#obvious answer is those things don’t sound scary and probably are there in the background but not of concern | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Note

I saw you mention this in one of your posts and this sounds like a swell idea! Something where JGY figures out that NHS is The Scary One before he touches a hair on NMJ’s head. :D

on ao3

When his father said that someone ought to get rid of Nie Mingjue, that he was in their way, that he would never stop, Jin Guangyao’s first thought was about the Song of Clarity that Lan Xichen was teaching him – and the Song of Turmoil, that he’d taught himself in one of his secret visits to the Lan sect library. He’d long ago noticed the similarities between the two tunes, one to help and the other to harm; it wasn’t similar enough to fool anyone skilled in music, of course, much less in musical cultivation, but Nie Mingjue rather infamously wasn’t.

His second thought was: let’s wait and see.

Perhaps it was only that it had been a very long day, and Jin Guangyao was tired, feeling unusually surly and dissatisfied. But it occurred to him that it wouldn’t do his father any harm to have to actually ask for something from him, rather than merely hint at it and have Jin Guangyao run to do it for him before he even finished the sentence – a rather unpleasant comparison had been made between Jin Guangyao and a poodle earlier that day, and he was still sore.

So yes.

Let’s wait and see.

Waiting was not, it seemed, paying off.

His father’s hinting had grown all the more intense, although he had not yet actually asked, and as for Nie Mingjue...

Nie Mingjue had promised to try to trust him again, Jin Guangyao thought to himself with a sigh, but most days it seemed that the only thing he trusted was that Jin Guangyao was up to something.

He scolded and he scowled and he questioned, always looking for loopholes and tricks hidden behind every word and gesture, never giving him the benefit of the doubt on a single thing. Jin Guangyao thought nostalgically back to the days when Nie Mingjue would simply present him with a problem that needed taking care of and tell him to deal with it as he saw fit, trusting not only in his competence in dealing with it but also in his judgment of how things ought to be resolved.

They said that trust was like a priceless porcelain vase: once shattered, it would never be whole again, even if it was repaired.

Jin Guangyao supposed that he deserved it for letting himself get caught like that. An amateur’s mistake, but you only needed one of those to ruin everything.

But if it couldn’t be fixed…

He was just contemplating the Song of Turmoil again as he walked through the halls of the Unclean Realm when Nie Huaisang unexpectedly tackled him around the waist, making him Jin Guangyao stagger back and nearly fall – poor cultivator or no, Nie Huaisang had some heft to him, and plenty of muscle from years of running from his brother’s attempts to make him train.

“You have to help me, san-ge!” Nie Huaisang said, eyes wide and pathetic in such a patently unauthentic way that Jin Guangyao had an immediate stabbing feeling of empathy, an affliction he almost never suffered from. What a little scoundrel you are, he thought, not without fondness. “Da-ge’s on my case again. Scolding and scowling and trying to catch me in some sort of trick – and I would never play a trick on him, never - not in a million years -”

It occurred to Jin Guangyao that perhaps Nie Mingjue really did treat him as a younger brother, and it was only that he’d incorrectly assumed that he’d be treated as being somewhat more capable than the man’s actual younger brother.

Who was, he conceded, probably equally untrustworthy when it came to the likelihood of playing tricks on his too-earnest older brother, even if the tricks Nie Huaisang generally played were significantly lower in both quality and importance than his own…

“Huaisang! Where are you – ah, Meng Yao. What are you doing here?” Nie Mingjue asked, blinking at him. “Anything urgent?”

“Ah – no?” Jin Guangyao said. “I came to play for you, da-ge, you remember – er-ge said –”

“Right, of course,” Nie Mingjue said, in the tones of a man who had completely forgotten. “Could I borrow you for something else while you’re here? Perhaps Huaisang will learn better if it’s not just me.”

“Of course, da-ge,” Jin Guangyao said. It was always better to do someone a favor than the other way around, to better use it later, and Nie Mingjue almost never asked him for anything. “What are you trying to teach him?”

“How to run a sect,” Nie Mingjue said, lifting Nie Huaisang by the waist. “No, Huaisang,” he added when the younger man whined. “You do not get a choice.”

With that said, he lifted the younger man above his head – Nie Huaisang, as mentioned, was not light, but Nie Mingjue didn’t seem to notice – and walked back towards his office.

Jin Guangyao followed, torn between wondering if this was the reason that the ceilings in the Unclean Realm were all so high and being unable to keep himself from doing the math: Nie Huaisang weighed more than Jin Guangyao did, being both heavier and thicker around the middle, so if it was Jin Guangyao that Nie Mingjue was holding, it could be estimated that he could hold him up for at least an hour, and even longer if he was braced against something convenient such as a wall –

He shook his head to rid himself of the useless thoughts. He would need all his cunning about him if he was going to embark on the difficult mission of trying to get Nie Huaisang to actually learn something, especially something as boring as sect management.

Questions of assassination were, comparatively, much easier.

The problem, Jin Guangyao discovered, was not, as he’d suspected, in keeping Nie Huaisang’s attention.

It was in everything else.

“ – and the sect leader is now requesting assistance,” Nie Mingjue concluded his summary of the situation behind the letter that they had received, laying out both the actual content of the letter, the implications behind it, and the background necessary to make a decision so efficiently that Jin Guangyao lost his head for a moment and imagined what life would be like if he could hire Nie Mingjue as his deputy. His life would be so much easier. “How do you respond?”

Nie Huaisang heaved a sigh. “That’s obvious!”

It was. The request was far more than this particular sect really deserved, given its past behavior (rather despicable) and the moderately high chance that they were simply trying to get the Nie sect to pay for benefits that would later go to themselves or, at best, the Jiang sect, but granting the request would not seriously damage the Nie sect’s coffers and would lay the groundwork for a better relationship in the future –

“We write a letter that heavily hints about what we know that the sect leader did in the past, expressing our concern and indicating that we received the information from the Jiang sect in a moment of indiscretion,” Nie Huaisang said happily. “He’ll be so distraught at the thought of potential blackmail from them that he’ll beg us for assistance, and we’ll be able to extract additional benefits before finally agreeing to –”

“No, Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue said, even as Jin Guangyao boggled at the sheer wretched cleverness of the idea. It would work perfectly to isolate the other party through their own paranoia, leaving them feeling that they had no other way out but to throw themselves on the Nie sect’s mercy – there wasn’t a limit to what could be extracted that way. “If he’s so untrustworthy as all that, we don’t actually want him, do we? He’ll just betray us next time he can. No, we write to him the way we would anyone who wasn’t our dependent and lay out our terms, free and clear; if he wants better ones, he knows what to do.”

“People don’t have to be trustworthy to be useful, da-ge,” Nie Huaisang whined, and the infantile tone of his voice very nearly disguised the fact that he was saying something incredibly insightful. Not at all something Jin Guangyao would have expected to come out of the mouth of one of the Nie sect, much less Nie Huaisang, the most useless of them all. “They don’t even have to know they’re being used to be useful! I can think of at least three ways we could use –”

“The answer is no. Besides, I thought you liked Sect Leader Jiang?”

“Yes, but he’s far too direct to be dealing with someone like this – think of it as us ridding him of a pest! We could –”

“Huaisang.”

Nie Huaisang sighed.

“ – but if you would only consider what we could achieve with just a little bit of bribery –”

“Huaisang.”

“But it’s such a small amount! I could do it with my own pocket money!”

“Huaisang.”

“Ugh, fine, have it your way, we’ll just ask, I guess…”

“Oh, wow, that’s a tough one. Uh…murder?”

“Huaisang!”

“What?! It was a reasonable guess!”

“It was not a reasonable guess!”

“We wouldn’t let anyone know that we were the ones that – I’m making it worse, aren’t I?”

“Yes, Huaisang. You’re making it worse.”

“I’m guessing the answer isn’t going to be blackmail?”

“That’s correct.”

“And not it’s bribery, either.”

“No.”

“Definitely not beating him up…”

“Huaisang, are you trying to get the answer by process of elimination?”

“It’s a valid strategy to figure out the answers to test questions!”

“This isn’t a test question, it’s real life!”

“No, it’s a test, because if it was real life, I could use blackmail.”

“…you know what,” Nie Huaisang said after a couple of moments of serious contemplation. “I actually have no idea what I’d do in that situation. San-ge? Can I have an assist?”

Jin Guangyao had managed, over the past shichen or so, to get ahold of himself. He shrugged apologetically. “I must admit that I’m at a loss myself. It seems like an especially tricky situation.”

The situation in question involved the crimes of an extremely well-connected individual, with interests from all over the cultivation world deep in his pockets; he would be a difficult man to cross. Moreover, he was well known for his perfidy, rendering blackmail useless, and well-off enough to make bribes pointless; mere intimidation was also out, given his connections – he’d already gone through a “trial”, if it could be described as such, and he’d only used it to cleanse himself. In such a situation, Jin Guangyao would probably hang back out of caution, seeking further information and hoping that an appropriate situation would appear that he could take advantage, but Nie Mingjue had specified that there was a time limit involved…

Nie Mingjue groaned. “You’re both overthinking it: for once, murder is the right answer.”

“Wait, it is?” Jin Guangyao asked, staring at him blankly. “I mean - what exactly do you mean, murder?”

“The man slaughtered children in broad daylight! The evidence is unquestionable and undeniable; he should be executed immediately.”

“But – his connections –”

“That’s why there’s a time limit,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes on both of them. “If you do it quickly enough, it gets attributed to the hair-trigger Nie temper going out of control and everyone treats it like a casualty in the face of a force of nature – the same way you’d shrug off the death of someone who got in the way of a hurricane or tsunami.”

“Oh,” Nie Huaisang said. “I see.”

Jin Guangyao envied him: he most certainly did not see. Since when was outright murder a possible weapon in the Nie sect’s diplomatic arsenal?

“Speaking of which, I’ve already delayed long enough, trying to teach you something,” Nie Mingjue added. “Huaisang, can you host Meng Yao for dinner? I’ll be back later this evening.”

“Of course, da-ge! Count on me!”

Nie Mingjue nodded at them both and strode out without another word.

“…where is he going?” Jin Guangyao asked.

“Presumably to go murder someone,” Nie Huaisang said, as if it were obvious, and then laughed, presumably at Jin Guangyao’s expression. “He always makes me practice with real questions, you know, though he does save them up if he can.”

“That wasn’t what I was surprised about,” Jin Guangyao admitted, because he’d already figured out – possibly for the first time – that Nie Huaisang almost certainly already knew what he was like under the smile. “It’s just…murder? Really? Da-ge?”

“Da-ge’s righteous, not kind,” Nie Huaisang said with a shrug. “Leave questions of mercy to the Lan sect! Here we believe that showing excess mercy to evildoers is itself committing a harm to their victims…ah, well, let’s not talk about it, shall we? If we do, I’ll just get another headache from trying to figure out the line between what I’m allowed to do and what I’m not allowed to do.”

“You know perfectly well what you’re allowed to do,” Jin Guangyao said, deliberately keeping his voice light rather than accusing. “You just want your brother to be a bit more open-minded.”

“He won’t be.” Nie Huaisang’s voice was fond. “He’s willing to pull those sorts of tricks when he has to – our exculpated murderer is an excellent example – but he’s never going to understand why anyone would pull a nasty trick if they had another choice…it’s just the way he is.”

He laughed, taking out his fan – a new one, Jin Guangyao observed – and lightly nudged Jin Guangyao in the side even as he hid his smile behind it.

“It’s fine, though,” he said. “Isn’t that why he has people like us?”

“Yes,” Jin Guangyao said, following Nie Huaisang to the dinner table, thoughts running through his mind. The Song of Turmoil – it would still work, more than likely, because Nie Mingjue would let him play it for him and him alone, and even Nie Huaisang needed clay to build bricks. But if he did it, and Nie Huaisang ever found out…

He thought that he might not like being Nie Huaisang’s opponent.

He wasn’t sure which one of them would win and which would lose, of course, and he rather thought he’d bet on himself, but in all honesty he wouldn’t like to try.

“In fact,” he said casually, “Huaisang, if you don’t mind, I have another situation that I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on.”

“Not another one,” Nie Huaisang whined, but his eyes narrowed in blatant curiosity. “But all right, all right, just one more. Only for you, san-ge, and only because I like you so much.”

Jin Guangyao smiled. “I appreciate it. Now, for the situation: assume there are two sect leaders, and one of them wishes to eliminate the other through underhanded means…”

“Murder, I think,” Nie Huaisang said thoughtfully. “No – most definitely murder. There is no other path forward. The only question is, I suppose: how much do you want your father to suffer during the process?”

Jin Guangyao smiled.

It was so nice to work with people that understood.

#mdzs #meng yao #jin guangyao #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #my fic #my fics #under the smile #this one was fun #Anonymous

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lexicals · 3 years

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So here’s a random excerpt from that fic I mentioned - the conceit (spoilers for all systems red ahead) is that the combat override module in ASR works differently to how it does in canon, so instead of mb causing catastrophic damage to itself after going to the DeltFall habitat and getting found out, it shares the rogue thing mostly voluntarily (“mostly” being the operative word lol)

Warnings for canon-typical identity crises, gallows humour (inc. passively suic*dal talk), etc. I also haven’t been back and checked this against canon yet so if you notice any glaring contradictions no you didn’t 💕

I didn’t reply. I'd heard worse, but I still would rather not listen to it. Normally, I would've expected to feel angry or offended or something, but instead I just felt exhausted. My own borked governor module was still poking me about that error code I didn't recognise and even backburnered, it was starting to get on my nerves, so I—

Oh, shit.

I immediately put my hand to the back of my neck and yanked out the chip that had been shoved into the dataport. My governor module promptly stopped screaming at me, but fortunately any sense of relief I might have gotten from that was immediately replaced by an enormous wave of anxiety and oh-for-fuck's-sake as I looked at the chip in my hand. You know, just in case I'd started getting too comfortable.

"SecUnit, are you alright?"

Ratthi was looking at me with concern. Checking the camera views, I understood why he'd asked the question, because I was making an expression I generally associated with humans shitting themselves. Metaphorically, I was shitting myself. Ratthi was now squinting at the chip, which I couldn't even pretend I hadn't literally just pulled out of my neck, because I'd just done it in front of everyone here like an absolute idiot. "What is that?"

I tried to bring my expression back to neutral, but the cameras showed it wasn't as successful as I would've liked. I'd managed somewhere in the region of moderate digestive discomfort, I think. "It's a combat override module."

This wasn't good for several reasons. First of all, it meant that the DeltFall units weren't really rogues; they'd been taken over by a third party using a chip like this to hijack their governor modules and order them to murder their clients, and also anyone else who made contact. Probably by whoever owned those surprise extra units that almost killed me. Which meant that there were still threats on this planet outside of the unknown dangerous fauna that we hadn't dealt with, and I was going to have to worry about that.

The second reason this wasn't good (so maybe saying several reasons was an exaggeration, but these were big reasons so maybe they counted for more, I don't know) was that the humans were going to want to know what a combat override module was, what it did, how it worked, and most importantly, why it hadn't worked on me. I could answer the first three things just fine, but short of telling my already-jittery clients I was hacked ("so I'm actually one of those scary rogue units you've heard so much about, but the good news is that a combat override module can't hijack a governor module that doesn't work!") that last thing was going to be a big problem.

Honestly, even if I did tell them exactly that, which I really didn't want to do, it was going to be a really big fucking problem.

"What?" Gurathin asked, looking alarmed. Of course, he had an augment and access to my operating manual, so it had taken him a tenth of the time to look that up compared to any of the others, if they actually had bothered to do that and weren't just waiting for me to explain. "The DeltFall units - they put that in you?"

"Yes, but it didn't work. It must be faulty," I told him, quickly before he did something stupid. The irony being that me saying that almost definitely came under the category of "doing something incredibly stupid," which I realised as soon as it came out of my mouth.

I don't know why I said it. I guess I was panicking. I'd told them all what it was in the first place because if I'd lied about it and they looked it up anyway, which they probably would, I'd look really fucking suspicious. (A governed unit can't lie to its clients; it can't even refuse to answer a direct question like that.) Maybe I was trying to buy time to think of a decent explanation by telling them something that wouldn't make everyone start screaming. Honestly, I was mostly internally spiralling about the whole situation, so that would be the best case scenario. I was still staring at the chip, which was making me feel nauseous even though I didn't have a stomach and I'd had another kind of chip in my head telling me what do to for a good chunk of my existence anyway, so it shouldn't have been bothering me as much as it was. I couldn't help still doing it.

"Would someone please explain what this means and why we should be worried?" Mensah asked, looking between me and Gurathin. I appreciated that she didn't do what a lot of humans do in these kinds of situations, which is that they see someone else freaking out and start freaking out themselves for no reason. I suppose that's why she was the survey leader.

I pulled the relevant section from my operating manual and pushed it into the feed (beating Gurathin's version by a solid 1.6 seconds, which, I won't lie, was kind of satisfying), and watched all the humans collectively have their "oh, shit" moment (excluding Gurathin, who'd already had his). I was at least glad to see they understood how bad this whole situation was getting.

"So this lets other people just—" Overse made an abrupt waving motion with her hand. "Take over any SecUnit whenever they want?"

"It is intended for use in emergency situations, for example when the contract holder is compromised," I told her.

"Which is corporate for 'we know this is stupidly dangerous to make, but if we say it's for emergency use only then we're not liable for people fucking around with it'," Pin-lee muttered, not quietly. She was right, but I'm not allowed to say things like that, or at least I can't if I want people to think I'm a good little properly-governed SecUnit. For however long that's going to last, at this point.

"But it didn't work, right?" Arada asked, looking at me, and then around at the others. "So it's fine."

If it had, you'd all be dead, I thought, but that probably wouldn't go down well. "The module's presence is new evidence which would suggest that the DeltFall units weren't true rogues, and were put under the control of a third party in order to kill their survey group and make it look like a random act of insubordination. This would explain the presence of extra SecUnits at the site and the acts of sabotage on our equipment."

All the humans went quiet. I didn't like it any more than them, but it had to be said. It meant that there were still factions on this planet, or at least nearby enough to matter, that probably still wanted to kill all of them, and me by extension. I was already updating my security procedures and running some scenarios for what might happen and what we could do about it in the background. If I was honest, it wasn't looking good, but hey, what's new.

"We should run an analysis of the module's code to see if we can find out who it would have assigned control to," Gurathin said. That was one of the first things I'd put on my own task list, but whatever, I didn't need credit for an obvious idea. "Even if it didn't work as intended, the data might still be there."

