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sweet-as-an-angel · 11 months

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Miguel and Hobie Fighting for Your Love

Summary: Both men knew they were wildly in love with you. But, as you remain oblivious to their feelings, their conflict strengthens. A war is brewing.

“I won’t let you have her.” Miguel’s eyes gleamed between the velvet sheets of artificial night, the dim glow of the control panel at his back, casting a shroud over his front. Hobie stood before him, gripping his guitar by the neck, resting it over the back of his shoulders. His other hand sat in his pocket, creating the illusion of comfort. Yet, beneath his lax exterior, Miguel could hear his heart pounding. Racing. Hobie drew a breath, looked off to the side.

“I don’t think that’s your decision to make, Big Man.” Eyes half-lidded, he returned to Miguel, dragging his stare. Lethargy. Gave a thin smile. “Though, I suppose that if you knew that – really believed it – you’d know that you don’t stand a chance–”

Miguel’s fists clenched, the sound of his suit squealing beneath his grip causing Hobie’s gaze to flicker. He swallowed, shallow. He knew what Miguel was capable of – had seen how many lives he’d gladly put at risk for you. And he’d do it again if it weren’t for the fact that your friendship to both him and Hobie was what kept them locked in a stalemate; a spectral triangle; Bermuda. An anomaly in itself.

Of course, you had no clue that you’d captured the hearts of the two superheroes. The problem was that they did. Their softened attitude towards you, their care for the most banal of features of your life, their seemingly bottomless investment in your close circle of friends and beyond could have been construed as platonic concern. Friendship of the highest degree.

Once they realised that, individually, they were not alone in the pursuit of your heart, a competition was born. Miguel, ever the organised, careful individual he was, orchestrated your time together, manufactured it, monitored it – poured over it with a fine-toothed comb. Many a night had he spent awake wondering what your accidental brushing of hands had meant, whether the warmth that had flushed your cheeks was the result of his presence or the joke he’d just cracked, your laughter Calliopic. Persephonic.

He savoured every hug you shared, no matter how brief, sewing the patchwork memories into the fabric of his heart, the fragrance soaking into his bones. Your phantom warmth wrapped around him tightly, a second suit, whenever he needed it – needed you. He’d find ways of encouraging physical contact whenever he could, his heart throbbing at the feeling of your face pressed into his chest, your arms around his back as he embraced you.

He wondered what your kisses tasted like. Whether you thought of him when you used that chapstick he bought you, ice cream cake – the aroma of celebration. Because, to him, any moment with you was a celebration.

Miguel would offer to take you home after work. Though, not via ordinary means of travel.

He’d permit you to hop onto his back and slide your arms around his neck, taking you on a spin through the city, bringing you to the highest peaks, the pinnacles of human beauty through neon illuminations making the city sparkle like a sea of jewels. He’d feel his heart stutter as you shifted to get a closer look, your chin almost resting on his shoulder, cheeks just touching as you gasped, took in the scenery. In times like these, he was glad of the mask, of his ability to hide the effect you had on him, how you played his emotions like a string instrument.

“I’ve never seen the city like this before,” you told him, voice gentle at his ear, almost carried away by the wind. Miguel heard you. He strained his every spider sense to do so, no matter the conditions.

“Hobie hasn’t done this with you?” He tried not to let the hope in his tone show. You shrugged.

“He’s more of a stargazing kind of guy. Though, I’ll let you in on a secret,” your voice tailed off. Miguel leaned in. You whispered. “I think he just doesn’t want to go pivoting off buildings after a long day of already having done so.”

Miguel felt an idea spark in his brain. The start of a new ritual, routine, for just you and him. This would be for him what stargazing was to hobie – he’d bring you closer to the stars than Hobie ever could!

Whenever he’d return you home, whisking you through the midnight air, he’d place you at your door, imply what a good time he’d had. And, as always, you thanked him, eyes crinkling before parting with a hug.

Miguel would wait until you’d enter your apartment and locked the door behind you before leaving, and even then, he’d find himself perched atop a nearby building, waiting for something, anything to happen – for any opportunity wherein he could prove to you he was a hero. In times like these, he wished with a selfish heart that you lived in a more decrepit part of the city.

He realised how much he loved you – adored you – when you fell asleep in his arms after work one evening. He’d been carrying you to your room when you just nodded off. In his grasp, you were tiny, fragile. Weak. The responsibility of protection, the fierce need to watch over you, to possess you entirely, overcame him, overwhelmed every sensibility he’d cultivated throughout his life.

And so, he watched you. Eneamoured himself with your sleeping features, the trust you displayed to have fallen asleep on him. In his mind, this becomes a core memory. One which he turns into a joke between the two of you, his own fragment of sanctity – the beginnings of close friendship – one he’d use to build a statue like Hobie’s. A statue of you.

Hobie’s eyes narrowed. His nose wrinkled as his lips turned up in a half-sneer.

“You think the odd hug and a second of eye contact constitute as…what? A chance?” He scoffed. “A signifier that she feels for you more than she feels for the common man?” Incredulity danced in hobie’s eyes. Seethed from between his lips. The corner of his lips pulled back, revealed a smirk.

“Get over yourself, Mate. If she were interested, you’d know it by now.”

Of course, Hobie had his own collection of memories regarding you, his own wardrobe of moments sewn together with the thread of mirth to wear and fashion whenever and however he so pleased. He would wear it out to parties, on the town, to the Spidey-Station (as he referred to it with you). Show Miguel that his bare-threaded ribbon was nothing compared to his tapestry.

You and Hobie would wander the city when it was late and dark and quiet, talking about anything and everything that crossed your minds, more often than not leading the two of you to howl with laughter, leaning against each other as tears flooded from your eyes. The story, regardless of how funny it had been, held no weight compared to the joy that sparked in Hobie’s chest whenever you touched, whenever you simply existed with him. Fireworks.

You got him in ways nobody else truly could.

Many times had he come to visit you, only to lay his head in your lap and tell you what was bothering him. Sometimes it was trivial, others it was not. And every time, you’d sit and listen, playing with his hair and the badges on his jacket. And, of course, Hobie did the same for you.

One evening, you’d come banging on Hobie’s door, voice distraught as you called for him. He practically tore the door off its hinges when he heard how distressed you were, and, when he saw you, his heart tore. Your face was tear-streaked and your posture gave the impression of anguish, immortal and unrelenting.

“Hobie,” you cried. “Am–” your sniffing diced your words like meat in a kitchen. “Am I pretty?!”

Hobie blinked, unsure if he’d heard the question. And when he didn’t respond, you wailed.

Hobie knew what this was, for you’d spoken about it at length many times before. Insecurity was a powerful tool, especially when fuelled with sleep-deprivation and alcohol, one which Hobie wished he could destroy. But, while he couldn’t do that yet, he reached for you and took you in his arms. And as you cried into his shoulder, he told you how beautiful you were, how surprised he was that he was able to get a look in with you at all with how many men were chasing after you. And when you tried to say that no such thing had ever happened, he pulled back, gave you a smile, the visage of mischief.

“That’s ‘cause I scared ‘em all away!”

Your veneer cracked, and a laugh sprung from the concrete, the beginnings of life in an apocalypse. What Hobie wanted to say, though, what he nearly said, was everything he felt for you – how no word in the human vernacular could ever even begin to comprehend or compare how ethereal you were to him, how widely his love for you encompassed his very being, everything he said, did and wanted dictated entirely by the thought of you.

He opened his mouth, holding you close again. He could say it all now, while you were drunk – pretend it never happened if the exchange turned sour. But he knew he couldn’t live with your rejection, even if you’d have no memory of it.

He closed his mouth, swallowed the confession that teetered on his tongue like a pill. Consumed his contemplation, obscuring his feelings from you for just a little longer. While he couldn’t say it – not yet – he pulled you closer still, chest-to-chest, one hand at the back of your head and the other wrapped around your waist. A lover’s lock. And he held you. Tightly.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in every universe, (Y/N). I should know.” he murmured. He felt you nestle into him. You’d heard him. He sighed. “I just wished you could see it, too.”

Both men viewed the other as possessing some unattainable advantage, the beginnings of a fabled proverb blatant in their desire to attain what they thought the other had. What they were both striving for.

You.

For Hobie, the very thing he had prided himself on was his self-believed downfall. Friendship. The two of you had been friends for years, basked in a platonic limelight. Initially, Hobie hadn't needed to worry about how you viewed him, but as he fell deeper and deeper in love with you the longer he knew you, the fact that you’d maintained such a close friendship with him without once giving the indication of romanticism frightened him.

Miguel had only waltzed into your life a few months ago. You didn’t have to see him in a platonic light, didn’t have to bear witness to his deepest faults or his subtlest of quirks. Quite simply, you didn’t know enough about him for his mystique to be shattered.

On the contrary, Miguel saw how close you and Hobie were, how, without saying a word, the two of you knew what the other was thinking. He found your incessant asking of “Do you think Hobie would like this?” when visiting a store to be intimidating. He wondered if you asked the same when you went out with Hobie. If he was the subject of your concern as your best friend often was.

Whereas Hobie knew your every thought and desire, Miguel knew he clutched at straws by comparison, drinking in every detail you afforded him, taking nothing for granted. He’d bring you gifts, stories, regalements from his time out in the field, and his chest would swell whenever you watched him with wide eyes. He hoped, with every fibre of his being, that your astonishment was confined to him and him alone. He prayed that your years of friendship to Hobie was enough to dull any excitement you may feel when he told you similar tales.

This war was simply beginning, no two ways about it. And as they surveyed each other, Hobie and Miguel, weighing up the other’s pull on you, their minds conjoined to speak once and for the last time.

“May the best man win.”

Reblog for more content like this! It helps creators like myself tremendously and it is greatly appreciated :-)

Masterlist Masterpost

Yandere Masterlist Juicy Original Content <3

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ghouljams · 10 months

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Ghost and Goose are autism4adhd and I think that’s beautiful. I don’t need to explain myself on this. I’m just gonna write out some small moments of them caring for each other's needs, plus Ghost being Murphy’s least favorite customer.

You hold out a pair of earplugs for Simon as he walks past you, feeling his fingers close over them quickly. He twists them into his ears as he goes to help Soap set up the arsenal of fireworks he bought. When he comes back to you he settles a hand on your lower back, appreciative. He doesn’t have to say anything.

You snap at Gaz when he tries to ask you about horse tack and Simon looks at you like his ears are burning. He makes a soft motion with his hands, waving them back and forth. You shake out your whole body to try and get yourself back to equilibrium. When that doesn’t work he comes over and roughs up your hair until you’re laughing and pushing at his hands.

You and Soap have been chattering in overlapping voices about almost nothing for the last hour. Simon’s leg bounces rapidly as he sits next to you trying to focus on the game. He stands and leaves without a word, you smack a hand over Soap’s mouth when he tries to call him out on it.

Simon grabs Soap by the back of the neck and hauls him out of the kitchen before you even notice he’s there. Your brain laser focused on the budget sheets laid out across the table.

“You’re a cruel man starvin’ me like this,” Soap complains.

“You just had lunch,” Simon tells him shortly, “Let Goose work.”

You hand Simon your monthly list and make sure he knows your prices are non-negotiable. Murphy swears as soon as he cozies up to the counter. Simon sets the list down, slides it towards the old man with his fingers.

“What do you want first?” Murphy eyes him, eyes the list.

“Corn feed.”

“50 a bag.”

“15.” Simon tells him smoothly, Murphy sputters.

“15? 15!? You’re out of your spectral mind if you think I’m going as low as-”

“15.” Simon repeats.

“Now 40! I could maybe do 40,” Murphy tries, “40 would be reasonable!” Simon stares at him.

“15.” He says firmly.

“If you were asking for 25 I would consider us friends! 15! You’re trying to put me out of business!” Murphy presses his hand to his heart, “Have you no sympathy? I’m an old man, just trying to make an honest living before I pass on.”

“I’d put you in your late 60s, hardly old,” Simon tells him, “15.”

“If you think-”

“15.”

“If Goose thinks!”

“It’s 15.”

“Alright it’s 15,” Murphy sighs, jotting down the fair price on his notepad. “You know you really take the fun out of this.”

“I get that a lot.”

#cowboy!Ghost #oc: Goose #oc: Murphy #Cowboy!Soap #I love them your honor #I've been back and forth on posting this #I know people have their own head canons on the COD boys #but I think Ghost is autistic #I'm not gonna fight anyone on it but I'm right #he gets overstimulated and he just leaves the room #goes and smokes or just sits in the barn with the horses #until Goose comes to find him

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yuurei20 · 4 months

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Trey Info Compilation part 27: Thoughtfulness and More

Trey seems to be well known for being considerate: Cater says that Trey is always spoiling new students and Azul comments that Trey has an effortless consideration of others.

We see him asking Sebek about himself, expressing concern for Lilia and being worried about Riddle being too cold at night when he himself is sick (“Even now, you worry about me? Really, Trey, you ought to think about yourself for once”).

He also asks Jamil and Najma about themselves and says the group ought to tell Lilia how much thought Malleus put into his souvenir.

When Jamil is reluctant to accept an honor that is offered to him at the end of the event, Trey encourages him to make his sister happy.

During Spectral Soiree Trey intentionally sends Sebek after a non-existent ghost in order to distract him from Rook, saying, “I just figured you wouldn’t want people prying into your private life. I’ve noticed you tend to steer clear of that kind of stuff when- we talk at club meetings. But I’m sorry if I read too much into it and overstepped.” Rook thanks him for maintaining “such a pleasant distance,” saying he is forever grateful for Trey’s discretion.

Trey compliments Azul on his glasses, saying that they look great on him and give off a mature vibe, and encourages Riddle not to work too hard, to which Riddle responds, “Trey always was a worrier.”

When Trey sends chocolate cake and apple pie to Ramshackle with Ace and Deuce for Book 5 Vil comments that Trey is “the type of man one must truly watch himself around—the kind who spoils people rotten under the guise of knowing what’s best.”

Vil’s opinion on Trey’s thoughtfulness comes up again during Culinary Crucible when Trey assures him that he has cut down on the fat and sugar content of his dish, saying, “You addressed my concern before I could even finish voicing it. You’re too considerate by half. It’s almost galling.” Trey says he will take it as a compliment.

When Ruggie wanders out of his own vignette and into Trey’s in search of food (after Kalim had botched the meal he was supposed to judge), Trey offers him a second pizza that he made.

Vil observes, “Trey, you really do spoil people rotten. It’s a bad habit of yours, the way you try to stay on top of every eventuality.” Vil asks if Trey also bails out Heartslabyul students when they botch their cooking and Trey admits that he does find himself covering for them a lot.

Vil explains, “It’s all well and good to look out for underclassmen, but you can’t baby them. That can rob them of potential learning experiences. There’s a balance to be struck.”

Trey relates a time when his parents once let him burn a batch of cookies, only looking on as he worked without interfering. Trey thanks Vil for his insight and says he will put it into practice.

Trey is Ruggie’s judge for the Culinary Crucible, complimentary towards Ruggie’s culinary efforts and is able to read the room effectively enough to refuse the leftovers that the chef ghost offers him afterwards ("I'd rather not get on Ruggie's bad side").

It is possible that Trey doesn’t really experience as much thoughtfulness as he practices: when he tries to explain the science behind fireworks to the Firelit Sky group, they ignore him in favor of playing with sparklers.

Trey says he likes hats and the hat he wears with his dorm uniform was made to match it.

Like Jamil, Trey might wish he had more alone time: when Jamil wishes “to take a trip by myself” during Wish Upon a Star Trey says that he can empathize, as “Alone time’s hard to come by when you’re at school…sometimes you want a little peace and quiet.”

When Jamil asks if he feels the same way sometimes Trey laughs and says, “Maybe.”

Trey says that, unlike Cater, he can go days without picking up his phone, and he prefers to wear casual clothes with muted colors.

#twsttrey #twstfacts #treyfacts #twisted wonderland #Trey Clover

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local-angst-satan-diinosour11 · 2 months

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ask and you shall receive! @spiderwebd and whoever else takes intrest in this au!

Starting off explaining what I have so far for the Insane Subspace au we have the start of it all: Rusted Boombox!

“Oh so YOUR the one Medkit finds soooo annoying huh? Typical of you playgrounds really, in that case I’m sure Meddy won’t mind if I take you off his plate and ears :)”

Subspace had targeted and cornered Boombox somewhere while enlisting the help of Hyperlaser to wound him, he also decided that this annoying little brat whould be his test subject of choice for a thing he cooked up with the help of the power of his crystals: rust that eats away at the demon as if they were metal (it does stop after a bit, it’s made to make SURE the target stays down if they manage to live)

after that was said and done the two left with Subspace cackling like the maniac he is, taking out one of the two most annoying phighters was just one step of his plan. Feeling cockier then ever and more confident that the world will bend and break to Blackrock. Hyperlaser, however, felt a small bad feeling about Subspace. He brushes it off as just being the usual Blackrock feelings though

back to Boombox, he laid motionless against the wall. The rust had stopped by now, leaving lasting damage to the gear and the demon that fell victim to the organic material destroying rust. Seemingly dead by then from the injuries

…. However. Despite better judgment, and judgement of his fellow deities, a certain ghost looked around to see if the coast is clear. Walking over to the playground phighter and kneeling down as if to check out the damages.

“hm…. I hope you know, I usually place myself as neutral no matter the demon or faction…” he gave a sigh despite having seemingly no way to “however, I can sense something brewing deep down and your team will be needing your help. Your death will only bring Crossroads to its knees, and the others- or at least I- will not allow this to go on.”

he stood back up

“I don’t usually do this, never found the reason to myself, but each of you have a role to play… and you are the catalyst to doing so.”

The deity raised up his broken spectral sword

“May you use it well, it will keep you alive if you ever were to succumb to your grave wounds agian before you get help or help find you. Mabey you can find some extra use for it who knows. Just keep in mind your the only one I’m doing this for.”

The ghostly deity brings the sword down into the ground in front of the fallen demon and then disappears with the sword, leaving small flecks of white lingering in the air…

…. A single twitch.. then another, until the phighter awoke with a huge gasp of air and a flicker of a large white X going into all corners of his visor before it flickers back off again- well- or at least he thinks he’s awake. He’s not sure as something was clouding his visor, making everything almost a dark orangish brown void. “S..SLING?… SKATE?… A-ANYONE?…” … not an answer. That’s… that’s ok, he could find them soon, right? That or they find him, where ever he is.

He tries to push himself up, having almost little success. Pain shot through him, causing him to give a yelp and almost collapse back onto the ground again. Limping it is he guesses!.. “H..hah, n-nothing.. I-i can’t handle..”

