Contract Pt. 3

Loyalty

word count: 23,866

Fandom: MCYT Pairing: JSchlatt x Male!Wolf!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Familial/Platonic Occupation: Bodyguard Ability: Wolf Hybrid 

The character is that of a wolf hybrid, allowing them to have traits of a wolf. They have abnormal strength and speed with keen senses of smell, hearing and sight, making their nose and ears almost sensitive to anything. They are also granted with an abnormal height and the gift to shapeshift from a human/normal form to a more monstrous form.

Keys: [M/N]: Male Name [S/C]: Skin Color [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [U/N]: Username

Warnings: character death, vulgar language, alcohol consumption, violence

I don’t know if I’ve seen this anywhere but this is my own headcanon on the three canon lives thing the dsmp have. when their first two lives are taken, their bodies are reduced to dust and they return back to spawn or their bed, but on their last and final canon life, their body doesn’t reduce to dust and they die the regular ol’ way.

that is all.

“Loyalty” pt. 2

“Don’t touch that thing, you might catch something.”

“What a disgusting little thing, can’t it go somewhere else.”

“Ugh, I wish someone would do something about that thing.”

Those were the constant words that made their way into the ears of the young wolf pup hybrid, there was nothing that didn’t go unheard with his enhanced senses. No matter how irritating those words were he couldn’t help but wince when they were all true. His hair was overgrown and any other patches of fur that were visible were matted, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had a bath so there was a foul stench coming from him along with the dirt covering his [S/C] skin. Even his nails were overgrown and cracked with dirt beneath his nails, such an unsightly appearance. A weak growl mixed with a whimper erupted out of his throat as he clawed at the ground beneath his collapsed body, he really was pathetic that he could do nothing to make the situation he was in better. He had nothing but the worn-out clothes on his back to his name— name, huh? It’s been so long since someone has called his name that he can’t even remember the name his own mother gave him.

He was so alone he craved for any sort of attention; any sort of affection just to make him feel better, but what fool would take pity on this waste of life who was nothing but a bag of bones? He let out another whimper as he hung his head low, his hands resting on his head as tears of frustration finally started rolling down his cheeks. The cruel reality was bearing down on him and he just didn’t want to face it, he didn’t want to live in this kind of situation anymore but what can a scrawny little brat like himself do when he was nothing more than an easy target for anyone who preyed upon him? He just wanted a chance to make things right, he just wanted a chance to live a life that wasn’t so pathetic.

“Hey kid.” he let out a gasp at the sound of a voice, he raised his head and started to tremble at the sight of a figure looming over him. He couldn’t see who it was but with their intimidating height and the horns on his head, he couldn’t cease the fear in his heart as he pushed himself against the wall behind him, his ears tucking back to show his fear.

“Are you the devil…?” he croaked out, his voice so dry it made him wince and start coughing, he flinches when he heard the man above him laugh.

“The devil? Now that’s a new one.” he comments, the boy doesn’t hesitate to push himself further into the wall of the alley when the man before him knelt down, there, he was able to get a better view of the man’s face. He looked quite young, he had a scruffy beard and messy brown hair but what stood out were the goat horns and ears, another hybrid. It had been so long since he’d seen another hybrid, though the species was different, he was a hybrid nonetheless “What are you doing out here on your own, kid? Where’re your parents?” at the mention of that he looked down.

“… my mother died, and when my father saw no value in me, he left me to rot.” he answered weakly, the goat hybrid hummed at that, squeezing his chin “If you’re not here to ridicule me or kill me, it’s best if you’d be on your way, wouldn’t want to catch a disease I might be carrying.” the man only hummed again, the boy was confused when he saw the man back away slightly only to offer his hand to him with a generous smile on his face.

“Your father is a fool to see no value in you.”

“Huh?” that generous smile turned into a smirk.

“Come with me, and I promise you, you’ll be of use to me in the future.” his eyes widened slightly at that, how could this stranger know if he could be valuable or not? Such a ridiculous claim that had him sneering slightly, but his ears slowly relaxed as he stared at the hand before him, the offer was tempting but how could he trust this man? “Listen, kid, don’t take this offer as pity. I can and will leave you here to die if you don’t decide quickly, but I know you’ve got the potential to be something bigger. So, what do you say?” he swallowed thickly as he continued to stare at the hand before finally reaching forward and taking it.

“I hope you can show me how I have potential.” he laughs at that.

“It sounded sappy, didn’t it? You can just say I’ve got a good eye for valuable things.” he stands to his feet and the boy let out a yelp when he was yanked up, the man noticed this and put him down “Sorry about that, you’re just a skinny little thing.” the boy let out a sigh.

“Right.” he raised his head when he noticed the man raise his hand and slip off a bland gold ring off his finger, he turns towards him and flicks it towards the boy, he opened his hands and caught the ring before looking down at it in confusion.

“Then name’s JSchlatt , but call me Schlatt. From here on out, I’m your owner. The ring will signify my ownership over you, so don’t go losing it or else I’ll kick you to the curb, got it?” he let out a gasp as he nodded his head, Schlatt merely chuckled with a scoff before walking off, the boy gasped again as he quickly rushed after him “What about you? Do you gotta name, or do I have to name you?” he lowered his head once more, his ears pressing flat against his head.

“I don’t remember my name…” Schlatt pursed his lips at the sound of that, what a hassle.

“Hmm, well… how does [M/N] sound?” the boy's ears perked up at that “Take it or leave it. I’m not particularly good at naming things so it’s either that or you go by boy.” Schlatt paused when he heard him yip, he turned around and his eyes widen softly at the sight of the small amount of joy circling in his eyes, his tail wagging softly.

“No, no! I like it.” he looks down at his feet, holding the golden ring in his hands while his tail wagged happily “I like it a lot.” Schlatt scoffed again before walking again but was grateful that the boy— [M/N] liked the name, and he genuinely did. He didn’t favor the name his father gave him, it was a pretty half-assed name because his father could give a damn about naming a child who had no value to him. He raised his head to stare at the back of his new owner and a newfound loyalty started to swell in his chest, maybe it was the DNA of the wolf hybrid coursing through his veins that was making him behave in such a way, but he didn’t care. This man saw something in him that he couldn’t even see, he’s given him a chance and now he was willing to die for this man to live up to his expectations. 

[present time, years later]

“Hey, [M/N], are you even listening?” said man felt his ears twitch at the sound of his name, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around to see he was standing in the dressing room backstage awaiting their cue, he sniffled before turning his head in the direction of the voice that called his name.

“I apologize, I was simply resting my eyes.” his ears flickered a bit when the man laughed.

“Yeah, that sounds more like you taking a nap.” he hums at that, he then lets out an oh when he offered him a tie “Give me a hand with that, would you? You know how bad I am at putting those things on, but I need to look professional.” he nods his head as he takes the die from his hand, approaching him swiftly.

“Of course, but at least this time you aren’t swearing.” now he couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“True, true.” it takes him no time tying that tie around his neck, he’s probably gone and done it over a hundred times that he could probably do it with his eyes closed. When it was securely tied around his neck, he nodded his head before reaching over and grabbing the blaze to his suit and handing it to him, when he puts it on, he buttons it up for him before standing behind him and the both of them stare at their reflection.

“Don’t you look dapper, JSchlatt? Or should I say, Mister President?” he laughs again as he looks up at the boy standing behind him through the reflection.

“Oh, please. I always look this good.” now he snorts, Schlatt smacks him in the shoulder, only to wince himself when the back of his hand was met with his sturdy body “Damn, it only feels like yesterday when you were nothing but a skinny little brat. Now look at you, you’re even bigger than me now.” it was true, looking down at himself, [M/N] now towered over Schlatt and stood at least 6″10ft tall. His body was broad and stern that it would take another hybrid similar to him to knock him down, if not, there was no way the average person could take him down. 

“Hmm, is that why you appointed me as your bodyguard? Must I address you as sir now?” Schlatt shrugged his shoulders, pulling out a cigar from the pocket in his blazer.

“Nah, call me what you want.” [M/N] nods his head, pulling out a Zippo lighter to light his cigar “Actually, when we’re alone, call me Schlatt. When we’re around others, address me formally.” he nods his head, pocketing the lighter before putting his hands behind his back.

“As you wish, Mister President.” Schlatt smirked at that, taking a puff from the cigar but blew the smoke away from [M/N], knowing how sensitive his nose was when it comes to certain smells.

“You know, that has a nice ring to it.”

“I’ll try not to wear it out, knowing how much it inflates your ego.” his smirk only widens, taking another puff from his cigar.

“Damn straight.” he rolls his eyes, Schlatt raises a brow when he notices [M/N]’s ears stand up as he turns his head towards the door to the dressing room, his tail and other tuffs of fur visible standing on end “What’s the matter, kid?”

“Someone is approaching the room.” they hear a knock at the door and [M/N] was already on the door before the person could knock a second time, he throws the door open, and there stood Quackity, hand raised to knock once more but froze at the sight of the giant wolf hybrid looming over him.

“U-Uh...” before [M/N] could do anything, Schlatt hovered his hand over his chest to stop him.

“Stop, it’s just Quackity. He’s with us, remember?” Quackity gave a nervous smile as he looked up at [M/N], who snarled when he continued to stare, the duck hybrid flinched at it while Schlatt merely laughed “Don’t mind him, he gets like that with people he doesn’t know are around me. An overprotective dog.” [M/N] huffs as he stands up straight behind Schlatt but refused to drop his stance, Quackity just nodded his head and nervously removed his gaze from the taller man to Schlatt.

“Ri-- Right.” he clears his throat then gestures behind him “They’re ready now.” Schlatt hums at that, [M/N] notice him raise his hand so he grabbed an ashtray and let him put out his cigar in it before tossing it away, Schlatt grins as he straightens his blazer.

“Well then, let’s get this show on the road.” he laces his fingers together before cracking his knuckles, Quackity steps to the side to allow Schlatt to walk off. He lets out a short laugh and goes to follow him but looked back to see [M/N] staring at him, he flinched at the intense glare coming from the taller man, he laughed nervously again when he heard a low growl come from him “[M/N], come!” his head perked up at the order, he glares at Quackity one last time before rushing off to where Schlatt was patiently waiting for him.

“J-Jeez...” he shuddered out, placing a hand to his chest and feeling the rapid beating of his heart “I feel like he was going to eat me.” Schlatt looked up at [M/N] when he noticed him unconsciously lick his lips.

“Don’t even think about eating him.” he snorts when he noticed him jolt up.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“Uh huh.” he pursed his lips as he looked away, he chuckles at the reaction before pulling at the collar of the blaze, he looks up at [M/N] and spread his arms so the taller man could get a good look at him “So, how do I look?” the wolf hybrid stared at him before chuckling, shaking his head and buttoning his blazer up again and straightening his tie.

“Like you mean business, sir.” Schlatt nods at the answer, raising his arm to tug on the end of the sleeves of his dress shirt then throwing his arms out to loosen the sleeves a bit.

“Good.” they stood by the sides of the stage, still backstage away from the prying eyes of the citizens of L’Manburg, and awaited their cue to go on stage to greet the crowd. [M/N] continued to stand behind Schlatt but was on guard when he sensed two individuals approaching them, he glanced to his side and noticed that it was simply Quackity and that guy with those white frame sunglasses with black tinted lenses, he didn’t even bother to remember his name, maybe he’ll ask Schlatt later. On the other side of the stage stood the representatives for POG2020, that being Wilbur Soot and his little brother TommyInnit, he started growling once more but stopped when Schlatt gently hit him in his chest “Quiet.” he bowed his head.

“Sorry.” he chuckles softly, shaking his head.

“There’s no worry, besides, the win is ours.” [M/N] nods his head at that.

“Right, they don’t even know they’ve been had.” Schlatt smirks, they’re all soon called onto the stage, Wilbur being the one to stand at the podium to read out the votes of the elections while Schlatt’s party stood to Wilbur’s right while Niki’s party and Tommy stood to his left.

“I am now going to read out the number of votes each party has gained.” he clears his throat as he reads through the sheet of paper in his hands “With 9% of the vote, being, 20,000 people or so. In fourth place, is Coconut2020.” there was some applause coming from the crowd as Niki and Fundy cheered.

“20,000 people!”

“Thank you, Eret for your support!” [M/N] just rolled his eyes, they came forth and they lost by a landslide, so why the hell were they celebrating?

“The pity votes.” now he couldn’t help but snort, stifling his laughter at Quackity’s unexpected comment, the duck hybrid grinned when he made the usually neutral wolf hybrid laugh.

“Are you laughing, [M/N]?” Schlatt asked, rather amused that he was, he just pressed the back of his hand to his lips while shaking his head as he tried not to laugh.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting that, sir. I was caught off guard, but it was pretty funny.” the ram hybrid just chuckled at the reaction, shrugging his shoulders before turning his attention back at Wilbur while crossing his arms.

“Now, with 16% of the votes, coming in third place, is Schlatt2020.” they all whispered various comments about Schlatt, but he and his party didn’t react like the people who placed third, they were rather neutral and had an indifferent reaction because they knew the outcome of that election “That means there are two parties left. Big Q, look at me.” Quackity looked out from behind [M/N] and saw Wilbur staring at him, Schlatt gestures with his head towards Wilbur and so Quackity approaches him and now the two stood in front of each other “This leaves the two major front runners as the final option here.”

“Right.” they both nod their heads before Wilbur turns to look at the crowd once more.

“In second place, with 30% of the votes, is... lead by the party leader Quackity.” Tommy and the rest who were supporting him and his brother were quick to celebrate when Wilbur announced that Quackity was second place in favor of POG2020, however, Schlatt and [M/N] smirked when they saw that look of confusion and disbelief on Wilbur’s face when he was having to reread the votes over and over “Wait, Tommy, listen, Tommy!”

“What? We won didn’t we?” Wilbur took a sharp inhale.

“Well, uh... two nights ago, on the night of the election, after the announcement of Schlatt2020 and Coconut2020... Quackity made a deal with the leader of Schlatt2020 and, uh, Mister Jschlatt stood beside me. Quackity said that no matter what happens, Quackity would pool SWAG2020 votes onto Schlatt2020 votes.” the crowd gasped at the announcement as Quackity took his place behind Schlatt once more, the four of them mockingly smirking at the rest of them as Wilbur read out the rest of the votes “POG2020 got 45% of the votes, meaning that the coalition government of Schlatt2020 and SWAG2020 got 46% of the votes. Meaning that tonight, ladies and gentlemen, on Tuesday the 22nd of September 2020, Schlatt2020 has been inaugurated.” everyone gasped in shock at the way things had turned out while Schlatt and Quackity were laughing at the results, [M/N] was smiling softly and clapping his hands, as for George, he was doing the same thing but rather tiredly.

“See, the win was ours from the beginning.” [M/N] nodded his head.

“Mm hmm, had no doubts sir, that’s why I was calling you Mister President even before the results were announced.” Schlatt grinned when he saw Wilbur swallow thickly, practically nervous under the eyes of the ram hybrid but gave him a forced smile.

“Well, u-uh, Mister JSchlatt, it was a real honor competing against you. But I-- uh, please step up to the podium and deliver your inauguration speech.” they were all promptly kicked off the stage as Schlatt took his place in front of the podium, [M/N] was behind him and glaring down at the crowd below him while Quackity stood to his right and George to his left.

“Well,” Schlatt started, tapping at the mic before leaning against the podium with a giant smirk on his face "that was pretty easy. And you know what I said the day that I got unbanned from the Dream SMP and the day I said I was running? An election that I won, by the way. I said, "Things are going to change." I looked every citizen of L'Manberg in the eyes and I said, "You listen to me: This place will be a lot different tomorrow." Let's start making it happen.” Schlatt chuckled at the looks he was getting from the crowd, he turned back to [M/N] for a brief second to nod at him before finishing off the rest of his speech, the taller man understood and got himself ready “My first decree as the president of L'Manberg - the EMPEROR of this great country - is to REVOKE the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit!” the crowd immediately went into hysterics at the announcement.

“What?!”

“NO!!”

“No way!”

“Is he serious?!” Schlatt looks back at [M/N] and saw he pulled at his Firework Launcher, George and Quackity notice this and pull out their bows, Schlatt just laughs maniacally before throwing his arm out.

“Get them out of here! Get them out of here! You're no longer welcome!” [M/N], who’s face was indifferent, pushed Schlatt behind him and knelt down while he aimed the rocket in the direction of where Wilbur and Tommy were standing, finger on the trigger and eyes locked on.

“Yes, sir.” pulling the trigger, the crowd immediately dispersed to avoid the rocket while Wilbur and Tommy turned tails and ran, however, [M/N] didn’t stop and continued to fire rockets at them while George and Quackity shot arrows at them, one actually managing to hit the two and lodge into the back of Wilbur’s shoulder as they fled. George and Quackity lowered their bows while [M/N] raised his crossbow, his keen eyes continuing to scan the area until a hand was gently placed on his shoulder.

“That’s enough, you did your job splendidly, [M/N].” his ears went flat against his head at the praise before standing to his feet, returning to his place behind Schlatt “Oh, that was so easy! Until further notice, Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are merely a memory of L'Manberg. A relic of the past. A reminder of the darkest era this country has ever seen. And I guarantee you all, dear citizens... Tonight, that changes. We are entering into a new period of L'Manberg, a period of prosperity! Of strength! Of unity!” [M/N] smiled and clapped his hands gently once more, he then went on a rant and saw that he was going to lower the taxes and even fill the fountains up with Hawaiian Punch.

“Seriously?” he whispered to the ram, he just shrugged.

“Meh, it was in the spur of the moment, but I’m gonna do it anyway.” the wolf shrugged his shoulders and leaned back “Anyways, Tubbo? Where’s Tubbo?” the boy raised his hand from within the crowd.

“I’m right here.”

“Tubbo, get up here! Get up here on my podium.” now [M/N] was confused, why on earth was Schlatt calling up Tommy’s friend? “Don’t you want the job?” Quackity snickers as he leaned towards Schlatt.

“I don’t think he wants the job.” Tubbo’s eyes widened as he stood up from where he was sitting with a panicked expression.

“N-No, no! I’m on my way.” he sputtered out repeatedly while trying to find a way up to where they were standing, when he managed to climb up to the stage, after repeatedly dying to fall damage, he stood nervously beside Schlatt while trying to avoid looking at [M/N], who was snarling while glaring at him.

“Stop it.” he scolded, the man huffed as he looked away “Tubbo, you, as my secretary of state, as my right hand man of L’Manburg!” Schlatt ignored the whine coming from [M/N] when he said that, he sighed and gave the man a look before smiling down at the younger boy “I need you to do something for me, Tubbo.”

“What Mister President?”

“I need you, to find Tommy and I need you, to show him the door. Rumor has it, he’s somewhere around. Perhaps, uh, perhaps on top of a building.” at the mention of that, [M/N] turned his head to the right and saw on top of the tower was a frightened Wilbur and standing beside, though he couldn’t see because of the potion, was undoubtedly Tommy, probably with an expression just as frightened as his “Tubbo, bring them here at once.” [M/N] looked away from the tower as he looked down at Tubbo, he looked hesitant to do Schlatt’s bidding, I mean, of course, he would, he was going against his best friend and the man he previously fought a war with.

“I-I...” Tubbo looked up and paled when [M/N] glared at him, he swallowed thickly before nodding his head “I’ll do my best, Mister President.” [M/N] relaxed at that and turned away, Schlatt smiled as he pats Tubbo on the shoulder.

“Good, now, you best be on your way. Go get 'em.” he nodded his trembling head before rushing off, Schlatt grinned as he straightened his tie and waved at the people, [M/N] pursed his lips as he leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Why didn’t you send me, sir? You know I’m better at tracking than anyone else, it was illogical to send him.” Schlatt only chuckled, turning around and gently patting [M/N] on the cheek.

“Yeah, I know that, but you’re my bodyguard. Your job is to stay by my side and protect me from potential dangers, and I can’t exactly have my bodyguard leave my side just to gather a bunch of rats.” he gave him a smile “I’m counting on you to protect me from here on out, that’s your first order from me as the President. Don’t disappoint me.” at that, [M/N] had stopped listening to Schlatt ramble on about other things he had planned for L’Manburg as his heart thumped in his chest once more. He hadn’t felt like this ever since Schlatt had first picked him up when he was just a little cub, this feeling of loyalty swelling in his chest for this man, he smile with a newfound resolve as he stood behind Schlatt with a prideful gaze.

He was going to carry out that order until his last breath.

[a few days later]

“Ma-- Manberg, sir? You’re going to change L’Manberg to Manberg?” [M/N] asked, reading through the papers Schlatt had handed to him in confusion, he lowered the papers as he stared at the man “Why? L’Manberg sounds fine as is.” Schlatt merely laughs, leaning back in his seat as he holds a glass of whiskey, spinning the glass around with his wrist and watching the liquid sway before looking at his bodyguard.

“Well, this country no longer takes any L’s.” Schlatt grinned when he got the man to snicker at that, he downs the whiskey as he lets [M/N] read through the other decrees he thought of. The first one was obvious, it was revoking Wilbur and Tommy’s citizenship to L’Man-- oh, no, Manberg. The second was to remove the walls surrounding the country that were built since the beginning, the third was renaming L’Manberg to Manberg because he claimed the country isn’t taking L’s anymore. [M/N] scoffed with a laugh, shaking his head when he saw that Schlatt wanted to replace many of the longstanding structures of the city with tall apartment buildings and a monument of himself.

“Really? A monument of yourself? Quite egotistical, don’t you think?” Schlatt laughed at that, throwing his head back as he placed his empty glass on his desk.

“What? Don’t you think it’ll give this country a nice touch to it?”

“Whatever makes you happy, sir.” he shuffles through the rest of the papers but he stopped when his eyes landed on the last one, Schlatt watched as he furrowed his brows as he read through it “You want to raise the taxes, but only for the female residents of Manberg? Sir, you do realize that Niki Nihachu is the only woman residing in Manberg, right?” he chuckles.

“Of course I know. Because I kicked her friends out, she’s been acting out and even stood up to me at one point.” he slams his hand on his desk and glared at [M/N], though the latter was not affected by the gaze because he knew that it wasn’t directed at him “I’m just putting her in her place so she learns not to go against my authority.” he hums, eyeing the page carefully before looking at Schlatt once more.

“Are you sure? This isn’t going to look good for you, makes you seem prejudice against women.” Schlatt waves his hand to dismiss the thought.

“You’re overthinking it, kid. You’re simply not looking at the bigger picture!” [M/N] raised a brow.

“And that would be?” Schlatt looked at him before looking away.

“I’m still imagining the picture kid, don’t put me on the spot like that.” he snorted at the response he got, he lets out a breath as he rearranged the papers once more before bowing his head.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your duties and hand these to Vice President Quackity.” the older man nods his head, swiveling in his chair before raising his hand and motioning for [M/N] to come. The man looked at him in confusion before approaching him from behind his desk, he leaned forward before jolting up, his ears and tail shooting upwards when Schlatt placed his hand on top of his head and gently pat his head.

“I really do appreciate you sticking by my side throughout the years, kid, never forget that.” [M/N] raised his head, Schlatt laughed when he noticed that his pupils had blown out as his tail was wagging behind him. He remembered he would always do that to him when he was a kid and it really pleased the kid, [M/N] stood up straight with a flushed face as he pressed his hand to where Schlatt’s hand previously was.

“I-I...” he couldn’t even say anything, he was just too flustered, Schlatt had to hold back his laughter when [M/N] turned tail and ran, nearly tripping over but instead slammed into the door before throwing it up and slamming it shut behind him. [M/N] had his back pressed to the door as he tried to calm himself down, he just couldn’t stop smiling, he always did enjoy getting praised by Schlatt, maybe that was the wolf side of him that made him react like this. He took a deep breath, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair to straighten it out, when he composed himself, he slapped on his straight face before walking down the hall to where Quackity’s office was.

“Hey, [M/N]!” his ears perked up at the call and he looked over to see Fundy waving his hand, he narrowed his eyes on him to remember what his place was in the White House. Um, if he remembered hard enough, Schlatt said that he was the...  Archbishop/Right hand man? He really couldn’t be bothered remembering all these names that meant nothing to him, though, he did stop so Fundy could approach him, with caution, of course. Fundy knew how vicious [M/N] was with people who weren’t Schlatt, he really was just Schlatt’s hound dog that wouldn’t hesitate to carry out any of his orders, no matter how malicious they were.

“What do you need, sir?” he answered, Fundy laughed as he shook his head and pat him on the arm.

“Come on now, since we’re working together, don’t you think you should drop the formalities? We’re friends, aren’t we?” Fundy flinched when he noticed [M/N] was glaring at the hand that was touching him, he laughed nervously as he removed his hand.

“Friends?” he questioned, holding the papers in one hand, he raised the other to wipe his arm where Fundy had touched him “I don’t remember us becoming such a feat. We’re nothing more than associates, nothing more, nothing less.” he awkwardly laughed at that when the taller man kept a stern look on his face as he stared him down.

“Ah haha, r-right.” [M/N] sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Anyways, do you know where the Vice President is? Mister JSchlatt asked me to deliver these papers to him so he could take a look at them.” Fundy’s ears perked up at that.

“Quackity?” he then pointed off in a direction “He’s currently in his office with George.” he nods his head at the information.

“Thank you, and with that, I’ll be on my way.” he was polite enough to bid the fox hybrid goodbye before leaving him, it didn’t take long for the man to reach Quackity’s door and so he politely knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

“Oh, come in!” he heard the voice from within the office, he pushed open the door and there he saw Quackity sitting on his desk while talking to George “Oh, it’s you, [M/N]. What brings you here?” he raises the papers in his hand as he approaches the two.

“The President asked me to hand these to you. He wants you to read through them before handing them back to him, saying that he also wants your opinion on what he wants to do to this country.” Quackity nods as he takes the papers from [M/N]’s hands, giving them a brief skim through before setting them down on the desk beside him.

“Alright.”

“He would appreciate an immediate response because he would like those decrees to happen immediately. I don’t wish to rush you, but the President gets quite fussy when people make him wait.” Quackity nods his head once more at that.

“Got it, I’ll try and have it done before later tonight.” [M/N] bows his head at that.

“Much appreciated, Mister Vice President.” he then bows his head to George “Ambassador. Have a good day gentlemen.” with that he took his leave and returned to his post in front of Schlatt’s office door, no one was to come in without him mentally noting down who it was that entered and who left. Anyone that passed by was impressed that he never moved from his spot, didn’t fidget or twitch, he only made a reaction when someone was approaching before turning them away when Schlatt didn’t want to see them.

“U-Um, excuse me?” he raised his brow as he looked down, there, he saw a nervous looking Tubbo waving his hand to try and get his attention “Schlatt told me to meet him in his office, telling me he had a job for me.” [M/N] furrowed his brows before looking up in thought, he did remember him mentioning that Tubbo was going to meet him later in the day, so he nodded his head.

“Right.” he opened to door and looked over at where Schlatt was “Sir, Tubbo is here as you wished.” Schlatt raised his head at the announcement, a grin on his face as he stood up from his desk.

“Wonderful, wonderful! Let him in, why don’t you?” [M/N] nodded his head before stepping to the side and gesturing with his arms for Tubbo to enter the room, when he walked in he was planning on closing the door behind and wait outside the room but stopped when he noticed Schlatt give him a look that told him to stay. He glanced back at Tubbo before nodding his head and stepping into the room, closing the door behind him and standing in front of the door, and let the two talk. He didn’t bother listening to the conversation, it really wasn’t anything that concerned him, it was the usual political bullshit that Schlatt pulled out of his ass while using different tactics to intimidate and frighten the child into submission, to which it worked because Tubbo could barely look him in the eye. Only when he heard Schlatt mention Tubbo’s first job did he ask him to do, was when [M/N] started to listen “I thought I told you to find Tommy and bring him here, Tubbo.” the boy swallowed thickly.

“I-I’m trying, really, Schlatt.” he licks his lips “They’re not here in L’Manberg--”

“It’s Manberg, Tubbo.” he raised his head in shock at what Schlatt had said “Because you didn’t know that I was changing it, I’ll let it slide just this one time. I hope there won’t be any more slip-ups.” he nods his head.

“R-Right.” he takes a breath to calm himself “Anyways, they’re not here in Manberg, sir. I don’t know where else they could have gone.” Schlatt hummed at that, circling him while clicking his tongue.

“That is not the answer I wanted, Tubbo. You know him better than anyone, so I expected you to find them first.” he then gestures to [M/N], Tubbo looked over at the wolf hybrid and saw he had his neutral expression on his face “[M/N] is my most trusted companion, he’s been with me for a long time so I know him like the back of my hand, as he is with me.” Tubbo nods his head.

“Yeah...?” Tubbo stands in his spot as he watched Schlatt approach the man, dragging his hand across his shoulders before wrapping an arm around his torso and leaning his weight into his body.

“So I know how great of a tracker he is, as well as a hunter.” Tubbo flinched, know understanding where he was going “He is a wolf hybrid, a grey wolf at that, making him an apex predator, meaning that he is at the very top of the food chain. When he’s got a whiff of your scent, it’s all over, there isn’t a place on this earth that you can hide and he won’t be able to find you.” he nods slowly.

“T-That sounds like a really good assist, sir.” he nods.

“It is.” he then leaves [M/N]’s side as twirls around the room, throwing his arms open before pointing at Tubbo “Now you must be thinking, why I didn’t send [M/N] off to find your pesky little friend and that former President? Well, it’s simple. I don’t want him to leave my side, he’s the one person I trust with my life and I don’t want him to go off just to do a trivial job. That’s why I left it to you, because you know your friend Tommy better than anyone else, so you must know what he’s planning.”

“I... I--”

“Tubbo, listen.” Schlatt was by Tubbo’s side, wrapping an arm around him and leaning down close to his face “I’m going to tell you this one last time so you can get the job done right, okay? Go and find Tommy and kill him, or else I’ll send [M/N] to get the job done right, and I know neither of us wants that. He can be quite merciless when it comes down to doing hunting jobs to the point that even I can’t tell him to stop. He does a messy job, but at least he can get it done.” Tubbo was really being put on the spot at that point, he hasn’t seen what [M/N] is capable of, and he really doesn’t want to find out either.

“I...” he lowers his head “I understand, Mister President.” Schlatt smiled at the response, raising his hands to let him go.

“Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that.” he pats Tubbo’s back and raises his arm to direct him to the door “Now that you understand what happens if you don’t do your job properly, off you go. Report anything you find to [M/N], okay?” he nods.

“Got it.” with that he leaves the room, [M/N] goes to follow him out but was stopped when Schlatt grabbed his arm.

“Before you go,” he raised a brow when he noticed his expression darkened “keep an eye on him, won’t you?” [M/N] only smirked, showing off his canines.

“I was going to do that whether you ordered me or not.” he cracked his knuckles as the other man laughed.

“Right, that is so you.” he takes a breath as he leans against his desk “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, eh?” [M/N] salutes him.

“Yes sir.”

[weeks later]

“You’re... married?” [M/N] questioned as he looked at Schlatt and Quackity in confusion, the latter looked proud of the accomplishment while the former looked just as confused as he did “We-- Well... congrats?” he lets out a confused whine as he tilted his head to the side, he scratches the back of his neck as he tried to continue his work but the fact that Schlatt got married to this... guy, really rattled him.

“Don’t think about it, even I don’t understand why he wanted to marry me.” Schlatt said as he waved Quackity goodbye, to which the duck hybrid waved his hand enthusiastically before running down the hallway, [M/N] pursed his lips as he looked down at the golden ring on his finger before glancing away “Anyways, how’s keeping an eye on Tubbo been lately?” he asked, the both of them entering his office to speak about the matter privately.

“As you’ve instructed, I continue to make quick observations on him whenever he comes and goes. When he’s around others he’s calm and relaxed, but that persona immediately drops when he’s around me, sir.”

“Maybe that’s because you scare the kid, pup.” he laughs when [M/N] flushes at the pet name, it had been a long time since he called him that, he cleared his throat “Sorry, continue, please.” 

“Thank you, anyways, as I was saying, he’s always on edge whenever he’s around you or me.” he raises a hand as he taps his cheek “He’s gone frequently during the day as well, sometimes I ask Fundy where Tubbo goes and he doesn’t know, not even Quackity. George is no help, he’s never around or he’s always asleep, so he’s completely in the dark. But the times he passes by me, I take a whiff of his scent and I smell rubble, gun powder, oddly potatoes, and something else that I just can’t place.”

“Do you think he’s purposely covering his scent to throw you off?” he purses his lips.

“Perhaps, but I’m close, I can feel it.” Schlatt nods his head.

“Alright, when you manage to find something, I give you permission to leave my side and follow after him.” [M/N]’s eyes opened at what he said.

“P-Pardon? You want me to... leave your side?” Schlatt rolled his eyes at the reaction he gave him, he knew he was going to react like this, knowing how protective this damned mutt can get when he isn’t by his side.

“You’re the only one I trust to accomplish this job, [M/N]. You’re efficient at what you do, so be quick. Get in, and get out before they notice and return to me with the results I want, okay? You’re the only one that won’t be able to mess this up, yeah?” [M/N] was hesitant, of course, he was, he fiddled with the hem of his dress shirt as he kept his head low. Schlatt let out a sigh as he stared at the man before him, he would always do that whenever he was nervous, he still hasn’t changed from when he was just a kid “Come on now, stop being so worried, I’ll be fine.”

“... really?” he nods his head.

“Of course, I’ll be waiting for you here, mmkay?” he takes his hands and gently pats his head, laughing when he saw his tail wagging behind him.

“O... Okay.” he soon pats his arm.

“That’s the spirit! Oh, would you look at that, I have a meeting to get to with someone important.” he rolls his neck as his hands slip away from [M/N], to which the man quickly straightened himself out before following Schlatt out. Many things had occurred since the day he had become President, he ordered Fundy to burn down the L’Manberg flag and to create a new Manberg flag made of obsidian and crying obsidian to make it harder to control, he banished Niki from Manberg after refusing to pay her taxes and had every other resident of Manberg to raid her bakery and steal everything she owned, so now she owned nothing. [M/N] felt a bead of sweat form on his cheek as he listed every bad/horrible deed Schlatt had done to the country, making him look even worse than he did in the beginning. He wasn’t going to admit it, though he totally would, he knew if Schlatt continued with the path he was going down... he wasn’t going to die an easy death “Ah, we’re here. They’re already inside, so I want you to stay out here and keep anyone looking for me out, okay?” [M/N] nodded his head.

“As you wish, sir.” he winks before throwing the doors open then letting them close behind him, with that, [M/N] turned around and kept his back to the door. With his hands behind his back, he kept his posture and expressionless face on as he watched people walk by, some greeted him and he greeted them back briefly. He wasn’t really paying attention to how much time had gone by but his ears did go up when he saw Tubbo approach him.

“Hey, [M/N], is Schlatt in there?” he nods his head.

“Yeah, he’s having a meeting with someone and told me to keep anyone looking for him out. Must be really important.” Tubbo nods his head.

“Oh, okay. Then I guess I’ll wait out here with you if that’s alright.” he shrugged his shoulder.

“Do what you want.” Tubbo nods again before proceeding to stand beside the taller man, he rolled his neck as he fixed his stance until his nose twitched. An unknown scent caught his attention and so he sniffed the air to catch a whiff of the scent once more before it disappeared, soon his head moved down to where Tubbo was standing and the younger boy was looking up at him in confusion.

“U-Um, [M/N], what are you--” 

*SNEEZE*

Tubbo was taken aback at the loud sneeze coming from the man, it was completely unexpected that he jumped in surprise before he approached [M/N], backing away when he sneezed again.

“No, go away!” he shouts “Why do you smell like pollen?! Why the hell are you even covered in that shit from head to toe?!” he shouts, sneezing again and covering his nose so he wouldn’t pick up the smell of pollen.

“You can smell the pollen off of me?” he questioned.

