My Roommate is an Apparition: WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A DAD - Part 1

Based on characters created by @reddpenn

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It was Saturday afternoon and Lily was dancing around in a baggy shirt, baggy sweatpants, socks, and jamming out to Michael Jackson’s Thriller; blasting it out from her computer’s speakers.  She had been vacuuming the floor, washing dishes, gathering trash, and doing other reasonable adult chores with a spring in her step.  Lily was feeling fantastic and even if someone told her that her car had been towed and had a $300 fine, she wouldn’t have cared and continue to dance.

She was, to put it bluntly: hyped.  

Something she had been looking forward to for a very long time was coming and Lily could not contain her glee.  On the wall, her calendar had a big red circle around March 7th: the upcoming Thursday.  In the pantry were a wide variety of snacks, munchies, treats, and goodies (some of them were leftover from the Pink Panther marathon a few weeks back, but were never opened, so they were still good).  Visions of possible ways to decorate the apartment to celebrate floated through her head as her heart beat with excitement.  To most others, this Thursday wasn’t anything particularly special, but In about six days...

...Castlevania Season Three was going to premiere on Netflix.

————————————-

As Lily danced while she worked, a pair of eyes were watching from the walls.  Lily knew they were there, but didn’t mind, since she knew those eyes belonged to her apparition roommate.  Their name was “Tulpa” (since that’s what they said it was when Lily asked) and recently, Lily had begun addressing them by name as opposed to simply “Roommate” or “Roomie”.

“Hey Tulpa!” Lily called out to the pair of eyeballs embedded into the wall, “Hope you don’t mind the music!”

Materializing from the wall, the nose-less, ear-less, long haired, spiky-toothed being moved closer and stared at their roommate doing the “Boogie of Unreachable Back Itch” with a puzzled look on their face.  The apparition couldn’t remember the last time they ever saw Lily look this happy.  Usually, she wasn’t nearly this energetic on her days off when doing chores, so something good must have happened.

“Why... are you... dancing?” Tulpa asked quietly in their trademark raspy voice.  Unfortunately, they were too quiet since Lily didn’t hear a word they said over the music coming from the computer.

“Lily...”  her roommate called out slightly louder, “Why... are you... dancing!?”

Once again, Lily couldn’t hear a thing and her ghostly roommate was starting to get annoyed.  They needed to do something to get her attention, and in a way that didn’t disturb the neighbors, frighten Lily, or result in something breaking.  (The two of them had a very long chat about it after “The Pink-ening” back in February.)  Eyeing Lily’s computer, Tulpa got an idea and hovered over to it.

One quick YouTube search was all it took to change the music to something Tulpa was more... familiar with.

“IN THE HEART OF TRANSYLVANIA!

IN THE VAMPIRE HALL OF FAME, YEAH!

THERE’S NOT A VAMPIRE ZANIER THAN

DUCKULAAAAAAA!!!”

*click*

————————————-

Lily stopped the music and looked at Tulpa with a half-smile on her face.  “You rang?” she said jokingly.

“Why... are you... dancing?” asked Tulpa.

Lily chuckled to herself, “I’m glad you asked!” she said joyfully, “One of my favorite shows has a new season premiering this Thursday!  Castlevania!”

“Castle... vania?” Tulpa asked inquisitively.  Despite being an apparition with no physical organs or body parts, they did have a memory, and something about that name seemed familiar.  Almost reflexively, Tulpa said, “Simon... Belmont?”

Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at her surprisingly knowledgeable roommate.  “You know about Simon Belmont!?”

“Mega... Man...” Tulpa continued, “Kid... Icarus...”

Lily was going to ask what Tulpa was talking about when her phone began to ring.  Walking over, she picked up her smartphone and answered knowing exactly who it was on the other end.  From the phone came a baritone voice that could best be described as “Overly Hammy”.

“YOOOOUUUUU HAVE MET WITH A TERRIBLE FAAAATE!  A GREAT CUUUUUUURSE HAS BEEN PUT UPON YOOOOOUUUUU!  OOOOOooooooooooo!”

“Hi Dad,” Lily answered with a smile.

“Hey sweetie!” came a cheerful voice over the phone, “Looking forward to this Thursday!?”

“You bet I am!” beamed Lily, “Did you hear they cast Bill Nighy to play Saint Germain!?”

“I did!” her father beamed back.  

————————————-

As father and daughter chit-chatted on the phone, Tulpa looked over Lily’s shoulder with a slight look of envy.  They could see how happy Lily was on the phone talking with her family.  Tulpa, however, hadn’t used a phone in a very long time, and they were kind of amazed at how far phones had come.  Any phone that let someone watch cartoons on it was the best phone ever in their book.  Deep down, they wished they had one of their own.  The apparition gave a breathless, wistful sigh as it watched Lily talk, but then Lily’s face was suddenly no longer smiling.

————————————-

“What do you mean THIS weekend?” she asked over the phone.

“Well I did say I was coming over the first weekend of March, didn’t I?”

“Yeah!  March 7th and 8th, right!?” Lily asked starting to feel a little panicked now.

“Noooo...” her Dad trailed off, “I was talking about this weekend.”

“Dad!  This is not the first weekend of March!  It’s the last weekend of February!” Lily said with exasperation,

“Tomorrow’s March 1st, and a Sunday, right?” her Dad pleaded his case.

“Yeah!  But the first weekend of any month usually means the first FULL weekend of any month!  It doesn’t count if it’s half-and-half!” Lily stated as a sinking feeling began to form in her gut.

She could hear her Dad shrug over the phone, “Oh well, my mistake then.”

“YEAH!” said Lily, “I don’t even have the place cleaned up yet.  I’m not ready to have company over!”  Her roommate noticed that Lily was looking at them when they said that.

“Honey, you know I don’t care if the place is cleaned up or not,” her father said.

“I DO!” Lily almost shouted. 

Despite her protesting, the apartment was actually looking good that Saturday.  The vacuuming was finished, dishes were being washed in the dishwasher, trash had been taken out, the display cases for her rock collection had been dusted off, and the apartment was, for all intents and purposes, presentable.  The real problem was that Lily hadn’t gone over her Dad’s visit with Tulpa yet to  make sure they understood how to behave themselves.

“Look,” Lily began to beg, “Could you just stop by and visit next weekend?  It’d work a lot better for me.”

“Yyyyyyeeeaaahhhh...” her Dad said while trailing off, “...about that...”  As soon as he finished saying the word “about”, Lily began to feel a little nauseous as she whipped around to look at the front door.  Beads of sweat were starting to form on her forehead as the dreaded noise she feared most came from her front door.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

————————————-

Lily practically dropped the phone as her pupils shrank and panic began to set in.  She turned to her roommate, and tried to grab their hand.  Unfortunately, given Tulpa’s natural state of transparency, Lily’s hand went right through theirs.  Realizing that wasn’t going to work, Lily began to frantically move her arms and make gestures to get Tulpa to hide.

Tulpa, meanwhile, wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but picked up on Lily’s gestures and went into one of the bedrooms.  Lily then closed the door and walked quickly over to the front door.  She opened it up, and just as she suspected, there was her Dad standing right outside with his phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Hey, Hey!” he said with a smile, “Guess who’s here!”

Lily had to use every muscle she had to contort her face into a forced smile, “D-D-Dad!  Hi!”  There was no mistake that it was him.  There were very few people who would consider a T-shirt that had an 8-bit pixel sprite with the caption “Uncle Vlad’s Wall Chicken” on it as “casual going out” clothes.  It was a Christmas gift she had gotten him a few months earlier, and while she was glad to know it fit him okay, seeing him out and about in it was somehow incredibly embarrassing.

“May I come in?” he asked politely.

“Uhhhhh...”  Lily stammered, “C-Could you give me a second.  I just, ummm...” she trailed off while trying to think of an excuse, “...need to pick up some laundry off the floor.  Yeah.  Don’t want you stepping on any... underwear or socks or anything!”  Lily’s laundry had already been cleaned, folded, and put away, including the towels in the linen closet, but her Dad didn’t know that, and she was banking on it.

“Sure!” her Dad agreed, “I did kind of drop in unannounced.”

“THANKS DAD!” Lily again almost hollered as she had to hold herself back from slamming the door when she closed it.  She immediately ran to the room where Tulpa was and looked her square in the eyes.  “Okay,” she began, “I know this is sudden, but my DAD is here!  I’m going to need you to be on your BEST behavior while he’s here, okay?”

Tulpa blinked and looked at Lily with their usual vacant expression on their face.  “...why?”  

“BECAUSE... Because...” Lily trailed off as she tried to think of a good reason.  Tulpa couldn’t be seen by anyone other than her, and she wasn’t entirely sure if other people could hear Tulpa either.  But her ethereal roommate was somehow able to make the entire apartment pink last month all the way down to the toilet paper, and could hold and carry things in their ghost-like hands.  “...I don’t want to scare him off!” was the best excuse Lily could think of off the top of her head.

Tulpa nodded, “...okay...” she said.  Lily detected a hint of them sounding disappointed, but she’d find a way to make it up to them later.

“I’ll make it up to you later!”

[See? Told yah!]

Tulpa wasn’t entirely sure why Lily was acting so strange all of a sudden.  She was acting as though her Dad would be able to see them even though they both knew that wasn’t possible.  Despite this, Lily still seemed uncomfortable with the whole situation, and not wanting to trouble their friend, Tulpa nodded.

Lily followed up with a quick, “Thank you!” before turning around to dash to the front door.

————————————-

Opening the door again, Lily gestured to her father to come on in, “Make yourself at home!” she said like she knew full well just how cliche it was to say.

“Don’t mind if I do,” her Dad said with a smile as he walked in.  It was then that Lily noticed the backpack he had on.  She recognized it as the “Electronics” backpack her Dad carried whenever he was taking a laptop or any other electronic device with him to places.  He headed straight to the living room, took his backpack off and began fishing around inside of it.

Lily gulped, “Did you bring-?” she began to ask before her Dad pulled out a family treasure from inside the backpack.

“Indeed I did!” he said proudly as he cut her off.  In his hands was one of his most prized possessions:

A Nintendo Entertainment System.

It was the same NES that he got back when he was fourteen years old in 1986.  He had been a video game fan ever since the early days of Atari and took meticulous care of his game systems to make sure they lasted and functioned for decades to come.  Even in his middle-ages at forty-eight years old, he still had the same passion for video games as he did when he was a kid.

Only one question was on Lily’s mind which she had no trouble verbalizing: “Why?!”  

