the night vision that he was experiencing right now. He glanced around inside the dark compartment, jaw dropping when his eyes landed on the seven chaos emeralds, all in a plastic grocery bag, along with a supply of rings. Robotnik snickered to himself as he drove along, giving Arashi a smug glance now and then. This continued for a few minutes until he seemed to feel something... a large amount of energy... and the cargo door burst open as Super Sonic flew out of it, cackling. "What the!? You're DEAD, Sonic! This is impossible!" Robotnik yelled in surprise, watching as the golden hedgehog soared through the air briefly, then started trying to smash the Snake's jets off. Quickly, the jets retracted into the snake's body, as did the pod, and it just coiled up tightly like an armadillo and hovered there in the air with gravity reversal energy, all the attacks bouncing off the high-quality rubber-steel. This continued for quite a while as Sonic's urge to break something stayed with him, but eventually he came to his senses and realized it wasn't going to work. Dropping to the ground, he sped off back towards where Takar's lab was. Robotnik and Arashi remained concealed in the snake's back, with the evil genius using the senses of the snake to realize that Sonic had run away. As the jets and the pod re-emerged from the giant serpentine robot, the occupants were startled to see and hear the entire world shake violently for a moment, and a brilliant blast of multicolored energy emitted from somewhere in the distance. Looking up, the Steel Snake trained its advanced sensors in on a small object that was flying through the air. It was the blue chaos emerald! The pod lid flipped open and Robotnik quickly pulled off his racing harness, standing up and watching the emerald intently. As it neared, he maneuvered the Snake into position, then raised a hand slowly--catching the emerald expertly in a baseball glove. Sitting down, he wondered how this could have happened. Arashi asked, "Where did you get the glove?" "Oh, don't worry about the technicalities, this is a cartoon, after all," Robotnik said, then flipped down the pod lid, put his harness back on and headed in the direction that Sonic ran. Finding Sonic was easy--his speed had burned a path of charred grass through the plain, and eventually into a deep forest, out onto another plain where trees dotted the landscape. At a certain point, near an oddly-placed arrangement of boulders, giant ruts had been carved into the earth by two high-speed feet, then the grass was pressed flat by what had to have been high-speed winds from something. About 2 miles away from the ruts in the same direction that they were traveling, there was Sonic... wrapped around a tree and quite dead. Robotnik laughed so hard that he had to land the Snake to keep from crashing it. ** It took all of Robotnik and Arashi's strength to pull Sonic off of the tree. Robotnik eventually deduced, from the length of the ruts and the fact that a trapdoor was smack dab in the middle of the boulder arrangement, that Sonic had tried to stop near the boulders but couldn't. He must have run out of rings by that point, and reverted to his true form, with his enhanced speed, plus the augmentation to it from his hyper form, not allowing him to stop quite like he predicted. When he tried to stop, he must have caused the ruts, then knowing that wasn't going to do it, he accidentally flailed in such a way as to catch air, then have a fatal meeting with the kindly tree that managed to help him stop. The impact sent the emeralds flying, and judging from the speed of the blue one, they flew pretty far. How can you get that much information out of some burnt grass, ruts, flat grass, and a dead hedgehog stuck to a tree? Well, give me a break, Robotnik's IQ is 600 for crying out loud, he must know SOMETHING about forensic science. ** In Takar's secret lab, Tails and the Ykrian leader wondered what the heck had caused the earth to shake like it did. Tails decided to investigate, and made his way to the surface, immediately noticing the ruts in the ground. As he was looking around, something slammed into his head. Hard. Everything went black. A few minutes later, noticing that Tails was gone longer than he said he would be, Takar went to the surface as well, finding the two-tailed fox collapsed on the ground next to a red chaos emerald. Judging from where the wound was and where the emerald was, it must have fallen from the sky and struck him. The alien leader dragged Tails into the lab, taking the chaos emerald with them, and put it in the Tornado II, which was the original purpose of collecting at least one of the emeralds. He tested out the vehicle briefly, making sure it worked, and then set to reviving Tails. ** Robotnik pondered. I wonder where would be a place that's nice and secure, but looks good too... and is quiet, and where nobody would think to go... He pulled something resembling a permanently fixed laptop out of a panel in front of him, tapping a few things on the keys and searching for something. "Let's see, now, I could program it to use its sensors to..." Typing furiously as his idea formulated, he finished the code in just a few minutes as the Steel Snake hovered in the air. Arashi watched, knowing exactly what he was doing as she saw the code fly across the screen, and soon the Snake was moving again, probing with its senses as it searched. The pod on the Snake's back sank down into its body and steel plates moved to cover it up, concealing the pod entirely. Robotnik flicked on a light, and inside of the Snake, the environment was almost surreal. A constant, vibrating hum permeated the air, but it was otherwise silent. "Don't want the force of dirt pressing against this thing to snap it off or pop it open," he explained, concentrating. Pulling a small container of something out of a glove compartment, he handed it to Arashi. "Drink that. It'll help you keep from throwing up." He handed four smaller containers to the chao as well, then drank one of his own. Arashi looked at him dubiously. "You're not going to do what you did when we were fighting the UFOs, are you?" "Gonna do worse," he said matter-of-factly, waiting a few moments for whatever the liquid was to kick in. Everybody got an odd tingling in their stomach, and Robotnik pulled several straps out of the seats and walls. He strapped the chao firmly to the back wall, telling them not to worry as he looked at the wide-eyed, confused expressions, then secured Arashi's head to the back of her seat with a strap around her forehead. Pulling a last strap around his own head, he took a deep breath and started concentrating again. A rabbit screeched and leaped away as a giant metal thing slammed into the ground nearby. The Steel Snake's nose penetrated several feet into the earth, and it pushed downward as its entire body started to spin madly, drilling through the ground. It disappeared within seconds, leaving the rabbit dashing frantically over rumbling grasses. Inside the pod, it was utter chaos. All six occupants were screaming, perhaps in fear, perhaps in confusion, perhaps just for the heck of it, as the Snake spun on its axis at blurring speeds, the centrifugal force seeming to try to pull everyone in all directions at once. "AAAaaAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAGHHHHH!" Robotnik had rather underestimated the power of the Steel Snake, and he was screaming the loudest, being the only one that finally, truly understood just how powerful it could be. Down, down the Snake went, drilling over 1000 feet into the ground, before it finally exited in a giant underground cavern, above a huge lake. Another 3000 or so feet it fell, until it splashed into the water, sinking to the bottom. It took several moments for the two to come to their senses as they sat there blinking, and finally, Robotnik looked over at Arashi. "That was COOL," was all he could say. The Steel Snake slithered out of the water and came to rest coiled up nearby. The pod rose out of its back and Robotnik grinned slightly as he and Arashi got out. Looking over at her, he knew he'd picked the right place. She stared around in awe, practically staggering, as she looked at the interior of the cavern. Thousands upon thousands, even millions, of tiny gems were encrusted on the walls, covering them, sparkling brilliantly. Every turn of the head produced a new look to them as some light that shined down through the hole in the ceiling reflected off the lake, bouncing dim light onto the crystals and giving it a surreal atmosphere. "Wow... wow," Arashi said, blinking. While he couldn't reciprocate on the occasions that she hugged him, Robotnik could at least build his next base in the most beautiful cavern in the world to make her happy. He glanced around, quite impressed with it himself, and thought about how exactly he was going to design the new base. Airborne, underwater, affixed to the walls or ceiling? Maybe even the floor? Perhaps a base that ran a ring around the lake on the floor? There were so many possibilities. But it had to be secure, not easy to access the inside, and big. Though, why keep everything in one building and risk it all being destroyed at once again in the event that someone started blowing up his stuff? He decided on a central control point--built in the center of the lake with bridges on all four sides to lead to its shores--and various bunkers in the water and around the lake. There would be underwater tunnels to lead from one building to the other. Now, where to get the materials. "Arashi, can I have your backpack?" ** Using the materials that he could find within the unknown recesses of Arashi's backpack (women can put lots of stuff in their chosen containers), Robotnik began to build. Arashi sat on a boulder near the edge of the lake, watching in blatant admiration along with the four chao as Ivo walked across and climbed on beams, every movement easy, flawless and familiar to him as he worked on the huge central building. It took shape into a giant fortress of steel, running underwater where the doctor used an oxygen tank to sustain himself while he built down there. The bridges were placed, and more bunkers scattered about, and finally, after 12 straight hours of work, it was all finished. A giant, transparent, protective dome was placed around the entire area, and the hole that had been created by the Steel Snake was turned into a metal shaft with dozens of doors so that getting through it would be difficult for any outsider. Lights were installed in a ring at the edges of the cavern to make seeing easier, and the place was, all in all, awesome. Total, the base had 250 rooms, with reinforced steel walls 10 feet thick. Most of the rooms would never be seen again, but it's pretty cool to be able to say you've got them. Probably only the kitchen, living room, lab, bedrooms, bathrooms and bunkers would ever really be used. Walking up to Arashi and flipping a wrench in one hand, backpack in the other, Robotnik gestured grandly. "Behold, the new Robotnik Fortress! Muahahaha!" He grinned, handing the backpack to her, and she jumped up from the rock. "Let's go in!" The Steel Snake followed the humans and chao into the base, settling down in its new lab. Robotnik showed Arashi around to all the new and improved stuff... more candy dispensers on the walls, an endless supply of Mountain Dew for her and Dr Pepper for him, a bigger refrigerator, automatically flushing toilets, beds with ALL of the neat features you see on commercials for really good ones, the works. When the tour was done, the two went into the lab. Robotnik opened the cargo hold on the Steel Snake and pulled out a very dead Sonic. "There's only one way I'm going to be able to keep you from coming back to life, or being brought back to life by aliens, or whatnot, Sonic..." Arashi watched in disbelief as Robotnik carried Sonic out of the lab and headed to the kitchen. She followed along, confused, wondering what crazy thing he was going to do next. Once in the kitchen, Robotnik stuffed Sonic into the funnel of the new microwave-pill-maker thing he made. Turning it on, he watched the machine groan and shake, churning as it processed the hedgehog into a small blue pill that clattered into the change-slot-like compartment. Robotnik picked up the pill, grinning evilly. "You're not gonna," Arashi said, disbelievingly, as the doctor picked up a glass of water. "And why not?" he asked, popping the pill in his mouth and washing it down in a single gulp of water. Arashi couldn't help but start laughing hysterically. "Hahahaha! Haha! I never thought I'd see you EAT Sonic!" She fell against a wall, laughing. "Mmh. Tastes like chicken," Robotnik joked, staring at the ceiling in a moment of thought. He set the glass of water down, knowing that there was no way Sonic could be brought back to life unless he himself were captured or killed before his body absorbed the pill's contents. He decided to stay in the base for a while so it could do just that. After a few hours, they would go out to find the other chaos emeralds. ** Robotnik was performing some upgrades on the Steel Snake, making it faster and with bigger rockets. Arashi sat nearby, petting the chao that sat in her lap as she watched the mad scientist work. "The energy that these chaos emeralds give off can help me locate the other ones as long as I have this one," Robotnik explained. He held up the brilliant gem, which sparkled blue in the light of the room. Even though it was blue--and most blue things reminded him of his adversary--it was a thing of wonder and beauty. Becoming distracted, the doctor stared into its depths for quite some time, mesmerized. I never noticed how beautiful these were, he thought to himself. In fact, I never really did notice any beauty in life until... Snapping back to reality, he glanced over at Arashi for a split second, then turned back to his work. Noticing the glance, Arashi grinned slightly, then set the chao aside and stood up, wandering over to Robotnik and watching what he was doing for several minutes. The jets were getting an upgrade, and he worked on each of them in turn. He was quite aware of her watching him the entire time, but didn't really make moves to acknowledge it. Deciding to take a small break, Robotnik wandered over to one of the many wall-refrigerators in the base, pulling out two cans--one of Dr Pepper and one of Mountain Dew--handing the second to Arashi. Snapping