“Of course I can, I have a sensitive nose and I can pick up on various smells, dammit!” he shouts, sniffling and rubbing his nose when his nose started getting runny. Though that part was true, he caught wind of Tommy’s scent as well, though his meeting with the small child was brief, he has a memory bank of all the different types of smells he had smelt in the past. He just had to find a reason to cover up the fact that he was blatantly smelling Tubbo, thank god for his hay fever. Tubbo was still quite taken aback by [M/N]’s reaction but he was in a state of panic that he forgot how good his sense of smell was, how on earth could he forget, he just felt fortunate enough that he was playing in a field of flowers with bees that he was covered in pollen to fool him.

“O-Oh, um, sorry?” he apologized questionably, handing him a handkerchief to blow his nose.

“Just-- please go away, I beg.” 

“Ye-- right! I can just show this to Schlatt later!” he exclaims before running away, he blew his nose in the handkerchief, grimacing at the amount of snot on it before folding it up and pocketing it then running his finger under his nose to control him.

“Hey,” he shrieked at the voice from behind him, turning around, he saw Schlatt cracking open the doors by a bit to peek his head through “what was all that noise about?” he sniffed.

“Tubbo was here waiting for you, but he was covered in pollen when I tried sniffing him and I started sneezing.” Schlatt nodded his head.

“Ah, your hay fever.” he nods, he goes to enter the office once more but couldn’t when [M/N] places his foot in between the doors to stop him, he then leans down to whisper in his ear.

“But I did manage to smell Tommy off of him.” now this caused Schlatt’s blood to run cold for a bit before it started to boil, though, he managed to keep his composure as he smiled up at [M/N].

“You know what to do.” he bows his head.

“Of course.” he waited until his meeting was over to take Schlatt back to his office, he looked into the room Schlatt was in and briefly saw the color green but ignored it to take Schlatt back. When he safely returned to his office, he nodded his head to him before closing the door behind the man then turning on his heel to find where that little bastard had slipped off to his. His gaze caught the sight of Quackity, who was flaunting his wedding wing to Fundy, who just looked downright confused “Excuse me, Quackity, Fundy!” he called out, the two raised their heads and Quackity greeted him enthusiastically while Fundy was still nervous under his eyes.

“Hey, [M/N]!” he cheered.

“Y-Yeah, hey.” Fundy added, [M/N] only sighed.

“Yes, hello. I was just wondering if you two knew where Tubbo was, he was waiting for the President beside me when he was having a meeting with someone else before he ran off when he realized he was the cause of my little... accident.” he sniffled once more “Anyways, the President has returned to his office and I was wondering if you knew where he was so I can tell him that he’s free now.” Fundy let out a hum as he looked up in thought.

“Well, I haven’t seen him in the past hour, he said that he was going out on a stroll.” Quackity nodded.

“I saw him go east from where the White House is, saying he wanted to collect some bees before talking to Schlatt. If you hurry, you’ll probably catch up to him.” he notes, [M/N] nodded his head to what they said.

“Thanks.” they bid him adieu as he walked off, when he was outside the White House, he stretched his arms and legs, crouching down a couple times before turning his body east from where the White House was before kneeling down and pressing the tips of his fingers onto the ground. He bends his knees as the soles of his feet dig into the ground, with that, he shot forward and sprinted off to find Tubbo. It was a little difficult because he could smell the pollen mixed in with his scent but as Schlatt had said, once he’s got a whiff of your scent, there’s nowhere you could hide on this earth that he wouldn’t be able to find you. He launched himself into the air before catching himself in the trees of a forest somewhere outside of the borders of the Dream SMP, he landed on the ground before sprinting forward, however, he didn’t know how long he was going to have to search to find anything suspicious but then he came to the opening by a hill.

He raised a brow at the sight of a small dirt shack embedded within a hill, he tilts his head to the side before approaching it. He opens the door and looks around in confusion before inhaling the lingering scents within the shack, now he smelt an assortment of different scents. He was onto them, the shack had a bed, a couple chests with furnaces, and other things but what he saw that really mattered was an opening that was leading underground. He rolled his neck, planning to go down it but stopped when he saw a dog.

“...”

“...”

“Hey.” he greeted, raising a hand, he smiled when it gave him a cheerful yip in return, he ruffled its head before heading down. He soon found himself in a ravine, looking around, it was mostly a system of caves, made of stone and wooden stairways with torches along the walls. He pursed his lips when he saw a huge potato field... now that explained the smell of potatoes, he scoffed, such a downgrade, he thought to himself before crouching down when he heard voices. He drank an Invisibility Potion before peeking his head down and there he saw Tubbo talking to Wilbur, Tommy, and some piglin hy-- oh, shit. He recognized that piglin hybrid, the Blood God Technoblade, an anarchistic pig, now he was going to be a problem.

“I’m sorry Wilbur, I panicked and came here as fast as I could.” Wilbur shook his head as he held Tubbo’s shoulders.

“That doesn’t matter, just tell us what happened.” he let out a sigh.

“I think I nearly got caught.” Tommy was up on his feet immediately, he shoved Wilbur away as he checked Tubbo all over.

“What? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” he shook his head to wave Tommy off.

“I’m fine, it’s just that Schlatt’s bodyguard.” now this caught their attention, Tubbo told them how troublesome his bodyguard is, Tubbo could never get close to Schlatt without [M/N] being in the same room sneering down at anyone that thought they could touch him. Not only that but because he was a wolf and that if he even caught a whiff of their scent he would be on them immediately and Tubbo’s job as a spy for Pogtopia would be exposed.

“What did he do?” 

“I had work to show to Schlatt but couldn’t because he was in a meeting, course [M/N] was also waiting outside the door as he usually did and this time I decided to wait beside him. But he suddenly started sniffing me, I panicked there and then but before I could do anything he started sneezing.” Tommy snickered at that.

“Sneezing? Why?” Technoblade questioned.

“I was covered in pollen and he said he had hay fever.” Tommy was laughing now, this caused [M/N] to purse his lips at that the boy who was laughing at him “I think the fact that he has hay fever saved my butt, who knows what would’ve happened if I didn’t play with the bees.” Technoblade now rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. I thought we warned you to roll in the dirt or have a shower after you visit us, that guy is our problem. The moment you get caught, we’re all in trouble.” he scolds before freezing, pulling out an axe from his inventory and throwing it over his shoulder.

“What? What’s the matter, Techno?” Wilbur asked, watching the anarchist on alert as he looked around.

“I smell a dog.” [M/N] huffs while the others freeze.

‘Dog? Now that’s rude.’ he shakes his head, he got what he needed so he no longer needed to stay, he goes to stand to his feet but winced when he noticed that when he shuffled his feet a couple rocks fell, he then fell to the ground to avoid the axe that was thrown at him ‘Jesus!’

"You led him to us!” he shouts, he goes to pull out another weapon but paused when he heard a bark, they all look up and see that it was simply the same dog that [M/N] passed on his way into Pogtopia.

“Heh, you’re overreacting, it’s just L’Mandog.” [M/N] was silently crying when this damned dog came out of nowhere and saved his skin, [M/N] knew he was strong, strong enough to handle the three and Technoblade if he was alone, but there was no way he could take on those three and Technoblade at the same time, that was too much. He silently thanked the dog before rolling away and rushing out of that ravine, Technoblade looked back over at the spot he threw his axe before looking at Tubbo.

“You should stay away from Pogtopia for a couple days, Tubbo. We’ll wait till this all blows over and if he acts out of place, then we’ll know.” Tubbo slowly nodded his head.

“Yeah... yeah, okay. I don’t want you guys getting hurt just because of my slip up.” Tommy grinned, giving his friend and thumbs up.

“Don’t worry, Tubbo, everything will be fine.”

[the next day]

“A festival?” Quackity questioned, putting down the sheet of paper Schlatt had handed to him and the other members of his cabinet. They were all in the meeting discussing Schlatt’s upcoming event for Manberg which was going to be a festival, but they were all confused as to why he was pulling such a stunt, they couldn’t find a reason as to why he was throwing a festival. [M/N] was also in the room so they look over at him to see his reaction, Schlatt tells the man everything, so he must know what’s going on... instead, they saw him scrunch his face up in confusion as he continued to stand behind him, whispering festival under his breath “W-Wha... what for, sir?” he laughed, throwing his arms back.

“Can’t we throw a festival to celebrate? It’ll be in the name of democracy.” [M/N] pulled a face as he leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“But you are against democracy, sir.” he shrugged his shoulders, smacking the back of his hand against his chest.

“Oh, lighten up, will you?” [M/N] sighed before standing up straight, wiping his chest where Schlatt had smacked him before rolling his shoulders and looking at the other three who were attending the meeting, maybe he should kick George just to make him come to at least one meeting “Anyways, I am placing Tubbo in charge of the planning.” said boy jolted in his seat before looking over at Schlatt in shock.

“M-Me?! Why?” he grinned at the young boy.

“Other than Fundy and Quackity, you’re the person I trust the most with such an important event, plus I believe you’ll be pretty decent in coming up with plans for the festival.” they hear a whine and look over at [M/N], jumping in surprise when they saw his ears dropping down, his bottom lip trembling. He then leans down once more, grabbing Schlatt by the shoulder while pointing at himself.

“W-What about me? Don’t you trust me enough, sir?” he rolls his eyes, smacking [M/N]’s hand off his shoulder as he pulled a cigar out of his pocket and puts it to his lips, letting Quackity light it.

“You can’t plan for shit, I know that from experience.” they sweat drop when they saw him turn around and start sulking, Schlatt took a puff from his cigar before waving his hand “I’m trusting you, Tubbo, to set the whole event up and I am also giving you the role as a key speaker.” Tubbo swallowed thickly at that before nodding his head.

“Okay, I won’t let you down, Mister President!” he felt nervous when Schlatt smiled at him.

“I know you won’t.” Tubbo shuddered, not really knowing how to take that last comment, soon, Schlatt stood to his feet as he straightened his blazer before snapping his fingers, causing [M/N] to snap out of his sulking and have him straighten his posture “That’s all we have to discuss, [M/N], come.”

“Coming.” with that the two of them left, and when they were alone, [M/N] immediately dropped the confused face “Do you think they fell for it?” he questioned, Schlatt laughed as he took another puff his from cigar before letting it hang from his lips so he could look up at [M/N].

“Without a doubt, pup.” he throws his arms up and lets them rest behind his head, lacing his fingers together as he walked down the hallways of the White House “I never knew you had a thing for acting, fooled them pretty good.” Schlatt laughed when he saw [MN] raise his head, his nose comically becoming pointed and longer.

“Perks of knowing how to lie on the spot, sir.” he rolls his shoulders “All I really need is to not act up in front of Tubbo, once he notices something wrong with me, he’ll tell Wilbur and his lot that we’re on to them.” Schlatt nods his head and gently knocks on his chest.

“Then act like you usually do, a lost puppy following his owner.” [M/N] briefly stopped in his tracks at what Schlatt called him, practically calling him out, his tail gets tucked between his legs before he chased after him when he noticed the distance growing between the two when Schlatt continued to walk.

“H-Hey! I’m not lost.” 

“So you admit you’re a puppy?” his cheeks flush pink from embarrassment.

“Please stop teasing me, sir.” Schlatt only chuckles.

Surprisingly, the preparations for the festival went rather smoothly. Tubbo kept a watchful eye on [M/N] just in case there really was something underhanded going on with the festival but the latter made no moves that were deemed suspicious. The only times the wolf interfered with the planning was when Schlatt ordered him to help with heavy lifting or to input his own opinions and thoughts to the plan, to which he was more than reluctant to do such a thing. Sometimes [M/N] would make sure there was some decent distance between the two of them in case Tubbo was playing in a field of flowers or with bees again just so his hay fever doesn’t act up while he’s working, it would be such a hassle.

“Um, what do you think of this, [M/N]?” Tubbo asked, showing the man a design for one of the decorations. He stood nervously in front of the taller man, trembling slightly when he stared intensely at the design for what seemed like a hot minute before leaning away and giving him a thumbs up.

“It’s not bad, but remember to keep the flow consistent throughout the entire design, okay? You’re going with a simplistic theme, right? There’s no need to overdo the decorations, it looks fine as is. You’re doing a good job.” Tubbo was taken aback at the feedback he got from him, he wasn’t really expecting it but he did appreciate it.

“T-Thank you for the input, [M/N]! I’ll take that into consideration.” [M/N] merely nods his head, giving him another thumbs up before watching the younger boy rush off to get the things he had in mind ordered. He glanced down at his hand and watched it relax before it slowly closed into a tight fist, poor kid, he was a pretty decent kid and it almost made him feel bad when he knew about what was going to happen to him during the festival.

Almost.

[day of the manberg festival]

“Got to hand it to him, he did a wonderful job.” [M/N] murmured under his lips, clapping his hands as he saw the festival come to life. Many people had come to attend such a wonderful day, even the few who were previously banished from Manberg. [M/N] stood to the side as he scanned the area where the festival was taking place for anything suspicious but he also where he still had a clear view of where Schlatt was, he sniffed the air for the lingering scents of Wilbur and Tommy, scrunching his face up when he could just faintly sniff them out but he couldn’t spot them “They’re somewhere... I can feel it.”

“Who’s here?” he looked down to see that it was Quackity that asked him, [M/N] merely scoffed as he straightened his posture, crossing his arms as he continued to scan the crowd of happy people.

“Rats.” Quackity rolled his eyes as he elbowed [M/N]’s arm, which promptly earned him a snarl from the taller man, only for him to ignore it as he laughed and ate some of the food that was provided for the festival. Quackity had long gotten over his slight fear of [M/N], growing used to the glares, snarls, sneers, growls, and scowls that he could touch him and get away with it. Maybe it was the fact that he was married to Schlatt that [M/N] eased up on him... maybe-- hopefully “Anyways, how long till the President gives his speech? He told me he had it planned to start a few hours after the festival began.” he waved his hand nonchalantly.

“Hmm, maybe in half an hour.” he offered some of his food to [M/N], to which he raised his hand to block it from getting anywhere close to his face as he shook his head to deny he wanted any, Quackity shrugged as he nibbled on his food “Schlatt also told me to tell you that he wants you to enjoy the festival too.” [M/N]’s ears perked up at that as he looked down at Quackity.

“What?” he nods his head.

“Uh huh. He told me to tell you, saying that even though you know what’s going to happen today, he still wants you to enjoy the evening. Whatever that means.” he explained with another shrug of the shoulders, he purses his lips as he glanced over at Schlatt, it took a bit of time for the older man to notice his glancing but when he did, he smiled softly and gave him a thumbs up along with a nod.

“Really?” Quackity looked up at him and raised a brow when he saw a soft blush flush across his face “He remembered...” he whispered softly.

“He remembered what?” he glared down at the latter.

“You’re really nosey, you know that?” he laughs.

“It just shows that I care.” he rolled his eyes as he began to walk away.

“Yet I do not care for you.” with that he left Quackity alone to sulk at the harsh statement, he wandered around the festival trying to find something that would preoccupy himself before the main event started. He didn’t really participate in any of the attractions that the festival offered nor eat any of the food... well, maybe he did swipe a couple candy apples that were selling. A soft smile spread across his lips as he munched on the treats before looking up at the sky, he liked festivals because he remembered when Schlatt took him to one when he was just a kid.

‘I wonder if we weren’t trying to execute that kid, maybe he’d enjoy the festival with me like he did when I was a child. My fondest memory with him.’ he thought, hearing the sound of his laughter ringing in the back of his head as the memory played out in his head... oh, he could only wish to go back to the good old days where he hadn’t had to worry about getting stabbed in the back.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: hey, kid, where are you?

He let out an oh when he saw the message pop up in the lower left side of his vision, he let out a hum as he expanded the message board and read through the message Schlatt had sent him.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: just enjoying the festival like you told quackity to tell me, sir.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: you having fun?

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: quite frankly, I am.

<JSchaltt> whispers to you: good, but right now, I need you to come back to my side. I’m about to start.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: I’m on my way.

“Hmm.” [M/N] stood to his feet immediately, though he did look down at his candy apple before opening his mouth wide enough and chomping down on it, eating it completely before taking the stick out of his mouth and jogging away, throwing the stick behind him and it actually landing in a trash bin. He was in the middle of making his way back to the stage where it was going to happen when he accidentally walked into someone, he caught them by their arm before the both of them could stumble to the ground and helped straighten them up “Oh, I apologize for walking into you.” he says, when the person looks at him, his eyes widened briefly, but not enough for them to notice his shock.

‘Oh, fuck.’ in front of him was none other than the Blood God himself, Technoblade ‘The hell is this guy doing here? So does that mean Wilbur and Tommy are here after all?’ he brings his arm to his chest and bows his head.

“I apologize once more for bumping into you, but if you’ll excuse me, I must go.” and with that, he rushes off, Technoblade dusts the arm [M/N] had touched off as he watched the taller man flee, he raises a brow.

“That was not what I was expecting.” he muttered, he imagined [M/N] to be more intimidating from how Tubbo described him, but after seeing him up close, he looked a bit like a pushover “Hmph, for a guy that Tubbo warned me about, he’s quite polite.” [M/N] now stood beside Schlatt as Quackity started off his own speech, gathering the crowd so he could start things off, the man leaned down so that he was hovering by his ear so their conversation would be hushed.

“Technoblade is here.” this set off alarms in Schlatt’s head but he didn’t let it show, he just continued to smile at the crowd “So that can only mean that the other two are here as well to see what the hell is going on.” Schlatt briefly tore his eyes away from the crowd to look up at [M/N].

“Think you can find them?” he stands up straight as his eyes wandered the crowd.

“It’ll be a little harder because there’s so many people, food, and other stuff that’s messing with my nose, but I know they’re here...” he muttered quietly, Schlatt nods his head and pats him on the back.

“Just make sure they don’t get close, okay? Especially that Technoblade, I know that you’re strong, but I don’t want to take any chances of you getting hurt.” Schlatt furrowed his brows when he could feel [M/N]’s puppy dog eyes staring at him, so he smacked his arm “Drop the gaze, you’re supposed to be a wolf, not a puppy.” he smiles softly.

“You’re the one that calls me pup, sir.” he rolls his eyes.

“I’m gonna call you mutt if you don’t shut your mouth.” he lets out a whine before eventually falling silent, [M/N] stood silently beside Schlatt as he sat down in his chair and the both of them silently watched Tubbo give his own speech to the people (I was gonna write his part of the speech but I couldn’t be fucked and I didn’t have the patience to watch the video/stream just to find exactly what he said), however, [M/N] let his eyes wander a little bit during the speech and his ears perked up at the sight he was looking for.

‘There you are.’ he thought to himself, dropping his gaze just in case Wilbur and Tommy stopped looking at Tubbo just to keep an eye on him ‘I’ve got them now.’ he discretely tapped the side of Schlatt’s seat to gain his attention and when he moved his eyes to look he nodded his head, he could almost read Schlatt’s thoughts when he saw that dark smirk spread across his face before he soon started to chuckle.

“W-Wha... what’s wrong, Schlatt?” Tubbo asked as he looked back at the man, to which he shook his head.

“No, I was just thinking about it, Tubbo.” he then stands to his feet as he slowly approached him “Tubbo, would you like to have fun?” Tubbo glanced back at [M/N] and saw that the dark aura that usually surrounds him came back as he glared at him, he shrunk back as he looked back up at Schlatt.

“Y-Yeah, we like-- what’s up, Schlatt?” he shook his head.

“Nothing, nothing. But, is that it? Is that the end of your speech?” he slowly nods his head, Schlatt hums before he goes over to Quackity and hands him yellow sand and so the two of them make a box surrounding Tubbo, they then turn the sand into concrete so Tubbo had no way of getting out. The crowd grew anxious and confused as to what Schlatt and Quackity, to which he was also was confused, were doing “Okay, Tubbo, I’ll cut to the fucking chase.”

“S-Schlatt...?”

"Tubbo, Tubbo... I know what you've been up to.”

“What have I been up to?” 

“What have I been up to' he says! What have I been up to? You've been CONSPIRING! With the IDIOTS, with the-- with the TYRANTS! That we kicked out of this server, that we kicked out of this great country!" [M/N] didn’t need to peek into the box to know that the color drained out of his skin as a panicked expression grew on his face as Schlatt raised his voice “Tubbo, I don't know if you know this, but treason isn't exactly, uh... isn't exactly a respectable thing around here. I know what you've been doing, IT ALL ADDS UP, BUDDY! The fucking TUNNELS, your ABSENCE from GREAT events, I mean, you walked off in the middle of THIS one! You walked off in the middle of this one, Tubbo! Don't try and tell me you've done nothing wrong! Because everybody knows it! I see it with my own two fucking eyes, what you've been doing!" Schlatt takes a breath as he stops in front of the only opening to the box and he glared down at Tubbo “Do you know what happens to traitors, Tubbo...?” he swallowed thickly.

“N-No...” Schlatt chuckles darkly.

“Nothing good." he takes a step back and raises his hand “[M/N], you know what to do.” Tubbo pressed himself into the wall behind him, fear circulating in his eyes when [M/N] came into view with his Firework Launcher in hand.

“[M-M/N]...?” he couldn’t stop his body from trembling, he was just so goddamn terrified as the wolfman stared down at him with such a cold gaze “W-Why are you-- what’s going on?” tears started swelling in his eyes when he saw a malicious smirk spread across his face.

“Don’t you know?” he said, loading the crossbow with a firework and raising his arm to aim it at Tubbo, ignoring all the cries behind him, begging and pleading for him to stop “This whole festival was for you, Tubbo. Schlatt thought it would be funny to see you plan for your own execution.”

“Execution...?!” [M/N] winked.

“Mm hmm.” he steadies his arm, finger on the trigger “Now, you’re relived of your duty, sir.” he chuckles before pulling the trigger and letting the firework fly, colors flying everything as it exploded onto Tubbo. 

[Tubbo went off with a bang due to a firework shot by [U/N]]

Sure, it was a little messed up that the smell of burning flesh met his nostrils along with the sight of his skin burning to the fireworks, but it really meant nothing to him. He slowly lowered his arm as Schlatt placed his hand on [M/N]’s shoulder, patting it softly with a dark grin on his face, Quackity looked at the two in slight fear at what he just witnessed. He couldn’t believe that not too long ago, he remembered seeing [M/N] with such a puppy dog look on his face and even Schlatt looked happy and calm, to think that the true meaning of the festival was to actually kill Tubbo because he was a traitor and these two knew all along.

“You two are sick.” Schlatt dusted his shoulder off when a few sparks got on him while the smirk never left his face.

“Well, you’re married to me, so you better get used to it.” Quackity swallowed thickly before fleeing the stage, Schlatt merely shrugged his shoulders and goes to leave as well but was stopped when he heard a shout.

“You bastard!” before he could react, [M/N] pushed him behind him just as the former turned around and grabbed Tommy by the neck then slammed him into the ground. The boy threw an Ender Pearl towards them and tried to strike [M/N] down, only for him to sense him way before he could even deal any damage, he thrashed and kicked at the taller man to get him to let go but only let out a grunt when he felt [M/N] tighten his grip on his throat.

“There you are, you little rat.” he sneered, leaning forward and hovering away from his face “I knew you would appear, it was only a matter of time.” Tommy sneered at him.

“Oh, fuck off you twat! I’ll kill you for what you did to Tubbo!” [M/N] merely scoffed, leaning back but keeping his grip on Tommy.

“Oh, please. You can’t do shit. If you really cared about him, you would’ve been there to stop me, but you can only do something when the deed has been done. Both you and Wilbur are just pathetic, you two just can’t seem to do anything.” mocking him only added fuel to the flames, [M/N] put his Firework Launcher into his inventory then pulled out a sword “I’m not really a fan of using weapons, my expertise rely more on my fists, but I’ll make this a quick death.” Tommy felt a bead of sweat form on his cheek, nails digging into [M/N]’s wrist as he saw the blade of the sword glisten in the light.

“W-Wait...!” Schlatt chuckled, patting [M/N]’s shoulder.

“Proceed.” he nods.

“Yes sir.” there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in his eyes as he raised his sword “Your third life is mine.” he swings it down and before it could even land on Tommy, an Enchanted Axe blocked the attack.

“Hmm, to think I mistaken you for a pup.” looking up, he was met with the condescending gaze of Technoblade using his axe to block [M/N]’s blade from meeting Tommy’s face “I think I have to stop you right there, mutt.” [M/N] bares his teeth as he tries putting more pressure into his sword, Tommy noticed both weapons were trembling by the amount of pressure the two hybrid men were putting into it.

“And the pig finally decides to step in, huh?” he lets out a grunt when Technoblade had enough and kicked [M/N] in the chest, kicking him off of Tommy and giving him enough time to pull the younger boy up onto his feet “That was quite rude, I was busy with that boy and I would have appreciated it if you didn’t interfere.” Technoblade chuckles, pushing Tommy behind him while also watching [M/N] stand to his feet, he threw his axe over his shoulder while [M/N] rolled his neck and shoulders.

“Well sorry to break it to you, but this guy is with me.” Tommy smiled up at Technoblade while [M/N] merely scoffed, cracking his knuckles as he got in front of Schlatt.

“Right, to overthrow the government, right?” Technoblade laughs, bouncing his axe on his shoulder.

“Yeah, are you going to stop me from completing such a feat?” 

“Honestly, I could care less about the government, I am only here because I am following the man who is the President. All I care about is staying by Schlatt’s side, and if you are here to threaten his life, I can’t help but see you as an enemy.” Technoblade lets out a breath, lowering his axe and holding it in both of his hands.

“With the way you think, I feel like the both of us could have been friends.” [M/N] rolled his eyes, lowering his body and letting his arms hang in front of him, eyes never leaving Technoblade.

“Who needs friends when you have that one person that makes you happy?” now this made Technoblade think of that one person that made him happy, he shook his head.

“Yeah, we really would have gotten along.” [M/N] flexes his fingers as neither side took their eyes off each other, it was a long stare off but as soon as Technoblade saw [M/N] presses his hands into the ground, the soles of his feet digging into the ground, he readied himself. He was startled at the speed [M/N] went when he shot towards him, he lets out a grunt as he swung his axe but [M/N] easily slid under the heavy swing and was now behind him. Tommy let out a cry when he was kicked off the stage though he was luckily caught by the audience below before he could die to fall damage, Technoblade immediately turned around and swung at him again but [M/N] tackled him off the stage and the both of them fell to the ground but he was lucky because he landed on top of Technoblade so he barely lost any hearts.

“Now that hurt...” he let out a grunt when Technoblade kicked him off but he managed to stick the landing, his claws digging into the ground beneath him to bring himself to a stop “Need a second to catch your breath, Blood God?” Technoblade licked his lips as he stood to his feet, wiping away some of the blood that ran down his lips from out of his snout.

“Please, I can do this all day.” a growl emitted out of [M/N]’s throat as his animalistic traits started to take form, from his forearms to his hand's fur overlapped his skin as his hands turned into razor-sharp claws while from his legs changed into hind legs “Now that’s not fair.”

“Please, I haven’t even shown you my true form yet.” 

“Psh, that sounds cringey.”

“You just made it cringey.” [M/N] closes his hand into a tight fist, his knuckles cracking under the pressure he closed them, before flexing his fingers “Are you ready to rumble?” Technoblade wipes his nose of any more blood, swiftly drinking a regen potion and pulling out his sword this time, getting ready to strike [M/N] down.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” [M/N] lets out a howl before charging forward, yet before he could even land a scratch on Technoblade, a message appeared in the bottom left corner of his vision that made him freeze up.

[JSchlatt was shot by WilburSoot]

Technoblade was also taken aback by the message but he didn’t freeze like the man in front of him, he took his distraction as an opportunity to hit him with the pommel end of the sword. [M/N] went down, his hands planting on the ground to catch himself, before raising his head to where he left Schlatt, and his heart shattered at the sight of an arrow piercing through his chest. Despair surrounded his heart as he watched him collapse to the ground before his body evidently turned to dust, a new body ready for him at his spawn point where he know only had two lives left.

“I didn’t take you as the type to get distracted by trivial things.” Technoblade said as he approached his shaking body, he raised his sword and goes to strike him down but fell back when [M/N] ran away. Technoblade was going to chase after him but stopped when Tommy and Wilbur got in front of him, the both of them having a smirk on their faces at the sight of the biggest troublemaker fleeing.

“Talk about running away with his tail between his legs, huh?” Tommy mocked, laughing at the sight of the big bad wolf running away “Nice shot, by the way, Wilbur. That really did it.” Wilbur nods his head as he pats Technoblade on the shoulder.

“It’s thanks to Techno distracting [M/N] that I had a clear shot on Schlatt, the man wasn’t even paying attention to his surroundings.” Technoblade let them blabber about what was happening as he continued to look where [M/N] ran, his eyes widening softly when he realized which direction he went in.

[with the reader]

There was only a single thought that was running through [M/N]’s head as he ran on all fours towards the White House, tears in his eyes as he ignored the aching pain in the side of his face.

‘I fucked up! I fucked up! I fucked up!’ he didn’t bother wiping the tears from his face as the White House slowly came into view ’I had one job and I fucked it up!’ he skid to a stop as he stood on his hind legs, he actually kicked the door down before rushing down the hallways to find Schlatt’s room that was located somewhere in this build. He had one job, he had ONE job and that was to protect Schlatt, and he fucked that up by getting too caught up in his fight with Technoblade that Schlatt lost one of his lives and he watched the man he grew up with turn to dust. When he was finally at his room, he threw the door open and there he saw Schlatt sitting in his bed with a confused look on his face, his lip trembled as the older man raised his head to get a look at the person who entered his room.

“[M/N--” he couldn’t even finish when the younger one let out a sob, rushing over to his side and grabbing a hold of his hand, tears running down his face.

“I’m so sorry, Schlatt! It’s all my fault that Wilbur killed you!” he cried out, his form trembling as he pressed his forehead into his hands “If only I didn’t focus on Technoblade then none of this would have happened! I failed you!” [M/N] couldn’t stop himself from crying no matter how hard he tried, the tears he wiped away were only replaced with more tears. This scene reminded him of the time [M/N] accidentally shoved him off a cliff and he narrowly avoided death by landing on a hay bale, and though it did save him from losing a life for a pathetic reason, it still did some heavy damage. [M/N] wouldn’t stop crying no matter how hard Schlatt reassured him that he was fine, it just showed how much this kid really worried for him.

“I’m fine, puppy, really.” he let out a whine as he shook his head.

“B-But... you only have two lives left because I got reckless.” Schlatt hummed, slipping a hand out of [M/N] grip to press against his head, ruffling it softly.

“We only live once, kid, I just have to make my next two worth it.” his hands slip down to cup his cheek, a soft smile graced his lips when the wolfman leaned into his touch “I don’t blame you for what happened, I would never.”

“You should.” he chuckles as he shakes his head.

“I should be worried about you too, puppy. That was an insane fall you dropped from, you even took a hit from Technoblade. I’m proud that you stood your ground against him.” he sniffles, sitting up straight and wiping away some of his tears with the back of his hand.

“He’s not all that tough, I can take him.”

“Yeah you can, you’re not even in your true form while he’s in his.” now that was enough to get [M/N] to snicker weakly, [M/N] really chose to be in his human form because he got fewer stares and he looked intimidating enough as a human, plus he could do more. [M/N] stood to his feet, backing away when he noticed Schlatt wanted to get out of bed. The man threw the covers off his body and stood to his feet, [M/N] keeping close in case the man collapsed, respawning into another body really did take a lot out of you.

“What are going to do now, Schlatt?” he clicked his tongue.

“What do you mean what do we do?” he said with a scoff “We make sure we bite them back.”

[a few weeks later]

[M/N] let out a deep sigh when he heard shouting coming from within Sclatt’s office followed by loud thuds and glass shattering, the older man has been going through a lot to the point that he was drinking more and sleeping less to cope with the fact that he was slowly losing it all. The people he thought he could trust were abandoning him to join the rebellion that Wilbur and Tommy had formed to overthrow Schlatt’s rule, and it wasn’t helping the fact that the more that he drank the more he let his anger overwhelm him. [M/N] would no doubt stay with him till the very end, but he was quite surprised that Quackity was still sticking around despite everything he’s done, but he was pretty sure that was going to change very soon with how Schlatt has been treating him lately.

“Is this all you can do, you fucking worthless waste of space?! I ask you to do one simple thing, and you can’t even do that right?! Why do I still keep you around if you can’t do anything?!” Schlatt shouts, slamming his fist onto the desk, causing Quackity to flinch at how loud he was shouting.

“I-I’m sorry...”

“You think a sorry is going to cut it?! What I want from you is to get it right! We’re in a time where I want results, not mistakes!” he lets out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair before collapsing into his chair “Whatever, just get out of my face. I’ll deal with you later, so just leave me alone.” Quackity didn’t hesitate to rush out of the office, clutching the side of his face that was brutally slapped across by the man, it was still aching and he could feel some blood pooling up in his mouth.

“Marrying him was a mistake...” he whimpered out, sniffling and wiping away the tears that threatened to fall, when he opened his eyes he let out a startled yelp when a bottle was in front of him. Looking up, he was surprised to see that it was [M/N] offering him a regen potion to help heal the bruise that was beginning to form on the cheek that was slapped “U-Uh... thank you.” he hesitantly whispered as he took the potion into his hands.

“Don’t mention it.” Quackity awkwardly stood there, contemplating what to say next, he opened his mouth to speak but was stopped when [M/N] raised his hand “Don’t say anything. I didn’t give that to you because I cared, because I don’t care about you. You could just say that I’ve been where you’ve stood.” Quackity’s eyes widened at that.

“R-Really...?” he nods.

“I’ve done some really dumb shit to get him angry, and I rarely got him angry because I was obedient to the very end.” he closes his eyes as he thought back to the past “To be honest, I deserved it, so I took the punishment. The difference between you and me when it comes to him, though, is that he actually cares about me.” the duck man flinched at that, his wings flaring up, and though he really wants to retaliate, he knew what [M/N] was saying was the truth.

“You’re right.” [M/N] scoffed.

“I know I’m right.” he soon lets out a sigh, he pats Quackity on his back and gives him a light shove to get him moving “I’m really the only person that can get him to calm down from his temper tantrum, so get going and don’t visit him for the next couple of days or else he might use you as his punching bag.” [M/N] turns towards the door, hands on each handle to pull them open but he paused, he turned his head to where Quackity was walking away and spoke up “And if you really know what’s good for you... you’ll divorce him.” this caused Quackity to stop in his tracks.

“What?! Are you insane? He’ll kill me if I--” he shakes his head.

“I’m telling you this for your own safety. You’ve already seen what Schlatt can do, imagine what he will do within arms reach.” Quackity started to tremble at the thought, he looked down at the golden ring on his finger then back up at [MN] who took a deep breath “I can handle him because I’ve been with him for such a long time to the point he’s the only person I need, but you still have a variety of different people to help you. Don’t waste your time on someone who isn’t going to treat you the way you want to be treated.” he couldn’t help but feel touched by the way [M/N] spoke to him, he never really speak to him in such a way to comfort him, and it felt nice. He wanted to say something but couldn’t when [M/N] opened the doors and entered Schlatt’s office, he felt the confidence in his chest deflate and he could only pray that he’ll be okay.

[M/N] took a breath as he stepped into Schlatt’s office, closing the doors behind him as he looked around. He saw the shattered glass by the door where he could only assume Schlatt had thrown his glass cup at Quackity out of a fit of rage, chairs were thrown, books were scattered and he could only describe the state of the room as if a tornado had blown through it. He glanced over to where Schlatt was and grimaced when he saw that he was chugging down a bottle of whiskey as if it was water, he felt nauseous because of the strong smell of alcohol coming off of that man. It pained him seeing Schlatt doing this to himself, he understood what all of this was doing to him, it was overwhelming him to the point he had to use alcohol to numb the pain.

“Schla--”

“Didn’t I tell you to fuck off?!” he didn’t flinch when Schlatt turned around and threw the bottle at him, the glass shattering upon impact on his head. Despite the intoxication messing with his head, he slowly began to register that the man in front of him wasn’t his poor excuse of a husband, but instead, he was met with-- “[M/N]...?” he slowly slurred out, he let out a gasp when he saw him raise his hand when not only liquor ran down his face, but also blood “O-Oh, god, I’m so sorry, I--” he raised his hand to stop him from talking, shaking his head.