Her Dad grinned a smug grin as he reached into the backpack and pulled out a small, black, plastic sleeve that contained an NES cartridge in it.  It wasn’t just any NES cartridge either; it was Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.

Seeing that cartridge gave Lily mixed feelings.  She could remember the times growing up with her father when he would insist that she sit down and play video games with him.  But it often wasn’t so much to play them as it was to lecture her about them.  He would regularly go on and on about the history of video games, how significant they were to modern society and culture, nifty bits of trivia, and for Lily, NOTHING took away the fun from video games more so than trying to make them an educational experience.  In the back of her head, she knew they weren’t all like that; she still had many good memories playing games with her father (and playing the same games her father was lecturing about whenever he WASN’T lecturing), but the look in his eyes told her that this was going to be another one of his signature talks.

“Dad,” Lily pleaded, “No.  No, please!  Can’t we just, I dunno, watch Castlevania on Netflix?  Maybe check out the Japanese dub or something?”  She knew exactly what was about to happen.  He was going to connect the NES to her TV, put Castlevania III in, and then play it while talking about how the game eventually became the show she adored with voice acting by Richard Armitage and Graham McTavish.  All this to “prepare” for the season premiere in a few days.

Unfortunately for Lily, her father shook his head and said, “Now I didn’t spend my high school years breaking down blocks for wall meat and whipping away Medusa Heads for nothing.  C’mon!  Don’t you want to see your old man defeat Dracula?”

The answer to that was an emphatic “NO!” from Lily, but she wasn’t about to hurt her Dad’s feelings.  While it wasn’t how she planned to spend her Saturday, she figured that as soon as he got it out of his system, the sooner he could head back home.  Plus, talkative as he was, he was still rather decent at playing difficult video games even at forty-eight years old.  As long as everything went well, he ought to be able to finish the game in about an hour; two hours tops.

————————————-

Meanwhile, a pair of eyes was watching from the bedroom door (as in, within the bedroom door) as Lily’s Dad effortlessly hooked up the NES to the TV.  Tulpa began to remember some of the people that used to live here also had video game systems like the one Lily’s Dad was hooking up.   They were pretty interesting, and Tulpa was somewhat curious about them even if they weren’t cartoons.  Eager to see more of what was going on, they poked their head out more and more from the door.

Lily sighed as her Dad continued to fiddle with the cables behind the TV, and turned around in time to see Tulpa who was now poking their head out in full view.  Before Lily could say or do anything...

“AAUUGGHH!!”

Lily spun back around and looked at her father who looked like he had seen a ghost...

...but he was actually looking at the jumbled mess of pixels on the TV screen.  “Aww man,” he groaned, “I thought I cleaned this already!”  Turning to his daughter, he asked, “Hey can you reach into my backpack and grab the Q-Tips and alcohol?”

Sure enough, there was a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol and Q-Tips in the backpack, and Lily deftly fished them out and gave them to her man-child of a father.  Or was the correct term “Child-Man”?  Lily wasn’t quite sure but pushed that thought to the side as she said to him, “Hey, I’m gonna use the bathroom real quick!  B.R.B.!”

“Okie dokie,” her Dad said as he happily cleaned the game cartridge pins.  He always found something so cathartic about cleaning cartridges and getting them to work.  It was almost zen-like.

Of course, Lily did not go to the bathroom.   Instead, she walked right over to Tulpa’s levitating elongated neck and head, opened the door they were peeking out from (which pulled their head out of the door), and marched in with a mixture of disapproval, frustration, and worry on their face.  “What are you DOING!?” she demanded with her teeth clenched and her voice lowered.

“Want to... see,” Tulpa said bashfully.  Lily noticed that they weren’t looking her in the eyes.

“It’s just my DAD and his games!” pleaded Lily.

“I’d like... to meet... him,” said the curious ghost.

Lily turned to look at the door, then back to Tulpa, and raised her thumb like a hitchhiker to point to the door behind her.  “Him!?” Lily said incredulously, “What for!? He can’t even see or hear you anyway!”

It was true that Tulpa could not be seen by anyone other than Lily, and Tulpa knew that all too well.  Not a single living soul was able to see or truly hear them any time before now.  Lily was the exception and neither of them had any idea why.  But, the apparition thought to itself, the person out in the living room was Lily’s father.  What if...

“AH HA!” Lily practically jumped from her father’s victorious cheer, “I GOT IT!” he crowed from the living room.   Lily did a small face palm as the shout gave her flashbacks to when she was eight-years old and her Dad would practically scream at the top of his lungs every time he died playing Ninja Gaiden after Lily had gone to sleep.  Few things were more terrifying than being woken up out of a deep dream by the shrill shrieks of your own father.

Lily turned to Tulpa and made a shushing gesture, “If you’re gonna watch, just... make sure not to touch anything so he won’t know someone’s there, okay!?”

Tulpa nodded, somewhat solemnly, as Lily stepped out to join her Dad in the living room.  Inside the room Tulpa was in, there was a large mirror attached to a vanity table.  The inquisitive incorporeal individual looked at its reflection in the mirror.  They could see their matted hair and large googly eyes, as well as lack of facial features, and for the first time in its existence, began to think about its appearance.

No one before could see them, so what they looked like never really mattered.  Lily was the first person who could see Tulpa, and she accepted them for just the way they were.  That was something they really liked about Lily.  At the same time though, they never thought about how they wanted others to see them if they could see them.

Tulpa thought about how Lily included them in the things she did, and how much they enjoyed spending time with Lily.  Even if they weren’t watching cartoons, the time they shared was always fun and enjoyable.  They wanted to get to know Lily better, and what better way than by getting to meet her Dad?  Wouldn’t it be better if they were all together?

Sure he probably wouldn’t be able to see them, but...

...maybe he could?

And if he could, what would he think of them?

What would Tulpa want them to think of them?

Continuing to stare at themselves in the mirror, Tulpa made a decision.   It was going to take all of their concentration, but “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  It began by taking a very, very, very deep breath.  They sucked in as much air as they could, practically inflating themselves like a balloon.

Once they had inhaled as much as they could, they held their mouth shut and tried to squeeze the air out using whatever specters had for muscles.   The human equivalent would have been if someone were to hold their breath, pinch their nose, and try to get their ears to pop.   A small popping noise could be heard in the room, as Tulpa succeeded in popping out some ears.

————————————-

Back in the living room, Lily was resting her arm on the armrest of the couch, with face resting in the palm of her hand, and looking extremely bored.  Her Dad was already sitting on the opposite end of the couch, navigating Trevor Belmont through Stage 1 after showing off how the game’s prologue fit the Netflix show’s narrative.  Lily was, naturally, not paying attention to any of it as her mind was somewhere else completely.

“What am I doing?” she thought to herself, “Why does it matter if Tulpa’s out here or not?   I mean, it’s not like Dad can see them or anything.”  As she thought to herself, deep down she came to realize what her problem was.  It wasn’t about her Dad meeting Tulpa, it was about Tulpa meeting her Dad!

Despite him being good natured and an affable person, he was still her Dad, and Dads by definition tended to be embarrassing as Hell!  He had actually researched Dad jokes and has kept an arsenal of them up his sleeves ever since Lily could remember.  He rarely ever acted like an average 48-year old man in public, and some times, Lily would feel ashamed that between the two of them, she would be considered the adult.

(During the Christmas season, he saw all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1-Up Arcade Cabinets on display in Wal-Mart and would always turn them on and set the volume to maximum!  According to him, he was trying to recreate the “arcade atmosphere” of his youth.)

But despite the occasional embarrassment, he was still her Dad, and she wouldn’t trade him for any other Dad in the world.  He was always open minded, and whenever he didn’t understand something, he made an effort to try and understand.  Like that time he asked her to show him her rock collection and tell him about all the different kinds she had and what made them so unique.  He was always a cool Dad like that.

He raised her the best that he could and helped her with her homework.  He drove her to places she wanted to go when she was little, and took her to theme parks, the zoo, science centers, museums... he was always actively involved in her upbringing and that meant a lot to Lily.

The sound of a door opening and closing could be heard from the hallway.

“I’m overreacting, aren’t I?” she thought to herself.   “I should have just asked Tulpa to sit down and watch him play. I mean, misery loves company, right?   And plus he-“

It was at that moment that Lily’s eyes began to widen as she realized she had just heard the sound of a door opening and closing come from the hallway.  Her Dad turned around at the noise and Lily whipped herself around at breakneck speed.  She nearly choked on her own spit at what she saw.

It was Tulpa. 

 It was definitely Tulpa...

...But they looked human!

They had a nose, two ears, and opaque, pale skin.  Their hair still looked matted and unwashed, their eyes were still large, and their teeth still looked sharp even though they were a bit more rounded.  They were wearing a turtleneck blouse and a long skirt that went all the way down to their ankles.  On their feet were white socks which were probably there since Tulpa hadn’t really gotten the hang of manifesting realistic feet yet.  And they were definitely female (or going for the feminine look).

They looked kind of like that one really tall girl from that really popular anime everyone kept talking about, “Hands Off My Aerosol Can” or something like that.

There was a brief moment of silence in the room that felt like it stretched on for an eternity (even though it only lasted a fraction of a second).  Lily’s Dad was looking right at them, or at least, in their direction.   Lily could tell Tulpa had “dressed up” to meet her father, but doubted it would have mattered since there was no way he could-

“Hi there! You must be Lily’s roommate!” greeted Lily’s Dad.

...To Be Continued...

I was looking through the list of already made asks and I saw juniors first steps and was wondering we could also get juniors first word(s)???