He picks up his boombox with a little bit of a struggle, at least all of them came with the instinct to use the gear thier given! He dosnt need to see his boombox to know how to use it, that he’s thankful for… although it feels… wrong. Almost uncomfortable to hold, some kind of scratchy metal-like surface covered the boombox in various degrees.

He just has to hope it still works.

—————————————————————————

If your wondering how he gets around, Rusty Boombox ends up using music to get a hold of his surroundings, basically letting the beat guide him in a very literal way

The boombox… not AS powerful as it once was (and bearly even plays a song properly sometimes) But it still works, and hits HARD

If I was going slightly off of Canon Compliance for skins (which I doubt have any lore except for ones like Biograft) I whould say the boom box could cause a area attack similar to Pulse wave attack but it goes all the way around him (and also has spikes added onto the visual), like a sour note

Also one of Rusty’s horns had snapped off from the rust on him! Which is… fun.

#phighting #phighting!#phighting roblox #Rusted Boombox #Insane Subspace au #angst crimes #phighting boombox #Everyone is gonna go through it in this au dw #This is just the beginning!#Gaze upon my writing prowess and WEEP (/lh)

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five-rivers · 9 months

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Life's Great Lie 20

The last one!

AO3

It didn’t take Jazz long to figure out that all her controls were dead, and only a moment longer for her and Sam to conclude that all the electronics in the Ops Center were out of commission.

“Must have been the EMP,” said Jazz.

“I thought we were shielded against stuff like that,” said Sam. “Against ectoradiation and everything.”

Jazz shrugged. “Apparently not everything. We’re a lot closer than anyone would expect to be, too.”

“That's true,” said Sam. “No one expects to be at ground zero with these kinds of things.”

“Plus the, um,” said Jazz, her voice breaking a little, “the shields. Who knows how radiation will act, refracted through all of that? It’s… it's probably worse, closer to…”

“The building's still standing,” said Sam. They’re fine. They’ve got to be fine.”

“Right,” said Jazz. “Right. We should go down to Mom and Dad, see what they’re doing, if there’s any way to fix things… Um, there should be some emergency flashlights…”

“Will those even work?”

“Uh, shorter circuits aren’t as vulnerable, and neither are things that are off,” said Jazz. “Handheld things should be fine, mostly. I think. And the further from the blast the better.”

“But the Fenton Phones?” Sam pulled hers out of her ear.

“I don’t know. We were managing the connections with the stuff here, so that might have done something. It could be that the spectral noise filters got overloaded. It could be that interacting with ectoplasm made it worse. It could be a lot of stuff. Ah! Here!” She threw a flashlight to Sam.

Sam flicked the flashlight on and frowned at the green beam. “Is this an anti-ghost flashlight?”

“I have no idea,” said Jazz. “Probably. You know how Mom and Dad are.”

“I guess Danny isn’t here to get his by it,” said Sam. “Lead the way?”

“Yeah, so—”

“HEY, JAZZYPANTS! WE’RE ALIVE!” Dad scooped Jazz up in a giant hug.

“Okay,” wheezed Jazz. “Yep. Okay. I guess we don’t have to go find you.”

“Jazz, oh my goodness,” said Mom, joining the hug. “Have you heard anything from your brother? Tucker?”

“No,” said Jazz, wriggling. “Our Fenton Phones are dead.”

“The spectral interference must have been too great,” said Mom. “But we were hoping it wouldn’t have affected everything.”

“We’ll just have to improve our shields next time!” declared Dad. “But we need to go find Danny, first!”

“Yeah,” said Sam. “So, can we fly, now, or what?”

Mom shook her head. “We’re going to have to go on foot. We had a few blasters that were off that should be effective against the aliens. Or any ghosts who decide--”

“Mom,” scolded Jazz. “They came to help us, remember?”

Mom sighed. “I know, sweetie. It’s just in case.”

“Let’s go!” shouted Dad, yanking open a hatch and jumping down.

Jazz took a blaster from her mother and followed him down.

(The monsters the Hulk had been fighting had all gone limp. He still made sure they wouldn’t be getting up, but it was obvious that the fight was over. Somehow.)

(He stomped down the street. There might be a fight that way, towards the tall tower. But, in the meantime, he began to calm down.)

“Is everyone okay in here?” called Steve, addressing the whole subway platform. It was illuminated only by emergency lighting and cell phone lights. He cupped his hands around his mouth and tried again. “Is everyone okay down here?”

The crowd quieted, this time.

“Alright, so, it looks like the fighting is mostly over,” he said. “But there’s a lot of structural damage, and there’s still a lot of alien stuff. So stay down here unless you have to leave, or if emergency responders come to get you. I have to go—” The crowd exploded into questions. “I have to go make sure that we really have won.”

“Hey! Arrow boy!”

Clint did not jump, and he did not sigh. He did not sigh at the nickname he’d been given by a bunch of high schoolers. If anyone had a right to give him a stupid nickname, it was probably them, after all.

(However, if he ever ran into certain agents from his training days… He might cherish the fact that they hadn’t come up with anything better than literal children.)

“Fentons,” he said, by way of greeting. “Manson.”

He’d been on his way up, now that the storm had ended, and he couldn’t spot any more mobile enemies. Reestablishing communications once an area was relatively secure was a priority.

“Have you had any luck with your phone?” asked Maddie Fenton.

“You mean--?” He pointed at his ear. “No. Everything seems to be out.” Including the electronics for his arrowhead loader, which was decidedly inconvenient, although not as inconvenient as it would have been before the sandstorm.

“Do you think that’s why the aliens are down?” asked Sam. “The thing with electronics, I mean. They kind of had this biotech look going on. Like, maybe they were all cyborgs.”

“Maybe,” said Clint. “My hearing aid is working, though.” He pointed at his opposite ear, the one he didn’t have the Fenton Phone in.

“Huh,” said Jack. “Cool! But that’s small and non-ghostly, so there could be a few different factors there! Good news for people with pacemakers, though!”

Yeah. Clint didn’t even want to think about that. Better for electronics to get knocked out than for a nuke to actually hit, but as someone who did rely on small electronics for a disability, however small, thinking about how many people might have died just from that made him feel vaguely nauseated.

Not that imagining the number of outright deaths from the invasion was any better.

“Anywho!” said Jack. “We’re on our way up to ol’ Stark Tower! Got the Ops Center all locked up, so no spooks or ETs can get in!”

“Is that safe?” asked Clint. “The bomb was right there,” he clarified. The aliens and structural damage wasn’t something really avoidable under the present circumstances.

“We’ve got a Geiger counter!” said Jack, waving a box.

“It’s not on right now,” added Maddie. “It was getting annoying.”

“Mom,” said Jasmine, “seriously? What good is it if it isn’t on?”

“Well, it isn’t as if the number is going to change all that much while we’re in this building. It will make more sense to turn it on once we’re on street level and it actually matters.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Clint. “It was going off? As in, we’re getting irradiated right now?”

“Everyone is getting irradiated all the time,” said Jazz. “But that does sound like it’s more than usual.”

“It’s negligible,” said Maddie. “Considering. About what you’d expect from a commercial flight per hour.”

“Eh,” said Jack.

“Eh?” repeated Clint. That didn’t fill him with a huge amount of confidence.

“Come on,” said Sam, “astronauts get twenty times more than that and keep it up for days.”

“How do you know that?” asked Clint. “Just off the top of your head like that?”

“Benefit of being friends with Danny,” she said, walking past him.

“And to be honest,” said Maddie, “if you were near the Tesseract, you were probably experiencing astronaut levels of radiation.”

Clint sighed. “I knew that,” he said. “I was there when you talked to Dr. Selvig about it before Loki stole it.”

“Huh! I don’t remember you being there at all!”

Which was sort of the point.

“Are you coming with us or not, arrow boy?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming.” He had to check on Natasha, after all… and all the other idiots… and he still felt guilty over what had happened with Danny. Yeah. He was coming.

Bruce hated waking up in piles of rubble with no clothing. However, this particular rude wake up call was… not so bad. The city was, at least, still standing, and it looked like the aliens were all dead.

He got up and started walking towards Stark Tower.

In the end, it was Thor who found them first, launching up over the edge of the building and landing heavily. He was followed closely by a ghost Loki couldn’t name.

“Brother!” shouted Thor. He stopped several yards away. “Are you… well?”

“Well enough,” said Loki, not bothering to stand or even raise an arm in greeting. He was exhausted. And Thor was annoying to deal with.

“Whelp,” said the ghost.

“Skulker,” said Danny.

There was a history, there, Loki could tell. But he had neither the energy nor the will to delve into it.

“Was it mind control, then? Was it always?”

Loki laughed. “When I lured those jotnar into Asgard, you mean? When I sent the Destroyer after you?” He had encountered Thanos before, but he hadn’t been caught, then, hadn’t been changed or reshaped… or so he’d thought. “Who knows?” he settled on, finally.

“What are you going to do?” asked Danny. “You said something about bringing him back. What would happen then?”

“I would face justice for my crimes,” said Loki, interrupting whatever Thor was about to say. He said it better, anyway, and with the appropriate amount of sarcasm.

“You kind of did commit a lot of those,” observed Danny. Then he shrugged. “But, again, mind control. Kind of an ‘either both of us are guilty or neither of us is’ kind of deal.”

“You aren’t Asgardian,” said Thor, nonplussed.

“So?”

Thor shook his head and turned back to Loki. “Father would understand if we ex—”

“Because he’s so willing to listen to explanations, is he? He did not listen even to you.” He tilted his head back and let out the breath he’d taken in to yell at his brother some more. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over. It’s all over. Take me back, kill me, leave me to rot in some human prison, I don’t care.”

“Brother—”

Danny cleared his throat. “This is great and all, but no one else has woken up, and they definitely need some medical attention, so if one of you can get, like, a doctor or something… I would, but this week has been really tiring and all the sleep I’ve gotten is, like, ten seconds of unconscious.”

“You were unconscious for longer than that,” said Loki.

“Thanks, I didn’t ask.”

The ghost groaned. “Fine,” he said. “But next time, whelp, it’ll be your skin.”

“He says that every time.”

“Loki, if you would say something to defend yourself,” said Thor, “I would listen.”

“He totally was mind controlled,” said Danny. “I’m, like, a mind-control connoisseur, so I’d know.”

“On this planet?” asked Thor, with just a touch of skepticism. “With its technology?”

“It was ghost stuff,” said Danny. “Overshadowing, you know? But other stuff, too, like mind-vines and dream-helmets and body-swapping. I hate body-swapping, it’s the worst. Well, except for the emotion vampirism stuff. The main time I got mind controlled before this, it was a staff, too, though!”

“That one?” asked Loki, tilting his head towards the staff ‘Duulaman’ had carried.

“Nope. Completely different staff. I broke that one ages ago.”

“Oh, god,” groaned Selvig, having apparently dragged himself out of unconsciousness just in time to hear, “there’s another one?”

“Danny! Baby, you’re alive!”

“Uh,” Danny said, having startled halfway out of Frostbite’s grip. “Yep. I’m alive. As much as always.” He settled back down as his family and friends – and Barton, who Danny decided to count as more of a coworker – emerged from Stark’s penthouse. “Did you guys walk all the way from over there?” He nodded in the general direction he’d last seen the Ops Center in.

“We took the stairs, too,” said Sam, sidling up behind Maddie and Jack, who were barely restraining themselves from throwing themselves at Danny due to Frostbite radiating severe disapproval. “Since the elevators are all out, and did you know all the glass is gone where the sandstorm was? Like, everywhere. Even car windows and cell phones.

“Don’t remind me,” groaned Tucker, who was being checked over by not one but two yetis wearing medic symbols.

“What happened to you, anyway?” asked Sam.

“It’s, uh—The thing. With Duulaman. The thing that—You guys tell her.”

“He’s experiencing dissonance between his current life and his past life!” said one of the yeti doctors. “It is not terribly uncommon among persons who have reincarnated.”

“I hate this so much. I hate being alive.”

“No, you don’t,” said Danny.

“Ugh. My thoughts are ugh.”

“He’s fine,” said Danny. “Really.”

“Mhm,” said Jazz, who had a strong ‘I’m resisting the urge to psychoanalyze’ expression on her face. “And what about this guy?”

“I do have a name,” said Loki, from where he was still slumped against the former Tesseract housing.

“Mind control rule,” said Danny.

“This happens often enough you have a rule for it?” asked Selvig. Ever since he woke up, he’d been asking questions like that in a progressively more horrified tone. Danny thought he might need therapy, honestly.

“Well, yeah,” said Danny. “Hello? Any ghost here could overshadow you.”

“Not to mention guys like Undergrowth or Ember,” added Sam.

“Ooh, yeah, I forgot about the music-based mind control, earlier, thanks.

Jazz sighed. “The rule is just that you can’t hold a grudge for things people do under mind control.”

“What!” said Barton. “Then what do you keep calling me arrow boy for?”

“Oh,” said Jazz, breezily, “that’s for being involved in outing my brother to our parents.”

“Although,” said Maddie, “we really should have known beforehand. And who are you?”

This last was directed at Frostbite, and Danny sighed. He sighed again when he noticed the distinct shape of Pandora getting closer. “Okay, I guess I should do introductions.”

Tony (he insisted that they all call him Tony, something about life threatening situations) put down the tool he was using on the Iron Man helmet in his lap (not one he’d been using before, but one that had been sitting a back room in the penthouse) clapped his hands together. “Okay, looks like we’re all here and all introduced! Question is, what do we do with that stuff, and what do we do with him?” He gestured at the scepters in Danny’s lap, the Tesseract (still lying on the ground – Captain America had freaked when Black Widow went to pick it up), and Loki. “Especially since SHIELD turned out to be run by Nazis—”

Danny jerked and almost dropped the scepters. “It’s what?”

“That’s an exaggeration,” said Black Widow.

“Fine, fine, it’s riddled with Nazis—”

“Why are there Nazis? Aren’t they anti-Nazi?”

“They are,” said Black Widow, “but—”

“Oh my gosh,” said Sam. “You can’t call a place full of Nazis anti-Nazi. It just isn’t true. Maybe they were supposed to be, but they aren’t anymore. Get over it. Also, they’re the ones who shot that nuke at us.”

“Uh,” said Danny. “Then why are we okay with, like, that?” he pointed at the hovering shape of the SHIELD helicarrier.

Tucker cleared his throat. “They aren’t all Nazis. I think.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It’s my understanding,” said Jazz loudly, “that SHIELD was infiltrated by HYDRA shortly after World War Two ended. It’s currently unclear how many people in SHIELD are actually in HYDRA, pretending to be SHIELD.”

“But it’s a lot!” said Tucker. “A whole lot! And the GIW are in on it!”

“Oh, jeez,” said Danny. “No wonder you didn’t follow that part of my plan.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I was going to suggest that we dump it all on them, but yikes. Yikes.”

“Thor,” said Captain America, “I got the impression earlier that your people were familiar with this kind of… thing?”

“Yes,” said Thor. “Certain principles of its operation are not dissimilar to that of the Bifrost.”

“You wouldn’t mind taking it with you?”

“Not at all!”

“Great,” he said, sitting down for the first time since he’d gotten to the roof. “Because I’d really like to get that thing off my planet.”

“Wow,” said Tony, “that sounds personal. Is it personal? Not just, you know, professional?”

“Stark.”

“Okay, okay, I’m backing off. I’ll, uh, whip up something to carry that in, then? I don’t suppose you know any of those principles of operation, huh, Thor? Buddy?”

“It is not my, ah, area of expertise, but I will certainly do my best to assist.”

“I’ll need your help, too, Bruce.”

“Sure,” said Dr. Banner. “Can’t be too hard, if they managed it in the forties.”

“Fentons?”

“At this point,” said Mom, “I think our time might be better spent dealing with the ectoradiation. No, ah, offense.”

“None taken,” said Frostbite, kindly.

“Frostbite can take my staff,” said Tucker.

“Are you sure?” asked Danny. “You did some really cool stuff with it before, you know. The pyramids, and the sphinx, and the lightning thing—”

“I think that was me, actually,” said Thor, raising a finger.

“I mean, you probably contributed,” allowed Danny, cheerfully.

“Maybe the things were cool, but I can’t handle that. Thing. I can’t be trusted with it. I went full megalomaniac. I was going to conquer New York. The whole east coast. America. The world. Egypt. Especially Egypt. So, I want that power far, far away from me and my poor decision-making skills.”

“You realize,” said Loki, “that power is part of you?”

Tucker sat up, despite the protests of his doctors. “What?”

“Perhaps the skill with which you wielded it belonged to your past life, and the magnitude of it to the staff, but nothing Duulaman accomplished is beyond your ability to learn. It would be unimaginable, in fact, that you had not already begun to learn, simply from your experiences these past days.”

“Aw, man,” said Tucker, face crumpled into something complicated. “Frostbite, you’ll still take it, right?”

“Of course! We’ll keep it safe for you, as we do with all the artifacts we defend.”

“Then… Pandora, will you take this other staff? I feel like it’s more up your alley.”

“Uh,” said Tony. “One second. I kind of feel like we should keep at least one superpowerful space weapon on Earth. Just saying.”

Danny made a face at him. “And you want to keep the mind control one? The most easily abused?”

“Well,” said Loki, “I wouldn’t say it was easy to—”

“Hush, you,” said Pandora. “Stark. I have experience sealing away forces of evil. But even if I did not, there is no reason for a ghost to want that thing.”

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t work on ghosts,” said Danny.

“It worked on you.”

“Yeah, when I was human. As soon as I went ghost, it couldn’t control me anymore.”

“And we have much more efficient ways of controlling people, I’m sorry to say,” said Pandora. “It would be safe, out of the hands of your enemy, and it would not be a temptation.”

“Nuclear deterrents and mutually assured destruction aren’t really things that have worked,” muttered Dr. Banner.

Tony threw up his hands. “Fine! But the guy with the space army after us is still out there, the ‘protect the planet’ guys are secretly evil, and you guys aren’t sticking around, are you?” He waved at Pandora and Frostbite.

“No,” said Frostbite. “We do have our own people to look after. But I think you are not as bereft of resources as you believe.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Yes,” said Loki, suspiciously, “do enlighten us.”

“Maybe it means you’re supposed to keep the band together,” said Danny. “No Loki Ono.”

“Stop that.”

“I’d say make me but… You can’t!”

“Yeah, about that,” said Black Widow. “I’ll have my hands full with the HYDRA problem.”

“Same,” said Barton. “We’re not leaving Fury to deal with that.”

“What, do you think I don’t care about the HYDRA problem?”

“I think you care mostly about yourself, but sure.”