“No, it’s fine, Schlatt, you know this barely hurts...” he says that, and yet his body sways a bit, Schlatt immediately sobered up enough to get out from behind his desk to approach the man, reaching up and cupping his cheeks.

“No, you dumb dog, it’s not fine!” he shouts, he quickly pulls him by his hands and sits him down in his chair. [M/N] could have easily dodged that bottle, but it’s at times like these where he lets it happen just to see how Schlatt would react to him accidentally hurting him. He sat in silence as Schlatt quickly grabbed anything that could help bandage the wound, he first fed him a regen potion before cleaning up the wound and bandaging it up. [M/N] would always get himself hurt in the past to protect Schlatt so the older man knew exactly what to do to help the younger man, [M/N] noticed his hands were shaking so he slowly raised his own hands and grabbed them “I-It was an accident...! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was you...”

“It’s fine, Schlatt, it’s better me than Quackity. You probably would’ve done more damage to him in comparison to me.”

“It would’ve been better if it were him than you.” sure it was harsh, but [M/N] couldn’t help but feel flattered that he cared for him that much. He placed his hand on the bandages around his head, a soft blush tinting his cheeks, he raises his eyes but his head shot up when he noticed that Schlatt pulled out another bottle of liquor, this time it was a bottle of vodka. He popped the bottle cap and poured some in the glass, he was going to down it in one go but couldn’t when [M/N] stood to his feet and grabbed the glass, pushing it down so that it was on the table.

“Schlatt, no.” he scoffed and tried lifting the glass once more but [M/N] pushed it down once more “You know exactly why I am not letting you drink.” he let out a sigh and let the glass go, this time he tried to down the bottle but [M/N] was quicker and took the bottle from him.

“Hey, what gives?!” he ignored his whining and complaining, putting the cap onto the bottle once more and putting it away so the man wouldn’t try anything again. He opened a chest and pulled out some wonder, emptying the glass of vodka and instead replacing that with water.

“Drink that along with some painkillers, it’ll help ease your hangover that is surely going to come from the amount you’ve been drinking as of lately.” he huffs and snatches the water, opening his drawer to pull out the painkillers and plopping them in his mouth then downing the water. Schlatt collapsed into his chair and soon the two fell into silence was once, [M/N]’s ears twitching every so often to hear the way Schlatt was breathing to the beat of his rushing heart slowly coming to a soft beat.

“Sometimes it feels like I’ve become the one that needs to be looked after, I remember it used to be you all the time.” [M/N] frowned.

“That is because you NEED to be looked after, Schlatt. If I’m not around then who will take care of you in my stead?” he lets out a sigh, running a hand through his hair “I’m going to tell you this again, but you know exactly why I don’t want you drinking as excessively as you did before. Your heart can not take it anymore.” he says in a stern tone, the other merely rolled his eyes as he leaned his weight into his chair.

“You say that as if you know my body.” his ear twitched.

“I do know your body, almost better than you.” a shallow growl comes from his throat before he kneels down, taking his hands and rubbing his thumbs over his knuckles “I can’t help but worry for you, Schlatt. You’re not as youthful as you used to be when you drank, it’s going to come to bite you in the ass and I won’t be able to help you.” he grits his teeth, his grip on his hands tightening a little as his head hung “I NEVER should have let you do this stupid job, we NEVER should have gotten ourselves involved in the first place. None of this would have happened if we just kept to ourselves.”

“... but, it was fun, wasn’t it?” [M/N] paused at that, raising his head and looking up at him to see that he was giving him one of those genuine smiles “You and I against the world?” he could tell that Schlatt was trying to make light of the situation, he laughed sadly while cracking a small smile.

“Yeah, it was fun...” Schlatt lowered his head as the alcohol that was still left in his system started to overtake his emotions and mind, [M/N] heard a sniffle so he turned his head to get a better look at the man above him, only to be taken aback at the tears that were beginning to run down his face. 

“[M/N], I-I... I don’t like anything about me.”

“What?” Schlatt took his hands away from [M/N] and looked down at them and they slowly started to tremble as his emotions started running wild.

“I don’t like who I’ve become. Everyone around me is slowly disappearing, they all hate me, and who knows how long until you leave me.” he immediately stood to his feet, this causes Schlatt to panic as he rises to his feet, his hands grabbing onto [M/N]’s jacket in a desperate attempt to get him from what he thought was leaving “No, you’re going to leave me too, aren’t you?! I won’t let you leave! I can’t handle the thought of you leaving me! That thought is too painful!” [M/N] started to cry at the same thought.

“No! There was never a time in my life when I was with you that I would leave your side!” he shouts, grabbing his wrists and making him look up at him “I would never leave you, I will stay by your side until the end of the world. I’ve told you this time and time again, but what I am saying is the truth, I would NEVER live without you.” now that was enough to break down Schlatt’s walls, tears slowly started running down his face as he sobbed into [M/N]’s chest, his body trembling as his grip on his shirt tightened. [M/N] sniffled before wrapping his arms around him, burying his face into his hair while trying to be mindful of the horns protruding out of his head. He hadn’t paid attention to how long the two of them just simply cried in each other’s arms but it was long enough to the point that Schlatt had actually fallen asleep, [M/N] looked him over before letting out a sigh and picking the man up bridal style. Carrying him to his bedroom was an effortless task, what startles him was the fact that Schlatt was getting lighter and lighter each time he’s had to carry him, it scared him. He tucks him in bed after removing his jacket and shoes and decides to stay by his side, he let out a frustrated groan as he ran his hands through his hair and messed with it.

’Everything is just in shambles. The stress is soon going to overwhelm Schlatt to the point his heart won’t be able to handle it, and he keeps turning to alcohol as a solution to dull the pain.’ his hands slowly drag down his face until he brings a fist to his mouth and bit down on one of his knuckles ’I don’t know what to do to help him, and before I know it I’ll lose him. I just want to help him... but I don’t know how.’

”Oh, what a sight.” [M/N] stood to his feet at the unsuspecting voice, hand out and hovering over Schlatt in case the intruder dared try to bring him to him, his eyes scanned the room as a threatening growl comes out of him “Hey, hey now. There’s no need to show aggression, I’m only here to visit.” [M/N]’s gifted eyes could easily see through the darkness that covered the man’s body, he didn’t ease up, even when he knew who it was.

“What the hell do you want, Dream?” said man just gave a chuckle, knowing that nothing could get past [M/N] and his keen senses.

“I’m here on business, and the man I want to do business is currently sleeping.” he took a step forward but came to a halt when [M/N] continued to growl at him, his eyes glaring at him through the darkness, Dream raised his hands “Come on now, you of all people should know I wouldn’t dare to hu--” [M/N] snarled this time.

“Just cut to the chase, smiley man. I don’t give two shits about your false words of sincerity, all I know is that you’re in an alliance with Pogtopia.” Dream couldn’t help but flinch when he bared his fangs at him “All I know is that you could be here to threaten Schlatt’s life, and if I even think for a split second that you are deemed as a threat, I will not hesitate to smash your skull in.” Dream lets out a nervous laugh at that, knowing full well that [M/N] was capable of such a feat

“W-Well, no, actually-- whatever, the alliance between me and Pogtopia is nothing but a farce.” [M/N]’s raised a brow at what he said, not believing him 100%, he let out another nervous chuckle “Well, it’s not too far off, actually, because--” [M/N] let out a sigh as he slowly relaxed, crossing his arms and keeping a close eye on him to make sure he keeps his distance.

“Get to the point already, I’m losing my patience here.” Dream sighs, relaxing when he saw him ease up and wasn’t able to eat his head.

“I promised to help Schlatt, in return, he would give me something important.” Dream noticed a change in [M/N] facial expression, his ears perked up in alert before he glanced down at Schlatt “I can only assume you know about our deal.” he licked his lips out of nervousness.

“I could...” he taps his fingers on his arms “He did mention to me that you might show up unannounced, and if he weren’t available, that I could take his place to negotiate.” beneath his mask, his eyes slowly lit up when he saw [M/N] slowly think it over before rolling his eyes, throwing his head back while letting out a groan “Ugh, fine. Give me a minute.”

“No, no, take your time.” he flinched when [M/N] side-eyed him before rolling his eyes, he reluctantly left Schlatt’s side in search of what Dream was looking for. Said man watched as [M/N] approached a bookcase, pushing a few books to the side to get to the button that was hidden and pressing on it. The bookcase soon revealed an Ender Chest that was hiding and [M/N] opened it up, he sorted through it before finding exactly what he wanted and pulled it out, turning away and allowing the bookcase to return how it was before.

“I’m the only other person to know about what the contents of this book contains, he only ever trusted me. Sure, he kept secrets from me, but he never lied to me. He was always straight with me, so don’t even try with me when it comes to this book.” Dream nods his head as he reaches forward to grab it, however, [M/N] grabbed a tight hold on his hand and yanked him forward, leaning down so he was hovering over his ear “I also want to inform you, though, the moment you take this book from me seals your fate with me. If you even have a thought of betraying Schlatt, there won’t be a single place on this server that will keep you safe. I will find you, no matter where you are, and fucking kill you. Do you understand me?” Dream gulped, seeing the look in his eyes that told him that he was not joking around, he took a breath and nodded his head.

“I understand...” [M/N] stared at him before leaning back and offering him the book, he didn’t miss the look of hesitance Dream had before taking the book from his hands.

“Now that you got what you wanted, fuck off. I’ll report to Schlatt that you swung by and I took care of it.” Dream could only nod his head before leaving through the window he entered in, it really frustrated him how Schlatt had such an obedient dog that followed his every command no matter how violent or extreme, he did it with not an ounce of hesitation. Dream was also frightened by the man, there was no way he could take him on when it came down to PVP, sure he was a legend himself alongside Technoblade, but the latter was much easier to handle because at least he was a little predictable. [M/N] was the literal definition of a wild beast, a feral wolf that would and most definitely could snap his neck the moment he deemed them a threat.

“Fuck.”

[manberg vs pogtopia]

“We’re fucked.” was all [M/N] said as he looked at the people who were going to fight for Pogtopia “Sir, we might as well throw in the towel, we are going to lose without a doubt.” Schlatt only laughed, punching his chest and gesturing to the people who were allied with them.

“Oh, come on, there could be a chance.” he inhaled deeply, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“What chance? There is literally you and I, plus those four fuckwits, verses Pogtopia, the Badlands, the Slums, and Purpled’s Cabin! How on earth are we going to win against those odds?! We’re fucked, I tell you! Fucked!” seeing [M/N] panic, who was mostly known for being composed, really set them off and they couldn’t help but get nervous themselves.

“Stop panicking pup, you’re ruining the atmosphere.” he let out a groan, dragging his hands along his face as he looked down at Schlatt.

“I am being logical, Schlatt. There’s no way we’re going to win.” he takes Schlatt’s hands and gives him a desperate look “Let’s just give Manberg to Wilbur, there’s nothing left here for us. Everyone left and this country has no significant meaning to us, just-- please, just give it to him. We are going to die in vain for a country that means nothing to us.” he winced back when Schlatt ripped his hands out of his own and gave him a stern glare.

“And give him the satisfaction of besting me? I’d rather die.” that response caused [M/N]’s ears to press against his head, his tail falling limp behind him “Since you’re quiet, I can only guess that you’ve finished spitting out nonsense?” a whine came out of him as he slowly nodded his head.

“Yes, sir.” the four who were in an alliance with Manberg watched as [M/N] followed behind Schlatt, but they couldn’t help but agree with the man, Schlatt was just too goddamn stubborn to admit that he was at the fault at that very moment and that Manberg was going to fall in the very end. They were practically just wasting their time with an idiot.

“Hey! I see them marching up!” Sapnap called, they all rush outside and looked down where they saw the number of people on the side of Pogtopia, [M/N] pursed his lips as he looked down at Schlatt with a knowing look, to which the older man pressed his hand to his cheek and turned his face away.

“Those are... those are a lot of people.” he rolls his eyes, leaning down on the stone brick as he watched the people of Pogtopia and their allies rock up.

“You think?” he was smacked across the head, he lets out a huff as his eyes locked onto three people. Wilbur was the first, growling at him as he remembered he was the one that took Schlatt’s first life; Quackity was second for taking Schlatt’s second; Technoblade... because he had an annoying face and knew he was going to be the one to give him trouble.

“[M/N], think you can handle them?” he pulls a face at the request, the four that were foolish enough to form an alliance with Manberg look at the duo in confusion.

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep them all back, maybe a handful, but I am pretty sure a few will slip by me.”

“That is more than enough.” [M/N] cracks his knuckles as he rolls his neck and shoulders, Punz leans into Dream’s ear as they watch him stretch.

“What is he going to do?” he shrugs his shoulders.

“Beats me, he’s Schlatt’s dog, not mine.” they both flinch when he whipped his head around and glared at them, he huffed as he stared down at Pogtopia that was slowly but surely getting closer. He stands on top of the stone blocks that made a makeshift railing to prevent people from falling off before jumping off himself, immediately, the allies of Manberg rushed over to the edge and watched as [M/N] descended down the large stone tower, Schlatt slowly approached the edge without a care in the world.

“Go get 'em pup, don’t hold back.” [M/N] landed on the ground with a loud thud, the ground itself cracks upon impact, he stood up straight and slowly started walking forward as the people of Pogtopia came to a halt.

“Look who it is, it’s Schlatt’s lapdog.” Fundy mocked, [M/N] rolled his eyes at the lame insult.

“Oh, look who it is, the guy who got abandoned by his own father, how sad.” Wilbur pulled a face while Fundy turned red “Shut your damn mouth if you aren’t ready to shoot your shots, mmkay? Mmkay.” Tommy then steps forward, pointing a sword in his direction.

“Why are you here alone, [M/N]? Here to wave the white flag?” he raises his hands while shrugging his shoulders.

“Personally, yeah. I know a battle I can’t win when I see one, but it’s rather unfortunate that I’m following the orders of a stubborn man.” he laces his fingers together and cracks them above his head “I’m not afraid to admit when I’ve been beat, but I also don’t go down without a fight.” Tubbo now steps forward, fear still lingering in his body at the sight of [M/N], he swallowed it down as he readies his Firework Launcher.

“Then why don’t you join us, [M/N]. You clearly see that following him is pointless.” he was really hoping [M/N] would refuse the offer, then it would give him an excuse to blow his head off the same way he did to him. [M/N] glared down at Tubbo, beginning to strip out of his Netherite Armor as he started approaching them.

“Well, unlike you, I don’t betray those I’ve already sworn my loyalty to.” after removing the vambrace from off his forearm and dropping it to the ground, he rolls his neck once more before taking a deep breath and relaxing his body. He felt his breathing pick up along with the beats of his heart increasing at a rapid pace, he lets out a grunt as his body started to change shape. He plants his hands on the ground when collapsed to the ground, slowly but surely, his body was beginning to change into the shape of his true form as a grey wolf. He tore off his jacket and shirt when his torso was too big for it, he was lucky enough that the pants he was wearing only ripped and tore but not completely off, so he’ll be okay if he wants to return to his human form. He now stood at 8″2ft tall, no traces of human features in sight as he stood tall on his hind legs, he was growling down at them, flexing his claws as he growled at them before taking a deep breath and letting out a loud howl that made their ears ring.

“What the fuck?! That’s what he actually looks like?!”

“What the fuck is this?!” a deep chuckle startled them, he looked down at them, his [E/C] eyes glaring down at them as he lowered his body.

”Really, I have nothing against most of you people that are here.” he speaks, the depth of his voice sending shivers down their spines ”I’m only out for Wilbur and Quackity, and maybe Technoblade because you’re the one I deem as the biggest threat.” Quackity took a step back at how his main targets were ”I’d let the rest of you go, but I have a job to do, and that is to be a literal feral menace.” Wilbur clicks his tongue as he throws his arm out.

“Attack!” [M/N] let out a loud roar as they charged forward, he presses his hands into the ground, digging his claws and the soles of his feet into the stone path before launching forward. He easily pounced over the vanguard and aimed towards Technoblade, who was surprised and took a step back but couldn’t dodge the claw that brutally landed on his chest and shoved him back. Schlatt had a smirk on his face as he watched a group of them try and take [M/N] down, but he knew they weren’t going to accomplish it, [M/N]’s true form was his trump guard because the man was rarely in that form. He said that it was too intimidating and he takes up too much space being in that form, says he’s more comfortable being a miniature-sized human.

“He should look like that more often, would keep people off our dicks.” Dream looks at Schlatt.

“So that’s what he really looks like?” he nods.

“Mm hmm. Sometimes I’m surprised with how long he can keep up his human form, it takes a lot out of him and it’s usually at night where he takes the appearance of his true self.” they hear another roar so they look down and see that he grabbed Jack Manifold and was swinging him around, using him to hit the others that got too close before throwing him full force into Niki.

“Quite the upper hand.” Sapnap laughs as he leans over to see that he was actually handling himself pretty well.

“I’d hate to be at the other end of those fists.” he says, watching as [M/N] grabbed a hold of Awesamdude’s head, his grip so tight that he lifted up him and slammed it into the ground before beginning to ruthlessly plow blow after blow under he didn’t move “So glad we’re on his side.”

“Mm hmm.” [M/N] was currently having a standoff with BadBoyHalo, their hands were locked together and both sides were trying to push the other back. [M/N] was being pushed back because Bad had more height in comparison to him, but that meant nothing because he managed to stop Bad from pushing him back. He growls as he takes a couple steps forward before tightening his grip on his hands then throwing his arms back, causing the other to stumble back a bit, leaving him wide up. [M/N] didn’t take any chances before proceeding to wrap his arms around his torso then lean back, performing a german suplex on him and slamming his head into the ground.

“He’s fucking insane!” Skeppy shouts, watching as [M/N] stood to his feet and let out another roar, causing a few of them to step back “I didn’t sign up for this!” Technoblade let out a chuckle as he dusts his shoulder off, walking past the frozen few to approach the feral dog.

“You say that, but haven’t you noticed? He’s starting to get tired.” he grimaced when Technoblade was telling the truth, [M/N] was beginning to pant as he tried to calm his breathing by taking deep breaths “Need to take a breath, Devil’s Hound?” said man couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head as the words he said during the festival came out of Technoblade’s mouth.

“That’s surely a new one, but I can’t help but agree. Schlatt tends to be a devil when he gets too rowdy.” he lets out a groan as he cracked his knuckles, stretching his back before letting his arms hang in front of him as he lowered his body. Technoblade got himself ready when [M/N] charged towards him again, he swings his axe when he got close but was taken aback when he bit the head of the axe right off its shoulder before spitting it out and punching Technoblade across the face. The piglin hybrid staggered backward but didn’t stop and instead threw what was left of his axe to the ground and pulled out a sword, the two disputed in their own battle, and [M/N] cursed to himself when he noticed that many of the people he didn’t incapacitate were slipping past him and making their way up the tower.

“You aren’t going to stop them?” Technoblade asked, grip on his sword tight while his other hand was pressing against the flat side of his blade to not get pushed back when he blocked one of [M/N]’s clawed attacks.

“I’m more focused on you, Technoblade. I already took care of the most troublesome ones, and when I take care of you, I’ll go deal with them next.” he laughs and manages to throw [M/N] back, Technoblade rolls his shoulders before holding his sword in front of him with both his hands gripping the hilt.

“Then I guess I’ll have to keep you here as long as I can.”

“Heh, we’ll see.”

[insert fight scene, I was going to write the fight scene between techno and the reader but I just wanted to get to the main part where schlatt was getting drunk in the drug van]

“Schlatt? Schlatt!” [M/N] called out, looking around in distress for the man. His fight with Technoblade wasn’t fair from the beginning, both he and the piglin man were so absorbed into the fight neither side noticed Tubbo taking aim at [M/N], firing a Firework at him and he hadn’t noticed until it was too late. Technoblade backed away just as it hit [M/N] and it exploded on impact, it didn’t kill him, but it did some serious damage. It managed to burn through his fur to his skin before he could put it out, he was sure it would leave a scar from the left side of his arm, a bit of his torso and face. He would’ve continued fighting if it weren’t for the message he got from Schlatt.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: hey, kid, I need you.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: need me? what do you mean? I’m kind of in the middle of something, so I hope you can wait.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: I don’t think you understand, I NEED you right now.

”Hey, don’t tell me you’re getting distracted again.” Technoblade taunts as he saw [M/N] not paying attention, he raised his head as he clutched his left shoulder before turning around and running off “Wait, what?! Why are you running again?!” he spits out the blood in his mouth as he turned his head to look at Technoblade.

“Wouldn’t you do the same thing to protect the person you care about?!” he shouts before launching himself into the air, Technoblade was once again frozen in place at his choice of words. He couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly, shaking his head at the thought of that one person he would give his life for, so he understood where [M/N] was coming from. Back to the man in question, [M/N] was looking around frantically for Schlatt, he wasn’t in the last place he left him so where could he be now? He managed to catch a whiff of his scent and ran off in the direction it was coming from, he raised a brow in concern at the sight of the Camarvan before shaking his head and kicking the door open, there he saw Schlatt wallowing away while drinking alcohol “Schlatt?! You can’t be serious!” he exclaims as he approaches the man, collapsing to his knees as he inspected his body.

“Ah, there you are, [M/N]~ I was wondering when you’d show up.” he slurred out, [M/N] grimaced as he shook his head, knowing that the man was already drunk out of his mind and all rationality was out the door.

“Why on earth are you drinking while in the middle of a war, Schlatt? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Schlatt ignored all his words, he raised his eyes and they slowly widened at the sight before him. The left side of his body was burnt horribly and was continuing to bleed, but he pushed through that pain as he looked Schlatt up and down, god, sometimes he wished this damned kid would hate him just as much as everyone else did.

“What... what happened to you?” he whispered, [M/N] looked down at himself and just laughed bitterly.

“Call it karma, I guess. Tubbo got his revenge on me while I was focused on Technoblade, but enough about that, stop drinking that!” he shouts, smacking the bottle out of his hands then standing to his feet “We’re obviously losing this war, sir, so let’s just get outta here!” he exclaims, Schlatt just laughed as he let his head rest on the thing that he was leaning against.

“And go where? We’ll be living the rest of our lives as the cowards who fled during a war.” [M/N] grits his teeth.

“So you would rather die in vain for a country that meant nothing to you?!” he shouts, he runs his hands through his fur and growls “There is nothing left here for us, let’s just leave this all behind and restart our lives! We’ve done that before, so why can’t we do that again? What’s stopping you from continuing your journey?” he closes his eyes before turning his head to look up at him.

“I’m dying, [M/N].” he noticed [M/N]’s shoulders slump at what he said “You and I both know that I am, so what’s the point in living when my time is almost up?” [M/N] felt his body tremble as the news hit him, of course, he knew that Schlatt was dying, but he just didn’t want to accept it.

“Why not live the rest of what is left of your life doing what you love?” Schlatt chuckled weakly, shaking his head once more.

“I’ve done all I’ve ever wanted with my life.” [M/N] noticed Schlatt was reading for him so he knelt down and leaned forward, he flinched when Schlatt cupped his noninjured cheek and gave him a weak smile “It’s your turn to live your life, [M/N]. Get out of here and leave me behind.” he knew that [M/N] would never do such a thing, he knew that he meant everything to him, but he just had to tell him. 

“No... no! I can’t just leave you behind!” he shouts, tears beginning to swell up in his eyes “I won’t leave you behind! I told you I would stay by your side until the end of the world!”

“Then is me dying considered the end of the world?” he fell silent at that, he let his head hang low as the tears slowly ran down his face, he let out a huff as he looked up at the big wolfman “As my last order to you, I want you to forget about me and leave this place behind to live your own life.” he sniffled, collapsing to his knees again, burying his face in his hands.

“But what is my life without you?”

“Your own.” his vision on Schlatt got blurry because of the tears, he could never picture a time in his life when he wasn’t by Schlatt’s side, the only time that ever occurred was when he was nothing but a lowly beggar in an alleyway. He wouldn’t have had a life to live if it weren’t for Schlatt.

“See? They’re right here.” Schlatt looked behind [M/N] and they both saw both forces storm the room they were in, [M/N] immediately stood to his feet and stood protectively in front of Schlatt, baring his teeth and growling at them to not take a step forward. It didn’t take long for the two of them to be surrounded, however, he didn’t quite care at the fact, his eyes zoned in on the masked fucker that had double crossed him.

’Now you’ve signed your death waiver, you son of a bitch.’ his attention soon changed over to where Wilbur was, said man looked the wolf hybrid up and down before raising his hands. 

“Easy now, [M/N], I just wanna talk.” he let out a tired scoff.

“Talk about what? How you want to kill Schlatt and I? Is that it? You know how stubborn this bastard is.” Schlatt looked up at him.

“Did you just call me a--”

“You are one, just admit it.” this silenced him, [M/N] sighed deeply when he saw ram hybrid reach into the chest he was leaning against to pull out another bottle of alcohol, Tommy couldn’t help but snicker at the sight.

“So, that’s your leader, [M/N]? That’s who you’re bowing down to?” he snarled at the boy.

“Shut your damn mouth. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re not at arms length, I would no hesitate to punt you, child.” 

“You wouldn’t.” he raised his brows as he stared at Tommy.

“Don’t make me.” Wilbur sighed as he got in front of [M/N] once more, shutting Tommy up from making anymore unnecessary comments, [M/N] let out a grunt when Schlatt grabbed his arm and pulled it down as he looked out from behind him.

“Fundy! Wha... what are you doing here?” Fundy only gave him a confused look as he let out a sigh.

“Schlatt... are you fucking serious?”

“Fundy are you--” Schlatt pushed [M/N] back with all the strength he had and smashed the bottle of alcohol on Fundy, who managed to react fast enough and block the blow with his arm. The others reacted immediately so [M/N] took a step forward, wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulling him into his chest, he wrapped his other arm around his body when he felt him slowly slip into a drunken rage but calmed down within the arms of the wolfman.

“Listen! Schlatt, you’ve fucked up the country! You fucked up everything! You had a dream and I followed it, but you brought it downhill. Everything-- you’ve ruined it. You ruined everything we had!” he then looks up at [M/N] “And if he wasn’t so goddamn loyal to you, he probably would have left you just like everybody else!” Fundy took a step back, his ears pressing against his head when [M/N] glared at him.

“Don’t spout out nonsense that will never happen.” Fundy took a breath, swallowing the amount of fear lingering in his heart as he took a step forward and glared up at [M/N], who didn’t waver at his poor attempt to intimidate him.

“I thought you were something! The both of you!” [M/N] only rolled his eyes while Schlatt laughed, the wolfman looked down at the man within his arms and saw him gripping the arm around his shoulder.

“Yeah... yeah I am something! I-I’m what you’re not, Fundy!” he took a step back so he could look at Schlatt.

“What am I not?” he chuckles.

“I am a man!” now it was Wilbur’s turn to step in front of his son before anything else could escalate, chaos began to erupt as they were all now planning to kill the both of them together, [M/N] took a breath to calm himself but the hand around Schlatt’s body pressed against his chest and there he could feel the increasing speed of his heart thumping against his chest. 

“Schlatt, that’s it! Are you ready to die?” [M/N] immediately pushed Schlatt behind him in order to shield him “Are you ready to fucking die?!”

“Fuck you!” he slurred out, Wilbur only rolled his eyes.

“Tommy. Tommy, look at me.” the young boy looked at the former President “Do you still have Dream’s bow?” he scanned through his inventory before pulling out said boy, pulling the wire back and clipping it into place.

“Yes.”

“Tommy... I want you to put it between his eyes.” Schlatt laughed at that, [M/N] glowered and didn’t hesitate to get in his line of shot but was shocked when Schlatt pushed past him and got in front of Tommy, not a shred of fear in his eyes as the crossbow was pointed directly between his eyes.

“Are you guys really going to kill him?!” Karl shouted.

“Well, there’s no other way.” he starts “Victory, or death!” Schlatt only laughs.

“You know... if I die, this country goes down with me.” the room erupted into chaos once more, it didn’t help when Technoblade was chanting “kill” repeatedly, it probably would have annoyed him if not for the fact that the ongoing nonsense was taking its toll on Schlatt. His ears shot up in alert when he noticed him beginning to sway as beads of sweat began started forming on his head, he takes a step forward before letting out a shout when he noticed him stagger forward, using the chest to his side to stabilize himself before collapsing.

“Schlatt!” he shouts, rushing forward to catch him before he completely collapsed to the floor. Everything was fading from black into white from Schlatt’s point of view, he was violently gripping his chest to the point his knuckles turned white and he was surprised that he hadn’t torn his shirt. He was out of breath and he was trying his damned hardest to swallow some oxygen into his lungs but it was really difficult, his vision was blurry but he could just make out to image of [M/N] looming above him. The boy had turned himself into his half human/half wolf form and there he saw the tears threatening to fall down his cheeks but also the injured side of his body from taking the full blast of the firework, but what caught his attention was something glistening in his eyes, he looked down and there he saw the golden ring he gave [M/N] all those years ago hanging from his neck.

’Heh... after all these years, he still kept it.’ he wheezed, he was shouting something but he couldn’t make out anything he was saying ’Damn, now I feel bad for leaving him behind.’ he managed to give [M/N] a weak smile as he gently tapped his arm despite the amount of pain he was going through.

“I’m sorry for being a disappointment, my son...” [M/N] let out a shallow gasp as the tears finally started rolling down his cheeks.

“Y-You’re so cruel...” he raised his hand to grip onto the ring while his other held his hand “Calling me that after you stopped all those years ago... dad.” Schlatt gave him gave him a regretful, tear filled smile before his heart attack finally got the best of him and claimed his final canon life.

“Did... did he just have a heart attack?!” Tubbo shouts before the room erupted into laughter at the anti-climatic turn of events, but the only one who wasn’t laughing was Technoblade. His eyes never left [M/N] as the hybrid wept in silence, cradling the deceased body of his father figure in his arms, but he couldn’t really tell if his body was trembling out of anguish... or anger. He was astonished to see that he hadn’t lashed out yet, if he were ever to be in that kind of situation with-- he closed his eyes, shaking his head to rid the thoughts plaguing his mind before looking back over to where [M/N] still had yet to move.

SCARY

POOR PUPPY

WE SHOULD KILL HIM

PUT HIM OUT OF HIS MISERY

HOW SAD

WHAT A SHAME

The hundreds of voices ringing in his head agreed that it would be better to put the man down, just the few brief encounters with him and how he would drop everything just to see if Schlatt was alright was enough to know that this wolfman would not be able to live with himself over the fact that he could not protect his owner. His hand was on the hilt of his blade as he took a step forward but paused when he noticed that Quackity was the first to approach [M/N], he remembered that the duck hybrid was the closest when it came to Schlatt and even [M/N] to the point that he kept his hands and fingers whenever he got close to either one of them, so perhaps Quackity thought he could be the one to talk some sense into [M/N].

“Hey, [M/N], I know just how much Schlatt meant to you.” he starts, reaching down and placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze “But you have to know that the guy that you were following around was a terrible person and that he wasn’t going to change, this was for the better.”

“...” Quackity’s ears perked up at the sound of [M/N] mumbling under his breath.

“What?” he stumbled back when [M/N] suddenly stood up, this caught the attention of everyone and they all turned to face the duo but were shocked to see [M/N] reach forward and grab a fistful of Quackity’s hair through his beanie and hold it in a tight grip as he pulled his other fist back.

“Grit your teeth.” before he could react, [M/N]’s fist repeatedly slammed into his face with little to no hesitation, each punch being harder than the last that they were all surprised that Quackity was still conscious. Sam and Bad rush forward to grab a hold of [M/N] while Fundy grabbed the arm that was holding Quackity so Wilbur could pull him back “You fucking piece of shit! Don’t go saying that when you don’t know anything me; when you don’t know anything about him!” he turns to look at Bad so he punches him in the face, causing him to stagger backwards before reaching back and grabbing Sam by his head then throwing him over his shoulder.

“Dammit! Take aim!” Wilbur pushed Quackity behind him and watched the others load their crossbows and aim them towards [M/N] who still didn’t back down, tears ran down his face as he glared at the lot of them but his eyes zoned in specifically on Quackity.

’[M/N] is really valuable, he’s strong enough to go on par with Technoblade in a battle to the point he might be even stronger. I would have thought that once Schlatt died, it would’ve been easier to get him to follow the orders of someone else, maybe even Dream.’ he clicks his tongue ‘To think that their relationship ran that deep. Shit.’

“What the fuck do you know about the both of us that allows you to run your mouth like that, huh?! You don’t know anything!” he shouts, he grits his teeth as he slams a hand to his chest “You may have been able to marry Schlatt, but he didn’t love you the way he loved me! You may have been able to get close to us both, but there wasn’t a time that when you were with us that I didn’t hate you! I fucking HATE you! I hate you all!"

“You’re overreacting, [M/N]!” Fundy shouts, [M/N] didn’t hesitate to snarl at him and growl when a few people started getting closer to him.

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t get to talk when you can’t even decide which side you want to be on.” his head lowers a little as he threads his fingers through his hair and fur, pulling at them as his pupils shrunk and started to shake, eyes bloodshot as the tears refused to stop falling “You have no idea what I’m going through, so don’t even try to sympathize with me. You don’t know what it was like watching the person who raised you slowly descend down into madness as the world was against him; you couldn’t even fathom what it was like being at his side and not being able to do anything to help him. You have no idea what it feels to be so powerless despite being within arms length!”

“[M/N]...” Niki muttered softly, she flinched when he turned to glare at her.

“I don’t want your pity... I have nothing now. You took the last thing that was worth living for from me, so I have nothing to live for.” their fingers were now on the trigger when he raised his head to look at them all and they all saw that broken smile on his face, eyes hazy as the tears continued to fall, his arms were slightly raised to show off his claws “There’s nothing stopping me from taking at least one of you down with me.”

’There’s nothing holding me back. There’s nothing stopping me from killing at least a few of them before dying myself. I have nothing to live for, so why good would it do if I just continued to live on?’ he takes a step forward but his eye twitched when the golden ring reflected the sun’s rays into his eyes, this caused him to look down at it and his eyes briefly caught the sight of Schlatt’s deceased body.

“It’s your turn to live your life, [M/N]. Get out of here and leave me behind.”

..

...

“As my last order to you, I want you to forget about me and leave this place behind to live your own life.”

...

...

‘I can’t die yet.' the last bit of rationality, or rather sanity, returned and the haze in his eyes disappeared, he glanced down at Schlatt one more time before closing his eyes ’The least I can do is respect his last request.’

”Fire!” he raised his at the order and countless arrows were fired at him, he managed to dodge most of them while using his arm to block them from hitting anything vital, not even wincing when they pierced through arm. He ignored them all as he turned his back to them, kneeling down and softly picking Schlatt up and cradling him close to his chest.

“Wait.. no! Stop him!” they all couldn’t react fast enough when [M/N] knelt down before leaping forward and using his shoulder to bust down the wall, he fell to his knees when he was outside of the Camarvan as the adrenaline was slowly beginning to fade away as his fatigue and exhaustion caught up with him, but he shook his head as he fought it down and fled the battlefield. By the time he was far away, he collapsed to his knees and was panting rather heavily, he looked down at Schlatt’s motionless body and cried softly as he buried his face into his shoulder.

“I’m not ready yet, dad... don’t leave me behind.” he sobbed to himself before laying Schlatt’s body down, he then took a deep breath as he looked up at the sky, leaning against the tree before removing the arrows still in his arm. His arm throbbed in pain but it eased away when he pulled out a few regen potions and some golden apples, the wounds healed up instantly, he stared down at the arrow before crushing it, snapping it in two.

’What am I to do with my life now? There was never a time where I did something on my own accord without taking orders, that’s just how I lived my life up to the age I am now.’ he exhales deeply.

“Now what?”

Monster

word count: 6395

Fandom: Stranger Things  Pairing: Chrissy Cunningham x Male!Monster!Reader  Pronouns: He/Him  Relationship: Familial Occupation: Protector Ability: Cursed Spirit

The character is a monster that has attached itself to its victim, posing as a sort of imaginary friend that only the victim can see. In the eyes of the victim, they have the appearance of an average man with a gentle expression and looks overall normal. To everyone else that they willingly let themself be visible to, they are nothing more than a ghost like wraith. They have the ability to let out a shriek like that of the wailing spirit banshee, and morph themself into a monstrous state.