the Dr Pepper open, he started to take a drink. This was the second she'd been waiting for. "So, when should we get married?" Arashi asked abruptly. Though all she was doing was trying to get a funny reaction from him in the first place, Arashi realized she shouldn't have stood in front of him. He twitched suddenly, making a shocked *snrk* sound, then choked violently on his Dr Pepper and ended up spitting it all over her, dropping the can too. As he leaned against the wall coughing and gasping for breath, Arashi practically fell down laughing. "That... wasn't funny," Robotnik said as he pointed at her, trying to catch his breath, but he couldn't help but grin in amusement. "Not funny at all..." He started laughing. I've really got to find a way to get back at her with some pranks of my own, Robotnik thought to himself as he passed by her, giving her a slightly mischievous grin. As he went back to work on the Steel Snake, a cleaning robot automatically came out and mopped the Dr Pepper off the floor, disposing of the can as well, and Arashi headed for the shower room. As he worked, Robotnik started humming his theme song. A few bolts here, a plate there... "I love playin' this game by my rules... I will con-quer the world with mah tools..." By now, he'd left humming for singing the song. A few new circuit boards placed in the pod for homing missiles... "I am the en-em-y! I will succeed! My missions, yeah, I muu-ust complete! My name is Eggman, don't forget mah name--if ya ask me again, I'll show you the same!" It was pretty funny for him use a socket wrench as a microphone. Especially to Arashi, who started applauding, grinning in amusement. Startled, Robotnik whirled around. "Wha!?" Then he turned a deep shade of red. She'd seen the whole thing, hadn't she? "Uh... hrph... you shower fast," he muttered, coughing, and went soberly back to work. One thing was for sure, there was rarely a dull moment since she showed up in his base for the first time. He thought back to when she wasn't there, when he was awfully lonely... Even raising chao just didn't do enough for him, and before he'd started doing that, he was incredibly lonely. It would have been bad form to go out searching for someone, though. Evil Overlords just don't do that, unless they do it in such a way as to strike terror into their target, but he did that to everyone else already, so what would be the point? The point is... I have too many feelings! "Argh!" Robotnik pounded on the side of the Steel Snake with his the heels of his hands suddenly, looking frustrated, as if trying to compose himself. Arashi glanced over, taking a sip of Mountain Dew. "Something wrong?" "Nothing. My Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is acting up again," he lied, then walked away from the Snake and sat down at a lab control panel several feet away, sighing. Poor guy, Arashi thought as she looked at him. He's got real problems dealing with his emotions. She sighed and walked over to Robotnik. "Ivo, this is the price you pay for wanting more publicity," she said as she walked up behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "You wanted them to see the real Ivo Robotnik, right? Well, you're not letting them the way you're going!" Robotnik sighed in resignation. "Could you bring me a Dr Pepper, please?" "Sure thing," Arashi said, smiling slightly, and went over to the soda machine in the wall. ** "Alright," Robotnik said, flipping a wrench in his hand triumphantly, "It's finished! And now we can track down the rest of the chaos emeralds!" He jumped into the seat, followed by Arashi, and they took off out of the underground cavern at a blistering speed. When the resulting g-forces crushed the two to the point that Arashi appeared to lose all physical hints of being female and Robotnik became thin, he realized that was a little too much speed at once, and slowed the craft down. All went back to normal, but both riders' ribcages felt awful sore. Surprisingly, the nearest source of chaos energy didn't seem to be very far away. The Steel Snake soared through the air easily, towards Takar's secret lab. Robotnik hadn't investigated it when he first saw it because he wanted to get rid of Sonic completely first. As the two world leaders headed over the forest, they saw something in the distance as they heard propellers spinning... ** Tails was still a little dizzy, but he'd be alright in an hour or two. Takar seemed to dote over him like a loving parent would a child, getting him food and water immediately as he woke up, and making him as comfortable as possible. Obviously, the alien wanted to keep his anti-Robotnik weapons in as good of shape as he could. As soon as Tails was feeling his best, he hopped in his new ship and headed out, thanking Takar for his help. He started getting readings from another emerald as soon as he scanned for them... and it was quite nearby. "Tornado transformation!" the fox yelled in such a corny manner as his vehicle went from ground to air, turning into a biplane, and he headed off in the direction of where the readings were coming from. Almost as soon as he got out over the forest, he saw the glint of sunlight off of something shiny... ** "TAILS!" Robotnik yelled, cackling briefly. "How nice of you to come right to me!" The Steel Snake sped up, heading towards the biplane at incredible speed. As Tails realized what it was that was coming into view, his ears pressed flat against his head in fear, remembering what that thing did to him... He decided he was going to need Takar's help, and turned around to get out of there, but the plane wasn't fast enough. The Steel Snake quickly came up beside the biplane, grabbing it with a strong robotic arm that extended out from behind a scale-plate. The pod lid flipped open, and Robotnik leaned out, grinning. "So nice of you to deliver the chaos emerald to me, Tails," he said, brandishing his laser gun. Tails had to get out of there. In a desperate attempt to make it away from the mad scientist, he quickly turned the biplane, sending it slamming into the side of the Snake as he snatched the chaos emerald out of the Tornado and jumped out, sending his two tails into motion as they started to carry him away. An idea flashed into Robotnik's head as he trained the laser sights on Tails. No, this is getting old. I think I'll try something a little different... Arashi blinked as Robotnik tore the racing harness off, leaping out of the ship and using the biplane (which hadn't hurt the Snake at all) as a stepping stone, sailing through the air for a moment before he grabbed onto Tails' arms and kept a tight grip, hanging on. The fox screamed in fear, trying to shake Robotnik off of him, but he couldn't. The weight dragged him out of the sky, quite fast, and no matter how fast his tails went, he couldn't keep himself aloft. Robotnik wasn't doing anything but hanging there laughing cruelly. Tails became so tired in his desperation that Robotnik could literally steer him, like a parachute, as they headed toward the ground quickly. The Steel Snake stayed hovering in the air, just as it was programmed to do if he leapt out, and Arashi watched, laughing, as he steered Tails towards a large tree. Tails thought Sonic was heavy, but he didn't know heavy until he was forced to try to lug Robotnik through the sky. Nearly losing consciousness from the effort, the fox was helpless as his passenger pulled him down, slamming him into a tree headfirst at about 30 miles an hour. *THUNK!* Then they both smashed through several branches and fell into a bush, obliterating it. The force of the fall knocked Robotnik out cold, but Tails wasn't as fortunate--the mad scientist had fallen right on top of him, killing him instantly. Though it was a bad fall for Robotnik too, he came to a couple of minutes later with no serious injuries and a great amount of amusement. It was worth it. Taking the chaos emerald off Tails' corpse, the mad scientist summoned the Steel Snake and rode off into the distance towards his base, he and Arashi laughing maniacally the entire time. ** "CRAP!" Takar had seen the whole thing. He watched as the ships collided, as the Tornado eventually dove into the trees in a blazing spiral, as Robotnik had dragged Tails into the forest. He had seen the Steel Snake dive, then appear again, a fox tail stuck in the door of the cargo hold as the giant flexible ship flew away. "Arrrghhh! I HATE you, Ivo Robotnik!" Takar snarled and stomped down into his lab. "I'm supposed to be superior to these humans! Yet they seem to thwart me at every turn! Why?! Whyyyyyy!??" The alien leader sat down in his chair and started to cry. See, Robotnik isn't the only Evil Overlord with feelings. He started to plot, trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Pulling up the file for Sonic's DNA, he used a super-advanced satellite-like device to pinpoint the location of that DNA structure. When a 3-D model of Robotnik flashed up on the screen, Takar promptly fainted. ** "I wonder what fox seasoning tastes like on pizza," Robotnik said, crushing the orange pill up and tossing it over a slice. "On a side note, I think that Pill-Maker 3000 is the best thing I ever made." He gulped down the slice of pizza, grinning as he savored his victory, and stopped to take a drink of Dr Pepper after finishing. Arashi could just see it. Ivo had consumed Sonic and Tails by turning them into pills--was he going to eat every enemy he ever made from this point on? Certainly a sure-fire way of getting rid of someone, though. She took a drink herself and reached for the last piece of pizza, just as Robotnik did, his gloved hand landing on hers. Oh, god, one of these corny scenes again? Make it stop! The two looked across the table at each other, eyes locking. A hint of nervousness immediately hung in the air as both lost words, even breath... Two hearts skipped a beat as they realized... "Crap, we're out of pizza!" they both exclaimed in unison, and started hunting through Arashi's backpack for more. ** "Alright, fat guy, I've got a little something up my sleeve that I've been waiting to use until just this sort of situation," Takar said, pulling out a device with a fake chaos emerald in it. He tapped a few things on the buttons, then grinned as he found the locations of all the other chaos emeralds using the fake one like a radar. With a super-fast pod similar to Robotnik's infamous escape pod, the Ykrian leader zoomed out into the sky, towards a plains area in the northwest, where the cyan emerald was. He had to face many dangers to get all the emeralds. By the time he had them all, he had gotten half-mauled by a lion, fell off a bridge and slammed over some sharp rocks in rapids, was nearly crushed by a giant towering plateau that fell down when he extracted the purple emerald from a crack in it, and had to evade fire from military jets after stealing the grey one from the Pentagon. He'd dealt with all of that, there was no way the yellow emerald was going to pose a more dangerous situation than what he already faced... And it didn't. It was lying out in the middle of a field, harmlessly, and he walked right up and plucked it from the ground with an insane grin. He had the five remaining chaos emeralds... now he could-- A passenger airliner that was flying overhead malfunctioned, and a giant block of frozen sewage waste fell out, slamming directly into Takar and knocking him out. ** A few hours later, Robotnik was walking about the base collecting rings that seemed to pop up from time to time. Why were rings just lying about everywhere in the universe? Good question. No matter where you went--be it through the city, through a forest, underwater, even out in space--there were usually rings close at hand. It was strange. A loud rumbling was heard as the entire base shook for a moment, and an earsplitting explosion blew the central building apart, sending twisted metal flying outwards at blistering speeds. Some pieces embedded themselves in the gem-encrusted walls, things even exploding as they impacted. Robotnik felt a searing heat blow him out of the base, sending him into the water since he was in the part of the base that was submerged. He thrashed to the surface, gasping for air, trying to reorient himself as he looked up at his obliterated base. Realization flashed into his head. Arashi! She had been in there! Quickly, Robotnik pulled himself out of the water, calculating where she would be from what he observed of where pieces had been flying. Since she was in the living room, she would probably be in the northwestern part of the cave, by that huge pile of destruction... Racing over to the pile of twisted metal, he saw the couch, overturned, half of it destroyed. Pinned under it from the waist down was Arashi, sprawled on her back. "Arashi!" Robotnik yelled worriedly as he rushed to her, pulling the couch off of her. Gashes covered her body, and shards of metal were imbedded deep in her sides. Kneeling down next to her, he pulled her up into a half-sitting position, wincing when she cried out in pain. Grabbing the front of his coat, she gasped weakly for breath. "What... h-h..." "I don't know! Hang on, I'm going to go get medical supplies," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking as he glanced over the serious wounds. As he moved to dash away, she tightened her grip on him. "No... I... I'll be dead by the time you... get back," she wheezed painfully, eyes shut tightly. "Stay here... please... don't let me die... alone..." Robotnik felt something icy grip his heart as he stared down at her in disbelief. "You can't be serious," he whispered shakily. "I've never... been so serious," she replied, a pained sound escaping her as it felt like daggers were stabbing her lungs with every breath. Robotnik tried his best to keep her still as he held her tightly in his arms. Pain made her take sharp breaths, and sharp breaths only produced more pain. Arashi weakened rapidly, Ivo staring down at her helplessly, not knowing what to do. After only about thirty seconds, she slowly became heavier in his arms, her head falling back as she mumbled something with her dying breath. "...crap, I forgot to check my email..." For what seemed like an eternity, Robotnik remained there, sobbing uncharacteristically in despair against Arashi's lifeless shoulder. Was this what it was like... to have feelings? To love somebody? Indeed, the highs were high, but the lows were unbearable... Suddenly, a voice from