“Hey,” said Tucker, “he did put himself between me and an exploding shield thingy, so…”

“Okay,” muttered Danny to himself. “Clearly, this band doesn’t need to be broken up.”

“Does that really surprise you?” asked Sam.

“No, not really.”

The Iron Man helmet made a loud blaaaaaaat noise, followed by an awful lot of static. “-ark, Rogers, Banner, Foley, Manson, Fentons, do any of you read this?” said… Danny frowned, trying to remember her name. “Repeat: Barton, Romanov—”

“Hey, Agent Hill!” said Tony. “Just got a radio up and running after you guys sent us that wonderful gift. You know, the one that was going to kill us all. Anyway, how are you? Old one-eye and Agent Coulson doing alright with the whole situation?”

“Coulson is dead.”

“What?” said Tony. “He’s—How?”

“He was killed by HYDRA agents while trying to keep the plane with the missile from taking off.”

“Oh,” said Tony, blankly. “He—Oh.”

“What we found with Foley’s backdoor is this: Every level of SHIELD is compromised. Everything that SHIELD touches is compromised. We’re handling things here on the helicarrier, but it’s going to be a different story everywhere else.”

“What can we do to help?” asked Captain America.

“Get the situation in the city under control and go to ground if you can. That’s not going to work for Stark, but the rest of you—”

“It isn’t going to work for us, either,” interrupted Danny. “I can’t leave Amity Park undefended.”

“Then you’ll have to make your own decisions. Don’t try to contact anyone from SHIELD, and if anyone from SHIELD contacts you, be cautious. Don’t blindly trust it if Fury or I contact you, for that matter. We have technologies under development that make the Mission Impossible masks look tame. Barton, Romanov, consider any safehouses or contacts known to SHIELD to be burned.”

“Roger that,” said Black Widow.

“That’s… expected,” said Barton. “If not great.”

“We’ll try to send updates through Stark, if he stays in public view, but we can’t make any guarantees. Fury says, ‘Don’t die, and… good work, Avengers.’”

The connection dissolved back into static.

“Okay!” said Stark, rubbing his eyes not-at-all subtly. “Looks like you’re all getting new identities for Christmas.” He looked at Sam. “Hanukkah?”

“My family doesn’t really do presents. And I’m not running.”

“Wait,” said Valerie. “You can do that?”

“Sure. I’m rich. I can do whatever I want. Mostly.” This declaration was accompanied by more unsubtle eye-rubbing.

“And HYDRA isn’t a joke,” said Black Widow. “Torture, murder, human experimentation. It’s all on the table, if they catch you.”

“If they catch me,” said Sam. “Trust me, once we’re all back in Amity Park, we’ll have one hell of a home field advantage. And I think Coulson was the only one besides you guys and Fury who knew Valerie even existed.”

“That’s accurate,” said Valerie. “I think.”

“Mom, Dad?” said Jazz. “What do you think? You’ve been quiet.”

“We can’t leave the portal,” said Mom, after a moment. “The rest of our research we could move.” Her eyes tracked over to the rooftop the Ops Center sat on. “But not the portal.”

Danny relaxed a little more. Obviously, he could deal with being hunted by evil superspies (see: the past week) even without access to his full powerset. Coping with his parents trying to put them in DIY witness protection would be significantly harder.

“Okay. New identities for, like, half of us. And I have tons of properties through shell—”

“SHIELD knows about those,” said Black Widow.

“Aren’t you cheerful. Anyway, any requests about names? Backstories? You don’t want to give me too much creative control, I’ll turn you into a traveling circus or something. Wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“I wouldn’t mind being back in the circus,” said Barton.

“Didn’t they kick you out for shooting someone?” asked Black Widow.

“Yes, they did.”

“Hey, uh,” said Dr. Banner, “I hate to be the one to say this, but aren’t we forgetting someone?” He pointed awkwardly at Loki.

Tony shrugged. “Isn’t he just going back with Thor?”

“No,” said Thor.

“No?” repeated Loki, incredulous. “What do you mean no?”

“I’d like to know the reasoning behind that as well,” said Black Widow. “We can’t trust any governments here to hold him with HYDRA’s involvement.”

“And why should he be held at all?”

“What,” said Loki, flatly.

“Have we not determined that he is innocent, at least in this matter? That he was put under a geas, just as Phantom was? That he even fought it, as Phantom did? And we have agreed, most emphatically, that Phantom is innocent.”

“I—” started Loki, half-smiling. “You—” The expression slid into something closer to bewilderment. “You cannot be serious, brother. Did Odin not send you here to drag me back to Asgard like a recalcitrant child?”

“He did,” said Thor, “and yet… What you said about Father and… listening… is not untrue. He was wroth, when I left, and only Mother’s words stayed his temper.”

Captain America let out a sigh. “I guess we’re the closest thing to a jury he’s likely to get. Danny, are you sure he was mind controlled?”

“As sure as I can get without overshadowing him myself and poking around,” said Danny, shrugging. “Do you want me to--?”

“No.”

“If I may offer my medical opinion,” said Frostbite, “I would concur with the Great One’s thoughts. Mister Loki does exhibit many of the symptoms expected of victims of prolonged control.”

Loki pushed himself up. “What are you doing? What about justice? What about punishment and vengeance?”

Danny squinted at him. “Do you, like, want to get punished, or…?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Loki, wobbling as he looked down his nose at Danny. “A child like you wouldn’t understand.”

“So, we’re agreed then? We’re just going to let him loose to go do… whatever?” Tony didn’t seem particularly pleased about that, but then, this wasn’t a particularly pleasant situation.

“Tips on the guy with the space army might be appreciated,” said Barton. “Just a thought.”

“Or, ooh!” said Danny. “You could come back to Amity Park with us and teach Tucker magic.” He waggled his fingers.

“Absolutely not,” said Loki. “I am leaving.” He turned to walk away and immediately tripped over the Tesseract.

“Maybe you should wait until you’re not drunk to do that,” suggested Danny.

“I really need to make a container for that,” said Tony, standing up and disappearing into the penthouse. “And don’t go until I can get you a phone or something! I need to pick your brain about aliens!”

“Oh, yeah,” said Danny. “You guys definitely owe me facts about aliens. I can’t believe I was abducted by an alien and got, like, zero space facts out of it. That’s criminal.”

“It kind of is,” agreed Sam.

“If that’s criminal,” said Valerie, “what about my ghost facts? Like, you know, the fact that you’re a ghost.”

“It is something we’d like clarification on, too, sweetie,” said Maddie.

“Ah,” said Danny. He wondered if he could escape this conversation by phasing through the roof. Maybe he’d even be nice and take Loki with him.

“I think I’ve been pretty understanding,” continued Valerie, “putting off my questions, but if you’re all going to go on a tangent about space, well, I think my questions are pretty important, too! Especially since it looks like I’m not going to get paid for this after all!”

Tony wandered back out onto the roof. “So, I was going to offer you guys a drink, but, shockingly, alcohol is generally stored in glass, so I was thinking, once the doctors get everyone patched up, we could go out for-- Why do I suddenly feel like I walked in on the season finale of a soap opera?”

“Danny and Valerie used to date,” explained Jazz.

“She’s also worried about not getting paid,” added Sam, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, people have to live,” said Tucker. “Not everyone can be rich.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Tony. “Of course you’re getting paid. I’ll pay you. It’s like, volunteer firefighters get paid, right? But I’m way cooler than the government, so you’ll actually get a living wage. Also, is he just going to keep lying on the floor like that, or what?”

“I believe he may have fallen asleep,” said Thor, bemused.

Danny leaned forward to get a better look. That wasn’t a terrible conclusion, but… Danny could see the slight shimmer around the edges that gave away an illusion. It was kind of a jerk move on Loki’s part, but Danny couldn’t scrounge up the energy to blame him.

Should he say something?

Nah. But it did give him an idea.

“Well,” said Danny, laughing a little, “neither of us have slept for days. Did I mention that before? Speaking of which… maybe I’ll take a nap, too…” He leaned back and closed his eyes.

The anti-nap protest was hilarious, but he didn’t hear much of it. He was too busy napping.

“So, where do you think Loki is?” asked Valerie as they finally drove back into Amity Park.

It had taken a while to get the Ops Center off that roof, even with the help of superpowers, and longer still to get a hold of a semi-truck that could haul it back home, even with the help of Tony Stark’s wallet. The less said about wannabe supervillain road pirates and attempted assassinations at rest stops the better.

The first few days on the road, the conversation had been firmly of the ‘interrogating Danny’ variety, with short digressions into ‘interrogating Jazz,’ ‘interrogating Sam,’ and ‘interrogating Tucker.’ But there were only so many things to say before they got to stuff they really, really didn’t want to talk about while trapped with each other in a mobile metal box hundreds of miles from home. After reaching that point, there had been a brief period of ‘interrogating Valerie,’ but that didn’t go over very well, so the rest of the time had been spent speculating about the evil space army that was possibly coming for Earth (depressing), and what Loki was doing (slightly less depressing).

“Defrauding Las Vegas,” said Danny, without hesitation. He didn’t think that’s what he’d actually be doing, but it was definitely the funniest possible option.

“Does he even know what Las Vegas is?” asked Tucker, curiously. “I mean, he’s only been on Earth for, what, a week and a half, and you guys spent a bunch of that time in Europe, right?”

Danny shrugged, not taking his eyes off the window, drinking in the sight of his haunt. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

“Tony, what are you doing?” asked Pepper, walking up behind him and setting a glass of wine down on the table next to him. Well. ‘Glass.’ Glass goods were at a bit of a premium in New York at the moment, and Tony’s main wealth flex after supplying Barton, Natasha, Steve, and Bruce with new IDs had been getting the Amity Parkers on their way back home. The wine itself was from a box.

“Redesigning a few floors,” said Tony. “If we’re keeping the band together, we need a place to hang out, record, you know the drill.”

“I thought you hated the boy band metaphor.”

Tony shrugged. “It’s grown on me. Should I put all the kids on one floor, or should I separate them out?”

“I thought you hated that they were involved,” said Pepper, raising her eyebrows.

“I do,” said Tony, “But do you think I can stop them? I can’t even stop me.”

“Here, let me see.” She scanned the blueprint, then frowned. “Is that a floor for Loki?”

“Kind of figure the guy might show back up, once he’s done defrauding Las Vegas or whatever.”

“Defrauding Las Vegas, really?”

“Hey, it’s what I’d do,” said Tony. “Minus, you know, the fraud part. Counting cards is an art.”

Pepper laughed and kissed him on the cheek. “Well, if you’re going to put Clint here, can I suggest…?”

“I hate to say it,” said Steve, casually concussing another HYDRA agent, “but I don’t think I’m really cut out for covert operations.”

“No, no,” said Natasha, “you’re doing great.”

“Yeah!” said Clint, nocking another arrow. “You’re perfect bait! All of these guys hate you so much, it’s funny.”

Fury, who was also on comms, if not on location, sighed. His agents didn’t use to be so talkative during missions. He blamed this on Stark.

As a point in fact, Loki did not know what Las Vegas was, and he wasn’t there, defrauding it or otherwise.

He was in the kitchen of the apartment Tony had bought for Bruce, going through his refrigerator.

“What,” said Bruce, willing the green tint out of his skin, “are you doing here?”

“As your friends so kindly pointed out to me, I am a free man. I go where I will.”

“Yeah, freedom generally doesn’t include breaking and entering.”

“More’s the pity.” He closed the refrigerator and leaned against the counter. His eyes were sharp. “I looked into you, you know. I meant to use you as a weapon, a way to peel apart your allies. To turn your other nature against yourself.”

“That’s… nice,” said Bruce, tensing just a little.

“How do you keep it at bay? All that… anger?”

“What do you care?”

Loki looked away. “My grip on Danny’s mind was the thing of a moment. When it broke, it broke cleanly.” His fingers traced over the handles in Bruce’s knife block before coming to rest flat against the countertop again. “The same cannot be said for me.”

Bruce realized, then, what Loki was asking him. “Oh boy. Yeah. Let’s head over to the living room. We can talk.”

Loki was not, and never had been, a good man.

He wasn’t doing this because he cared, or because he felt guilty. The purpose of his visit here was only to satisfy his curiosity. To, perhaps, explore the secrets of this world as he had once explored those of Asgard. That was all.

After all, he had no duty to Danny Fenton, nor any particular affection. They’d only known each other for a few short days, and it had been months since then. So, it gave him no comfort, no ease, to see him walking down the street, smiling. It was no thrill, to see him pause, turn, and smile at Loki, despite the disguise he wore.

Loki had never been a particularly honest man, either.

But what was life, without its little lies?

The end. :3

Did I resolve everything? No. Did I *want* to resolve everything? Also no. As maligned as it sometimes is, the MCU is big, and I only set out to cover events of the first Avengers movie, not all the way through to Endgame. Although, hopefully, I've given you enough to imagine what might happen, if I did.

Thank you for reading!

#danny phantom #dp/mcu #dp/marvel #life's great lie

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barry-j-blupjeans · 2 years

Note

ooohhh may I request blupjeans with 25 or 27 from the fluff prompts if you are still accepting!!!

both both both!!

25. "I've missed you so much!"

27. "You're crazy if you think I'm letting you sleep on the couch."

The moon is quiet in the absence of the Hunger. There's broken glass pretty much everywhere, leaving gaps in the domes that have hastily been repaired with spells and, in some cases, fantasy duct tape. A good few walls have crumbled and for the ones that are still standing, the doors have been busted through. But the power is still on, flickering as it may be. The elevators still work, making the end of the world seem a little more serene.

The Reclaimers' Dorm was one of the only places on the entire moon that didn't look completely destroyed. The furniture is crooked and all their plates are smashed from when the Hunger slammed into the quad, but most of the heavier things are still in place. The shower works. The doors are still on their hinges. It's a mess, but a self-imposed one.

By the time Barry got out of the shower, it seemed like half the employees of the Bureau were asleep in the living room. He didn't know the majority of these people, but Magnus was curled up next to a dragonborn, and Davenport was propped up against the couch with another gnome man, so he figured they were at least people he could trust. Angus, who Barry had met very briefly earlier, was underneath a thick quilt and burrowed into the side of an orc woman.

Barry took about two steps towards the living room before a haze of red blocked his path.

Today had been... wild. Absolutely fucking wild. He still wasn't quite used to having a body yet, but luckily no one saw him try to phase through the bathroom door on his way out. He had spent ten years waiting for this- waiting for the Hunger to come again, waiting for a gap in Lucretia's plan where he could slip in, waiting to see Lup again, and now that it was here, that everything was done? Barry... didn't know what to do with himself.

"Babe, you're crazy if you think I'm letting you sleep on the couch," Lup said, spectral hands laying themselves on his shoulders.

And Lup. She was here again, she had always been here, just a few feet away any time he saw Taako. Just barely out of reach.

"I don't really, uh, have a bed," Barry said.

"Yes, you do," Lup said, pushing on his shoulders to get him to turn around. He let himself be guided past the living room and down the hall. A few paintings had fallen down and he carefully stepped past them. They reached an open door and Barry poked his head in to see Taako. He wasn't asleep yet, but he looked exhausted.

"I- I don't wanna take your space-"

"Get in the fucking bed, Barold," Taako said.

"Getting in," Barry said, slipping further into the room. He took off his glasses, placing them on Taako's crooked bedside table, and then tucked himself in beside Taako. They barely fit together, but Barry really couldn't find it in him to mind. His skin felt a little prickly when Taako adjusted and brushed against his arm. When was the last time he had had a hug?

"Big day, huh?" Lup said. She was floating a little above them, though she just looked like a red blob now that Barry had taken his glasses off. Taako snorted.

"That's one way of putting it," he said. "I'm fuckin' zonked. I'm gonna sleep for days."

"Yeah, uhm. Same," Barry said. Lup let out a little laugh and if Taako relaxed a little next to him at the sound, Barry wasn't going to comment on it. He turned flat on his back, staring up towards Lup. Taako was facing the wall now.

"Light off?" Lup asked.

"Please don't," Barry said.

"Still scared of the dark?" Taako asked. "You fuckin'... lived in a cave for ten years, my dude."

"I had a nightlight," Barry said.

"Of course you did," Taako said.

They lapsed into silence and Barry let his eyes close. There was an awful ache all over his body. The shower had eased it some earlier, but now it was just pounding away at his bones. He tried to think about something else, about anything else, but it always came back to the throbbing underneath his skin. He had skin now. He was alive. Taako was here. Lup was here.

Barry opened his eyes as Taako shifted in his sleep, ending up half on top of him. The prickling cascaded into an uncomfortable feeling of burning, something hot bubbling just under his skin. Forget a hug, when was the last time someone had touched him that wasn't just a punch? Maybe when they had given him a healing potion after the gerblins? No one even mentioned that being a lich would make you touch-starved.

But he still got touch. Not a lot, but more than Lup had in the umbrastaff, alone for ten whole years-

"I missed you so much," Barry whispered. Lup turned in midair, looking down on him. She floated a bit closer, pressing a hand to his face. It didn't feel like anything. Barry's heart hurt a little bit in his chest.

"I missed you too," Lup said. "Every day."

"I never stopped looking for you," Barry said, feeling a growing lump in his throat. He tried to swallow, but it stayed. "Never."

"I know," Lup said. "I'm... I'm so sorry, babe, I-" she sighed and her form seemed to deflate with it. "I'm here now, okay? I know you were trying. You can rest now. I'm here."

"I love you," Barry said and Lup's form crackled, just a little bit. She brought her hood down to his face and Barry wished so badly that he could hold her for real, that he could kiss her again-

"I love you too, babe," she said. "Sleep."

"You'll be here in the morning?" Barry asked and Lup was nodding before he even got the whole question out.

"I'm never leaving you again," Lup said. "I promise." She swiped a ghostly finger over his cheek and Barry realized he was crying. He wiped it away himself. Again, she said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Barry said and closed his eyes again.

#blupjeans #barry bluejeans #lup #taako #taz #taz balance #mine #asks #toooceanblue #ise cube writing

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nitrochiralfan · 1 year

Text

Lemures Blue at 2.a.m Creator’s Interview

This interview was taken from the Lemures Blue art book. The translation was done by this lovely person. I don’t own the translation or interview don’t re blog without crediting the original owners. be sure to supports the creators by buying this book. This interview contains major spoilers for the game, If you haven’t played the game I recommend not to read. if you do read at your own risk. you had been warned

Creator Interview

I have created a spectral explanation survey, and I will answer the questions we received.. Thank you to everyone who replied to the survey!

Q. Which route was the easiest to write?

Itsuki’s route. His primary principle was clearly stated to be the guilt he felt towards Shinnosuke, so I think it was the easiest to sympathize with as he strived for repentance. Also, thanks to Itsuki’s supernatural powers, Aoi can go more places, like the city.