YES YOU CAN, ANON \( ´ ▽ ` )/

Reiji’s twins:

The first thing his son said was “Num-num” because Reiji was cooking something that smelt really, really good and stirring the pot with one hand while keeping up a running commentary to the baby balanced on his other arm and, well baby has a good appetite and was hungry

The next thing the baby knew he was out of his father’s arms and being seated on the kitchen counter, Reiji in front of him and eagerly showing him anything and everything that he can get his hands on in the hopes of hearing him say it again

So far he’s tried a tin of tomatoes, an apple, expired cup noodles (which went straight into the trash after his son knocked it out of his hand and scowled at him), cloves of ginger,various condiments ranging from salt and sugar to vinegar, a head of broccoli and a bag of potatoes

Reiji even raided the fridge in his excitement at his boy’s first word, presenting to him butter, a bottle of fizzy drink (Baby squealing and clapping his hands in glee when Reiji opened it with a ‘pop’, which wasn’t quite the reaction he had been hoping for but still warmed his heart nonetheless), some leftover chocolates and a spiky fruit which he had no idea why or how it was in the fridge to begin with and that he himself didn’t know the name of

A little disheartened when another vocal miracle did not manifest, Reiji idly picked up a container of leftover fried chicken from the previous night and shook it half-heartedly at his boy

“Num-num!”* Reiji, not believing his ears, shook the container again and was rewarded with another baby version of the word for food and his son trying to take the container from him

He spent the rest of the day calling up everyone he knew (and texting and emailing those who either hung up on him or did not take his call) to both sob at and boast about his boy’s first word

(Ranmaru listened with some understanding at first, but a sizable vein-pop manifested on his temple after ten minutes of listening Reiji repeat himself

Camus hung up when Reiji paused to take a deep breath to recover

Ai, who had been in the middle of something, very sensibly switched off his phone after confirming it wasn’t about work

Reiji blubbered to Ai’s voice mail for a whole twenty minutes before realising that Ai wasn’t even there)

The Kotobuki family ended up having leftovers for days after that since right afterwards Reiji’s mother came over, equally as exhilarated as her son at the news, and the two of them whipped up enough food to feed a few small countries in a frenzy of excitement

»»————-　  ♥ 　————-«« »»————-　  ♥ 　————-««

“You wanna count with Daddy all the ways Daddy loves you? Okay~! One, Daddy loves you so much I would climb the bi–ggest, hi–ghest mountains if you wanted me to. Two, Daddy would do anything, anything in the world for you and your brother and your mommy but you knew that already, right? Three, Daddy would even, well, Daddy would even give up karaage for you. But you wouldn’t torture Daddy like that, right? You love Daddy just as much, don’t you? So much so much sooooo much~”

Reiji’s cheerfully bouncing his baby girl on his lap, enjoying their father-daughter time together

Apparently his daughter thought differently because one little arm flailed and her hand landed on Reiji’s lips, stopping up his mouth momentarily

“What’s that, my baby girl? You think Daddy’s talking too much? Noooo, you need to learn to appreciate the charm of a man who has a way with words like Daddy does—”

“Da!”

This time Reiji’s mouth stopped moving on its own accord

His little girl cocked her head at him, wondering why it was suddenly so quiet

“Dada?”

His mouth moving without forming any coherent words, Reiji stared at his daughter in his arms

His lips trembled and he had to swallow before speaking again

“Say that again for Daddy?” His voice was hoarse, his arms shaking as he held his baby girl up

“Da!”

He broke down completely then, throwing his head back, his puzzled daughter clasped tight to his chest as he bawled openly

Reiji was inconsolable for the rest of the day and the next

His S/O had to spend at least half an hour wiping the tears from his face and coaxing him to tell her what happened while his daughter was trying to squirm out of his grasp and towards her mother

Camus’ daughter:

“ ‘anda!”

Camus froze and stared at his daughter in his arms, who was holding out her arms to Alexander at his feet

“Did you just say ‘Alexander’, angel?”

“ ‘anda!” she insisted, still trying to make her way to Alexander himself, now on his feet and wagging his tail at her, a sign that he was ready to play horsie again

It was the sound of their daughter throwing a minor tantrum that made Camus’ S/O pop her head in to check on them and be greeted by the sight of Camus holding his daughter up with both hands, his face buried solidly in her hair, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs while their baby squirmed and bawled

Alexander was up on his hind legs and leaning on Camus, his nose nudging his arm to release the toddler so that they could go galloping around the house again

Ai’s son:

His son noticed that every time Mommy said a certain word she would either kiss Daddy on the face somewhere or Daddy would do the same for her

And baby boy loves getting hugs and kisses

“Hai?”

Ai stared at his son, his boy holding up his arms towards him with a very expectant look on his face

“What was that again?”

His son tried again, experimentally rolling the word around in his mouth to get it right

(Daddy was very big on saying words correctly)

“Ai!”

Ai.exe and a thousand other programs hung on the spot

Rebooting system, please wait…

“Did you…  Could it be that you just said my name?”

His son was getting impatient

“Ai—” he whined, lips pulling into a pout at how the word wasn’t working and no hugs and kisses were forthcoming

There were times when Ai really, really felt that he was going to cry and never failed to be surprised when no tears came out

That day rated among the top three

The only way Ai could relieve the sudden strong waves of emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him was by holding his son tight to him, his head in the crook of his baby boy’s neck

Baby was delighted that the word was finally working

“Say it again?”

“Ai!”

“Again.”

“Ai?”

“Once more.”

“Ai!”

“Again.”

“Bai?”

“Not ‘bai’. ‘Ai’. Come on.”

“Bah.”

Ranmaru’s son and daughter:

Ranmaru’s filling up the cat bowls with food, ignoring the meowing cats twining around his ankles and trying to climb up his legs

Points sternly at Niko who had managed to make his way up to the kitchen counter and was getting ready to make a head-start on dinner

“You. Scoot.”

Niko replied with a disappointed meow, ducked his head under Ranmaru’s scowl and leapt off the table

“Ko!”

Ranmaru’s hand stopped moving, much to the vocal dismay of the three other cats around him

“Ko!”

The cats’ dinner temporarily forgotten, he stepped out cautiously into the living room, still not believing what he thought he heard

His daughter was on the sofa where he left her, Niko stretched out on her lap, letting her run little hands roughly through his fur while she chattered to him in baby talk

“What was that?”

His little girl looked up and grinned gummily at him

“Ko!” she repeated, gathering and holding up what she could of the yawning cat in her arms

Unable to control the huge grin that was spreading across his face, Ranmaru dropped everything he was holding, scooped up both baby and cat and ran out of the room with an elated whoop

His S/O, startled out of what she was doing by the door abruptly slamming open, looked up to have both a giggling baby and a disgruntled cat thrust into her face

“She just talked!”

His S/O blinked and stared in surprise at Niko, who was beginning to look fed up with this whole business

“The hell are you looking at, I’m talking about Tsubaki! Here, say it again!”

He knocked his daughter and cat together excitedly under the worried eyes of his S/O

“Ran, don’t-please be gentle with the baby–”

“Nah, she’ll be fine. She’s tougher than she looks. Tsubaki, who’s this?”

“Ko!”

“Ya hear that? Our girl’s first word! Oi, Sousuke! Where’re you, kiddo?”

And off he goes to look for his son, cat and daughter tucked securely under each arm

»»————-　  ♥ 　————-«« »»————-　  ♥ 　————-««

Sad to say, Ranmaru wasn’t around much during his S/O’s pregnancy and the first few years of his son’s life

His boy’s actual first words were “mama” to Ranmaru’s S/O

It was one of the extremely rare occasions when Ranmaru was home and staring with some trepidation at his son who had been placed in his lap and was gazing back at him placidly

Shit, he’s fucking tiny! And why’s he so soft? What if I drop him and his head cracks wide open? What if I hold him too hard and he explodes?

Ranmaru was completely out of his depth

The only thing he could do was hold the baby gingerly and make sure he didn’t slip off his lap

Ranmaru was on the verge of giving up and getting up to hand off his son to his S/O when his boy curled a small hand around his and looks up at him

“Ba?”

The look of absolute trust in his boy’s eyes pierced right through him

“Baba?”

Ranmaru held him up at arm’s length and stared at him while he processed the sudden feelings of protectiveness that were rising up rapidly from deep inside him

Aww no. Fuck it all to hell.

Ranmaru breathed out a long, long sigh of resignation when he realized what just happened

He brought his son closer and carefully held him to himself

“Guess you’re stuck with me now, eh?”

His baby laid his head on Ranmaru’s chest and closed his eyes

“Yeah, that’s right. You just take it easy. Your old man’s here. Dad’s got your back.”

He gingerly smoothed fine baby hair away from his boy’s face

“I’m here for ya, kiddo. I’m gonna do my best so you stick with me too, alright?”

His son yawned as he snuggled down, one small hand resting over Ranmaru’s heart

The feeling of actually being a father now swelled up inside him once more

“I’m gonna take that as a ‘yes’ then. That’s my boy.”

RotTMNT Oneshot: Knitting Needles Make Good Conversation Starters

Summary:  How does the so-called 'angry one' of the family become not so angry? Simple. With a few good coping mechanisms, and a lot of help and support from his family.

((Heyyyyy. This is my newest RotTMNT story, pretty much just focusing on Raph and sorta trying to explain why he isn’t as angry in TMNT!2018 as he is in other incarnations. Also plenty of family fluff, cause I love this turtle family ^v^ Anyway, I posted a link to this story on AO3 yesterday but I decided to just post the whole story here on Tumblr too. Anyway, hope you all enyoy - and thank you to all the people who have commented on the story already! ^v^))

“Chōsen o hajimeru tokidesu! Kare wa atarashī kuruma ni katsu koto ga dekimasu ka? Mitsukemashou! Sasori o hanashi nasai!”

Splinter sighed. Not even the amusing sight of the newest Scorpion Treadmill contestant stepping up to the machine for what was sure to be a spectacular failure could bring a smile to his furry face. Television had proven to be a worthy distraction from the more difficult parts of his new life, but at the moment it couldn’t even do that, for there were heavier things weighing on the rat’s mind than simply remembering to gather food and wondering whether they would need to prepare for bad weather.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see his oldest sitting in the cramped corner that had been assigned to him. Raphael had brought his knees up to his chest, scowling as he hugged them, with his fists still covered in stray streaks of various colors. Just a few days ago, he had been sent to the corner for shoving Leonardo when he tried to get him to play tag with them. A day or so after that, he had been sentenced to the corner once more for stomping on one of Donatello’s gadgets - an act that still hadn’t been forgiven, since Donnie still refused to speak to him.

His latest misdeed was only half an hour ago, when Splinter had been dragged away from preparing lunch by a yelling pair of twins and a sobbing Michelangelo to the scene of the crime. In mere seconds, Raph had crushed all of Mikey’s chalk in his tiny yet strong hands, leaving them as nothing more than colorful crumbs on the stone floor.

Needless to say, something had to be done - and more time in the Naughty Corner just wasn’t going to cut it. Holding back another tired sigh, Splinter turned off the tv and walked over to his son. Raph’s scowl deepened, and he attempted to hide his face. Splinter raised a gentle hand and put it under Raph’s chin, lifting his face out of his knees.

“Why did you break Orange’s chalk?”

Raphael quickly gave his favorite answer. “I dunno.”

His father narrowed his eyes. “That is not an answer. Why did you break them?”

“I said I dunno!” the five year old snapped, baring his teeth. Splinter was VERY thankful his son hadn’t grown his adult snapper teeth yet, though his hand still retreated, just in case. But the rat wasn’t about to completely back down just yet.