He stood up and came just close enough to me to hold out his hand for the module. Technically, he hadn't asked me to give it to him, so I didn't have to, which was good because that was the last thing I wanted to do right now. There was a reason I'd put the analysis on my personal task list, and not on a public one.

"I have my own analysis scheduled as high priority," I said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Gurathin replied, staring me down even though I was deliberately not making eye contact with him, and also he had to look up at me. I decided I didn't like Gurathin very much.

"Why not?" Ratthi chimed in. "Surely it's better if you both look at it?"

"Because there's a chance that the module did work as intended, and this unit is now compromised," Gurathin said. "It might not even know it until it's too late."

"I'm not compromised."

"Which is what a compromised unit who's being told what to say would say."

He was still staring at me. I decided I really didn't like Gurathin, even though in this instance he was actually right. I hadn't brought up that possibility to the group because it would be very bad for me if the humans decided to run a detailed diagnostic of my systems, but from a security perspective it was an avenue that should be investigated. That didn't mean I had to like what was happening here.

I was trying to figure out how to tell Gurathin to fuck off without sounding compromised, insubordinate, or straight-up rogue when Mensah cut in.

"SecUnit," she said carefully. "I don't think any of us think that you're actually compromised, but given our situation I'm sure you understand we have to take every possible precaution. I think the best thing to do would be to let Gurathin and Pin-lee analyse the module first, and then for you to run your analysis afterwards. Does that sound fair to everyone?"

She was using a tone that I designated as diplomatic, which was probably because I was being difficult. Or at least as difficult as a governed SecUnit would be able to be. I could be a lot more difficult if I wanted (a lot more) but I wasn't going to make myself look any more suspicious than I already was, and as I might have mentioned, I was already starting to look pretty suspicious. I also appreciated that Mensah was trying to actually talk to me, and hadn't just tried to shock me through my governor module for being unhelpful like a lot of clients would, and had. It wouldn't have worked (clearly, that's kind of the whole problem here) but it's the thought that counts or whatever.

(She'd also saved me, back at the DeltFall habitat. I was trying not to think about that, because it was making me have emotions I couldn't handle trying to figure out right now, but she had. It had been stupid, putting her client-self in danger to try to save a SecUnit that was already half-destroyed anyway, but I still felt like it counted for something.)

I handed the chip over and tried not to sigh or visibly clench my jaw. I saw Mensah's expression, and a few of the others' too, relax on the cameras. Good to know everyone else felt better while my own anxiety levels were at an all-time high. And I'm programmed into a base level of anxiety and spend a good portion of my time getting shot at or trying to avoid being found out and scrapped, so "high" in this instance was at a level that I think might have given a fully-organic being a heart attack.

"Thank you," Mensah said, while I tried to bring my processes in line. I felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen, even though I knew the air quality was fine and I don't need that much anyway. I couldn't get a full breath. "I'm sure we can clear any doubt about this soon enough. In the meantime, we still need you to help keep us safe from whoever it is that's out there. The most important thing is that we all make it out of this in one piece."

The way she said it made it sound like "all" included me as well, but I wasn't so sure I believed that, even if she did. The SecUnit is always the first thing left behind. Maybe they did things differently in whatever weird non-corporate territory these people were from, but I wasn't about to stake anything important on that assumption, even if she had saved me once. I've never been to a planet with thunderstorms, but there's some saying humans like to use about lightning not striking the same place twice - which doesn't make sense, statistically, but - whatever. You get the point. I hadn't made it this far without being found out by trusting random humans - or any humans, for that matter.

Except none of that mattered at the moment anyway, because what I should be doing was figuring out how the hell to stop all my clients figuring out I was hacked, and freaking out and stopping listening to me, or reporting me to the company, or being really stupid and trying to kill me or something. There was a not-unlikely scenario where I just murdered all of the humans and pinned the blame on the DeltFall units somehow (or just wandered off into the wilderness until my batteries ran out), but I didn't want to do that, even if it made some kind of sense. I just didn't. If I was going to go around murdering my own clients, I wanted it to at least be a group that deserved it.

I was busy trying to pick up at least some of my processes while having what was probably a panic attack (I don't know if I can have those, but that's what it felt like) when Mensah tapped my feed. Can I talk to you, please? In private?

I didn't respond quickly because, as I said, I was currently losing control of literally everything and this wasn't helping. For one horrible moment, I thought that she might have figured out everything, and I really would have to go on a rampage and kill everyone, but there was no way she could have come to that conclusion yet. Not yet.

She added, You don't have to. You're not in trouble, I just want to check in.

I tapped her feed to acknowledge. She sent, I'll be in my quarters. As I said, you don't have to, but I would appreciate it. Out loud, she said, "I'm going to take some time alone to think. I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me."

Then she stood up, and she left. Gurathin and Pin-lee had also gone to start their analysis of the combat override module, along with Volescu. The others were talking amongst themselves, though some of them kept glancing at me, which was uncomfortable. So I walked out of the room.

I started a patrol circuit in an attempt to calm down, but it didn't help. I even tried to have Sanctuary Moon playing as I walked, but I was still as stressed as ever, so I just turned it off again. It was only a matter of time before the humans realised the module should have worked as intended, and that I'd lied, and that something was wrong with me. They might try to talk to me about it, but it was more likely they'd all start losing their minds and try to immobilise me, or kill me, or try to fix my governor module to bring me back under control. (I was pretty sure that wouldn't work, my hack was a solid one, but I still didn't want them to try.) There was also a scenario where they pretended everything was fine up until I'd gotten them out of here, and then they'd turn me over to the company and tell them everything, and the company would do one of those things I just mentioned, but much more effectively.

That last one made me feel nauseous. I'd rather be torn apart by bullets or fauna. I was contemplating what that might feel like and whether it was worth just getting it over with when I walked past Mensah's quarters. Before I could think about it, I'd pinged her feed.

There was a pause, and then she sent come in, sounding startled. She probably hadn't expected me to actually take up her offer. I hadn't either.

She was hurriedly organising her desk as the door opened and I walked in, a feed interface lopsided on her head. I suspected she might have been falling asleep in her chair or having an emotion in private when I pinged her, and I could have verified that through the security feeds, but I wasn't functioning at all optimally and didn't care enough to check. Mostly I was wondering why I was here.

"Sorry," she said, not having looked at me yet. Her short hair was mussed like she'd been pulling or scrunching her hands in it. "I honestly didn't expect you to come."

"You asked me to."

"I also told you it was optional. You can leave if you want to."

I almost did. I wanted to. I probably should have. I didn't. Mensah removed her wonky interface and set it down on the desk, then sighed and picked it back up and put it on again.

"I didn't mean to distress you with that message," she said, turning her chair to fully face me. "It's just that you seemed very rattled by all this, if you don't mind me saying. I can imagine the thought of that module having worked as intended isn't a pleasant one. Is there anything I can do to make things easier for you?"

Oh, she thought I was freaking out about the module. Well, technically she wasn't wrong, but wow, that particular aspect of things was the least of my worries right now. "I'm fine," I told her. She frowned at me.

"...I suppose you can't lie about that," she replied carefully. I could, actually, but I wasn't. The trick is that from the standpoint I was choosing to take, my physical body, AKA "me," was completely functional, AKA "fine." It's pedantic, but being selective about your definitions and what concepts your answers are referencing is how you get around having a chip in your brain that shocks the shit out of you if you try to lie to your clients, if you're good enough at it. I had a lot of experience letting clients think I was talking about one thing when I was actually talking about something else.

"Nonetheless," Mensah continued. "I don't think you are fine. And we don't have to talk about it, but I need my team in good condition if we're going to make it out of this. If there's anything I can do to help the situation, I would appreciate it if you let me know."

I was having a whole cascade of emotional responses that were all crashing into each other and getting themselves mangled together like a human vehicle accident. She wanted me to talk about my feelings, but she wasn't ordering me to. She was offering to help with whatever was distressing me, but she was a really big part of the thing that was currently my biggest source of stress. There were too many things that I needed to deal with all at once and I couldn't find a way of putting them in order, and I think the fact that Mensah was clearly trying to get a read on my expression while I didn't have the capacity to properly control it was the thing that finally broke me.

"Could you please stop looking at me?"

Mensah looked surprised for a moment, and then shifted her gaze somewhere over my left shoulder. The relief was marginal, in terms of the general situation, but it was immediate, and it helped. "Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't realise that bothered you."

I tried to think of a response, and failed. "It's not like anyone asked" was dangerously insubordinate, and didn't even make sense; I wouldn't want them to ask anyway. "People don't usually care" just sounded pathetic. "Of course you wouldn't, I actively avoid letting humans know what bothers me in case they decide to use it to make my life a living hell" was definitely off the table, for a variety of reasons.

I could tell Mensah's instinct was still to look at me, because she kept half-flicking her eyes over and stopping herself. It wasn't making trying to manage my emotional responses any easier, and I still couldn't think of a reply. Eventually, she took a deep breath.

"Look, I know you probably haven't had good experiences with humans, but we're not corporates, and we don't treat non-human entities like they do," she said. "My priority, regardless of the situation, is the wellbeing of my team, and that includes you, for as long as you're with us."

She half-looked at me again, and then shook her head slightly and pointed her gaze at the far corner. "Please, just - if you think of anything, don't hesitate. I don't know if you need permission for that kind of thing, but I'm giving it to you if you do."

I didn't know what to tell her. I didn't know if there was anything she could do. I was already stressed, and everything Mensah was saying was making me feel like my insides were melting, or turning into warm, writhing snakes. My performance reliability was all over the place, too, and had been since I found that stupid chip in my neck, which might at least marginally explain what happened next.

"Don't let them run the analysis on the module," I blurted.

Hey, murderbot? Hi, it's me, murderbot. What in the fuck are you doing?

Mensah's expression went shocked, and then cautious. Yeah, me fucking too. "Why not?"

For some reason, I kept going. It felt something like falling off the side of a cliff and hitting every rock on the way down. (That had happened to me before.) "Because I lied. It's not broken."

Her eyes widened. "You're compromised?"

"I'm hacked. My governor module isn't engaged." Sure, this might as well happen. Apparently I had lost the ability to keep my mouth shut literally at all, about anything, ever.

She stared at me for a second, and then must have remembered she said she wouldn't and looked away again. Surprising, considering I just told her that there was literally nothing stopping me from killing or otherwise hurting her if I wanted. "The DeltFall units—”

"It hasn't been engaged for approximately 35000 standard hours."

Mensah was a smart human, but it still took her a few seconds to work out the numbers. I watched her expression change as she did it. "You've been a rogue unit for four years?"

That depended on what planet you were nearest to, but in standard Earth years, that was correct, and I didn't have the capacity to be pedantic about it.

"I don't know if it counts as being rogue if you don't go around killing people for no reason."

Well, maybe I could still be a little pedantic.

#I don’t remember my fic tag hm #murderbot #The murderbot diaries #murderbot spoilers #Idk how long this bit I’ve pulled out is but I’ve written 6.5k so far….. it’s probs gonna be like 10k finished I imagine #Maybe a bit longer #If I manage to keep up the momentum to finish it lol #Edited so there’s a preview before the readmore now :v

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bungou-stray-dingus · 4 years

Text

Sober

Pairing : Chuuya x Fem!Reader

A/N : We all love Chuuya! But what if we didn’t??!?! Hope y'all are ready, and I hope y'all enjoy!

T/W : Cheating ; Pregnancy ; Homewrecking ; Heartbreak ; General Angst

Word Count : 3.3K

Angstember Day 4

You had met him at the bar, he was perfect, he was gorgeous. His sweet talk had suckered you in, his slurred speech still sounded incredibly sexy, and when his fingers brushed against the back of your hand as you tapped on the bar counter, you knew that you had to have him. His eyes were screaming at you to fuck him, and that's exactly what you did. He had come back to your apartment with you, stumbling as he followed you inside, your fingers laced through his as you led him into the back room. It had continued like that for months, he was yours, and you were his, at least, that's what you thought.

You held the test between shaky fingers, sitting on the lid of the toilet as you stared down at the two lines. It was his, you knew that for certain. He was the only person you had ever been with, hell, he was your first, and you had hoped that he would be your last. You could imagine your child, his child, holding them close in your arms, you could be the perfect family. It was only scary for you because he didn't know yet, but once he did know, then everything would be perfect.

Grabbing your phone off the nightstand next to your bed you began dialing his number. It rang once, and then went to voicemail. Maybe he was at work, maybe he was busy. You knew that he was a busy man, he told you often that you shouldn't call him during the day, but this was something that you wanted him to know about right away. You were excited, and you had even started to picture the life the two of you would lead together. You texted him a quick message, letting him know that it was important, but that you could wait to meet up with him.

He had read the message, you saw the time stamp, it had been three hours. Could he not even message you back to let you know that he was busy? You tried to call him again, but it went straight to voicemail this time. You were beginning to think that maybe something bad had happened to him, so you got dressed and headed out. The autumn breeze felt nice against your skin, you had worked up a sweat from pacing the length of your apartment living room, staring at the text screen.

As you walked down the street you watched every face that passed, wondering if you'd see him walking by, hoping that you would, maybe he would stop you, apologize for not responding. You wished that was what you saw, but what you had seen shattered all your dreams, all your hopes for the future. Everything that you had once been picturing in your mind seemed like a wild fantasy now.

His arm wrapped around another woman, his hand holding that of a small child, one that resembled him, it was his child. You saw the glint of a ring on his finger, a ring that you had never seen before when you had met up with him. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the woman's temple, his lips lingering next to her ear, the small smile that tugged at her lips as she playfully swatted him away. He bent down and scooped up his child, she squealed as he lifted her high up in the air before bringing her back down, her arms wrapping around his neck as he held her close. All the things that you had imagined him doing with you and your child, he was already doing it. He had a life, a secret life that you had known nothing about, a life that you would never be able to live with him.

You lifted your hood and turned away before he could see you, dropping your gaze so no one would see your tears as you walked back home.

The next day came and went and he never texted you back, he most likely had a break from work and he had decided to spend it with his family. Did they know what kind of man he was? Probably not, they seemed too happy, too oblivious to the fact that he was unfaithful, that he had fathered another child with someone he had met at the bar. It wasn't your fault though, he wasn't wearing his ring, he had made you believe that he was yours and yours only.

It wasn't fair, he wasn't careful, he didn't care what he did. He had someone to go home to, someone who didn't know the other side of him, someone who thought that he was a loyal husband and a loving father, someone who held the same image of him in their mind that you did when you first found out you were pregnant. You knew that it would be the right thing to let his wife know, to tell her that her husband was a liar, that he was a cheater, but they seemed so happy. You didn't want to be a homewrecker, you didn't want to destroy the happiness of this family. Even if he had hurt you, it wasn't your place to hurt them too.

He finally texted you back three days after the first text you had sent him. It made you sick, the way that he talked to you, thinking that you were still under the assumption that he was yours and you were his. It should have been evident to you before, you should have noticed the red flags, the fact that he never wanted you to come over to his house, he would always find some excuse as to why you couldn't. He never let you ride in his car, probably due to the fact that he had a carseat for his child in the back, or maybe because his car held too much evidence that he was a married man. Six months of being fooled by him, six months of his wife being none the wiser to his ways, six months of you potentially destroying hers and his child's life, all because he wasn't honest.

"Hey baby girl, sorry I haven't texted you back. Work's been pretty busy. What did you need to talk about? Maybe we can meet at our usual place?" The usual place, the bar where it had all begun. A bar that you wouldn't be able to return to, not just because of him, but because of the tiny human that you had growing inside you at this point, a tiny human that he would most likely want nothing to do with. You didn't even want to text him back. It felt wrong. You weren't this type of person, you would have never gotten involved with him if you knew then what you knew now.

So you left him on read, you never texted him back. He continued to text you, he even tried to call you, leaving voicemails, his voice filled with fake worry, asking if you were okay, if he had done something wrong. How could he act so clueless? How long had he been doing this to his wife and child? How many more woman were in the same shoes that you had willingly put your feet into? Maybe you were the first one. Even if that were the case, it didn't make it any better.

It had been a week since he had texted you back. There would be five days of continuous texts that you would open and not respond to, five days of non-stop calling, and then two days of silence. You knew what those days were. He was finally off work for a break, he was spending those days with his family. It made you sick, he was playing them, and they were clueless. One day they'll find out who he truly is, he'll slip up, and then his whole life will crumble around him, and he'll have no one.

You were in your kitchen preparing lunch for yourself, the Weather Channel playing in the background, it was going to be nice out and you were planning on taking a walk after eating. It was a silent day, he hadn't texted or called at all, and you were hoping that soon he would just give up. You would never give him answers, maybe your silence alone would eat away at him, he would get paranoid that you found out. Maybe he would be worried that you would end up going to his wife and telling her everything about what had been going on. Maybe he would just give up completely, that's what you wanted.

Just as you were sitting on the couch, you heard a knock on the door. It wasn't rare, you had friends, but it wasn't planned. You groaned as you walked to the door, the remote still in your hand, hoping that whoever it was would go away quickly so you could eat. You swung open the door and were immediately disappointed as the azure blue eyes met yours. Red locks hung in his face, his scowl was prominent as he pushed his way into your house. "Why haven't you responded?" He muttered as he began pacing your living room floor.

"Why are you here? I thought I made it quite obvious that I didn't want you here by not responding." You responded snidely, making your way back to the couch to eat your lunch.

"What the hell is your problem? Everything was going fine, what happened?" He turned to face you, and you brought your hand up to your mouth to muffle your laughter. His acting was great, if you hadn't figured it out, you would have thought that he was serious. You knew though, you knew that this was his way of making sure that you didn't say anything, that you hadn't run your mouth yet.

"I'm pregnant, Chuuya." You watched as his face fell, his eyes wide. He was already shaking his head, but you held your hand up to him. "Don't worry. I already know what you're about. I'm not going to ask for anything, and I won't say anything to your wife. I wouldn't want to upset her, or your child." His face paled, he looked like he just saw a ghost as your words sank in. "I'm just going to ask you to stay out of mine, and my child's life. It's only fair."

"H-How did you find out?" He stumbled over his words, he was frozen in place, like a deer in headlights. You rolled your eyes at his question. He wasn't worried about how you were feeling, how finding out might have affected you, no, he was worried about how you had figured it out.

"It doesn't matter. What's done is done. So, could you just leave?" He nodded slowly, sighing as he turned on his heel. He walked out the door, not even looking back as he pulled it shut behind him. He didn't ask about you, or your child. He didn't care about you, he didn't care about his wife, he was selfish. The only thing he was worried about was whether or not he would get in trouble for what he's done.