nearby grabbed his attention. "How touching," came the fairly bored-sounding British accent. The heartbroken scientist looked up to find Takar hovering in midair, smiling cruelly, his form glowing a neon green. Somehow, with only 5 chaos emeralds, he was in his Super Form. "You," Robotnik snarled, letting Arashi slump to the ground as he stood up. "You blew up my base! You destroyed everything! YOU KILLED ARASHI!" "Your point?" the Ykrian leader asked, examining his nails briefly. "I... HAVE HAD... ENOUGH OF YOU!" Robotnik screamed madly, his voice enraged and seemingly in physical pain for some reason. It sounded rather unnatural, causing Takar to glance up, quirking a brow. His expression went from triumphantly bored to slightly alarmed as the human started to glow a faint crimson. Robotnik groaned in agony, both mental and physical, reeling and holding his head. His uncontrollable rage was taking over every fiber of his being, and everything was in pain. All he could see was red, even when he closed his eyes, and eventually he fell to his knees with a scream as his hands exploded, instantly replaced by robotic ones. Searing, sharp pain traveled up his arms, only to leave immediately as cold steel and oil replaced flesh and blood. His form changed and shifted, growing rapidly, and normal teeth were shoved out of their sockets as needle-sharp, steel teeth moved to replace them. The rest of his body changed, steel replacing everything, a sputtering aura of electricity crackling around him. Finally, he stopped screaming as his clothing seemed to stick to him, tightening until it became one with him, the design becoming etched into his metal skin. Ultra Robotnik stood up slowly, training a stare of the greatest hate imaginable on his enemy, who was moving backwards in fear, sweat flying off his head. "H-h-how did you change with only two emeralds!?" the alien asked, terrified. "I was wondering something similar about you, lime boy," Ultra Robotnik replied, his voice filled with enough hate to vaporize any normal man. "The Ykrians... we can change with only 5, because we're more in tune with chaos than you humans... but... Oh, why did I bring those two back to life!? I had no idea they were just pieces of you! THAT must be how you defeat me!" "Pieces of me?!" the robot asked. "I ate them, you fool." Oh, god, this is worse than I thought, Takar thought to himself, suddenly very, very afraid. He really means business... And Sonic and Tails... I gave them some of my blood... that's how he managed to do it... Even Ultra Robotnik cringed at Takar's girlish screech of terror, but didn't wait long before he leapt at the alien, bent on revenge. Takar skidded hard across the sandy ground as the giant robot smashed into him, much like he did the first time they met. Only this time, there were no guards around to pull the hulking pile of metal off of him, and the beating started. Over and over, fists pounded into Takar's face, smashing it in, and while it regenerated every time, it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience. After about 30 punches to the face, Takar managed to throw Ultra Robotnik off of him and the two circled around each other, snarling. There is more than one type of snarl, however, and while Ultra Robotnik's was aggressive and nasty, Takar's was the sort that you'd see on a trapped, frightened animal. Leaping forward, the alien slammed a foot into Ultra Robotnik's midsection, hoping to pierce the armor with brute force. Instead, he received a broken ankle, and as he was falling to the ground, the raging mad scientist grabbed him by the legs. Takar flailed helplessly for a moment, wondering why Robotnik wasn't doing anything, until he felt a dozen cold, needle-like objects sink into his leg. "AAAAGH! HE'S GONNA EAT MEEEE! NOOOOoOooOOooOOO!" the alien screamed in terror, managing to flail enough to get out of the robot's grip, his wounds healing immediately. Then he decided that he was not going to lose. Leaping into the air, the alien fired a giant beam of chaos energy at Ultra Robotnik, who dodged it easily and leapt forward with a vicious punch to the gut. Takar went flying backwards, wind milling his arms as he splashed violently into the lake, and the robot was heading right for him. Giant barrels of some sort of gun replaced Robotnik's hands as he splashed into the water, firing homing torpedoes at Takar as he headed for him. The alien detonated the torpedoes prematurely with another beam of some sort, blowing them up in the robot's face, and one of his sensors was damaged along with his steel mustache, half of which got ripped off in the explosion. Temporarily stunned by the blast as he put most of his system resources into trying to repair the sensor, Ultra Robotnik was pelted with chunks of giant stones that ripped themselves out of the walls and floor of the lake, slamming into him and tossing him around. He decided he could still win with only one sensor, realizing that more important things were getting damaged, and rocketed towards Takar, ramming him with a headbutt that would have instantly killed a normal person. Distracted due to the blow, Takar stopped with the onslaught of boulders. The fight raged on with neither really winning, and suddenly Takar burst out of the water, followed close by Robotnik. The alien grinned down at his pursuer. "Instead of killing you, I think I'll make it so that there is no hope of you ever seeing Arashi again," Takar said. "What do you mean?" Ultra Robotnik asked, growling. "I mean I have a life-restoring device back at the lab... but I'm going to go destroy it," he said, cackling. "My race is the only one that can build these, using ancient talismans that are all gone save for one, Roboboy! And heck if I'm going to let you have any chance of accessing it!" The alien cackled madly, bursting through the shaft that he'd managed to open up, heading for the surface. Ultra Robotnik smirked and... doubled over in pain as electricity crackled around him. Crap! His teleportation mechanisms had been damaged! The race was on. ** Takar ran along, arms and legs pumping furiously, towards his base. Looking behind himself, he saw the ponderous machine clanking along slowly and laughed. "Piece of cake!" the alien thought to himself, and faced forward again, grinning evilly. Finally, Ultra Robotnik's jets had warmed up, and he shot forward, hovering over the ground slightly, seeming to slide on jets on the bottom of his feet as he moved as if rollerblading. The scene was hauntingly familiar, somehow. He started to catch up to Takar, who was too caught up in his supposed victory to be paying attention. Though the alien's speed remained pretty much constant, the robot's jets became stronger every moment, propelling him forward at well over Mach 3. Takar screeched as he felt metallic fingers clamp on the back of his neck. Running faster than the speed of sound didn't allow him to hear Ultra Robotnik closing in on him, and he was suddenly flung backwards several dozen feet, slamming into the ground hard and sliding painfully for quite a distance, getting a severe case of road rash. The robot continued forward with grim determination, setting grass ablaze as he sliced through it. Soon he was in the forest, completely ignoring trees as he ran right through them, leaving perfect cookie-cutter cutouts of himself in them, the huge chunks of busted-out wood clattering to the ground. His speed was up to Mach 4. A brilliant light burst out in front of him about a half of a mile, and Takar ran out of it, leaping over a few logs and boulders. Chaos control, the robot thought to himself, snarling. He sliced right through the boulders and logs in his efforts to catch up with the alien, who was quickly gaining speed in desperation. Having reached his top speed, Ultra Robotnik was unable to catch up with the alien, who had been propelled to his top speed quickly by the Chaos Control, before they got to the plains. He could see the boulder arrangement with the trapdoors now, and thought all hope was lost... Arashi... That's when Takar suddenly reverted to normal form, seeming to have run out of rings. He panicked, screaming, and tried to stop, his feet slamming into the very ruts that Sonic created not too long ago. Then he tripped at the end of the long ruts in the ground and flailed out of control, screeching as he went flying off into the distance. A parachute, like those on drag racers, burst out of Ultra Robotnik's back as he activated his reverse jets, the parachute helping to bring him to a stop much easier than the unfortunate alien who, by the time the robot had stopped, caused the entire world to shake yet again by wrapping himself around that same tree that Sonic met his end with. Such a nice tree, helping to stop people all the time... Just as Ultra Robotnik came to a stop, chunks of metal began to fall off of him, revealing his normal self underneath. He stumbled towards the trapdoor in the ground, various pieces of steel bouncing to the ground behind him, and when he had finally reverted completely to his normal self, he collapsed into the dust, exhausted, his hand on the trapdoor handle. ** When he woke up, it was late at night. Robotnik had a fitful sleep, with dreams of Arashi's death and related events replaying over and over in his mind, one nasty one in particular involving Takar winning the race and destroying the device. Slowly opening his eyes, the doctor spotted one of the chaos emeralds nearby. He felt weak as he reached over and picked it up with a shaking hand, tucking it in his pocket, and had to put some effort into pulling the trapdoor open. Once he got himself down into the lab, he saw the various devices--a high-tech computer, a large cabinet-like contraption, and some kind of sliding door at the back. For now, since it looked big enough to hold one or two people, his interests lay with the cabinet, and he sat down at the computer chair, fishing through a drawer for any sort of instruction manuals. Surprised that Takar learned from his mistakes with the Windows 98 book and apparently had organized his earth base, Robotnik pulled out the manual for the computer/cabinet combination, titled, "Life Box Instruction Manual." He flipped through it a couple pages, finding that there were only a few pages to the actual manual--most of the thick book was simply rewrites in Ykrian, English, Chinese, Greek, French, Spanish, German... The instructions read... Using the Life Box is a simple process. Place any DNA remnants of a person in through the cabinet doors and close the doors, then add whatever mutation agents you would like to the mixture by dropping them in the funnel on the side of the Life Box. Once you are done, run C:\DNA.EXE and make sure the being has changed as you wish. Then click the 'compile and run' button and wait. They should exit the cabinet shortly. To check what mutations a given agent will provide, just click on 'Mutations?' in the toolbar. It is possible to check your own DNA structure and distinct traits you have by stepping in the Life Box and pressing the 'scan' button on the keypad in there. Remain calm and still as the white beam moves over you, and when the green light on the keypad begins blinking, you can exit the Box and examine your file on the computer. You can also mutate yourself by adding the desired agents to the funnel, then stepping into the Box and pressing the 'Mutate' button. A gas will start to fill the Box--do not panic, its function is to put you to sleep. Trust us, if you attempted to change your DNA structure with the Box whilst still awake, you would seriously regret it after you recovered from the extreme pain. We are not responsible for any nasty things you end up doing to yourself with this. Just ask yourself how far you trust Windows XP to handle the files, and act accordingly. Robotnik looked at the computer and the Life Box. I trust Windows XP about as far as I can throw the planet, but it's my only chance. He investigated the sliding door, finding that it contained a hangar of sorts with a UFO in it. He walked under the small craft, which closely resembled the pod on the Steel Snake's back, and glanced up into the interior. Black leather, a nice control panel, a giant laser gun, a CD player... a pretty nice little vehicle all around. He pulled himself up into the cockpit and closed the door, examining the controls. There weren't very many, so they wouldn't be too hard to figure out. Pressing one button caused the laser beam to fire, blowing out half the wall. Robotnik jumped, then snickered to himself. "That was kind of cool," he mumbled idly, then tried another button. The hangar door above him opened. Must be the garage door opener! A few more buttons, and after smashing into the walls by putting it in the wrong gear, he was up and flying through the air. The ship was absolutely silent as it sped along towards his underground base. Robotnik was grim, trying not to get his hopes up, not knowing if the Life Box would really work as he brought the Steel Snake over from a pile of rubble. Miraculously it had survived the explosion, and he ditched the alien's pod for his own vehicle, strapping Arashi's lifeless body into the passenger seat. Then he began the trip back to the alien's base. ** The Life Box thrummed quietly as Robotnik clicked the 'compile and run' button. He watched the box hopefully for a moment, then turned his attention back to Arashi's file. It was rather interesting to see various traits of a person... like high intellect, mechanical aptitude, mathematical aptitude, excellent sense of humor, tendency towards evil, great kisser-- what the!? Thinking back, the doctor realized the computer was right, at least. A few seconds later, the Life Box stopped humming and the doors flew open, Arashi stumbling out, every wound healed. Robotnik sat, immobilized with shock. It worked. Something vitally important actually WORKED in Windows. Holy crap on a stick. The first amazed word out of Arashi's mouth: "COOL!" As the two looked at each other, Robotnik leapt out of his chair in slow motion. The few steps across the room to each other seemed to take forever, with a field of tall grass and sunshine as the background for the clip... Ah, yes, another corny reunion. At least they didn't yell pet names for each other. Evil Overlords, Even Those Who Have Been Thrown Way Out Of Character By Fanfic Authors With Strange Ideas, don't do pet names. We can only hope, anyway.