“Why must we keep having these talks, Red Child?” Raph just growled, hiding his face once again. “If something is bothering you, you must tell me!” Splinter continued, scowling back at him, “You cannot keep acting like this. You cannot be a bully to your little brothers-!”

“I’m NOT a bully!” Raphael screamed back at his father’s face suddenly, “An’ I broke his crayons cause they were stupid, okay?!” With that, he turned the spikes on his shell towards Splinter and hid the rest of him against the wall.

Splinter pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore his oncoming headache. He knew that choosing to raise children - mutant turtle children, especially - would present plenty of problems and difficulties, but his oldest’s ever increasing temper tantrums were something else entirely!

“You will stay here for another ten minutes, understand?” Having nothing else to say, Splinter returned to his chair, though kept the tv off as to not give his son a chance to escape under the noise of a live studio audience. As the seconds ticked by, the boy’s growls and angry mutters turned to sniffling and quiet sobs - and just like that, Splinter felt his frustrations melt into heartache.

He had to fix this… He had to help his son.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Even while being only at the tender age of five, Raphael had done a ton of traveling in his life. Through abandoned alleyways and dark sewers, along train tracks and up and down piles of trash in dumps. Even after being lucky enough to finally find a home deep in New York’s sewer system, Raph still considered traveling to simply just be a part of his family’s life.

But that was the thing… His family’s life. He always traveled with his father and his dumb younger brothers. But now, it was just his father while his brothers got to stay home and sleep in. Splinter didn’t explain why, just that this was a trip for just the two of them. Raph didn’t think they were abandoning his brothers… Maybe Splinter was getting ready to abandon him, finally having enough of him being mean and naughty. Well fine, he didn’t need a papa anyway! He would be just fine by himself!

...Besides, if this place would be his new home, it didn’t seem like it’d be too bad. It was missing the usual smells from the dumps and alleyways, and it was much brighter even with the sun only just poking over the horizon. Pink skies shone light down on darkened trees while wet grass tickled at his feet. He remembered one night a few months ago when Splinter had first brought all of them to a similar looking place, calling it a ‘park’. He and his brothers had played there practically all night, but Raph knew that there would be no playing this time.

After a few more minutes of walking, Splinter finally stopped. He sat down, and then gestured for his son to do the same. Raph did so, if only to get off his feet for a bit. He still didn’t like the wet grass too much, how it stuck to his legs and his shell. But the light skies and the cool morning winds that gently brushed past his face helped him feel less antsy about it.

“Do you like this place?” Splinter asked him suddenly. Raph hesitated a moment before nodding. “I do as well… It is very quiet, and very relaxing.” Raph nodded again, though still scowled slightly, not quite understanding the point of all this.

Lifting his strong tail, Splinter wrapped it around his son’s shoulders, pulling him a bit closer. “Raphael,” he began, his voice strong. Raph clenched his fists, knowing very well by now that his papa only seemed to use their full names when he was really angry with them. He knew this trip wasn’t going to be fun! He just brought him out here to yell at him some more! He just-!

“I am sorry for calling you a bully.”

The young snapper blinked. He looked up, and saw the guilt in the old rat-man’s eyes. “I was frustrated with your behavior, but that was still wrong of me, and I am sorry.”

“...Okay,” Raph said quietly, not really sure what else to say.

“Always remember this, Raphael,” Splinter told him, his tone serious once more, “That even when you do bad things or make mistakes, you are not bad, and I will love you even when you do these things.”

Raph’s eyes widened a bit. “Really…? So, so you won’t ever get rid of me for bein’ bad?”

“Of course not!” His tail brought the boy in closer, and Raph didn’t hesitate to hold onto him, gripping the fabric of Splinter’s robe tightly. He was big enough for his head to fit in the crook of Splinter’s neck, but he still crouched down, wanting to feel small in his papa’s safe arms. “I did not get rid of you or your brothers when you were hatchlings, and I will not be doing so anytime soon! I love you, Big Red, no matter what you do.”

Raph sniffled at the pet name. “Okay, Papa… Okay…” He felt a soft hand pet his head a few times before hearing his father continue.

“However… While I will not abandon you for making mistakes or doing bad things, these things still must be dealt with. I brought you out here, Red, because I wanted you to feel relaxed enough to talk to me about the things that are making you angry, without worrying about your brothers hearing about it. So… Will you tell me? Will you tell Papa why you get so angry with your brothers and break their things?”

Raph didn’t answer right away, but Splinter had already figured that would be the case. Still, he didn’t push his son. He just continued to pet him and hold him close, until a small voice finally began to speak.

“I broke Mikey’s chalk cause they’re stupid,” Raph mumbled, repeating what he had said just a few hours before, “I try to draw with ‘em, and they always break… Everything they wanna play with breaks when I use ‘em, and then they get mad and then I get in trouble! Same goes with when I wanna play with them!” He started to growl, clenching his teeth. “I... I know I can’t be rough with Donnie ‘cause of his shell, but Leo and Mikey got regular shells and I still end up hurtin’ em whenever we play! An’ then I get mad, so I break more stuff an’ I don’t care about hurtin’ people, ‘cause it’s always gonna happen no matter what! I try not to, but it still happens!”

Splinter started to feel the front of his robe become damp, but he just held his son tighter, silently letting him know that it was okay. That he was okay. “Why do I have to be the biggest, Papa?” Raph cried, “Why do I have to be big and spiky and everything else small and break-y? It’s not fair! It’s not fair! ”

Splinter shushed Raph as he began to sob. “It will be alright, Red… I promise it will all work out.” Wanting to help calm him down, Splinter began to tell him stories of warriors as big and fierce as grizzly bears, and of samurai as tall and mighty as oak trees.  Stories of people as big and strong as Raphael, yet they didn’t break or smash or hurt. Instead, they saved .

By the time the sun had lifted itself above the green treetops, despite his cheeks still being damp and the occasional sniffle or two, Raph had started to think that maybe being big wasn’t so bad. “I wanna be like ‘em when I grow up,” he said quietly, still leaning on Splinter’s warm chest, “I wanna be like the warriors an’ the heroes… Be big enough to help.”

“You will be, Red Child,” Splinter told him, giving him another pat on the head, “And your brothers grow up too, become bigger and strong enough, and you’ll all have an easier time playing with each other.” Raph smiled a bit at the idea of that, being able to wrestling around with Leo and Mikey and being able to play with Donnie without worrying about hurting his soft shell. “But even then, you must remember that you are the oldest of your brothers. You still must protect them, just as they will protect you, and you definitely shouldn't use your strength against them in order to force them to do what you want. Family must always look after each other, and it is the oldest’s job to practice that, so that the younger members of his family can follow in example.”

The young snapper thought about this carefully before looking back up at his papa. “D’you think I could be a good big brother?”

“Absolutely,” Splinter answered with a warm smile. Raph grinned back at him, giving him another hug. Though, as they began walking back to the manhole they came up through, Raph’s smile faltered a bit.

“What if I still get mad, Pop?” he asked, “What if I get mad an’ I hurt my brothers or break their stuff, even though I don’t mean it?”

Splinter hummed, stroking his chin. “Perhaps… Perhaps, we can find a way for you to control your strength while we wait for your brothers to catch up…”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Two days after their ‘Raph and Papa Only’ trip, as Raph had called it when his brothers had asked, Raph found himself being taken to his room rather than the Naughty Corner before he had a chance to crush the toy car that he had stepped on. There, he was presented with… With…

“Chopsticks?” Raph raised an eyebrow. “But Pop, I already ate, an’ I hate using those things anyway! Hands are wayyyy better to eat with!”

Splinter gave a small smirk as he shook his head. “No, Red, these are not chopsticks, please do not eat with them. ...Or eat them.” His oldest definitely had a habit of sticking things in his mouth, just to have something to munch on. “These are knitting needles. People use them to create clothes such as scarves, hats, sweaters, and even blankets.”

“Really?” Raph eyed the needles. How could two little sticks create all those things?! It was impossible!

“Yes, really. And that is what you are going to do.” Hidden within the sleeves of his robe, Splinter produced a package of red yarn (Raph smiled at the fact that they were using his favorite color, even if he was still confused) and a worn book titled “Knitting for Beginners”.

“But why do I gotta knit?” Raph asked, picking up the needles and clenching them together tightly. The needles began to crack slightly in his strong grip, causing Raph to scowl. He couldn’t make anything with dumb knitting needles, they were just another thing for him to break…

Splinter however was far from discouraged. “These will help you control your strength, as well as your temper. Knitting takes patience and time, and if you can master it, then you will be on your way to becoming a master of those things as well, my son.”

“A master…” Raph furrowed his brow, setting the needles down. “But what if I can’t do it? What if I’m bad at knitting and ruin all the yarn.”

“Then we will find something else to help you,” Splinter said suddenly, “But let us try to knit before we look for something else, alright?” “Fiiiine…”

For the next several weeks, Splinter would spend around two hours a day with Raphael, pouring over the details and tips from the knitting handbook while his son tried his hardest to knit. For the most part, Raph actually wasn’t too bad at it, being able to concentrate and not get too caught up on the occasional dropped stitch.

Unfortunately, this didn’t stop him from breaking at least one needle each session, but rather than scolding him for it, Splinter simply taped the tool up or replaced it within a few days if the damage was severe enough. Even while still feeling a bit guilty about it, the lack of pressure did allow Raph to relax a bit more, which led to fewer broken needles. Despite their occasional destructiveness, he found that he liked working with his hands, finding new ways to position them as he used them to create rather than just smash or hit.

After two months, Raph had completed a pair of red, three-fingered gloves. They weren’t as perfect as the pictures in the book, but they were still wearable. They were still his, and that was enough.

“Whoaaaa!” Leo said in awe, spotting them on his big brother’s hands as soon as he walked into the tv room, “Where’d you find those?”

“I didn’t, I made ‘em,” Raph answered proudly, “All by myself!” “Wowwwww!”

“Yes. Very nice, Red,” Splinter added, looking away from the screen and giving the gloves an approving nod, making his son beam.

“Yeah! But why’d you wanna make gloves?” Leo asked, “Seems like kind’a a weird thing to make.”

“‘Cause I was mad about steppin’ on your car,” Raph replied, shrugging, “but I made these instead of breaking the car.”

“Oh, whoops...” Leo winced slightly, remembering the short scolding he had gotten that day about leaving his toys out. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine, I’m not mad about it anymore.”

“Good, and thanks for not breakin’ it.” After admiring the gloves a bit more, Leo smiled. “You wanna go play now?”