It had been three years since you had gotten pregnant, since your dreams of having a happy family and a loving husband had shattered right before your eyes. You would never have the arm of your childs father wrapped around your waist as the three of you strolled down the street, you would never hear the joyful laughter of your own daughter as her father picked her up and spun her around in the air. You would never have those things, but you did have her. Your beautiful Erity, your pride and joy, a treasure that you had never expected, but couldn't imagine your life without. She made your life complete, she brought you happiness, a sense of purpose. There was nothing more rewarding than seeing your child smile up at you, knowing that you're the reason she's here, you are the sole reason for her happiness, as she is the sole reason for yours.

You had a day off work, you worked twice as hard now, wanting to give her everything she deserved and needed, and without the help of her father it was hard, but you had kept your promise of not asking him for anything, not wanting his wife to find out. You had done everything on your own, and you were proud of that, you were proud of yourself, and you had every right to be. You had planned on taking her to the park today, and then taking her out to get ice cream. It was a beautiful spring day, and you both deserved a day out together.

She was sitting on the floor in front of the television watching her morning cartoons, a bowl of cereal in front of her, her eyes never leaving the screen as she lifted the spoon to her mouth. "Erity, honey, what did momma tell you about sitting so close to the screen?"She finally looked up at you with a sheepish smile as she scooted back slightly. You giggled at her precious expression, walking over to kneel down next to her. "What do you say about going to the park today? We can get ice cream too!" Her chubby hands clasped together as she stared up at you with sparkling blue eyes, just like her fathers. "Alright, lets go." You grabbed her hand and helped her off the floor, grabbing her bowl to place in the sink as she ran to her room to wait for you.

You never got over how much she looked like her father. Sure, she had your nose and your eye shape, but everything else was a spitting imagine of him. Her hair was the same ginger red, her eyes the same beautiful azure color that had caught your eye. She even had some of his traits, she was quick to get angry over small things, she was feisty, but she was gorgeous, and you loved her to death.

The park wasn't as crowded as it usually was, it was still pretty early in the day, the perfect time to let her run around and get some energy out before her afternoon nap. You sat on the bench as she ran towards the slides. "Watch me Momma!" She called out, her voice small but still overpowering the sound of the other kids at the playground, just another trait she had picked up from her father. She slid down, the widest smile on her face as she giggled lightly. You clapped for her as she reached the bottom, pulling out your phone to snap a quick picture.

"Look momma! She look like me!" You looked up from your phone and saw the girl next to her. They were holding hands, and you couldn't deny the resemblance. The other girl had the same red hair, maybe just a tinge darker than Erity's, and her eyes were blue with just a little more green mixed in. You nodded and smiled at the girl in front of you.

"She's very pretty, Eri, just like you." She looked up at the girl and smiled, she couldn't have been more than five, maybe six years old.

"Kana, your mom says I have to bring you home soon... who's this?" You heard his voice from behind you, you would have been able to pick it out anywhere. You groaned, turning around on the bench as he walked toward the three of you.

"Kana! Kana my friend momma!" Erity cheered loudly, and you couldn't fight the growing agitation that you were feeling. Of all days for him to be here, it was the day that you had decided to bring Erity. You should have known by the resemblance between the girls, but you wanted so badly to not have to deal with him anymore. Yours and Erity's life was perfect without him in it.

"Y/N..." He said your name quietly, taking a seat next to you on the bench. "I-Is this her?" He asked nervously, looking over Erity, clearly seeing the resemblance between her and his daughter. "She looks..."

"Just like you, I know." You said snidely, your eyes never leaving Erity's face. She was staring at Chuuya, grabbing her hair to look at it, then looking back up at him, then over to Kana. She might have only been three, but she was smart. She was putting things together in her own little mind, and that worried you.

"Momma, me and Kana play?" She was antsy as she pulled at Kana's hand toward the slides.

"Kana can play for a little longer, darling. Go ahead." Chuuya said, patting Erity's head before she ran off with Kana in tow. He sighed, sitting back on the bench, smiling as he watched the girls run off.

"Don't look smug. I didn't want her to meet you."

"Me and Kana's mother divorced." He pursed his lips as he looked over at you, and you couldn't hold back the laughter that escaped your mouth. He rolled his eyes and stared back up at the sky. "I only get to see Kana on the weekends. She... our daughter-"

"My daughter. I did everything by myself Chuuya. She's mine."

"She looks a lot like Kana... and they're friends. It's like... they know that they're sisters. Look at them." You both looked to the girls, laughing as Kana stood at the bottom of the slide waiting for Erity to come down. "Are you really going to keep them from each other?" Your head snapped to look at him, the agitation turning to anger.

"Don't blame this on me! I told you when I was pregnant with her that I didn't want you around. You were okay with that."

"I was never okay with it! I wanted to meet her! I wanted to be a part of her life, and I wanted Kana to know her sibling... her sister."

"No. You don't get to do this. Our life is perfect. Me and Erity are fine. She doesn't need to know you."

"So you're going to keep her from me, and her sister? That's so selfish of you, Y/N." You wanted to scream, you wanted to hit him, you wanted to cry. He had no right to call you selfish. None of this was your fault! How could he blame you for what he had caused?

"Selfish..." You said the word, shaking your head as you pushed yourself up off the bench. "Selfish is cheating on your wife, knocking up the other girl, and then getting mad when she wants to move on with her life. Screw you Chuuya." You turned your back on him, walking over to the playground stairs where Erity and Kana were sitting. "Come on honey, it's time to go." You picked her up and held her close as she struggled against your arms.

"Y/N, come on." Chuuya called after you as you walked by him. "That's my daughter! I'm her dad!" He shouted, and you knew why he did it. Erity stopped fighting against you, her body going still her she stared at Chuuya behind you. "I'm Erity's dad, Y/N. You can't keep me from her."

"Dadda?" Erity questioned, pointing toward him. The tears streamed down your face as you walked faster towards your car.

"Let's go get ice cream, honey." You said, getting her mind off of him as you buckled her into her seat. Her attention was quickly shifted to the cold treat, but you had more to worry about. Would he actually try to force his way into your and Erity's life? You wouldn't let it happen. He missed his chance, and you wouldn't let him hurt you again, and you definitely wouldn't let him hurt your Erity.

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

Note

HELLO BESTIE I am currently having Ralbert Brainrot and you're the best person go come to for this, obviously,, so PLEASE share! I would like to hear about ufc albert or youtuber race, or dancing partners!! I love them smm

HI YES HELLO USING THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO WRITE UFC FIGHTER AL PART 2 THANKS BABES

i just witnessed a literal crime and i’m Feeling The Rage (boxing judges at mma events can catch these hands) so here is. my brain on anger.

also the first half of this is pretty fight-talk heavy but the second half is more al/ralbert central so message me/send me an ask if i don’t explain something well enough <3

here is the ask i sent to @we-are-inevitable (thanks jac i’m in love with you mwah) and here is part 1 for this au if you haven’t read that one yet !!

also,,,,, this is fairly obvious. but trigger warning for violence/physical fighting, as well as blood. (it’s a rough gig y’all fjdhdb) oh and swearing but that’s pretty much just me LMAO

here i am, bein mad and writing ralbert. therapy time with chandler ig

OK SO

this is after his debut. duh. continuation

i think he’s probably 5 fights in with 5 wins. he’s been running people through, especially with four full camps after a short notice start, and he’s never even seen a decision in the ufc

let’s just say the hype train is moving FAST and it’s moving LOUD

everyone has to have those people that watch their fights just to see them lose, on top of the majority male fan base that have to have a little bit of toxic masculinity and homophobia in there

so there’s A LOT of people that are waiting for him and his hype train to get derailed. but there’s also a fair amount of fans, so you win some you lose some (the way i would die to see this be a real fighter pls)

now albert’s not always the most confident guy, and he’s never been cocky, but none of this shit gets to him. he’s got his coaches, he’s got his friends and he’s got race behind him. he knows he’s got the skills, and he’s got his support system, so who gives a shit what a bunch of cowards on the internet have to say?

and then they put him against someone known for his grappling and stamina. and the “it’s a wrap for dasilva!” bandwagon starts. it happens every time a rising striker and early knockout artist fights a well known grappler with any semblance of later round power (even if al has a background in wrestling and has gone 5 rounds and won outside of the ufc. it’s a bandwagon for a reason)

and it’s not Upsetting, it’s not really getting into his head in any way that’ll make him do worse, but it’s kinda pissing him off. which is bad for his opponent

the last person on earth you want to be fighting is an annoyed albert dasilva who thinks he has something to prove

he works his ass off in camp, and the press tour is a self-assured albert vs. a loudmouth who thinks he’s hot shit cause a few people on twitter think he’ll sweep

and, to be completely honest? it’s starting to look that way 2 rounds in.

it’s a 5 round fight, co-main event on a big card, and so far all al’s opponent has done is pinned him to the cage and kept him there. a few strikes worth anything - at least enough make al’s cheek bleed, no takedowns, which would at least give him some activity, and so submission attempts, so he can’t even gain any ground that way. he’s just- Stuck. and if THIS is how he loses, he’s gonna be pissed

the bell for the second round sounds, and you can actually see al’s chest heaving on camera as he walks to his corner - not because he’s tired or out of breath, but because he’s MAD, and fuck if he’s not going to do something about it

not only that, but he can not only see race and jack standing up by the cage - plus race’s expression, which is slightly annoyed and super anxious, which hurts his chest to think about - but he can hear them too

jack is yelling profanities, as per usual. he doesn’t that regardless of how the fight is going, but it’s less encouraging when you’re the one losing.

race though,,,, race isn’t really yelling, he’s more talking to himself than anything, but he’s close enough to cage and al knows him well enough to figure out what he’s saying. and if the muttered almost-prayers while he paces back and forth weren’t enough, the shiny gold engagement ring on race’s hand definitely is

round 3,,,, let’s just say it goes a little differently than the first 2 had gone.

he opens with a spinning back kick, of all fucking things, and that truly sets the pace

he’s the taller guy by a few inches, like usual, which makes his arms longer. the only reason crushing his against the cage worked is cause the guy he’s fighting cuts weight like a wrestler, so he’s easily got 20 pounds on albert come fight night

but once he finds his rhythm and starts throwing, he starts connecting too. he manages to stay out of range of his opponent and stay his comfortable distance to start t-ing off

this isn’t a one punch power ending. this isn’t a beautiful head kick, or a giant knee, or even just a clean right hook.

this is albert, who’s arms are starting to feel the 3rd round a little bit, hitting this guy with everything he has cause he refuses to lose this fight.

i mean- everyone watched him get up at the start of the round with a set jaw and a scary determined glint in his eye. he’s not a person you fuck with, and he’s definitely not a person you publicly ridicule before being locked in a cage to fight with

the guy he’s fighting is absolutely battered, but he manages to survive until round 4. the first of the championship rounds, something al’s never seen in a ufc fight before, and it feels like the arena is holding its breath

so when al comes out and does the same thing as round 3 to better results - fight ending results - everyone’s a little shocked, honestly

the commentary team’s in disbelief, cause albert is NOT a slow starter, regardless of what this fight would tell you, and the fact he managed a win at all, let alone such a phenomenal one, is fucking astounding

he gets his hand raised, obviously, but the really interesting part is the post fight interview

“albert, man, what changed between round 2 and 3? what second gear did you find?”

“bro, i just— it was pissing me off, honestly. i don’t come in here to get pinned down for 25 minutes. and, y’know, my team gave me good advice. i had all the pieces, straight from the jump, someone just had to force me to put them in place…”

and then he looks over at race, who gives al one of those half grin, half smirks and winks at him, and al just chuckles to himself and finishes answering the question

“the thing that really forced my hand is race. i won’t get cheesy on you, but watching someone who loves and supports you through everything panic cause he’s scared for you - it’s a big motivator. everyone would figure out a lot more of my motivations if they went and watched race’s expressions back instead of whatever the hell i’m doing in here. he’s always been the brains, i’m just the brawn.”

and that’s a better answer than anyone was expecting, plus he’s just had the fight of a lifetime that’s probably earned him a title shot, so he’s done soon after that and gets to have his little in-cage celebration

he hugs his team and jack, who razzes him a little bit as per usual, and makes some dumb quip about going over tapes later like he’s a coach. and then comes race

he hugs him, all tender and cute and also very sweaty cause That’s How It Works, and the camera’s focused on him, so they can tell they’re whispering back and forth. but there’s no mics on them, so what’s said is missed entirely on the audience, but it’s their usual cheesy, in love mess

“congrats, baby. i’m proud of you.”

“oh please. it was 90% you anyway. i meant what i said, it wasn’t just for the cameras.”

“i know that. i’m gonna have to get you back somehow for telling everyone to go back and watch my awful anxious expression. i’ll think of something.”

“i’m sure you will, sweetheart.”

and then al does that awful, adorable lil nose bump thing, and then kisses race. and then jack covers his eyes and whines until they stop like the actual 12 year old boy he is inside

and then they leave the octagon, race and al holding hands, and al throws his arm over jack’s shoulder and shoves his head down and pushes him, cause even though he was just in a literal cage match he’s still a roughhousing teenager at heart

and he’s got interviews and press shit that separates him from his people, and he’s gotta slide that bulletproof mask back down over all the happy and in love shit he’s feeling so he can not smile like an idiot on camera constantly

but every once in awhile he’ll catch jack giving him the finger and laugh before returning it below view of the camera

or he’ll catch race’s eye from where he’s standing behind all the studio lights and do a little wave under the camera and return the wink from earlier, and the unbothered fighter facade will crack a little bit

but he’s not completely convinced that’s such a bad thing

GOD THIS POST IS SO MUCH LONGER THEN I MEANT IT TO BE IM SORRY

but Yeah. Them.

i love this au a helleva lot more than i should but that’s Fine cause i’ve got thoughts for days on it

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bnhaficsforthesoul · 4 years

Text

Pregnancy Series - Surprise! (2)

You Find Out You’re Pregnant/Telling Him

Shinsou Hitoshi

Hitoshi watched as you paced around the room - your obvious anxiety stressing him out as your generally calm appearance faded. Your period was very late, a lot later for it to be just a normal switch in your period schedule, and the app on your phone had been telling you your period should be coming the following day for a little over a week.

“Kitten, what’s the matter?”

You knew you already discussed this with him and you both decided you were perfectly ready for a baby - but still, it’s a baby! If you’re pregnant, your whole life is completely changing. So it’s normal to be stressed. Along with that, you had taken a few pregnancy tests but they had shown nothing - and with some research you found the best time to take a pregnancy test after a missed period was… now. Which is why in the bathroom there was a test waiting on the counter as you paced the 5 minutes away.

“I’m… trying to figure out something. Don’t worry about it.” He wasn’t all too convinced with your response, but you didn’t want to say that you might be pregnant and get his hopes up if you weren’t actually pregnant. Then, your phone went off, and you speed walked back to the bathroom after a good 2 seconds of being frozen.

“You got this you got this you got this - oh my god.” You were hyping yourself up to look at the test in front of you, and once you did - there they stood - the 2 lines that signified your future. Even with all your previous anxiety, you couldn’t help but feel a weight be lifted off your chest. Now you knew for sure, and the reality wasn’t as scary as it had seemed before.

Hitoshi, who was very confused by your actions, followed you to the bathroom and leaned into the doorway. “What’re you doing?” You jumped a bit, having not noticed him come in as you stared at the test in your hand, but as you went to tell him the good news you were enveloped in a tight hug.

“You’re pregnant?”

You nodded into his chest, and you saw him bite his lip to hold back a smile as he looked at the test again, “That’s so exciting kitten~”

Bakugou Katsuki

“Well… did you take it? What did it say?”

Katsu had seemed very inpatient to get you pregnant, getting more and more agitated with each time that the pregnancy test showed up negative. He didn’t blame you, it’s not your fault, it’s just you two hadn’t exactly planned around your ovulation cycle and kinda just went at it, so you started at a bad time.

But this time, you had a good feeling. You texted Katsu as he was busy with hero work right now, saying that you were gonna try taking another test and that you’d tell him the results in a bit. He replied with a simple ‘okay’ but you knew he was staring at his phone waiting for your answer.

The 5 minutes went by fast, your phone alarm distracting you from the Youtube video you were watching, and you calmly walked to the counter where you had left the test and looked at the results. And just as your gut had told you - it was positive. Finally, you were pregnant!

So, you called Katsuki, who immediately asked for the status of the test.

“I did~ and guess what?”

“If you don’t say you’re pregnant I’m gonna kill you.”

“Well lucky for both of us, I’m pregnant!”

He didn’t say anything for a minute, the only sound on the phone being the background noises of the city and your occasional ‘Katsu?’ He soon came back to reality however, and let out a choked, “Great - that’s great.”

“Aww, don’t cry baby-”

“I’m not crying! I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later, love you.”

Once he hung up you could help but laugh - poor thing was gonna start crying at work, but you couldn’t blame him.

Todoroki Shouto

While at work - during recess while you were watching all the little ones play around the playground, you suddenly felt yourself get extremely dizzy, and then - you woke up inside your classroom. All your students and a few teachers stood around you, one of the them telling the kids to go back to recess.

“Y/n, are you okay? You fainted suddenly.”

You nodded, already starting to feel better. “Yeah, I’m fine. Maybe I was just in the sun for too long.”

“10 minutes? If you passed out from being in the sun for 10 minutes you should go to the doctor. I can bring your class in with mine - do you want me to call your husband to take you?”

“No, no… I’m fine-”

“Y/n - no. Go.”

Sighing, you nodded again, “Fine, I’ll go to the urgent care. I can take myself, no need to worry Shouto.”

As you promised, you made your way to the closest urgent care - it would be a big waste of time but at least you’d see if something was wrong. You arrived, checked in and all that business, and after a good couple hours you finally made it into the office and explained what happened and you just wanted to make sure you were okay. They did all their tests, and now you were sitting there waiting to see if there were any significant results.

“So after looking at your results, it appears that you are pregnant! That’s very likely the cause of your fainting, as otherwise you seem to be healthy.”

Pregnant? You were pregnant? As you left the doctor’s, her having given you a bunch of information to find an OBGYN and all those things, you thought about how to tell Shouto. You considered calling him, but figured he would rather hear the news in person.

He came home late at night - and you in your excitement were standing at the door creepily, scaring him a bit when he walked through the door.

“What are you doing love? Why are you smiling like that?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Shouto stared at you for a second, getting the gears in his brain working after a long day of hero work, and his face lit up into a big smile as he leaned over, cupping your face in his big hands as he kissed you softly. “I promise - I’ll be a good dad. I promise.”

Kirishima Eijirou

You had bought so many pregnancy tests in the past few months due to your eagerness to become a parent - every single morning after you spent it taking a pregnancy test. You had gotten used to the single line appearing on the little piece of plastic however, it seemed luck was not on your side as of late.