He’s All the Rage! Ch:3

Shoving your hands deeper in into your pockets against the icy cold of Winter Tundra, you looked for Hunter. You had entered through the first most teleporting platforms that rested just outside of the castles gates. There was still a grey-green grass here despite the fact that it was so cold, it crunched under your feet, coated in frost. You didn't have to look hard to find him.

The bipedal cheetah stood anxiously in front of the portal to Dragon Shores. He fidgeted looking around, probably for you. The poor guy was afraid of Zoe's wrath. Even though you knew of how heartless they seemed towards the smaller creatures in this world, you still couldn't help but care for them. You were in a strange twilight. Stuck between two vastly different opinions of what was right and wrong. Both sides had their reasons for fighting and yet both felt twisted and skewed. Then again, maybe it was you who was incorrect. In these lands the rules were different. Perhaps that's just how things were here. For the lesser magical creatures to be used for a greater purpose by the more powerful ones. Even if that was how things transpired here, you still could not accept it. What if perhaps you would have to rely on this same corrupted feeling magic? What if you one day had to take the life of one of the fodder animals or inhabitants of the worlds? To keep Ripto safe, you felt perhaps you would. Though you would really rather not have any form of blood on your hands. Now was not the time for such thoughts however, you needed to get to the beach. Setting these thoughts aside, you announced yourself to Hunter. “Oh! ____! Hey, what took you so long. The Professor has the portal all ready to go. We can head over to Dragon Shores anytime you're ready.” You approached him and stood on the side of the portal facing the castle. Ripto was behind you, farther back. As you two had planned earlier, on your way through the portal, he would sneak up into the portal on the opposite side. Someone could enter through either side and still reach their destination. You could hear his light-footed steps behind you. “You had better not give me away! Find a way to shake that feline fur ball. Then we can get you that blasted wand, get my minions back and give this darn world what for!” You recalled his command from before you departed Autumn Plains. The archway marking the way to Dragon Shores hummed peacefully, through it, you could see an ever expansive ocean with a small beach. It seemed inviting in this biting air. “Alright, I can't wait to get that wand back. Though...It's gonna be hard convincing that gnorc to hand it over. He seemed like he really liked it.” Staring into the portal you had a thought pop up into your head. On a whim, you asked Hunter. “Say, Hunter, what was the code you typed in? For your birthday?” Hunter looked at the control dial in his hand and then back up to you. “Why you sly devil! Are you trying to plan a party or something? Well! If you are, I have been wanting this really cool pair of rocket boots the Professor has in his lab.” You nodded, impatient. You didn't want to keep Ripto waiting, however you felt this bit of information may help you. Surely he was on the other side listening in. He was waiting for your signal. “I'll keep that in mind, but I need to know what the code er...what the date was.” Hunter grinned and gave you a wink. “2,2,4,7,5 my good buddy!” You tried to ingrain it into your memory. “Ugh, alright lets go try to convince that gnorc...” Hunter deflated, he clearly didn't want to have to deal with the fellow he made a deal with. “Say Hunter, why don't you just chill here? I can pop over and talk to the guy. I'm the one who needs the wand, and this way you don't have to deal with Zoe.” Hunter mulled your suggestion over in his head and beamed. “Hey! I mean, you know if you're sure!” You nodded and relief washed over his face. “Whew. I mean... Have fun!” He marched away, pleased that he had gotten off the hook. You faced the portal and let out a short whistle to announce to Ripto on the other side your intentions and that the coast was clear. You stepped in and he did likewise. The two of you landed on the sunny, sandy beach of Dragon Shores. Ripto seemed terribly uncomfortable. Maybe he didn't like the warmth? No! Oh no of course! It's Dragon Shores after all, he was probably on the lookout for other dragons. You had wondered if word of Ripto's influence had spread here. Would they let him in the park? “It took you long enough to get that spot covered scum out of there. What was all that nonsense with birthdays?” You shook your head, dismissing it as nothing. Summer Forest could not rival Dragon Shores in how hot it was. You had to remove your coat. You gazed up into the rich, blue, cloud filled sky. The sun beamed eagerly down on you and Ripto. He squinted in the light, or perhaps wait...no he was squinting at the statues that stood atop a wall, winding around the small beach that you stood on. There were twin, glistening,metallic dragon statues glimmering in the sunlight. The scowl that crossed Ripto's face was disheartening. “This place could seriously use some redecorating...” He grumbled. Part of you had hoped perhaps he may enjoy himself here a bit, away from the ruckus that was happening in Avalar. You didn't even stop to think about what you may find here. Hell even the name of this world had Dragon in it. Hopefully he wouldn't start anything. To your left, a large, green fellow with a pronounced portly belly wearing a red tie greeted you. Atop his head rested a top hat and he held a cane with a large crystal like decoration at the end. It must have been purely ornamental because you felt no magic coming from it. That's strange. Your ability to sense and detect magic had grown quite a bit in the last little while. The Professor said being in the presence of dragons can sometimes influence a persons magic. Were they fonts of magical energy? But you hadn't been spending time with Spyro, you'd been spending time with Ripto. He was a powerful sorcerer, could his magic be enhancing yours? You looked to him as he took in the scenery. He glared back at you once he realized you were staring. “What?” he barked. “Nothing. You okay?” He grumbled and said through clenched his teeth. “ Let's get this over with.” He stomped over to the fellow who you assumed was what Hunter had called a gnorc. He was very goblinesque. Green, kind of lumpy in his form and he sported pointed ears. He might have been frightening except his yellow eyes were wide and welcoming. “Hello! And welcome to Dragon Shores!” He was very well dressed, however his giant form didn't fit the suit well, in fact the sleeves were ripped and his pants had no chance against his bulging stomach. You greeted him back and Ripto shook his head. “Oh just let us in already! We lost something and need it back!” Ripto pointed to the gates leading to the amusement park. An enormous, blue, metal scrap dragon stretched across the high gate. It was made from sheets of metal welded together. Watching trolley cars roll around on a ramp above, you realized it was part of a ride. The cars entered the dragons mouth and continued on, following the ramp deeper into the park. “Our er, friend lost something of mine and I need it back. Have you or anyone else seen a white fairy wand?” You offered to the now taken aback gnorc. He looked from you to Ripto, not very impressed with how pushy your horned friend was being. “Oh yeah? What did your friend look like?” the gnorc fellow seemed to be ignoring Ripto. You described Hunter and the gnorcs face lit up. “Ah yes! That speedy, sporty fella! He traded it to Gnelson! You should ask him! If you explain your situation, he'll probably give you the wand back no problem!” He opened the gate to you and Ripto and gestured you in with a wave of his hand and a bow. “Go on ahead! Enjoy!�� You and Ripto entered the park.  It was a cute little park, not many rides but it was clean and well kept. Banners and awnings were strung here and there, advertising the park and the rides therein. You saw there was a ball throwing pit, where you dunk someone in a pool if you land a successful hit. A shooting gallery, the trolley coaster you saw from outside and a set of boats in the shape of hearts, taking people through the dark “tunnel of love.” At each ride and game there was a gnorc stationed. You wanted to look around a bit more, a strange cheery buzz filling the air but Ripto shoved past you. “Alright! Which one of you louts is Gnelson!” He bellowed to everyone in the area. “Oh Ripto don't..” You muttered. The fellow manning er, gnorcking? The shooting gallery coughed. “Uh that would be me!” Despite his clear distaste for Ripto's demeanour, he never dropped his amiable nature. “And what can I do for you this fine day? Come to try your hand at the shooting gallery?” You followed Ripto over to the gnorc. He too held an ornamental staff, a jagged purple spearhead of a crystal finished the end. He wore no shirt but had a vibrant red cape. The gnorcs here all seemed to share the same belly. Ripto extended his three fingered hand towards Gnelson. “The wand! We need it back!” Gnelson looked confused briefly then realization dawned on him. “Oh! You want that wand the cat traded me for some tokens! Well, I'm sorry there sir but I can't just give it to you for nothing. He traded it to me for ten tokens! If you can play all the games and rides here, the other gnorcs will gladly give you one. Once you've finished collecting the tokens, you can come back here and I'll make the trade!” Ripto was livid. “WHAT?! I don't have time to be messing around on these stupid games. I need that wand, give it to me or so help me I'll-” You pushed Ripto gently away. “Ten tokens! Got it!” You smiled at Gnelson as you guided Ripto away from the gnorc, fearing he would make good on his threat. “Don't you dare push me!” He shoved you away. “I'm sorry Ripto, but just for now, maybe we shouldn't draw any attention to ourselves. We could lose our chance of getting that wand back. Then we'll never revive Crush and Gulp.” Ripto looked like he was about to explode at you, then he looked around the area. It wasn't very large and you were in clear view of all the gnorcs. None of them seemed too happy with him. Flustered, he expressed his anger with clenched fists and threw his arms wildly in front of him. “ Arg FINE! Come on!” He grabbed your wrist and forcefully drug you over to the dunk tank. “Step right up, step right up! Soak some rotten foes for free and earn yourself a token!” Ripto approached the tank and looked at the baseball he had been given distastefully. He grunted in disgust and threw the ball at the target. The unfortunate person in the tank plummeted into the water with a splash. “Two more to go! Then you've got yourself a token!” A sinister smile played on his lips as he nodded in satisfaction at submerging them. Ripto was a pretty good shot and landed the three hits without missing once. You on the other hand hit one then proceeded to overshoot the target every time after. “Oh for- HERE!” He grabbed the ball from you and dunked your remaining two targets. “I could have gotten it.” You complained. Ripto scoffed, strode over to the gnorc, angrily grabbed the tokens and returned to you. He then drug you again by the wrist over to the trolley coaster. “Oh no...” You groaned. “What?” he grumbled at you. “I can't do heights very well.” Ripto ascended the steps to the trolley. “Then stay here! I'll ride this blasted thing. (Grumble grumble) tokens....” The gnorc stationed at the trolley ride held out his cane, blocking Ripto from heading up the steps. “Ah, ah, ah, sorry sir, but you don't meet our height qualifications, you'll need a partner to ride with.” This was bad. The gnorc tapped a chart beside him showing how tall one needed to be in order to ride the trolley and he didn't quite make it. “Height qualifications!? OH! Youuuu....” He spluttered, rage boiling in his eyes and his claws curled into tight fists. Quickly stepping forward you ushered Ripto up the steps to the trolley. “I'll be his partner, lets' go!” Ripto extracted himself from your grip and stormed up the stairs, plopping himself angrily on the trolley. Climbing onto the trolley behind him you carefully examined the seating. It... It had no fastenings or belts. What? The trolley started up and you were sent to your worst fear in the whole god damned world. Green balloons floated over top your head, you were meant to pop all of them in order to win the tokens. How the hell were you supposed to stay on this rolling death machine and manage to stay focused on popping green fucking balloons?! Ripto huffed when you passed a few balloons and hadn't popped them. “What are you doing?! You missed them!” Extending his claw he reached up to poke at one of them. “I'm sorry I just, I'm trying not to fall off!” You had a death grip on the edges of the trolley, your head was down and you weren't brave enough to look anywhere but at the wooden boards beneath you. He balked and turned from his seated position to look at you. “What? Just use your magic you idiot!” Confusion played on your face as you tried to figure out what he meant. “Ok, so maybe don't insult me like that, you can talk to me like a regular person and also, how? I'm new at magic!” He shook his head in disbelief at your incomprehension of what seemed to be a very basic thing to grasp. “Just tie yourself with magic to the trolley! It's simple! And I'll stop calling you and idiot when you are no longer an idiot. Which will be never!” He turned his back to you again and continued popping balloons, cursing when he missed one. Ah wait! Your grip loosened.