Q. Which route was the hardest to write?

Hinata and Aoi’s route, easily. I wasn’t sure about Hinata’s motivation, or how he would help Aoi. I hadn’t decided on Hinata’s personality for quite a while...

Q. Which character was the easiest to write?

Sakura. He’s pretty easy to understand as a character. He speaks and acts like he always has Aoi’s best interests in mind. But there’s more to him than that. His father not accepting him is also easy to sympathize with.

Q. Which character was the hardest to write?

Aoi. I didn’t want him to sound repetitive, so I had to work very hard to avoid that. Also, he’s a ghost, so he’s limited on how much he’s able to do.

Q. Do you have a favorite character, or one you’re attached to?

Everyone has their own opinions, but if you ask me... I would have to say Aoi. I both hate him and love him... He’s a monster, and yet we empathize with him, we think about how we can save him.

Q. Which character in Lemures Blue is the most similar to you?

!?!? Some people said I was like Aoi, but I asked my friends who know about my obsession with him, and they said I wasn’t like Aoi. Maybe I’m like Sakura then, since he’s obsessed with Aoi too.

Q. What’s your favorite route?

For me, it’s Itsuki’s route. Unlike the other two, he has no history with Aoi. They were complete strangers, but once he met Aoi, Itsuki’s life slowly fell apart. Sakura and Hinata had deep connections with Aoi, but Itsuki’s never had to be involved. That’s what I like most about it. I also like the idea of the two of them being alone in the world. Or maybe it’s just because I concentrated too hard on Hinata and Sakura during production that I naturally gravitate toward Itsuki...

Q. What are your favorite scenes in each route?

In Sakura’s route, there’s two scenes: the scene where he spreads blueberries on Aoi’s body, and the one where the two sing together. For the first one, I was aiming for it to be a sickening scene. And for the other one, the music by TownHall was fantastic! I playtested it a lot.

For Itsuki’s route, it’s the train ride scene. It’s the only route that has the characters contrast with the people of the city. I really liked the idea of the two boys alone together in the middle of the night among the adults. In the Hinata/Aoi route, it’s the scene with Hinata running. I tried my best to make it feel animated. Animation is about breathing life into things that can’t move on their own, and I wanted to do that for Hinata. I was so happy when I played through that scene.

Q. What is your favorite ending?

Perfect Dystopia from Hinata/Aoi’s route. Aoi becomes a terror on the world once he enters high school. He believes that people dying at fourteen would be a benefit to society. Fourteen years old is the limit until people become unpredictable. Also, I think Akane Aoi is a good name... I think it fits him well as a high school student.

Q. How long does it take to make an illustration?

30 minutes for the sketch, 20 minutes for the line art, 3 hours to color, and 30 minutes of rendering. So about 5 hours, roughly.

Q. Did you do the line art by hand?

Yes. I use a Pentel Graph 600 mechanical pencil.

Q. Which illustrations were the hardest to draw?

The illustration of Sakura in Chapter 3 and the one of Hinata running in Chapter 12. For Hinata, it was simply a lot of work to do. For Sakura, it was difficult overcoming my own shame.

Q. What do you focus on the most when drawing?

I don’t focus on anything in particular. Maybe the colors?

Q. How did you come up with the story?

It began with the idea of the main character meeting a mysterious boy and wondering if he’s a ghost, only to find out that they were a ghost themselves. And then I expanded it from there. In Lemures Blue, there was a truth that had to be revealed, so I focused on foreshadowing and false leads. I’m not that good at writing a story, so I write isolated scenes when they come to me and find some way to connect them. I drew the artwork first and created the story around that, which isn’t exactly common. Otherwise, I wrote down questions I had in my notebook and tried to answer them.

Q. Did you model the characters after anything? Any sort of motifs?

I didn’t have any motifs in mind, other than the color scheme— blue, red, yellow, green. I also pulled from the characters from other projects. Aoi’s face was meant to resemble a creepy avatar character, for example. I didn’t model the characters off of anything in particular, but I am aware that Aoi and Hinata resemble characters from Evangelion. I was hoping to create a false lead with Hinata resembling Kaworu.

Q. What works influenced you?

For Lemures Blue, I was most influenced by the works of Nisio Isin, Otsuichi, and Ikuji’s works. I was exposed to Nisio Isin in a very emotional period in my life, and while I’m not directly

influenced by his works, they definitely influence the basis of my projects. Characters, settings, wordplay... It all comes back to him. My desire to do a “I was really a ghost this whole time!” twist was largely influenced by Nisio Isin and Otsuichi. I really wanted to do something like Utena, but I couldn’t at all... I think the concept of searching after a specific foreign item came from Penguindrum.

Q. What works inspired you?

I was inspired a lot by the music of Ling tosite Sigure. I remember being on the train, trying desperately to think of characters and plot concepts. I was always listening to Ling tosite Sigure on my iPod. I personally think the charm of their music is the sense of gravity in the performance, almost like the song is folding in on itself, as well as the lyrics which desperately try to depict TK’s thoughts but ultimately can’t. I especially love the grief and pain from his screams; that thought of heartbreak formed the ideal image of Aoi. In addition to Ling tosite Sigure, I’m inspired by a lot of other music.

Q. Were the characters an homage to The Heart of Thomas? (Aoi →Thomas, Hinata → Erich, Sakura → Juli, Itsuki → Oskar, etc.)

When I first thought of this game as a BL game, I immediately thought of The Heart of Thomas. Or I think my view of BL has been defined by Heart of Thomas... It wasn’t until I was nearly done that I realized the characters were almost one to one. If Aoi is Thomas and Sakura is Yuri, then the phrase “I’ll give my heart to you” is very appropriate. It might be surprising, but I didn’t intend it at all! That said, I did just read The November Gymnasium. I was surprised to see that the characters still lined up there. Aoi to Thomas, Hinata to Erich, Sakura to Oskar, and Itsuki to the class president.

Q. Is the story set in Hokkaido? Or somewhere else in Japan?

Of course it’s Hokkaido! I’m glad some people picked up on the Star Festival part. I don’t know much about Hokkaido, but cherry blossoms in July would have to be somewhere cold. I haven’t picked a specific location though. Somewhere next to the sea and a forest, and relatively close to the city. So, somewhere near Sapporo. I initially wanted to set it in Furano, but there’s no sea there... Ideally it’s somewhere near the Sea of Okhotsk, with all the drift ice and sea slugs, but the places around there are too rural to have TV... but it is set in 2033, so maybe it’ll be more urban by then!

Q. If you gave each character a voice actor, who would they be?

I’m not that well versed in voice actors, but... Aoi: I would prefer a female voice actor, for sure. My friend suggested Rie Kugimiya. A soprano voice would work best. Itsuki: A female voice actor that can do a male voice, or a male voice actor with a higher voice. The shriller, the better. Hinata: I don’t have anyone in mind for him. My friend said Jun Fuyukama, and while I’m not familiar with him, he seems to be a good pick. Sakura: Anyone. No real preference.

Q. Who is seme and who is uke?

All of the characters could easily be seme or uke. I hope people don’t worry about it too much.

That said, the original concept was for Aoi to be seme to everyone, but with Hinata he’s uke. But now I just go with how I’m feeling in the moment. (Also, my views on seme/uke are very different from the rest of the world, so don’t take anything I say as fact.)

Q. The piano is important to the story, but have you ever played one?

I used to play the piano in kindergarten, and the keyboard in middle school. I’m a bit out of practice these days, though.

Q. When did you come up with the April Fool’s joke?

It was around the middle of March. I may have had the idea sometime before then. It’s frustrating for it to be called a shonen-ai game even though it’s a BL game, so I made it in order to show what BL is really like (lol).

Q. Why did you start making games?

I was inspired by playing lots of other games. I’ve always wanted to put my creativity to use, but I’m not very good at manga or writing. But with games, it’s just illustrations and dialogue! I felt it was the best fit for me. In fact, I enjoy being able to use music in games as well.

Q. What made you want to make Lemures Blue?

It all started with the idea of a plot twist. I made a 30-minute long game in order to test it out. I had no idea it would become this big.

Q. What message did you want to convey with this game?

It’s in Chapter 12, where Hinata and Aoi are shouting near the ocean. Like I wrote in the commentary, I want people to appreciate themselves... even a little. It’s a bit embarrassing…

#lemures blue #Lemures Blue's 2 A.M.#transulations

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paigelts05 · 1 year

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It Burns. [FNAF 3, Renegade AU]

Art: https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/It-Burns-FNAF-3-Renegade-AU-958338669

Renegade File Server Location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846005/chapters/117170281

Published: Apr 16, 2023

I've explained in some of my fics why Vincent Taylor is more human-like after FNAF 3, but it's about time I showed it. Whilst the illustration is Vincent (Springtrap) and Theren (FNAF 3 guard) centric, the story is Phoenix Douglas (Phone Dude) centric, and that's because the fic was wrote and edited in the span of four days, but because the idea I had for the fic was most emotionally impactful if it was given from the perspective of my Phone Dude. I used the same techniques for the fire and backlighting as I used in 'flames of escape', and whilst I probably should have tried to get the fire placement to look more realistic, it certainly looks like fire. =°•.🌹 Story 🌹.•°=

°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°

Fazbear's Fright was on fire. The horror attraction. Was on fire. Phoenix Douglas stared at the building in shock. Of course it was going to go up in flames. Every Fazbear's Fright horror attraction always did. But "Theren and Vincent are still in there!" Phoenix yelled before running towards the burning building, having to be restrained by some first responders. This place would be ash before the fire department got here. "I can't leave them alone in there!" Theren, he loved her and only let her take this job because she insisted and he thought it'd be safe. Even after taking in what he thought to be an old Spring Bonnie who turned out to be Vincent Taylor, it still seemed safe. But after something started controling Vincent, high pitched buzzing sounds that irritated Theren but sent Vincent and the ghosts of the deceased adults who hung about this place into a deadly hunting mode, Phoenix insisted that Theren was to retreat, but Theren stood her ground and found the nightly game of cat and mouse fun. How he wished he was more assertive Phoenix had always considered Vincent an employee. From the moment he found out that the rotting Spring Bonnie was a man trapped in a costume, Phoenix had always treated Vincent with the respect of an employee; you have to treat your costumed performers who will likely be suffering abuse from scared patrons with the utmost respect after all. Now both of them were in the burning building. The news would say it was an accident until proven otherwise, and he already knew that even the most seasoned journalists wouldn't be able to prove before the morning that it was anything other than a wiring issue that caused the fire. But he knew a certain one who wouldn't mind sticking around to cover the story as it seemed now, then if it was really arson as Phoenix suspect, release an ammended article at a later date. Phoenix sat on the ground in resignation. He was already so busy thinking about how he was going to tell the world that he'd fucked up, how he'd not learned from others mistakes and made a building that was bound to burn. He felt six presences around him and figured that the phantoms were trying to comfort him or something. He struggled with seeing ghosts despite spending some of his childhood in a Faz Ent lab, so he couldn't see them clearly but he could make out some features. Ryley's compass, James's torch, the puppet hands that Noire's hands sometimes changed into, Cecilia's lab coat - so she hadn't gone back to her body in the van yet - Jon Doe's hand (identified with a balloon tied to it), and Ophelia just in general. He didn't know why he could see Ophelia, with her broken and extended limbs, but he figured that she just liked using her mutilated appearance to scare the crap out of people at all times. But it wasn't working on Phoenix Douglas today. He felt a spectral hand try to tilt his head to look up towards the building. He didn't want to look at it, but they insisted. And he was glad he did. A silhouette of a man with rabbit ears, carrying someone out in his arms. Phoenix was at the edge of the safe zone already, so it took all his energy to not run right into the danger zone to hug them. He already knew who was in Vincent's arms. As Vincent stepped closer, Phoenix could see that he looked more human than usual. Parts of the costume head had broken away, other parts had melded to his flesh to make a new body, and in his arms was Theren. She was injured, and her back was badly burned, but she was breathing. She was alive. Everyone had survived. He didn't have a chance to greet them though, as the moment Vincent stepped over the safe line, Theren was handed over to a group of May's doctors and Vincent was handed a large shock blanket, mostly his own request to cover himself as the lack of a gap between his skin and the melted costume made him uncomfortable. And before Phoenix could talk to Vincent, Mike whisked the man away to thank him for saving his daughter and to ask what happened. Phoenix sighed and looked back at the building, but was immediately interrupted by someone tapping on his shoulder and extending a hand. "Hey, are you going to look at that place burn all morning or what?" Mike said as he gestured for Phoenix to come with, and Mike was asking not as an officer on the scene, but as Theren's dad, "I'll be asking Vincent what happened, and you've probably got some questions too, and probably better ones than mine. Sis said she'll let us see Theren when she's certain that she's stable. So in the meantime, you should probably stick with me." Phoenix paused for a moment before he took Mike's hand. "Sure." °*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°

#2023 #art #artwork #fnaf3 #FNAF Renegade AU #Renegade AU Guards #Renegade AU #springtrap #fnaf springtrap #fnaf 3 guard #fnaf 3 #fnaf night guard #fnaf security guard #fnaf 3 springtrap #slight burns #slight blood #fnaf #five nights at freddy's #artists on tumblr

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willel · 1 year

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Do you think if Will gets attacked by Vecna, he would be able to resist him? I mean, technically Max could not. And we know that Will is in a pretty vulnerable state, he not only has a direct connection to Vecna already, but he also has underlining personal issues and trauma. So I just wonder if it's going to work out well for him if he ever has to face Vecna in some way. I also personally do not think El would be able to save him this time or his other friends or family. It feels like... it is something Will has to overcome on his own, idk. I just wonder how they are going to portray that.

It feels like a 50/50 gamble for me.

A couple months back, I reread the definition of True Sight

The caster had to successfully touch the recipient of this spell and, for a number of minutes equal to the caster's experience level, the subject's vision was greatly enhanced out to a range of 120 ft (36 m). (The older arcane version of this spell had half this range.) Normal and magical darkness were no longer a barrier, illusions became transparent, magically concealed doors became obvious, invisible things became visible, blurred things became sharp, mirror images didn't fool the subject, and displaced and out of phase things were seen in their true location. Polymorphed or transmuted things could be seen in their original form, e.g., an elf that was really a polymorphed dragon appeared to have a life-sized spectral dragon superimposed on it. The subject could also see into the Ethereal Plane and other coexistent planes.

So basically, True Sight can see through all magical illusions and barriers. Things made invisible become visible. And lastly, they can see into the ethereal plane and other plane.

This completely lines up to Will's experiences.

In season 2, though it's questionable at first if he's just hallucinating or actually seeing the Upside Down, it's confirmed pretty quickly he's ACTUALLY seeing the Upside Down. It's not an illusion and it never was. The end of the season proves this even further when they expel the physical particles from his body that entered him from the Upside Down.

Unlike pretty much every victim we've seen so far, Will has never seen illusions even though that is clearly Henry's main power.

When Billy got possessed, he saw visions

We can assume the other flayed victims saw visions as well. All four victims of season 4 had visions.

Nancy too saw visions when she was targeted. So this makes Will the only odd one out, other than El herself. (I can only assume he can't do it to El. But since Kali can, I assume this doesn't mean El is immune... maybe he just hasn't tried)

Upon reading the wiki again, I discovered something else interesting.

True seeing, also known as true sight, was a divination spell that allowed the subject see things in their true form or location. A divine version of this spell was reversible, called false seeing, and masked the true form of things, generally making them appear the opposite of their true nature.

If Will has True sight, maybe Henry has false sight and the two cancel each other out.

All that said, I do think Will will be targeted.... but I feel like the attack on him will have to be very different if Will truly has true sight. If he has true sight, then Henry's illusions won't work on him as well. Will would be able to see through them or not at all.

I have a feeling if/when Will is targeted, it will be a matter of Henry actually catching him again. Like sure, Will is immune to his illusions, but he's certainly not immune to possession or telekinesis. Also won't help if Will is face to face with Vecna. No illusions are required for Vecna to read Will's mind via their connection and tear Will down inside and out with just his words. (and threats)

So you're right, I don't think there will be any El saving involving visions or hallucinations. We don't know if El can jump into his true sight and see what he's seeing or interact with the Upside Down like he could in season 2.

If Will is a target again, he's in deep doo doo. Last time the gate was open and he was unpossessed, he had no control of his true sight, making him vulnerable to being grabbed at any time. He needs someone nearby to snap him out of it before he stays too long. Once he's been got, nothing seems to wake up him. Music might not be very effective.

#stranger things #will byers #vecna #henry creel #el hopper #theory

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kiribakus-warrior-princess · 1 year

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Just a little drabble that I couldn't get out of my head.

TW: Canon typical violence, injury, betrayal,

A/N: In my head, they call each other by their hero names out in public and that's reflected here VERY briefly. Please tell me if you like it. I haven't written in years and I want to again but I can't stop hating everything I write.

Laying on the ground at the mouth of an alleyway was not the way you wanted to go... But unfortunately the piece of shit you'd called a partner had a different idea... After almost 2 years of working with Spectral Barbarian, you hadn't had a single clue who they really were..

You and Spectral Barbarian had decided to move away from the central fight to cut off the villain's escape route but instead, as soon as you were far enough away from the fight, he'd turned on you and caught you off guard with a vicious attack from his spectral war hammer that sent you flying into the corner of a building.

While you were still in shock, he destroyed your coms and stomped you so hard you almost blacked out with strength you hadn't seen in all the time you'd been working together. All while monologuing about how bored he'd been and how he was so relieved to go home and get away from you and how weak you were and blah blah blah.

You pushed yourself up from the ground, forcing your arms under you and pushing with everything you had... One gave out but you managed to get to your knees, cursing as you sat back on your heels to rest for a moment before forcing yourself onto your feet.

You leaned against the wall next to you and took stock of the damage... Your coms system and your phone were completely destroyed 'fuck'. At least one rib was broken, one eye was swollen shut, and even leaning against the wall had what was left of your vision going splotchy along the edges.

A loud explosion snapped your attention back to reality and you looked back toward where the fight was. The sun was setting so all of the fire and light quirks lit up the sky like ominous fireworks.

"I need to get back there." You groaned, using the wall for support and forcing your feet to drag you down the street toward the fight.

'Almost there, just a few more steps, I have to help them.' You repeated in your mind over and over again like that alone could keep you going. Your legs were so heavy like you were walking through slow drying concrete but you couldn't stop, you had to move forward.

You were so in your head that you didn't hear the fighting die down, and you didn't notice that you'd made it back to where all of the pro-Heros were still congregated until you heard the familiar voices of your friends and colleagues.