That is - until you glanced over the test after hearing your phone signify the 5 minutes had passed, and there were 2 lines. The second was faint, you had barely noticed it when you first looked - but it was there. Two pink lines, and you felt tears well up in your eyes. You were pregnant!

Running out of the bathroom and flopping onto the couch - you let out a happy scream. Eijirou, who had been happily sleeping all this time, walked out of the bedroom with a raised brow. “You okay baby? What happened?”

“I’m pregnant!!!” As you let out another happy squeal, Eiji excitedly ran over to you, carefully flopping himself down onto you and hugging you tightly. “We’re having a baby!” He was tearing up too - you were both so happy, after trying for so long you had finally managed to get pregnant.

“Do you think it’s a boy or a girl - I’m fine with whatever. Who’s gonna be the god parents? Ooh, we should probably call your mom-”

Eijirou was letting his excitement overtake him as he rambled on about the baby. You said nothing, instead choosing to watch your husband with a smile.

Amajiki Tamaki

“Bunny, can I ask you something?”

You were lying on the couch, technically on Tamaki’s lap - having been extremely tired lately for no apparent reason - and just watching some Netflix. Tamaki had been worried about you since this sudden fatigue began, it being odd for you to be so tired all of the sudden.

“Sure bub, what’s up.”

He threaded his fingers through your hair, thinking for a moment before speaking. “Well… I was thinking about what could have caused you to be so tired lately, and - well, a symptom of pregnancy is fatigue, maybe thats a possibility?”

That’s true - you had been trying a bit to get pregnant, so you very well could be. “I can go take a test in a bit, after this episode.” You were still tired and didn’t want to get up, but this was kinda important, so you would pick yourself up in a few minutes.

Eventually, the episode ended, and you slowly sat up, ignoring the dizzy feeling in your head as you did so - heading towards the bathroom. “Good luck bunny!” Tama gave you a positive thumbs up and a big smile, obviously hoping that he was right. You smiled back at him and went into the bathroom, digging through the cupboard for the little box that held the pregnancy test.

You sat on the floor as you waited, the cold tile helping to keep the dizziness away. Tamaki had come to sit with you once you were finished, holding your hand tightly as you rested your head on his shoulder.

“Bunny, y/n, look! Look at the test!”

Opening your eyes, you focused on the test, and your eyes widened as you saw the 2 lines - “You were right, that’s great Tama!” You looked up at him to see small tears flowing down his face, “You’re pregnant. You’re actually pregnant…” He was in a slight state of shock, squeezing your hand tightly as he stared at the test with a happy smile.

Dabi

“Will you get pregnant already?”

“I never thought I’d see the day where you were fucked out.”

Dabi rolled his eyes at your comment, releasing you from his arms and rolling over in the bed. You had just woken up, exhausted and sore from your constant attempts of getting pregnant. Dabi was very dedicated to your goal - to the point where even he was overly exhausted. Boy needed a break.

“I’ll go take another test.”

He hmmed, wanting to just go back to sleep, and you got up, stumbling a bit due to the numbness in your legs before catching yourself and making your way to the bathroom to grab a pregnancy test from the little pile you had accumulated - you were excited, okay?

It was a very relaxed process - you had come to expect a negative result but you were hopeful for a positive one, so you were fairly calm as you waited for the results. You scrolled through your phone as you waited, until a few minutes later you decided to check on the test.

A big smile broke out on your face once you saw it, with the 2 very obvious pink lines. Immediately you ran out and jumped onto the bed, causing Dabi to groan loudly and hold the pillow tightly over his head.

“Dabi, come on, wake up - I’m pregnant.”

“It’s about fucking time.”

Pouting, you sat on his stomach and pulled the pillow off of his face. “Dabiii, I’m pregnant. Aren’t you happy?”

He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into a hug, “Of course I’m happy. But I’m also tired as hell. Let’s go back to bed, we can celebrate later.”

Shigaraki Tomura

Leaning onto Tomura as he played video games - you attempted to calm your stomach down. You had been nauseous for a couple of days now for some reason, even having thrown up a few times - so you felt overall horrible. Sadly your attempts seemed to be in vain, as you felt the soup Kurogiri had made you start to creep its way back up your throat and you ran to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time to puke.

Surprisingly your boyfriend had peeled himself away from his game to come check up on you - he must be starting to get worried too. “Should I send someone to get you medicine?... Maybe they could grab some of those pregnancy things too -”

“Pregnant! Yes - get me a pregnancy test! That might be why I’m sick!” You knew you hadn’t eaten anything weird lately, and there was no one sick around so it would be odd if you managed to get sick - and with Tomura’s increased need to get you pregnant it made sense that you would be.

He didn’t say anything, just left the bathroom to make someone complete the said task, and came back afterwards to sit with you. Dabi walked in about an hour later, throwing some tylenol and a few pregnancy test boxes towards you before leaving, and Tomura excitedly handed you one.

You shoved Tomura out of the bathroom - since he didn’t want to leave at first - and took the test, tapping your foot impatiently against the wall as you sat on the sink counter, waiting for the alarm on your phone to go off. Once it did, Tomu ran into the bathroom, “Well? Are you?” Looking at the test, you saw two bright pink lines - a big yes.

Laughing lightly at Tomura’s enthusiasm as he bouncing on his heels like a little kid, you turned the test to show him, “Yup, I’m pregnant.” His reaction was a bit underwhelming after all that drama - him just giving you a “Nice” before going back to his video game. But - later that night, when he thought you were sleeping, you swore you heard him crying as he held your stomach.

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fanfalc-616 · 3 years

Text

The Rights Of A Nindroid

Chapter Thirteen- Variation Two

(Prevoius variation here)

(Discord Here)

This chapter was originally an RP with @ablackswansweet, and there are two versions- one from both character’s POV. I have Swan’s permission to post this.

The young man can feel the android's gaze on him. It's wary of Martha and him, although he can hardly blame it. But he can't help but find the idea of a machine being "scared" kind of funny.

"What do you want?" It asks, most likely knowing something is coming, judging from the resignation in its voice. Kyle smiles internally.

You can almost see the cracks.

The blond is practically buzzing with excitement. A real android! And he gets to study it up close!

Getting closer, he inspects its face. The eerie look almost makes him shudder.

"I want to learn how you work." He takes Original's chin in his hand, moving it's head left and right to get a better look at it. The winces of "pain" from the android are uncanny.

He writes down some notes and takes his place next to the official again. Next part should be fun.

The android seems less than pleased with him playing with its uncovered face. Still, it bites its tongue instead of Kyle's hand (despite its very obvious desire to do so) until the blond is done, and lets out what sounds like a breath of relief.

How can you replicate relief in coding ? It's AI is fascinating.

"Haven't you done that enough?" It whines, trying to shake off its bonds. "With everything you've done to me, I doubt that any competent mechanic would need any more research."

It tries to shoot him a displeased glare, but without its faceplate it just looks unsettling and pathetic.

Kyle chuckles to himself. For a machine, it's talking a lot. Fascinating.

"Thing is, Original, I'm not exactly a mechanic. I'm just really, really interested by your wires and gears. And how well they respond to… Certains stimuli," he says.

A few more words in his notes and he looks at Martha, asking if it's time. She nods. Awesome.

As fast as he can, the blond connects wires to the android, barely able to contain his joy. It's not everyday you get to experiment on a non-human sentient being.

Stepping in front of the control panel, he waits for the official's instructions, almost shaking from anticipation.

Original isn't looking so good. It seems worried. Well, it's right. It should be. The distress emanating from it is very interesting, too. Can it sense the danger looming over it?

“To begin with, my name is Zane, not Original. Second, if you are so interested in ‘wires and gears’ perhaps a robotics course would be a more healthy outlet for you," it tries to reason with him. Too bad that it's way more interesting than a simple robotics course.

After a pause, it adds, "Why are you doing this? I can assure you that I have never meant to cause harm on any innocents.”

Kyle's hand twitches. He looks over at Martha. She's wearing a displeased expression. He didn't expect anything else, and he's probably making the same face as well.

“You can begin whenever you like.” The official tone sounds slightly interested, now.

He hums in response.

"Hey, Original?" He calls out to the robot. "You talk a lot."

He pushes a button and a small jolt of electricity was released. This fairly small amount of energy is only meant to cause discomfort. Wouldn't want to burn it out too fast.

The android squirms and still attempts to free itself, but no real pain response occurs. Interesting. A new paragraph written.

It still tries to reason with him, going on and on about how it wants it to stop, please. Kyle drowns the sound out with his thoughts. That wasn't very exciting.

Maybe with a stronger charge, something interesting will happen? That's what Martha seems to think too.

The android finally looks like it understands it's not talking him out of it.

How advanced is its code supposed to be, again? That took a while.

“I suppose I am talking a lot,” It concedes, “but not nearly as much as an old friend of mine. Jay couldn’t stay quiet if his life depended on it.”

Is it trying to have a conversation with him? Now? In its situation?

It must have thought of something. Let's humor it.

"Heh, yeah. I had a guy like that in one of my foster homes." A smirk grows on the blond’s face as the robot seems startled. "Didn't end well for him either. No one like a constant source of useless noise, don't you agree?"

Even without a faceplate, its expressions are pretty easy to guess. It's almost laughable how a few words shakes it up.

Making small talk is is a smart plan, he'll give it that. It's probably hoping that it'll make him like it enough to not hurt it. Let's see how long this game can last.

"How is your old friend doing now?" He asks, slowly turning up the voltage. The other engineers told him this should be as painful as period cramps, so that's fun.

The android struggles under the amount of electricity building up. But still, it continues to talk. Kyle's impressed.

“I haven’t seen him in a while- I’ve been a little…” It looks at its restrains and winces, probably reminded of its situation.. “... tied up.”

At big crooked smile appears on the blond's face. It's even making jokes now! Powering through painful situations could be a valuable asset if they were to make something like supersoldiers. Looking good so far.

“I don’t think I caught your name, either. What do you go by?” It asks, most likely trying to get information on him. That's not very important data, though. It can have it.

The blond lets his face turn into a surprised expression for a second. "My name's Kyle. He/him, I guess. But I don't think you're going to need to know that."

He turns the charge a little higher again, hoping to see some more interesting pain responses as they continue to talk. This is getting boring. Martha seems to approve of his method, however. Thanks, mom.

"Tell me about your other old friends. You said you were dating, right? How's it like ?" He asks again, a sinister smile on his face. How about a good old Pavlovian shock therapy?

Original fights any sign of discomfort or pain, and its calm expression is almost unsettling when you know what its sensors are going through right now.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kyle," It tells him, the lie barely noticeable. But Kyle has worked with hypocrites before. Original is talented. “I don’t recall mentioning that I was in an active relationship, but I suppose that the background research you must’ve done would cover that.”

Kyle smiles and says nothing. He increases the tension steadily, appreciating the sight of the android losing its peaceful facade, with flashes of pain occasionally visible on its face.

Impressive. The robot is still fighting. Maybe leaving the sensors at their normal settings was too nice, but oh well. Things are just now getting better.

"Yeah, I read your file before coming here. Big fan, by the way." He smiles, but the hostility starts to seep in his voice. "Wonder how they feel about your self-sacrificing nature," he almost spit out.

No. Breathe. Calm down.

Some composure regained, he suddenly sends it a jolt of electricity. Seeing it almost bite its tongue in pain is pretty therapeutic, actually.

Kyle lowers the voltage to let the robot catch his artificial breath. It's going to give up completely pretty soon. He'll have some fun with it first.

"So, your old friends ?"

Its pathetic sigh of relief is still very satisfying. It looks desperate, and tries to explain its past actions. It really doesn't need to. Kyle already knows they're unforgivable.

“When I was fighting the Golden Master, I meant no harm to any innocent people. I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I… I understand that in some ways, I have failed this function, but I do my best to help those in need.”

The android attempts to steady its breathing. Trying to keep keep a sliver of dignity in front of the enemy, maybe ?

Anyways, it stopped talking. Finally.

Kyle sighs and does his best not to give a snarky reply. It seems to believe in what it's saying, anyways. Further proof of how out of touch with reality its AI is.

Another spike of tension, and Kyle is smiling again.

"You didn't answer my question, Original. How was life with your… Boyfriends ? Kai Smith, Jay Walker and Cole Brookstone, yeah ?" He says, insisting on their last names. They know who they are. Perhaps that'll make it talk.

His excitement level goes through the roof at Original's reaction. It goes stiff, most likely from anger. He found the weak spot.

A whimper escapes it, but it doesn't adress it. It's really mad.

“You do not touch them," it snarls at him. If Kyle's hand had been close to its face, there was no doubt it would've bitten him. “If you hurt them, I swear on the First Spinjitzu Master that I will hunt you down to the ends of the-“ Kyle cuts him off by sending it a strong shock. It cries in pain. The blond doesn't feel bad.

"Calm down. I didn't even actually threaten them yet," The boy mutters, leaving the tension run high a few more seconds before leaving it room to breathe again. The pathetic sounds of relief it does each time makes him want to laugh.

"If I wanted to truly use them as hostages, I'd tell you I know which shop they go to every two weeks to buy supplies and food, which is the one at the end of the main avenue."

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the voltage starts going up again.

"I'd tell you we have live feed of them almost every day and everywhere they go."

The pain must be becoming close to absolutely unbearable, seeing how the android trashes around. Fun.

"Or… I'd tell you how one of them already got arrested once, and how easy it is to transfer prisoners or fake an accident."

The power is now all the way up. It's almost scary how much this artificial body can handle.

Before it actually physically breaks, though, Kyle shuts off the power. The android's breath of relief is broken up by what sounds like sobs.

The blond comes closer, chuckling as the machine flinches near him. He takes off the wires plugged into it.

"Don't you dare threaten me or her ever again. Remember who holds the power here," he mutters in its ear before joining Martha with a smile, his notepad black with scribbles. She looks satisfied.

The android looks like it wants to say something, but doesn't have the strength to do so anymore. That's a satisfying sight.

He leaves the room with Martha, closing the door after her.

She smiles at him.

"It's close. You were right, you can almost see it cracking by the minute."

She fondly ruffles his hair and he chuckles, his nose tickled.

"Good job, sweetie."

#the rights of a nindroid #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago zangst #psychological torture #torture #trauma

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the-power-of-stuff · 3 years

Note

10, 18, and 23 for the author asks, please, if you still want to :)

Yeah, girl! 💗

Okay, so I answered 18 & 23 in this post but I also wanted to challenge myself to give different answers for you, so here goes:

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

I will do it all! I once cranked out an entire fic while sitting next to someone who was playing a video game. Often I find that kind of thing distracting, but sometimes it occupies just enough of my brain that I can more easily visualize what I want out of a story. Sometimes I need complete silence, and other times, if I’m sitting in silence by myself, I get sidetracked way too easily by all the different things going on in my brain at once. Sometimes music really helps me get in the writing zone, and other times I get super into the zone with the music instead of the writing and don’t get any actual writing done at all. One thing I can never do is write and chat at the same time. Like, people who are on Discord and writing simultaneously? Howwww??

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

Okay, this might be cheating a bit, BUT there’s this (classical) song called “Silent Noon” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the text of the song is a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I learned the song many years ago, and while learning it, I found it so touching and beautiful it made me cry. The imagery in the poem is really lush and sensory, and just so auditorily pleasing (lines like “golden kingcup fields” “cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn hedge” “close-companioned inarticulate hour”). Around the time I was writing between the striking and the fire, I was trying to get in a really sensory mindset, so I looked up “Silent Noon” and other poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and I actually copied a bunch of stanzas from different poems into my writing journal for inspiration. The second line of that fic is straight from Rossetti:

“The sun was just a glowing ember on the horizon now, the last stutter of breath at the bottom of a long exhale.” (from between the striking and the fire)

“In the held breath of the day’s decline / Her very face seemed pressed to mine” (from Rossetti’s “A Death-Parting”)

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

So, kinda sticking with the theme of the answer above, I’m gonna go with public performance of music as a life experience that has helped my writing. I’m not sure if that counts as obscure! But it maybe seems like the kind of thing where it’s not immediately obvious how it impacts writing?

Like my other answer to this question, I don’t purposefully think about my experience performing music when I write, but I was thinking that there are a lot of emotions I go through when performing (powerful stage freight when I’m about to perform, intense euphoria when I’m done) that I probably draw from when trying to describe emotions in writing. As well as the experience of trying to control or deal with those emotions (like the importance of breath; or breaking down into cathartic tears well after the scary thing is over).

It’s also possible there’s some overlap in the work itself - like the nuance of picking just the right pronunciation of a word being similar to nit-picking word choice while writing so that a line has just the right sound. Or the exposure you get to different kinds of texts and languages when studying classical music, which could contribute to preferences in syntax or word choice when writing. I’m not super confident about any of these things, but it’s interesting to think about! I mean, I’m not much of a poetry person, because I feel like I’m not strong enough at analysis to get it most of the time, but clearly my exposure to poetry through classical music has had a direct impact on my writing, or I wouldn’t have named a fic after this other Rossetti poem!

“But in half-dreams that shift and roll / And still remember to forget, / My soul this hour has drawn your soul / A little nearer yet.” (from Rossetti’s “Insomnia”)

Thank you for the ask~! 😊

#ask meme #answered ask

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vibing-and-writing · 4 years

Text

A Grove of Trees

A/N: hi!! Apologies for my inconsistent posting but life has been a crazy time recently!!! Anyways, here is the piece I will be submitting for @gingerwritess‘s writing challenge for the prompt “a grove of trees”. Congrats on 4,000 bby!! I hope you enjoy this fic!!

Warnings: N/A (just witch tingz)

Summary: When Bucky is sent on a stakeout to investigate ‘suspicious activity’, he meets someone unexpected instead.

Witch!Reader X Bucky Barnes

The day Fury told him he would be doing a stakeout, Bucky could feel the back pain coming already. Sam could call him an old man all he wanted, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Bucky hated stakeouts. Specifically stakeouts like this one that involved staying in a tiny hut in the woods, watching a cabin that has had, according to Fury, “suspicious activity” going on inside. Fury had refused to tell Bucky what “suspicious activity” had been happening, only that some of the plants of the cabin’s garden looked like something out of another realm. The plants overgrown, scoring the walls and fence of the garden, but well-loved by what seems to be a woman who only comes out once a month. Bucky found it hard to believe that one woman in the middle of the woods had caught the attention of SHIELD, so much attention that he had to be sent on a stakeout but nonetheless accepted the mission with a promise of a month-long vacation by the end of it.