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name  [L/N]: Last Name  [N/N]: Nickname  [H/C]: Hair Color  [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: vulgar language, violence, mention of drugs

got this idea after reading this story by @skinnywalker​ of their chrissy cunningham x male!reader, go check their story out cause I liked it.

there is going to be a part two.

that is all.

“Chrissy, what did I say about watching what you eat?”

“T-That it messes with my performances.”

“No, if you’re not careful you’ll end up fat and ugly. Nobody likes a fat girl, Chrissy.” she felt her lip tremble, hands fisting her sweat shirt around her stomach as her eyes start to water “I hope you remember that next time before helping yourself to seconds.

“Yes, mother.” glancing up at her mother, she noticed a jagged hand on her mother’s shoulder as a monstrous figured loomed above her. Its eyes were pitch black with a sort of liquid bleeding out from it, pale purple skin with its jaw snapped open and ready to bite her mothers head off. Chrissy lets out a sigh with a shake of her head, this motion caused the monster to momentarily freeze then retreat back to wherever it came from “May I go to my room, mother?”

“You may.” she turns on her heel and quickly rushes to her room, closing her door behind her and throwing herself onto her bed. She cries into her pillow at the endless cruel words that continue to fly out of her mothers mouth, berating her for not being skinny enough for her cheerleading career, not being beautiful enough in her eyes. What was the point of beauty if she had to go through all this pain to meet those shitty beauty standards?! She sniffles to herself, pushing herself up, hugging her knees close to her chest as her blanket was draped around her. She felt the room get darker and that same jagged hand from before came out from under her bed, reaching for her and grabbing her by the ankle.

“Chrissy…” the voice moaned out, hoarse and deep that would make the average person tremble in fear, but she didn’t. The mere presence of this monster under her bed made her feel safe, she smiled softly as she reached down to caress the hand.

“Hello, [M/N].” said man pulled himself out from under her bed to reveal not a monster, but a kind looking man with short/long [H/C] hair and soft [E/C] eyes, he smiled up at her from where he was sitting then opened his arms up for her. She didn’t hesitate to move from where she was situated, throwing the blanket off of her to embrace the monster posed as a man. He hummed softly, gently rubbing circles into her back as she cried into his shoulder, though that insatiable rage for his Chrissy’s mother started to take over his mind.

’How could that foul woman talk to her own daughter like that? Why can’t she see the way she’s talking to her hurts her? Why can’t she see the damage she’s done to her daughter? Why can’t I just kill her? My Chrissy would be better off if that bitch would just die.’ sometimes he would find it difficult to control his thoughts, sometimes he would act impulsively and not realise what he’s done until it’s too late.

[M/N]. He was a monster that attached itself to Chrissy at an early age of her life, when she was nothing more than a mere child. At first, she was food that he would feed off of but was startled when she started looking forward to seeing him. She was a weird one. He had the appearance of a revolting monster that would make even adults cry, but this child laughed and cheered whenever she saw him. The first time he did see her cry was not because of him, but because of those despicable words her mother would fill her head with. Saying she wasn’t good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough. That moment he wanted to kill that woman, kill the bitch that caused his favourite human to develop an eating disorder and resort to liking him, a monster that wanted to eat her. But Chrissy pleaded with him, begged him not to hurt her mother because of her? That girl was too kind for his liking, she was kind enough to give him a name.

[M/N], her imaginary monster.

”Chrissy…” he moaned out again, she pulled away with a sniffle, laughing weakly when he reached forward to wipe away the tears she missed. He pulled back again and she watched as he dropped numerous snacks in front of him, he then pointed at her mouth and did biting motions with his own mouth ”Eat.” he didn’t like the smile she forced onto her lips, it looked bitter and sad, not the one he used to see.

“Thank you, [M/N], you’re always so sweet to me.” he watches her silently, eating the food that he stole for her to fill her empty stomach. He was fully capable of swiping things here and there, sometimes even pulling small tricks and pranks that would make her laugh. One time, when she and her family were getting ready to eat, he pulled her mothers chair out so she fell to the ground. Another time was when he swapped the sugar for salt so her mother was in for a salty surprise when she drank her morning coffee, he did all that just to see his Chrissy smile.

”Performance tomorrow…?” her head perked up at the question, lighting up in remembrance about the pep rally tomorrow for Hawkins basketball team, she nods enthusiastically.

“Yes, yes! My girls and I have been practicing vigorously, I believe you’ll enjoy it very much.” he smiles, reaching forward to pat her head.

”Anything you do… I like.” she smiled.

“I know.” she looks at the time and takes his hand from a top of her head, pulling it down while caressing his knuckles with her thumbs “It’s gotten late, [M/N]. I think I should go to sleep.” he slowly nods his head, reaching to pat her head once more then pulling away, allowing her to lay her head onto her pillow whilst he grabbed the end of her blanket and pulled it up to tuck her in.

”Sweet dreams…” he waves her goodbye and retreated back under her bed but she knew he was still there, he was always around until she fell asleep. When she did fall asleep, his monstrous figure loomed over her body once more, his jagged fingers reaching forward to gently caress her face while removing a few loose strands of her hair off of her face. He then peeks over towards her door, his figure drops into the shadows and shoots out to where Chrissy’s mother was sitting in the living room watching T.V.  It was so easy. He could kill this woman and make Chrissy’s life a little easier. What stood in his way was the love Chrissy had for her mother, she would hate him if he were to take her mother from her. But he just couldn’t understand the young girl. This woman was no mother to treat her daughter the way she does, and what about the rest of her family? Have they done anything to stop her from doing it? No, they didn’t. All Chrissy had was him, he was the only one by her side that would do anything for her. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He would destroy the goddamn world if he needed to. All he wanted was for Chrissy to be happy, her happiness was his everything, and he was going to be damned if he’d let anyone take that from her.

[time skip: the next day]

”Wonderful…” [M/N] murmured softly with a tired smile on his face, standing at the very back of the gym as he watched Chrissy’s performance, clapping his hands while swaying side to side. His smile brightened when he saw her look through the crowd in search for him, her own smile growing bigger when she finally did find him, he then gives her a thumbs up ”You’re doing… great.” [M/N] always reminded Chrissy of one of those parents that always came to their child’s performances, being that person that cheered the loudest, and though no one else can hear or see it, she really appreciated it.

“How was it, [M/N]?” she asked him, taking a seat on the floor after they finished the routine. She glanced to her side when she felt his fingers roll onto her shoulders then pulled himself out from behind her, his head hovering a few inches away from her face “Did you like the performance?” he nods his head, leaning his head onto hers.

”Very flashy…” she only giggled at that, soon Hawkins’ basketball team came running into the gym and the crowd went wild once more.

“Good morning, Hawkins high!” Jason Carver, the captain of the basketball team and unfortunately Chrissy’s boyfriend, greets into the microphone with a big grin in his face “First off, I’d like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn’t be here. Give yourselves a big hand.” [M/N] had to admit, this guy had quite the charisma to get the crowd in an uproar like he does “And of course, of course I have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad. Chrissy… Chrissy, I love you babe.” this caused the crowd to aw at the confession while she in turn blushed, blowing a kiss to Jason. She then had to keep a straight face when [M/N] glanced at her then turned away, making gagging noises while pointing into his mouth.

“Stop it…” she whispered, though it was funny. [M/N] could give less of a shit about the rest of his speech, spouting out some bullshit from what happened the year prior and how they haven’t won a game in the past twenty two years or something along the lines of that, he wasn’t listening. Whenever Chrissy is at school, [M/N] makes sure not to interfere and lets her go on with her day unless she calls for him. Those times are rare but they’ve been becoming more frequent ever since she’s been seeing that woman, um, Ms Kelly or some shit, he can’t remember. As of recently, he had been noticing how Chrissy was suffering through nightmares, one’s terrible then from before, causing her to have trouble sleeping and her headaches how been getting worse. He was always there to help her through it, cooing soft words of encouragement into her ear or being that shoulder she needed to lean on. 

This was one of those times she needed him, she was getting spewing her breakfast and most likely lunch into the toilet. He was holding her beautiful hair back while rubbing circles into her back in a comforting manner, he made sure the door was locked so no one would disturb her but the door to the bathroom opened and a small red haired girl entered. He briefly left Chrissy’s side to see what that girl was doing, phasing through the bathroom stall door to take a peek at what that girl was doing. His presence was unknown to her as she took her bag off to grab a small container of pills, he furrowed his brows when he recognised them as pills that Chrissy takes to help lessen the pain of her headaches, they both then glance back when Chrissy starts coughing.

“Hey, you alright?” she called.

“Yeah—yes, I’m… I’m fine.” the girl glanced back towards the bathroom door then at the stall Chrissy was in before approaching.

“Okay, um… you’re sure?”  “Please just go away.” this was enough to get the girl to leave, Chrissy lets out a groan when she heard [M/N] let out a sigh from outside the stall. She chose to ignore him for the time being and reached over to flush her vomit down, she then groans when she heard pounding on the door “Are you deaf? I said go away.” [M/N] raised a brow in confusion, looking over at the stall where he heard Chrissy speak, but who on earth was she talking to?

”Chrissy…?” he called out, reaching forward to phase through the door but his hand flinched back. He looked around in confusion when he felt a presence but he just couldn’t see it, his head then immediately whipped back towards the door when he heard Chrissy scream. He didn’t hesitate to phase through the door and there he found Chrissy pressing her back to the wall in the very corner of the stall, eyes squeezed shut as she covered her ears.

“No! Go away! Go away! Go away!” she shakes her head, repeating the phrase over and over, pleading for whatever was causing her these hallucinations to just disappear. She let out a scream when something grabbed her, shouting her name while shaking her back and forward.

”Chrissy! Chrissy! Chrissy!” she gasped, eyes snapping open when she recognised the voice. In front of her now was [M/N] looking distressed and concerned, she looked around and saw that the lights above her were no longer flickering and the pounding on the stall door had ceased.

“[M-M/N]…?” she whimpered out, he lets out a relieved sigh.

”You’re back… I’m glad.” his mouth opened slightly to speak but stopped when she quickly threw herself onto him, she held onto him so tightly she preyed that he didn’t disappear under her hold. He looked down at her in concern then raised his arms to wrap around her, pulling her closer into him then rested the side of his head against hers, rocking back and forward as she sobbed into his shoulder ”I’m here… I'm here, Chrissy.” he glanced around him before tightening his hold around her, a dark aura radiating out of him. Whoever or whatever did this to his Chrissy, it wasn’t anything he’s ever seen. He knew Hawkins was a fucked up place ever since that kid went missing a couple years back, he knew because he was one of those fucked up things, but this was something different.  This isn’t good. [M/N] now made sure not to leave Chrissy side, instead of lurking in the shadows or the depths below, he was now directly over her shoulder watching for anything else that could potentially harm his Chrissy. She felt more at ease knowing that he was there, reaching for her shoulder. The people around could only see her patting her shoulder and squeezing it but she was actually patting his hand and giving it a light squeeze, in return he would soothingly rub her shoulder and continue to tell her that he was right behind her and that he wasn’t going anywhere. [M/N] now found himself and Chrissy on the outskirts of the school, in the middle of the woods where a lone lunch table sat in the opening.  “Hello…?” she called out uneasily, looking around for someone but saw no one. [M/N] glanced at her and saw her look off, he followed her gaze and saw she was staring at a tree, he looked at her once more and saw that her unease grew as she approached the tree.  ”Chrissy…? What are you… looking at?” he questioned but didn’t get an answer as she got closer to the tree, he looked between the two and concluded that she was seeing something entirely differently to him so he quickly floated over to her, grabbing her shoulder and snapping his fingers in front of her face “Chrissy, there’s nothing there…” she snapped out of her daze as she looked up at him in shock.

“B-But, there was a clock…! I swear I saw it.” she starts shaking her head as she backed away, he called out to her to stop but couldn’t when she backed up into the chest of the man she was meeting.

“Whoa, hey, hey, hey.” [M/N] quickly returned to her side, floating behind her as they both stare at the newcomer “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You okay?” she wordlessly stared up at him then back towards the tree, the man followed her gaze then glanced back at her, he then saw the way she raised her head to her shoulder and squeezed it. The two now sat on the abandoned bench, [M/N] had come to recognise this young man as the Hawkins freak, Eddie Munson. He never paid too much attention to this gentlemen, he never paid attention to anything that wasn’t Chrissy, but he knew that he wasn’t well liked “There’s, uh… there’s nothing to worry about, okay? No one ever comes out here, we’re safe. I promise.” Eddie reassures, taking off his jacket and vest then opening his lunchbox to reveal his stash of weed.

“So,” Chrissy starts, clearly nervous as she couldn’t meet Eddie’s gaze “how does this work exactly?”

“Oh, just like any other old sale, except, uh, cash only, and, uh, for obvious reasons,  or receipts.” she slowly nods her head “I’ll do you half an ounce, for uh, twenty. What do you say? Plenty of bang for your buck. Should last a while.” Chrissy lets out a gasp, whipping her head around when she heard a noise but only saw a squirrel run up a tree. Eddie watches her then soon lets out a sigh, putting the bag of weed back into his lunchbox then closed it “Hey, uh, we don’t need to do this. Just give me the word and I’ll walk away. Okay?” she quickly shakes her head.

“It’s not that. I don’t want you to go.” he raised a brow at that “Its just… do you ever feel like you’re losing your mind?”

“Um, you know, just… on a daily basis. I feel like I’m losing my mind right now doing a drug deal with Chrissy Cunningham, the Queen of Hawkins High.” [M/N]’s brow perked up slightly when he saw a subtle smile appear on Chrissy’s face but it went away just as quickly “You know, this isn’t the first time that we’ve, um… hung out. No? You don’t remember?” she shakes her head apologetically.

“I’m sorry, I—” she glanced at [M/N] to see if he remember but he shrugged his shoulders with a shake of his head, Eddie just chuckled.

“That’s okay.” Eddie had a blank look on his face, soon both himself and Chrissy let out a startled noise when Eddie fell back onto the ground while pretending to stand himself. Chrissy immediately stands to her feet to see if he was alright while [M/N] hovered above him, seeing that he was fine he let out a sigh.

”What an… oddball.” he murmured, hearing Eddie laugh as he pulled himself up and onto his feet, [M/N] was going to say another comment but was taken aback when he saw the bright smile on Chrissy’s face as she laughed herself. It was a genuine smile that he hadn’t seen in a long time as she watched Eddie he himself.

“I wouldn’t remember me neither, Chrissy. Honestly, do I have stuff in my hair?” she continued to laugh as he smiled at her, shaking his hair to pull the leaves from out of his hair “You don’t remember me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Middle school, talent show. You were doing your cheer thing. You know, the… the thing you do.” he tried to explain, waving his hands around to mimic the way she does with her pom-poms “It was pretty cool, actually. And I— I was with my band.” her face then lights up in remembrance.

“Corroded Coffin!” she exclaims, his smile grows as he clapped his hands.

“Corro— you do remember.”

“Oh my god! Yes, of course. With a name like that, how could I forget?” 

“I dunno, you’re a freak.” she chuckled softly, giving [M/N] a sharp look when she heard him growl softly, how dare this frizzy haired bastard call his Chrissy a freak?

“No, you just… you look so—”

“Different? Yeah, well, uh, my hair was buzzed, and I didn’t have these sweet old tatties yet.” she nods softly.

“You played guitar, right?”

“Uh huh. Still do, still do. You should come see us. Uh, we play at the Hideout on Tuesdays. It’s pretty cool. We… we actually get a crowd of about five drunks.” she laughs again, shaking her head softly “It’s not exactly the Garden, but you gotta start somewhere, right? So…” he shuffles over to a tree and starts lightly punching it, [M/N] returns to Chrissy’s side and watched that big smile on her face grow.

“You know, you’re not what I thought you’d be like.” Eddie hums, grabbing a few of his locks and pulling them in front of his face.

“Mean and scary?” she nods.

“Yeah.” he smiles.

“Yeah, well, I actually kinda thought you’d be kinda mean and scary too.” she gasps softly.

“Me?”

“Terrifying. Um, so, in other good news, flattery works with me, so… twenty five percent discount for the half. Fifteen bucks. You’re robbing me blind here, you know.” [M/N] frowned when that beautiful smile that adorned her face dropped as she stared down at her lap, he reaches over to caress her cheek as she fidgeted with her fingers.

“Do you have anything, maybe… stronger?”

[time skip: late at night]

”What a dump…” 

”Stop it.” [M/N] and Chrissy soon found themselves at the trailer park with Eddie to find said something stronger for Chrissy to take, Chrissy steps out of his van and he was kind enough to hold the door open to his trailer for her to enter first before walking in after her. She stood nervously in the middle of his trailer, rubbing her arms with her hands as she looked around, [M/N] doing the same but soon floating around Eddie to watch his movements.

“Sorry for the mess. Uh, the maid took the week off.” he apologised, cleaning up some rubbish that was left lying around then shuffling over to the other side of the room.

“You, um… you live here alone?” he shakes his head.

“With my uncle. But, uh, he works nights at the plant. Bringing the big bucks.” she nods softly.

“How long does it take?”

“Sorry?”

“The Special K. How long to kick in?”

“Oh, uh, well, it depends if you snort it or not. Uh, if you do, then, uh, yeah. It’ll, uh, kick in pretty quick.” he explains with a jar in his hand, he opens it and takes a peek inside but then lets out a sigh “Oh, shit.”

“You’re sure you have it?”

“No, no, I got it. Um, somewhere.” he raises his finger, signalling for her to give him a minute before turning away and scurrying off to his room to find the drug she was needing to relieve herself of her hellish realities. She takes a deep breath, bringing her hands to hold her arms once more then smiled softly with closed eyes when she felt [M/N] behind her, she leaned her back into the warmth of his chest as his arms wrapped around her gently.

“I’m so glad I still have you by my side, [M/N].” she whispered softly “I probably would have lost my mind a long time ago if I didn’t have you.” she felt slightly uncomfortable when he didn’t say anything back, he always had something to say because he loved talking to her even though he couldn’t really say much. She tried to turn around to get a look at him but let out a choked noise when his grip around her tightened, she lets out a gasp as she looked down at his arms that were around her “[M/N], you’re h-hurting me…!”

”I always try so hard to please you. Chrissy.” [M/N] spoke, but it wasn’t in the way he usually spoke. [M/N] spoke with a slow and slurred speech, not being able to finish his sentence properly without pausing, she started to tremble when the presence behind her became more ominous than comforting ”I only want what’s best for you. Chrissy. You know I’ll do anything for you, so I just don’t understand why you don’t want me to get rid of that eyesore that is your mother. That fucking bitch that hurts you. Don’t you trust me? Don’t you love me? Why won’t you just let me do this for you, Chrissy?!” glancing down at the arms that were holding her, she lets out a scream when she saw that they were slimy looking.

“Ah! Le— Let go of me!” she quickly elbows whoever was holding her and they let go of her, this gave her the chance to see who it was and scream when she saw that it wasn’t her [M/N] but some disgusting monster. She shakes her head and runs towards Eddie’s room, she pushes the door opened to try and find him but was instead met with the sound of a sewing machine and her mothers back “Mum?”

“Just loosening this up for you, sweetheart. You’re going to look absolutely beautiful.” her face dropped when her mother turned around, her face was completely grey with only the whites of her eyes visible. She didn’t take any chances as she left the room, closing the door behind her but instead of being in Eddie’s trailer, she somehow found herself back in her house “Chrissy!” she gasped when the door behind her opened but she quickly grabbed the doorknob and pulled it shut.

“No!”

”Chrissy, open the door!” she screamed no as the door slipped from her grip and flew open, she immediately turned tail and ran as far as she could. She hurried downstairs and searched for a way out but then her attention went over to the figure watching T.V, a breath of relief leaving her lips at the familiar figure.

“Dad?” she mumbled out before rushing over “Dad! Dad!” turning around, she screamed at the sight of his mouth and eyes sealed shut with blood seeping out of the wounds. She shakes her head and backs away, she looks around as tears ran down her face, lips trembling in fear “[M/N], please! I need you! Please, [M/N]!”

[outside of chrissy’s mind]

[M/N] was staring at a discarded album of sorts abandoned on the floor when he realised Chrissy had gone a little too quiet for his liking, he pulls back from out of Eddie’s room and peeked over his shoulder to see if Chrissy was alright. He furrowed his brows when he realised that she hadn’t moved from the spot he left her in so he floated over to her, that was when he finally realised something was wrong with her. She was standing uncomfortably still and was twitching now and then, but what scared him was the fact that her eyes rolled into the back of her head and only the whites of her eyes were seen.

”Chrissy…?” he called softly, snapping his fingers in her face in an effort to get her attention but nothing happen so he clapped instead, and yet nothing happened ”Chrissy, what’s wrong…? Chrissy… Chrissy!” he now resorted to grabbing her by the shoulders and violently shaking her back and forward but even that didn’t work, his hands then hovered over her head and there he felt a trace of some sort of power coming from her. His lip trembled, he didn’t delve in mind type attacks on his victims, that took a lot of concentration and focus to pull off, but whoever the fuck was doing it was a powerful one. He needed to wake her up, and he needed to wake her up now. He heard Eddie shuffling around and his face briefly lit up in remembrance of that human man, maybe someone alive could wake her up. He quickly grabbed an empty glass bottle and threw it against the wall, it shattered upon impact but at least he got Eddie’s attention.

“Chrissy? Was that you?” Eddie lets out an awkward laugh, grabbing the drug that he was planning on selling to Chrissy and came walking out of his room “I know I took my time, but I found it. Beautiful bliss, just moments away.” [M/N] watched in anticipation to see if Eddie could do anything, to which the young man waved his hand in Chrissy’s face as he slowly approached the possessed girl “Chrissy…? Hello? Chrissy! Hey, Chrissy, wake up. Hey, hello! Chrissy, hello! Hey, Chrissy!” he then started waving his hand while snapping his fingers in her face to get her to wake up, soon the lights started flickering about, this caused [M/N] to exhale sharply.

”Oh, no…” he then looked back and saw Eddie clapping his hands in front of her before grabbing her shoulders, shaking her back and forward while tapping her shoulders.

“Time to wake up. Hello? Can you hear me? Wake up, Chrissy. Chrissy, wake up! I don’t like this, Chrissy! Wake up!” [M/N] takes a deep breath, slapping his hands against his cheeks and quickly goes back over to Chrissy. Eddie still couldn’t see [M/N] but he could definitely feel him, he felt a shiver run up his spine when something cold passed him but when he looked around to see what it was, there was nothing there, so he shook his head and returned his attention back to the girl in front of him, cupping her cheeks and gently slapping them “Chrissy! Chrissy! Chrissy! Chrissy, wake up now! Chrissy!” [M/N] grabbed her discarded bag and searched through it, finding a cassette tape inside. This was a song that she had been listening to for a bit, “Moi Je Joue” by Bridgette Bardot, an old French song from the 60s. He nods to himself and quickly rushes to Eddie’s room to throw it into his stereo, to which the young man was too preoccupied with Chrissy to notice but flinched when the disoriented music started playing. He glanced back at his room in confusion, hearing a song that he knew didn’t belong to him, but shook his head in favour of waking Chrissy up. [M/N] returned back to Chrissy and stood behind her, hands cupping her cheeks as he closed his eyes.

’I haven’t done this in the longest time, I had no need to when I had you. But now you need me, so I’ll come in there and rescue you from that nightmare whatever piece of shit pulled you in to.’ and so with a deep breath, he leaned down and pressed his forehead against the top of her head.

[within chrissy’s mind]

“Please…” she whimpered out, a tear running down her cheek as she pressed herself into the boards that sealed her way out of this hellish nightmare. This… thing in front of her, this fucking garbage was the thing that’s been giving her those hallucinations and pushed her beyond her limits. She knew [M/N] wasn’t the prettiest thing to look at it, even in his human form he still looked beyond human, but his presence was something she had long gotten used to. But whatever this monster was in front of her, god, she wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

”Don’t cry, Chrissy…” the voice spoke, she whimpered as she leaned away when it reached forward and wiped away her tears, god she really needed [M/N] right now ”It’s time for your suffering… to end.” she shook her head, pressing herself further into the boards when it raised its hand once more, it outstretched over her face.

“[M/N], please!” she cried out, tears rolling down her face “[M/N]!!” the monster jerked backwards when Chrissy was suddenly pulled backwards and instead he was met with a creature as monstrous as he was, it lets out a grunt when he roared at it as he held Chrissy close to his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

”Don’t touch my Chrissy!!” he shouts at the top of his lungs, jaw splitting open as he roared at the bastard to get away from his human. She cried from within his chest, wailing into his chest as she wrapped her arms around the ghostly figure that’s been following her since she was a mere child.

“[M/N]!” she cried out, bringing her hands up to cup his cheeks to make sure he was real before burying her face into his shoulder “You came for me…! You actually came!” she sobbed out, he nodded his head but didn’t take his eyes off the thing in front of him but he did reach down to place his hand on her head, gently rubbing it to soothe her. She whimpered when he removed his hand from atop her head, instead, he glared at the monster in front of him and let out another roar.

”Get away from her!” he pushes Chrissy behind him then flies towards it, wrapping his arms around its torso and sent them both through the house. He had come to recognise this monster as the type of attacker than didn’t deal physical damage but had a strong control over the mind as he witnessed outside of Chrissy’s, so he knew he had to upper-hand. He was just throwing him around like he was some rag doll, holding him by the ankles and slamming his against the ground and walls before throwing him into the kitchen ”You thought you could target my Chrissy, my human that I’ve been haunting for nearly two decades?! I’ll make you fucking regret it!” he charged forward once more but was stuck in place when a force stopped him, he lets out a grunt as he tried to break free but was thrown back by said invisible force.

“[M/N]!” she cried out, she wanted to rush over but quickly backed up when that other monster started approaching her again.

”That guardian of yours won’t stop you from meeting your fate, Chrissy.” she shakes her head.

“No, I want to live.” it reached towards her once more but she kicked it back, just as [M/N] came flying over and tackling the monster in its side and into the wall “[M/N]!” he shakes his head, punching and clawing at the monster underneath him.

”Get out of here, Chrissy! Get out while I have him distracted!” she shakes her head.

“I-I… I don’t know how!”

”This is your mind, Chrissy! Think of your happiest memories to hide, and listen for the music! The music should help you find your way out of this nightmare!” he saw that she was still reluctant to go so he quickly threw the bastard away then rushed over to her, cupping her cheeks and giving her a reassuring smile ”Don’t worry about… a thing. I’ll take care… of this and be right back…” that slur in his speech calmed her down, she weakly nodded her head and that was enough for him to pat her head, kiss her forehead then gently push her along.

“You promise?” she whimpered, he nodded.

“I promise…” her lips trembled as she stared at him before finally turning on her heel and running away, with her finally gone, he took a deep breath and let his true emotions and form show. The monster before him let out an impressed hum, watching as his human disguise melted away and he was met with the abomination that was him ”I am going to enjoying tearing you apart, freak.”

“That’s quite rich coming from you.”

[outside of chrrisy’s mind]

Eddie had stumbled backwards when Chrissy started floating in the air, he didn’t know what the fuck he was watching as the Queen of Hawkins High was floating in the middle of his goddamn living room while some French song played in the background as the lights flickered about like he hadn’t been paying the power bill for months. If he thought talking to Chrissy that morning was crazy, this definitely took the fucking cake and he wished he was on something so this didn’t have to be fucking real. He didn’t know what to do, he wanted to turn tail and run but he just couldn’t leave Chrissy alone, before he could do anything, her eyes rolled back into place and she fell to the ground.

“Chrissy!” he shouts, quickly rushing over to see if she was alright but then jumped when she threw her arms around him, hugging him close and crying into his shoulder.

“Eddie! Oh god, I was so scared!” she cried out, burying herself deeper into his shoulder, fearing that he wasn’t real and that she was still trapped deep inside her mind. Eddie looked down at her before slowly reaching down and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into his chest and letting her bawl her eyes out. It took her some time to find her way out but she followed [M/N]’s advice and listened out for the music, faintly hearing “Moi Je Joue” when she was running for her life, but now she was out and away from that thing that was trying to kill her.

“… Chrissy, what the fuck was that?” Eddie muttered out, she let out a shuddered breath.

“Me losing my bloody mind.” now she was worried about [M/N], she left him alone with that thing and she was concerned something happened to him while she was gone but she felt a sudden cold weight on her shoulder, this was enough for her to relax into Eddie’s embrace.

Helper pt. 2

word count: 6629

Fandom: FNAF Security Breach  Pairing: Sundrop/Moondrop x Female!Reader  Pronouns: She/Her  Relationship: Romantic Occupation: Daycare Helper  Ability: Animatronic Moon Jellyfish

The character was modelled after a moon jellyfish, so they are an oceanic type animatronic that mostly resided in the daycare to assist when needed within the pizza plex. The appearance they adorn is that of a tall woman and the animalistic part of her design would be, other than a human-like face, they would have a large bell (the blob of a jellyfish is called a bell or hood) on top of their head that would act as a large hat, and attached to the underside of the bell are the tentacles and stingers. They are not stingers, they help the character locate children and feel for their surroundings. The bell on top of their head also glows in the dark.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name [B/C]: Base Color [S/C]: Secondary Color [F/C]: Favorite Color [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: spoilers to those who haven’t seen fnaf sb

“Helper” pt.1, pt. 3

“Sunbite, what on earth are you doing?” [F/N] questioned whilst she was in the middle of cleaning up the clutter of toys the children had left behind when their parents and other guardians had picked them up from the daycare, she turned to face him but soon noticed that he was hunched over a table where he was sitting with a group of children for arts and crafts. She raises a brow when she noticed that he didn’t respond so she put the toys away before sauntering over to where he was, looming over him, she saw that he was staring intently at a drawing “Pft, how adorable.” she giggled softly, her speaking from behind him finally snapped him out of his internal dialogue between himself and Moondrop.

“O-Oh, starshine!” she hums softly, raising a hand to cup her chin while her other held her elbow in place. He turned around to face her and quickly hid the drawing behind him, a flustered and embarrassed expression on his face as his sun rays were acting up. Why was he acting in such a disorderly fashion? That was because while he and the children were drawing, another child had drawn him and [F/N] holding hands together while hearts surrounded them both, oh! And the fact that he was about to kiss it but stopped when [F/N] was behind him, his body was now trembling as he leaned back when [F/N] loomed over his body, leaning closer and closer to his face.

“Whatchu’ got there?” she muses, now leaning to her side so she could get a look at the drawing once more, but Sundrop had it pressed against his back so she had no way of seeing it.

“N-No— Nothing! It’s nothing, starshine!” he was growing even more flustered with how close she was, and because of this, the drawing in his hands was getting crumpled up and he was surprised he hadn’t torn it by now. He jolts up from where he was standing when she placed her hand on top of his head, the rays from where her hand was pressed down.

“Well, if it’s nothing, it better be worth you overheating.” at the mention of that, his system alerted him that he was overheating and it was forcing him to shut down so that he could cool down. [F/N] giggles as she watches his body fall limp but before it could hit the ground, she caught him and now cradled him close to her chest. She always enjoyed teasing him, his reactions were so adorable and at the end of it, he would overheat and his system would shut him down and there she would be allowed to coddle and cuddle with him all she wanted. When his system would reboot and he wakes up, he would wake up and find himself laying in [F/N]’s lap as she sits in resting mode. She gently bonks her head against his, her hat rising so her forehead could press against his, and takes him to a quiet corner, not forgetting to take the drawing and add it to the collection of other drawings she loves.

And so here she was, a couple of hours into the night and now she was concerned as to why Sun hadn’t awoken yet. It did take a while for Sun and Moon’s system to reboot itself, but not THIS long. Perhaps his battery was running low, she glances up at where his room was and was contemplating whether or not she should bring him up there. She remembered in the past when she asked about his room, both himself and Moon started freaking out and pleaded with her to never go up there, whether it was with him or not. Though she was programmed to take care of Sundrop and Moondrop, she was also programmed to never disobey an order and break a promise, but she was worried for the Daycare Attendant. The way he charges was different to the other animatronics, she glances at him and his room before letting out a sigh and deciding to just simply go up there.

Unlike Sundrop and Moondrop, she did not have a hook on her back to connect the cable to, so instead, she called it down and wrapped it tightly around her arm. She tugged on it and when she figured it wasn’t going to come loose, she had it lift her off the ground and over to where Sundrop and Moondrop’s shared room was. She held Sundrop close to her as she landed gracefully on the balcony then allowed the cable to slip from her grasp, she approaches the curtain to his room and pushes it back and there she saw the reason as to why he never allowed her to enter his room. Unlike the Glamgang and even DJMM, his room was a complete mess, and not the type where it needed a simple clean. It’s like management hadn’t even thought of giving him a room that suited both him and Moondrop, she’d compare it to a broom closet, but at least a closet is a bit more organised.

She glances down at him before sighing softly and going over to where she believed was his charging station was. After plugging him and knowing that he was charging, she took a look around his room and frowns at how run down it was. The highlight of the room would be the small corner dedicated to drawings made by the children and other little gifts, she takes out the drawing the child drew of her and Sundrop, picking up a thumbtack and pinning it to the wall, adding to the collection of drawings. She didn’t have a room like the other animatronics, she resided in a small tent that was similar to a circus tent that was white and [F/C] and stationed in a corner within the daycare that is off-limits to the children, it was her quiet corner when she’s charging.

“Oh, my sunbite…” she murmurs, grabbing one of the Moondrop toys and squeezing it, giggling sadly when it let out a squeak. An idea soon sparked to her mind so she quickly glanced back at Sundrop, nodding to herself when she saw that he was still shut down, and then proceeded to scan the entire room to get a general estimate of the room then left. She threw the curtains back and jumped off the balcony, grabbing the cable and descending to the ground, landing with a small thud before bolting out of the daycare. She was allowed to leave the daycare but it was heavily implied that she stays within the daycare at all times just to simply monitor Sundrop and Moondrop at all times, but she could give two fucks at the moment.

“[F/N]!” she stops dead in her tracks and though it did not show, annoyance and dread bubbled in her chest at the sound of that obnoxious voice “What are you doing out of the daycare? You know you’re not supposed to leave.” she was modelled to have a permanent soft smile on her face, and so when she couldn’t properly express her true feelings, well, she usually shows it in her actions or the way she speaks.

“Oh, Officer Vanessa, what an unpleasant surprise.” Vanessa deadpans, she wasn’t sure when [F/N] started to dislike her but she wasn’t going to question it, as long as she didn’t do anything she didn’t like, then they were fine “Aren’t you supposed to be monitoring the atrium at this time?”

“That's beside the point, you still haven’t answered me.” the animatronic rolled her eyes beneath her eyelids before leaning down.

“It may be your job to monitor us animatronics and keep us in check from doing anything we’re not supposed to do, but I am not stationed to be in the daycare all night long. I have free roam around the Pizza Plex just like the other animatronics, so don’t come at me as if I’ve done something wrong.” Vanessa grits her teeth at her words, her grip on her flashlight tightened.

“It’s also my job to make sure you don’t wander off too far from where you’re supposed to be stationed.” [F/N] nods her head, already done with her nonsense as she stands up straight.

“Right, okay.” she leans down once more, making sure she was inches away from her face as she wipes her shoulders “Well then, I’ll make sure to get back to my designated area once I’m done with my business. So you pretend you never saw me and I pretend I never saw what you did.” this caused Vanessa to flinch, her body beginning to tremble as [F/N] leaned away.

“Wha— what do you mean by that?” she smirked softly as she reached forward, grabbing her cap and shaking it side to side before pulling it down then walking away from her, sparing her a glance and her gorgeous galaxy like eyes glared at her.

“You know exactly what I mean.” with that, she left the human employee shaking in anxiety, she shook her head and ignored what Vanessa had to say in favour of making her way to Monty Golf. She hums to herself as she listened to the music that played within Monty’s area, hearing alligators bellow and growl, she searched for the alligator but huffed when she couldn’t find “Now where on earth could that boy be.” she questioned, looking side to side but saw nothing.