"Can someone call me a medic?" You tried to shout but there was no power behind it as you finally allowed yourself to slide down the wall that had been supporting you.

Several things happened at once. Everyone who heard you turned around and gasped at your sorry state. Medics were called, your friends swarmed you, and a bunch of different questions were being asked at the same time.

"Holy shit, what happened"

"Where were you?"

"Does this hurt?"

"Can you breathe?"

"When did the villain get you?"

The world was spinning too fast, you couldn't think straight to answer anything until large, warm hands settled on your shoulders...And shook you.

"Oi! Get out of your head and answer the questions!" Bakugo demanded as gentle as he ever was.

"Dynamite, be gentle, we don't know how bad their injuries are." Kirishima put his hands over Bakugo's and stopped the shaking.

"Their spine is fine... A couple of fucked up ribs and probably a concussion but the rest of the injuries are superficial." Bakugo added, but he did refrain from shaking you again and instead used his hands to make sure you were looking at him. "Who did this to you."

You took a deep breath, you knew as soon as you said who it was, a least one of them would take off after him.

"Spectral Barbarian turned on me." You began. "He told me he had intel that found a retreat around the other side of the building and we were heading over there to block the escape and as soon as we were out of site he smashed my ribs with his hammer and proceeded to stomp on my face while telling me how much of a weak piece of shit I am..."

Just like you'd predicted, Bakugo straightened up, and about 3 others started formulating a plan and panic struck you.

"WAIT!" You yelled. " He's so much stronger than he pretended to be! He's never been able to knock me off of my feet that easily before. I don't know how he was hiding his true strength but he was." You babbled, trying to stand up but Kirishima pushed you gently back to sit.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but Spectral Barbarian doesn't exist." He told you, concern clouding his features.

#My hero academia #MHA #I hate how long these take me to write now #I also hate it #I just want to write again so I'm gonna force it until I can do it again #Nikkiwritesthings

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ghostinyourbuilding · 2 years

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June 12th, Sunday. 06.12. Good morning, ghost.

This will come as no surprise but I haven't slept yet. My routine is blending together, making every minute the same regardless if it's 3am or 5pm.

I tend to write pointlessly like this only when I'm about to either have an eureka moment or a complete mental breakdown, but this time it's none. I've been introspective, juggling so many characters that I'm probably unable to keep it up without telling it to someone. Now, who would be a better person spectral figure than you? You wouldn't judge me or anything, and if you do, I will judge you back. Maybe I'll burn some sage to terrorise you. Fuck around and find out.

Anyway, enough explaining what's obvious. Since this is not a diary entry, I'll just ramble about my chaotic love life today. I'll probably start just spitballing it in the future, perhaps I'll adopt the occasional diary style when I feel like I'm having an interesting day.

The Fele Debacle™

Sometimes I even forget about it but yes, I do have a partner. While he was once the exciting person sitting shotgun, now he's not even in the backseat. I think he's inside the trunk and I only remember him when he frantically knocks on the trunk door.

Well, that's probably why I don't think of him much. If he tried kicking the decklid off or something but no, he's chronically unable to be anything other than passive.

It's been a little over a year and I'm tired of this relationship. He's so repetitive, and maybe that can be blamed on his age? Maybe his job? But I didn't sign up for any of those things. I'm quite sure I wouldn't have agreed to get into a serious relationship if I knew that the only variety in our relationship would be in takeout choice.

That's not to say he's a bad dude to date. He's a catch, really. Independent, witty, funny, has good taste in media, very handsome (well, he was handsomererer before he gained his wee beer belly) and decently cultured. In fact, ghostie, were I not his girlfriend I'd put a good word in whenever my friends ask if I know a chill, single dude. But this is not for me. The dynamic he wants is not what I crave, not sure where it went wrong but I can't keep this for much longer.

You're probably rolling your ghost eyes right about now, thinking that this is a non-issue that can be solved by breaking up. And yeah, true. But for the past 2-3 months I did something I never did before and that was completely uncharacteristic - I tried :)

I saw the problems and I tried to talk them over, maybe compromise a little, which I never did in any relationship. Considering that I'm writing this now, it didn't work. And I will never do that again. It's a waste of time to fix base problems in relationships, and this time it wasn't different. My family and friends loved him so much, they didn't want me to be as quick to cut it as I always am, so I listened to them.

I don't regret anything, but yes, I will break things up soon, probably in my style modelled after you. I don't like giving people reasons why I want to leave their life so I often just break whatever ties we have and completely ghost them, not waiting for even a reply. Maybe it's time. Maybe today after he picks up his things.

Loyalty-free Music™

Uh, here's a little thing about me: I'm a bad partner. I have cheated on most of my partners (except the ones I truly loved) and I tend to end relationships quicker than you can say bye. While I like Fele, I don't love him. I never got to that stage and, weirdly enough, I think I would have gotten to that if he didn't stagnate.

I haven't been faithful with him. I haven't fucked anyone else (pandemic worries almost over so it was pretty close) but that doesn't make it any better. Honestly, I don't feel the smallest amount of guilt, I don't even think about it at all.

It was all online shit which was a blast from the past. I haven't had to resort to LDRs or exchanging nudes for a long while. They were mostly dudes I knew already but kept a certain distance while the relationship with Fele was still enjoyable. Since I'm not dumb enough to tell my reply guys I'm dating I just had to make a stupid fucking excuse for my absence then get back to business.

Since I'm Histrionic™ and both these dudes and Fele were beaten cards, I had to find a new person to give my temporary histrionic adoration to and I found Adi. He lives in Buttfuck Europe and he's just doing it for me. Nothing sexual, we just have some big brain talks and he's kinda interesting. We'll see how that goes, maybe I end up seeing him? heheh

In conclusion

Perhaps this is hell and your spirit is being punished by having to forcefully read this pointless wall of text with some teenage-tier love drama. Perhaps I just need to sleep and I'll completely forget about my introspective writing or whatever the fuck. In any case, the conclusion is that I need to break up with Fele and I need to fix my sleep schedule.

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fitzs-trained-monkey · 2 years

Text

Spectral Perception

Title: Spectral Perception

Word Count: 8,000+ (I kept it under five digits this time!)

Summary: You had a superpower. You could perceive and give form to non-corporeal matter. That is to say, you could see ghosts - okay, so just one ghost in particular and it's really not even cool because when you touch him he just gets ten times as annoying. || Kol Mikaelson x reader

Warnings: None that I can think of...

Prompt: "If you're gonna keep giving me crap comments, can you at least give me crap comments with purpose!?"

Requested by: @kyn-lyn-blog Thank you so much! This was surprisingly difficult to write but I think it turned out pretty good.

Here lies my Masterlist and if you want to request something from me, check out my Cot Kerfuffle! Enjoy the show!

I’m a burden, I know it

Annoying, needy, just a bit

But when I apologize

You just roll your eyes and you grin

How come you’re oh-so-kind to me?

Why waste time on me?

Darling, I don’t understand.

So sad you’ll never hear it

From my two lips but it’s true

So sad I can’t quite say it

But I can show it to you

It's too bad you may never know it

But I’m in love with you too.

- So Sad, Too Bad by Cassie (I wrote a song, don't steal it)

Lives are lived in stories. You could say on some authority that the stories of your life were a little bit stranger than most, but such is the burden of a necromancer. See, it all began the day after your 19th birthday. That was the day you had started seeing ghosts - just one ghost actually.

You had thought he was just some sort of late-term transfer student. He just showed up one day and sat at one of the empty seats, lounging about with his feet propped up on the desk as if he owned the place. It bothered you, but you ignored him. Then he started talking - or rather, you started hearing him and the guy never shut up. He always had some snide comment to toss out and it grated on your nerves like nothing else, yet your professor never addressed him. Then one day, he took it to the next level.

The class was in the middle of a test, it wasn’t a huge test but it was significant enough. Then along came that idiot.

“Well, my darlings, I’m bored out of my mind!” He announced, not even five minutes into the test. He got up and sauntered down to the very first seat on the first row and leaned down to peer at the student’s laptop. “Oh! So close,” He hissed. “ You forgot the negative sign on the three, if not for that you would have been right as rain.” Then he straightened up and moved on to the next student. “Ah, somebody found the cheat sheet, didn’t they? Congratulations-” He squinted to read the name written on the tag attached to the student’s backpack. “- Darell, you’re going to kill someone in the future because you were too lazy to do math.” Then he moved on to the third person in the row. You tried to ignore him this time but you couldn’t help glancing up when the annoying boy made a harsh choking noise and slid around the desk to crouch in front of the student. “Darling, honest question for you… how the hell did you make it past the second grade? I’ll admit I don’t know what the requirements are, but I am sure you don’t make them. You, poor child, are doomed!”

And this student he was talking to didn’t even glance up! He didn’t move or flinch or anything. It was as if no one could hear the annoying British boy except you. But if no one else was paying him any mind, then you wouldn’t either. The boy kept going around the room, making snide comments about every student’s work. You had to admit, annoying as he was, the boy wasn’t stupid - he seemed to know what he was talking about from what you heard between your aggressive attempts to ignore his existence. Eventually, he got around the room to you. Just like everyone else in the room, you pretended as if you couldn’t see him, and you thought you did a good job of it too. He leaned on your desk, so close you were practically leaning against his chest, and hummed what you had to admit was a beautiful tune, swaying back and forth while he reviewed your answers.

“Would you look at that, someone who might actually pass. It’s a bloody miracle!” He declared, not without his usual bitterly sarcastic tone, before moving on. You couldn’t help the triumphant smirk that drifted over your face.

After class that day, you packed up your things and followed the annoying boy out of the classroom. Physics was always your last class so you didn’t have anywhere else to be that afternoon. You tried to be subtle, following close enough to keep up with him but not too close to be suspicious. After a solid hour of walking through the streets of your home city, the boy found his way to the botanical gardens and you followed him in, albeit with confusion. With looks like his, you hadn’t taken him for the shy, botanical garden type - you weren’t blind! He may have been annoying, but he certainly wasn’t ugly, he could have had any girl he wanted - his whole vibe seemed to scream troublemaker, not flower-boy. When you found him again, he was sitting with his back against a cherry tree, just enjoying the quiet it seemed. You didn’t know his name, so you did the only thing you could.

You marched right up to him, put your hands on your hips, and cleared your throat.

“Gudsuntite,” He said, not even bothering to open his eyes.

You gave a tight smile and tried again. “Excuse me?”

“You are excused,” The boy muttered. You almost laughed… almost.

“What on earth is your problem?” You demanded. The boy seemed to tense up. He opened one eye… then the other… and then he sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees. You couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked when he did that. He glanced around briefly before staring up at you in confusion.

“Can you-” He cut himself off, hesitating. “Can you see me?” He asked, almost cautiously.

You frowned. “I know you’re trying to make me look dumb, but the only one who looks dumb is you. I’m not falling for that.”

“A-and you can hear me?” He actually had a really nice voice when he wasn’t being bitter and rude. The little almost-smile on his face was pretty adorable too.

“And you’re going to keep going with this?” You snarked back. The boy scrambled up from his seat on the grass, easily towering over you.

“I promise I’m not tricking you, darling. Please just humor me, what color are my eyes?” His little smile was growing bit by bit and you found it hard not to smile too.

You rolled your eyes. “Brown, okay? Your eyes are brown.”

The boy’s little smile broke into a full-on grin. “You can see me!” He laughed. “Já! Heilagt Hel! Þetta er besti dagur dauða míns! Þetta er ótrúlegt! Ég ætla að kasta upp! Bíddu, má ég kasta upp?” You weren’t sure what language he was speaking but judging by the way his voice quieted and his face scrunched up with confusion you guessed that the last bit was some sort of introspective question.

“Wait so, are you actually crazy or just a huge jerk?” You wondered, raising a brow. The boy shrugged.

“Little bit of both, I think,” He grinned, tilting his head. “Tell me, darling. Do you believe in ghosts?”

“No,” You responded immediately. “Of course not.”

The boy chuckled; it was a happy, friendly sound, yet it sent a chill down your spine. “Well that makes this a little awkward, now doesn’t it?” The look in his eyes wasn’t the one of some college boy pulling a prank. But you still refused to believe it.

“No, no.” You shook your head. “Ghosts aren’t real. They can’t be real!”

“You might want to think again,” He said.

“No, this is some kind of trick, a-and it isn’t funny,” You insisted. The boy threw his head back and laughed, it was more hysterical than anything.

“You know what isn’t funny?” He asked, striding over to a bed of roses not too far away. “This!” The boy tried to reach for one but his hand passed right through it; he waved his hand back and forth through the rose bush but his hand just flickered, distorting like a tv image with bad reception. “This is just bloody hilarious!” He got up and demonstratively brushed his hands off with a scowl. “Believe me now?”

You stood there, frozen with shock. “Who are you?” You demanded in a whisper.

The boy flashed you a devilish smirk. “Kol Mikaelson, original vampire, in the non-corporeal flesh.” He gave a flourishing bow. “Oh, and vampires are real too, along with witches and werewolves, and don’t even get me started on dopplegangers.”

You blinked, eyes wide. “You, sir, have been drinking Kool-aid. Mmhmm.”

“Oh definitely not.” He said softly. “I haven’t had anything to drink in months…” His voice trailed off and his gaze drifted to your throat. As you watched, his eyes seemed to fill with a blackness that crept from dark veins that spread across his cheeks like the strands of a spider’s web. His mouth twitched up in a smile, revealing two incisors sharp enough to tear flesh to shreds. You shrieked and stumbled back.

“Okay, okay, okay! I believe you! I believe you!” You cried. Your foot caught on a root and you tripped, landing on your back jarringly. In the blink of an eye, he was standing over you, tilting his head. You threw your arms up, ready to protect yourself, but no attack came. Instead, there was laughter, happy, gentle laughter. You blinked and refocused. The demonic features faded from the boy’s countenance and he grinned down at you in a way that was simply friendly, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture.

“Relax, darling. I’m not going to eat you,” Kol assured.

“No?” You questioned.

‘No.” He shook his head and you let out a sigh of relief, letting your head fall back against the grass. “Not yet, anyway.”

Your eyes flew wide. “Woah, wait. What?”

“Kidding!” He quickly exclaimed. “I’m kidding!”

“How do I know that?” You eyed him skeptically.

“I’m a ghost, sweetheart. I couldn’t hurt you even if I wanted to,” Kol said.

“So you don’t want to hurt me?”

Kol blinked. “Of course not. You’re the first person I’ve been able to talk to in months,” He said. His voice was soft and gentle, like silk. He stepped closer, and you felt your resolve melting as he watched you with something tender in his eyes. “I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

“Thanks… I guess.” You shook your head, still not sure how to feel about all this. “I came over here to tell you something.”

“Ah, yes!” He nodded happily. “And what was that?”

“How abhorrently annoying you are,” You deadpanned.

His face fell. “Oh… Well, that’s just too bad…” He said mournfully.

“Why?”

“I haven’t talked to a person in months, darling.” Kol grinned. “I am never leaving you alone!”

“Oh, good grief.” You rolled your eyes.

“Don’t be like that,” He scoffed, still smirking like a madman. “We’re going to be best friends!”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Not really, no.”

Kol just laughed in that carefree way you had already started liking. “I bet all the stars in the heavens that one day you’re going to like me, Y/N… It is Y/N, right?”

You shook your head and sighed. “It is and I don’t have to take that bet.”

“Why not?” He challenged. “Scared you’ll lose?”

“Oh, not at all,” You replied. “I just don’t think that having all the stars in the heavens will do me very much good as a broke college student. You can buy them online for twenty bucks.”

That was how you discovered that you could see the one singular ghost. As it turns out that was just half of what you could do. You learned about the rest a little bit later in an empty classroom.

The boy made good on his promise. Ever since that day in the botanical gardens, Kol had taken to following you around pretty much everywhere you went. At first, it was miserable, and it never stopped. Kol always had something snarky or inappropriate to say, which of course made you laugh at the worst of times. One such instance was what led you to uncover the entirety of your abilities.

You had a biology test, a big one, and Kol had taken to singing that infernal bottles of beer song. You had tried ignoring him, really. But there are just some things a person cannot ignore, one hundred and forty-eight bottles of beer on the wall for example. Technically it was two hundred forty-eight bottles of beer because he'd already counted down from one hundred and had started counting up after that. Needless to say, you were two-hundred and forty-eight bottles of done with that ghost boy.

You raised your hand. "Professor, I think I'm having a panic attack. May I be excused?" Your professor looked at you over the top of his glasses.

"History's empty." That was all he said. You nodded and promptly left the room. Kol, of course, followed just like you knew he would. You easily found your way to the history classroom and threw yourself into one of the seats, putting your head down.

"Good decision, darling. It was getting stuffy in there," Kol said, hopping atop one of the seats. You couldn’t believe he had the nerve to keep talking.

"Shut your mouth," You snapped, lifting your head.

"Why?"

"Because you're annoying."

"I can't help that I'm bored!" He defended lamely, throwing his hands in the air.

"But why do you have to bother me?" You demanded.

"Because you're fun to bother," He answered, smirking. “That’s what friends do!” You glared at him and put your head down again.

“We’re not friends,” You mumbled. “I don’t want friends.”

Kol’s smirk faded. If you hadn’t known who you were talking to, you might have said he looked concerned. “Why not?”

“Because friends are just an unnecessary responsibility,” You said sourly.

“Oh, I see how this is.” Kol pouted. "Are you mad at me?" That was all it took to set you off.

You rose from your seat and turned to look at Kol in his smug face. “What is wrong with you?”

“A great many things,” He replied with a cheeky smile. “Shall I make a list?”

"No!” You shouted. “Stop dodging the question, you always do this! You annoy me to death, and I want to know why! Why do you do this? You always make those stupid jokes, and it makes me look bad for laughing. Why do you do that? Are you that desperate for attention? Why not just talk to me when I'm not in school? Why do you have to be like this?!"

He shrugged. “Because I’m bored.”

“So what? I’m just some plaything to you - just entertainment?” You snarled.

“Yeah, pretty much,” He smirked, tilting his head.

You weren't sure why, but that hurt. “You’re a jerk, Kol.” You turned away and tugged at your hair, trying to keep yourself together.

“No, no. Darling, I didn’t mean that.” He was trying to backtrack but it wasn’t working. “I-I was just kidding.”

“Is that what you do?” You laughed humorlessly, letting a tear slip down your face. You were so sick of him. Everyone else left you alone, why wouldn’t he? “You just say whatever mean, hurtful, or disturbing crap you want and if it doesn’t work in your favor you say ‘I’m just kidding’?”

Kol blinked and bit his lip. “N-no, of course not. I just-”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” You cried. “I was doing perfectly fine until you showed up!”