That was it, just like with making a door within Ripto's barrier. It was just belief. You imagined within your mind the most strongest, inseverable tie the universe could ever conjure up. Erasing all doubts in your head, you felt the magical tie form between you and the trolley. It felt safe. You felt secure. Gently, gingerly, you lifted your hands from the sides of the trolley and allowed yourself to raise your head. You were tense and cold with a chilled sweat. But it was very beautiful. The air whizzed by, warm and summery sweet. Your view whirled past, darting inside little tunnels and whooshing into open air, giving you a grand view of the seascape. The fear you had slowly melted away and you allowed yourself to raise your hands a little in the air. A balloon passed over Ripto's head and you snatched it, you didn't have claws of anything to pop it so you just kind of squeezed it. The bang was loud and startling. “Arg, I hate that infernal popping noise! I can't wait til this is over. What a useless ride...When I'm done with Avalar, I'm going to come back here and tie those gnorcs to these trolleys and keep them running on it forever!” “Maybe I'll throw that dragon in the dunk tank too and make it his permanent residence.” He cackled at the thought. You made the entire circuit around the coaster and realized there were offshoot ramps as well, to your utter horror and disbelief, there was a giant loop. “No. No, no, no...” You muttered. “Oh, Really? You'll be fine! Stop worrying! You stink of fear it's distracting!” You had been sweating from the rush of adrenaline that coursed through you from being scared. You hadn't realized it had been noticeable. Or perhaps with his reptilian nose he was more sensitive to smells? These thoughts halted immediately when the trolley began climbing up the curved ramp. “AhhHHH nnonono.” You muttered under your breath. Instinctively you grabbed around Ripto's middle, bracing yourself, trying to hold onto something to keep you safe. “G'oh! Let go of me!” He demanded. You did not. You gripped tighter as you felt gravity turn upside down and pull at you from the wrong way. Ripto was attempting to pry your arms from his waist but you weren't going anywhere until the loop was over. “I'm bonded to the trolley, I'm bonded to the trolley, holy fucking shit I am bonded to this trolley.” Your thoughts pounded in your head, afraid that suddenly the tie you had made would dissipate and you'd plummet to your death. Luckily no such thing happened and you safely ended the loop. Once it was over your grip loosened and Ripto grabbed your hands, throwing them off. “Honestly!” He shook his head disapprovingly. The trolley ride soon ended, thankfully, and you shakily climbed town the steps to retrieve your token. Ripto was ahead of you, he said nothing to the gnorc as he stomped in front of him. His shoulders were squared and he whipped his open hand out in front of him waiting for the token. “Oh, sorry there sir or madam, but you need to complete the other games on the coaster before I can hand the token over. Now there are red balloons you have to pop along with the green ones, the red ones are bigger and stronger, you'll need a canon to pop these ones! Your trolley should be fitted with one for just this purpose!” The gnorc, never dropping his amiable facade, seemed pleased to deny Ripto the token and he was of course frothing. “RED BAL-!” He jammed his mouth shut before he could finish his sentence. He took a deep breath, pushing his hands down as if it could physically stifle his anger. Turning sharply, he walked back up the steps and met you half way. Forcefully turning you back around, he shoved you back up the steps to the cart. “No not again...” “HAH! Tell me about it!” He griped. You focused on catching the green balloons while Ripto took control of the cannon. He delighted in when he missed, sometimes on purpose, aiming a little too close to the gnorcs in the park. The dreaded loop started to come around again and you once more had the urge to hang on to Ripto to keep you steady. He'd probably just grow cross with you so you settled on hanging on to the side of the trolley. As the trolley turned towards it, he looked back at you, perhaps warning you to not touch him. “Relax!” “Ahh, I'm trying.” The trolley turned upwards and gravity went wrong again. With a whimper you shot your hand forward and gripped his hand. He glared down at it, his face sporting a frown. “How am I going to rely on you to get my other minions if you're this much of a coward!?” While he complained, this time he didn't remove his hand. It was soft and had a comforting effect on you. You held it awkwardly, unused to the difference in digit quantity. When your stomach no longer felt like it was trying to come back up through your throat you opened your eyes. As you ended the loop, there was a red balloon. Ripto tore his hand from yours to launch the canon and pop it. He placed his hand back down on the trolley. You had a sudden urge to hold it again. And so, you did. You snaked your hand back into his and watched as his head slowly turned to look at it and then to you, a bewildered and confused look on his face, mixed with his ever present frustrated air. His brow furrowed very slightly as if questioning you, trying to figure out what you were up to. When you looked into his cat like eyes this strange pull started to grow in your chest. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline, maybe it was from this weird confidence you had after making it through this awful coaster ride, but you felt... His warm reddish scaly skin looked soft in the sunlight, and his expressive eyes drew your gaze. The breeze blew at his bushy brows. You felt... The sharp teeth that hid behind his frowning mouth peeked through in an adorable way. You wanted him to look at you, and to hear his voice. Was this... Were you...? Are you falling for him!? The trolley was swallowed up by the dragons head as you made your way to the final stretch of the coaster. He retracted his hand as if he had touched something hot or vile. He turned back to the front of the trolley, to the controls of the canon. You finished the balloons off and the trolley began to slow down. Hopefully you hadn't upset him or weirded him out. Maybe he just thought you were still scared or something. He looked back to you, just over the edge of his cape, startling you. “There, we're back on the ground now.” He said half mockingly. As the trolley crawled to a stop he turned and wiggled his hands scowling. “Do you need to hold my hand down the stairs? They're awfully high.” You had to giggle and shook your head no. Once you had your tokens secured and were safe on solid ground you let your mind toy with the idea of having feelings for him. You highly doubted he would ever trust anyone enough to let them be that close. Poor Ripto. Even if anything romantic never happened between you, you had at least hoped you could maybe help him find some sort of happiness or peace. It was kind of awkward and unexpected when you held his hand. You thought you should probably apologize. “Er, Ripto?” He was heading towards the inner part of the park. Stopping he turned to listen. He seemed worn out. It was exhausting being on the fast coaster, despite the fact that you had been sitting the whole time. “I'm...Pardon about earlier. I just. Your hand. It made me feel safe. I didn't mean to put you off.” Ripto blinked. “I'm no good with you touchy, feely types.” He waved his hands mockingly as he showed his distaste. “Don't expect me to hold your hand through everything.” Walking through the park you kept your eyes on his back. How would anyone get through such a hard exterior? He was so closed off to the world. He seemed to be afraid and paranoid of everything. There was this worried look in his eyes as you made your way to the next ride. Feeling eyes on him, Ripto's head darted to you. “What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?!” He threw his arms to the side in a frustrated gesture. “Your eyes...” You blurted. Aw shit. You'd been thinking about how worried they looked but you didn't want to bring it up. He wouldn't want anyone noticing or pointing it out. A weakness he probably thought. “What about my eyes?” Your felt a warmth bloom from your cheeks as you tried to answer. You had to say something now. “They're uhm. They'r-” “They're WHAT?!” You took a deep breath and the words flew out your mouth before you could stop them. “They're lovely.” Your hands scooped up and covered your face embarrassed. You saw through your fingers that he had stopped. Surprise and disbelief took purchase of his face and he blinked a few times. “I...They...Really?” He said in a softer tone. You nodded and shook your head, trying to clear it. “Aghh.” you sighed flustered. “Lets go! To the next ride!” You stumbled over to the back of the park. This time you were in the lead, and you could feel him looking at you. Was he upset? Did you get through to him? You took a tentative glance back. Sure enough he been watching you. He started and looked away, pretending that something had caught his attention. His eyes flicked back to you and when he realized you were still watching he awkwardly scratched at his head, turning away again. Oh my! Was he embarrassed? That was absolutely adorable. You'd better not tell him that though. You made it to your destination and you almost laughed. That's right, the other ride in this park was- “Hello and welcome to the tunnel of love! One free ride gets you one free token! Care for a spin?” The gnorc at the boats greeted the two of you as you made it to the top of the stairs. Both you and Ripto glanced at each other and then just as quickly looked away. Ripto grumbled and pushed past you. “We need those tokens. C..Come on!” He clambered into the boat and waited. You stood there on the edge of the platform. Should you just take the next boat? Would riding with him be too awkward? Your hesitation was noticed and he growled. “Hurry up!!” He stood up and grabbed at your wrist, jerking you onto the boat. When the two of you were seated the gnorc started up the boats. It was a nice, gentle change of pace in comparison to the roller coaster. The slooshing of the water was calming as you entered the dark tunnel. It was peaceful sitting in the dark, the sounds of the park being drowned by the tunnel walls. You could vaguely see in the dark. Making out Ripto's form, you could see he was looking straight ahead. His brows furrowed as if he was thinking deeply on something. You didn't want to bother him again so you simply looked the other way. A light began to illuminate the tunnel and approach you. The tunnel opened to a clearing, showing the vast blue sky. It was lovely here. Away from all the horrors and tumultuous happenings of Avalar. The sea waved in the distance as you bobbed along in your boat. You entered another closed tunnel section and