“Who might you be looking for?” she lets out an oh at a voice, she glances down and saw it was another employee that was stationed to monitor Monty Golf.

“Oh, why hello there.” the security guard let out a nervous chuckle as they stare up at the animatronic woman.

“Hello there [F/N], what brings you here? You’re quite far from the daycare.” she places a hand on her chest.

“I was looking for Montgomery, I must speak with him this very moment.” the security guard nodded their head.

“Ah, I see.” they turn away and point in a direction “He’s over there. He was told to help us clean up the golf balls from the course, especially the ones that were shot off the course.” she nods her head and together with two of the saunter over to where Monty supposedly was, [F/N] pulls a face, hands on her hips as she pushes one out when she saw bubbles in the water, she can only guess where he is.

“Goodness.” the security guard noticed her staring at the water with unease and mild disgust.

“Oh! If you’re worried about the water, the lighting is set up so that the water looks murky and like a swamp. It’s actually very clean, trust me. I’ve fallen into it a few times.” at that, [F/N] raises a hand to her mouth.

“That must’ve been awful.” they nod.

“Yeah, wet socks really suck.” this caused the woman to giggle softly, the security guard let out another oh when [F/N] placed something on their head, when they moved it up they realized she took her bell off her head and placed it on top of theirs. They were going to question what she was doing but was taken aback when she dove into the water, a hidden feature about her design was that she was also water proof because she was a jellyfish, it’s just that she was always in the daycare so she it was never revealed. Anyways, she swam around for a bit until she finally found him at the bottom of the moat, brow raised when she saw him yelling about how there was a bunch of golf balls at the bottom on the first place.

“Damn this blasted kids! Don’t they know they’re not supposed to shoot the blasted golf balls into the water in the first place! Dammit! I hate this!” she rolls her eyes as she swims over to him, he continued to rage, unaware of her walking over to him after her feet touch the ground “I swear, one of these days, I’m just going to grab one of those brats and stra—”

“Montgomery.”

“Aahh!” he lets out a scream of terror at the unexpected voice and whipped his head around to see [F/N] standing behind him, arms crossed and a stern and unimpressed look on her face “What the? How the heck are you down here?!” she rolls her eyes, hands moving down to rest on her hips.

“Clearly I’m waterproof, just like you. I’m a jellyfish, remember?” he rolls his eyes “Anyways, that’s besides the point. I’m here to ask of you for something.” this gained his attention, [F/N] rarely ever asked him of favours, she mostly turned to Freddy or Chica.

“Alright, whatchu need, cher?” she pressed her hands together and points them at him.

“I need you to do me a favor.” he smirks softly, crossing his arms and leaning his weight onto one of his feet.

“You’ve already got my attention, whatchu need of me?” she huffs.

“How long do you think you can distract Sun and possibly Moon?” his brow rose even more.

“The Daycare Attendant?” he questions, she nods her head, he hums as he looks up in thought “Why? I thought it was your job to keep an eye on him? Why would you want me of all people to distract him?” she chuckles softly, moving her hair out of the way when it started falling on her face.

“I need him out of his room as long as possible, he doesn’t want me going in there but when I was in there, I saw the state of his room.” she then holds her waist while her other hand waves it around “I want to renovate it a bit, it’s quite sad management didn’t give him a proper room like the rest of us, so I want to surprise him.” Monty nods his head then points at himself.

“And that’s where I come in?” she grins, snapping her fingers and pointing at him.

“Now you’re catching on, well done.” he hums, feeling proud of himself.

“What do I get out of it?” she shrugs.

“What do you want?” he looks up in thought, she waits patiently then let’s out and oh when she saw his face light up, snapping his fingers then pointing at her.

“No matter what you’re doing, for three months straight, you gotta rough house with me or play golf with me.” what an odd request, she was going to question him but stopped when he added something else “Also, when I argue with the others for a VALID reason, you can’t scold me or lecture me for something I did WRONG.” she pulls a face when she added quotation marks on specific words, she rolls her closed eyes.

“Is that it?”  “For that, you also can’t tell me off whenever I destroy something that isn’t in my room and help me clean shit out of these ponds when I call for you.” she sighs as she looks down, pinching the bridge of her nose “Is that a deal, cher?” he asks, extending his hand out to her to shake, she looks back up at him before shaking her head and taking his extended hand and giving it a firm shake.

“Alright, you better distract him good then.” he retreats his hand and cheers.

“Great, now give me a hand help me clean out the pond.” she sighs once more, head hanging low.

“Got it.” he only grins and together the two of them clean out the pond that was littered with trash, golf balls, moldy golf balls and other junk. The same security guard stood at the new of the pond, playing with [F/N]’s hat and laughing softly at up big it looked on them, they then let out a yelp and jump back when two figures broke through the surface of the water and hauled themselves out of the water “We should enforce a rule that forbids children and others from throwing anything into the ponds.” [F/N] comments, turning on her heater to dry the water off her body while grabbing a few strands of her locks and squeezing the water out.

“I second that, saves us the trouble of fishing them out.” she chuckles at that, letting out a huff when she managed to squeeze out the last of the water in her hair before throwing her hair over her shoulder, evidently smacking Monty in the face “Do you mind?” he snarls, running his own hands through his wet red locks, a soft smirk raises to her lips as she crossed her arms.

“Not really.” before he could even start, she side steps and lets him run into a prop tree, she shakes her head before taking her hat back from the security guard, giving them a kind smile “Thank you for looking after it.” she says, placing her hat back on top of her head.

“It was no problem.” she nods then tips her hat to them.

“Then I’ll see you when I see you.” she waves them goodbye before leaving Monty Golf to return to the daycare, that was until the lights turned off. She sighs to herself, placing her hands on her hips when the power was converted to the charging stations, so now Moon was out and about, if he was fully charged, that is “Alright, sweetheart, where are you?” she was going to track him down until she heard his iconic sinister giggle.

“My starshine, why are you all the way over here?” she giggled to herself when he lowered himself from the ceiling, wrapping his body around her shoulders and leaning his head against hers.

“Hello to you too, moonlight.” she coos, cupping his cheek and returning the affection “It’s good to see you up and about.” he hums at that, letting her walk around for a bit instead of immediately returning to the daycare.

“While we’re on the topic, why weren’t you in the daycare? Both Sunny and I were a little upset when we woke up and didn’t see you.”

“I had business with Monty so I thought I would drop by while you two were resting, I didn’t think I would have been there as long as I was, but I guess that was because he needed my help cleaning out the ponds.” he raised a brow at that.

“Why would he need your help?” she places a finger on her cheek.

“I’m waterproof as well.”

“You’re what?!” she laughs when she could hear both Sun and Moon’s voices clash together “Why didn’t you tell us?” she hums, grabbing a few strands of her hair and twirling them around her finger.

“You never asked, and the opportunity never arose for me to get wet.” she pulls a face when she could tell that he was pouting as he hung off her shoulder, she shook her head as she lifted his head up to press a subtle kiss on his cheek, this was enough to get him to perk up “Stop being so pouty, though it does make you cute.” she giggles softly when she saw him turn red, his already permanent smile on his face stretching wider as he covered his face with his hands.

“Mm… you’re making me lose all my man cred.” she laughs wholeheartedly at that, placing a hand on her chest to settle herself.

“I can’t believe you just said that, the children have been influencing you in a bad way.”

“That I agree with.”

[a few days later]

“And that’s the last of them.” [F/N] hums, waving the last family goodbye before turning around to see Sundrop already cleaning up. She pumps her fists together and glances back at Sundrop, he noticed her gaze and happily waved his hand, she returned the gesture with a softer wave and kind smile. Operation renovation is now a go, she glances over at the door to the daycare and there she saw Monty ready to play his part “Now all that’s left is—”

“[F/N]!” she lets out a shout of surprise at the loud voice, she looks over and sees that it was Chica who threw open the door to the daycare, evidently throwing Monty to the ground since he was in her way “There you are sugar cube, I need your help.” Sundrop was confused as to why Chica needed help from HIS Daycare Assistant and was ready to question her but his mechanical heart dropped when he saw [F/N] smile and give her a thumbs up.

“Right, you needed help with your baking, right?” Chica nods her head, a happy smile on her face.

“That’s right, I hope I’m not being a bother.”

“Nonsense, you asked me in advance, so I must comply.” Sundrop was immediately by her side, wrapping his arms around her waist and sulking into her back.

“But you’re supposed to be helping me in the daycare.” he whined, she smiles softly, pressing a hand to his back and soothingly rubbed his back.

“I know, but I already promised Chica the night before.” she exhales softly when he wasn’t letting up, only tightening his grip on her “… when I come back, I’ll have a surprise ready for you and for the rest of the night I’ll spend it with you and Moon, how does that sound?” this caused a reaction out of him, he unravelled his arms from her so she turned around and knelt down, holding his hands in her own as he looked up at her.

“You promise?” she nods her head.

“I promise.” she boops his nose and he giggles at the action “I’ll be as fast as I can.” his hands reached out to hers when she slipped out of his grip, she pats his head before leaving with Chica in tow. She waves him goodbye and when she closed the door to the daycare, both herself and Chica press their backs to the wall.

“That was close.” Chica says, glancing up at [F/N] “He was reluctant in letting you go.” she shrugs her shoulders, a sheepish smile on her face.

“He loves me, what can you do?” Chica coos at that, cupping her cheeks when she noticed a soft blush rise to her cheeks “Alright, enough on that. You’re up, Monty.” he miraculously appears, saluting her with a grin.

“On it, cher.” she nods.

“Update me on what happens.” he nods once more before the two female animatronics dash away, he runs both hands through his hair then straightens his star sunglasses out.

“Show time.”

[with [f/n] and chica]

“How did you manage to find another way into the Daycare Attendant’s room? I thought that balcony was the only way.” [F/N] waves her hand as the two of them approach a poster.

“I was going through Parts and Service for a couple things when I found a blueprint of the entire facility, and there I found a secret entrance to his room.” Chica nods her head and quietly watches her approach the poster, Chica smiles sadly when she recognised that poster as the one that promoted the various plays Foxy would have… she really missed him “Dang it, it’s not opening.” she grumbles.

“How did you open it before?” she crosses her arms.

“I had to use the Faz Cam and use the flash on various posters of the four on the poster, quite frustrating because it messes with our eyes at the same time.” she pushes at the poster once more before throwing her hands down when it didn’t budge, Chica was going to make a suggestion but pulled her hands back when [F/N] kicked the door down “Hah, that was much easier and less time consuming.”

“… right.” they walk down the long hallway and when they reached the door at the end, [F/N] opened the door and Chica lets out a sad gasp, raising her hands to cover her beak “Oh, sweet pea…” the other animatronic nods her head sadly.

“Now do you understand why I’m doing this?” Chica nods her head.

“You’ve got a heart of gold.”

“If I had a heart.” Chica laughed with a scoff, shoving her forward.

“You know what I mean!” they both laugh until [F/N] ushered Chica out so she can clean, telling the girl to go to the kitchen in case Sun or possibly Moon go and check if they’re really there, she hopes not. She peeks her head out through the curtains and there she saw Monty talking with Sun who looked less enthusiastic then usual. Monty noticed [F/N] from the corner of his eye and signalled her a thumbs up, she gave him a grateful smile then returned the gesture before going back into Sun’s room to clean it up.

“So, Sundrop,” Monty pulls a face when Sundrop blatantly ignored him, his shoulders dropped “what’s up with you and [F/N]? You two are awfully handsy, aren’t cha?” Monty noticed Sundrop freeze up, the items he had in his arms were immediately disregarded and dropped to the floor with a clatter, his head turning around to stare Monty down and his body following suit.

“Oh, [F/N]? She’s a real doll, ain’t she? What’s there not to love about her?!” Monty was soon pulled into an extremely long conversation about [F/N], though he did like her himself in a friendly/motherly way, the way Sundrop talked about her nonstop was making his ears bled.

“Just bring me up in a conversation and I promise you, my sunbite will be talking nonstop.” Monty scoffed, crossing his arms.

“That’s a little narcissistic, don’t you think?” she huffs, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m just saying, it’s an amazing conversation started with him.” he lets out a silent groan, taking a seat on the ground while slapping a hand onto his face and dragging it down.

‘Dammit, I hate it when she’s right.’ she giggles when she saw the face he was making from where she was, already knowing what he was thinking. She didn’t waste any of them time that was given to her and cleaned up the room to the best of her abilities, questioning why there was a dismantled staff bot in pieces in their room but decided to leave it at that and just throw it down the hallway. She kept all the drawings and stuffed toys in their area along with other items that seemed to have some significant meaning in to Sun. If she had a human nose and eyes, she would have be left in a coughing and sneezing fit from the amount of dust and dirt the room had, it was revolting.

“How could management do this to poor sunny? After everything he’s done as the Daycare Attendant.” she shakes her head and continues to clean his room, when she managed to get it in order, she pulled in the things that she swiped from around the Pizza Plex to decorate his room.

“How long do you think you’re gonna be, cher?” she perks up at the sound of Monty’s voice “Sure, he’s been talking about you for nearly two hours and a half, but I think he’s running out of things to say. Give me something else to talk about with him!” she sighs, she quietly puts down the box in her hand and takes a peek through his curtains once more and saw that Sundrop was running out of things to blabber about her.

“Hmm… talk about glitter glue or the children. He’s quite obsessed with that.” Monty pulls a face.

“The glue or the children?” he looks up at her and sees her wink, he grumbles, she ducks away and Monty looked back at Sundrop when he raised his head “A little birdy told me that you like glitter glue, hah, what color?” he was seriously regretting taking this favor, she just shook her head when she heard Sundrop cheer happily about how good glitter glue taste… wait, taste? She is going to need to sit him down for that. She stands proudly at her almost finished masterpiece, she just needed to add a few little things and she’ll be done. She picked up the box of glow in the dark items and trudges over to the makeshift tent she set up but cursed to herself when her legs got caught in a loose sheet.

“Oh shit!” she shouts before collapsing to the ground, both Monty and Sundrop jolt up at the loud noise.

“What was that?” Sundrop questioned, standing up and looking over at the balcony that led to his room “Is someone… in my room?” Monty noticed the panicked look on his face and the sudden urgency to go check what that was took over his system.

“Oh shit, whatever you did cher, it’s got his attention!”

“Then distract him, you lousy gator!” he growls, he looks for anything that could get his attention and talking to him wasn’t going to do anything anymore, soon enough the memory of [F/N] telling him that Sundrop will drop everything to clean up a mess came to mind. Sundrop was in the middle of calling down the cable when he heard something clatter, turning around, he let out gasp when he saw that it was Monty kicking down the pile of blocks.

“Whoops.”

“Ah! Oh, no! What a mess! Clean up, clean up!” Monty lets out a breath when he noticed that Sundrop rushed over to clean up the mess.

“You better almost be finished, because I don’t know how long I can keep him distract like this.”

“I know, I’m almost done!” she rushes to stand up and clean up the mess she made and put the items she dropped in the places they were supposed to go, meanwhile, Sundrop was growing more and more agitated with the constant mess Monty would make just as he cleaned the last one. A visible tick mark appeared on his forehead when Monty threw a table, the contents that were on said table fell to the ground with a clatter.

“What is your problem, Monty?!” he shouts, in return, he grumbles under his breath when Monty merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Butter fingers.” he pinches the bridge of his nose as he inhales deeply.

“You know what? Forget it, you’re wasting my time.” a panicked look immediately washed onto his face when Sundrop gave up cleaning up the messes and called down the cable once more.

‘Cher hasn’t told me if she was done yet, and I don’t think he’s going to respond to anything I do anymore!’ he tried to tackle him down but fell short when Sundrop was lifted off the ground and now flew over to the balcony that led to his room to investigate the noise “Oh no.” Sundrop grumbles under his breath as he pulls the curtains back to see what could possibly be in his room but his body completely froze up at the sight,

“I wonder how this looks…” he turned his head and there he saw [F/N] leaning side to side to get a good angle of the stuff toy of Moon that was sitting on a little box in a corner dedicated to all the drawings and gifts the both of them had gotten from the children. She then shook her head and grabbed the toy, however, she looked at it longer and even caressed it with the back to her hand “I really do hope you and Sun like what I’ve don—”

“Starshine?”

“Kyaah!!” she screamed in absolute fright, not expecting to hear his voice, and even threw the toy in the air, to which Sundrop caught before it hit the ground. She whipped her head around and she was surprised it didn’t snap off with how brutal it was, when she saw Sundrop her jaw dropped before she looked outside the opening to the balcony “Montgomery! You had one job! One!” from where he was laying, he pushed himself up and gave her a look.

“I did what I could, dammit! And I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen!” she lets out a sigh, slapping a hand onto her face.

“Lousy gator…” she looked down at Sundrop and saw that he was looking around his newly improved room, she couldn’t really tell if he liked it or not, he was quiet and it was scaring her “Sur… surprise! Well, it’s not really a surprise because you came in before I could finish, but it’s the thought that counts, no? Um, I know you didn’t want me to ever come in here, but I had to when you were on low power and I needed to put you on charge, and when I saw the state of your room I thought I could give it a touch up. I hope you and Moon don’t mind…” she grew even more nervous when he still hadn’t spoken yet, curiously leaning side to side to try and see if a reaction out of hill

…

…

“Nnngh…” her eyes opened in shock when she heard a whimper come out of his voice box, she gasps when black tears of oil start leaking out of the cracks of his eyes “You did this… all for us?” she nods her head and that was enough for him to burst out into a crying fit.

“O-Oh, do you not like it? Was it wrong of me to change your room up?” she stumbles back a little when he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her neck, kicking his legs back and forth as he dug his face into her neck.

“How could I not like it? I absolutely love it!” he pulls away as he hands hold his waist to keep him from falling, he sniffles as he gives her a tearful smile “This is one of the loveliest things anyone has ever done for me— for us. We would be fools if we didn’t love what you’ve done.” Sundrop’s brows perk up when he saw her face turn a light shade of red as she started overheating, he giggles softly when he heard her fans whirl to cool her down.

“O-Oh, is that so? Then I’m glad.” he hums and leans into her body once more and she didn’t hesitate to return the affection, she then thrusts a thumbs up through the curtain, Monty notices and returns the gesture. She soon puts him down and shows him what she’s done to his room. Not only did she clean it to the point there wasn’t a speck of dust, she managed to set up some wallpaper that matched both his and Moon’s aesthetic. She set up a tent that was similar to her own in the daycare as his resting place that was filled with pillows, toys and blankets with stars and planets that hung from top of it. She even set up fairy lights around the room and tent, she even made a spot that was dedicated to all the gifts he and Moon got from the children, his face grew red when he noticed the one of him and her surrounded by hearts.

“This is so lovely, thank you, [F/N].” she smiles brightly before lighting up in remembrance.

“I almost forgot!” she exclaims, his face drops slightly when she raised her hand and reached over to the light switch, she noticed his change in mood so she raised her other hand to gently grab his hand “I know you didn’t get to marvel as long as you wanted, but this little feature I added needs the lights to be off, and wouldn’t it be fair for my moonlight to get to have his turn to see his new room, my sunbite?” he pouts but nods nonetheless.

“I guess.” she smiles and presses a kiss to his cheek, this was enough to get him to comply.

“Thank you.” she continued to hold his hand as she flicked the light off, when Moondrop came to be, he looked around in awe at the new room before letting out an oh when [F/N] pulled him forward while pointing upwards “Look up.” he does so and gasps softly when she managed to decorate the ceiling with stars that glowed in the dark.

“Starshine…” he whispers, she leaned down slightly, nuzzling her cheek against his.

“Do you like my surprise?” he chuckles, looking up at her with a bright smile.

“What’s there not to like?” she giggles sheepishly when he wrapped his arms around her neck and proceeds to kiss her, she hums into the kiss as she stumbles back into the tent, her back falling into the plush pillows. He laid on top of her as he pulled away, she hums softly as she brushes his cheek with the back of her knuckles, Moon purrs as he takes her hand into his “We love you, our gorgeous star.”

“And I love you two, my twin jesters.”

Headcanons:

they had to open the daycare a little later than usual because they overslept, but also because sun was looking at everything new in their new room.

sun had practically begged [f/n] to move her tent into their room so they could be roomies, plus he just wanted her to be closer to them.

as promised for his work, for three months, [f/n] complied with all his wishes and practically kicked his ass when it came down to rough housing and monty golf.

she won against him for sun and moon.

they cheered like the wonderful boyfriends they are.

sun and moon try to return the favor by adding trinkets to her side of their room.

she would return to her tent and find drawings of the three of them together, and it would make her day.

sometimes she would find a stuffed toy of an jellyfish.

there were no toys made for her so when she asked where they go it from, they admitted that they asked chica to teach them how to sew.

she cried and hugged the toy close.

the stuffed jellyfish was added to the collection of gifts, placed in between the sun and moon plush toys.

sometimes neither side would sleep in their respective tents.

meaning, moon would pull out the pillows and blankets and place them in between the tents so they could snuggle together.

it always did comfort sun waking up in [f/n]’s arms.

parts and service appreciated the fact that [f/n] was sun and moon’s anchor, especially moon, because now moon spent every night with her instead of wondering around the pizza plex and destroying bots.

the daycare has never been more brighter.

Rose

word count: 12,698

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Robin Buckley x Female!Harrington!Reader   Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Romantic Occupation: University Student Ability: N/A

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name [L/N]: Last Name [N/N]: Nickname [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: n/a

this was requested by my friend @unparalleled-slothy​ and her friend @puresass​, so you can go thank them for giving me enough inspiration to write something.

this is going to be if billy and [f/n] didn’t die or get possessed by the mind flayer, so an overall happy ending for those poor unfortunate souls.

I know this is way past valentine’s day but I don’t give a shit, I was just lazy.

that is all.

Ah, valentines the day.

The day where you celebrate love, whether it may be with your significant other or rather suffering in utter loneliness because you have no significant other. A holiday where the price of stuffed toys, a bundle of flowers and chocolate have doubled in price because they can do that. This was the first year [F/N] was going to spend Valentine’s Day with her actual lover, her beautiful girlfriend Robin Buckley, that wasn’t just some on and off fling but a girl she genuinely had a relationship with. Someone she almost loved just as much as her brother— almost, but she still had a place deep within her heart. Sure, [F/N] still had university to worry about but what’s a few missed days? Besides, she’s paid a few of her friends/classmates to take notes for her so when she returns she doesn’t flunk so hard.

Steve himself was just as excited for Valentine’s Day as [F/N] was, this time he was going to spend it with Billy. This was something new for the both of them, not so much Steve, but spending the holiday with another boy, yes. Steve’s heart was filled with so much love, he was ready to shower it all onto Billy, but he knew better than to overwhelm the blonde. Learning from him, he knew that Billy was starved of affection and was slowly getting used to Steve’s lingering touches, so he knew he had to hold back. Steve and [F/N] both had a plan for their lovers, they had all day to play and get their surprise ready for them, especially since neither one of them had school to attend and Steve was taking a day off from Family Video just to prepare.

“So what do you have in store for Hargrove, Stevie?” [F/N] asks, both herself and Steve lounging about outside by the pool despite the weather, a cold beer in her hand as they stared up at the dark sky above them “He’s told me he’s excited for what you have planned out, basically pleading with me to spare some details.” she hums to herself when she saw an excited grin stretch across his cheeks.

“Do you remember how lover’s lake has the best view after dark?” she nods her head, tilting her head back to take a swig of her drink “That’s exactly where I’m going to take him where the two of us are going to enjoy a night dinner under the stars.” her face lights up, snapping her fingers in his direction.

“Oh, I see. Are you planning it so that the stars reflect against the water?” he nods his head, snapping his fingers in her direction.

“Exactly that, sister dearest.” [F/N] applauds him for his creative idea, he sniffles softly and tilts his drink in her direction to gesture for her to speak her idea then took a drink “What about you? Robin has been begging me to spill what you’re gonna do with her.” [F/N] grinned, her couldn’t help but roll his eyes when he recognised that mischievous grin.

“You’re just gonna have to wait and see, my dear little brother.” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you’re planning, I bet it’s got something that could potentially get you in jail.” she laughs whilst throwing her head back.

“Please, I’ve been to jail too many times to count that it doesn’t even matter to me anymore!” he couldn’t help but stare at her, whether it be with disappointment or disbelief, it wouldn’t matter to her so he tilts his head back and takes a longer gulp of his alcoholic beverage.

And that’s where [F/N] found herself outside of Robin’s house on Valentine’s Day morning, she drove slowly down her street as to not alert the entire street that she was there, especially not Robin. Pulling up just a couple houses down to her house she eyes it closely then nods to herself, no one seemed to be awake in the Buckley Residence so now was her time. She drums her hands against the stirring wheel before leaning over to the passenger side to grab a rose from the bouquet, along with a small box of chocolates. Her plan was to deliver her a rose from the bouquet along with a treat to Robin throughout the entire day until Robin collects all the roses and completes the bouquet, then at the very end of school she would pull up and take her on a sweet date, then to finish it off they were going to watch one of Robin’s favorite movies then cuddle their way to sleep.

She nods to herself. Yes, such a splendid plan. Lacing her fingers together and cracking them, she hastily makes her way over to Robin’s window that she would always climb to secretly get into her room. What a Harrington trait, huh? Her window was a little high, but she always kept the window open no matter the weather. Well, snow days were an exception but they were their favorite cause they could get away with spending the entire day in bed snuggling. Tucking the box of chocolates into her pocket and putting the rose into her mouth, she takes a step back, then leapt up to grab onto the edge of her windowsill then proceeded to push herself up until she was able to reach into Robin’s room. With that, she spat the rose into her hand and gently placed it down on the windowsill followed by the box of chocolates. Glancing up, she smiled softly yet brightly at the sight of her sweet little birdie sleeping peacefully. She wished she could stay longer; she wished she had a bit of time to give her girlfriend and kiss on the forehead but the sound of her door handle jiggling caused [F/N] to panic and lose her balance, evidently falling backwards and onto the ground.

*THUD*

“Ah, hmm…?” Robin let out a tired groan when her door was open. Taking a peek from out of her pillow, she saw her mother standing over her with a kind smile on her face “Argh, mum…. let me sleep.” she giggles softly at Robin, watching her daughter turn her head back into her pillow to bury her face further into the plush cotton.

“Now, now, Robin. You can’t just sleep in today.” she laughs this time when Robin groaned louder “Today’s a special day.”

“Friday?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s valentine’s day. And this year, you don’t have to spend it alone.” this was enough to get Robin to push herself up, her mother was laughing cheerfully now at the state of her daughter. Her short hair was a mess and sticking out in all sorts of places with some drool dribbling out of the corner of her mouth “If you finish your school day quicker, you might get to spend some time with that girl you love so much.” Robin’s face quickly turned a shade of red.

“Mum!” she groans out “You know it isn’t like that.” this caused her to roll her eyes.

“Right, like I don’t see the way you look at her each time she comes to pick you up and drop you off.” she leans down and gently pats her head “No matter how hard you try to hide it, my sweet daughter, your father and I will love you, regardless. Just remember that, Robin.” she then presses a kiss to her forehead, proceeded to ruffle her hair with a soft chuckle, and finally left Robin to wake up and get ready for school. She tosses her head back to shake the loose strands out of her face and in the corner of her eyes she notices the deep shade of red sitting on her desk. Standing to her feet, she gasped softly at the sight of a rose next to a box of chocolates, she giggles lovingly at the sight and picks them up, only then to notice a small note attached to the chocolates.

’good morning birdie,

I hope you had a good sleep, thought you might like a little gift to start your morning. There is plenty to come throughout the day, so forgive me that I do not come to take you to school for I have much to prepare for the evening. But I want you to know that it will be worth the wait, so enjoy your day and wait, you shall be greatly rewarded for your patience.

from yours truly, [f/n] harrington~❤️’

Robin could feel her cheeks already starting to hurt from hood big of a smile she wore on her face, she quickly peeks out of the window to try to at least catch her while she was leaving but frowned softly when she couldn’t see her mustang nor did she hear it when it left. Well, this was enough to know that [F/N] didn’t forget, so she nods her head and gets ready for the day, very excited to learn what her girlfriend had in store for them. Little did she know, [F/N] was beneath her outside the whole time. She laid completely still when she saw Robin stick her head out in search for her, then relaxed when she disappeared.

“How long are you going to be lying there, Harrington?” not even looking up to the owner of the voice, she raised her hand in greeting.

“Good morning to you too, Mr Buckley.” he nods to himself when he looked up from where she potentially fell from then back down at her. He kneels down and gently knocks on her forehead.

“Don’t do anything too frivolous, young lady. She’s still in high school while you’re a university student.” [F/N] nods her head and salutes him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.” he hums at her, nodding his head.

“Glad you understand.” she was a little startled when he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her up slightly but enough so that they were face to face “But if I hear that you did something to her, to my daughter, you’ll have to answer to me. I don’t give a damn if you’re a woman or not, I’m still that girl’s father and I’m going to treat anyone she brings home the same way until they understand that my daughter is not to be messed with, got it?” [F/N] rapidly nods her head.

“Yes sir, I understands sir.”

“I’m happy we could have this conversation. Now run along. I don’t want her getting the wrong idea.” she nods her head and hurries off the moment he let her go, he stood outside the driveway sand watched her flee to her car, hand on his hip with a cup of coffee in his other hand “… that girl’s dead the moment she breaks my girls heart.” [F/N] now found herself trying to hide her car as she pulled up to Hawkins High School and how she was able to pull it off, she didn’t know, she was just that skilled. Sneaking into Hawkins High wasn’t too hard, trying not to get recognised as one of the most notorious student from a few of her old teachers was almost a little tricky, but blending in with a few students made it easier for her to slither past them. The hallways of Hawkins High were littered with hearts, banners saying “happy valentines day” and other shit like that, barf, this school was always quite the try hard when celebrating all sorts of holidays. Her next mission was to find Robin’s locker, and with the help of Billy and even Wheeler senior, she somewhat knows where it is.

“They said it should be around… here!” [F/N] made sure that no one was looking when she proceeded to break into her locker, cracking open a lock wasn’t hard for her, she’s opened up a bunch of lockers when she was still attending this shithole for a school. She grinned when the lock sprung open so with a smug grin and whistle she opened the locker and was greeted with the sight of Robin’s stuff, she did double check to see it was hers and pulled out of her duffel bag the next rose, a box of treats with a note and a trinket from Robin’s favorite book series. Hmm, she wonders what sort of face Robin will make when she sees thi—

“[F/N]?” she lets out a shriek at the sound of her name, slamming the locker door shut and whipping her head over in the direction of the voice, though, she was greatly surprised to see who it was “What are you doing here?”

“Eddie? What are you STILL doing here?” Eddie Munson, [F/N]’s longtime best friend since her last year of middle school and throughout high school up till her last year where she graduated and left Hawkins to study out of state. She was greatly surprised to see Eddie, who was her age, at Hawkins himself. Shouldn’t he be out and about making a name for himself outside of Hawkins, away from this shitty town that thought he was nothing more than a freak? She stared at him closer before making a face of disappointment, Eddie’s face scrunched up when he recognised it “You dumb bitch, were you held back again?” Eddie pulls a face before raising a hand.

“Don’t avoid the question.” she scoffs at him, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms “I don’t see a reason for you to be here, on Valentine’s Day of all days. I thought you’d be out and about getting into any girl’s pants to satisfy your loneliness.”

“Ah hahaha, very funny. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make jokes on my loneliness. Thank you very much.” she sighed when he made a gesture for her to continue, for her to explain what the hell she was doing there when she had absolutely no business being there in the first place, she sighed as she scratched her cheek “Well… I’m visiting someone.” he raised a brow.

“Visiting someone? Who?” before she could answer, Eddie let out a yelp when she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him away and out of sight while also kicking her bag away. She held him close as she pressed herself into the wall behind her while he pressed his hands on either side of her head, their legs in between each other while they were face to face. Eddie was going to ask for her drastic reaction but paused when he saw her lean forward to peek past the lockers that were hiding them from the owner of the locker she broke in to. He leaned back and his eyes widened softly at who he saw. Robin Buckley? That band weirdo? No, it couldn’t be. He goes to make a joke when he turned back to look at [F/N] but paused when he saw that genuine look of love on her face that was only ever reserved for Steve and sometimes him and his group of friends, but this look? This look was new, she sighed lovingly as she draped her arms over his shoulders and rested her head on the side of his as she stared at Robin with a lovesick gaze. Her face brightened when she saw the rose she gave Robin that morning tucked into the breast pocket of her jacket, heh, the jacket she stole the year prior.

Robin was in a good mood that morning, seeing [F/N] definitely would have made it better, but she would have to settle for the surprise she had for her that afternoon. Steve was the one to pick her up that morning, but she sat in the backseat, leaving the front seat reserved for his boyfriend Billy. She drowned out their chatter for their afternoon date out and focussed solely on getting through the day as quickly as she could so she could see [F/N], oh, how she was graving to see her girlfriend right then and there. Pulling up to the school, she quickly gave her goodbye to Steve and Billy and rushed into the school, gagging out the few students who didn’t have enough decency to tongue fuck each other behind closed doors. She practically had to shove some random girl talking to her boyfriend because they were in front of her locker, she scoffed as she puts in the code to her lock then opens her locker, face brightening up to find another rose, chocolate and a gift inside.

’hi songbird,

Did you see the gift I left you? It’s a little trinket from one of your favorite book series you love talking about. I saw it in a shop and managed to buy it. It was the last in stock so I was quite lucky to snag it. Have a good day at school, Robin. Don’t slack off just because we’re doing something this afternoon. Love you~

From yours truly, your girlfriend~❤️’

Aw~ look at the face she was making. Her face was turning redder by the second! Ah hah, she’s hugging the note! Look, she’s grabbing the little trinket and putting it in her pocket. She likes it. She fully melts into the embrace she pulled Eddie into, her arms now wrapping around him as her head slouched into the crook of his neck, sighing dreamily as she watched Robin pick up the rose and add it to the first one inside her pocket. The moment Robin was out of sight [F/N] finally managed to collect herself and acknowledge Eddie, only to freeze up when he was staring at her with a suggestive expression.

“So… Buckley~” she scoffed at him, he laughed when he saw her face turn pink from embarrassment “I didn’t know you were into band nerds.” he burst out into laughter when she peeled herself off of him and pushed him away.

“Coming from a band nerd himself, loser.” they stare at each other this time before grinning at each other and grabbing each other by the hand, a loud clap echoing through the hallway the moment they grasped each other’s hands “So, you finally found the one that captured your heart. Do you love her just as much as you love your brother?” [F/N] pulls a face, tilting her head side to side before shrugging.

“She’s a close second place.” he scoffs.

“Dude, no.” she laughs with a shrug.

“She understood what she was getting herself into the moment she accepted to be my girlfriend, but I do tend to treat her with extra love.” with that she winked and blew him a kiss, he jokingly caught it then threw it in a nearby trashcan, she let out a gasp at his audacity “Anyways, think you know what class she has first? I wanna leave another rose.” Eddie lets out a breath as he looks down at his wrist to check the time.

“I don’t think you have enough time to do that, the bells about to—” the bell rung before he could finish, she let out a sigh at that “Welp, you better leave before you get in trouble. I, myself, have math class to attend.” [F/N] throws her head back with a laugh.

“Damn, math was never your strongest suit. Be well, soldier!” she salutes him and planned to leave but was stopped when a teacher appeared, it would’ve been bad if the teacher recognised her, it was awful because this teacher didn’t recognize her and thought she was a student.

“Oh, trying to ditch school, are you? With Mister Munson, no less.” [F/N] paused in her tracks, glancing back at Eddie then back at the teacher while pointing at herself, the teacher let out a sigh “Yes, you. Goodness, students these days. You think you can just avoid class to fool around because it’s Valentine’s Day, don’t you? Well, I’ve got news for you kiddos, you gotta suck it up and wait for the end of school so get to it!” [F/N] was then grabbed roughly by her arm, along with Eddie, and the two of them were dragged to math class. Eddie was giggling softly to himself as he and [F/N] sat at the back of the classroom, she herself had an incredulous look on her face that screamed she wanted to die. She glanced at him and gave him a glare, telling him to shut the fuck up, but he knew well and just ignored the way she was staring daggers into his eyes. A few other students attending that class were staring at the two in confusion, especially at [F/N] because they didn’t recognize who the fuck she was, the few juniors that were around when she reigned supreme in Hawkins as the fallen queen, were extra confused as to why she was there.