That wasn’t true, though. You hadn’t been fine. You had been lonely and unhappy and throwing yourself into schoolwork to distract yourself from that.

His response was quieter this time. “I just like seeing you smile.”

You blinked. Then you smacked him.

You smacked him because those words changed everything and nothing terrified you like change. Your world had been dreary and grey and then along came Kol and he was like a ray of sunshine. Looking at the hurt in his puppy-like eyes made you realize that maybe he wasn’t trying to be annoying, maybe he was just happy to have someone to talk to. Kol always tried to make you laugh but you’d never really wondered why until now. He was always saying things to make you smile, to let a little sunshine poke in from behind the clouds, and it made you wonder when you’d started hating the light.

"Uh… darling?" His voice made you want to throw something. Every time he called you darling it made you want to smile. You didn’t know how you should feel about him. He was cute but infuriating, thoughtful but arrogant. Kol was just so easy to like and maybe that was why you were so determined to hate him. He was just trying to be your friend, albeit in his own certainly unconventional way, but he was trying. You had just ignored him, written him off as a nuisance, and refused to see his efforts for what they were.

"Don't 'darling' me, Kol. I-" Only then did it dawn on you what exactly had just happened. “Wait a second… did I just?”

"You just slapped me,” Kol said, nodding slowly.

Your eyes went as wide as quarters. "Oh, geez, I’m so sorry. That was way out of character."

“Wait, what are you-” The boy made a face. "Really? That’s what you choose to focus on? Why is that-” He cut himself off with a shake of his head. “You know what? Never mind that! Darling, I’m a ghost," He pointed out. You blinked.

"You're a ghost," You repeated blankly.

"Yep…" He said, popping the ‘p’. His eyes were wide and his expression wrought with a mixture of shock, confusion, and amazement.

"And I just slapped you…" You looked down at your hands. You understood what that meant but your brain refused to grasp the concept.

"That you did." The corner of Kol’s lip twitched up, trying to restrain a smile.

“I shouldn’t be able to do that,” You said.

Kol’s lips parted into that adorable smile of his and now that you weren’t busy trying to hate it, you noticed that boy made laughter sound like a gift. “No. No, you should not.”

Your mouth fell open as your brain finally did its job. “Woah, no! Uh, uh! Nope! That ain't right!” You shook your head, taking deep breaths to try to calm yourself. Kol apparently found that hilarious. He was laughing and you were panicking. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh… Y-you're dead. You're a ghost, you're not here! How did I touch you?" You stammered.

"I have no idea," He said, shrugging. He at least had the courtesy to try to stop laughing but he failed.

“THIS ISN’T FUNNY, YOU WACKO!” You shouted. He made a pinching motion.

“Just a little bit.”

You were trying not to hyperventilate but this was a little bit much. You grabbed the side of a desk and guided yourself to sit on the floor. Kol knelt down beside you. “So, not only can I see dead people but I can touch you too now? T-this isn’t normal! Kol, what’s happening to me?” You asked, feeling yourself begin to tremble.

“Hey! Hey, it’s alright. You’re okay,” He reassured you.

“No, I’m not!” You exclaimed. “Seeing dead people is not okay!”

“Not dead people, darling - just the one.” He corrected.

“Yeah, for now!” You huffed. “I’ve seen enough movies to know crap like this doesn’t stop small. And I don’t even know what this is!”

“Neither do I,” Kol admitted. “But if I had to make a guess, I’d say you’re probably some kind of psychic or perhaps a necromancy inclined witch and this is just your abilities beginning to manifest themselves.”

“You realize how none of what you just said is comforting, right?” You deadpanned.

He raised his hands defensively. “On the brighter side, maybe you’re not very powerful and this is as far as your abilities will take you.”

“What makes you think that?” You asked, skeptical.

Kol’s eyes darted to the side, you noticed he did that when he thought something was obvious. “Well, I’m not the only ghost in the area, darling.”

“Y-you’re not?”

“No.” He shook his head. “However, I am probably the most powerful in regards to latent magic, perhaps that’s why you see me and no one else.”

You snorted and raised a brow. “What makes you so special?”

Kol gasped, placing a hand over his heart mockingly. “You wound me, Y/N!”

You huffed a laugh. “I think you’ll live.” His smile made you blush.

“I’ll have you know that before I died, the first time that is, I was a very powerful witch,” He informed you.

“Oh, that’s cool.” You nodded.

“Yes, it is.”

“Did becoming a vampire take your magic away?” You wondered.

Kol smiled but the action was pained. “Yes, actually. It did.” You could tell that was a sore subject for him.

“That sucks.”

“It really does,” He said quietly.

“I’m sorry.” You just wanted him to know that. You weren’t quite sure why.

Kol looked up, blinking quickly a few times. “Oh… Um, t-thank you.” He watched you, searching your face for something. Perhaps he found it because a soft smile danced across his lips then.

“You’re welcome.” His eyes bored into yours and you could feel your cheeks heating up, so you looked away. It was silent between you for a moment. You knew there should be hundreds of frightening thoughts dashing through your head, but your mind was surprisingly calm.

“Y/N?” He spoke up.

"What?" You turned your gaze back to his face. For a powerful one thousand-year-old vampire, he seemed so young. You had never seen him look so vulnerable as he did at that moment. He wanted to ask you for something.

"Can you… can you do that again?" His voice was quiet and gentle, like silk. "Please?"

You tilted your head. "You want me to slap you?"

"No, no. Not that!" He shook his head, wearing that little smile you couldn't help but find adorable. Kol sighed, glancing away. "I just want - I want to touch you… Please? I-it's been so long…"

It must have been torture, you realized, not being able to feel anything for months. You knew by now that Kol wasn’t the type of person to exploit you, he was a gentleman in the traditional sense. So, you reached out, hesitantly this time, and laid a hand on his cheek. Kol's skin was cold - not icy, just not warm. His eyes fluttered closed and the boy leaned into your touch, smiling blissfully at the sensation.

“Your hand is warm,” Kol laughed. “I can feel that.” He grinned and reached up, placing his hand over yours and tangling your fingers together. He held your hand tight and turned his head, nudging your wrist with his nose. “I can smell you too.” He mumbled, pressing his lips to the inside of your wrist. “That’s wonderful.” You had seen the demonic features of his curse come out once before, but that did nothing to dull your fear when you watched the darkness creep across his face. You didn’t think he would hurt you but he seemed distracted…

“Uh, Kol?”

All you got was a faint hum in response. The dark veins didn’t go away and a second later you felt sharp teeth grazing your wrist. You ripped your hand from his grasp and pushed yourself away from him, heart beating wildly though for whatever reason you didn’t feel quite as scared as you should. Kol looked up, his cursed features fading as he opened his eyes and took in the fear written across your face.

He shook his head, blinking. “I-I won’t,” He said. Kol reached for your hand again, eyes full of longing. “Please?”

You bit your lip but nodded and held your hand out. He took it and you knew that his smile would be the end of you one day. Then Kol smirked and tugged you forward, wrapping his arms around you and burring his face in your neck. You flinched and expected to be uncomfortable, you just weren’t big on being touched, but oddly enough, the hug from Kol wasn’t that bad.

“Thank you,” He mumbled, holding you a little tighter. You couldn’t help but smile both at how adorable the supposed powerful one-thousand-year-old was acting and at the evil idea that popped into your skull.

“Don’t thank me yet,” You chuckled, rubbing his back. You figured he needed it. “If I’m gonna keep giving you hugs then you have to promise to stop bothering me while I’m in class.”

The boy groaned. “That’s not fair!”

“That’s the deal,” You declared. “Take it or leave it!”

“Fine,” He grumbled. Then he pulled away to look at your face. “But only because I like you.”

“That’s your mistake.” You shrugged. You didn’t really believe him seeing as you were his only option for company.

He just smiled. “I guess we’ll just have to see.” Then he lifted his hands to cradle your face, just watching you as if you were something special. “Close your eyes?” He breathed. It was a request but you did it anyway, seeing no harm. A moment later you felt him press a sweet kiss on your brow and in the next heartbeat, he brushed his lips over your eyes. Then when you opened them, Kol was gone.

From that moment on, you should have known you were in trouble.

Though it had been rocky at first, time passed and the two of you sort of molded around each other. He learned his way to being your best friend. It was kind of nice having someone to talk to anywhere you went, and Kol was always willing to chat because it’s boring being dead and he really had nothing else better to do… ever. You could get away with talking to him pretty much anywhere too, all you had to do was put your headphones on and pretend you were calling someone, it was that easy! Being friends with Kol was, in a word, easy. Once you got over the part of you that wanted to throttle him day in and day out, the two of you just clicked and it certainly didn’t hurt that he was the cutest boy you had ever seen.

The problem was, Kol didn’t just look cute - that you could handle - no, he also possessed the most adorable personality on the face of the planet. He was still grumpy about being dead, but he had been so long enough to count himself extraordinarily lucky that he had found you. For the first time in a long time, he wasn’t trying to be the sort of monster that haunts people’s dreams, he wasn’t trying to be someone he wasn’t. Around you, he could just be himself - he could just be the eighteen-year-old boy he’d been before he died the first time. You learned that Kol was really quite sweet when he wanted to be, and he was sweet without even trying. He listened even when you didn’t have anything real to say, and his advice was usually awful, but it always made you laugh and that was usually what you wanted anyway. Kol was the sort of person who smiles when he sees a dog and lights up when he gets the chance to explain something he’s passionate about. The sort of person who likes catching snowflakes on his tongue and sits through the extended editions of The Lord of The Rings with you. You’d showed him Star Wars and he’d freaked out when Luke found out Vader was his father. For a boy who’d died twice, Kol was quite full of life.

But he wasn’t alive. Kol was dead.

After a while, you started to feel guilty about how much you loved seeing your best friend smile. Sometimes your friendship with Kol felt wrong. Because over time you came to realize that you weren’t just friends. You couldn’t be, it was impossible. Because in the end, and you’d never liked the end of anything, that word - just - somehow always ends up meaning only. Now of all the people in this great big beautiful and awful world, Kol was one of those people who could never be only anything. In fact, you would say that only and just are the two things he never could be because, from the moment he’d entered your life, he’d been everywhere, a part of everything. You knew he always would be because the kind of friendship you two had wasn’t the ‘for now’ kind. It wasn’t the kind that goes away. It was one of those ‘written in the stars’ kinds, it was one of those ‘the atoms that make up our souls held hands when the worlds came to be’ kinds - it was chaotic and strange, and wonderful, and perfect. It felt like it was made to be something more.

You weren’t sure when it was exactly that you fell in love with him - it was more of a gradual process, you supposed, and entirely on accident - but you would never forget the moment you realized it. It was on a Saturday morning and he had finally beaten you in Mario Cart - the maniac insisted on using the wheel configuration, go figure - so naturally, he was smiling and teasing you about it. You had looked over to where he was sitting on your left and thought of the previous night when he’d sat up with you for hours humming a familiar tune you’d never heard while combing a hand through your hair because you couldn’t sleep. The thought had felt like a revelation: “Holy crap, I’m in love with this idiot.” And you knew it wasn’t the kind of love that goes away. You could have told him then, but you didn’t. Because Kol was dead, and you weren’t. And he wasn’t coming back and you would have to live your life eventually but it wouldn’t be with him. You had fallen in love with Kol because he was your best friend, and you kept the truth to yourself because it would only hurt him if he knew.

But life goes on, so you played pretend until the day you couldn’t keep your eyes closed anymore.

That day was a Thursday afternoon and it was raining. The sky was dark and it was pouring buckets, streetlamps were all on and there were puddles of water everywhere. You liked hearing the rain, so your windows were open while you sat inside at your desk working on your chemistry homework and singing along to AJR’s Normal as it played softly from your Bluetooth speaker. Kol sat on top of your desk precisely where you’d asked him a hundred times not to, holding your hand while he watched you with a smile that said he could be quite happy in that moment if only he were alive. He was content to just sit there and trace patterns along your arm and it didn’t bother you very much anymore. You’d come to learn that Kol was a very tactile person, he had the tendency to cling to you whenever you would let him both because he liked having a solid physical form and because he was severely touch-starved though he’d never admit it.

“Is it normal to stand here, and wish that I was back at home?

Is it normal to tell her I can't be normal anymore?

I don't know

So maybe I should go back home,” You sang quietly, swaying a little bit with the tune of the song.

“Your taste in music is awful, darling,” Kol teased, shaking his head woefully.

“No,” You countered. “You’re just ancient.”

“That point, although true, is completely irrelevant,” He claimed.

“Oh, really?” You weren’t really listening to him as this was not the first time the two of you had debated your music taste.

“Indeed. See, I can commend the artists of this century, the music of this day and age is brilliant… for the most part,” He said. “Yet you actively choose to listen to the ear scorching minority.”

“Your opinion has been noted,” You chuckled softly.

“It’s a shame, truely.”

“Thanks.”

“I genuinely feel sorry for you.”

You rolled your eyes and glanced up from your homework. “If you’re going to keep giving me crap comments, can you at least give me crap comments with a purpose?”

Kol smirked at you. “As you wish, darling.” He hopped off your desk and moved to stand behind you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and resting his chin on your head. One of his hands fiddled with the necklace you wore and you knew he was looking over your homework. “Four and seven are wrong,” He said after a moment. You weren’t sure how a one-thousand-year-old Viking could be so good at chemistry, but he was practically a non-human human calculator. Apparently, math and magic are closely related.

“Really?” You groaned.

“You said be useful.” He grinned cheekily.

“I meant you should give me some inspiration.” You deadpanned.

“Alright, well how ‘bout this-” He let go of your necklace and took to rubbing your shoulders. You had never even asked him to, he just did stuff like that. “You need to take a break.”

“No, I don’t,” You scoffed. “What I need is to get this stupid assighnment done.”

“Done is not the same thing as done well,” Kol pointed out. “You’ve been at this for three and a half hours, your brain is fried, love.”

“No, it’s not! I’m fine,” You insisted.

“You need frozen custard,” He declared. You leaned your head back and raised a brow at him.

“I think you mean, you want frozen custard.”

“I assure you, my motives are entirely selfless.” He shot you an innocent grin.

“Yeah, right,” You snorted, rolling your eyes.

Kol gasped, fighting offense. “You doubt my honor, darling?”

“Routienly,” You deadpanned.

“That hurts.”

“Good.” You smirked. “I’m almost done.”

“You said that an hour and a half ago,” He complained.

“Really?” You glanced up at the clock on your bedside table. “Huh. Whaddia know…” You shrugged. “Well, you can’t go without me so you might as well be patient.”

“Oh, I don’t do patient,” He said, deviously. Kol stooped lower to nuzzle into your neck, nipping playfully at your throat. Though it made you blush like mad, you didn’t question it. You just figured it was a vampire self-comfort thing and you were completely and fully aware of how far you were reaching to grasp that conclusion but it was easier than thinking of the alternative.

“Too bad!” You sang. “Kiss my what?”

“Come now, there’s no need to be mean,” Kol sighed. “Just take a break.”

“I said wait and wait you shall.”

“Just think about it, Y/N, ” He continued. “Y/F/F custard. Tantalizingly creamy on the tongue, perfectly refreshing for a warm, humid day, and covered in rainbow sprinkles because you’re obnoxious.”

Seriously? He gave you a description like that and had the nerve to call you obnoxious? It did sound pretty good though…

“Fine!” You snapped, though you weren’t actually angry. “You win! You’re gonna have to wait outside while I grab my coat though. If my dad finds out I brought a boy into my room, I’ll be living in a tent from now on.”

Kol just shook his head and laughed. “As you wish, darling.” Then he kissed you on the cheek and disappeared. You shook your head as you felt warmth rise into your cheeks, you never should have shown him The Princess Bride. Butterflies attacked you from the inside and you couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face as you grabbed your umbrella and pulled on your rain boots. Rushing downstairs, you said goodbye to your dad and told him where you were going before throwing on your rain jacket and heading for the door. You paused with your hand on the doorknob and tried to wipe the cheesy smile off your face. Your case of the feelings was getting worse as time wore on but that still didn’t change the facts. Once you had your face under control, you stepped out the door.

Kol stood outside, waiting for you. It was still raining bathtubs but he remained untouched by the water seeing as it passed straight through him. You opened your umbrella before you got completely soaked and skipped down the steps to meet him. Big mistake. You slipped on the last step and fell forward, you probably would have broken something had Kol not been there to catch you.

“Watch that last step, it’s a doozy,” He joked, grinning down at you. Your faces were really close and you suddenly became hyper-aware of his hands on your waist.

“Thanks,” You said, chuckling awkwardly.

“Anytime.” He didn’t move, and you almost thought you imagined it when his eyes flicked down to your lips, but you knew you weren’t dreaming because you’d never been more awake. If you had been dreaming, you would have let the moment carry on as it wished but to do so in reality would only hurt more.

“Ready to go?” You asked, breaking whatever spell held the two of you in place.

“Of course.” He grasped your hand and took your umbrella from you and the two of you started down the street.

Your destination wasn’t too far to walk. Neilson’s Frozen Custard was a little shop on campus, the only one in the world, and the world was missing out because it had the best frozen custard mankind will ever know. Plus, the portion sizes were enormous so the place was just perfect all around. When you reached the window, you smiled at the elderly gentleman working there. His name was Bryce and owned the place actually, it was opened by his great grandfather back in 1915.

“Two large concretes please,” You requested, shoving the damp hair from your face.

“Can do, young lady,” He replied. “What flavor?”

“Cookies and Creme, if you would.” Kol muttered. You eyed him with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t,” You whispered back. You raised your voice again, addressing Bryce. “I’ll have Y/F/F and the fruit loop beside me will have Grasshopper. Extra rainbow sprinkles on both!”

“Comming right up, Miss. Y/N,” Bryce chuckled. Then he went about scooping up the frozen treat.

“That sounds disgusting,” Kol whined. “And I’m not a fruit loop. If anyone’s a fruit loop it’s that one kid - what’s his name? - Darell! He’s a fruit loop, I’m not a fruit loop.”

“Relax, darling,” You mocked. “It’s just a weird name for Mint Chocolate chip, ‘cause you need to expand your horizons past Cookies and Creame.”

He shrugged. “If it ain’t broke…”

“Also, you’re a fruit loop if I say you’re a fruit loop because I like fruit loops,” You declared. Kol just rolled his eyes and Bryce returned a moment later bearing two giant styrofoam cups which you and Kol accepted, paying for them first so you wouldn’t have to let go of your ghost’s hand.

The older gentleman then turned to Kol. “You better keep an eye on her, son. She’s one of the good ones.”