the light was swallowed up behind you. It was very quiet, a little too quiet. “This is nice.” You said softly. “What? Oh. Yeah sure.” He sounded distracted. After a moment the tunnel once more opened to a bright blue sky. This time you couldn't help yourself and turned to look at Ripto to see how he was fairing. He was looking directly at you. Had he been watching you? For how long? He didn't look away, rather he cleared his throat and his eyes flickered to you and then away and then back again. Curious, you smiled and then decided to try something. You edged your hand towards his, sliding it across the cushion you were sitting on. He looked down at your hands approach and slightly raised his own. Was he going to hold it back? For a moment it seemed like he was going to, his hand reached down and just grazed yours when he shot it back and under his arm as he crossed them. He snarled and looked away, back to the wall. Ah well you thought, at least you tried. Once more into the darkness you wondered if maybe you had made him get outside of his worries a bit. It seemed as though he never stepped outside of his paranoid thoughts. If you could put even a little bit of kindness there, that would be nice. Finally the boat emerged slowly into the sunlight. Ripto had kept his arms crossed the rest of the ride. His eyes fixed dead ahead. Though, in your peripheral vision, you could see his head turn slightly to look to you. You did not return the look. Instead you slowly began to stand as the boat came to a stop. The two of you received a token each and descended the steps. “So er. There's the last game.” You pointed to the shooting gallery. The previous attractions had given you almost enough tokens. You carried seven now and so this last one must grant you the final three. “Right.” He walked past you his head down, avoiding looking at you. You wish you hadn't made this all so awkward. Ah well, in time I'm sure he'd forget and return to his grumpy ways. The final game seemed simple enough. You had to shoot down lizards and other things as they popped up. Only, they were living beings rather than cardboard targets. A power up gate, granting the player the ammunition to take down the targets marked the spot you had to stand to play the game. Ripto took his spot and using his magic he summoned a staff. It looked like it was missing something at the very top. Using it to aim, he shot fireballs out of the end and took down all of the targets. They all poofed into nothingness and their souls were transported to the power up. He turned to you and pointed his thumb back at the power up over his shoulder. “It's all yours. Hurry up!” He made room for you to have a turn. You gazed at the lizards beyond the gate. You had yet to step through and earn the power up ability. “What's wrong? Just shoot the darned things! We need to get moving!” You shook your head with worry. “I've...I've never. Kill...Destroyed anything before in my life. I'm not. I dunno if I can” He grumbled and walked over to you. “Just kill them already! Don't you get how magic works? Their souls will just be used to grant the rest of the world magic, like this gate thing! Every time you use magic you use them anyway! They're just a bunch of annoying lizards!” You hesitated and looked to them again. “I don't have a way to fire at them.” You muttered. Ripto looked around trying to find you something, he frowned down at his own staff and then handed it to you. “Here!” You tentatively took it and rolled it in your hands. You had said that you'd do this for Ripto if it was necessary. You had meant it more of a defense thing than to collect tokens for a fairy wand. “Oh for! Can't you do anything without help!?” He stepped up beside you and forced you through the portal. He aimed your hands towards one of the lizards and you could feel his magic focus itself through the scepter and out as a fire ball. “Ah! Sorry!” You cried out. “There! Easy right?” He stepped back and observed you, waiting for you to continue. When you hesitated he gestured with his hands, waving you on. You sadly looked to where the lizard had been then back at the staff. This felt awful. “Look!” Ripto growled. “You're no more safer than they are! If they were in your position, they'd do the same to you!” You gripped the staff tightly. “That doesn't make it right though...” But perhaps you were wrong. Was it alright to do this? Your time expired and the gnorc at this game called you over. “Oh! Well too bad! Looks like you ran out of time. If you'd like you can... uh.” The gnorc noticed the sad look on your face. He clued in what was going on. “You can try again if you want uh to...Hey you know what? I'll give you points for trying kid! E for effort, howzabout that? Here's your tokens!” He handed the tokens over to you and Ripto scowled. “Sure give them the tokens and make me work for them.” As you prepared your tokens for Gnelson, Ripto glowered at you. “You're really hopeless you know that!?” You felt guilty for earning the tickets for nothing. Ripto turned to confront you. “Have you really never destroyed anything? Ever?” You had though back to bugs you had squished either on purpose or accident. If you could avoid it you did but bugs get everywhere you know? “No, I haven't.” He fixed you with a strange look. “You're a heck of a lot better than dragons at least...” “Ah-” He waved at the air as if brushing off some thought. “Lets get the wand.” He neared Gnelson and held up the tokens. “Here. We got your rotten tokens. Now, can we PLEASE get the wand?” Gnelson eyed the tokens in Ripto's hand. “Oh, didn't I mention? I hid the wand in the theatre! I put it there for safe keeping. The tokens weren't for me! They were meant for you to gain entry to the Dragons Shores theatre!” Ripto clenched his claws around the tokens. “Th-The THEATER?! Wild goose chase!” He grit his teeth and stormed off to the theatre, resting in the middle of the park. “Oh right! Hunter mentioned the theatre. 'One of a kind,' It seemed interesting.” “Whats so special about it?” “It can show you past memories, things you've done or experienced. Victories and things.” Ripto was watching you as he listened. He smiled wickedly. “Hah...I'd love to see the look on those fools faces again. When I arrived and they realized how doomed they were. Maybe this wasn't such a waste of time.” Another gnorc granted you access to the theatre. Inside there were seats. You looked around and saw the wand resting on the very ledge of what appeared to be the movie screen. Ripto snatched it up and tossed it in the air a couple f times, smiling at his prize. He looked then over to you. “Here!” He tossed it to you and you grabbed it. “Don't lose it either!” You nodded, keeping a tight grip on it. The energy emanating from the wand felt soft and powerful. Now you could save Gulp and Crush. It gave you a sense of relief. You had something now at least. Some hope to help. “How do we use this thing?” Ripto was poking and inspecting the screen. He attempted to use his sceptre to start the screen. Nothing seemed to work. You sat down in the front row of seats and waited for him to figure it out. When you did, the screen flashed on and a menu of sorts appeared on the screen. It has sentences. Vague memories popped up as you remembered the instances you had heard them. “Those are my memories!” Ripto looked at the selection on the screen then to the seats. He plopped down beside you and the screen shifted. Instead of having the selection on the screen, smaller menus began floating in front of you. You glanced over at Ripto's menu and saw a few unsavoury things written there. They disappeared upward as Ripto scrolled through the selection. “Ah!” He wiggled his fingers before touching the sentence. The world was gone as you saw from a third person point of view Ripto's previous experience. You saw Elora, Hunter and the Professor stand agape as Ripto crash landed into Avalar. “Hrmm...No Dragons! Wonderful...” The three panicked and scattered the orbs around the world with the help of fairies. Ripto was carried away by one as he attempted to cling to the orb it was carrying. You watched as he landed back down painfully. Gulp, Crush and Ripto took in the scenery. “No matter. This should be easy enough. This world feels unbalanced. There are no dragons here! It's perfect!” The scene faded and the theatre melted back into view. Ripto cackled and scanned through the other memories. He avoided the earlier ones, you noted. “Ah, this one was good!” He selected another and you watched again as he approached the group, having just blasted them with his spell. This time, Spyro was there. “What?! A Dragon!? You brought a dragon to Avalar?!” You looked on as he prepared his staff. “I HATE dragons!” You watched the memory as Gulp accidentally consumed his sceptre. “I'll deal with you later!” The memory faded and Ripto looked flustered. “I can't believe that oaf! When we get him back I'm giving him a piece of my mind.” He banged his fist down onto the menu. It sparked and a few several memories were selected. “What? No! NO!” You sat helpless as a series of memories played out. A young Ripto, being bullied, no, harassed by his peers. Dragons. They mocked him for his stature and excluded him from everything. “Wingless!” “Shorty!” “What a loser...” He was left all alone. He had nobody. You saw Ripto studying magic. Multiple spellbooks were open on his table as he sat by candle light, reading them well into the night. Years of abuse and neglect passed by and you watched as Ripto became more closeted and bitter. Then, one day, Ripto fought back against those harassing him and used the magic he had learned. It was powerful, but lacked control. The blast just barely missed his target, a rather burly looking dragon. His attempt backfired and was rewarded with the dragon beating him. He socked him in the face and clawed him. Two gouges were left on the left side of his lip. The memory faded into another and you saw some familiar faces. Gulp and Crush working for another gnorc. Taller and gnastier than the gnorcs here on the beach. Ripto employed them, taking them to his tower. A beautiful tall tower with elegant sculptures and ornate but not ostentatious pillars. Classical paintings stretched along the walls, similar to ones you had seen but instead of humans, there were riptocs. It was decorated with purples, golds and whites and there were curly 'R's engraved into the pillars and embroidered onto lush red and purple carpets. It was really lovely. Here in the tower, he formed some camaraderie with Gulp and Crush. It was peaceful for him for once. That was good to know. He still seemed bitter and sullen though. They then faded to a memory you had just seen, his arrival to Avalar. You witnessed his loss of Crush and Gulp. Despite hoping that you would have avoided seeing it, you watched as Gulp was destroyed by Spyro, but not before putting up one hell of a fight. 