Raph gave a toothy grin. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

The boys quickly scurried off, leaving their content - and very proud - father alone in his chair. Naturally, he still kept an ear out for crying or yelling, but it wasn’t until it was time to gather his sons up for supper did he have to get out of his chair. Not a toy was broken that night.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Most would be worried about leaving a four year old to their own devices, but Splinter was not one of those parents. Not because he didn’t care about the safety of his youngest, certainly not, but because he knew just how attached Michelangelo was to his older brothers, who would be sure to keep him out of trouble just as long as they stayed out of trouble themselves. And, if something was truly wrong, Splinter would definitely know about it, no matter how far away his orange son was.

Hence the loud wail that had Splinter out of his chair within seconds. Sometimes Splinter wondered if Mikey knew just how loud he could be. Frankly, it would not surprise him if people on the streets above and on the other side of the city could hear him…

But while a loud cry had made him move, a single phrase made him stop, just before reaching the playroom:

“I’m sorry!”

When only silence followed this, Splinter peeked inside, getting a full view of the situation while still using his ninja skills to stay out of sight. He could see Raph looking down at a broken toy train, but all Raph could see, even as he kept his eyes glued to the floor, was the expressions on his brothers’ faces. Mikey’s tear filled eyes, and Leo and Donnie’s frowns - with the latter looking more angry than hurt, which made sense considering that he had found the toy.

“I, I was just tryin’ to play with it,” Raph explained, “But I played too rough, an’ one of the wheels just popped off.” He clenched his fists a bit, though his expression stayed calm. “I didn’t mean to break it, an’ I tried to put it back on, but it wouldn’t go back on! So I threw it… and I threw it too hard.” Looking his brothers right in the eyes now, Raph let his guilt be known. “I was mad… But I still shouldn’t have thrown it. And the rest I didn’t mean to do. But I’m still really sorry. So… yeah.”

The twins exchanged a look, their own expressions softening just a little. But before either of them could say anything, Mikey rushed forward. Even being nearly half the size of Raph, Mikey still managed to wrap his arms halfway around him in a tight hug. “‘S’okay, Raphie,” he said, “I know you sorry, an’ s’okay. Don’t be sad, okay?”

“We know you didn’t mean it,” Leo added, giving Raph a small smile, “We’ll just fine stronger toys for all of us to play with, ones that never ever break!”

“And... I guess I could teach you how to fix the toys that do break,” Donnie offered, “If you wanna help.”

“...” Despite the unshed tears in his eyes, Raph smiled and nodded at them both. “Yeah… That sounds good.”

“You guys hug too!” Mikey demanded, and the twins both chuckled, happily obliging while Raph’s smile grew. Once the impromptu group hug ended, Donnie ran to the toy box to grab the small tools he had stashed away for situations such as these while Leo told a silly train joke he had heard on some cartoon show, easily making his red and orange brothers laugh.

And as he watched his oldest carefully take the tools, using the skills he had gotten from months of knitting to keep his hands steady and his grip not too firm while his other children gathered around their brother to give help and support, Splinter quickly decided that neither he nor Raphael had anything to worry about.

And as time went on and all the things that his father had promised began coming true, Raph decided this as well. Knitting became another one of the constants in his life, even as he himself grew bigger and stronger. Each new garment turned out better than the last, and by his tenth birthday, knitting wasn’t just an exercise in controlling his anger and strength, but a well-loved hobby!

His brothers grew up as well, all of them growing closer as they played and learned together. Once all of them began learning martial arts thanks to the discovery of Lou Jitsu movies and months of begging their father to teach them, they also all became great sparring partners. Sure, Raph still had to pull a few of his punches, not wanting to accidentally send any of his siblings through a wall, but no longer did he have to worry about making any of them cry just by shoving them, and together they were all able to begin the journey of becoming awesome ninjas.

Soon enough, strength truly became a symbol of, well, strength! Of being able to fight off bad guys, of being able to protect the ones he cared about the most. Once Splinter finally allowed them to go off into the city without his supervision, Raphael wore the title of protector and leader with pride. ‘Look out, NYC,’ he remembered thinking as he guided them all out of the sewers, ‘Big Brother Warrior Raph is comin’ for ya!’

Of course, even with all this positive change, Raph still occasionally felt his anger just below his surface. When he still accidentally broke something, as if he was still an accident prone five year old, or when his brothers annoyed him to the point where he actually did want to shove them through a wall.  When he frustrated with being a mutant in a human world, or when something went wrong despite his best efforts to make them go right, or when he was just feeling angry in general and didn’t really know why.

Thankfully, just like how his father knew just what to do all those years ago, the rest of his family seemed to know how to help.

Donnie kept a collection of cracked beakers and gadgets damaged beyond repair in his lab, and when the time called for it, he and Raph would take them all and just smash them against the wall. It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but smashing stuff was still a pretty good release. Thankfully, Donnie never judged him for it - ‘Who knows, maybe he gets somethin’ out of it too,’ Raph would sometimes think - and the two of them would still end up talking things out as they swept up the mess.

Exercise was another way to get that release, though sometimes lifting weights or striking a punching bag just wasn’t enough. Leon, being the fastest of them, naturally would challenge Raph to a race through the sewers or a dozen spars in the dojo when his older brother was feeling particularly angry. He was more than happy to help tire Raph out as he worked through his emotions, just as he was happy to provide refreshing drinks and a shoulder to lean on afterwards.

Mikey’s solution was similar to Leo’s. Buried deep under the rest of his art and crafting supplies were several Jupiter Jim coloring books, each of them partially filled with plenty of pages left to go. He’d always bring these out, along with several plates of homemade snacks, whenever Raph needed a stress coloring session. As childish as it might have seemed, it was almost comforting in a way, just lying on the floor and coloring for as long as he needed to while his youngest brother talked about whatever. The fact that Mikey never even scowled at him when he accidentally snapped off the tip of a pencil or a crayon also helped.

Even Splinter, even after doing so much for him already, still offered to help when Raph’s anger nearly reached his limits. They’d have one-on-one wrestling matches, with Raph finding comfort in how impossible it seemed to knock his father down no matter how many attacks he threw at him. A pillar of true strength, as far as Raph was concerned. And, when it wasn’t a fight he needed in order to work things out, then Splinter would instead provide him with listening ears, honest words, and a warm cup of black tea.

It really was just as Splinter had promised that morning. Things really did work out in the end. His family loved him, no matter what he did or what emotions he had, and they were always willing to help. Even if his feelings were his own, Raph would never be alone, and he would be forever grateful for that.

...But even so, sometimes old habits were the best ones.

Still scowling, he dug through his basket of yarn. His hand touched a ball of pink yarn, and he quickly threw it against the wall of his bedroom. He definitely didn’t need anything pink tonight… Instead, he grabbed the green yarn and began knitting away. He growled slightly when he dropped two threads in a row, but kept his hands steady, resisting the urge to form them into fists. Instead, he took a deep breath and kept on it, listening to the click of his needles and letting his mind wander away from the fight he and his brothers had gotten into just a couple hours ago.

He was about halfway through his impromptu scarf when he heard a gentle knock at the door. “Hey, big guy,” April greeted, giving him a gentle smile.

Despite it all, Raph smiled back at his sister. “Hey… What are you doin’ here?”

“Well I was gonna hang, but the guys said you could maybe use some company? ...Said that you had kind of a rough night tonight?”

Raph scowled, though not at April. ‘Rough’ was certainly one way to describe it… Meatsweats had gotten his hands on a couple of strength-increasing mutants, which was giving him a huge advantage in his so called 'hunts'. Raph had been the one to accidentally lead them into such a one-sided fight, which in turn lead to all of them getting beaten up pretty badly.

But while they were able to free the rest of Meatsweats’ captured prey, making that part of Raph’s plan a success at least, the bad guy had still managed to get away even with their best efforts. Naturally, his brothers were just as frustrated with this, complaining about the mostly-failed mission most of the way home. So, not wanting to start a fight or bother them as they patched themselves up, Raph ended up isolating himself the moment they got home, lest he end up getting into a screaming match with one of them. Though, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to be alone for much longer.

“You wanna talk about it?” April asked, and watched her friend think about it before shaking his head. Tonight was just a bad night, and he wanted to forget about it as soon as possible, at least for right now. “Okay. Can I still chill here for a while?” That time, Raph nodded, not taking nearly as much time to answer. So, April took a seat next to him on his bed. She gently rubbed his shell as he worked, expertly avoiding the spikes and helping him fall back into a relaxed mindset - one that didn’t involve mutant pig-chefs or nearly suffocating thoughts of self doubt.

It took another hour before he finished the scarf, releasing a long sigh once he finally did. “It looks good,” April told him. He smiled warmly at the compliment and handed the scarf to her. She ran her fingers over the soft yarn as she wrapped it around her neck. She’d already gotten several scarfs from the snapper over the years, along with a couple sweaters and some fingerless gloves, but as far as she concerned, there was no limit on the amount of comfy homemade knitted-wear a person could have. “Thanks… So, you feelin’ better?”

“Yeah,” Raph admitted, though his smile didn’t quite meet his eyes, “I’m relaxed at least. Still kinda pissed though… I know I’ll get a rematch with him eventually but, it’s hard just waitin’ around, you know? Waitin’ to make up for a bad fight, or a bad plan…”

April patted him on the shoulder. “...Central Park seemed pretty deserted when I rode past it, and I doubt anyone’s out there at-” she checked her phone. “2:37 AM. You wanna go take a walk? Maybe grab some convenience store pizza afterwards?”

Raph’s smile grew a bit. Closing his eyes for just a moment, he could already feel the cool grass under his feet and the light wind in the air. “Yeah, that sounds nice… Thanks, April.”

“No problem, Raph,” she smiled back, squeezing his hand, “Anytime.”

Even before they reached the surface, Raph could feel the last of his anger and frustration fading away, allowing his heavy steps to feel light without anything weighing them down. Of course, these feelings would come back soon enough, and as annoying as that would be, Raph wasn’t afraid of them. He’d face them head on, just as he did with any other obstacle in his way. Things would work out in the end. Things would be alright.

As long as he had his family, their encouraging and supportive words, and a couple of spare knitting needles and some yarn at the ready, he knew he really would be just fine, anger issues and all.

THE END

Sgt. Frog/AHiT AU: Stranded

Description: A young recon squad of three crash land on earth after shortly arriving to the planet. Separated and lost; they look for a place to stay until they can find a way home.

(Chapter one: Mayday!)

‘Mayday! mayday! This is Recon ship Zeta! Engine failure! Requesting rescue!’