“Now students, I’d like for you to take out your textbooks and flip to the page that we were working on last week.” [F/N] scratched her eyebrow as she watched the lot of students do as they were told, she wanted to slap Eddie when she could feel him smirking at her as he pulled out his textbook that he would usually leave dormant in the bottom of his bag.

“Why am I here? I’m a goddamn university student, for crying out loud.” she let out a groan when her plans to leave gifts for Robin were stopped by this stupid teacher, dumb bitch. Whilst writing down a few problems on the blackboard, the teacher turned to observe the class but huffed when she saw that student she saw outside in the hallway, not paying attention. What irked her even more was that she had nothing on her desk and she looked quite bored, for heaven’s sake, even Eddie Munson has his book out and was at least writing something down “Is there a problem, young lady?” [F/N] glanced up when she spoke, looking around in confusion once more before pointing at herself.

“Me?” [F/N] asked, this caused the teacher to sigh.

“Yes, you. You have nothing out while the rest of the class is taking down notes. Is this class boring to you?” the young student had the audacity to yawn, she sniffled to herself as she proceeded to get comfortable.

“Boring? Oh no, it’s just calculus is quite easy.” she spares Eddie a glance “And I’m not sure why you’re attending this class when it’s quite difficult for the way your brain thinks.” Eddie shrugs.

“Have to pass it if I want to graduate.” he winces when she slapped his knee.

“Then fucking pay attention instead of sketching your D&D characters, numb nuts.” the two of them then proceeded to slap each other. The teacher has enough and slams her book shut.

“Well then, young lady. If this class is SO easy for you, you wouldn’t mind answering the few questions on the board, now would you?” [F/N] briefly looks away from Eddie to see the question. True or False, the graph of f(x) and that of f(x + 2) are the same, she rolled her eyes.

“False. The graph of f(x + 2) is that of f(x) shifted 2 units to the left.” the teacher was a little taken aback at the quick response, she quickly looks through the answers and exhales sharply when she was indeed, correct.

“Alright, what about the second one?” another true or false, the equation x = | y | , with x >= 0, represents y as a function of x.

“False again. Solve for y to find that y = | x | or y = -| x |; for one value of the independent variable x we have two values of the dependent variable y.” [F/N] chuckled with a smirk, now ignoring Eddie in favor of the teacher, leaning back in her seat and resting her face a top of her knuckles, her legs crossed over each other with her free hand tapping against the desk “Is that all you’ve got, ma’am?”

“Alright, fine.” pulling out a book of parametric equations, the teacher was quick to jot down the first question she saw. Eddie spared his friend a glance and saw she was eyeing down the question as the teacher went, in the parametric equation, x = 8 cos At, y = 8 sin At, 0 ⩽ t ⩽ 2π,​ how does A affect the circle as A changes? The teacher turns to face [F/N] the moment she finished, she didn’t spare her a look as she continued to look at the question, continuously muttering under her breath as she drew little equations in the air “Do you have an answer?” she didn’t like the smirk she wore on her face.

“I do.” lacing her fingers together she pushed them out and heard them crack under the soft pressure, she then rolled her fingers then opened her hand out “Eliminating t, x² + y² = cos², At + sin² At = 1, which is still a circle with radius 11 and center at the origin.” the teacher quickly looks through the book for the answer, in disbelief that she was able to solve that question without even needing to write it down, she was taken aback when she was correct.

“And your working out?”

“If we have A = 1/2 A = 2/1​, (x,y) = (cos⁡1/2 t, sin⁡1/2t), i.e. as t ranges from 0 to 2π, 2π, the equation starts at (1,0) (1,0) and stops at (−1,0) (−1,0). This means that it goes halfway through the circle. So A governs the rate at which the equation traces out a circle. Similarly, if A = 2, A = 2, the equation moves twice around the circle.” she winks upon finishing, holding her hand out towards Eddie, who promptly slapped his hand down for a loud high five. She wasn’t valedictorian for nothing, always at the top of her classes without properly needing to pay attention to anything, she really only graduated out of spite “Like I said, ma’am, calculus is quite easy.” [F/N] smirks when the teacher turned red, rather it be from anger or embarrassment, both outcomes were hilarious as she stormed out of the room. 

“Dang, you really made her angry.” Eddie murmured, she just shrugged as she dug her hand into her pocket, pulling out a flask.

“It’s her own fault for picking on me.” she unscrews the cap and takes a long swig, letting out a shudder as the sting of alcohol went down her throat, whining softly when he took the flask from her and chugged some alcohol down as well.

“You still haven’t lost your touch, have you?” she shakes her head.

“Nope.” [F/N] takes her flask back from Eddie to take another swig but paused when she saw a teacher she did recognise and they definitely recognised her, Eddie notices her gaze when she abruptly stands to her feet “I’ve got to go.” she grabs her duffle back and makes a break for it, she throws her bag through an open window before proceeding to throw herself out, letting out an oof when she landed on the ground with a thud. Everyone in the classroom watched as she sprung up, snickering amongst each other when they saw a bunch of leaves and twigs in her hair.

“You good, Harrington?” [F/N] blinked at him, then gave him a thumbs up.

“Spectacular.” she ducks down when the teacher she knew made an appearance, she briefly peeked through the window to mouth out “drama room” to him, he understood and gave her a thumbs up. She grinned softly and ducked away once more, scurrying out of view, then ran full speed to where the drama room was. She runs past a classroom but came to a stop when she saw someone, she briefly walks backwards, then ducks out of sight when she managed to find Robin’s class. A big grin appeared on her face when she saw her, peeking out from the bottom edge of the window to look at Robin. She hummed softly, giggling when she saw the look of absolute boredom on her face. She spares at glance at her duffle bag and smirks softly. Robin was at the verge of yawning during her time in history. The teacher was going on about something that was going through one ear and straight out the other. She was fiddling with the small trinket [F/N] got for her when she felt something hit her on the side of the head, she turned in the direction it came from but the sight of a deep shade of red caught her attention. She raised a brow in confusion when she saw that it was a rose, but where on earth did it come from? Sure Robin had no clue where it came from but [F/N] couldn’t help but smile blissfully, she nod to herself and ducked down once more than scrambled away to the drama room.

And that brings us to…

“Eddie said he wanted to discuss an upcoming campaign, said it was important.” Jeff murmurs softly as he, Gareth and Nathan walked to the drama room with the lingering first years following closely behind them. Glancing back at them over his shoulder, he couldn’t help but think back to the time where he and the other three used to follow behind Eddie and [F/N] during their first year, the two of them were full of so much confidence it was almost envious, though Eddie was the bark and [F/N] was the bite, a very dangerous duo “Don’t understand why he couldn’t talk about it during lunch in the cafeteria.” Gareth sighed.

“And where is he now?” Nathan crossed his arms with a scoffed.

“He got held back in English, he flunked on an assessment Mrs. O’Donnell assigned and she wanted to talk to him.” this caused all three of them to shake their head “At this rate he isn’t graduating, again.” Gareth raised his hand.

“Emphasis on the again.” now they’re all laughing, he then looked back at the first years again and waved his hand to get their attention “You guys are smart, right? Think you can give Eddie some pointers so he can pass SOME of his tests.” Dustin hums, looking up in thought.

“That’s a little tough. We’re all smart in different subjects, Gareth.” Lucas raises a finger.

“And Eddie has a different way of thinking, we all do.” Mike nods his head.

“And to adapt a way to teach Eddie where he can understand what we’re trying to explain to him is a challenge in itself.” he purses his lips “No offences to Eddie.” they all shake their head.

“None taken.” Nathan sighs as they approach the drama room.

“There really was only one person that was able to think down to Eddie’s level, even more so, get Eddie to study.” they think back to the time where on multiple occasions [F/N] was able to explain whatever she was doing and/or studying and explain it in such a detailed way that Eddie was able to follow what she was saying. Her proudest moment was when she managed to tutor him in physics and he got his very first C-, it wasn’t much, but he was better than a lousy F “Where have the days gone.” Nathan adds, a comical tear shedding from his eye.

“Really?” Mike questions, astonished that someone made Eddie STUDY “Who was it?”

“Not anyone you would know, but she’s a graduate and Eddie’s best friend.” Gareth pushes the door to the drama room open as he finishes his sentence, looking up from where he was he was shocked to see who was sitting in Eddie’s prized throne. Upon hearing the door open, [F/N], who was sitting on Eddie’s throne with her legs propped on the table whilst she read a D&D guidebook, looked up to see who it was and was immediately met with shocked looks. The shock quickly morphs into excitement and happiness as the boys cheer upon seeing her, the three first years stare in confusion at what was unfolding. What on earth was Steve’s older sister doing here at school, and why were their three seniors cheering at the sight of her? [F/N] quickly shuts the book and tosses it onto the table, standing onto her feet and throwing her arms into the air.

“Boys!” she cheers happily, she laughs when they copy her.

“[F/N]!” she rushes over to them and doesn’t hesitate to launch herself into Nathan’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and laughed aloud when he started spinning her around. When he put her down she cuddled into him as he squeezed her tight, she then moved on to Jeff and gave him the same bone-crushing hug then left Gareth for last. Since he was shorter compared to Jeff and Nathan, she wrapped her arms around his head while his were around her waist, she laughed as she pulled him close “Gare-bear!” she cooed softly, the two boys behind her laughed at the nickname that she and Eddie used exclusively for Gareth.

“Gare-bear?” Dustin whispered to Lucas, who shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the exchange. Gareth lets out a grunt when she let go of him and instead held him in a headlock, digging her knuckles into his head.

“Dude, [F/N]! Stop that!” Gareth manages to push her off after a couple seconds of torture, she chuckles softly to herself and holds her hand up in front of her “My head hurts, thanks!” she winks at him.

“No problem, Gare-bear.” she hums softly when Nathan places a hand on her shoulder.

“What are you doing here [F/N]? You’re not exactly a high school student anymore.” she gasped, giving them a wounded look as she placed a hand on her chest.

“Am I not allowed to come visit my bestest friends in the whole wide world?” she deadpans when they stare blankly at her, she clicks her tongue and looks away while placing a hand on her hip “Alright, fine. I broke into the school to do some shit, you happy?” Jeff shakes his head.

“Of all the things you could do, especially on valentine’s day, you broke into the school. And here I thought you’d take this opportunity to ask out any unfortunate soul just so you can have your fun with them.” she scoffs at him, now glaring at him and pointing a finger in his face.

“Well unlike you three, y’all are hoeless! From my years of being your friend, I don’t ever remember seeing a girl in your arms!” now it was their turn to look offended, crossing her arms and looking away as they tried giving her every excuse in the book, her brow perked up when she saw Dustin raise his hand to get her attention “Yeah? What’s up little dude?” she questions, raising her own hand to keep Gareth out of her face.

“[F/N]? What are you doing here? And how do you know those three?” she laughs, throwing her head back.

“You seriously don’t know? Wow.” she doesn’t get to answer before Jeff appears from over her shoulder.

“She’s our best friend from back when she attended Hawkins.”

“That’s right! She’s an honorary member of Hellfire and Corroded Coffin.” she nods her head, grin so wide her cheeks started to hurt as she flexed her arm.

“That’s right, I’m one of the original members of Hellfire before I left!” she then let out a sigh, leaning back into Jeff’s chest “Oh, how I miss the good old days.” the four of them then start to talk about anything that came to mind, leaving Dustin, Lucas and Mike to look at each other in disbelief. [F/N], Steve’s older sister, was friends with the members of Hellfire? Does that mean she’s friends with Eddie? If they remembered correctly, [F/N] was at least a year older than Steve, that would make her and Eddie the same age.

“I understand you guys, but what is Eddie still doing in school? How could he flunk school for two years?” Gareth sighs.

“Without you to keep him from getting off track, that moron was pushing his assessments and exams to the side. He focused more on campaigns and his music, you were really the only person that could get Eddie to listen.” she lets out a long groan at the information.

“That damn idiot, I’m not his babysitter. I swear, he’s a dead man.” they all perk up at the sound of the door, [F/N] is cheering again when she saw Eddie enter the room “Eddie!”

“[F/N]!” the two are quick to approach each other, continuously slapping their hands together before grasping their hands together in a tight grip, they both then lean backwards before slamming their foreheads together. They let out dazed snickers, holding their heads after the harsh blow to the head.

“You two are so dumb.” Nathan comments, this caused them to giggle to themselves “Is this what you wanted to talk about, Eddie?” he nod his head, both himself and [F/N] holding each other by the shoulder.

“Yeah, I saw her this morning breaking into a locker and thought I’d keep her a secret for you guys. Did you like the surprise?” the three smile, yeah, they totally liked it.

“But that still doesn’t explain why you’re here in the first place, [F/N].” now [F/N]’s face drops when she felt Eddie smirk at her, before she could do anything to silence him, Eddie covers her mouth with his hand and keeps her locked under his arm as he leaned in close to the three so the three juniors couldn’t hear the private information.

“[F/N]’s got a girlfriend, so she broke into the school to leave her gifts.” Gareth, Jeff and Nathan’s face lit up, both in surprise and joy that [F/N] genuinely found somebody to love. [F/N] was bright pink when she ripped herself out of Eddie’s grip as she stared at them, she was now covering her face when they quickly surrounded her and spoke in hushed tones about who it could be.

“You’ve got a girlfriend? Wow, congratulations, [F/N]!”

“Who is it? Someone we know?”

“When did you meet her?” yeah, the boys knew that she was a lesbian, of course they did. They were the first to know when she realised that she didn’t really feel that sort of attraction towards the male population, she cried in joy when they fully supported her, but it did annoy her when they came to her about advice when it came to picking up ladies because she was still ridiculously good at it. They laugh softly when they saw her look away, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

“I met her last year, at the starcourt mall when I came down to see Stevie.” this caused the four of them to look at each other.

“You were here last year? How come you didn’t come see us first?” she and the three children behind her froze up, but she managed to keep her composure as her mind wandered back to ‘84. They look at her in confusion when she just closed her eyes and smiled at them, not knowing the horrors she faced and how she practically died. She let out a shuddered breath but continued to smile at them, her hand subconsciously lifting up from her side to press against her chest, feeling the rough scar beneath the layers of her clothes.

“Oh, I was just really busy I didn’t have the time to pop in.” she knew they wouldn’t buy the lie but if she wasn’t telling them on purpose, they knew better than to pry, so they left it at that. She lets out a grunt when Jeff wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and giving her a grin.

“Well, we’re happy that we get to see you now. We’ve got to hang out again, just like old times.” they look at her in anticipation, she sighs at the puppy dog eyes staring at her.

“Alright, alright! I’ll make sure i’ve got time so we can hang out.” she laughs when they were all pulled into a group huddle, Eddie and Gareth shouting loudly.

“Woohoo!”

Team Hellfire were now in on the plan.

Gareth, Jeff and Nathan were just as surprised as Eddie to learn that she had fallen head over heels for Robin Buckley. They thought she would have gone for someone like Chrissy Cunningham, and though she was a catch herself, Robin was more of her type. She punched Gareth in the face when he started to tease [F/N] for liking someone like Robin, this caused the other three to hold their tongues if they wanted to keep them. Anyways- they acted like a barrier to hide her from others that could potentially recognise her, she was almost caught when she wasn’t paying attention and Robin appeared from around the corner, the four boys quickly got in front of her and she hid behind Nathan. Robin looked at them, a bead of sweat forming on her cheek when she saw they were acting weird; weirder than usual. She just shook her head and quickly walked by them, tucking her hands into her pockets, she flinched when she felt something. A big smile worked its way onto her face when she saw it was another gift and note, opening the small box, she gasped softly when she saw that it was chain ring. 

’hi robbie,

What do you think of this gift? I saw that you already had one, but what’s more to add to your collection? Besides, you’ll look good in just about anything I give, even more so, I think you’ll look good with not—

Robin quickly closed the note and pressed it to her chest, her face turning different shades of red. She looks around to see if anyone could have potentially have read the provocative note and let out a sigh of relief when no one was particularly close to see the contents, she takes another peek but decides to read it when she’s out of sight. Gareth raised a brow at the reaction Robin gave upon reading the note and looked back at his older friend, sighing softly when he saw that she was hanging off of Nathan’s back, a dopey little grin on her face as she stared dreamily at Robin’s retreating figure. Yup, they can definitely conclude that she had fallen deeply in love with Robin, she didn’t look at anyone like that for just about anybody, this girl was special.

Robin now found herself in band practice, her last hour before school was over and she got to spend her valentine’s day afternoon with [F/N]. Time and time again she got gift after gift, sometimes it was small things like a shiny rock, maybe even a pretty feather, then it ranged to things like rings and necklaces. So far her favourite was a spiked leather jacket, how she managed to sneak that onto her desk without her noticing, she’ll never know. Standing beside her was Vicki, the last person she had a crush on, after Tammy Thompson, and the ginger haired girl was rambling about her boyfriend and how he has plans for a date. She was listening but her words went through one ear and out the other, cause she just couldn’t contain her excitement about finally being in the arms of her gorgeous girlfriend.

“Hey, Robin.” she hummed, not really giving her attention to Vicki “Do you have a valentines?”

“Huh?” she giggled softly.

“I saw the roses and gifts you’ve gotten this entire day. You’ve either got a secret admirer, or you’ve got a boyfriend.” Robin couldn’t help but gag at the thought of being with a boy, people already thought that she was dating Steve while [F/N] was dating Billy. It was for the better that people thought that way, but she really wanted to flaunt about and declaring that [F/N] Harrington was her girlfriend.

“Boyfriend? Yuck. I’ll take the secret admirer, hoping they don’t reveal themselves so they can continue to give me chocolates.” Vicki laughs when she saw Robin pull out one of the many box of chocolates she got, taking out one and throwing it into her mouth “Better than being in such a troublesome relationship.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know how being in a relationship feels until you’ve got one. It feels so nice, when you’ve found the right one, that is.” Robin had to agree with Vicki on that one, it felt very nice to be in a relationship with [F/N]. Even though [F/N] made it clear that Steve was still her number one priority, she still made sure that Robin didn’t feel left out or that she didn’t feel loved. She always made sure that she was going to be with Robin through thick and thin, that they were going to be together until death has them. Robin was called away so she and the other brass players can discuss what parts they’re playing for Hawkins high basketball team, not knowing someone sneaking in through a window that was miraculously left open. By the time Robin returned back to her abandoned instrument she was surprised to see an assortment of flowers inside her trumpet, she looked at Vicki and saw her shrug.

“You didn’t see who put those there?” she shook her head, but there was a knowing look in her eyes.

“Not at all.” Vicki laughed when Robin playfully shoved her, Robin took the flowers out of her trumpet and inhaled the aroma the roses were giving, smiling softly down them “This secret admirer of yours seems to like you a lot.” Robin’s face turned a soft shade of pink, nodding her head blissfully. The tuba player blows softly into their mouthpiece as their eyes drift to the side, raising a brow at the sight of [F/N] hiding behind the large instrument as she watched Robin.

“Thanks again.” she murmured softly, they rolled their eyes as they raised their hand, a smirk grew on their face when she slapped down a fifty dollar bill “We never speak a word of this.”

“Never speak a word of what?” she clicks her tongue and snaps her finger at them, nodding her head.

“Exactly.” how Robin didn’t witness her shuffle out of the room, they’ll never know.

[time skip: end of the school day]

“Whoa! Is that a mustang?!”

“Who’s got money for a car like that?”

“Didn’t Hargrove own a camaro?”

“Yeah, that was until it got totalled.”

Eddie scoffed as he and his lot exited the school and saw the students huddled around [F/N]’s prized mustang, even when she was no longer a student she was still the centre of attention. He furrowed his brows when he saw that there was a bit of a dent on her front bumper and her lights were replaced, what the hell did she do to that caused her to damage her precious car? The other three behind him seemed to have noticed the difference but their thoughts came to a pause when the already loud chatter got louder, they looked up and scoffed when they saw that it was just [F/N] exiting her car. There was no denying it, the Harrington charm was very effective, because both the girls and boys couldn’t help but gush at the sight of [F/N] Harrington. Even though she fell from her grace long ago, they were no denying that she wasn’t the girl people would kill to be.

[F/N] scoffed at the people that started to surrounding, opting to put her sunglasses on and sit on the hood of her car as she waited for Robin. She had this excuse in her head that she was going to pick Robin up and bring her to Steve, confirming the rumour that she in fact was going out with her brother and that she won the approval of his overprotective older sister. Yes, that sounded like a full proof place indeed, now all she had to do was wait for her sweet little birdie and hopefully not lose her temper with the approaching high school boys horny on valentine’s day and wishing to get in her pants. She had a blank expression on her face when some jock slid in beside her, she didn’t pay him any mind and continued to wait patiently…. as patiently as her mind would allow it.

“So, what’s a pretty thing—”

“No.” he sputtered back at her abrupt answer.

“Well, I was thinking that—”

“No.” he felt irritated that she kept interrupting him, Eddie and his lot paled when they saw that jock continue to push [F/N]’s limits but their jaws dropped when he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pull her so that she would look at him.

“Listen, I’m trying to be nice here.” a few people whisper amongst themselves at the ordeal, watching closely as he leaned in closely to her face “How’s about you ditch your lousy date for me? I promise I can treat you… nicely?” he let out a surprised yelp when she grabbed him by his jaw with her free hand and slammed him down onto the hood, this time she leaned down towards his face but pulled down her sunglasses so he could get a good look at the disgust and anger in her eyes.

“What the fuck does no sound like to you? I am not here for a child like you who doesn’t understand basic english, maybe that’s why you’re still in school.” he let out a grunt, grabbing her by the wrist when he felt her tighten her grip on his jaw that was more than likely going to cause a bruise to form, a bead of sweat formed on his cheek when her glare hardened on him “Learn to treat a woman like a human before deciding to treat her like she’s a trophy to be won.” he shouts out in surprise when she lifted him up before proceeding to throw him onto the ground, the people watching all let out a roar of laughter at his shameless display “Don’t waste my time and get out of my sight.” she scoffed when he scurried off, probably off to the other jocks that put him up his poor attempt of getting laid. She shook her head and returned to her spot, flicking down her sunglasses until they perched themselves back onto the bridge of her nose and now waited in peace… despite the unneeded audience.

“What’s going on?” Eddie let out a startled yelp when he was shoved aside, looking to see who it was, he scoffed when he saw that it was merely Hargrove. Ever since 84′, that blonde has been causing nothing but trouble ever since he got here. Not only did he kick Harrington Jr. off his high horse and dethroned him, he apparently beat the guy black and blue at the Byers household. Why [F/N] hasn’t murdered that blue eyed bell yet, he’ll never kn— “[F/N]?” Eddie sputtered, Billy knows [F/N]? If he did, does that mean he survived an encountered with [F/N]?! She seemed to have sensed his presence because her head perked up and her face subconsciously brightened up at the sight of the blonde, going so far as to raising her hand to greet him.

“Billy!” she exclaimed, but then she realised her mistake. The rumour that she and Billy were a couple was still floating around and the fact that she was waiting at Hawkins High for someone, and now that she greeted him, can only confirm the rumour that these fuckers made up. Billy to realised what she had done because now everyone was looking between the two, a few of the female students were looking at [F/N] enviously that she managed to bag Billy Hargrove while the boys whispered their admirations and congratulations to Billy for hitching a date with the most gorgeous person within Hawkins.

“[F/N]…” he said again, muttering it this time. The two of them look at each other and they seemed to have been having a silent conversation between the two of them.

”Forgive me. I did it out of pure habit.”

“Yeah, and now people think you’re here for me.” she shrugged her shoulders, now looking away from him. Billy let out a grunt when he was grabbed by the shoulder and turned around, he raised a brow when he saw that it was Eddie Munson. If he remembered correctly, [F/N] mentioned in a passing conversation that Eddie was her greatest friend and she valued him very much, so he found it interesting that he was now face to face with the brunette.

“Hargrove, you know [F/N]?” Jeff looked him up and down.

“I for sure would have thought she would have beaten him up after what happened with her brother.” Billy flinched softly at the mention of that, thinking back to both events. 

“No, no, she did. We’re just on good terms now, she considers me one of her good friends now.” he raised a brow when a smug aura radiated out of the four of them, a bead of sweat forming on his cheek as they smirked at him.

“Oh, yeah? Well, we’re her best friends!” Billy rolled his eyes.

“Right.” [F/N] slaps a hand onto her forehead as she watched them interact, she drags it down her face and glanced anywhere that wasn’t Hellfire doing their usual tomfoolery and involving poor Billy.

“Hey, weren’t [F/N] and Munson a thing back when she attended?” her face paled at those words, looking over towards the person who said and she recognised it as a junior that attended while she was still around. That’s right, people thought that [F/N] turned baddie because she got together with Eddie, what made it worse was that both of them were always hanging off the other and Eddie was a naturally affectionate person and since she was deprived of any and all physical affection, she couldn’t help but lean into it every once in awhile.

‘No, please god no.’ she thought in her head.

“You don’t think…”

’Please, you stupid high school students!’

”Oh, my, god! Munson is picking a fight with Hargrove!”

“He must still have feelings for [F/N] after the two of them broke up when she went out of states! Ooo, what a juicy thing to see on valentine’s day.” she deadpans when everyone who heard started whispering their own conspiracies, Billy and Eddie were amused at the accusations.

“Really? You with [F/N]? Now that sounds like a fantasy.” Eddie scoffs, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

“Says you. You oughta be dead for what you did to her brother.” Billy nods to himself, the two of them then stare at each other “… you wanna mess with her?” Billy couldn’t help but grin mischievously.

“With pleasure.” [F/N] was ready to call it quits and just go and find Robin herself but paused when Eddie and Billy came over and approached her, she stared at them in confusion when they took either side of her but neither broke eye contact with each other. 

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Munson, but [F/N] is my girlfriend.” she deadpans once more, what? Eddie laughed, taking [F/N] by her wrist and pulling her towards him.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Hargrove, I’ve known her much longer than you have, and we hadn’t officially broken up, so she’s technically still my girlfriend.” Billy shook his head as he grabbed her other wrist and pulled her towards him.

“Well, I wonder why she came to me when she came back to Hawkins instead of you, huh?” Eddie know couldn’t help but get a little irritated at that, because he too wondered why his friend didn’t come to see him when she was in town.

“You know, I tend to wonder as well.” the two of them then began to bicker about who was better, feeding into the lies that [F/N] was in fact dating one or the either and people were placing their bets on who it was. Did the former queen share her throne with her jester or perhaps with the new king who dethroned her brother? Billy and Eddie were abruptly interrupted when she ripped herself free from their hold then grabbed them both by their faces and pulled them down towards her face.

“What the fuck is wrong with you two? Is it fun that you’re taking great pleasure in my misfortune?” the two glance at each other then grin cheekily at her, she sighs at the silent response and squeezed harder on their faces. Her face then immediately brightens up when she saw the person she was waiting for, both boys let out a grunt when she threw them backwards and opened her arms “Robin~ there’s my favourite person.” she coos, Robin giggles to herself and reaches her hands out towards her girlfriend, to which she lowered her arms and took Robin’s hands into her own.

“You seriously waited for me?” she nods.

“Yeah, Steve asked me to come get you.” Robin’s shoulders slumped slightly, realisation dawning on her that she and [F/N] couldn’t even be open about their relationship, that [F/N] was hers “Lets get going, i don’t want to be here any longer than I need to.” she let out a grunt when she felt Eddie wrap an arm around her shoulder.

“Hows about you give me a lift as well? I missed being in your mustang?” she scoffed at him, smacking his arm off her shoulder.

“What happened to your van?” he waves his hand.

“It’s in the shop? Had to get a few things replaced.” she raised a brow.

“And you can afford that?” he places a hand on his chest.

“You wound me.” she was simply going to abandon him and only take Billy and Robin, which was the plan from the start, but a shout caught her attention. Turning to the source, her eyes widened at the sight of the same teacher that dragged her into her math lesson and she looked downright pissed. Eddie seemed to have noticed her distraction and turned to see what it was but was caught off guard when she started pushing him towards her car, she throws the door open and kicks him into the backseat. Robin and Billy seemed to have gotten the hint when they heard that math teacher screaming out for someone to stop the trespasser, that being [F/N], but no one did anything and just watched [F/N] jump into the drivers seat and quickly drive out of the parking lot.

“Well that was unnecessarily stressful.” she grumbled under her breath “Welp, it’s official, i ain’t ever going back as long as that teacher is still there. I think she’s gonna try and have me arrested.” Billy started to laugh, leaning forward from where he was seated in the backseat.

“I can’t believe you actually broke into the school.” she shrugged her shoulders.

“What can I say? I was aching to see my sweet birdie.” she cooed softly, reaching towards Robin’s face to twirl a strand of her hair around her finger before tucking it behind her hair. Robin immediately looked away to twirl a strand of her hair around her own finger, she then stopped when she realised what [F/N] had done and looked at Eddie in distress. He noticed Robin’s change in expression and raised his hands, giving her a look of reassurance.

“Don’t worry about it, Buckley. I already know [F/N] swings that way, I’m just more surprised she ended up with someone to begin with.” Robin looks at [F/N] and she nods her head.

“Yeah, he was one of the first people I came out to. I trust him with my life.” she then abruptly stops the car and turns back towards them, a look of irritation shining in her eyes “But fuck the both of you for what you did! Now people are going to spread rumours how I’m getting fucked by the both of y’all, and that thought alone is disgusting.” she sneers at them in disgust when they give her suggestive smirks “If you say anything I don’t like I’m gonna have you guys walk.” none of them could really risk going through with the risk so they just kept their mouths shut, she was kind enough to drop Eddie off first because Billy now lived in the trailer park after his father turned tail and bailed after the events that occurred during the 85′ and has been back since. Max’s mum, Susan, was kind enough to keep a roof over his head until he graduated but most of the time Billy was with Steve at their home. [F/N] greeted Wayne and he was more than welcoming when he saw her, opening his arms up and bringing her into a bone crushing hug, Robin laughed upon seeing her winded self nearly collapse to the ground when he let her go. She gifted the Munson’s a rose each and some chocolates, sparing them a kiss before leaving when Billy left the trailer and back into her car. [F/N] was instructed to pick Billy up and bring him around the house after the school while Steve himself hurried to pick the children up and drop them off home then race back to the house before her. He also told her to have Billy’s eyes closed before she made it home so when they was turning the corner to the Harrington residence she told Billy to do exactly that.

“Are we almost there?” she giggles softly. 

“Yeah, we’re nearly there.” she has to silence Robin when she nearly gasped at what was in the driveway, [F/N] instructs Billy to keep his eyes closed when she parks her car and gets out of the drivers seat.

“Oh goodie, you’re here!” Billy’s head perks up at the sound of Steve’s voice, Robin then scoffs softly from where she was.

“You didn’t just say “oh goodie” at the sight of your boyfriend.” Steve playfully glared at Robin.

“Oh, hahaha, very funny.”

“Steve, whatever this is, it better not be stupid.”

“I promise you, blue, that you’re gonna love this surprise. Both [F/N], Robin and I put this together. Just for you.” [F/N] smiled softly at her brother, she waited for him to give her the go to and when she did she gently tapped Billy on his arm.

“You can open your eyes now.” and so he does and his eyes immediately start tearing up at the sight of his new and repaired camaro sitting in the driveway, both girls gently caress his arms before stepping back to let Steve comfort his boyfriend. Yeah, it was Steve’s idea to tow Billy’s car out from the dump and get it repaired. [F/N] found him working on it in their garage and immediately asked if she could help in any way she could, this later led to Robin wanting in to help as well. They had only recently gotten everything repaired or replaced just before valentine’s day and Steve believed it would be the perfect gift for his sweet Billy “And I’ll leave you two here.” she blows Billy a kiss and bids them both goodbye then the two of them were off to enjoy the rest of their afternoon together.

“i can’t believe you actually broke into the school, [F/N]. I thought you put Billy up to it.” she shrugged her shoulders, letting out a laugh.

“It wouldn’t have meant as much as it did if he did it, sweetheart. He only helped me to find which locker was yours, other than that, it was Eddie who helped me get close enough to you to leave little gifts.” 

“Well, I really appreciated all those thoughtful little gifts.” Robin glances at her face and it brightens when she saw a big smile stretch across her lips followed by a soft flush of pink, seeing [F/N] react like this always made Robin feel giddy. She soon bites her lip, her hand slipping into her pocket and feeling for the small little gift box that had been sitting in there the whole day. Of course she had a gift for [F/N], she would have felt awful if she didn’t get anything for her, but it was nothing in comparison to everything [F/N] has given her so far and she wasn’t even finished with her surprise “[F/N].” she gently called, she got a hum in response followed by her turning the music down.

“Yes?”

“I love you.” the flush on [F/N]’s face turned brighter, this caused Robin to giggle once more.

“And I… love you too.” she brought Robin home first so she could freshen up and wear something more comfortable, she had yet another lecture from Robin’s father while her mother told him to lay off, telling [F/N] that she’ll be more than welcome to come by the Buckley residence whenever she was around. Robin now found herself in Billy’s situation, however, she had a blindfold over her eyes as she [F/N] drove her to an unknown location.

“Are you sure you’re not taking me out of town to kill me?” [F/N] laughs.

“Oh, please. If I wanted to kill you I would have done it without the need to leave town.” Robin shudders at the thought “Don’t even think about bringing up last years events.” Robin clears her throat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” [F/N] takes a deep breath to calm herself down “Are we nearly there yet? I want to look at you.” she chuckles at the impatience coming from her, tapping against the stirring wheel when they were stopped at the red light.

“Don’t worry Robin, you’ll get plenty of me and more when we get there, so be patient.” that comment was more than enough to get Robin to quiet down for the rest of the car ride, when they finally arrived at their destination Robin was led out of the car and taken on a bit of a walk. She held onto [F/N]’s arm as she trusted her not to let go, she let out a soft gasp when [F/N] did let her go but she held onto her hands and kissed the back of her knuckles “Just stand here for a bit and I’ll tell you when to take the blindfold off, mmkay?”

“O-Okay, just don’t take too long.” this earned Robin a soft kiss to the cheek, [F/N] quickly jogs away and sets up when she needs to get done, only a couple minutes pass when she hears [F/N] shout for her.

“You can take the blindfold off!” she was still a bit of a distance away from where she left her, Robin sighs softly and takes the blindfold off and the moment she did the sound of music hit her ears. She gasped softly at the sight of where [F/N] brought her, she had brought her to a beautiful lush rose garden and at the very centre of it all was a beautifully let gazebo and of course her beautiful girlfriend “Happy valentine’s day, Robin.” the wind picked up and blew some of the rose petals into the air, making the scene in front of her more romantic as she began to approach [F/N].

“When did you…?” she began to question, [F/N] chuckled softly as she took a step forward.

“One of the few fortunate things of being a Harrington’s child, you know a few good places for dates.” she sighed softly as she looked up at the gazebo “My mother told me how my father brought her here for valentine’s day, and though I’m not particularly fond of following in his footsteps, this place was too good to pass up on. So, hows about a nicely lit dinner between lovers on this sweet valentine’s day settle for a date?” [F/N] then reaches forward, extending her hand out to Robin for her to take.

“Heh, how romantic.” Robin finally settles her hand down in [F/N]’s hand, letting out a laugh when [F/N] pulled her into her arms and spun the two of them around, the both of them laughing to their hearts content “Did you book this place out?” she asked, [F/N] hummed as the two of them now swayed to the music.

“Mm hmm, I booked it weeks in advance and paid a lot of money so someone else couldn’t buy the spot out of me. You deserve the perfect view as we dine and dance on this very romantic day.” she muses, pressing her cheek into Robin’s “Do you like it?” she briefly pulls away to get a look at Robin’s face but hers dropped a little when Robin looked a little conflicted, she soon holds her hands and rubs her thumbs over her knuckles “What’s wrong? Is it too much?” Robin lets out a sigh, pulling back a little as she looked anywhere that wasn’t [F/N]’s pretty doe eyes.