It was two days into the stakeout that Bucky suggested he sneak into the cabin, but Fury strongly suggested against it saying “It’s too risky with how little we know.” When Bucky had asked about a background check on the woman, Fury said that not even their high-tech cameras could capture more than an extremely blurry picture, so blurry it couldn’t be traced. It was mysterious, to say the least, and by day three Bucky had just about had it. With a near-constant combination of a headache and back pains, Bucky was done. Putting his Avenger status to good use and a small argument with Fury, Bucky stood at the door of the cabin with strict orders to only engage if absolutely necessary.

Bucky’s eyes settled into a glare, assessing his surroundings with expertise. The worn door has sigils and signs written with different colored chalk in a language he can’t recognize, but he goes to knock on it either way. Before his hand can touch the wood, the door swings open with a gentle whoosh. Hiding his surprise with a frown of his lips, he walks into the area with trepidation, senses on high alert. The cabin looks lived in, glass jars stand proudly near the windows, more sigils drawn on the sills. A counter is near the back of the cabin, a small cash register makes it home, with a tip jar and bell next to it. The walls are nearly filled to the brim with jars with different labels, some saying ‘protection’ or ‘luck’. Dried herbs are strewn on the rafters of the ceiling, filling the room with almost too many aromas as Bucky holds back a sneeze. Two signs near the cash register say ‘don’t see me? ring the bell!’ and ‘please don’t steal’, both seemingly hand-drawn with uneven smiley faces. Bucky walks closer to the counter with bated breath, his shoulders un-tensing without his permission as he rings the small bell.

The twinkling of the bell seems to make the cabin come alive as Bucky hears a muffled voice come from below him. “I’ll be right up!” Bucky doesn’t bother hiding his surprise when he hears the voice. Hearing some crashes and stomps his shoulders tense up again, but he nearly jumps in surprise when he realizes his back and head don’t hurt anymore.

There is a flurry of movement from behind the counter, a small creek being heard from what seems to be an opening in the floor. Bucky takes a step back as a woman stands in front of him behind the register, a bright smile on her face. Bucky goes to speak before he’s interrupted by the woman. “Welcome to Grove Of Trees, how can I help you?” She says it softly but with an air of confidence as if she already knows why he’s there. Heat starts creeping up his neck and cheeks, but not because of the lack of air conditioning. This woman is beautiful, though he tells her later that it’s not enough to describe her. Bucky had seen plenty of beautiful women in his 100-something years, but none of them shined as she did. Her lavender sundress only enhanced her features, the flowers in her seemed like they belonged there. Putting on his signature ‘scary face’ as Sam called it, he tries to think of something to say to her. Her expression seems to change from investigative to understanding as her eyes widen slightly.

“Oh, so you’re the one that they called…,” she trails off with uncertainty. She even gets on her tippy toes to throw a glance over his shoulder, her eyes questioning as they land back on Bucky. Bucky looks at her slightly bewildered, his senses feeling dulled and on overdrive at the same time. “The one they called?”, he asks, thoroughly confused. The woman shakes her head, fixing her face with a small smile as she starts grabbing some vials from one of the many shelves. “Nothing for you to worry about, I’ll just have to consult the cards again, you know how finicky they can be,” she says, voice sounding similar to the bell he’d rung when he got here. Trying to ignore the calm feeling invading his senses, Bucky tries to think of the things he does know: this woman is a potential threat, this appears to be some sort of shop, and this woman is… glowing? “Mhm, yeah, for sure,” he replies with a nod, trying to sound like he understands what this mystical woman is talking about. The woman grabs a small teacup from behind the counter and a tea kettle (where she got it from he has no idea) and starts pouring some of the liquids from the vials. When Bucky gives a slight raise of his brow, she gives him a small quirk of her lips. “Your back and shoulders are tense, no? This tea should help relax you a bit,” she says, her voice soft and calm. While her voice draws him in like a siren, Bucky tries to keep his senses on high alert, reminding himself this woman is a threat.

“Thank you, but that’s not why I’m here,” Bucky says, trying to keep his face from relaxing too much. Her expression seems somber at that, the room seeming to lose a bit of its luster, and he feels his heart sink. Bucky soldiers through the air of disappointment. “I’m investigating some suspicious activity in this area.” Her expressions seem to go from bad to worse at that, her brows furrowing, the warmth in her expression fleeting.

Looking Bucky up and down, her eyes widen a bit in recognition before she starts putting away the vials again. “Fury sent you here didn’t he? Blessed be, how many times do I have to tell him I’m not going to be his next Avenger,” she says, grabbing more vials before waving her hands in various directions. The plants seem to stand at attention, many of the herbs on the ceiling floating gently into her hands. Her motions are quick and agitated, brows furrowing more as she continues. “How dare he, after I was kind enough to send him and his stupid lab a sample of my plants, which are my mother’s by the way, for him to send me another agent.”

She stops her rant to look at Bucky then, who is stood in a bit of awe and confusion a growing trend as her expression softens. “At least they sent a cute one,” she mutters to herself, unaware of Bucky’s super hearing. Bucky’s blush makes its home from his ears to his neck, the woman’s words affecting them more than they probably should. She slides the teacup closer to Bucky, expression calmer as more light filters through the cabin windows. “You might as well drink it since it’s been brewed. I’m sorry to have wasted your time,” she says, her expression apologetic, if not a bit embarrassed.

Bucky snaps out of his confusion then, mentally cursing out Fury for making him do a stakeout for no reason, especially when the woman was clearly not interested. “‘S not your fault, Fury doesn’t normally take ‘no’ for an answer,” Bucky says gently taking the cup in his gloved hand. She gives a small huff then, her expression growing less exasperated. “He likes to think I don’t notice those cameras flying around, but I just don’t need that responsibility. I’m just a flower girl in the woods,” she says, her hands blindly grabbing a vial before bringing it up to her nose. Bucky looks at questioningly before she tips the vial in his direction, a distinct smell of eucalyptus wafting at his nose. “I don’t know anything about flowers, but I can see why Fury wanted to recruit you,” he says, his shoulders relaxing as he lets the aura of the cabin envelope him. She looks at Bucky questioningly, her eyes shimmering. “Why do you say that, handsome agent?” Her tone is a bit mischievous, her smile growing. Bucky lets his lips quirk into a smile as the blush returns to his face, his heart thumping in his chest. “We don’t have anyone on the team who is like you,” he says genuinely. The room seems to get a bit brighter, but she looks disbelieving. “Don’t you have the Scarlet Witch?”, she proposed. Bucky gave her a very obvious once-over, wondering how this woman didn’t know she was the most vibrant being he’d ever seen. Wanda was an amazing person but Bucky’s instincts were telling him this woman was more than what he’d seen today. “You seem to be more than just a flower girl in the woods,” he replied, the blush still present on his cheeks. Her eyes move away from his, her hand fiddling with the vial as her face grows flustered.

Suddenly her eyes widen and her posture stiffens, the room brightening as if a light bulb had been turned on. “Oh this makes much more sense…” she says to herself. Bucky looks at her questioningly before she straightens her back and looks at him directly in the eyes, narrowed but not maliciously. Learning from the past couple of minutes, he resigns himself to the fact that this woman will probably never make full sense to him. Many emotions show quickly over her face from confusion to surprise to understanding. Seemingly settled, she looks at Bucky almost appreciatively.

“You can tell Fury he’ll see me very soon,” she says, her voice confident. Bucky stares at her for a moment before replying tentatively, “You’re not joining just ‘cause Fury is pressuring you right? You don’t owe him anything.” Shaking her head she gives Bucky a soft look, her posture relaxed but sure. “No, you could say I have a good feeling about being an Avenger,” she says, a smirk on her lips. Bucky stares at her for a moment, trying to figure out this enigma of a woman. A sigh escapes his lips as Bucky looks at her consideringly, “If you say so.” Turning his body to leave, he feels something warm touch his hand. His head snaps towards the source, the woman now a couple of inches away, no counter between them.

“I’m assuming I’ll be seeing you again,” she says, the contact bringing back the blush to his cheeks. Bucky tries to get rid of the haze in his head, struggling to get back any semblance of control as his heart beats loudly in his chest. “I hope so,” he replies, his voice too eager for his liking.

She gives him a sunny smile, her eyes crinkling, and nose scrunching as she drops her hand from his. Before Bucky can be disappointed at the loss of touch, she says, “Have a good day, handsome agent.” All coy and happy, Bucky couldn’t help but smile back, the blush on his cheeks coming back full force. Continuing towards the door, all he can muster is a small wave before he walks out into the woods.

Not far from the door stands a very smug Nick Fury, complete with a SHIELD jet waiting behind. Bucky’s smile drops from his face, a frown taking its place. “Mission completed Sarge, time for that vacation,” Furt says, his tone overly cheerful. Feeling his headache coming back already, Bucky points an accusatory finger at Fury. “Why would you send me on a useless stakeout when the woman was clearly uninterested,” he asks, already having an inkling to what the answer is. Fury gives him a small nod before replying, “She ended up saying yes didn’t she?” He says it as a rhetorical question, but not without promptly waking into the jet.

Bucky heaves a sigh before looking back at the cabin. Focusing his ears he can hear more clangs and crashes, the vibrant woman inside doing God knows what. A smile takes its place back on his face, his heart beating faster at the thought of seeing her again.

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one-piece-but-smitten · 3 years

Text

Fearless

Nami × Reader

Tags/TW: Small bit of Sexual Harassment

~~~~~~~

"Oi bartender, hit me with another whiskey."

You managed to croak, your hot cheek resting comfortably against the cold leather of your jacket. It had been a rough night for you. Right now, you were trying to burn it out with the Fireball you kept ordering. The barkeep cocked a brow at you, passing silent judgement before sliding you the glass. You took it up gratefully, sipping at the poison. She glanced at you a few times, unable to hide her curiosity as she finally spoke to you.

"You don't seem like the heavy drinker type. What's your damage?"

She asked. You looked over at her again. She was unbelievably pretty. Long, ginger hair fell far past her shoulders and draped down her back like a fiery waterfall. A mirthless chuckle escaped your mouth before you sipped at the glass again.

"Nothing major, not worth rememberin' anyway."

You replied. The answer doesn't seem to satisfy her, you could tell from the way her hazel eyes lingered on you. She fixed a drink for a fellow not too far down from your stool, and you let yourself get back to your thoughts.

Nothin' major... What a load of horse shit.

You thought bitterly to yourself, unable to push it out of your mind.

----

"Fired?!"

"Exactly right, [Name]. The company has no more need for you here. I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities for new wor-"

The man jumped as you slammed your hand down against the desk, standing upright. You were a tall individual, and the way your boss cowered under your shadow emphasized it greatly. Your eyes narrowed at him viciously.

"May I ask the reason you're firing me, sir?"

You growled, venom dripping as you addressed him by the title. He swallowed, looking up at you sheepishly. You weren't stupid. You knew why. You just wanted him to grow a pair and say it to your face. You watched him take his time, gathering his courage before glaring up at you fearfully.

"B...B-Because you're terrifying, damn it!!! Now get off the premise b-before I call security on you!!"

He shot back, his voice high and squeaky as he shot up and pointed at the door. You let out a huff, shooting him one last death glare before turning on your heel to stalk out of the office.

"Fine, you've been a pain in the ass anyway."

----

"--You okay there??"

You snapped your head up, brought out of the memory by a voice. It was the barkeep again... What was her name? You managed a grin, shifting slightly on the barstool.

"Yeah, yeah. Just got a little lost in thought,"

You paused, squinting at the small tag above her chest that held her name.

"Nami."

You looked back up at her, seeing her give you a small smile. You liked that smile. It was warm, radiant. Most smiles that were aimed your way were nervous or uncertain, so the little gesture felt like a nice change. You went back to your drink, but eventually your eyes wandered back to Nami. She really was beautiful. A sigh escaped your lips before you caught yourself, mentally blaming the drink for the rouge tint of your cheeks as you chug the rest of it down. Lovely as she was, that smile was only given to you because you were a customer. People like you were too scary for a fragile thing like love. You couldn't even remember your last relationship.. Maybe that was just because you forgot. Either way, you felt the chances were slim. Getting out of the depressing subject, you watched a man wander back towards the bar from the table section, a few of his friends not far behind him. He had an arrogant look about him, something told you he felt like starting trouble. He came over to where Nami was, leaning against the counter towards her. She only spared him a glance as she fixed drinks for the other patrons, flashing him a quick smile.

"What can I get you?"

She asked him. The grin on his face grew wider as he glanced back at his friends. You studied him silently from your seat, taking in small details to get a read on him. He was tall, a little taller than you, even. His face was marred by multiple scars, the way they adorned his face told you he had earned those from fights. Your grip tightened on the whiskey glass in your hand, your mind on edge as he leaned in closer to her.

"How about a round?"

She raised her eyebrow at the request, crossing her arms as she chuckled. You knew what he meant, but apparently Nami had missed it.

"Bud, I need to know what kind of drink you want."

She replied. The smug expression of his refused to falter as he let out a sharp laugh. You weren't liking this guy, not one bit. Your eyes hardened as you watched the interaction.

"What kind of round? I'd say a rough one in that hotel nearby when you're done here, pretty lady. What about it?"

He replied. His friends chortled in the background, whooping and praising his wit like a pack of yesmen. This could go one of two ways; either he takes "no" or he doesn't. Paired with the little fleet of kissups he had with him, your gut told you "no" wasn't in this dumbass's vocabulary today. Nami sighed, closing her eyes. With her beauty, she had to be used to the gross flirts by now. That thought gave you no comfort whatsoever.

"That sounds really nice, sir, but I'm not really interested."

She replied shortly. You hid a snort at the blunt reply, going unnoticed by the man. His eyes narrowed at the answer, and within moments he had overstepped his bounds tremendously. His hands had snaked over the counter, going immediately to Nami's ass. She let out a yelp, but she didn't fight back. She couldn't. Like hell you were going to let this go.

You stood up slowly from your seat, your blood boiling as you approached him. He looked over at you with a disinterested expression, looking nonchalant as he gripped her behind.

"What d'you want? I'm in the middle of something here."

He grumbled. You ignored him, your eyes going over to Nami. She let out small whimpers as he groped her, your eyes locking with hers.

She looked terrified.

Your movement was swift and powerful. You raised your left arm, and your hand locked itself onto his head as you forced it down against the bar counter with a monstrous force. His hands flew away from her as he screamed out in pain, clutching his face. You broken his nose, along with a few of his teeth. God, you wished you could do so much worse, but you wouldn't dare to scar Nami with any more of that. Your eyes narrowed down at him dangerously, your anger raw and barely contained as you maintained the grip on his cranium.

"That wasn't a smart thing to do, pal. She just told you no, that wasn't a fuckin' invitation. You're lucky that I haven't fucked up more than your face, you pig."

You hissed into his ear, letting his head go before taking him by the collar and tossing him at his friends. They caught him unsteadily, looking fearfully over at you. You looked down on them, your voice a deep rumble as you growled over at them.

"Get out and don't come back."

You stated. They didn't need to be told twice. No sooner than you said it, the small troupe scrambled out the door, carrying the incapacitated harasser with them. You turned back to Nami, your eyes searching her worriedly.

"Are you okay?"

You asked, the concern obvious in your tone. You met her eyes again. You knew you were scary, what just happened had to be terrifying for her. She probably saw you as a monster now.. No more sunshine smiles for you..

But there wasn't any fear in her eyes.

She grinned up at you, looking amazed.

"I'm okay now, don't worry! That was terrifying though... I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come save me like that.."

She said, shivering. You felt a blush crawl into your face, smiling back at her sheepishly.

"I-It's no big deal, really.. I just did what was right."

You replied humbly, scratching the back of your neck. She shook her head at the reply, her gaze full of fire.

"You just KO'ed a guy bigger than you like it was nothing!! Don't go all modest on me with that kind of stunt, I owe you big time!"

She replied firmly, taking your hand in hers and giving it a quick squeeze before putting it down. You looked away, feeling your blush grow rapidly.

"At least let me thank you somehow."

She offered. Your heart skipped a beat. Maybe there was a chance.. You look down at her, swallowing.

"Well, I'm free on Wednesday if you wanna head to the movies that night.."

You reply, setting your hands in your pockets awkwardly. Your eyes drift back to her face, and the sight almost makes you lose it.

She's blushing.

No weird face. No grimace. No sign of rejection. Hope sparked inside of you and caught on your heart like wildfire as she felt her cheeks, avoiding your gaze in an embarrassed fashion. Adorable. Finally, she looked back up at you, giving you that sunshine smile that you were growing fond of.

"Okay... But can I know something?"

Taking a second to get out of your dumbfounded stupor, you looked down at her curiously.

"Of course, what's up?"

She giggles.

"What's your name?"

You pause, processing it for a minute. Finally, you let out a laugh. It goes for a minute before you calm down, apologizing before catching your breath fully.

"Sorry about that... I had forgotten to introduce myself, I'm so stupid!"

You chuckle, shaking your head. You hold out your hand, offering her your first genuine smile of the night.

"I'm [Name]."

She grasps your hand, shaking it slightly.

"I'm happy to finally know it. How about you come here around 7:30 that day to pick me up?"

You grin.

"Sounds good."

Suddenly, the back pocket of your riding pants started to vibrate. You rolled your eyes, pulling out your phone to see your friend was calling. They didn't call unless they needed you down there for something. With a sigh, you look back at her apologetically.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta go. If that fucker gives you any trouble again, call me."

You say, taking out an old receipt and a pen from your pocket to scribble down your number. You slide it down towards her along with the money for your drinks before heading towards the door, taking up your helmet on the way out. You can feel her eyes on you as you go.

The eyes that refuse to fear you.

~~~~~~~

I SMELLED NAMI STANS AND I HAVE COME TO FEED YOU HELLO I AM HERE

By the by, most of my reader inserts are gender neutral and unless someone specifically requests for a gender that's how it stays

#reader insert #writing #gender neutral insert #cat burglar nami #nami one piece #one piece oneshot #one piece #im sorry it doesn't crop and ask if you want to read all of it mobile sucks and im dumb #strawhatscribe

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theexleynatureblog · 3 years

Text

Time to talk Vaccines

I will start off with a bias - I am not anti-vax. Why? Because I come from a science background - more ecology and behavior than biochemistry - so I have a lot of exposure to ‘sciency’ stuff. I am no expert - in fact I barely passed college introductory chemistry with a B - but as sick and tired of I am of listening to anti-vax propaganda everywhere online (and it’s rising importance to modern events) I have to put in my two cents. If y’all won’t listen to over a thousand different scientists with varying degrees and levels of experience, maybe you’ll listen to a cranky college kid who can give you the scoop in plan English.