A voice played on, over and over throughout the vast void of space; the voice came from a downed ship, small for a normal sized ship of their kind. The beings that dwelled within it long since gone. The wreckage was now in the side of a large mountainous region of an island far from a major city.

In this island, stayed a quiet little town. The world they crashed on is referred to them as pekopon- living there are pekoponians;

But to the natives?

They know themselves as humans, who live on the planet earth.

Small ‘plap’ sounded off in a steady pattern, as a small being wondered though the empty streets of a neighborhood; it was raining heavily that day- Sky dark and unrelenting; though the small being didn’t seem to mind all that much.

She was more worried about being lost- and alone; scared she was, as she looked for her squad. Entering the planet was not in the plan, some unseen and unfortunate events occurred. They were only to study and give information back to the ones in charge, waiting back home-

They were to young to see any major battles yet; but they had special privileges. Asking enough times can also get you pretty far.

Finally coming to the conclusion that this small being wasn’t going to find her friends here, she sat down and started sniffling; stifled little sobs barely heard over the rain.

————

Earlier this morning, two young adults clambered around their neat two story house; they were both getting ready for today. “Moon! Get moving! We’re going to be late!” One could hear shouting from inside the house if they stand close enough “and bring an umbrella, it’s going to rain today!”

“Oh relax, bother- I’m always prepared!” A more calm tone follows after a loud one “Snatcher, what’s gotten into you today? You seem more agitated the usual.”

Identical twins stood at the entrance of their modern style doorstep. William, and Mathews- but to everyone else they grew up with;

MoonJumper and Snatcher.

“Mid terms.” Snatcher deadpanned

A simple ‘Ah’ followed after as the two walked onward to school. They had to keep moving as thy talked, it wasn’t going to wait for no one. Especially when it's college.

“And then there’s Vanessa!” He emphasized, raising his hands to the sky “she won’t stop bothering me! Even after I’ve broken up with her, she thinks we’re still dating!”

“You broken up with her; when did this happen?” MoonJumper asked

“A week ago- and boy; that wasn’t pretty..” Snatcher put a hand to his face; slightly traumatized by the display of displeasure she showed.

“I would imagine, she seems to be missing a few screws..” moon said, earning a nod from his brother.

being identical mostly twins, they had looked the same from birth, besides their eye colors, all the way to Middle school; during High school is when their styles changed-

Snatcher, bored of his brown hair, died it a dark shade of purple- a shade that looks indefinitely black at first if not looking at it with a bright light source.

MoonJumper still kept his natural brown color, but upon his face he wore glasses, his vision not as bad, but from time to time he'll use them. Mostly when he goes to school, because his seat was positioned in the far back.

The only thing that was still identical, was the fact they still have their hair at shoulder length. Fluffy, one would say, And smooth to boot.

As they left the neighborhood, and into the streets of town, they passed by many kinds of people. A sweet lady in her mid thirties waved them hello, she was a chef at- and quiet possibly, the best restaurant on the island. Owned and ran it with a few relatives.

Then there were the two men who always yelled at each other- well, one did, the other sauntered around and made sassy comeback. Apparently they were directors visiting the island for potential movie ideas- to bad they can't cooperate with each other. They could really make a good movie if one just puts their differences aside.

Then there's the mayor, the boss with his goons; there's something shady about them- but surprisingly they run the town just fine. Nobody really complains, everyone knows each other in some way. These are perks of living in a small town, on an island, far from any major excitement-

"God, this place is boring!" Snatcher suddenly yelled to himself. Earning a small chuckle from his brother.

Up ahead, you could see the college building, sitting just at the borders of the forest the led to the mountains. The mountain sat in the middle of the island, and branched off quite some ways to the northeast, creating a spiky peninsula dubbed- ship wreck isle. Their entire island, from above, comically looked like a frying pan!

"Let's hurry and get to class before Vanessa finds me.." The dark purple haired man said, a whisper as if she was already here.

"I honestly don't see what you saw in her." Moonjumper shook his head, "didn't the others say, 'stay away from her'?"

"Tell me; since when do I listen to other people's opinions?" He snapped back

"And now look where that's gotten you?" Moon raised an unimpressed brow "a crazy ex girlfriend- who by the way, has an unhealthy obsession over you. And is currently stalking you right now." He mumbled something hat last part, noticing movement out of the corner of his eye.

"What, where?!" Without needing an answer or a position, Snatcher took off; Leaving his brother behind. Shortly after, moon hears shuffling, and clapping of slippers chasing after twin. He only shook his head "we might need to call a restraining order.."

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

To some of the students class was boring, however, to Snatcher- it was going to help him with his dream of becoming lawyer. Unlike some of the students who doodle in their book, and stare out the window, he was one of the students to actually pay attention.

Him and his brother were both trying to achieve their dreams.

What a duo; a lawyer and an astronomer.

With Snatcher's noise in law, Moonjumper aimed for the skies. Hence why he'd gotten the name Moonjumper. Snatcher had received his because at any good opportunity he'd take it and take advantage of it.

As the bell rang for lunch, Snatcher took the chance to stretch out his arms as he watched every one else pack up and leave for their hangout spots. Today, he’ll be coming home alone; for some reason- Rachael; the School’s head of the florist club, has asked for his brother’s help.

Snatcher thinks there’s something going on between the two, because at how fast he had accepted the invitation- thinking back on it, he only chuckled more. Quickly looking out the window before taking his leave, he saw how fast the storm was approaching; it was looking nasty out there.

So nasty, at a point he could have sworn he saw something Strike the mountain side.

It was probably lightning.

“Time to hide for lunch again..” he mumbled to himself. It’s always hard to find a nice spot where Vanessa isn’t watching him- or breathing down his neck.

—————

Once school was over, Snatcher found himself walking down the streets as the rain pelted down on his umbrella... it was nice; peaceful.

Tap tap tap, the steps he took could be heard as he walked- but what was that-? Was that crying..? No, couldn’t have been, who would be out in this weather- at this time of evening? Snatcher paused, just to see if he was just hearing things..

But there it was, almost silent sobs; of what sounded like a child! Turning his head towards a dead end ally, he took action- hurrying over a few trash bags, and making sure he didn’t trip into old sludge, he found himself near and opening- a lamppost shined down on a slumped over figure.

It was so small.. and.. definitely not human. What.. what was it? It was purple, white, and wearing what looked like a tan top hat with flaps. It hadn’t noticed him yet, thankfully-

Should he leave? Before it sees him? It could be dangerous; it could have rabies-

As he stepped back, Snatcher accidentally stepped in a puddle, the splash makes the small head rise, and he got a more clear picture of its face. The bottom half was white, while the top part seemed to be purple. Big strange teal eyes looked back at him- and they were filed with tears. It looked like a small half tadpole that could walk like a human..

And then it spoke-

“I’m lost..” it.. she sniffed, rubbing her eyes “I don’t know where I am..”

it’s speaks English.

“You.. can talk..”

She nodded “can you help me..?” She approached him, and he backed up out of caution. “Don’t be scared pekoponian! I don’t mean any harm!..” she trailed off “I mean.. I as a single being.. the rest of my race is kinda..”

She was just rambling now, he couldn’t take his eyes off or her; Snatcher had to admit, she was cute- but what was that he was just called.. pekoponian..?

“Are you an alien..?” There’s no way something like this is native to earth, and hasn’t been discovered yet.

“I’m not supposed to answer question from a pekoponian-“ but she looked back and forth, making sure no one else was around “but.. yeah- I am!” She smiled.

The two stood there in the rain, after confirming this claim, it took awhile for the collage student to wrap his head around this. Should he just go for it? Just run? Or help her out? By the sound of it- she was the equivalent of a child; but she’s from space and alone- and let’s not forget soaking wet from the rain.

But she was an amphibious life form.. did the rain even bother her?

Snatcher closed his eyes, clinching his umbrella with his back to the alien; he could hear it start to cry again- as if feeling he was thinking about leaving.

“Please.. I’m all by myself right now- I don’t know what this planet will do to me!” She pleaded.

And that triggered thoughts to flood his head- she was an alien; is the government found out about her.. only bad things came to mind. Or what if she got road killed because she couldn’t understand crossing the road?

She probably doesn’t know much about this planet..

Taking a huge sigh, he finally caved in. Looking to the small little being, he extended his free hand. “Come on, kiddo..”

She smiled widely at the tall man, and he started walking off- keeping with his pace; the little frog followed.

“I’m Hakiki!” She smiled, “what’s your name?”

“You can call me.. Snatcher for now..” giving the small being a neutral look.

—————————-

This will be posted to Wattpad for now; Fanfiction.net, and Ao3 Soon!

Ch 6 is up! 