“No, it’s just… I feel guilty that I won’t be able to treat you to something as grand as this. My gift can’t even match up to everything you put together.” [F/N] gasps softly.

“You got me a gift?” Robin meekly nodded her head “Can I see it? If it makes you feel better, you’ll be the first person— girlfriend, really, that’s gotten me a gift?” Robin whipped her head to look back towards [F/N], who chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck bashfully.

“Really?” she nods.

“Yeah, I played the male role in the relationship and was the one that usually gave my dates gifts. Most of the times I could tell that each relationship I had was one sided, that my love and attention would never get reciprocated.” Robin pouts softly, reaching forward to cup [F/N]’s face.

“Well, they’re stupid to not think of spoiling you either.” this caused a laugh out of her, Robin pulls away to dig into her pocket. She nervously held the small box in her hand, rubbing her thumb into the wrapping before handing it to her. She waits nervously as [F/N] pulls at the ribbon to unravel it then she removes the lid to look at what was inside, Robin watches her grab it and pull it out, revealing the small little locket that she bought from an antique store. She opens it and her heart melts at the sight of the picture inside, it was taken by Steve when she was in the hospital after she and Billy miraculously survived the onslaught they suffered through, it was of her and Robin cuddled together look happier than ever as they shared a kissed. On the other part of that locket had words engraved on it, ”you’ll forever have my heart, as I’ll have yours. through thick and thin, I will always love you; never forget that”. [F/N] couldn’t help but grit her teeth as her hand enclosed on the locket, her eyes began to water as the tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. Robin quickly cups her cheeks when the tears finally did manage to fall, she understood why [F/N] was reacting this way.

When she and Billy did recover after the Starcourt burnt down, [F/N] wanted nothing to do with Robin and Steve. She wanted to leave the state and stay out, not because she didn’t love them anymore, no, it was because she thought it was safer for the both of them if she wasn’t around anymore. It broke her heart that she was alive after everything she had done, she would have felt better if she died after that because at least she wouldn’t have to feel the guilt of practically cheating on her girlfriend while emotionally abusing her then physically beating the shit out of her and her precious little brother. Robin made it clear that there wasn’t anything that [F/N] said that was going to drive her away, [F/N] needed her more than ever and she was going to stay by her side and give her the help that she needs to recover; both physically and mentally. It took a lot of time before [F/N] was able to look at her again or even touch her without recoiling away, Robin was in tears when [F/N] managed to actually hug her without immediately pulling away, her heart swelled up when they were able to cuddle in bed like they did before. Robin thought of that little gift when she saw that locket in that antique shop she passed while in Indy with Steve, she was grateful for her brother when he still had that photo saved on film and quickly got it developed, shaped and placed perfectly in the locket. She thought that [F/N] would appreciate a gift that marked a pretty intense part of there life along with words that helped ease her mind that Robin was going nowhere.

“W-What did I do to deserve someone like you?” she sobbed into her shoulder, her arms wrapped around her torso as she pulled her close and held her tight so she wouldn’t disappear “Why did you stick around when I’ve become this damaged?” she inhaled deeply, rubbing her hands up and down her back.

“Because I loved you, and I knew what I was getting myself into the moment I agreed to be yours.” she gasped softly at that as another sob left her lips, Robin gently pulls back but doesn’t resist when [F/N] moved her arms from her torso to around her waist. She lifts her face up to gently wipe away the tears before pulling her into a much needed kiss, [F/N] couldn’t help but cry softly into the kiss “You deserve to be loved, and you deserve to be taken care of. You deserve love.” this earned a soft hum, the older woman leaning into the palm that cupped her cheeks as her body relaxed.

“I deserve… to be loved.” Robin nods.

“You do, and I am more than willing to give you my love.” she then takes the locket from out of [F/N]’s hands, quickly clipping it on around her neck then gently patting her on the chest “Happy valentine’s day, [F/N].” she smiled tearfully, sniffling softly as she held the locket in her hand.

“Happy valentine’s day, Robin.” she then kneels down to wrap her arms around Robin’s waist to lift her up and spin the both of them around, laughing to her hearts contents when Robin let out a squeal of joy, her hands planted on her shoulders to keep herself balanced. When [F/N] finally brought her down she continued to hold her in her arms but this time Robin wrapped her arms around her neck, the two of them stared into each other’s eyes then finally shared a kiss that they poured so much love into.

They were in love, and that was their moment.

…

…

“Are you alright?” a voice asked, the person they asked slowly opened their eyes and they had a pained expression on their face as a single tear ran down their cheek. They stared up at the sky above them and their face turned bitter as they raised their hand, swiping the tear away in one swoop.

“Yeah, I just had a nice dream.”

Lullaby pt. 3

word count: 15,031

Fandom: Poppy Playtime Pairing: N/A Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Familial Occupation: Caretaker Ability: Ballerina Music Box

The character takes the appearance of a beautifully crafted music box ballerina figurine made of the toughest porcelain and glass, their clothes made from real fabric that is soft to touch and hair so smooth and silky you'd mistake it for real hair. Attached to their back is a wind up key that continuously spins when they're active and stops when they switch off. If the key is removed they cease to operate until key is returned and they are wound up again. Before CatNap, the character was the one to put the children to sleep with their built-in music box that would constantly be updated with new songs to play to help ease the children to sleep.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name

Warnings: the hour of joy, blood, death, all that shit.

"Lullaby" pt. 1, pt.2

I couldn't figure out how to end this so i'm not really satisfied with it, maybe I'll tweak it later but i'm not fucked right now.

that is all.

“Go! Get out of here! Get back to the Safe Haven!” Ballade’s voice cracked with urgency as she, Hoppy, Kickin, and Doey fled through the prison’s crumbling halls, their arms full of the few toys they had managed to rescue from the ruined ones. The closer they got to the Safe Haven, the more relentless their pursuers became. Ballade’s heart pounded — she couldn’t let them find it. She couldn’t let them get close. Not with CatNap lurking nearby. “I’ll stall them — just go!” she insisted, turning toward the oncoming threat.

“But what about you?!” Kickin’s voice rose in panic, his arms weighed down by the rescued toys.

“Forget about me! I’ll be fine!”

“How can we know that?!”

“Because CatNap won’t kill me — and those ruined critters can’t hurt me. But if any of you get caught, he’ll make sure you don’t walk away from it.” Her face hardened at the mention of him, her voice bitter. She knew his cruelty — but she also knew it would be far worse for the others.

“But if they take your key—”

“We won’t know how to save you!” Hoppy cried.

“Maybe it’s for the best.” Ballade’s voice softened, her guilt seeping through. “After everything I did… this mess is my fault. If I’m the price for your safety, so be it.” She turned to Doey, placing firm hands on his shoulders, her eyes filled with a desperate seriousness. “Take care of them, Doey. You’re the only one I trust to keep them all safe.”

“W-What? Me?!” Doey’s eyes went wide, his voice shaking. Behind them, the twisted laughter of their pursuers echoed closer, growing louder.

“I know it’s a lot, and I hate putting this burden on you, but I don’t have a choice! Please, Doey — if I don’t come back, don’t try to save me. Just… forget about me.” Doey shook his head violently, panic rising in his chest.

“B-But I don’t know the first thing about being a leader! I-I can’t—” A loud crash cut him off. They all spun toward the sound — the ruined critters had finally caught up, their broken forms crawling into view.

“There’s no time!” Ballade shouted. She pushed them back, then struck a support beam with all her strength. The ceiling groaned before collapsing in a cascade of rubble, blocking the path between them and the ruined toys. Dust filled the air, but Ballade didn’t waste a second. She turned back toward the enemy, steeling herself. “Go! I’ll hold them off. And remember what I said — if I don’t come back—”

“Ballade—” Kickin started.

“IF I DON’T COME BACK!” she repeated, her voice fierce. For a moment, no one moved. Then Hoppy sucked in a shaky breath, turning her face away as the sound of sinister laughter grew closer.

“…Don’t try to save you,” she whispered weakly.

And then they ran.

She let out a breath as she heard the sound of their footsteps disappear down the hall until she couldn't hear them anymore, she rolled her neck and turned towards the ruined critters with a fury burning in her eyes.

"Well then? Come on, let's see you get past me."

-

A figure stepped cautiously into a dimly lit hallway, their flashlight beam cutting through the heavy darkness. The walls here were lined with faded murals of smiling toys and children, their once-bright colors dulled with age and grime. The eerie quiet was only broken by the soft hum of flickering lights overhead. As they moved forward, the beam of their flashlight fell on something ahead — a shape standing motionless in the center of the corridor. Instinctively, their heart leapt, but as they got closer, they realized it wasn’t a threat.

It was a cardboard cutout.

The cutout depicted a toy they hadn’t seen before — a delicate, doll-like figure with big, expressive eyes and an elegant dress. Despite the wear and tear, the character’s design had a grace to it: flowing ribbons, musical motifs, and a kind but somewhat melancholy smile. The words “Press Here” was scrawled in ornate letters within a white speech bubble, though parts of it were scratched and peeling. Like the many other cardboard cutouts they came across, the reached forward and pressed the button and the cutout came to life with a burst of static from a hidden speaker.

“Hello there, little one!” The voice was warm and gentle, with a soft musical lilt, though the audio crackled with age. “Welcome to Playcare — the happiest, safest place in all of Playtime Co.! My name’s Ballade Ballerina, and I’ll be your guide while you stay with us!” there was a moment of silence before they press it again. “Here at Playcare, we believe every toy — and every child — deserves love, laughter, and a safe place to call home. You’ll make so many friends here! There’s games, stories, and oh-so-many songs to sing!” The recording glitched, her voice stretching into a distorted warble before cutting back in. “…And remember, if you ever feel scared or lonely, just find me! I’ll always be here to help!”

The cutout’s smile seemed a little too wide now, the dim light casting long shadows across its face.

The speaker clicked off, leaving only the faint buzz of static in its wake.

Ahead, the hallway stretched into darkness, and with a deep inhale they ventured on.

We now welcome our protagonist, the Player, and their journey for answers as they traverse deeper and deeper into Playtime Co. after the horrors they had experienced since stepping for into this facility.

Huggy Wuggy had been the first nightmare — a towering figure of blue fur and wide, unblinking eyes, his silent pursuit relentless. The player could still hear the sound of his massive limbs scraping through vents, the way his sharp teeth snapped just inches from their heels. Only through sheer desperation and quick thinking had they managed to outmaneuver him, dropping a heavy box on him just in time and watching him fall into the depths below.

And then there had been Mommy Longlegs.

Her sing-song voice still echoed in their mind, playful and sadistic. The chase through the twisted factory had been a nightmare of tangled machinery and crushing danger. Her elastic limbs had reached through impossible spaces, her laughter turning shrill when the player narrowly escaped her grasp. The final confrontation left the player scraped, battered, and with a deep sense of unease — as if she wasn’t truly gone.

And now they find themselves in what is left of Playcare.

Broken play structures loomed in the dim light. A carousel, long stilled, sat tilted on its side. Empty cribs and overturned chairs lay scattered across the area, and torn stuffed animals slumped against the walls.

But it hadn’t always been this way.

Once, Playcare had been filled with the sounds of laughter and music — a safe haven for the children of Playtime Co.’s employees. The walls had been vibrant and bright, decorated with colorful murals and happy handprints. The toys here had been companions, carefully crafted to nurture and delight. But something had gone terribly wrong.

The downfall of Playcare had been swift and brutal. Whispers of experiments gone awry crept through the abandoned halls — the blending of innocence and industry turned monstrous. The toys designed to protect became the very thing to fear. Children vanished, their giggles replaced with terrified screams. Staff members who tried to intervene were never seen again. The signs of that ruin were everywhere. Walls scarred with deep gouges, as though something with claws had tried to escape. Dried stains marred the cracked tiles, and the flickering lights cast frantic shadows. The colorful handprints smeared across the doors were not all made in paint.

Given the mission to bring back the power to the Playcare, the Player entered Home Sweet Home first as instructed by the young boy Ollie had instructed.

The red smoke hit them first — thick and choking, its hallucinogenic effects warping the world around them. Walls twisted and pulsed, laughter turned into distorted echoes, and familiar shapes morphed into something sinister. The Player stumbled through the haze, their vision swimming with impossible images — the faces of children flickering into grotesque grins, toys shifting and writhing with unnatural life. It felt endless. But somehow, they pushed through. When the smoke finally thinned, the Player found themselves in the wreckage of what had once been Home Sweet Home — a place once filled with children and laughter, now as broken and abandoned as the rest of Playcare. Cribs lay overturned, toys lay shattered, and the air was thick with an oppressive quiet.

And there in the main lobby of Home Sweet Home, the Player spotted a stage that had seen far better days. Its wooden frame sagged with age, the paint chipped and faded, and the once-vibrant curtain hung in tattered, dust-covered folds. The air was thick and heavy, carrying the faint scent of decay and something sickly sweet — like old candy left to rot. The soft creak of the floor beneath their feet echoed through the hollow stillness as the Player approached cautiously. Their eyes locked onto the curtain, noticing it was open just a crack. Through that narrow gap, a faint green glow pulsed softly.

Curiosity and unease prickled at the Player’s skin as they reached out, their fingers brushing the old fabric aside. The curtain’s texture was rough and brittle, and a cloud of dust rose as they pushed it aside. With a slow, hesitant motion, they opened the curtain wider — and their breath caught in their throat.

There, slumped against a pile of forgotten and broken boxes, sat the remains of Ballade Ballerina. The once-elegant toy had fallen into a state of tragic disrepair. Her porcelain-like face was cracked and smudged, the painted features chipped but still heartbreakingly delicate. Her glassy eyes, half-lidded and lifeless, stared into nothingness. Her dress, which had surely once been a vision of grace, lay in tatters — the flowing fabric torn and stained, the ribbons frayed and hanging limp. Her hair, once meticulously styled in a pristine bun, had fallen loose, draping unkempt and tangled over her face.

Despite her ruined state, there was an eerie beauty to her stillness — a lifelike presence that made the Player’s skin crawl. It was almost as if she could move at any moment. And through the dimness, the source of the green glow became clear: a battery clutched tightly in her unmoving hand.

"Whoa..." The Player’s voice was barely above a whisper, but even that seemed too loud in the oppressive quiet. Despite everything, they couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer realism of Ballade. Other than Poppy, she was the most human-like toy they had encountered — and even in her broken state, there was a strange sense of care in how she had been left here, as if someone had made an effort to preserve her, even as everything else around her crumbled.

Shaking off their unease, the Player activated their GrabPack, aiming for the battery. The metal claw latched onto it with ease, but when they tried to pull it back, Ballade’s arm jerked forward — her fingers remaining locked around the battery in an iron grip. The Player grimaced and tugged harder, but no matter how they pulled, she wouldn’t let go.

"Haaa, of course it wouldn’t be that easy," they murmured, frustration creeping into their voice.

As they stepped closer, their eyes fell on a crumpled, faded drawing lying near Ballade’s feet — clearly the work of a child from long ago. It depicted Ballade in happier days, twirling gracefully with a wind-up key embedded in her back. The detail stood out immediately. The Player’s gaze shifted to Ballade’s back, and sure enough — the slot for a wind-up key sat empty and waiting. Their heart sank. Of course it wouldn’t be as simple as taking the battery — they’d need to find that missing key.

Letting out a tired sigh, the Player stood and surveyed the wreckage around them. The thought of combing through Home Sweet Home for a tiny key felt like an impossible task — a needle in a haystack. But there was no choice.

Leaving the stage and the battery behind for now, they pressed forward, solving the puzzles scattered throughout Home Sweet Home. Room after room yielded new challenges and eerie reminders of the building’s past. Children’s murals, long faded, peeked through layers of grime. Toys lay scattered and broken, their smiles cracked and hollow. Every step forward felt like intruding on something long abandoned — and yet not entirely lifeless.

Eventually, their search led them to the upper levels — and into a room unlike the others.

It was unmistakable. The oversized, plush cat bed and scattered toy remains made it clear.

They had found CatNap’s old room.

Realizing what they had stumbled upon, they turned to leave — until something on the oversized bed caught their eye. Their heart leaped when they spotted it: the unmistakable glint of Ballade’s wind-up key. Without hesitation, they darted forward, snatching up the key and cradling it in their hands like a fragile treasure. Relief flooded them — but it was short-lived. The ever-present sense of being watched prickled at the back of their neck. CatNap was still lurking somewhere nearby. They had to move — and fast.

Keeping their steps light and their movements subtle, the Player hurried back down the stairs, every creak of the old wood sending spikes of fear through their exhausted body. They reached the stage without incident, their chest heaving with the effort to remain quiet. Climbing onto the stage, they knelt beside Ballade’s still form. Gently, they pushed her slumped body forward, revealing the empty key slot on her back. Taking a steadying breath, they slotted the key into place.

Then they began to wind.

The resistance was immediate — the mechanism inside her body was worn and rusted, and every turn of the key felt like a struggle. The Player’s arms burned with the effort, their grunts of exertion breaking the oppressive silence. It was a wonder the key turned at all.

Finally — with one last, straining twist — the key clicked into place. As the key slowly began to turn on its own, Ballade’s hand twitched. Fingers that had been frozen in a death grip began to uncurl. The green battery slipped free, falling to the stage with a quiet thud. The Player exhaled in relief, their muscles trembling with exhaustion, and reached forward to claim their prize.

With the final battery in hand, the player stumbled off the stage, their heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst from their chest. Every muscle in their body ached from the endless chase, the constant fear, the exhausting puzzles — but the urgency to get out of this place kept them moving. They tightened their grip on the battery as though it were their only lifeline.

Behind them, the eerie ticking of Ballade’s wind-up key still echoed softly, rhythmic and deliberate, growing fainter with each step as they hurried toward the battery slot. But even as the sound faded, it felt like it followed them — like something unseen was counting down.

The building around them felt more oppressive than ever — the walls seemed to close in tighter, the air thick and stale. Every shadow stretched a little too far, twisting unnaturally with the dim, flickering lights. Every distant creak and groan made their skin prickle, their breath catching in their throat. The remnants of Home Sweet Home were silent, but never still. And worst of all, they knew they weren’t alone.

CatNap was still out there. The colossal cat had been stalking them ever since they set foot in this cursed building — an ever-present threat lingering just out of sight. Watching. Waiting. The Player’s eyes darted to every darkened corner, every vent, every narrow hallway. The feeling of being hunted had become almost suffocating.

Reaching the battery slot, the Player slid the battery into place with trembling hands, the device clicking into position with a satisfying thud. They exhaled shakily as the system hummed to life, ancient machinery groaning and sputtering like a creature slowly awakening from a long slumber. Lights flickered, casting long, wavering shadows on the walls. The room vibrated with power as circuits sputtered and sparked to life.

But even with the relief of progress, that uneasy feeling didn’t leave them. Instinct tugged at the Player, a cold chill crawling up their spine. Slowly, almost unwillingly, they glanced back toward the stage.

They froze.

The stage was empty.

Ballade was gone.

The curtain still hung open, the boxes she had been slumped against remained — but she was no longer there. Only the faint sound of the ticking key remained, echoing softly from somewhere deeper in the building. The Player’s throat tightened, their pulse quickening as they scanned the darkened room. And then — the ticking stopped.

"W-Where... where did she--" the Player’s voice barely rose above a whisper, their words cut short by the suffocating weight of fear. But there was no time to linger, no time to question. They’d done what they were supposed to do within Home Sweet Home — the last thing they needed was to stick around where that big cat and an even bigger doll could find them.

Screw it.

They turned and ran, feet pounding against the floor as they rushed out of the building, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the threats lurking inside. But as they vanished into the dim, flickering corridors, they remained unaware of the pair of eyes watching their every move from the shadows.

-

Ballade didn’t know how long she had been turned off for — she never really could tell how much time passed when she was asleep until someone "woke her up." It was almost like being in a coma or perhaps paralyzed; she couldn’t move or see, but she could faintly hear what was happening in her surroundings. Distant voices, the scraping of metal, the slow decay of her world — all filtered through the darkness of her slumber.

She could feel it too — the slow breakdown of her own body. The way her delicate mechanisms grew rigid and rusted over time, the stiffness of her joints settling like an ache she couldn’t relieve. Dust settled thick over her frame, and the once-smooth grace of her design began to fade beneath the weight of neglect. Her porcelain-like face, once pristine and expressive, had cracked, faint fractures spreading like delicate spiderwebs. The once-vibrant paint of her features had faded and chipped, her eyes dull and lifeless. Her limbs, so carefully crafted for fluid movement, had grown stiff and unyielding, the internal gears grinding with each attempt at motion. The soft fabric of her dress had long since frayed, the elegant ribbons trailing in tatters. Her hair, once styled into a graceful bun, had loosened and fallen over her face in knotted, dusty strands. The neglect was total — and yet, she had felt it all.

But then, there was something new.

A click. A winding. The sudden, jarring sensation of gears turning, slow and strained, after so long without movement. She could feel her key twisting into place, the old machinery inside her fighting to respond. It hurt — but it also meant something else.

She was waking up.

*blink*

*blink*

A soft gasp left her lips as her eyes blinked to life, flickering with an eerie glow as they darted around in alarm, desperate to see who — or what — had turned her key. The disorientation was overwhelming. She felt the stiffness in every part of her body, her joints cracking and groaning as she shifted. The effort it took just to lift her head sent sharp pangs through her worn-out frame. She managed to catch a glimpse of a figure slipping out of her tent — too fast to make out any details. But she ignored it for now. There was something more important.

She needed to move.

The struggle was immediate and humiliating. As she tried to push herself upright, her legs buckled beneath her, the rusted mechanisms inside protesting every motion. She fell once, twice — each time catching herself just before hitting the stage floor. The effort left her breathless, but she forced herself onward, finally managing to stand on trembling legs. Peeking through the gap in the curtain, her wide eyes scanned the room — and then stopped, her breath catching.

A human.

Her mind reeled. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. An actual human employee. But… how? Weren’t they all dead? The factory had been silent for so long — abandoned, left to rot just like the toys inside. And yet there they were, very much alive. But why? Why on earth would anyone willingly come here? What could they possibly hope to achieve? More than anything, though — what confused her the most — was the fact that she did not recognize them. They must be a lower level employee, Leith told her she didn't need to put in the effort of remembering employees who were disposable. But still, how the hell did they get so far into the factory on their own?

How did they get past Huggy? And Mommy?

Her eyes narrowed as she watched them place the battery in its slot and restore power to Home Sweet Home. Hmmm... she’d just watch them from afar for now, just to see what they were doing. After stretching her limbs, she hoisted herself up by the rafters above her head, the rusted joints protesting but slowly obeying her commands. With surprising agility for something so long dormant, she leapt up to the upper levels of Home Sweet Home, silent and shadowed. From her vantage point above, she watched with cold amusement as the employee looked around in alarm, their panic clear when they noticed the empty stage. It was almost hilarious to watch them scramble out of the building with their tail between their legs.

Seriously… how had they gotten this far?

Ballade's eyes narrowed as she watched the employee from her spot in the upper levels of the building, their frantic movements betraying the fear she expected. Every little sound they made echoed through the hollow, broken remains of Home Sweet Home. The flickering lights cast long, distorted shadows across the decaying walls, making the space feel even more eerie and oppressive. She shifted quietly, her body still stiff and aching from years of stillness, the rusted joints inside her creaking with every small motion. She winced at the sound—like old gears grinding against each other—but her curiosity kept her silent and patient.

And then she saw it—something that truly caught her attention.

"Is that..." she whispered, her voice barely audible as she peered through a cracked and grime-streaked window, her face twisting in mock disbelief. "Poppy?" It had been so long since she’d last seen that doll—so long since any familiar faces crossed her path. The sight of that small, porcelain-like figure sent a strange jolt through her system. Ballade leaned against the windowsill, her faded ribbons trailing limply from her arms as she watched intently. Through the dim light, she saw Poppy handle Kissy Missy—ever the sweetheart—after she had tackled the employee to the ground in what was clearly an attempt to kill them.

Ballade’s fingers tapped rhythmically against the rotting wood beneath her, the soft sound blending with the distant hum of restored power and the occasional groan of the building settling. Her mind pieced together the situation from the fragmented conversation she managed to overhear. The employee had come to Playtime Co. searching for their missing coworkers—fools, she thought, for stepping into this graveyard of twisted dreams. And yet they had somehow survived encounters with Huggy Wuggy and Mommy Long Legs, defeating both of them despite the odds.

But their victory had been hollow. They’d been meant to leave—finally escape this nightmare by taking the train from the Game Station. And yet... Poppy had intervened. Ballade’s lips curled into a wry, bitter smile. Of course she had. That was so like that manipulative little girl. Trapped in that fragile doll body, Poppy was incapable of doing things on her own—so she pulled the strings of others, making them dance to her tune. It was always the same—always others who did the hard work while Poppy watched from the sidelines, her innocent appearance masking the calculating mind underneath.

And now it seemed she’d found her latest puppet.

The employee. The survivor.

But how long would they last, Ballade wondered, before Poppy’s game broke them too? How long before this poor fool realized they were nothing more than a disposable piece in Poppy’s never-ending quest for freedom? Ballade almost pitied them. Almost.

"Hmm, what to do, what to do." she murmured to herself. She continued to watch them from Home Sweet Home as they restored power to Playcare and a sense of nostalgia hit her like a wave. Memories of when Playcare had been whole—when laughter filled the air and the children’s joy was the only sound that mattered. She could still hear their giggles echoing faintly in her mind, the pitter-patter of tiny feet running through the halls. She remembered the way they’d reach for her hand, their eyes wide with wonder as she twirled and danced for them on the stage. The warmth of their applause, their delighted cheers—those days felt like a distant dream, faded and fra— she nearly threw herself out the window when she saw them approaching the school. "Oh, no. If she's still in there... uh oh."

-

Uh oh, indeed.

The Player moved cautiously through ruined corridors of the school, every step echoing off the cracked and peeling walls. They turned a corner into what looked like an old classroom, the faded remnants of colorful posters and children’s drawings hanging limply from the walls. As they ventured through the school, collecting notes that solved the mystery that happened to this establishment, the PA system crackled to life. A high, lilting voice filled the corridor, sweet yet off-kilter, like a pre-recorded message gone wrong.

"This is Miss Delight speaking, please excuse the interruption! Students, remain in your seats until the bell has rung, and no going in the halls without a hall pass!" The Player’s skin prickled as the message faded out. They pressed on, tension coiling in their gut. Later, as they crawled under a desk in another room, they caught a glimpse of her—a flash of frilly pastel fabric and jerky, uneven movement. Miss Delight walked across the hallway just ahead, her head twitching unnaturally, one glassy eye swiveling in its cracked porcelain face. The Player held their breath until she passed. As they were still reeling from the sight, Miss Delight’s voice boomed again over the PA system. "Wait, I recognize you… Yes! I remember! You used to work here! How are you… alive? Hm? Barb? Oh… Barb says you're looking for your co-workers. CatNap wouldn't like that you're here! You should leave, for your own safety."

Ignoring the warning, the Player pushed forward through the abandoned school. Eventually, they reached a door leading to a dark, forbidding area. The PA crackled again, the sweetness in Miss Delight’s tone giving way to something darker. "Not a good listener, are you? You're a lot like the other humans in that way. I wonder if your screams will sound like theirs too! I look forward to finding out."

Determined, the Player powered on the generator, hoping to illuminate their path. But the light was short-lived. With a loud crash, the door burst open, and Miss Delight strode into the room. In one swift motion, she lashed out with Barb—her twisted, jagged weapon—smashing the generator and sending its battery flying across the room. The lights flickered, then died, plunging the halls into darkness once again.

The Player races through the dim corridors, their breath coming in ragged gasps as Miss Delight’s sinister laughter rings out behind them. Every time they risk a glance back, they see her frozen in place — a weeping angel-like figure locked mid-step, her face twisted into an eerie smile. But each time they look away, even for a second, she draws closer. The sound of her footsteps echoes impossibly loud in the empty space, and the Player can almost feel her breath against their neck. Panic rises with every turn, every flickering shadow playing tricks on their eyes as they search frantically for more batteries to restore power and unlock the closed gates and doors.

At one point, the Player whips their head back, heart slamming in their chest — and Miss Delight is right there. Too close. Her twisted face inches from theirs, her hand outstretched, ready to grab — and then she stops. Dead still. The Player lets out a breath of relief that they managed to catch her before they caught them and slowly backs away, unaware that Miss Delight's gaze wasn't looking at them but instead on what was ahead of them. It was the gaze that was stopping her from getting too close to them, from killing them.

As they near the exit in the maintenance area, the desperation in Miss Delight becomes palpable. Her movements grow more erratic, more forceful, as if the thought of losing her prey is too much to bear. They sprint for the final gate, hands fumbling with the controls as the sound of her approach grows louder and faster. Finally, they spot a lever and yank it down with all their strength. The heavy door begins to close with a grinding screech — but Miss Delight is not done yet. With a burst of speed, she drops her frozen façade and charges forward, her porcelain face contorting with a mix of rage and desperation. The Player watches in slow motion as she reaches out, fingers just inches from their face — and then the door slams shut with a sickening crunch. The laughter stops. The halls fall silent, save for the faint echo of metal settling into place. And when the Player dares to look back, all that remains of Miss Delight is the twisted ruin of her head beneath the heavy door — her wide, delighted grin forever frozen in place.

"Whew..." finally, they can take a breather.

-

Ballade moved with calculated precision, her every step taken in the dark corners of the school, her presence barely more than a whisper in the air. She watched as Miss Delight, once a beacon of warmth, now stood twisted and savage, her eyes burning with hunger, no longer the kind and gentle teacher that had once graced these halls. It was a sickening sight, the aftermath of years of suffering, the price paid for survival. Ballade could feel the weight of regret heavy on her chest. If only she had been able to reach her sooner, perhaps things wouldn't have spiraled so far.

Ballade’s eyes tracked the employee, her focus shifting between them and Miss Delight. She couldn’t let the deranged teacher get too close. With careful timing, Ballade would step out just enough to catch Miss Delight’s attention, drawing her gaze away from the employee. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to stop Miss Delight in her tracks. Ballade would retreat the moment the employee turned their attention back towards the woman, ensuring the cycle continued. She had to make sure Miss Delight didn’t get close enough to the employee. She still wasn't sure what their goal was but Poppy needed them alive to achieve something, and she was very curious as to what it could possibly be.

When they reached the hallway leading to the exit in the maintenance area, the employee suddenly turned and fled, desperate to escape both the school and Miss Delight. Ballade watched helplessly as Miss Delight reached out for them, her fingers stretching toward their target. But as she drew near, the employee slammed the door down, crushing Miss Delight beneath its weight. Ballade approached the lifeless form slowly, a deep sadness in her eyes as she stared down at what had become of her.

"Oh, Miss Delight," she whispered softly, kneeling beside her. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish it didn't have to come to this." Her hand gently caressed what was left of Miss Delight’s face, a tender gesture in the face of such brutality. As much as it pained her, maybe this was for the best. After a few moments of quiet reflection, Ballade rose to her feet. With a grunt of effort, she reached for the underside of the shutter and, using sheer brute force, ripped it open. She stepped out into the cavernous depths, her eyes narrowing as she set her sights on the employee once again. They were heading toward the Playhouse, the den of those ruined creatures. How could she not follow them now? The stakes had never been higher.

-

It was seriously one horror after the other.

After completing some puzzles within the caverns and quietly passing by CatNap worshipping an amalgamation of dead toys, the Player approaches a heavy, rusted door with a faded sign above it, signifying they're next destination was the Playhouse. The air grows colder as they step inside, the dim light flickering ominously. The walls are cracked and stained, and the distant sound of skittering echoes through the darkness.

Continuing into the Playhouse proper, The Player navigates a maze of shadowy rooms and claustrophobic tunnels. They're startled at the sight of the Ruined Critters lurking around, grotesque and twisted versions of their former selves, appearing suddenly from holes in the walls and nipping at their heels. Their chittering grows louder and more frantic as more of them join the pursuit. To keep them away and light their way, the Player uses their newly acquired orange hand — a weapon-like tool gained after surviving the School and defeating Miss Delight — to shoot flares that burst with brief, brilliant light, sending the Critters scurrying back.

Their progress is halted by a massive door requiring two pressure pads with the Playtime Co. logo to be activated. So much work to do, they thought. They enter a network of tunnels, solving the puzzles to locate two heavy boxes and drag them onto the pads, shooting at the ruined critters that came out of their little hidey holes before continuing with the task at hand. They perk up at the sound of shifting mechanisms rumbling through the walls as the door slowly creaks open. Beyond the door lies a vast chamber dominated by a towering central spire. A platform connected to a long beam juts out from the structure, they scurry onto the platform, pressing a button that has the platform moving rather slowly. As it aligns with various doorways, they curiously explores each one, eventually entering a cavernous pool room with stagnant water reflecting the dim light. At the back of the room are two foreboding yellow doors.

They shudder to themself as they enter the room and find a rusting cell block. They could only guess who the residents of the cells belonged to, counting eight altogether as they walked down the dimly lit hall. They're careful to mind their step when they spot a hole in the ground barely covered by the wooden boards that could collapse under their weight, if only they could just find the exi-

"You..." they jump in surprise at the sudden voice, their heart leaping into their throat. They whip their head around and their eyes widen at the sight of DogDay... or rather, what was left of him. A once-joyful toy now reduced to a ragged and broken figure hanging on the wall by his arms, his once-bright colors faded and his blood seeping through gaping tears in his fabric. "...You're Poppy's angel, come to save us."

"S-Save you...?" they whisper, their voice trembling as they take an uneasy step closer. Their eyes rake over his horrific form, a hand flying to their mouth in shock. His bisected torso, blood-stained and grotesque, was only held together by a leather belt cinched tight, barely keeping what little remained of his innards from spilling out. Despite his broken state, DogDay gave a weak, humorless chuckle.

"Nothing left to save... not here..." he rasped, his voice strained and fragile. "You're in CatNap's home, angel. Their home." He lifted a trembling arm, gesturing toward their bleak surroundings. The subtle sound of scampering echoed through the Playhouse—the Ruined Critters, always watching. Always waiting.

"A million pairs of eyes are on you now. Watching, waiting... hungry," he continued, his words a haunting whisper. "That... thing... CatNap. The Prototype is his god, and this..." his voice cracked as he gestured toward his broken body, "this is what he does to heretics." The distant sounds of the critters grew louder, their scratching filling the heavy silence.

"These little toys follow CatNap to avoid that very fate—and in return, they are fed." His breath hitched, his eyes glassy and distant. "We tried to fight it... to fight the Prototype's control." He swallowed hard, his voice barely above a whisper now. "I'm... the last of the Smiling Critters." the state he was left made them think of Ballade, how she was left to collect dust and to be forgotten by those who remembered her. CatNap must have had a deeper connection with these two to have kept them around, even with the conditions he gave them. "Listen to me, you need to get out of this place. You need to live." their eyes widened.

"You want me to... leave you here?" they whispered softly, their eyes darting around when they heard footsteps. "At least let me take you with me." he only shook his head.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll... only slow you down." they bit their lip.

"There must be something I can do." they mutter but DogDay shook his head.

"You and Poppy can fix this, end this madness, the torment, the—" The Player let out a startled shout when a hand suddenly appeared against the cell bars. They stumbled back, quickly raising the flare gun, only to freeze in shock at the sight of Ballade. She paid them no mind, her wide eyes fixed on DogDay with an overwhelming sense of sadness and horror.

"Oh, puppy..." she whispered, her voice trembling as her hand reached toward him. "What has he done to you...?" The empty void of DogDay's eyes seemed to spark to life at the sound of her voice—at the sight of her after so many years.

"B-Ballade? Is that really you? I'm not hallucinating, am I?" His voice cracked with disbelief. She shook her head, stepping into the cell and collapsing to her knees. Her hands cupped his ragged cheeks, her thumbs brushing over his battered face with heartbreaking gentleness. He leaned into her touch, starved for comfort after years of isolation and agony.