All the while you noted, he had done nothing terribly evil or cruel. Nothing the other inhabitants of Avalar weren't doing themselves. Then surprisingly, the memories went to you. Memories flashed up, you showing your concern to him. Popping up when he thought he was alone, sealed away. You making sure he would stay safe or try to avoid the fight. Falling on you after losing Gulp and then you sitting in the boats in the tunnel ride. “This is nice..” “What? Oh. Sure...” So he had been watching you a while. He seemed at one point to want to get your attention, he hesitantly raised his hand to tap your shoulder but stopped when you turned and tried to hold his hand. Soon the memories faded and the two of you were left in the theatre. Ripto shot out of his seat and glared at you. “Not! A WORD of what you saw!” He jabbed his pointed finger in your face as you looked at him worriedly. “I'd forgotten all about...GRAH!” He was struggling with himself. He huffed and looked to you with a scowl. “WELL?! Let's go! We have what we came here for!” He started stomping his way out of the theatre. “Ripto...” You stood and followed after him He either didn't hear you or was ignoring you. “Ripto!” You shouted. He turned on his heel to stare daggers at you. “Not a WORD!” You neared him and reached your hand out to touch the scars the marked the old wound on his lip. You cupped his cheek and ran your finger over the scars. He flinched at your touch and anger started to well up on his face. “I'm so sorry...I really wish that....I wish things had been better for you.” A kind of sorrowful look snuck its way in and he glanced up at you. His chest was heaving as though he were having a hard time breathing. His sad eyes lighted upon yours. “ Everything that has happened to you. It's not fair. You poor thing...” Anger returned and he shoved your hand away. “I don't need you to pity me!” He whirled around to leave but you grabbed onto his cape. “I don't pity you! I know you're powerful. I know you're capable! I care about you! Jeez Ripto I wish you'd just-!” You rubbed at your eyes in frustration. He stood watching you with a cautious look. “ I wish you'd let me in..” you mumbled, tired. “What?” “Never mind.” you sighed. The two of you stood in silence there in the dark theatre. He looked less angry now, calculating what you had said. Straitening up he composed himself. “We need to go. I need those two back and that dragon is still out there. I want him out of my kingdom.” Nodding, you gently placed your hand on his shoulder. “Alright. Let's go get your friends back.” He harrumphed as he looked at your hand, half shrugging it off. The two of you walked out into the bright, blinding sun and made your way to the portal. “Wait.” You went ahead of Ripto. “Let me go ahead and check to see if the coast is clear.” “Fine.” He stood tapping his foot impatiently as you scooted through the portal. Everything was fine and so you returned to retrieve him. He led you to the platforms at the top of the ridiculous stairs leading to the Winter Tundra castle. You could barely make the step, having to use your hand to reach out to the next one ahead of you. These platforms would take you directly to the parallel ones near the dungeons in the other home worlds. You entered Summer Forest first, to Crush. The two of you stood at the hole leading down to the dungeon. The sheep bouncing back near Aquaria Towers fled from your being there. Ripto held his sceptre aloft and seemed to be focusing on something. “There. I found his save spot. He's still in there, stuck.” Ripto let a flash of light loose from his staff and it hit the open hole. “When you fall down there, you should be taken directly to Crush. Don't mess this up! Make sure you hit him just before Spyro kills him. That way he'll wake up there again and you can bring him out.” You nodded and turned to the hole, preparing yourself for the task mentally. You were frightened but you felt you could do this. You thought of Crush and him being alive and well instead of... well... You took a step towards the hole. “____!” You stopped. Surprised to hear Ripto call your name. You turned to him and his face softened just a bit. “You had better not get hurt in there, or I'll come down and finish the job myself!” Aww, he cared. Turning once more to the pit, you took a steadying breath and holding Ripto's words in your heart as a promise to return, you descended into the dungeon. It was time to save Crush...