Kol glanced at you for a moment with a smile that was very happy and a little bit sad. You looked away, blushing and he turned back to Bryce. “Don’t I know it.” You avoided responding to that by not so cleverly shoving a spoonful of sugary goodness in your mouth.

“Thanks, Bryce! Have a great day!” You chirped with a mouth full of custard. You waved and he waved back before closing the window. You and Kol found a seat that was covered by the tiny shop’s awning and sat down, your intertwined hands resting on the tabletop as the rain fell all around you.

“Alright, I’ll admit it… that was pretty good,” Kol said, turning in his seat and tossing his empty cup at the trash can a few yards away. His aim was spectacular and he made it no problem.

“Told ya’,” You smirked, finishing off your last spoonful. He took your cup from you and tossed it out too.

“Ready to go?” He asked. You shook your head.

“I think I’m just gonna watch the rain for a bit,” You said, smiling softly. It really was beautiful and the whole world was calm.

Minutes passed in silence, with you watching the rain and Kol tracing patterns into your skin. It was nice. Then he spoke up and it hurt you when he did.

“If I told you that I loved you, would you believe me?” Kol’s voice was soft and hesitant and you knew he was watching your face for any reaction. So you were honest with him.

“Yeah, I would.” You could feel the tears begin to fall, you’d been on the verge of crying for a while now.

He seemed surprised. “Really? Why?”

“Because you won that stupid bet,” You choked out.

Kol blinked. “I did?”

His response made your lips twitch up in a smile even though you were hurting. Because that sweet boy tried to act confident, but you could see it on his face every time you asked to talk to him, most people only wanted him around to do things, not to be himself - he wasn’t used to being wanted, at least, not for anything more than his looks.

“Yeah, Koala,” You called him that because he clung to you like one - because he was relaxed and it was another thing you liked about him. “You did.”

“But that makes you sad…” He said, biting his lip. “Is it because twenty dollers per star means you owe me a few trillion wads of worthless paper?” And one more thing you’d grown to love about him, he always knew how to make you laugh.

You shook your head. “Nah, star vendors aren’t’ very reliable anyway.”

“So hard to find an honest businesses these days.” He shook his head woefully.

“Right,” You said. It was silent for a while and you could tell this was one of those times when Kol wished he was alive again.

“Why are you crying?” He could be gentle when he wanted to be.

“You weren’t supposed to say that,” You whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t supposed to say you love me, I didn’t want you to,” You explained.

“You don’t have to say it back, I don’t expect that of you,” He said quickly. “I just wanted you to know.”

You shook your head, pursing your lips. “No! Please don’t say that, Kol. Please, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Why not?” He wondered.

“Because it just hurts,” You sniffed. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Kol but you’re dead and I’m not. One day I’ll have to live my life, but it won’t be with you.”

He squeezed your hand and smiled. “Now, I understand I’m indescribably handsome and outrageously charming, but I can promise you that you won’t need me forever, darling. One day you’ll meet some bloke who is undoubtedly nowhere near good enough for you, but you’ll be completely swept off your feet, and you won’t need me anymore.”

“Well what if I don’t want to?” You muttered.

“What do you-” You cut him off.

“What if I don’t want anybody else? What if I fell in love with my best friend?” You cried, unable to stop the words from leaving your lips. “What do I do then?”

Kol froze and you knew you’d said too much. You shouldn’t have said it out loud, it was better left as it had been. But now the words were out and you couldn’t take them back.

“Y-you love… me?” He asked it as if he couldn’t possibly understand. As if the concept was so utterly foreign he could hardly get it off his tongue.

“I gotta say it was kinda an accident…” You tried to joke. He just stared at you blankly. “I mean, I was trying really hard to hate you but at some point you laughed and I think I blew it.”

“You love me?” He asked it again.

“Yeah, I do.” You nodded.

“But I-I have nothing to give you.” His words hurt your heart because you knew they came from his. You smiled at him.

“Kol, you’re an idiot and a dork and I don’t care if you can give me something because you already gave me a best friend. I love you because you’re everything I’ve ever wanted,” You sniffed, pushing your damp hair out of your face. “Only problem is, I can’t have you.”

“You’re right.” Kol nodded. “But I don’t want to worry about that.” Then he stood up and pulled you with him. “Dance with me?” He asked.

“There’s no music,” You pointed out.

He smiled. “There is if you listen.”

You strained your ears to listen past the rain and you heard it. The tiny speaker from the custard shop was playing Normal by AJR.

“See? My music taste is amazing,” You said, wiping the last of your tears away. Kol just laughed.

“You wish.” Then he dragged you out into the rain, wrapped his arms around your waist, and pulled you in close. You settled against his chest and he rested his chin on your head. It was like your bodies were made to fit together. You didn’t really care that you were getting soaked, it was worth it.

Is it normal to stand here and wish that I was back at home

Is it normal to tell her I can't be normal anymore?

I don't know

So maybe I should go back home.

“Kol?"

“Hmm?”

“You may be invisible to everybody else, but you’re everything to me.”

Kol pulled away from you and before you could blink, his lips were on yours. You were kissing a ghost and as ridiculous as that sounds you couldn’t really think about the technicalities because Kol was a fantastic kisser. He kissed you like you were home and he'd been away far too long. You wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him back - it was all you could think to do and his soft lips tasted like mint. His grip around your waist tightened and you could feel him smile. When he pulled away, he didn’t go far, resting his forehead on yours.

“Do you trust me?” He whispered. You didn’t hesitate for a second.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I have an idea.” Kol took a nervous breath. “But you may not like it very much.”

“What’s your idea?” You asked, peering up at him cautiously.

“Okay.”

That cursed blackness crept around the edges of his eyes again, but this time you couldn’t find it in you to be afraid. “Your blood,” He answered. He seemed ashamed for even suggesting it but the idea made sense, and you trusted him.

“Y-you don’t have to,” He said quickly.

"But did it work?" You asked, flinching a bit.

“I know.” You nodded. “But I trust you, and it never hurts to try, right?”

Kol just smiled at you like he'd never been more grateful for anything in his life. It made you feel warm. He bent down and pressed his lips against your throat. "I love you more than anything," He murmured.

Then he bit down. You wouldn't lie, when his teeth tore through your skin it hurt and it hurt worse than anything you'd felt in a long time. But you tried not to focus on the pain. You thought about how he'd kissed you like you were the only one who'd ever meant anything and that's how you got through it without crying. After a while you started to feel dizzy, things started spinning and you weren't standing on your own anymore. When your knees gave out, Kol moaned, squeezing you tight. You knew he was enjoying it and you knew how dangerous that was. What if he didn't want to stop?

"Kol?" Speaking hurt worse, still you managed it even as you started losing focus on the world around you. Kol was taking quite a lot of blood and he didn't seem intent on stopping. "Please stop." He didn't. "You have to stop, I'm getting dizzy."

Kol moaned again and drew one last sip before releasing you. It seemed to take a lot of effort for him to pull away. He grasped your hands tight and had to take a step away from you, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his lip. He was breathing hard and couldn't meet your eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that," He said, shaking his head. "You probably shouldn't let me do that again. You are dangerously good, love."

Kol didn’t let go of you for a while after that. He carried you home and you found out that night that he was a huge cuddler. With his arms around you and a thousand sweet nothings whispered to you to lull you to sleep, you felt safer than you ever had. You felt whole for the first time in a long, long while. Everything was pretty great until your dad came in to check on you. All you heard was the door opening and:

“I-I don’t know.” He stepped away from you and cupped his hands. Rainwater filled them and the smile he gave you when he looked up would stay in your memories forever. “It worked.” He laughed and then his arms were around you again and he picked you up, crashing his lips against yours and spinning you around. “It worked!”

“So, sweetheart, is there anything you’d like to tell me about?”

You shot up and whipped your head around to look at your father. "Oh… uh… hey, Dad?" You smiled weakly but the glower you got in return offered no reprieve. "So, um… I promise there is a p-perfectly good explanation for this i-if you'll just, uh… l-let me explain." You subtly tried to move between your father and the boy he'd just caught you with. You felt Kol’s hand tangle with yours, giving a comforting squeeze and you felt yourself relax.

"No, sweetheart," Your dad managed to grind out between teeth clenched hard enough to break steel. "I think I'd like to hear what this young man has to say for himself."

"Dad, please, I swear he wasn't-" You tried to defend him but another silent glance from your father made you close your mouth. You knew the only reason he hadn't gone for his shotgun was that it would give Kol the time he needed to escape.

"The jig is up, darling," The boy sitting next to you sighed. "He deserves to know the truth." He stood, letting go of your hand, and closed the distance between you and your father.

"But-" This time it was Kol's reassuring gaze that cut you off. He stood tall and respectable in front of your father and held out his hand, keeping with an old-fashioned tradition.

"Good evening, Mr. Y/L/N. My name is Kol, and before I say anything else, I would like to assure you that none of this is what it seems," Kol said, keeping his voice level.

"Well, Kol, I expect you to have a fantastic explanation of what exactly is going on," Your father said. His voice was calm but you could tell that only meant he was positively livid.

Kol scratched the back head. "Well, the short version is I am a one-thousand-year-old original vampire who, after having been murdered by two children and an indestructible stick, found himself trapped in a realm between realms wherein I existed trapped in a somewhat incorporial state, only to be seen and heard by your daughter who possesses the unique and extraordinary ability to return me to a corporeal state of being so long as I remain in physical contact with her or consume her blood - on second thought, I should have left that last part out." Kol offered a tentative smile at the end of all that.

You thought that Kol might have been a little less than happy about being alive again when your father’s fist met his face.

But that’s a story for another time…

Tagging: @yn-ymn-yln @railingsofsorrow @r13mar @hellotvshowtrash Tell me if you want on or off the tag list!

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twistedmusings · 3 years

Text

Doing Anything for Heat

“Do you always refer to yourself in third person when writing these up?”

“Legalities, Prefect, although I do not expect you to know anything about that.”

Guess who can’t write as much anymore because she got a nasty bite at work! So yes, I was working on requests so diligently and then bam--this happens.

As an apology for my late ass writings, please take this mini scenario for the Octavinelle Trio! Azul’s SSR card got translated and I just...god I love these boys so much q wq Reader: [G/N] Warnings: Casual flirting, possessive thoughts from all the boys and just MC striking up a contract with Azul and taking a very creative approach towards it~

“[Y/N]!!!!” Grimm pulls at your arm as you sit down across from Azul, the man holding out a contract to you as he tilts his head with a smile. “What will it be, Prefect?”

Your hands sweat as you rub them on your legs. “Hehe~ Little Shrimp looks so scared~”

The contract is placed in front of you slowly, Azul taking care of minding his manners as you lean back and go over the simple specifications. Made simpler, of course, since Azul had ‘such’ a kind heart.

What a con artist.

Winter was hitting Night Raven College hard but was hitting Ramshackle even harder.

How many blankets had you bought from Sam’s shop? Ten? Twenty? You honestly didn’t know but you and Grimm were close to freezing some night and you had just about enough of living in an ice cube for a dorm.

You were acting out of desperation.

And, ever the businessman, Azul had stretched out his hand for your unfortunate soul.

“Bring sixty customers during our lunch rush tomorrow and Azul Ashengrotto will personally see that a heater is installed in Ramshackle the same day.”

You put the contract down and look him in the eye. “Do you always refer to yourself in third person when writing these up?”

“Legalities, Prefect, although I do not expect you to know anything about that.”

Great, more insults towards your intelligence.

Sixty customers. If you were to break that down it would be ten from each dorm not counting Octavinelle. You could rope Ace and Deuce to come, guilt trip Jack for not helping you with that assignment due last night, kindly ask Epel to make his way over here and maybe if you promised Sebek that you would listen to him rant about his dorm leader he would reluctantly agree.

But that wouldn’t be near enough.

Azul clicks his tongue while Jade speaks up, “We will have to take that answer today, [Y/N]-san. If not, I guess maybe we could let you take some blankets from Octavinelle--”

“Fine! Fine.” you sign your name on the dotted line and hand the contract back to Azul, the other grinning as he handed it towards his right-hand man. “How wonderful! I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see what you bring us tomorrow~”

You give Azul the fakest smile you can muster, waving goodbye to the twins as you make your way out of the lounge with Grimm by your side. “Fgnaaa~! We are screwed! [Y/N] how could you! We are going to be stuck waiting tables for ETERNITY now!”

“Not if we bring them what they asked for.” you bite your bottom lip as you look at the Monstro Lounge, your eyes falling on the small stage.

Oh right. Some students played here. Well, students deemed worthy enough to play. You remember the Music Club trying to do a gig here but failing miserably the moment Lilia opened his mouth. Despite the failure, it did bring some people in to get Azul over the red.

A floorshow.

That’s right! A floorshow!

“Grimm!” you grab the cat and bring him close as he freaks out.

“What--what!”

“I got it!” you hold him out in front of you, “We are going to have to let go of our pride a bit and this experience might humble us but...we will have heat!’

“[Y/N] you are scaring me--”

Grimm barely gets to say what he wants as he is dragged back into your arms, your feet running as fast as you can into Mr.S’s shop for the stuff that you will need.

--------

“Ah! Little Shrimp!”

Jade looks up from the numbers he was crunching, smiling as he sees you approaching the table. You wave at Floyd and nod politely towards Jade, sitting down and tapping your fingers against the bar.

“You are here rather late, [Y/N]-san. We have two hours until closing time.”

“I’m just…putting my plan into action. Azul said he wanted sixty by tomorrow, after all.” Floyd grins as he finishes cleaning up the remaining glasses.

“Eh? You are doing something tonight, little Shrimp?”

“...yes.”

He leans close, smiling wider as he sees a certain change in your appearance. The Monstro Lounge was always dark in order to provide a more atmospheric mood at night but with the little light he had to work with he could clearly see traces of makeup all over your face. “Little Shrimp looks so shiny...just like a pearl.” You pull away as he tries to get closer, putting your hand out to stop him and turn your attention towards Jade. “Right. Do you have a backroom next to the stage? I just need to get some things ready--”

“Go into the kitchen, farthest door to the back. There should be a door that leads you towards the back of the stage.” “Do you guys have a light booth--” “Next to the stage.” Jade’s eyes shine, interested in what you are about to pull off, “Do you need our help--”

“Nope that is alright I can take care of this myself thank you.”

Both twins watch you trot towards the kitchen, Grimm following close behind and about three ghosts ‘matching’ his step.

“...Floyd.”

“Yes?”

“Call Azul. I think he’ll be interested to see what is going on.”

--------

“For heat. For heat. For heat!”

You were doing this because of your situation. The situation was desperate so you had to take desperate measures.

Grimm clears his throat as you finish fixing his bowtie, the transparent fabric looking beautiful with the stitched shells all over it.

“Are the ghosts ready?” you ask.

“Just waiting for the curtains to close.”

The crowd goes quiet as you press a few buttons and close them, hushing the late night crowd as you step onto the stage. You try to step softly so that the click of your heels won’t be heard while Grimm opens up the rather large shell in the middle of the stage. This was usually used as a promotional device, customers taking pictures inside it to promote their visits to the lounge. It had a soft cushiony seat inside and could fit a whole student.

You give a thumbs up to your other roommates, the ghosts smiling as their instruments manifested in front of them.

Spectral instruments really came in handy in these situations. “Breathe...Breathe…” you sit down inside the shell and pull your legs up with you, fixing the train of your dress and touching the small shell tiara on your head. It was fashioned after King Triton after all, maybe Azul would get the reference?

Or rather, you hoped Azul wasn’t watching at all. “Okay...close it, Grimm.” He nods and brings the top of the shell down slowly, trapping you both inside as he gave the cue to start up the lights. This was all for a heater...and maybe some tuna.

-----

-At first he wanted to laugh as he saw the curtain slowly being drawn back, when was the last time they used this stage? Student players just weren’t ‘in’ as much anymore and he had to keep up with the trends. What were you planning to do with this?

-Yet his mouth clicked shut as the lights landed right on the shell, the music starting as your voice rang out softly from inside.

-He barely paid attention to the band as the shell slowly opened, Grimm flying out elegantly as he opened it while your frame was slowly being revealed to him as every student’s jaw almost hit the floor.

-Azul clutched his cane as he watched you cradle your legs close to yourself, the lyrics completely blowing past him as you stretch yourself out to show off the outfit you had on. It seemed to shine like a pearl under the lights, your chest being accentuated by how snug it fit against your frame.

-He licked his lips when his eyes landed on your undecorated neck. It was as if you were begging for it to be decorated with bites. Surely he could make a nice necklace for you.

-Dammit he should have sat closer, students were actually getting up from their booths and moving to any tables that were closer to the stage as you start getting up, the train of fabric in your outfit resembling the top of a shell as it brushes across the ground as you make your way to the floor.

-He bites his bottom lip as he sees you making your way around the tables, your voice soft and melodic as the students watch the performance flabbergasted. You are letting your fingers glide against the tables, winking at some of the more bold students who put out their hands so they could touch yours.

-If you were to look at his face you would see no trace of emotion but inside his head he was screaming at you to pass by his table already don’t you know anything about customer service?

-You finally make eye contact with the table he was sitting at, Azul feeling a shiver go up his spine at how your flirtatious eyes suddenly turned nervous. Nobody else had gotten that look.

-Again, he needed to see you looking at him like that again.

-So this is what you were planning. How interesting~

-He watched from behind Azul, taking off his coat and laying it on the back of the plush booth as he took in your form. Where had you gotten such a cute outfit, he wondered. The color made you shine like the rarest pearl and every time the light hit you just right he could see the glitter in your eyelids as you started to approach their table.

-You made eye contact with him, clearly trying to keep up the act of ‘mysterious’ floor show guest but failing as his eyes took you in the closer you got.

-The students groan when they see you sit right next to Azul, pressing close to him as he dares to put an arm around your waist and squeeze. Oh he could bet Azul was happy with how jealous all the students looked.

-Jade couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him when you took Azul’s hat and shoved it in his face before pulling away as quickly as possible.

-He follows your movements as you walk behind him, the sudden hand on his back making him hum in thought as the idea of pinning you right to the back of the booth so you would sing only to him suddenly seeming like the only thing to do in this situation.

-You really had no idea what you could awaken in him if you kept playing around.

-His eyes meet yours as you start walking away but his hand catches your wrist as he tugs you back to him--!

-But Jade, ever the unpredictable man, only presses his lips to your hand before letting you go.

-You were doing a floor show for the customers after all. Didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be talking to you later~

-Floyd had moved himself to the table closest to the stage, tie undone and smile wider than anyone had ever seen as he watched you pay attention to almost every table. The table he was sitting at had been filled with students who deemed themselves rather lucky to get so close only for them to scram when they saw who was approaching it.