The days pass by one by one. As each one ends, Shouto realizes something’s amiss. Whenever class ends, his seat mate goes straight back to her room. She’s seen in the common room less and less and is seen by herself more. At first, Shouto just thinks Momo just wants to focus on her studies(more than she already does.) But then he notices the way her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes, or the way she’ll look out the classroom window solemnly with her hand tucked under her chin. Most people might dismiss these small changes in Momo, but Shouto sits next to her everyday. He got used to the way she energetically answers questions, sticks her tongue out when she’s deep in concentration, and radiates a pleasant aura around her that makes everyone feel comfortable.. She hasn’t been acting like herself. One day during class, Shouto finds himself glancing over at Momo again. She’s wearing that same distant look on her face like she’s not fully here. Shouto rips out a piece of his notebook paper and scribbles something on it. He folds it and when Aizawa isn’t looking, he tosses the note onto Momo’s desk. She hears the paper land and looks down at it and then back at Shouto with her mouth open forming an ‘o’ shape. She mouths, “For me?” and Shouto just nods his head towards the note to indicate that she should read it. Momo hesitantly opens up the note and reads what’s inside. “What’s wrong?“ The note reads. Momo shoots her head to look at Shouto who just raises an eyebrow at her. She hastily writes her reply in perfect penmanship and carefully hands it back to him. “I didn’t take you for a note passer, Todoroki-san. However, you mustn’t worry. I am quite alright.“ Shouto rolls his eyes at the obvious lie written so perfectly. “Don’t lie to me.“ Aizawa faces the class again while he lectures the class on sidekick etiquette. About five minutes pass before he turns his back to write stuff on the chalkboard. “I’m just a bit tired as of late.“ “For the past week?” Momo bites the inside of her cheek. Has she really been acting gloomy lately? No one else besides Kyouka had noticed, but that’s because she knows about Yousetsu’s confession. Maybe Shouto is more observant than she thought. While she’s doesn’t want to disclose what happened yet, she doesn’t want to keep lying to Shouto either. So she settles on a vague answer. “I’ve had a falling out with a friend. It’s just going to take some time for things to go back to normal... I hope.“ Shouto is about to pass his note when Aizawa calls on him to answer a question for the class. Luckily he was paying attention to the last bit of the lecture and is able to give a decent enough answer. Aizawa turns around which gives Shouto a chance to give Momo his reply. “Maybe if you stopped passing notes during class you would be able to answer better,” Aizawa says while still writing on the chalkboard. Shouto’s ears turn red at being found out. Damn he’s good. Momo reads the last note. “I’m here if you want to talk about it,“ it reads. Momo gives Shouto a grateful smile, and then they continue their full attention on the remainder of class. When everyone’s excused, Shouto realizes what’s been different lately. Usually after class, there’s the presence of a certain spiky haired-boy hovering by Momo’s desk. As of late, Shouto can’t remember seeing him at all this week. And that’s when it hits him. Is Awase the friend she was talking about? As he ponders this, Shouto thought he would be happy that he’s no longer around. But is it worth it? Momo is troubled by this. If that’s the case, why didn’t she just say he was the friend she had a falling out with? It doesn’t make sense to Shouto. What could have happened between them anyways? These thoughts swirl around in Shouto’s head for the remainder of the evening. He finds himself in the common room watching some fighting movie with Eijirou who keeps mentioning how manly everyone is every few minutes. Denki is sitting on Shouto’s other side with a bowl of popcorn and keeps making some witty remark at each line of dialogue. How did he end up here? Shouto is the only one left there after the credits finish. Denki left a mess with the popcorn bowl and other various snacks he kept getting up to munch on. Shouto decides he better clean it up before Katsuki comes in and yells at everyone again about picking up their trash. As he’s bending down picking up popcorn kernels out of the carpet, he hears quiet footsteps go into the kitchen. It sounds like they’re wearing slippers. Shouto gets his trash and heads to the kitchen to throw it away. “Good evening, Todoroki-san,” Momo greets. Her hair is down and she’s wearing a big t-shirt, some pajama shorts, and fluffy pink kitty slippers. Shouto finds himself eyeing the ridiculously adorable slippers. Momo follows his gaze down to her feet. “Aren’t they cute? I got them recently in the mall.” Shouto just nods his head. When he doesn’t say anything, Momo continues brewing some chamomile tea. There’s a silence between them as they continue doing their own separate tasks, but it’s not awkward. It’s more of a comfortable silence. Shouto finishes cleaning up the Bakubro’s mess and digs in the fridge for his leftover soba. Cold, just the way he likes it. He says his thanks and then digs in. “Awase, right?” Shouto says after chewing some of his food. “Pardon?” Momo asks, genuinely confused. “Did you and Awase have a fight?” He presses with a serious expression. “Oh, no, nothing like that. If anything, it’s more of a one-sided type of thing.” Shouto just stares at her, obviously waiting for more context to her vague answer, but he doesn’t push her on the matter in case she doesn’t want to talk about it. Momo takes a deep sigh and lets out a self-deprecating chuckle. “I think I ruined our friendship...” She says to herself. Her head lowers and she can feel tears begin to well up. “That seems impossible,” Shouto states. Momo jolts her head back up to look at him. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I know for a fact he wouldn’t just abandon you as a friend. He cares too much.” “But that’s the problem! He cared too much, while I-“ Momo’s voice cracks and she covers her mouth with her hand to stop herself from crying. No more crying! Shouto sets his soba down on the table and slowly makes his way over to Momo. He gently rests his hand on her shoulder which prompts her to look at him. “Yaoyorozu. You’re a great friend. To everyone, including me. Whatever problems he’s dealing with right now, he’ll get over them eventually. And when he does, he’ll come back because he’d be an idiot to let you go as a friend.” Momo sniffles at Shouto’s sincerity. Deep down, she believes everything that Shouto said is true. She understands that because she rejected Yousetsu, he needs his space to get over her and hopefully return as a friend. She gets that, but it’s still hard to deal with it all in the present. It’s hard hurting a friend. In the past week, Momo was feeling alone and guilty. After hearing Shouto’s kind words, she finds her body moving on its own. Her arms wrap around the half-n-half boy in a hug. Shouto is obviously startled by the sudden contact, because Momo feels him flinch at first, but then feels him start to relax and hug her back. He gently rubs her back while she quietly sobs on his black turtleneck. Momo can’t help but be reminded of her own similar turtleneck hanging in her closet. They stay like that for a while, so Shouto rests his head on her shoulder for support. He’s left there staring at her fluffy pink kitty slippers until she stops crying.

Hi~ can you please make a scenerio where bakugou is trying his best to make up to his s/o after they got in an argument, but he doesnt know how to apologize properly~~ >.

Katsuki Bakugou

He knew he fucked up the moment you turned silent. The way you just stopped to stare at him for a solid minute before you slowly turned around, your figure disappearing as you left the dorm room.

The next day you stood beside Midoriya, smiling happily as you engaged in a conversation with the boy. It was no surprise to see the two of you talking with ease, you had been friends with Midoriya longer than you had been friends with Bakugou. 

“Did you read the article about All Might?” He heard you ask Midoriya as you pulled your phone out to show him, “In it, All Might mentioned UA.” Midoriya excitedly nodded as he gently took your phone into his hands, your hands grazing each other for just a moment before he grinned. 

“Oh! I did!” He handed your phone back to you, still grinning as he continued the conversation with you. Huffing, Bakugou walked up to you, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey (Name)-” He froze when you shrugged his hand off your shoulder, glancing back to glare at him before you guided Midoriya and yourself away from Bakugou, sending him one last glare before turning a corner. 

“That was cold!” Kirishima exclaimed as he stepped beside Bakugou, looking over at him, “Did the two of you get in a fight?” He asked and when Bakugou huffed Kirishima smiled before nudging his side. “C’mon, maybe I can help. What happened?”

“I said, ‘You should have been an abortion’, while the two of us were fighting,” He said, mentally grimacing as he thought over what he said. Kirishima seemed to flinch at the words, looking at where you had walked away.

“That's... That’s pretty mean Bakugou. You really do need to apologize. (Name) seems like a patient person but...” Bakugou knew what he was hinting at, it was a fear he had been dealing with since being in a relationship with you. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He pushed Kirishima aside before pausing, “What should I do?” Kirishima beamed and wrapped his arm around Bakugou’s neck, pulling him close. 

“I’m glad you asked...”

“What’s that?” Uraraka asked as she leaned on you, looking at the letter that had been stuffed inside your shoe locker. “A secret admirer?” 

“No,” You said as you opened the letter, glancing at the words before crushing the letter into a ball and throwing it into the trash that was a few feet away from you.

“Whoa! Nice throw (Name)!” Mina exclaimed as she watched the crumpled letter land into the trash. You smiled and said a thank you before you and Uraraka walked off with each other.

“So that plan was a fail” Kirishima sighed from his place behind the doors, Bakugou sighed, his eyebrows furrowing together as he tapped his foot repeatedly, “Hey man, don’t worry about it. I have a better idea” 

“It’s just Katsuki getting desperate” You explain to Uraraka as you pick up the flowers that had been laid down on your desk, waiting for your arrival. She hummed as she looked at the flowers.

“I guess that would explain why he’s been more aggressive.” She hummed before looking at you, “The other day he almost blasted Midoriya out of the second-floor window. Maybe you should hear him out. He seems upset... maybe even sorry” She hummed and you rolled your eyes as you handed her the flowers.

“Katsuki is never sorry.” You huffed before sitting at your desk. Uraraka frowned upon seeing your saddened look as you looked down at your textbook, thumbing through the pages. She silently left the classroom, almost bumping into the spiky haired boy. 

“Fix this” She growled as she shoved the flowers into his arms, her gaze causing Kirishima to back away. She stormed past the two boys, leaving them alone.

“Maybe... You should just try and talk things out?” Kirishima suggested as he took a step backward, “I’ll leave the two of you alone”

“(Name)...” Bakugou said as he entered the classroom, the bouquet of flowers still in his arms. You looked but before frowning, moving to get up he quickly called out to you, “Please just let me talk” 

“Then hurry the fuck up” You hissed, he mentally flinched, you had never been a big one on swearing. He nodded and continued to walk until he was in front of your desk. 

“I’m sorry,” He confessed, “I know I can be a real asshole and what I said crossed the line. I realize that. I want you to know that I really am sorry.” he holds out the bouquet of flowers, “There is no excuse for what I did, I just hope you can forgive me” He says in a tone so quiet you almost didn’t believe it. You gentle take the flowers into your arms, looking at them before looking up at him.

“You mean that?” you ask, your grip on the flowers tightening as Bakugou nods his head

“Yea (Name). I do, I’m sorry. I love you and my life would be really fucking shitty without you” You rest the flowers down on the desk as you walk around the desk, standing in front of him for a moment before resting your forehead on his shoulder.

“You’re a dick,” You say and he carefully wraps his arm around you, making a noise of agreement as he raises one hand to tangle itself in your hair.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll buy you a drink on the way home to make it up to you” He runs his fingers through your hair as his other hand rubs your back,

“you’re going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that” You grumble, looking up at him. He nods his head before leaning into you, pressing a kiss to your lips. 

“Anything...”

based on @latinalightwood‘s tags on this post, here’s the untold story of the psychic that lived beside the hunter’s moon, and how that particular character witnessed some parts of malec’s epic love story unfold from a distance.

the sound of the busy street outside of the hunter’s moon echoed through her ears as she made her way back to her quiet and modest home. she held on to her bags of supplies as she walked amongst the loud crowd of gleeful people, whom she noticed were a bit tipsy from the alcohol they must’ve consumed that night. it was no surprise to her to see such people along the street—her dwelling place was beside a bar, after all. she was cautious as she walked past them, and she stared quietly as the group disintegrated towards their own respective routes, a few ‘goodbye’s’ and ‘good night’s’ were thrown into the cold air of the night. 

when all of those people were gone, she slipped past the metal gate towards the dark alleyway filled with discarded boxes and a few trash bags on the ground. the sound of her boots splashing on the wet pavement was somewhat comforting, but also made her slightly miserable, since it meant that she’ll be back to her empty apartment, left alone to her thoughts. as she moved forward to the depths of the alley, the neon lights of her ‘psychic’ sign—as she noticed—was hard to miss, yet there were only a few people who would come to her to ask for readings. business wasn’t as big as she would’ve imagined, but it was enough for her to survive—for now. she sighed heavily as she reached for her door and slipped in the keys, turning the knob and pushing herself inside. 

she dropped her bags heedlessly on the nearby table, her other hand reaching up at her neck and  started rubbing the tension away from them, making her eyes close for a bit. when she opened them up again, she took a moment to look at her surrounding, and the emptiness of her house made her let out another tired breath. 

i need a drink, she thought to herself. 