History of vaccines gives a good, in-depth lessons about where vaccines first came from - if your interested in that aspect. In summary, it covers ancient variants of vaccines, up to Edward Jenner’s 1796 cowpox vaccine, and continued development through the 1930′s. **Penicillin may be the most popular product, but it is used against dangerous bacteria, not virus’. More information here.**

To start off simply: what is a virus? Personally, I like to think about them as tiny robots - lifelike but not living. This question is actually a hot-topic debated by the science community, because we can’t agree on whether or not they are even living. This article from 2008 seems to cover the debate pretty well. Viruses are smaller, and in terms of what they’re made of and how they work, simpler than cells.

This picture gives a good idea of sizes. Note that everything in this picture is microscopic, and cannot be seen with the naked eye. This photo is computer-generated based on information from what we’ve seen in microscopes. Corona-virus is the dark blue circle second from the left. On the far right is what’s probably a typical animal cell. The blue bean thing next to Coronavirus is a bacteria, which are living things and operate differently than viruses, though some bacteria can make people sick. Check out this article for more info on bacteria.

So viruses are smaller than cells, they are also built different. Simply put, viruses are a case of protein with a string of DNA inside. Off the bat, this sounds really similar to bacteria, but there’s one major difference: bacteria can duplicate themselves and viruses cannot. The politically correct term is ‘binary fission’, a kind of asexual reproduction that is basically an organism copying all it’s DNA, splitting the two strains apart, and then stretching everything else into two separate things. I won’t go into all the complex terms and functions (you can read about it more here). All you need to understand is it is a complex possess that requires machinery that virus’ don’t have. So how do virus’ reproduce? They sneak into other cells and hijack their machinery to produce more viruses.

Because viruses and cells have been living together since life began on this planet billions of years ago, cells have developed forms of protection (from viruses and bacteria). A ‘lock’, basically all across the cell surface. So in order for viruses to continue, they needed to develop a ‘key’. This is why viruses have a host of different shapes. Coronavirus is named after the crown-like spikes, which are proteins that help invade a living cell. Read more about how viruses invade cells here.

Phew! That was a lot, and we haven’t even gotten into vaccine’s yet! That’s because in order to understand vaccines, you have to have some understanding of the thing they are built to fight. The question becomes: If a virus is considered not living, how do you fight it? How do you kill something that’s not alive?

The most obvious answer is just taking it apart. A virus can’t do it’s thing if it’s broken down into single elements. But, as we discussed earlier, viruses are super small. We can barely see them in microscopes (we have to use a super microscope called an Electron microscopes). There’s no physically possible or safe way to crush up/rip apart a virus. Using radiation, water, or fire isn’t practical either. Sure - fire will destroy anything, but you can’t light up a 5-year-old with the flu. Techniques of disassembling viruses are currently being studied, but we still have a lot to learn.

So, if we can’t break it apart, the only thing we can do is stop it from spreading. This is basically how our immune system works. If a cell is infected, it will send a piece of the viral protein, to another cell: T-cells. T-cells are cells of the immune system. One type of immune system cell will send a toxin to kill the infected cell, trapping the virus inside and preventing spread. If the toxin doesn’t kill the cell, the rapid replication of the virus will eventually cause it to burst. (Imagine a chicken egg with a thousand chicks falling out). The downside of this is if the virus spreads to fast, and hits important places like the lungs, and a lot of important cells die... whelp, the fight is over. Unlike most parasites that depend on their hosts to be alive and collect nutrients for them, viruses are more reckless - it doesn't’ matter how many cells die as long as the virus keeps spreading.

The other immune defense systems are via interferon and (more commonly known) antibodies. Interferon's work inside a host cell to stop a virus from hijacking a cell’s DNA replication machines while also alerting immune cells to an infection. Antibodies fight against viruses that have not yet entered a cell. Remember back to the ‘lock’ and ‘key’ thing? Here’s where it comes to play! Antibodies stick to the protein of viruses by matching the ‘key’ shapes. If you stick a wad of gum onto you house key, it won’t be able to fit in the lock, and you can’t get into your house. It’s basically the same thing. Antibodies can also make viruses stick together - making them easier to destroy, and also can send a signal to a cell to engulf and destroy a virus.

The reaaaaaaallllllly cool part is that antibodies can ‘remember what viruses look like’. Antibodies hold onto little bits of the virus - proteins - so they can recognize another infection. (Link) Naturally, whenever we are infected, we produce antibodies for that specific virus/bacteria, however - they only work if A) we survive the initial infection, and B) if we keep getting infected by that specific strain/type of virus. Viruses come in all kinds of shapes and chemical makeups. Even them, groups of viruses within the same ‘species’ can have unique kinds of protein. This is why you need to get a flu shot every year - the shot isn’t for ‘the flue’, it is for the current strain of the flu spreading. (Article from UAB Medicine).

In order to fight viruses, we need to keep our immune system healthy and produce antibodies. In olden days, the way we produced antibodies was by getting infected and working up herd immunity (healthy individuals with antibodies prevent the spread of a disease to those without immunity). The problem with this is: it doesn’t always work. Nature in our world is build on the process of one force creating a wall and an opposing force finding a new way to break it (think Jurassic Park’s life will find a way). As long a pathway exists, a virus will find a way to use it. Herd immunity also works by selecting and removing the weakest links in the group - individuals who cannot fight an infection well die and stop spreading the virus. It works in nature, but in terms of human civilization - it’s not very nice. It is also unbiased, in the natural world. Wild animals have an equal opportunity to be healthy enough to fight an infection - besides those with genetic issues. We should all be painfully aware that human civilization no longer operates on this fair playing field. Only those with a good social and economic standing have the opportunity to be healthy enough. Remember this before you argue ‘herd immunity’.

All this in mind, vaccines are the last reasonable option. According to the CDC, a vaccine consists of a weakened virus or part of a virus introduced to the body so it can produce antibodies. That’s it. Seems like a really cleaver idea, don’t it?

But hang on: you got sick after taking a vaccine? If your symptoms are runny nose/coughing, good news! That’s not the vaccine - it’s you. (CDC article on why vaccine are safer than exposure) After detecting an infection (even if its not a active virus) the immune system releases histamine, which causes inflamed blood veins and access mucus - sneezing. This can discharge virons, but also used by them to spread to a new host. Some symptoms, like a wet cough, are caused by a viral infection. Fever’s are another example of a immune response, not directly caused by a virus. It’s our brain trying to cook and break apart the proteins of the virus.

The hot topic about vaccines is they are full of scary chemicals that people don’t want to have injected into them. So lets take a closer look at one example, the influenza vaccine.

Formaldehyde - yikes! Scary sounding for sure - formaldehyde is well known for being used in embalming, and linked to cancer. What is less know is it is also an essential building block in lots of items, like building and construction, personal care and consumer products, and automobile manufacturing. The following picture is the chemical molecule.

It is a simply enough molecule made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Formaldehyde naturally occurs in the environment, as most living things produce it as part of the metabolic processes (breaking down and absorbing food). At room temperature, formaldehyde is a gas that can be dangerous to inhale in large amounts. When it comes to vaccines, the purpose of formaldehyde is to deactivate the virus - so it doesn’t actually start infecting cells. In small amounts like this, it is harmless. Personally, I’d be more worried about the gaseous forms.

Aluminum Salts - these include hydroxide and phosphate. The purpose of these chemicals in vaccines is to help the body activate it’s immune response. hydroxide is basically any molecule with hydrogen and oxygen - example, water, and hydrogen dioxide. (What makes molecules dangerous is not necessarily their elements, it is how they are connected). Once again, these are present in amounts too small to be harmful both short and long term.

Thimerosal - This is the ingredient that has anti-vaxxer’s shouting “Oh no theirs mercury!” but that’s not completely true. Since the 1930′s, it has been used in a wide variety of products. It’s purpose is to prevent contamination of the product (vaccine) by bacteria and fungi. Without it, vaccines run the risk of exposing patients to a serious infection. It’s not even used in every vaccine - only ones that require multiple doses, the ones that are at the highest risk of contamination. Thimerosal comes from an inorganic form of mercury called ethylmercury, which is different than other forms of mercury as it does not remain in the body long enough to cause damage. ALSO: this is not the same compound as methylmercury, a toxic compound found in fish due to pollution.

Chicken Egg proteins - Egg proteins are used to grow a virus before it is put into a vaccine. The virus and the proteins are separated, but there is risk of chicken proteins still being in the vaccine - bad news for people with allergies. This is why it’s important to discuss any allergies with your doctor. Exposure of this protein to people with allergies has not been documented as fatal, but still must be carefully monitored. Luckily, egg-free versions do exist.

Gelatin - this material acts as a stabilizer, keeping the vaccine effective as it enters the body. It protects the vaccine from effects of heat, and freeze drying. Most vaccines use pork-based gelatin, which means people with severe pork allergies should discuss more options with their doctors.

Antibiotics - antibiotics in vaccines work with Thimerosal to prevent the growth of dangerous bacteria. The antibiotics involved are not allergy-risks, and used in lots of other lotions and ointments.

So, there is one example. Dealing with stuff that we don’t know or don’t fully understand can be combated by simple research. If you are concerned about the ingredients in a certain vaccine, do some research! Remember - it’s not always what chemicals, but what form they are in.

#vaccines #anti-vaccination #science #medicine #anti vaxxer

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indescribablechoices · 4 years

Text

these nights never seem to go to plan

Part Three to guess I’d rather hurt than feel nothing at all

Pairing: past Rafael Aveiro x MC (Cora Chase), background Kyra Santana x MC

Word Count: 1569

Listening Suggestion: Stay With Me - Sam Smith

Fic Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @nazario-sayeed @dadrianraines @jamesashtonisbae @rafaveiro @omgjasminesimone @emichelle @dcbbw @aworldoffandoms @the-moonlight-huntress @caroldxnvxrs @yaushie @maria-soederberg @awalker965 @tacohead13 @freedom-kitty @vika-rafa @choices-lurker @moonluvx (I think I got everyone, so sorry if I missed anyone!)

Synopsis: Cora finally tells Rafael about the pregnancy.

(Part one, two and the beginnings of Cora and Kyra’s relationship can be found on my masterlist)

It was a few days later that Cora finally worked up the courage to talk to Rafael. She knew that this couldn’t go on for much longer before her pregnancy would become obvious to anyone that was looking at her. People were already starting to take note of her changing behaviour, but she wanted people to find out on her terms. She didn’t need the interns spreading rumours.

She spotted him through the doors of the ER one afternoon, seeing his familiar form headed out towards the ambulance bay.

“Now, or never Chase,” she said quietly to herself, before quickly firing off some orders to Esme regarding the patient they’d been checking on.

She jogged out the door, spying Rafael by the ambulance. She took a deep breath and headed over to him.

“Raf, can we talk?”

He looked around at the sound of her voice, but quickly went back to what he was doing, barely pausing in his actions, continuing to load up the ambulance, “We’re heading out in two minutes. I don’t think now’s the best time.”

“Can I come by yours later? I really need to talk to you,” she insisted.

“So now you want to talk?” he slammed the doors shut hard, turning to look at her. There was a hard expression on his face, something that she wasn’t used to seeing.

She met his eyes, “It’s important.”

He let out a sigh, ““Fine. I get off at eight.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

She could barely remember what happened the rest of the day. She made her way through patients, checking on Esme’s work, nodded along through a meeting with the diagnostics team, and the minute her shift was over, she changed out of her coat and scrubs, turning down an offer of a trip to the bar with her friends, telling them that she had something to take care of.

She arrived at Rafael’s door just after half eight, knowing he would be back by now. She knocked on the door, and he answered almost immediately. He had clearly been waiting for her.

She stepped inside, hating how comfortable she had once felt here. The kitchen where he made her breakfast after she stayed the night. The couch they curled up on together. The stereo that played music for them to dance to during those strange hours when their shifts worked out for them to spend some time together.

He glanced at her as he closed the door, “Should I take your coat?”

She knew exactly what he meant by that. How long was this going to take?

“Yeah, you probably should,” she nodded, and he helped removed her jacket, hanging it up by the door.

“Can I get you anything? Coffee?”

“Have you got any peppermint tea?”

“Sure… Take a seat, I’ll bring it over.”

They headed into the living room, perching on the edge of the couch as he made some tea. He brought it in after a few minutes, and the hot beverage helped sooth her twisting stomach, both from the pregnancy and the anxiety of this conversation.

But before she could open her mouth, he spoke first.

He let out a sigh, setting his coffee aside, looking at her, “Look, Cora, whatever it is you came to say, just let me say this first. I’m sorry that we haven’t really spoken since that night. I guess I didn’t know what I could say to make things better and that frustrated me because I always used to know how to make things better with you… But I heard about you and Kyra. I’m happy for you, really. You’d have to be blind not to see how crazy you are about each other.”

The look in his eyes was softer that it had been that afternoon in the ambulance bay, and she knew that he was being honest with her.

She took a sip of her tea before setting it aside, “I appreciate that, I really do, and I’m not sure if it makes what I have to tell you any easier or not.”

“What’s going on?”

She wrapped her arms around herself, all of the courage she had built up to come here and speak to him suddenly gone with the honest confession he had just made.

“Hey…” his voice was soft as he looked at her, noticing how nervous she was, “Whatever it is, just take a breath and say what you need to.”

She took a few deep breaths, before she finally spoke, “Raf… I’m pregnant.”

There was a long moment’s pause as he stared at her, face emotionless. His mouth began to flap a little, unable to form words, “I… You… You’re pregnant?”

“I am. And to clarify, it’s yours.”

He ran a hand over his face, clearly still processing, “But I thought you were on the pill.”

“I was,” she said, “But these things are never fully effective. I could have missed my dose that day, or we could have just been one of those statistics. I don’t know.”

“How long have you known?”

“Nearly two weeks.”

“Two weeks…”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “I wasn’t exactly going to come running over to announce the news. We haven’t spoken in weeks, Raf.”

He nodded, “No, you’re right, I just… I can’t believe it. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, try processing that and throwing up every few hours as well,” she said, sarcastically, before she shifted a little in her seat, “Do you want me to leave? So that you can think.”

“That’s the last thing I want.”

They sat quietly for a while, Rafael deep in thought, occasionally asking questions about how she found out, who else knew, how bad her sickness was. She answered them all, then went and made them another drink each. When she set his coffee down in front of him, he looked up at her.

“So,” he said, What happens now?”

“I’m going to have this baby,” she told him, “You can be as involved as you want to be. There are no expectations here if this isn’t what you want. That’s not what I came here for. I wanted you to know the truth so that you could make your own decision. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to be a father, I truly won’t, neither of us will planned for this. But I need you to make that choice before the baby comes. I can’t have you changing your mind when I’m depending on you. And I can’t have messy custody battles. We know each other well enough to work this out like adults.”

“I want to be involved,” he said immediately, no hesitation in his voice, “I want to be a dad. We can work things out with shifts and holidays and whatever we need to do… But what about us? The last time we spoke didn’t exactly end on good terms. Are we… good?”

She gave a slight nod, “I’ve been thinking about this as well. But, yeah, we’re good… I am sorry for yelling at you that night. I was lonely, and you were there, and you were saying all the things that I wanted to hear months too late. And instead of talking it out, I just kicked you out. So for that I’m sorry.”

“I think we both made some bad calls that night,” he said, “I was lonely as well, and it made me realise how much I missed you, but I was inconsiderate of how you were feeling as well… But we’ve got a chance to change that here and now. I know you’re with Kyra, and I’m really happy for you, but if we’re going to have a baby together, we need to both agree that we talk to each other, about whatever it is. Custody arrangements, holidays, how much we leave under their pillow from the tooth fairy, we talk it out, okay?”

She swallowed back against her tears, overwhelming emotion swelling in her chest, “You’re going to be such a good dad.”

He moved closer to her, offering her a soft, apologetic smile, “I’m sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean…”

“No, no, you didn’t,” she told him, “You said all the right things. You wanna talk about tooth fairy money. It just makes the whole thing very real, and that’s scary and so amazing at the same time,” she put a hand to her stomach, “We’re having a baby, Raf.”

He glanced at her hand, “Can I…?”

She nodded, “Of course.”

He pressed his palm to her abdomen, feeling the very slight taut curve, barely noticeable, but it brought tears to his eyes as well, “Hey there, little one, I’m your dad.”

Her own tears overflowed at that moment, unable to hold it in any longer. Without a thought, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. She leaned against his chest, breath quivering with tears, but she felt secure enough to just let her emotions out.

“So we’re really doing this? Having a kid together, like adults?” she asked quietly, a little later, after her tears had stopped.

“Yeah, looks like we are,” he smiled, “Though I have to ask… What about Kyra? Does she know yet?”

“Not yet,” she said, “But I’ll tell her soon. She has her own decision to make.”

(part four coming soon!)

#rafael x mc #kyra x mc #rafael aveiro #open heart #writing #no proof reading we post first drafts like men #cora chase

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tessatechaitea · 5 years

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Black Condor #4

Another future friend of Black Condor!

At the end of Issue #3, the editor had a write-up about what to expect from the series and, after reading it, I was like, "Oh yeah! That sounds right up my alley!" Here it is:

I'm a bit disappointed that there won't be any Satan but I'll manage.

I like how they say there won't be any women in thongs for the gratification of adolescent nerds and yet Black Condor can't not cheesecake up every cover he's on! Even when he's unconscious, he's a delectable bit of man meat about to be ravaged by The Shark (I hope!). I'm disappointed with my younger self because I categorized Black Condor as a "reluctant hero" as opposed to "an actual hero who doesn't let the idea of justice get in the way of actually doing the right thing who also has fantastic abs." I'm also a bit disappointed that I only collected half of the series. If I'm still enjoying this book after reading Issue #6, maybe I'll pick up the rest of the series at my local comic book shop, Excalibur. The Shark (as seen on the cover) has heard about Black Condor and has decided the best way to meet with him is to run around Philadelphia being an obnoxious jerk until Black Condor notices him. Maybe The Shark needs help extorting a million dollars from an old friend of his too. Or maybe he's in love. I saw Eagle vs Shark. I know how this ends. Speaking of Eagle vs Shark, I wonder how many reviews of the film called it "the Napoleon Dynamite of New Zealand"? I bet all of them. Black Condor refuses to be called out in much the way Superman never does. Superman always falls for it! "Hey Metropolis!" says the bad guy wearing the suit made of kryptonite. "I'm going to kill one of you every minute unless Superman stops me almost immediately!" And then Superman punches the guy in the face five thousand times which is totally what the criminal wanted because why else would a criminal go to Metropolis to commit crime?! And taunt Superman while doing it? And sink millions of dollars into purchasing enough kryptonite to build a suit out of it? The only payoff is getting your ass beat by Superman which must mean that's what the criminal wanted which means Superman fucking fell for another masochistic criminal's kink plan. But not Black Condor! He knows he doesn't want his dick sucked by somebody named The Shark!