-He waves at you when you finally make eye contact with him, licking his lips and smiling as he sees your reluctance to get near him.

-Which he didn’t mind, the fact that you were so wary of him made you all the more adorable.

-You try your best to be as flirty as you had before, merely touching his hand as he holds it out to you but for Floyd that is not enough. The moment your fingers pressed against his palm, he snatched your wrist and brought you to his lap, students gasping as his hands landed on your sides.

-Oh the material was so soft! He ran his fingers up and down as you press hand to his chest while you sang the last few notes of the song.

-Floyd couldn’t help the little giggle as he saw the embarrassment on your face, your hand clearly pushing on his chest but his hands clearly weren’t letting you go. What were you going to do, little Shrimp?

-His eyes widen at your sudden improvisation, your hands taking his and pressing them to your face so he could cup your cheeks. Instinctively he pulled you closer as the song suddenly stopped---

”Floyd-senpai, I have to go.”

-The whisper is only for him to hear as you catch him off guard with that soft look and pull away, you holding out the last note of the song as if you had planned to be caught by him all along.

-He clicks his tongue and leans back, eyes watching you go back up the stage and sitting inside the shell as you pull your legs closer to you before blowing a kiss to the now applauding crowd as Grimm closed the shell.

-Surely the kiss had been for him, right? If it had been for any of these other bottom feeders...well no matter. Even if it hadn’t been for him, Floyd would make sure to squeeze you real tight the moment you got off stage.

-----

You lay down on the cushion as you put your arms over your eyes, groaning as you tried to get your thoughts together.

If this worked out the way you thought it would, word of mouth would get around and you would bring around sixty customers so that they could partake in what they had missed tonight.

Has it cost you your dignity? Yes.

Was the outfit embarrassing? Yes.

Did you have to flirt with all three Octavinelle members so they would see that you were serious about finally going to sleep without shivering? Yes and yes.

At least it was over.

“Yo Grimm. Can you open this? I want to change!”

Your hands tap the top of the shell, sighing in relief as it slowly opened.

Only for you to yelp as hands pin you down to the cushion, a very familiar face grinning down at you as Floyd laughs merrily.

“Ahaha~! Nee, that kiss was for me, right Little Shrimpy? You blew that my way, right?”

Jade sighs and steps behind his brother, pulling him up by the collar so that you could get your bearings.

“It was at the customers, Floyd. I believe [Y/N]-san wanted this to be spoken about tomorrow, correct?”

You nod as he lets go of Floyd and holds out his hand for you to take.

“What an interesting plan...right Azul?”

The Octavinelle dorm leader isn’t really looking at you, he is still staring at everything that you had on taking it as much as he could before your voice brought him back. “So...how did I do?”

Azul blinks before smiling as he steps close and holds out his arm for you to take.

“I have yet to see the terms of the contract be met but...we can discuss how you did in my office. Mind telling me how you came up with this plan? ”

“Y--Yeah! Sure!”

You take Azul’s arm and speak about your thought process, not noticing the grins on the eel’s faces as they hold themselves back until they reach Azul’s office.

How nice, it would be the first time you would be staying over at Octavinelle, even if you didn’t know it yet.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #octavinelle #octavinelle trio #azul x reader #jade x reader #floyd x reader #Azul Ashengrotto #Floyd Leech #Jade Leech #twst mc #G/N reader #available books #//im...im a simp

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teddy06writes · 3 years

Text

With Ghastly Consequences

Part Two of A Dangerous Game

{I wasn’t going to do this till later but ThE IdEaS were flowing}

Requested by this anon: “I don’t mean to be a bother but if you could possible make a part 2 for the “a dangerous game” fic that you made? It was amazing!!”

and this one: “ Dude I need more poly Dream team with SBI family reader what if reader came back as a ghost but it’s like Ghostbur so she doesn’t remember everything?”

Sooo....

Dream x George x Sapnap x Reader + sleepy boys x sibling!reader

trigger warnings: yelling, swearing, mentioned character death (its you, you died in the last one)

premise: after your death, everything was hazy; this is an account of the events sparked by your ghostly return

(y/n/n)- your nickname

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You’d drifted, for a while, in a greyish abyss for a while, knowing that there was a choice to make.

The void, though being of course, a void of nothingness, was peaceful, and gave you time to come to terms with what had happened, and come to the solution to the question.

And as soon as that happened-

You were gone again.

“Philza!”

The man froze over the brewing stand, the bottles in his hands beginning to tremble, “(y/n)?”

“Dad!” You grinned as he turned around, looking dumbfounded, “I didn’t know you were coming here- when did you get in? Oh I can’t believe you finally came!”

“D- Do you not remember?” His voice was low, shaking almost as much as his hands.

“Course I remember- well I remember some stuff. Like you and Tommy and Techno and Home and- and Pogtopia- and Dream and George and Ni- Sapnap- oh- wait-” your voice dropped to a whisper, “You know how they were- y’know, my partners?”

Your father nodded.

“Don’t tell Wil,” You said quickly, “He’ll get mad.”

He nodded blankly again, still staring at you.

“Well what's with you? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Y- It’s just- your back. I- I was devastated- more than- when WIlbur- er- when you died. But n- but your back.” There was quiet relief in his voice.

You nodded, “Course I’m back. Like you could get rid of me that easy.”

Phil dropped the bottles onto the crafting bench, rushing forward in an attempt to embrace you.

You shuddered as he passed through your spectral form, sadly mumbling, “Uh, yeah. I kinda pass through things now.”

Phil smiled sadly, “Still, your back, come on, come on, lets go find Techno, he should still be around here.”

You nodded, following him down that ladder, “That's what I wanted to ask, where is here? Why are you out in the arctic?”

“Oh, uh, just to get away from everything, you know who Tech hates his governments.” Phil attempted a joke.

“Oh, yeah- I wouldn’t want to be there with Shlatt either. Strange he didn’t just go back to pogtopia though.”

Technoblade looked up from where he was sharpening his axe, at first his face reading confused, then guilty, the carefully blank, “Things have changed (y/n). People, change.”

“Like Wil? I rember Wil being mad about something- do you think- no it wouldn’t be that, I was careful.”

Techno winced, glancing Phil’s direction, “Uhh, we- we don’t talk to Wilbur any more. Not- not since he- er- not since you died.”

“That man is no son of mine.” Phil spat.

You looked at him confused, “What happened? Did you get in a fight?”

“It’s- not our place to tell you.” Techno said finally.

“hmmm, okay! So what have you guys been up too?”

You hummed a tune, drifting down the prime path, headed towards L’manburg, toward home

Phil and Techno had warned you that things had changed since your death, but that didn’t deter you from going back.

Coming over the hill, you looked over your beautiful country, the walls, which you knew were gone, seemed to be partially rebuilt, and distantly you could see Fundy over seeing construction.

At first glance everything seemed fine, but as you got closer the atmosphere seemed to change, a sort of anxiety hanging in the air over the city.

Slowly you floated up to the platform your nephew was standing on, “Fundy! You’re rebuilding the walls!”

The fox jumped, “(y/n)?”

“When Techno said things had changed I didn’t think he meant Shlatt was putting the walls back!”

“(y/n)- your- your back?”

“Course I’m back,” You chuckled, “You miss me fur ball?”

“I- you- your back?” He repeated.

“Yeah, what’s going on round here? Why’d Shlatt have a change of heart- wait- did we win? Did I die and miss us winning? Is Wilbur putting the walls back-”

“Wilbur isn’t here any more.” Fundy interrupted bitterly.

Your brow furrowed, “Why is everyone mad at him?”

“Come on, lets get you too Ranboo, Tommy and Tubbo, they’ll-” He sighed motioning for Jack Manifold to take his place, “Well they should tell you at least part of it.”

He led you down off the platform, toward the podium that still stood in the center of L’manburg, at your look of confusion explaining, “Ranboo’s a new comer. Uh- he’s- different, half enderman, we think, eye contact isn’t his thing, so be aware of that.”

You nodded as he pushed open the door, “Hey- guy’s drop what your doing, this is important-” there was a small thud, “No not literally Ranboo- it’s a figure of speech.”

You drifted past him into the room, smiling at the flustered looking enderboy, your brother, and his best friend, “Hello!”

Tommy’s breath hitched, his lip beginning to tremble, “(y/n/n)?”

“Hi Tommy! Hi Tubbo! Hi person I’m assuming is Ranboo!”

The tall boy waved awkwardly, “Hi?”

Fundy cleared his throat awkwardly, “Uh, I have t’get back to work. They’re- confused. I-” He gave Tubbo a ‘this is your problem now’ look before quickly turning and leaving.

“Uhh... (y/n). You’re- back?” Tubbo laughed as if he couldn’t believe it.

Tommy was still staring at you in shock, “(y/n)?”

You drifted across the floor to be near him, “Tommy what’s wrong?”

Your brother burst into angry tears, “I thought you were gone! I thought that he took you away from me! He- he fucking thought- that bitch thought he could take away my sibling! Just- just because of some- of some fucking-” He fell off into hiccups, tears still falling down his face.

“That bastard! He- he fucking killed- he- and for what? Cuase he didn’t fucking like who you were seeing?” Tommy muttered, moving back past Ranboo to sink into a chair.

“Who? Who didn’t like it?” You asked.

Tommy let out a bitter laugh as Tubbo looked at you sadly, “It’s- nothing.”

“Hmmm, well, what’s going on here then? Did we win the war?”

Tubbo nodded, “Wilbur- isn’t here anymore, he- he- sort of betrayed us, and we chased him out. So we’re rebuilding the walls, so he doesn’t do anything else, and me and Tommy are co presidents.”

You nodded, but were still confused, “What did Wil do? Is it why Phil said he wasn’t his son any more?”

Ranboo gulped awkwardly, “Uh- from what- er I- uh heard, yes.”

“hmmmm, I hope it wasn’t anything too bad.” You sighed.

You stayed with them for another hour, talking about L’manburg, and the presidency, until Niki arrived, breathless, having heard you were back, “(y/n/)!”

“Niki!” You looked over her, something seemed off, less bright, less Niki.

She glanced around the room, “How about we go for a walk, to catch up?”

There was something desperate in her voice, and you weren’t stupid enough to ignore it, “Of course.”

She gave you a strained smile, motioning to the door, “Let’s go then.”

Soon you were out wandering through the city, many of the crowds were gone, though you could see signs of life in open windows, and small restaurants, “Niki what’s going on here? Something isn’t right.”

“Nothing is right, not since we got rid of Wilbur.”

You looked up at the walls, now seeming to loom twice as tall as they once did, “Tommy and Tubbo- they’re anxious about something.”

Niki nodded, “The whole country holds its breath. Tommy is angry, and Tubbo is paranoid. They think Wilbur will blow up the country, and that he’ll have help, the walls, the security checkpoints- none of this is what L’manburg was founded for.

“The people are terrified, everyone tells them something different, they’re waiting for the country to be driven into the ground.”

You gulped (can ghosts gulp?), “Well that isn’t good. Maybe- Maybe- hmmmm, Maybe you should be in charge Niki! You- don’t tell the others- but I think you’d make a better president than any of them!”

“If I could I would (y/n), but it’s not that simple,” She smiled sadly, looking around with a sigh, “Why don’t you go find your boyfriends? Have you gone to see them yet?”

~~ “Georgie!”

The King blinked, quickly pushing back the small sense of hope, he was just imagine things again, he thought to himself, he had to be.

“George what’s wrong?”

The voice was closer now, and it was the cold sensation at touched his shoulder that convinced him it was real enough to look, blinking in surprise again at your gray form, hovering next to his desk, “(y/n/n)! Oh my god! (y/n/n)!”

You grinned, “George!”

“Your back!” The goggles were quickly pushed off his face, dropped down onto the top of the desk, “Y- your really back!”

You nodded eagerly, “I missed you! Well- I mean, it wasn’t that long that I was gone. At least I don’t think- anyway I missed you!”

“I- (y/n) it’s- it’s been nearly a month.”

You cocked your head, “Huh, that's weird.”

“George who are you talking...” Nick trailed off as he entered the study, “(y/n)?”

You could see the tears in his eyes as you awkwardly waved, “Hi Nicky.”

“Holy shit.” He muttered, “I- we thought you were gone- I mean- when- when Wilbur...”

“When Wilbur what?” You asked with a chuckle, “Everyone keeps saying he’s done something, but no one’s told me what.”

Both men froze, sharing a looking, “Don’t worry about it.”

Nick quickly swiped away tears, “So your back?”

You nodded, “I’m back- hey, have you guys noticed how L’manburg’s being all weird now? Niki says Tommy and Tubbo are running the country into the ground.”

“Well- they’ve refused all foreign aid, we tried to offer them help- after the war, paying for damages and such after they sorted out there Wilbur problem,” George sighed, “And so far only Eret’s tried reaching out to talk to us, help with our Dream problem.”

“Yeah, where is Dream? I miss him and I can’t ping him, cause ghosts don’t have com tablets.”

“Even if yours hadn’t broken it wouldn’t help. He disappeared after Wilbur- did that thing,” Nick sounded all to broken for your liking, “He hasn’t answered any of our messages.”

You frowned, “Well that's not like him. Maybe he just left his tablet somewhere- or maybe he just got busy doing something again, you know how he gets during manhunts.”

“(y/n),” George tried gently, “He- smashed his com tablet, said something about going off the grid, undermining the server. He probably isn’t coming back.”

You froze, hover in silence for a moment, “No. No that’s not true- he wouldn’t- he wouldn’t leave us! You’re lying to me! He loves us! He’d never leave! It’s not true! He wouldn’t do that! Your lying!”

Nick seemed shocked at the outburst, “(y/n)- we were just as upset but he left- gone insane-”

“STOP LYING TO ME!” You exploded, “He wouldn’t do that! I know he wouldn’t! Your just lying!”

They watched you sink to the floor, spectral tears flowing down your cheeks, mumbling, “You’re lying, you’ve gotta be lying, he- he wouldn’t he wouldn’t do that.”

“Wilbur!”

Your brother flinched, he’d planned for this, he reminded himself, as soon as he heard the rumor's.

“(y/n).” He stood up, turning to face you, ignoring how he’d begun to shake.

He didn’t regret what he’d done.

At least that was what he told himself.

He knew what he had had to do, and he done it, and he had no regrets for his actions, because it was all in the plan.

“Wilbur what’re you doing outside L’manburg? I thought they said they chased you out.”

“I missed it.” He said simply, forcing back the choked noise that had started in his throat upon seeing your grey floating form.

“Did you miss me? George and Nick said I was gone for almost a month, that that was how long you and Dream were gone for.”

“Don’t fucking talk about that man.” Wilbur spat.

At your face of shock and horror at what you said Wilbur grinned, “Oh yeah, I know all about them (y/n). Them, and You, and everything before your death.”

“Why do you hate them so much?! Can’t you see that they make me happy?! What did they ever do to you?!”

“THEY TOOK AWAY MY SIBLING! MADE YOU TURN AGAINST ME! AGAINST L’MANBURG!” Wilbur yelled.

Tears started to slip from your eyes again, “Wil, I never turned against you- your my brother, I love you. Why is it so hard for you to see I’d never turn on you? Who I love has nothing to do with it.”

“Oh it has everything to do with it!” He laughed, finally managing to shut off the tiny part of his brain that screamed at him to stop, “You’re fucking dead because of it!”

You blinked, “N- no! It’s not because of them! I died in the war! Dream was trying to protect me! I died so we could be free again!”

“No (y/n)! You are so fucking stupid! Your dead because I killed you! I killed you because you were turning against me! Because it was the only way to get those fuckers to get there hands off you!”

You let out a choked sob.

“And guess what? I don’t regret anything. I killed you so that they would suffer! Suffer from loosing you the way I had! And it worked and so none of the cost matters!”

“No wonder everyone’s mad at you,” You sad shakily, “You’re a monster Wil.”

“And I’m not the only one.”

He sounded almost proud, gesturing his chin upward, at a patchwork of scaffolding as being stretched across the sky above L’manburg, distantly you could see someone in a neon green sweater running across the top.

~~ “Dream, what are you doing?”

The man only sighed at the serious voice, “Getting revenge. It’s what they would have wanted.”

“Is it?”

He finally turned away from the contraption, staring through the slits in his mask at the Spector that hovered in front of him, “So you really are back.”

“Dream,” You could almost see the wall he had put up when you died, repeating, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to destroy L’manburg.” His voice was cold, steely, too close to that which you remembered from the day he and Tommy had their duel.

“You think that’s going to make things right? You think that’s going to put me- my spirit to rest?”

He faltered, “It has too. Wilbur killed you, and now he’s going to pay.”

Slowly you moved closer to him, across the narrow walk way, “Clay why did you leave them? When did you break your com tablet? You knew they needed you.”

“I- I had too.” The smile on his mask was all to haunting, a broken reminder of the past.

“They needed you and you left them. You put them aside, for this? To be a villain?”

“If I’m a villain then so be it.”

Down below the people of L’manburg were beginning to raise alarms as you spoke, “They love you. I love you. You don’t- you don’t need to be the villain my love.”

Slowly he reached up, slipping the mask off his face, “I know, I know but- but this is the only way.”

Gingerly you reached out, hovering your hand right where it would rest to cup his cheek, “It isn’t the only way. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to cause this destruction.”

“It’s the only thing I know how to do,” There was anguish seeping in to his voice, “I don’t know if I can do anything else.”

You longed to embrace him as he fell to his knees, “You don’t have to do this Clay.”

“I don’t know how! I don’t know any other way to make Wilbur pay!”

“Clay look at me, look at me, there is another way- you don’t have to do this, We love you- we miss you- Nick, George and Me, we can just, climb down and go and find them and then run away together, leave this all behind!”

“Keep them safe.” He sniffed, wiping away angry tears.

“Yeah- yeah- we can build a little cottage, and plant flowers in the window boxes- and forget all about this,” You were phasing back into the material world, nearly by Dream’s sheer willpower as he pulled you into his arms, “And we can forget all about this, but only if you don’t do this.”

“I don’t know if I can... (y/n) I don’t know if I’m strong enough.” He sobbed.

“You are darling. You are. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to do this Clay, we love you.”

He sniffed, sitting up a little, one of his arms reaching away, both of your breathing unsteady as you looked up at him, desperation in your eyes...

And then the tnt hit the ground.

The world exploded into fire, ripping away his words:

“I love you too.”

#mcyt x reader #mcyt imagines #dreamwastaken x reader #georgenotfound x reader #sapnap x reader #dream x george x sapnap #dream x george x sapnap x reader #poly dream team x reader #sleepy boys x reader #teddy06 writes

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