______ 

the atmosphere of the hunter’s moon was in its usual state, with people chattering away and laughing with their peers by the tables, and a handful of others were by the bar, either drinking quietly or making their conversations with other strangers who found solace in their company. as she made her way around the bar, she looked around for maia, the beautiful bartender that she usually talked with whenever she comes in to drink. she remembers thinking how easy it was to talk to that girl, and how quickly it was for them to hit it off and become friends. she needed that same warm feeling that maia brings with her, but that night, she realized that her favorite bartender was nowhere in sight.

“whiskey on the rocks, please.” she said to the other available bartender, who nodded as they tried to serve countless others who were also requesting their own drinks. 

while waiting for her drink, she tried her best to distract the aching feeling that’s been tugging on her chest that night. she scanned the place for anything particularly interesting to look at, and her eyes caught on two figures laughing and teasing by the pool table. she frowned as she noticed one of them was a tall man with a large tattoo on his neck, who took a break from the game to sip on what appears to be APA. curiously, she let her gaze fall towards the other figure with him, and she saw another man, very well-dressed, with a spiked-up hair and a few rings that graced his fingers. the two men looked to be enjoying a competitive game of pool against each other, and their laughter and radiant energy somehow drew her full attention, only to be interrupted with the arrival of her drink. she turned her eyes back towards the amused bartender and mumbled a low ‘thank you’ as she handed them her payment and tip. the bartender replied with a smile and a nod, then they left her alone again to her enjoy lonely night. 

the night went on without much excitement to distract her, except for the drinks she ordered and that time she overheard a few drunk people arguing over something ridiculous that made her chuckle for a bit. however, every now and again, she finds herself glancing back to the two men she saw earlier, who eventually left the pool table and migrated to the other side of the bar. they seemed to be deep in a hushed conversation, with their earlier fun and cheerful aura replaced with something else—tension, nervousness, doubt, and little bit of awkwardness. these things were all too familiar for her, and it was then when she realized that it might’ve been the pair’s first date. the realization made her smile to herself as she reminisced her very first date with her girlfriend, although the happy memories didn’t last long as her heart started to crumble on her chest as thoughts of her lingered at the back of her mind. 

with a sigh, she chugged down the remainder of her drink and decided to leave. when she stood up, the bartender glanced to her immediately, to which she said, “can you tell maia that i dropped by?” with an expectant look on her face. the bartender nodded, and she flashed them a smile before she turned around and walked away towards the back of the bar that leads to her home. she walked past the two men on her way there, and she unintentionally overhead the spiky-haired man say, “—but right now i’m here, with you,” in a reassuring voice as the tattooed guy appeared to be stunned with whatever he heard from his date earlier. 

i hope things work out between the two of you, she found herself thinking, subtly glancing back to them  and silently wishing them the best before she disappeared behind the back doors of the bar, into the shadows of the night. 

______ 

“i heard you came in here last week,” maia said with a smile that could light up the entire room. “i’m sorry i wasn’t here when you did. something came up with luke that day and i—” 

“maia, it’s fine.” she reassured her, finding herself smiling brightly at the woman in front of her. 

that night, she found herself slipping back inside the hunter’s moon again after a tiring day of working on another job she recently got. when she came in, she was glad to see her favorite bartender back at the bar, and maia immediately greeted her when they locked eyes in the always-crowded room. after giving each other a tight hug, both of them settled in their usual spot, and found themselves lost in their stories as they tried to catch up with each other. at some point during their conversation, she brought up about maia’s gorgeous outfit, and teased her about having a date. to her slight surprised, maia blushed shyly, before quickly mentioning that she’ll be hanging out with a guy named simon later that night. she chuckled at maia’s adorable reaction to her teasing, and she genuinely wished her luck, silently praying that this simon guy will be nice and treat her right. 

just as they were laughing about a funny story that happened to her a few days ago, she noticed maia’s attention flew past her for a moment as a man came through the front door. she followed her gaze and watched as the man approached the bar and gracefully sat at one of the seats beside her. he looks oddly familiar, she thought, looking at his face closely. the man had a spiked-up hair and black eyeliner around his eyes, and was sporting a goatee. his fingers were full of rings, and his wrist had a few bracelets around them. a few seconds later, she realized that she might’ve stared too long and glanced away as quickly as she could. she turned and saw maia giving the man a welcoming smile, then the bartender excused herself from their conversation, to which she just nodded. she sipped on her whiskey rocks and tried to look around the place, but somehow her attention was drawn back to him. she felt frustrated—she saw him before, but where?—but she tried to not let it bother her too much. the man beside her quietly thanked maia as he slipped a hundred dollar bill on the table, and she watched as maia tried to tell him, “on the house for my best tipper,” while pouring the martini on the glass. she tried to tune out the rest of their conversation, but bits and pieces of it still made its way to her ears—“what do you got there?” “a gift.” “is it from someone special?” “i think so.” 

it was after processing everything when it all finally clicked on her mind. this is that guy, she thought with a smile as she remembered seeing him with the tattooed man last week. the man stood up with his martini and went ahead towards the other side of the room, and she finally looked up and saw maia coming back to her. 

“i assume he’s frequent around here,” she said, nodding towards the man’s retreating figure. maia smiled, and nodded. 

“yeah, magnus is one of the best customers i’ve ever encountered here,” maia replied, holding up a beer mug as she looked for any spots she might’ve missed while cleaning it. “he’s a really generous guy, and a great friend—it’s always nice to see him around here.” 

not knowing what to say to that, she quietly hummed in response while also taking note of the man’s name. she thought about how magnus responded to maia’s inquiries earlier, and she smiled as she realized that the special someone is most likely the man he was with last week. with a deep sigh, she shook her head lightly and quietly chuckled at how ridiculous she is from speculating a bunch of strangers’ romantic endeavors. get yourself together. you don’t even know them, she reminded herself. after gathering her thoughts properly, she took a sip of her drink and quickly slipped back into another conversation with maia, which the bartender gladly entertained with a laugh. 

______ 

the rain finally stopped that night, yet the brisk wind that came with it stayed around for a while, much to her annoyance and dismay. she hated the cold weather—no, she despises it—and she felt utterly helpless as there is no other thing she could do about it. with a defeated sigh, she wrapped the large blanket around her shivering frame, and she shuffled towards her kitchen to make herself some nice warm tea to battle the cool temperature. 

she could’ve went to the hunter’s moon again that night, but as she was about to enter earlier, she stopped dead on her track as she saw the words closed: private party in bold letters plastered on the front doors of the bar. utterly confused and curious as she always was, she sneaked a peek at the windows and saw a few familiar faces mixed with unfamiliar ones. she spotted luke at the middle of the crowded room, holding out a bottle of champagne as everyone laughed and cheered along with him. she also saw simon standing at the side with a glass in hand, and she could make out maia’s curly locks as she stood with her back facing the door. they all seemed pretty busy celebrating, and after thinking that she probably looked bizarre standing there, she decided to head back home just as the rain started pouring down on the pavement.

she stood at her kitchen, leaning back at the counter as she waited for the kettle to boil. while waiting, she tried to distract herself by picking on her nails—a nervous habit she acquired through the years. after a while, the silence became quite deafening for her, and it reminded her more of the happier times when it didn’t. she looked up from her hands and her eyes directly stared at the chair she used to sit on, and the knowledge of not seeing her there still pains her, even after a year of living without her.   

before her thoughts wandered into deeper territory, the kettle whistled—signaling her that her tea was ready.

she grabbed her tea and made her way towards her little office, where she left some of her paperwork for the other job she had that day. a frown settled onto her face as she realized that her neon lights sign was turned off, and she huffed out a tired sigh as she made her way to the other end of the room where the switch was. with a simple flick of her finger, the lights outside buzzed to life, showing a mix of pink, purple, and blue glow that illuminated some parts of the dark alleyway. she stared fondly at her sign from the window, and a proud smirk found itself on her lips at the sight of the brilliant color choices she’d made. before she went back to her table, she saw something moved from outside. 

she went near the window and noticed someone emerging from the back door of the hunter’s moon. as the light hit the figure’s appearance, she was surprised to see the familiar face of the neck-tattooed guy—alec was his name, as maia pointed out to her before. from her view, alec appeared to be anxious as he started shaking away his nerves from his arms. she watched as he turned back around just as another figure emerged from the shadows of the door, and she instantly recognized the other person—it was magnus. 

the two men stood a few feet apart, rocking on their heels as they waited there silently, soaking in each other’s presence like they haven’t been together for a while. from where she stood, she could tell that the air surrounding them was tensed, with both of them looking worried—and dare she say, terrified—as they try to find their composure. a tight-lipped smile from magnus was all it took for alec to dig up his courage to speak up, and she wondered what he said that made magnus cross his arms on his chest—as if he was trying to hold himself together. she sensed the vulnerability of the two as they bared their souls to each other, but there was also this strong want—this urgent need—to be together, to crash into each other’s arms, to say fuck, i don’t think i would want to live without you. she could tell these things from alec’s determined yet gentle expression as his eyes shined under the neon lights, and it was also evident in the way magnus glanced up with this mix of surprise and fondness as the realization hit him hard on his chest. 

these two love each other so much, she concluded, taking another sip of her tea as the scene outside her home began to slowly unfold before her eyes. these two reminded her so much of the love she once had, and it warms her heart to watch them experience this—this once in a lifetime kind of love that left you breathless, but also full of passion and life. 

inch by inch, the two lovers moved closer as a few more words escaped their lips. she assumed their exchange was a good one, and it was confirmed later on as she saw both of them finally relaxed as the space between them slowly grew smaller and smaller. she felt that the earlier tension between them got swept off with the cold wind, and was replaced with a lighter tone as she saw them share a quiet laugh. not long after that, she smiled into her cup as the lovers melt into each other when their lips crashed into a soft and sweet kiss, and their connected bodies were drenched with the colors of the neon lights as well as the illuminated lanterns that graced the top of the alley. her smile grew bigger as she saw the two decided to leave the celebration early with their arms around each other, and she quietly wished them luck and happiness as they went farther away into the night.   

yup, i think i’m good for tonight, she hummed, taking another sip of her now cold tea before going back to her table with a huge contented smile on her lips.

A/N: this is unbeta’d, so apologies for any mistakes made. also, sorry for not using proper capitalization and all that shizz.