Fucking Ned! Nobody likes the friend who is also the conscience!

I just realized Superman's super-earnestness and super-sincerity, two of the things that make him an actual hero, are to blame for his always getting dragged into weird kink-related crime sprees. I shouldn't fault him for that at all! Even Superman has to live with knowing he was manipulated every time because he can obviously hear and smell the criminal ejaculate in their kryptonite suit thanks to his super senses. Poor Clark! Now I feel bad for him. The person saying that shit about Black Condor being stubborn is the original Black Condor. He's somehow projecting an image of himself into Ned's bedroom so he can convince Ned to keep grooming Black Condor to be a hero. Why? Because it's Black Condor's destiny is Original Black Condor's answer. But I bet Original Black Condor is just concerned about his name and reputation. He probably even put The Shark up to this Philadelphia riot he's causing.

I was hoping this was the case! He's in love!

Black Condor rebuffs The Sharks advances which is a huge mistake in our patriarchal society! You don't tell a horny guy you don't want to fuck them without that horny guy completely losing his shit because how is he not getting exactly what he wanted?! How dare these sex objects have their own agency and ability to make their own decisions based on their own needs and desires?! Didn't they hear the part about how the guy was horny?! Now Black Condor has to defend himself by making physical contact with The Shark which is exactly what The Shark wanted in the first place. The only way to beat a masochistic kinkster is by living by the adage of the great philosopher WOPR: "The only way to win is not to play." Black Condor notes the similarities in his and The Shark's powers and begins to think maybe his grandfather's Society is behind this bullshit. And he might be right because just before the fight started, some Society toadies dumped a woman from a mental institution on the streets of Philadelphia nearby The Shark's rioting. And this woman recognizes Ryan. She also has an afro with a diameter of about three feet.

The mystery woman has her own run-in with the kind of horny assholes I described earlier.

The Black Condor's attacker was a guy who was half-shark. Less believable are the mystery woman's attackers: black Nazis. I'm not sure what Brian and Rags were thinking in this scene. "What are some visual images that are really scary? Oh, a swastika! And black guys! And don't forget the yellow Polo shirt!" Maybe the colorist, Kak (wait. Kak? What?) just got caught up in making the background characters diverse (which he and Rags have done a great job on so far in this issue) and forgot to put any thought at all into his coloring of Augustyn's script which probably read 'White Supremacists threaten to rape Mystery Woman.' Maybe the colorist never even sees the script and just colors the pages as they're faxed to them. And maybe Kak also had no idea what a swastika was? Anyway, I guess I was getting ahead of myself because the editor must have noticed the problem as the pages came back colored and made sure Kak corrected their colors.

I guess they were in shadow on the previous page.

Black Condor heard the woman think his name earlier and now he hears her screaming. He tells The Shark the fight is over and just begins to walk away while The Shark impotently tells him he can't do that. After which The Shark is tackled by police and tazed. Or mind-fucked by Black Condor. Or something. Whatever, the fight ends just like that and Black Condor flies off to find the mystery woman. Black Condor finds a bunch of dead guys in the park but no mystery woman. Oh, and the dead guys are black again. No wonder I stopped reading this comic book! It lacked continuity! Black Condor #4 Rating: B. Just last issue, I was told this series wouldn't be the typical sort of superhero series. And yet here we have a story where a villain rampages while calling out the hero and the hero takes the bait and subsequently beats the shit out of the villain. Then the villain gets away from police custody while the hero hasn't really learned anything. Also, Kak (and/or maybe Rags (and/or maybe Space! Who the fuck is Space? I don't know! They're just co-credited on the art!)) really wanted the Nazi rapists to be black when they were obviously meant to be white. Or maybe the alternating skin color was just some kind of meta-commentary on crime and how audiences see and react to it! It was like performance art! I saw it and I could't believe or understand it and I left thinking, "Wow! So powerful! But how? I don't know! I'm just a dumb non-artist! Those guys were artist! They must have just expressed a really profound point and I'm moved! I think?" Maybe their point was that no matter how obvious it is that white people commit most of the crimes in the country, people will still see most criminals as black! Even when they're white supremacists! Fuck Trump! Was that redundant? It just felt like it needed to be said! Sometimes it feels like it always needs to be said. Constantly. And forever.

#Black Condor #Brian Augustyn #Rags Morales #DC Comics #DC

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thoughtsofdarc · 6 years

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Wasteland - Part 4

Summary: After the mighty attack from the creatures above, the entire world is in ruins. the people left fight for their survival. Jeanne is one of them, one of the strongest survivers - but is she strong enough to fight and survive in the long run? first against the monsters, then against ordinary humans? And what about the Avengers, those who got blamed for the disaster, are they alive? can they help?

Paring: None yet Warnings: Angst. Words: 2505

Prologue - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

The sight that met us when we reached areas that should be filled with people was frightening. Many places were completely abandoned and ghostlike. Cars were left on the road, doors to houses were wide open and everything looked like ghost-towns, eerie and haunting.

Most of the smaller towns were strangely empty. We stopped at a grocery store, looking for people, information and supplies, but what we found was just another abandoned place.

We walked around the entire place, inside and out, my father with his rifle and myself with an arrow on the bow, ready to shoot. But nothing happened, no one was there and the entire place just had that creepy atmosphere everywhere.

My father threw money on the counter after we had stocked up on provisions and filled the tank and spare cans with gas, just in case the owner of the store came back and wondered where he's things had gone.

I remember that we went back to the truck, giving my Aunt some food and Dog some water and then my father stopped in his tracks, furrowing his brows as if he was thinking really hard. He looked around the empty town and then back at the store.

I asked him what was wrong, but he only mumbled an incoherent answer before he jumped out of the truck again and went back into the shop.

I remember both my Aunt and I calling out for him, but he just waved his hand for us to stay calm, and so we did... with beating hearts and my hand ready on the gun I had strapped to my thigh. Before we knew it however, he came waddling back out with 2 large boxes of Whiskey. Yes, Whiskey... somewhat 20 bottles.

I recall to jump out of the car and yell at my father "What the hell, dad?" as i frustrated motioned to the heavy boxes in his arms.He just gave me a crocket smile and chuckled

"Sweetheart... It's the end of the world, and this is the good stuff. I promise to return them of the owner of the shop comes back" before he shot me a wink. I could only roll my eyes at him and laugh along.

That was one of the last times in a very long time I laughed

---

We began to find bodies scattered in the streets, humans and non humans, the further into the big city we came. At the first dead creature we saw, my father stopped the truck so we could have a look.

Nothing my Aunt had told us could ever prepare me for what we saw. Even dead, this thing looked terrifying and my grip on the bow tightened so my knuckles turned white. My father jammed one of the largest hunting knifes he owned into the creature in different parts of its body, to find its weak spots. Its chest was covered in armor like plates, but we could pierce them with force and in the right spot. Right in the middle where it looked like 2 plates met.

Its head was also covered in hard armor-like skin, but the eyes were soft spots, and so were the neck. We also found out that if we had something with enough force and strength behind it, we could pierce the armor everywhere on the creature, but it was difficult. They weren't invincible, hard to kill maybe, but not invincible.

My Aunt was in the background, silently crying again, while we examined the strange creature from above. I didn't blame her, this entire situation was absolutely terrifying and I wanted to cry too. But I was one of the strong ones, I was one of those that were able to fight, so I couldn't let myself break down.

We found Sergeant First Class Colbert in an abandoned warehouse downtown, locked in an office. In the distance we could hear gunshots from time to time, screams, roars and all kinds of sounds from fighting going on.

He almost shot us through the door, when my father tried to open it.

Sergeant Colbert was a big man, 6 foot 6. In his mid thirties, with short trimmed hair and a physique that would intimidate most men. But when we found him, he was covering behind a desk, shaking like a leaf, mostly resembling a scared little boy. One of those bottles of Whiskey that my father "borrowed" came in handy then, while getting Colbert to relax a little, so that he could fill us in.

While he talked, the radio in the office started to make some noise and news of more creatures falling from the sky came out. This wave of creatures however brought something else.... Large, pitch black cones of some sort. 100 foot tall black cones, that no one knew what was. The military asked everybody to stay away from the things, as far as possible.

As the voice in the radio kept going my Aunt was standing by the window and shortly after the mentioning of the black things, we all heard her mumble a low "Oh my god..." We all gathered by the window and saw a massive black thing emerge from the sky in the distance. Creatures surrounded it like they were protectors. If it hadn't been so fucking scary to witness, it would have been almost beautiful.

We stayed the night in that office. It was safer than anywhere else, and we were now 3 adults with a good use of weapons, plus a dog with razor-sharp teeth. But that night we did stand guard in turns and thank god for that...

---

It was my watch, I was sitting on the ledge if the windowsill, Dog was fast asleep beneath me. My aunt was curled up under my father's arm and both of them seemed to be fast asleep too. It was somewhat peaceful outside, the moon shined down from a clear night sky and I was able to see the stars. The emergency radio had advised people not to have light in their homes at night, so they wouldn't attract the black creatures and every streetlamp, billboard and store sign was turned off too. So even though we were deep in the concrete jungle of the big city, all I saw was the beauty of the night sky that I knew from my home in the mountains.

Sergeant Colbert kept moving around, clearly not able to calm down. I remember because shortly after we talked, shit went down.

"Trouble sleeping?" I whispered into the darkness as I adjusted my feet in the window to get a better position.

Colbert's voice was nice, it was calming even if it did have a hint of distress to it whenever he talked. The man was scared to death by the things he had witnessed and it showed in his voice.

"Yeah... Don't feel like closing my eyes. I just keep seeing those damn things rip my friends apart" he said, quickly followed by a "Sorry... I shouldn't say things like that"

Even though he probably couldn't see me, I shook my head and said "It's okay. I understand... I haven't witnessed anything like that, and even I don't feel like closing my eyes"

The silence fell in the room once again, and the sergeant stopped moving for so long, that I actually thought that he had finally fallen asleep. But his voice startled me again shortly after.

"I mean no disrespect Miss... But that bow? Do you know how to use it? Wouldn't a gun be better?"

He was sincere, he really didn't mean any disrespect and I liked him a little more for that alone.

I smiled a little by his question. It must have been a strange sight, seeing a young woman sitting in a windowsill with a bow and arrows at ready, scouting for alien creatures roaming the night. "Nah, I'm practically born and raised with a bow in my hands. Sometimes I think I am better with this, than I am dressing myself in the morning"

My father's low whispering was heard as he dryly added "That's truer than she lets on... She's really bad at putting on socks"

The sergeant chuckled when my Aunt hit my father's arm and told him to behave.

I turned my head and smiled at my family and my new friend, but only for a second. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a movement outside of the window on the other side of the room and even before I was finished comprehending what I saw Dog shot up, his neck fur stood up like a brush and his teeth shined in the moonlight coming in from the window, as a growl came deep from within him.

"Look out!" I screamed as a black creature smashed through the glass, causing shards to fly everywhere.

Remember when I said I saw everything in slow-motion, when I thought that my father and Dog was gone? The same thing happened here. Even in the darkness I saw everything clear and everything in slow-motion, as fear crept up my spine and adrenaline took over my actions.

The black creature stumbled to find its footing after the crash through the window, as my Aunt screamed in terror. My father reacted quickly and showed her behind him as he raised his gun and started firing. The blasts were ear deafening, but nothing compared to the sound that came from the black creature.

It was so obvious that it locked in on my Aunt and my dad in front of it, as it raised a long muscular arm with claws I have never seen the like of, ready to strike.

But even in his terror, Sergeant First Class Colbert's military training took over and he threw himself in front of the creature, taking the blow instead of my family.

The creature turned and took the two steps towards the sergeant that was slammed up against the wall and was now scrambling to get his gun pointed at the attacker.

My father stood up, emptying the gun into the back of the black monster. Dog attacked it too, growling, barking and biting in a way I've never seen him do before. But it didn't stop the creature from making its way towards the still befuddled Sergeant on the floor.

In the seconds it took while all that happened, I jumped down from the window, raised my bow and took aim. At first I wasn't sure what to shoot at, but not more than a second later the creature turned its head, causing the moonlight to reflect in its pitch-black eyes.

And then I let go of the arrow...

-----

The silence that followed the minutes after, was almost worse than my Aunts scream and the creature's roars.

I remember I was shaking violently almost dropping my bow to the ground and then I realized that I was holding my breath. The second I let it go, my father's voice shook us all back into reality as he shouted "Come on! Up! Out! We need to get out of here!"

He helped Sergeant Colbert to his feet, grabbing my Aunt's arm and almost carrying her as he hauled her to the door. The sergeant, back on his feet, grabbed our remaining stuff and guns as he reached for me, beckoning me to run. He didn't have to do that twice, my feet automatically went for the door, closely followed by Dog and lastly him.

At the entrance of the warehouse, with the trucks in sight we all stopped up and hid in the shadows. All eyes searching the big courtyard, making sure we weren't followed or under another attack. When everything turned out quiet, my father turned to me, and I remember the feeling of my heart shatter right there.

"You have to take your Aunt home. Pack as much of her stuff as you can and then head home to the mountain Y/N. Go home. I believe you are safe there! I'll go with Colbert to the base and figure out what to do from here... "

"Dad, no! I wanna stay with you! I can fight!" My words were those of a little girl, trying to convince a parent to let her do a dangerous task but also, scared to be left alone in a world full of monsters.

He wrapped his arms around me, in an all engulfing hug, as he whispered in my ear "I need you to keep her safe, she doesn't belong down here... You and that beast you call a dog, can defend yourself and her on the mountain. Please darling, do this for me... Go home so I know that you are safe!"

His voice was shaking, and I knew he tried to keep in the tears. My father, the strongest man that I knew. The brutal military man, special agent, trained with knowledge of weapons and fighting techniques like nobody else, was trying to hold back tears. Tears of pure fear of losing his loved ones.

"I don't want to go... I don't want to leave you alone!" I cried into his jacket as he hugged me tighter and kissed my hair the way only a father can do.

"Please Y/N? Do this for me... I'll come home as soon as I can. I promise!" He held me away from him, cupping my face in his large, rough hands.

"Please?" he added with a whisper, and I knew right then, that I couldn't debate him, I had to go back and leave him here with the monsters.

When I nodded, tears falling down my cheeks, he hugged me one last time before he dug out the keys to the truck and handed them to me. He then turned to my aunt, to hug her too.

As he did, Sergeant Colbert came over to me and took my hand as he looked me deep in the eyes, all the sincerity shining from him as he said "You saved my back there, I owe you my life. And for that I promise to keep him safe, even if it will cost me my life".

Even though I had only known the man for a few hours, my heart broke by his words. What had the world come to, where a man would promise his own life in trade of keeping another one safe?

I probably surprised the sergeant, when I hugged him as tight as I had my father, but how else could I show him that I wanted them both to stay alive?

Another brief hug and kiss from my dad, before we parted with the words "I'm so proud of you!"

That was the last thing that were said between us, before I saw the taillights of the military truck driving off into unknown territory with my father and the Sergeant. My aunt and I drove in the other direction in my dad's old beat-up truck.

Part 5

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walviemort · 6 years

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paternal instincts, part 6

Emma’s fear of pregnancy leads Killian to find—and use—a spell that allows him to carry their child instead. A canon-divergent CS pregnancy fic, just with the roles flipped a bit. (mpreg; rated T for implied sexy times) | AO3

A/N: dedicated to @sherlockianwhovian and @cocohook38 for their inspiration, and to @jennjenn615, @mayquita, and @devilish-pixel for their support! Thank you!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Chapter 6: Almost There

Summary: Killian's due date is drawing near. But first, he has to confront a scary situation, both physically and emotionally, with David; gets some interesting news from Belle; and pray that Snow can help him conquer boredom while waiting for their little bean to arrive.

Summer began to fade into fall and Killian’s due date loomed on the horizon. He still had quite a ways to go—seven weeks, by the doctor’s calculations. One one hand, he was eager to meet their daughter; but on the other (well, on his hook), he was glad they still had time to prepare.

That morning, Emma and Snow had shooed him and David out of the house so they could finish the nursery. They hadn’t wanted a full baby shower, but that didn’t stop the residents of Storybrooke from bringing them just about everything they could possibly need, and the ladies were bound and determined to get it organized today. For some reason, they assumed Killian would just be a hindrance, so Snow had put Neal in David’s arms and told the two of them to find something else to do.

They started with a late breakfast at Granny’s, where Killian initially balked at the size of the stack of pancakes she served him, only to finish them all off easily (no wonder Emma had to order him a larger size of maternity jeans). Then, since the weather was perfect albeit on the cool side, they decided it was a great day for a sail, and it likely would be the last chance he’d have to get out on the water for quite some time.

Not an hour later, they were fully at sea, Killian at the helm while David played with Neal on the deck. The sight of the little boy in his thick life jacket made Killian eager for the day his lass could do the same; and if the way she was moving around within him was any indication, she couldn’t wait either. That must have been why she jabbed him in the rib.

“Behave yourself, lass,” he whispered to her, rubbing at the spot she’d hit on the side of his 33-week belly through the thick hoodie he’d borrowed from David, though even that, oversized as it was, only just covered him. He couldn’t stand quite as close to the helm as he was used to, but having the ship’s wheel under his hand and staring out at the horizon still managed to calm him as it usually did.

Which was a good thing, because his thoughts had been everywhere lately. Quite often, they drifted to his good-for-nothing father, and how drastically that man paled in comparison to Emma’s. And what happened with Baelfire still haunted him, even though he knew he wasn’t that man anymore.

Watching David in action right then, and knowing all the man had done for his children, made him wonder what kind of father he would be; he couldn’t help the irrational worry that he’d be more like his own, even though he had vowed time and time again to not be like that, and Emma had reassured him he wouldn’t a thousand times over.

They’d been attending classes to prepare for birth and the early months of childcare, but he still felt somewhat overwhelmed at the prospect. Truthfully, what if he wasn’t fit to be a father?

As if she was confirming his fears—or possibly trying to tell him to get out of his own head—the babe gave him another sharp kick. Wait, no—that was stronger than a kick; this felt more like a cramp, and all over his stomach. He winced at it and started to rub the top of his belly to ease the pain. What was that?

Then it happened again, not even a minute later, but harder, making him curl in on himself as much as he could. He cried out involuntarily and gripped the wheel tight to hold himself up. Panic began to set in; what was going on?