Befriend Me

I don’t own anyone or anything except the concept of the story and the mentioned pianist in-story. Isshinta Asakura, better known as (cough cough cough) Uzumaki Shinta (cough cough cough), Gekkō Miyako, and Gekkō Keisuke belong to @langwrites​.

Written as a whim and a passing muse, because a certain redhead deserves a companion in the afterlife. Also this serves as an unofficial drabble/side-story to The Sea and Stars, since asks for this original ask game stopped after a while and I just got the idea and went with it.

The theme this time is the piano version of Home from RWBY. Because it’s Lang’s favorite song from the Volume 4 Soundtrack and I found it fitting. :)

“So you’re the guy who’s been stealing my act!”

Shinta tried not to jolt from his seat up in the clouds, looking up from his window into the real world to meet bright green eyes. “Um,” he started politely, “your act?”

The apparent blue-haired man blinked, appearing to have not expected the confused reply. “I mean, there’s only so many windows up here. I thought I was the only guy who flew down to haunt the place every now and then.” He stood back up to rub the back of his spiky head, laughing. “But I guess that was an awkward way to start a conversation now, huh?”

“I don’t believe it was even a conversation,” Shinta said as politely as he could, doing his best to avoid a stammer. Even after so many years of adjusting to life after death, he still wanted to curse his mind for thinking like the 15-year old boy who couldn’t even muster the strength to aid Tomoe-chan in the end. Tomoe-chan… No… she was Miyako now.

He glanced back at the window one more time from habit before making eye contact. “Asakura—no,” he shook his head, adjusting his long red ponytail. That clan was no more. To—Miyako made sure of that. “Uzumaki Shinta,” he amended instead, shrugging his shoulders. “Could I get your name?”

The blue-haired man was staring straight at him again, before beaming. “Johan! Johan Anderson. Johan is just fine.” He offered a hand towards Shinta, and Shinta stared at it for a moment before taking it and shaking as firmly as he could without rustling his sitting space in the clouds. “So, fellow ghost, Shinta?”

Shinta wondered how Johan was still grinning, even with the large slash mark hidden behind the slightly rusted Leaf hitai-ite tied around his neck. A ninja. The slash said more than enough at a possible story, but Shinta held his tongue out of habit. The dead didn’t ask one another about the methods on how they passed from the real world out of common courtesy. “Ghost,” he agreed mildly. “Do you visit loved ones too?”

Johan’s smile turned a bit more wistful as he let go of the handshake. “All the time.” He proceeded to plop himself down on Shinta’s cloud to sit next to him, glancing down at the same window all the while. “The way I died… well,” Johan laughed, a bit bitter. “It wasn’t great. I hurt my best friend.” He wasn’t looking up at Shinta now, his green eyes dark while still focused on the window. “I protected him, but I didn’t even know of his feelings until now. So, I watch over him to make up for it.” He laughed again. “Silly, huh?”

Shinta shook his head immediately. He knew the feeling of leaving someone behind with regrets, even if his experiences with Miyako were different. “No,” he said quietly. “Not at all. I feel the same.” He turned back to the window, making out some forest foliage before turning his head back to face Johan again. “Do you want me to move the window to where your friend is? Or open it so you can fly down and visit directly?”

“Really?” Johan chuckled, mirth in his voice again. That was better. “Thanks for the offer. Sure, move the window. Or, give me a sec,” he reached over past Shinta’s haori to wipe at one of the window panes that served as the main map for the window to follow, “I got this.”

The glass instantly clouded over with Johan’s action, and Shinta watched out of curiosity and interest as the forest changed to that of the inside of a dojo. Besides him, Johan grinned. “Here we go…”

The image beyond the panes blurred a bit more before voices could finally come through.

“Strike-one! Strike-two! Block!”

Shinta froze almost immediately. That was Miyako’s voice.

“Hah, hah!”

“Tomoko-chan, you are faltering again! More force in that swing! Strike again!”

“Y-Yes, Miyako-shishō! Hah!”

“Block again!”

“Hah!”

Shinta blinked at Johan just as the other man turned to him, apparently having noticed his shock. “I’m guessing one of your loved ones is down there?” Johan pointed at the window, grinning sheepishly. “I mean, I forgot to mention that I watch over my niece there too, so I guess we’re even in that case!”

“Niece…” Shinta echoed in disbelief, turning his eyes back to the window from a lack of any words.

It had been years, but the spark of light that was originally in Uesugi Tomoe’s eyes was still present in Gekkō Miyako’s, just brighter now. Her smile too, was softer. “You are improving, Tomoko-chan.”

The girl standing across from Miyako was sweaty, panting in her training gi and clenching her shinai, but she was giggling. “Th-Thank you, Miyako-shishō.”

Miyako chuckled in return, a warmth in the sound that Shinta could barely connect to the Tomoe he was originally engaged with. “Tomoko-chan, again, you do not have to call me ‘shishō.’ ‘Miyako-bachan’ is more than sufficient.”

“I mean, Tomo,” Another person spoke up, and Shinta nearly threw his neck out to stare at the other child walking into the dojo area with Miyako’s likeness, grinning. Miyako’s daughter. “Keisuke” was the name. Shinta still questioned the reasoning behind that one. The eyes were enough proof of the blood relation, but the hair… “It’s still Mom. You don’t have to be so stiff.”

Tomoko’s blue eyes widened to an almost comical degree as her kenjutsu stance laxed. “But, but, Kei, it’s a respect thing…” she squirmed, trying to straighten herself while turning back to Miyako. “I-I mean, you teach me a lot of things, Miyako-shi— bachan!” She flailed in time to Johan’s quiet laughter. “From tea ceremonies to meditation to swords! Shishō just…” A bright pink colored the girl’s face. “It just seems fitting.”

Kei laughed in time with Miyako’s warm chuckle.

“D-Don’t laugh, I’m being serious…” Tomoko clutched her shinai with puffed cheeks. “Mugu.”

“Aren’t the kids adorable?” Johan cooed, and Shinta, even through the confusion, vaguely realized that he was still there, glancing at him. The sparkles bouncing off of him this time were hard to miss. “Tomoko-chan’s still shy but so cute! I still can’t believe how lucky Judai got!”

The names gently bounced off of Shinta’s head before the words sank in. “Tomoko…is your niece?”

Johan noticed his confusion again, with no time in-between sitting silence and replying. “Kinda.” The grin on his face this time was proud. “She’s the daughter of my best friend, and she calls me ‘Uncle,’ so she’s my niece!”

That was quite a thought to sit on. The daughter of Johan’s best friend was also the apparent niece of Miyako. Who shared the same character of “Tomo” in name as Miyako’s original identity. “…Uncle,” Shinta repeated, blinking.

“Uncle!” Johan put his hands in the clouds behind him while glancing up towards the sky, avoiding looking into the sun. “She’s a sweetheart, really.” His shoulders slumped. “She’s done a lot more than me, and she still tries to visit me when she’s not busy. Makes me wonder where she got it all from, the sweet.”

“I can certainly believe that,” Shinta said mildly, glancing back to the window in time to see Kei hand Tomoko a water bottle. “Considering Tomoe—Miyako-chan’s face down there.”

It was about time for Johan to stop his train of thought too. The blue-haired man turned on him so fast to the point of Shinta questioning if he’d get whiplash from his spiky hair flying around. “Miyako? You know Miyako, Shinta?”

From old memories, or perhaps habit, Shinta flushed, tugging on his ponytail. “We…we were once betrothed. Before she came to be ‘Miyako.’”

Johan’s expression changed to that of compassionate realization. “Oh,” he said, before turning back to the window. “I guess it’s a small world, huh?” He laughed again. Shinta didn’t know if it was sad or happy or both. He could at least take some relief in how Johan didn’t ask any more questions. “The daughter of my best friend Judai is friends with the daughter of your previous fiancé. What a world.”

Shinta mustered a smile back. “What a small world indeed,” he concluded solemnly.

Without thinking, he glanced back down at the window again. Tomoko had put away her shinai via leaning it against a wall in favor of chasing after Kei, who was laughing, probably from some kind of teasing joke, but Miyako—

Miyako was looking up towards their window.

Shinta lurched back from shock. Did she notice?

Those same black eyes were continuing to stare, an amused smile on her face before she lowered her head, shaking it. “No, it must be something else,” she picked up her shinai absently before shouting. “Girls! Back to training! We still have an hour before lunchtime!”

Kei threw her head back in time for Tomoko to collide into her from behind. “Ow, Tomo,” she sighed. “Darn.”

“Aaaaaah, I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay. Don’t get your heart rate up about it.” Kei proceeded to reach out towards her friend’s hair to ruffle it.

“Surprised, huh?” Shinta glanced at Johan as soon as Johan rocked forward to rest his hands on his knees. “The living do notice us. Like that.”

That was new. There was never a moment in the times before, when Shinta looked through the window, that that happened. “All the time?”

“Sometimes.” Johan rolled his shoulders forward in a shrug, still resting his hands on his knees. From Shinta’s point of view, he looked like a curled up blue owl. “Judai nearly did when that little girl was born. I wasn’t expecting Tomoko-chan to reach out to me like that anyways,” he laughed loudly. “I know it sounds weird as all hell, but it’s nice, being noticed.”

Shinta glanced back down at the window again. Miyako had gone back to her instructing, and Kei—

Kei was the one staring this time. Shinta could only find himself gaping as she grinned and gave him a small thumbs-up before turning back. “Tomo, you’re slouching again!”

“E-Eh?! Where!”

The smile was already blooming on his face. That was the first time someone noticed him, and it was Miyako’s daughter. Of course. This was the same feeling Johan must’ve had.

“I get it,” Shinta said quietly. “I get it.”

Johan turned his head to beam in his direction, green eyes bright like before. “Hey,” he leaned in with that same grin. “Wanna exchange stories?”

Shinta smiled. A friend. It was a nice thought. After death, Shinta never thought of entertaining that kind of relationship again. Now was a better time than any. “Alright. Who should start first?”