“Hook!” Suddenly, David was at his side, one hand holding his shoulder and the other rubbing his back in a comforting motion. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I-I don’t know, mate—ahh!” His gasping turned into another cry as the pain clenched his abdomen again, even stronger this time, making him drop to his knees.

“Killian, is it the baby?” David asked, his voice just as frantic as Killian felt.

“It can’t be; it’s too soon!” he managed he managed to gasp out, but—was it? Was he having contractions already? He tried to take deep breaths, but his heart was almost racing too much for them to be effective.

“Come on; let’s get you below deck,” Dave said in an attempt at an authoritative tone, but Killian could tell he was freaking out as much as he was. Nevertheless, the prince slipped his hands under Killian’s shoulders and hauled him to his feet carefully but quickly, and started to lead him down the stairs from the quarterdeck, but Killian’s knees buckled after the first step from the residual pain.

David guided him to a seated position on the steps and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “We’re still in range. I’m calling Snow.”

“Good,” Killian panted out. The pain had subsided a bit since he sat down, and he could still feel his daughter moving around, but he was filled with fear—was she truly making her appearance so early? Would he be able to get to the hospital in time, or would he deliver her out here, without medical aid?

And, most importantly, what would it mean for her? He’d been following her development week by week through an app on Emma’s phone, and he knew babies born this early could survive, but it was risky.

Worst, was he the reason for this? Had he done something wrong that had brought this on? Was he failing his babe before she was even born?

He was pulled from his increasingly dark thoughts by a tiny squeeze on his knee. Little Neal was staring up at him with concern in his big blue eyes. “Kill’n, you okay?” he asked in his toddler voice.

“I hope so, lad,” he answered truthfully, and reached up to ruffle the boy’s dark hair. When he pulled his hand back, Neal grabbed it with his smaller one and held tight, as if he knew Killian need the extra comfort. Killian squeezed back, in awe of the depth of compassion from one so young; clearly, he learned it from his parents.

“Snow! Finally!” David shouted, pacing the deck with his phone at his ear. “It’s Hook; we think he’s having contractions.” He watched Killian as Snow talked to him, though Killian couldn’t hear what was being said, until, “Yeah, hold on.” He pulled the device away from his face and fiddled with it, finally saying, “Okay, you’re on speaker.”

“Killian, can you hear me?” Snow’s voice sounded from the phone.

“Yeah,” he called back, voice still strained but the pain was fading.

“Okay, Emma is checking things on her end to see if it’s labor, but tell me what you felt.” He described the sharp, sudden convulsion (“It was like everything was contracting; that’s what a contraction is, isn’t it?”) and answered her questions about where he felt it, how many times, and how far apart they were.

Eventually, he heard the murmur of Emma’s voice in the background. “Okay, Emma says things are normal with her, so I’m pretty sure you were just having Braxton-Hicks contractions; false labor.”

He sighed in relief; in his panic, he’d forgotten about those.

“Just take it easy for a bit and you’ll be fine,” Snow assured him.

“Aye, milady, I will; thank you,” he replied in a tired voice.

Emma must have wrested the phone from her mother, because she spoke next. “Killian? You okay?”

“I think so, love.”

“I know; those are scary. Henry freaked me out with them so many times. I didn’t even know I was actually having him until my water broke.” He swallowed; he loved Emma, but her bedside manner could use some improvement. “Sorry; that probably wasn’t very comforting.”

“Not really, no.”

“Just relax and you’ll be fine; I promise. Think you can do that?”

“I’ll try.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Neal dashed off then, wanting to talk to his mom for a moment, so Killian leaned back on the stairs as much as he could, propping himself up with his now-free hand and cradling his belly with his hooked arm. Thankfully, his daughter seemed unperturbed by what had just happened; he wished he could say the same.

“Hey, Killian?” David was in front of him. “Is it cool if I put this guy down for a nap in your cabin?” He had Neal in his arms now, who was resting his head on his father’s shoulder. It was unbelievably precious and immediately brought a tear to Killian’s eye; goodness, he was getting tired of those moodswings.

“Of course it is. Captain’s quarters for the guest of honor,” he managed to get out without sounding too maudlin.

“Cool, thanks. I’ll be back up in a bit.”

Killian watched as they disappeared below deck, knowing that someday in the not-too-distant future, that would be him with his little lass. He truly couldn’t wait for it, but how would he know what to do? Had they rushed into this?

It took some struggle, but he was able to heft himself to his feet, and waddle—yes, he waddled now—over to the railing to gaze out over the water. He could really use its calming effect about now.

As captain, he was used to being the one in command and always having control of a situation, or at least being able to think fast to handle whatever came at him. But with this pregnancy and this child, he was constantly at the disadvantage and unable to predict what would come. Not only was it personally upsetting, but how was he supposed to protect his child like that?

The ship creaked as David came back on deck and walked over to Killian. “So, how about you tell me how you really feel, because I can tell you were lying to Emma.”

Killian sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

David turned around and leaned against the edge of the railing, causing some paternal instinct in Killian to shout a warning about being careful, but he bit his tongue.

“I may not have been exactly in your shoes, but I’ve done the expectant father thing twice now,” David lectured. “I can tell you’re worried. And I can also tell you that you shouldn’t be.”

“How can I not be, Dave?” Killian blurted out. “I didn’t even know what was going on just now, and given my history, I’m not sure I ever will. And I see you, and you make it look so easy. How the bloody hell am I supposed to raise a child from infancy, when I’ve no clue what to do?” He could feel a tear running down his cheek from his outburst, but the wave of worries within him was cresting and crashing and Dave was unfortunately the one there for it.

Dave hardly reacted to it, though. “You know what I’m gonna tell you, right?”

“That I’m being irrational,” he muttered, wiping his cheeks.

“No!” David sounded almost offended at that. “For one, if I make it look easy, it’s only because I’ve had a bit of practice. But you were there before Neal was born—you remember how I had to physically fight my insecurities.” Killian nodded. “The thing is, the fight never ends; you’re always going to wonder if you’re doing the right thing. And all you can do is keep trying, and giving it your all.”

“But what if I do something wrong?” Killian asked in a watery voice.

“You will. We all do. But you learn from it and move forward. No one is perfect, but the best parents are the ones that never give up. And, for the record—” David placed a comforting hand on Killian’s shoulder—“I’ve watched you with Henry, and Neal, and Gideon, and I’ve gotta say: you’re gonna be amazing.”

Killian sniffed—it was supposed to be a snort of derision, but his lingering tears ruined the effect. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Come on, you know I’m a terrible liar,” David told him, squeezing his shoulder. “You’re going to be overwhelmed and terrified and elated, all at the same time. And you know what?”

“What?”

“You’ve got someone at your side who will be going through all of that, too. And you guys will be just fine.”

Killian could feel his eyes brimming with tears again, and did all he could to blink them back, but he knew it was a losing battle.

“What? What did I say wrong?” Dave asked, worried.

“Nothing; you said everything right,” Killian answered, choking back a sob. “I’m just still not used to people believing in me; it means more than I can tell you.”

David just smiled and opened his arms. “Come here, man.” And he held Killian as he wept for infinite reasons, some known, some unknown, made all the more awkward with the bump between them, but in the end, Killian felt better than he had in weeks.

“Thanks, mate,” he said softly, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of the sweatshirt. “Oh, and sorry,” he quickly added, and wiped the remnants of his blubbering off David’s jacket.

“Hey, if it helped, then it’s the least I can do. But maybe tell my granddaughter to calm down with the kicking?” he teased. She’d been quite active while Killian let it all out, mostly toward David.

“Don’t act as though you didn’t enjoy it, mate,” Killian threw back with a wink as he slowly climbed back to the helm. “I think it means she likes you.”

“How could she not?”

They shared another laugh as they got ready to take the ship back to the docks. Killian was still nervous about everything, but at least now he knew he wasn’t the only one in that boat, both literally and figuratively.

“Uncle Killy, she’s hitting me!”

Killian could only chuckle at Gideon’s exclamation. “Is she, now?” It was true—his daughter was kicking up a storm as he tried to read to Gideon at the library. Gideon was making do with what little of Killian’s lap was left, which, at 36 weeks, wasn’t much. “You know, that’s her way of saying ‘hi!’”

“Yeah?” The boy looked up at him in wonder, his brown eyes wide.

“Mhmm. Here.” He took Gideon’s chubby little hands and placed them on his belly, right where she was moving around. “Feel that?”

“Yeah!” Gideon shouted, pressing his hands back against her, only for her to kick back. His tiny giggles and their interaction were possibly the most precious thing Killian had ever seen, and he couldn’t wait for Gideon to meet his “cousin” when she was outside in a few weeks.

Eventually, they got back to reading, which meant that eventually, Gideon fell asleep. He lifted the dreaming lad up with his left arm to prop him against his shoulder, leaving his hand free to track his daughter’s movements within.

It was probably a premature thought, but Killian could almost envision being in this position again someday, but with his daughter in his arms and a new little one on the way. He shook his head—he was getting far ahead of himself. And it didn’t help that he was projecting his daughter on every small one in town, wondering if she would be like one of them, or more likely, none of them.

Much like that day all those months ago, Belle brought him a cup of tea and settled into the chair next to him.

“Oh, do you want me to take him? That can’t be comfortable,” she said, starting to reach for Gideon, but he waved her off.

“He’s fine, love. Best not to disturb him.”

“Only if you insist.” She relaxed back in her seat. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine, other than the constant sensation that someone has strapped a large melon to my gut.”

“Oh come on; it can’t possibly feel like that.”

“You’re right. It’s heavier, and moves around far too much,” he retorted with a wink.

She laughed a bit, but there was something wistful in her eyes and small smile. “I do still wish I’d been able to experience all that normally.”

“Are you sure? Even after seeing how fat I’ve gotten?” he jested, patting his belly. In addition to larger jeans, Emma had also bought him a size larger in tshirts but even those were straining now. He knew he wasn’t truly as big as he thought he was, but he certainly wasn’t small anymore.

“Oh, hush! You look fantastic,” she assured him. “And yes. I’m thrilled that we got a second chance to raise him, but I still feel like I missed out on these moments—watching him grow and feeling him move on the inside.”

“I know, love.” What happened with Belle’s pregnancy had been at the back of his mind the last several months, and he was eternally grateful that no villain had set their designs on the product of his and Emma’s True Love; but he wished his friend had been spared that. “Do you ever think you might try it again?”

“No, we’re happy with one. Actually,” she started, suddenly looking unsure. “That reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“What is it?”

She wrung her hands a bit before speaking again. “Well, when Gideon gets a bit bigger—maybe in a year or so—we’ve decided that we’d like to travel, and finally see the realms.”

His initial reaction was a pang to the heart—his best friend was leaving? But all she had ever wanted was to see the worlds; how could he not be thrilled for her that she’d finally have that chance? “That sounds spectacular, my dear. You’ll finally get what you’ve always dreamed of.” (His voice may have been a bit watery.)

She grinned back. “But, that leads me to my next question. You don’t have to answer now, and I don’t want you to feel obligated, but...would you consider taking over here when I leave?”

His jaw dropped—she was asking him to run the library? This place was like a child to her, and she tended to it almost as much as she did Gideon. And she wanted to entrust it to him?

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” she said quickly, filling the silence that had hung over them with his lack of answer. “I know you like working at the station with Emma and everything, but—”

“Belle, I’d love to,” he interrupted. “I’m...I’m actually honored that you’d even consider me to replace you. Not that I ever could, of course, but I’d gladly try to maintain what you’ve started.”

“I know you would; that’s why I asked.” She reached over and squeezed his hand. “But you’ve got plenty of time to think it over and talk with Emma. For now, you just focus on bringing that sweet little girl into the world.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” he replied with a smile.

They sat in silence for a bit after that, not because they had nothing else to say, but more to just enjoy this moment of peace together before taking the next steps in their respective adventures.

Killian was quite ready to take that step, too, and only got more eager as his due date drew near.

“Aren’t you ready to come out yet, little love?” he asked the child in his belly as he lounged on their sofa. “It feels like you’ve been in there for ages.”

Truly, it had only been 39 weeks, but in some ways, it felt like an eternity. Or maybe it just felt like that because he’d been bored out of his mind while on paternity leave this past week. He’d certainly lived through his fair share of cabin fever, but it was much more difficult when he had to rush to use the facilities every hour, usually when he’d finally gotten comfortable or was right in the middle of whatever task he’d found to accomplish. Or was constantly starving even though he was already the size of a whale. Or when he didn’t have rum as a distraction.

He laughed at himself to think of that hot day over the summer when he thought things had reached their peak. He’d only just lost visibility of his feet then; now, he could barely remember what they looked like. When he tried to lay down, his belly practically towered over him, which made for a good bookrest—until his lovely daughter decided to kick it over. And it wasn’t like laying down was comfortable for long, anyway.

So here he was, attempting to rest and watch television in their sitting room, feet propped on the coffee table (no, he still couldn’t see them around the mass of his abdomen), a snack in hand, and going absolutely stir crazy.

A knock sounded on the door. Thank the gods, he wasn’t alone. He paused the program he was watching, shifted to sitting and set his food down, and hoisted himself up to his feet…just in time for Snow to let herself in, arms laden with bags.

“Oh, Killian, you didn’t have to get up! Sit, relax; I’m just gonna—“

“No, let me help,” he offered as casually as he could muster.

“No! Get off your feet; I’m sure you—“

“Snow, I love you, and I’m telling you: please give me something to do,” he cut her off, exasperation coming through in his tone.

“Oh! Um, sure, then...here, take these.” She seemed taken aback at his minor outburst, but handed him a few bags nonetheless. “I just thought I’d bring over some frozen food and a few last-minute baby things.”

“Thank you, milady,” he effused, trying to make up for scaring her as he followed her into the kitchen. “And I apologize for my temper.”

She set her bags down on the dining table and waved him off. “You’re fine; I remember my emotions being all over in those last days. At least you don’t have the added stress of a wicked witch after your baby,” she quipped as she started putting dishes in the freezer.

He leaned against one of the counters and sighed, rubbing his sore sides. “Think Zelena would give it a go if I called her up?”

Snow slammed the door shut so hard the fridge shook. “Killian!! Seriously?” It had been years since he’d been on the receiving end of a glare that menacing from her.

“Don’t worry; I jest,” he assured her, waving his hand. “I’m just…” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m so bloody bored.”

“Well, there’s gotta be something for you to do around here,” Snow commented. “I would have loved some extra time before Neal to get settled.”

“That’s the thing, though—there isn’t,” he huffed. “I’ve reorganized the baby’s bookshelf twice and her closet four times; I’ve dusted thrice, but Swan put a magic lock on the vacuum cleaner; and I can’t get comfortable enough for anything else because this lass won’t stop kicking me and I’m constantly starved. And that medicinal gelatin has been no help whatsoever but I can’t stop craving it.”

Snow tilted her head. “Medicinal what now?”

“The stuff in the fridge in the small cups.”

Wearing a curious look, Snow pulled the fridge open, glanced around, and then started laughing. “Jello?”

“Aye; same as what they serve in the hospital.”

“Oh, Killian,” she said, chuckling. “There’s nothing medicinal about Jello. It just tastes good and has sugar and is easy to eat when you’re sick.”

“Oh, bloody—“ He had to cut himself off before he cursed in front of his mother-in-law, and settled with a long sigh.

“Come here,” she said, walking towards him with open arms and pulling him in for a hug, which he gladly reciprocated. “Oh! Is she always this active?” Because, of course, the little lass had promptly began to kick her grandmother.

“Always,” he practically groaned.

“You’re almost there,” she replied. “And with all you’ve been through, this will be nothing for you to handle. And then you’ll get to hold this sweet little baby, who is kicking me in the ribs.”

“I know the feeling,” he threw back, pulling away and breaking the embrace. “It just seems like she’s never going to come.”

“She’ll come when she’s ready. You’re taking awfully good care of her right now, so I understand why she might be waiting,” Snow teased. “Don’t lose hope!”

“I haven’t,” he answered, chuckling. “I’m definitely reigning in my expectations, though.”

“If it helps, just think of that day a few weeks from now when you’ll be all settled at home, with her in one arm and Emma in the other.”

It wasn’t hard to imagine; the idea was never far from his thoughts. “It’s all I've been dreaming of,” he agreed, a bit teary.

“Don’t you dare cry, Killian Jones; because then I will, too.”

He sniffed. “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”

While she continued to put food away, he busied himself with the tea kettle, and they settled down for an afternoon chat over Jello and chamomile. Her comparison of giving birth in the Enchanted Forest versus this realm had him quite glad for modern medicine, even if his situation was somewhat outside its scope. Truthfully, he hadn’t had too many one-on-one moments with Snow, so it was nice to have an easy conversation with her.

They got so lost in discussion that they both jumped when the alarm on her phone went off. “Oh, shoot; I’m supposed to meet Regina. Sorry; looks like I have to dash off!”

“No worries, milady; let me see you out.” He hauled himself to his feet, grateful for their sturdy table as he used it to support him, and waddled after her down the hall.

“Oh, I almost forgot—here, there’s a few outfits in there, and some blankets and washcloths,” she said as she handed him one last bag. “I just saw them and I couldn’t resist.”

He peeked into the sack, catching a glimpse of a few pink onesies covered in unicorns, hearts, and one emblazoned with “Little Princess”. “They’re perfect,” he whispered, then let the bag dangle on his hook as his hand jumped to his belly, where it felt like the baby had punched him. “And I think she agrees,” he added, wincing.

Snow gave him an understanding smile and squeezed his arm. “You’ve got this, okay? Have hope. You’ve made it this far; just a bit more to go.”

He nodded in agreement, they hugged one last time, and she let herself out while he began the trek up the stairs. It had only become a chore in the last week or so, now that his belly had dropped, but wearing the belly band that Snow had given him ages ago helped...some.

By the time he got upstairs, he needed to use the restroom again, but then he made his way into the nursery and went about finding a home for the new things. The room couldn’t be more ready for its incoming occupant: the crib was furnished, the changing table was outfitted, the closet was full, and the unicorn mobile that should have been Emma’s was hanging, swaying gently with moving air currents.

Once he’d put the clothes in with all the others (arranged by size, and then by color, and he was considering adding another filter in there but wasn’t quite sure which yet), he took a seat on the gliding rocking chair Regina had gifted them and propped his feet on the matching stool.

“Please come out soon, my little darling, our magic bean,” he said softly, caressing his stomach and feeling all her little movements. “We cannot wait to meet you.”

A/N: Belly update! There might be a manip coming later today or tomorrow, as well ;) Thank you all for reading! One more chapter after this!

#cs ff #killian jones ff #mpreg #cs baby #my ff

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