"This isn't a dream, right?" he whispered, his voice fragile.

"No, puppy," she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. "I'm really here. I'm here, my sweet baby." She pulled him into a tender embrace, cradling him as his broken frame shook with quiet sobs. Her hands rubbed soothing circles over his back, desperate to offer whatever solace she could.

"How long was I gone?" she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

"...Four years," he whispered, his voice breaking. DogDay let out a soft grunt as her arms tightened around him. When he finally pulled back, his gaze locked onto hers—and the pain reflected in her glassy eyes was almost too much to bear.

"When you disappeared," he continued, his voice quivering, "it was the worst time of our lives. We didn’t know what he did to you, where you were... we couldn't even confirm if he’d taken you to the Prototype or not. We were so scared. What happened that day?" Tears welled in his eyes as he searched her face for answers.

"I'll explain later," she said quickly, shaking her head. "Right now, we need to get the hell out of here." Her eyes flicked up to the belts strapping him to the wall. "Hold on, puppy—I’m getting you down." her grief now replaced with anger, she grasped tightly at the belts and tore him free from his confines and when he fell into her arms, his own arms wrapped around her and they shared another tender embrace.

"U-Um, I hate to interrupt..." the Player's voice broke the moment, hesitant and uneasy. Both Ballade and DogDay turned toward them. "But I think we've got company." Ballade's face darkened instantly. She felt DogDay's arms tighten around her, his broken body trembling as the sound of the ruined critters echoed around them—scratching, skittering, getting closer.

"N-No, not again... please, not again," he whimpered, his voice cracking with fear. Ballade's eyes hardened.

"You! Come here!" She moved with sudden urgency, grabbing the Player before they could react. Spinning them around, she carefully pressed DogDay against the back of their GrabPack. With quick, practiced motions, she snatched up several of the discarded belts littering the ground and began strapping DogDay securely to their back.

"Alright, can you move well enough with him on your back?" she asked, tightening the last belt. The Player staggered slightly, adjusting to the unexpected weight.

"I-I think so—"

"No time! Get moving!" Ballade shoved them forward just as the first of the ruined critters began pouring out of the holes in the walls, their twisted forms scrambling toward them. DogDay watched as Ballade backed away, rolling her neck, her whole posture shifting into a predatory readiness. Despite his fear, a weak chuckle escaped him when he saw that familiar, dangerous glint in her eye.

"Is she going to be okay?" the Player asked breathlessly as they ran. DogDay let out a weary, fond laugh.

"Oh, she’ll be fine. Trust me." The Player plunged into the twisting tunnels of the Playhouse, their pulse pounding in their ears. DogDay’s weakened voice guided them through the maze-like corridors while the distant sounds of Ballade’s fight faded behind them. But the ruined critters weren’t far off. Their skittering grew louder, closer, and soon they were spilling from the walls, giving chase.

"Faster! Please—faster!" DogDay pleaded, his panic rising as the swarm closed in. Ahead, the path ended at a steep drop. Without hesitation, the Player launched themselves forward, using their Purple Hand to swing across the gap. The roller door slammed shut behind them with a metallic crash, cutting off the horrid screeches just in time. Shaken but alive, the Player stumbled into an elevator, their breath ragged. As the lift carried them upward to the top of the slide and out of the nightmare of the Playhouse, the reality of their narrow escape began to sink in. But there was no time to rest. Not yet.

"Finally... we're out!" the Player shouts aloud before pressing their hands to their face. "That was literal hell," they murmur against their palms. They feel a pat and see that it was DogDay.

"Are you alright, Angel? I'm sorry you had to lug my dead weight around while you were running." DogDay’s voice is soft, filled with guilt. They give a weak laugh in response.

"Nah, you're probably the nicest face I've seen that hasn't backstabbed me or actively tried to kill me. It's nice to have someone like that around after what's happened in the past few hours." DogDay gives his own weak laugh.

"I'll say. But thank you, Angel. You didn't have to do what you did." They shake their head.

"That toy scares me. I think she would have snapped my neck if I refused to do as she said." DogDay makes a face at their words, though they don’t see it. You're not wrong. "Anyways, are you sure she'll be okay? I feel bad for just leaving her there by herself."

"That's the thing, Angel. She prefers to be alone when dealing with the ruined critters — it allows her to fully let loose."

"Let loose?" they echo, confused.

"Yes. She was a toy designed to handle the bigger toys the human employees couldn’t — like Huggy and Mommy. The little ones? Though they outnumber her, they won’t even be able to leave so much as a scratch on her." As if on cue, the doors to the Playhouse are suddenly kicked off their hinges and a few dead critters fly out. Ballade steps out, crushing the neck of a ruined Crafty in her hands before kicking a ruined Bobby so hard it splatters blood all over the pavement.

"Better think twice before coming at me again, twerps!" she shouts, tossing the dead toy aside without a second thought. Her eyes scan the area, lighting up when she spots DogDay. "Puppy! You're okay!" DogDay cheers as Ballade scoops him up and starts twirling him around. It’s only when she starts planting kisses on his head that she notices the extra weight.

"I don't suppose you could put me down, could you?" the Player grunts from where they dangle off DogDay’s back. She sweatdrops.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, Angel." Her tone carries a teasing lilt as she uses the nickname. Holding DogDay in her arms, she nuzzles her cheek against his head, cooing sweet nothings to comfort him. "Thank you, Angel. Not only for returning my key to me and turning me back on but for also protecting DogDay from those ruined toys." They rub the back of their head.

"It was nothing — I’m just glad you were there to hold them back." Ballade chuckles softly.

"Well, I've been following you ever since you stepped foot in the school. How else do you think you survived?" They blink in surprise.

"Wait — what?"

"I kept Miss Delight back each time you turned your back on her," she explains with a grin. "She got real close a couple of times, but I stopped her before she could kill you." She tilts her head, eyes gleaming. "You're welcome, by the way."

"Thanks," they mutter, still processing everything.

"Why are you trying to turn on all the backup generators by the way? What has Poppy got you doing?" Ballade asked, following the Player toward the Generator Room. She adjusted her hold on DogDay as she crouched down to squeeze through the tiny door. "I don't suppose you're trying to get the full 'Playcare' experience, are you?" The Player let out a weak, playful laugh.

"No, she wants me to redirect the red smoke — send it in the opposite direction from where it was in the beginning." Both Ballade and DogDay froze at the words, exchanging a look of confusion and concern.

"Why would she want you to do that, Angel?" DogDay asked, his voice uncertain. "Did she tell you why?" The Player shook their head.

"Not really." DogDay watched Ballade closely, noting the way her expression hardened in thought. They must have been in Gas Production Zone, inside were three massive tubes that controlled the red smoke’s direction. Ballade hadn’t seen it in years, not since everything fell apart — but even after all this time, she remembered the right tube was where the red smoke had always been contained. If Poppy wanted to redirect it to the left tube… that meant the smoke was headed toward the prison and the lab.

"Don't tell me..." Ballade murmured to herself, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What is it, Ballade?" DogDay asked, his face filled with concern. She glanced at him but shook her head, brushing it off.

"It's nothing," she said, though the tension in her voice told a different story. "I'm probably overthinking it." The Player kept moving ahead, taking the key from the tube and heading toward the Counselor's Office. Ballade and DogDay trailed close behind, their footsteps soft but ever-present. After a moment, Ballade noticed the Player sweating a little.

"Is something the matter, Angel?" she asked, a hint of teasing in her tone. "Nervous?" The Player hesitated before glancing back.

"Are you... planning on following me?" Ballade blinked at the question.

"It's not like we've got anything better to do. Why? Don’t want the extra muscle? I can keep CatNap back, if he’s got the gall to show his face." DogDay winced slightly when he saw Ballade clench her fist tightly. She probably wouldn’t mind getting a shot at CatNap if the opportunity arose.

"We can help you get the backup generator up and running," DogDay added quickly, trying to ease the tension. "We know this place like the back of our hands. And like Ballade said, she’s your extra muscle. I might not be as strong, but I can be an extra pair of eyes." Both of them looked at the Player with genuine gratitude. "Allow us to pay you back for setting us free," DogDay said softly. The Player hesitated, then nodded.

"Well... having you two around will definitely make this task safer and quicker."

"That’s the spirit!" Ballade grinned, ruffling their hair in a warm, familiar gesture—an old habit from the days when she looked after children and the few employees she liked. "Let’s get a move on. That generator won’t run itself." With a gentle push, she urged the Player forward, following close behind. Since Ballade’s body was larger than the doorframes, she had to crouch to avoid knocking her head, letting DogDay take the lead. The three of them made their way down the corridor until they reached two locked doors. To their left stretched a hallway filled with red smoke, while the path ahead led to the reception area, which required a battery to unlock.

Well, at least they knew where they needed to go.

*THUD*

"Ow." The Player and DogDay turned to see Ballade rubbing her head after hitting a light fixture when she tried to stand up. "I forget these buildings were only meant to accommodate the human employees, not us toys." DogDay laughed softly, patting her head in an attempt to comfort her.

"We never really were allowed in here." Despite the tension, the Player couldn’t help but chuckle. It was nice to have some company around. After a quick search, they found the battery hidden in an air duct and swiftly placed it into its slot. The door swung open with a mechanical hiss, inviting them inside. As they entered, Ballade and DogDay wandered toward an old vending machine, their curiosity piqued.

"You think the drinks in here are still good?" DogDay mused.

"Only one way to find out," Ballade replied, cracking her knuckles as she prepared to strike the machine. But before she could, an all-too-familiar alarm blared through the room, making both toys jump. Their heads whipped toward the TV screen, where the Player had just inserted a VHS tape labeled 8/8/95.

The room fell silent, save for the low hum of the monitor as the tape began to play. The Player didn’t seem to notice how Ballade reached for DogDay and gently covered his ears. He hadn’t been conscious that day, but the ringing had gone off the entire time — a sound that never stopped until everything was over. When the tape finally ended, the Player turned toward the two toys, noticing their unusual quiet. Their suspicion grew when they found the duo locked in a silent embrace, Ballade’s hand softly rubbing DogDay’s head in a soothing, apologetic gesture. The weight of whatever memory the tape had stirred hung heavy in the air, unspoken but undeniable.

"It's over, puppy. I'm sorry that it happened, I'm sorry."

"Are you two... alright?" she looked back at them and gave a weak smile.

"Just... old memories resurfacing, but we'll be alright." The Player was kind enough to wait for them to collect themselves before proceeding. Walking down the halls of debris and dead bodies was a familiar sight, but it still hurt seeing the few bloodied toys that littered the ground. The Player found the room they needed to enter filled with red smoke — not a problem thanks to the gas mask they’d acquired in Home Sweet Home. The real problem was the locked door — their eyes widened when Ballade kicked it off its hinges with a single powerful strike. "Ladies first," she said with a smirk.

"Thank you." It beat having to take the long way around. The Player slipped on their gas mask and stepped into the room, but they quickly noticed the two toys lagging behind.

"Go on ahead," Ballade called. "We’ll wait here. I can follow you, but DogDay can’t. The red smoke doesn’t affect me, but I also don’t want to leave DogDay alone while CatNap is still roaming around." DogDay whined softly.

"Sorry for being a burden." The Player shook their head.

"You guys being here keeps me at ease." They offered a reassuring wave before heading off to restore power and unlock the next door. With that, Ballade found a corner where she could keep an eye on both the room the Player had entered and their only exit. She knelt down and patted her lap, inviting DogDay to lay his head down and rest. As she gently stroked his head, the soft but fragile sound of her music box began to play, filling the tense silence with a bittersweet lullaby. After a few moments, DogDay broke the quiet.

"Can you tell me now?"

"Hmm?" Ballade glanced down at him.

"The day you didn’t come back with the others... Can you tell me what happened?" Ballade’s hand stilled. She took a deep, steadying breath, closing her eyes for a long moment. When she finally exhaled, the weight of old pain settled into her features.

"...To me," she whispered, "it really feels like it was only just yesterday."

-

"Is... is that all you got?" Ballade panted, hunched over her knees as she struggled to catch her breath. If she could sweat, she'd be drenched — the endless waves of ruined critters sent her way had pushed her to the brink. Her chest rose and fell in ragged motions, and though she fought valiantly, the sheer number of enemies was starting to take its toll.

She had cornered herself without realizing it. There was no clear path of escape, no way to break free from the swarm. The little toys couldn’t harm her directly — they had no claws or teeth sharp enough to leave so much as a scratch — but their numbers were proving to be their greatest weapon. Their relentless assault, throwing themselves onto her to weigh her down, was working. The growing piles of broken bodies made movement harder with every second, and the sheer mass of them threatened to bury her alive. Ballade gritted her teeth, shoving one off her shoulder and stomping down on another’s head, but her limbs felt heavier with each passing moment. She was strong — built for battle — but even she had limits. And the enemy knew it.

“You always were a strong fighter, [F/N].” Lifting her head, Ballade let out a weak, bitter laugh. Bloodied, battered, and surrounded by the broken bodies of ruined toys, she still managed to glare defiantly at the figure stepping from the shadows.

“Of course… it just had to be you…” she spat, eyes narrowing as CatNap approached with that same calm, calculated air she remembered all too well. “Was this your idea? Wearing me down? Other than the Doctor, you’re the only one who knows that endless hours of fighting will tire me out.” CatNap shrugged, his eyes watching her closely.

“There was no way I could beat you in a fair fight. Wearing you down was the best and safest option.” She scoffed, her breath ragged. The cynical laughter of a ruined Hoppy rang out from the shadows behind her, and with a violent stomp, she silenced it, grinding its remains into the floor.

“Safe for you?” He tilted his head, his tone almost gentle.

“For you.” Her face twisted in confusion. She took a step toward him—and then the exhaustion crashed over her like a wave. Her limbs felt like lead, and the subtle ticking of her wind-up key behind her back began to slow. Each click echoed louder in her ears.

“You… you planned this,” she rasped, trying to force her legs to move. But the ache in her joints grew unbearable as they started to lock into place. He nodded slowly.

“I knew you wouldn’t let me or the critters get too close to your hideout. And I knew you’d sacrifice yourself to let the others escape. That’s because I know you. You’d rather get hurt yourself than see others suffer—trying to make things right after what you did…” Her vision blurred, the room spinning around her. She stumbled, her knees buckling as she collapsed onto the lifeless bodies scattered beneath her. The coldness of them pressed against her, an eerie reminder of what would soon become of her.

“You’d rather… my body shut down… than fight me…”

“It’s better this way,” he said softly. “Better than the Prototype or the Doctor stepping in.” Her key turned slower. The sound of it was fading. “If you change your mind now… maybe I can convince the Prototype to forgive you.” Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing despite the weakness overtaking her.

“…Huh?”

“The Prototype is merciful to us toys,” CatNap continued, his voice soothing, persuasive. “I’m sure, with time, he’ll forgive you for turning your back on him. He only wants what’s best for us. So please, [F/N]—” He extended a paw toward her, his expression almost pleading “—won’t you join my side again?” For a long moment, she just stared up at him. Her breath came in shallow, uneven gasps. The room around her felt distant and cold. With the last bit of strength she had left, she raised her arm—and smacked his paw away.

“I made a mistake… trusting you years ago…” her voice was weak, but her words were laced with venom. “I’m not gonna… make that mistake… again…”

And her body stilled, locked in place and waiting for her key to be turned again. Ballade lay there amidst the lifeless bodies of the ruined toys, her form slumped and motionless. The soft ticking that had once been the quiet rhythm of her life had finally gone silent. CatNap stood over her, his shadow falling across her still frame. His paw flexed slowly, claws extending and retracting as he stared down at her. This was his moment — the perfect opportunity. One strike, and the most dangerous and capable toy within the factory would be gone. The Prototype’s paranoia would be eased, their fear of Ballade’s rebellion finally put to rest. He raised his paw, ready to deliver the final blow… but he hesitated.

The seconds stretched out, and his arm trembled. His mind replayed flashes of the past — moments of laughter, of camaraderie, of whispered conversations in the dark when they’d both been afraid. He remembered the warmth in her voice when she’d encouraged him, the fierce loyalty she had always shown, even when the world around them turned to madness. But then came the guilt. The lies. He had manipulated her trust, twisted the truth to push her toward the Prototype’s cause. And deep down, he knew — if she had known the reality, the full extent of the Prototype’s plans — she never would have sided with them.

CatNap’s arm fell to his side, his face twisting in frustration and something dangerously close to regret. He couldn’t do it. Whether it was loyalty, guilt, or the echo of their old friendship… he just couldn’t strike her down.Instead, he grabs her wind-up key and yanks it out, the sharp, metallic sound echoing through the hollow chamber. Ballade's body slumped further, completely lifeless now, her glassy eyes staring into nothingness. CatNap stood there for a long moment, his paw still clutching the key as his chest rose and fell with shaky breaths. With a strangled sigh, he let his arm fall to his side. The fight drained out of him as his claws retracted, and without another word, he reached down and grabbed her by the nape of her neck. The weight of her dormant form was nothing as he dragged her through the winding corridors of the factory, up to Playcare, and into Home Sweet Home — the place where she would remain, motionless and silent, for four long years.

And yet, he never left her side. Day after day, he watched over her stage like a silent sentinel, his eyes ever-vigilant for the ruined critters that occasionally dared to draw near. He chased them off with swift brutality, his protectiveness never waning. Sometimes, when the loneliness grew too heavy, he would climb into the stage and curl up beside her lifeless body, just as they used to do when things were… better. Back then, she would talk for hours, filling the silence with stories of her day or soft lullabies that soothed his restless spirit. Now, the only sound was the distant hum of the factory and the occasional soft, ragged breaths he took as he lay beside her, longing for the warmth of her voice once more.

-

"I'm not completely... unconscious when my key stops turning," she began, her hands gently caressing DogDay's head. "I'm somewhat aware of what's going on around me, just not fully. To me, it was like I was trapped in a dream and no time had passed at all inside my head — like I just went to sleep and woke up the next day. The same, however, can't be said for my body." Her voice softened as she lifted her arm, the quiet creak of her joints filling the air. She was one of the toys that had been looked after the most. A rare, one-of-a-kind creation that couldn’t simply be remade. As the Doctor often said, she was a masterpiece — fully conscious, capable of speech, and above all, obedient. That was why she had weekly maintenance to ensure she would malfunction.

DogDay nuzzled closer, his voice quiet. "I... I had no idea."

"No one did," Ballade murmured, a distant look crossing her face. "Not even CatNap. I kept that one to myself."

“It must've been so hard for you." DogDay’s voice was soft, filled with a gentle kind of empathy. Ballade shrugged, her movements stiff.

"Eh, maybe I deserved it. I did side with the Prototype, after all. I had it coming." She tried to sound flippant, but her voice cracked just a little. DogDay pursed his lips before slowly reaching out and taking her hand. His grip was warm, steadying. He squeezed it, and when she looked down at their joined hands, something in her hardened expression softened.

"...You did what you thought was right," he said quietly. Her face twitched. She wanted to pull away, but the warmth of his hand kept her still.

"I locked you and the other critters in your cells," she whispered, her voice heavy with guilt. "I knew the Hour of Joy was coming years before it even happened, but I did nothing to stop it. I—I killed humans and toys alike and thought what I was doing was right… but I was wrong. So wrong." DogDay’s eyes filled with a sadness she hadn’t seen in a long time.

"But you did it out of love," he murmured. "What you did… it may not have been the right choice, but you thought there was no other way to save us. You fought for us in the only way you knew how." He paused, his voice growing softer, more fragile. "You may not be able to forgive yourself… but I forgave you a long time ago." Ballade’s breath hitched, and though she was incapable of crying, the way her lips trembled made it clear how deeply his words cut through her. She shook her head slowly, the weight of her guilt pressing down on her.

"How… how could you forgive me?" she asked, her voice breaking. "I helped ruin everything." He looked down at their hands, his fingers tightening around hers as he searched for the right words.

"...You could have left a long time ago," he began softly, his voice heavy with emotion. "You're capable of doing so—but you didn't. You stayed here to help us. You stayed to make things right… even when you didn’t have to." He paused, his breath catching, then slowly pulled himself up, wrapping his arms around her neck. He nestled into the side of her neck, his voice a warm whisper. "So how could I not forgive you?" She believed she choked out a sob as her hands slowly rose, trembling, to press against his back. She held him close, her grip tightening like she was afraid to let go.

"Y-You always did have a heart of gold, puppy," she whispered softly then they both sat in a comfortable silence, waiting patiently for the Player to return while remaining vigilant- who knows what could be lurking in the shadows. A couple minutes past and Ballade hears the whir of electricity, seems they finally managed to restore power to the back up generator. "I'm going to check on Angel, will you be fine here if I leave you?" he salutes her, she snickered softly when she could see an imaginary tail wagging.

"Affirmative." she pats his head.

"Okay, but I'll be quick." She set him down gently where she had been sitting, giving him a reassuring pat before rushing off to find the Player. She moved through the thick red smoke with ease and entered the maintenance room, her eyes scanned the area, but the Player was nowhere to be seen. She hummed softly then scaled the wall leading to the room with the generator but then she saw the shutter doors closed, her brows furrowed in confusion. Without hesitation, she grabbed the edges and tore them open with a loud screech of metal. But the room was empty. Her eyes swept the space carefully until they caught the glint of an open vent, the cover hastily removed and set aside. They must have trapped themselves in the room and neither she nor DogDay could hear them, if they called out for help, so they took an alternative route. But where did they-

"Ballade!" The desperate cry of DogDay rang out, sharp and panicked. Her head snapped toward the sound, and without a moment’s hesitation, she leapt down from where she stood, landing in a low crouch with a soft thud. She broke into a sprint, her heart pounding against her chest as she raced back to where she’d left him. The Player would have to wait — DogDay's safety came first. She couldn’t let anything happen to him. She wouldn’t. As she neared the end of the corridor, she felt a brief wave of relief when she saw him — still in one piece, still there. But the feeling vanished in an instant when she noticed the wide-eyed panic on his face. He was pointing down the opposite hallway, his whole body trembling.

"CatNap!" he gasped. "I saw CatNap!"

"Where?" DogDay couldn’t help but shudder at the venom laced in her voice.

"Down the hall from where we came from!" he cried. Ballade scooped him up and sprinted down the corridor, specifically to the door they ignored. She barreled toward the door leading to the room filled with red smoke, her hands slamming against the doorframe as she skidded to a stop. Her eyes widened in horror when she spotted CatNap through the glass, his claws raking viciously at the Player.

"Angel!" DogDay’s desperate shout echoed through the hall. The sound made CatNap’s head snap toward them, his eyes locking on the sight of Ballade and DogDay. His expression shifted from menace to fear.

"Get away from them, CatNap!" Ballade’s voice was a furious snarl. She struck the door with enough force to make it shudder in its frame. CatNap didn’t take his chances. He stumbled backward and quickly scrambled into the vent, disappearing from sight. The second he was gone, DogDay leapt from Ballade’s arms just as she kicked the door open, red smoke billowing out into the hallway. Her eyes flicked upward toward the vent, but she forced herself to focus on more immediate concerns. "Oh no," she whispered harshly when her gaze fell on the Player’s still form. They lay unconscious on the ground, their gas mask shredded and useless.

"Are they okay?" she let out a breath as she quickly picked them up.

"Maybe a few scratches, but CatNap broke their mask. They inhaled some of the red smoke." DogDay pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Oh no." she nods as she carried them out of the room.

“My words exactly.” Ballade let out a long sigh, the weight of the situation settling heavily on her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”

She knelt down, offering DogDay an easy path onto her back. Once he climbed on, she stood and carried them both out of the building, not venturing far — just enough to escape the oppressive red smoke. Outside, she settled on the worn concrete steps, the cool air a stark contrast to the suffocating heat of the facility. Carefully, she removed the GrabPack from the Player’s back and adjusted their position so their head rested gently in her lap. As their face twisted with the torment of the hallucinations the red smoke induced, Ballade’s fingers instinctively moved to their forehead, brushing soothing circles in an effort to ease their pain.

“Will they be okay?” DogDay’s voice was soft and worried as he slid off her back and settled beside her. He leaned into her side, seeking the comfort she always provided.

“Hopefully,” Ballade murmured, her eyes never leaving the Player’s pale, strained face. “It might be a while before they wake up. I feel like this is the first bit of rest they’ve gotten since getting stuck here… even if they’re suffering through whatever haunts their mind.” She huffed softly, the sound heavy with a mix of frustration and concern, her hand never stilling as it moved in gentle strokes through the Player’s hair.

"Shouldn't we... hurry?" DogDay asked softly, his voice tinged with concern. Ballade shrugged, her eyes still scanning their surroundings.

"What's the rush? CatNap's not gonna do anything rash now that he knows we're out and protecting the employee, and Poppy can eat it. She ain't gonna rush me—I just woke up." DogDay couldn't help but chuckle at her choice of words.

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." Ballade’s tone softened just a bit. "Let's enjoy this last bit of freedom before we have to go back to the prison." He peeked up at her, his brows knitting together.

"How do you know we're going to the prison?"

"Where else is there to go?" she said with a sigh. "I’ve got an idea of what little Miss Poppy is planning, but I highly doubt she's gonna let them go now that she's trapped them this deep. If we don't keep a close eye on them, she's gonna wear them down." Her voice grew quieter, more serious. "And that's the last thing we need." She wrapped an arm around him, her hand rubbing up and down his arm in slow, comforting strokes. DogDay leaned into her warmth, his tension easing little by little. But even as she comforted him, Ballade’s eyes never stopped moving, watching every corner, every fleeting shadow. She was waiting, daring that cat to show his face again. If CatNap came near them—near DogDay, near the employee—she wouldn’t let him get close.

"Nngh..." the two look down and saw the Player stirring softly, their hand weakly lifting from their side to press against their head. Their hand rubbed over their eyes then dragged down their face and when they finally came to they were startled to see Ballade looming over them.

“Well good morning, sleeping beauty~” Ballade teased, laughing when the Player practically launched off her lap. DogDay peeked over her shoulder and couldn’t help but giggle himself when the Player scrambled to their feet, eyes wide in confusion.

“W-What happened?” they asked, brushing themselves off. Ballade pursed her lips, drawing lazy circles in the air with her finger.

“CatNap attacked you, and you inhaled some of that nasty red smoke. We saved you just before he could do any real damage, but… sorry we didn’t get to you sooner.” The Player let out a long breath, rubbing the back of their neck as they settled down next to Ballade again. “Did you enjoy your nap?” she teased.

“Other than the hallucinations? Yeah. Great nap,” they deadpanned, making her snicker. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“We noticed how exhausted you were,” DogDay answered before Ballade could. “She thought you could use the rest… even if you were suffering through a couple of hallucinations.” Ballade sweat-dropped at his bluntness.

“Never know when you’re gonna get to sleep again.”

“Yeah, especially when I’m already stuck in a nightmare,” the Player muttered.

“You could say that again,” Ballade agreed softly. The three of them fell into a comfortable silence until the Player surprised them both by leaning their head against Ballade’s arm. She blinked in surprise but let them stay—what’s a few more minutes of peace? “…I almost miss it,” Ballade murmured so quietly they almost didn’t hear her. The Player and DogDay both glanced up at her.

“What do you miss?” the Player asked. She laughed softly, a little wistful.

“The work. The best thing about being assigned to Playcare was watching the kids… making sure the Smiling Critters didn’t get into too much mischief—which they often did. But still… most of the time, I was just lazing about, listening to their laughter.” She smiled, the memory clearly warm despite the weight of everything that had happened.

“We gave you a lot of trouble back in the day,” DogDay said with a small grin.

“Oh, you did. But you? You were the peacemaker,” she said, giving his head a soft pat. “Kickin and Hoppy were the ones that had me running around like crazy, but they never got far.” Her smile faded as a heavier thought crossed her mind. “I miss it. The good days… I really do.” The Player swallowed thickly when they noticed her hand clenching into a tight fist. The tension only eased when DogDay placed his paw on her other hand, grounding her. She was surprised when the employee gently placed their hand over hers. Looking down, she saw the pained expression on their face.

"I don't understand what you've been through, not one bit," they admitted, their voice soft but steady. "But I do know one thing... you didn’t deserve what happened to you." They turned her hand over, rubbing their thumb over her knuckles in a comforting gesture. "None of you did. You were just… you were just children." Her eyes widened.

"You..."

"After finding those VHS tapes and notes on my way down here, I could put two and two together." They shook their head, a mixture of sorrow and determination in their gaze. "You could have had a life, but you were robbed of your childhood. I can't give that back to you, but the least I can do is help take down the Prototype—the thing that brought all of this crashing down." Ballade and DogDay stared at the Player for a moment before bursting into laughter. Ballade placed a hand on her chest to steady herself, while DogDay pressed a paw to his mouth, trying to stifle his giggles.

"You're funny, Angel," DogDay managed to say between muffled chuckles.

"We appreciate the sentiment," Ballade said, amusement still lacing her tone, "but if you really want to take down the Prototype, you're going to have to do a lot of work. He’s been scheming since the early nineties... I think. I’m close." She inhaled deeply before rising to her feet, easily hoisting DogDay onto her shoulder. She then looked down at the Player, offering her hand. "Well, if you’re serious about this, then let’s get to it." The Player met her gaze before letting out a soft laugh, placing their hand in hers.

"Let’s." She helps them up, and the three of them take the power cord connected to the Counselor's Office and bring it back to the generator room. When connecting it, they realize they're just a tiny bit short due to Poppy restoring power to the skylights. Ballade leaves DogDay with the Player and quickly rushes off to grab the power cord from that terminal. She's back in record time, and with that last power cord, they've produced a giant blue battery. She offers to carry it, but they reassure her that it's no problem, picking it up with the GrabPack and carrying it to the Gas Production Zone.

"Do you think..." DogDay's voice breaks the silence as he shifts slightly on her shoulder, lagging behind a bit as the employee walks ahead. "Do you think we'll actually be able to beat the Prototype? We've been trying to get the upper hand for years, but we haven't even come close." Ballade stares at him for a moment before shrugging.

"Who knows? Maybe we'll all die in the end. Maybe that's better. But they've come so far... maybe they really will kill the Prototype and finally end our suffering." She feels DogDay’s small arms wrap around her.

"I hope they do." She pats his arm gently. "I'm just so tired of needing to survive, I just wanna live again." She nods, her voice soft.

"Me too, puppy. Me too." As they finally approach the Gas Production Zone, the Player has already entered the room, making their way toward the blue battery slot. Just as they reach it, the doors suddenly slam shut. "Wha—what's going on?!" Ballade shouts, rushing forward. She grimaces as she peers through the glass, only to see the shutters closing as well.

"Angel! Angel, are you okay?!" DogDay yells, his voice edged with panic.

"It's CatNap!" Their eyes widen as the Player’s voice crackles through. "He's filled the room with the red smoke! I—I've got to go!" She can hear CatNap's heavy footsteps stomping after the Player before they vanish completely.

"No... no, no, no!" Ballade dropped DogDay to the ground and tore the door open, flinging it aside before forcing her hands beneath the shutter doors and ripping them apart. A thick wave of red smoke billowed out, forcing DogDay to cover his mouth as Ballade rushed inside, searching desperately for both the Player and CatNap. She cursed under her breath. The room was empty. The lift to the escape room had already been activated, the blue battery abandoned on the floor. "They got away, but CatNap went after them...!"

"Then follow after them!" Ballade hesitated, catching the way DogDay’s gaze flickered toward the red smoke, fear flickering in his eyes.

"What about you?" DogDay clenched his fists before looking up at her.

"Take me with you... I'll—I'll be fine." She swallowed thickly.

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"Yes. I don’t want to wait this time."

Ballade sighed but nodded nonetheless, scooping him up before stepping back into the smoke. She felt him shake his head, trying to fight off the hallucinations as she quickened her pace toward the elevator. As they waited for the lift to descend, she kept a comforting hand on his back. Finally, when it arrived, she jumped in, hitting the next button to take them up. If memory served her right, the room CatNap had taken the Player to was a panic room. She vaguely remembered Stella mentioning it in passing—back when things were normal. It was never meant to be used, but when everything went to hell, that’s where most of the human employees fled. And she had personally dealt with them.

-

Fending off CatNap in the Safe Room was a waking nightmare.

The moment they entered, Poppy’s voice crackled through unseen speakers, her instructions flashing on the terminal. Defend yourself. Activate the traps. Survive. The Player wasted no time. They grabbed a battery and slammed it into one of the defense stations, watching as a steam wall roared to life, sealing off one corridor. They activated a green hand port, but the moment it triggered another steam wall, the first one flickered off. A mistake. They cursed under their breath and tore the battery out, resetting it before CatNap could take advantage of the gap.

With the final battery in hand, they sprinted to the top-left receiver, locking it in place. A timer appeared on the terminal. The countdown had begun. Then came the footsteps.

They paced between the two open corridors, Flare Hand at the ready, breath hitching as shadows loomed at the ends of the hall. CatNap. Or was it? The red smoke thickened around them, warping their vision, making the walls feel closer, suffocating. Illusions. They raised their arm and fired a flare down the corridor—the ember burst, cutting through the haze. Nothing. A hallucination. The terminal alarm blared—new battery required. The Player bolted to the next receiver, shoving in another battery just as the trapdoor above them creaked open. Their stomach dropped. A low, guttural growl rumbled from above. He was using the ceiling now. They barely had time to react before the hatch shifted, a clawed hand reaching down. Their heartbeat pounded in their ears as they lunged, slamming the trapdoor shut just before CatNap could drop in.

His claws scraped against the metal, the sound making their skin crawl. Every second, his footsteps echoed from all directions. The illusions flickered in and out of existence, growing closer, the glowing white eyes multiplying in the shadows. They couldn’t tell what was real anymore. Somewhere beyond the suffocating red haze, Ballade and DogDay’s voices rang out. Their stomach twisted—was it really them? Or just the smoke playing tricks on them? There was no time to figure it out. CatNap was relentless, his attacks coming faster. The Player barely managed to stop him, blasting steam at him, whipping around to fire off flares, and slamming the trapdoor shut again and again. Their lungs burned, their arms ached, but they couldn’t afford to slow down. Every time they turned, those soulless white eyes were closer.

The terminal outlet flashed brighter than before. The Player’s eyes snapped to it. This was it. Without thinking, they shot out their Green Hand, feeling the electricity surge through their arm as the circuit overloaded. CatNap crashed through the trapdoor just as they turned. With gritted teeth, they raised their hand, aimed at the monstrous cat, and fired. A surge of pure electricity shot forward, slamming into CatNap’s chest. His body convulsed, a twisted, piercing screech ripping from his throat. Smoke poured from his body, his glowing eyes wide in shock as the energy coursed through him, crackling through fur and metal alike. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air as he collapsed.

CatNap, against all odds, was still alive. His body trembled as he struggled to push himself up, smoke curling from his scorched fur. His ragged breaths filled the tense silence, his limbs barely able to support him. Then, the trapdoor above groaned open. The Player flinched as a long, mechanical claw descended from the darkness—a skeletal hand of slender silver pins, its joints clicking unnervingly as it extended downward. The Prototype.

The metallic fingers twisted with eerie precision before stopping, hovering inches from CatNap’s face, waiting. His breath hitched as his pupils shrank to pinpricks. Then, with a slow, reverent movement, he pushed himself onto his knees, head tilting slightly as if gazing upon something holy. He remembered the first time that hand had reached for him—the day it saved him, the day he learned what true power was. His lips curled into something between a grimace and a grin as he presented himself openly to the Prototype. He was here to save him. Just like before. Just like always. What more could he ask for—

"No!" A voice cut through the tension a second before Ballade slammed into CatNap, knocking him away. They hit the floor hard, but she didn’t hesitate, scrambling over him as she fixed her wild eyes on the Prototype. She and DogDay had finally reached the panic room, just in time to see CatNap kneeling before the monster that had destroyed them all. The Prototype’s fingers had been poised like a spear, seconds away from driving straight through his skull.

Ballade didn’t know why she had moved. She was still so angry. Angry at him for lying to her, for manipulating her into following the Prototype, for trapping her inside her own body for four long years. But as she gripped his tattered fur, her breath shaking, something inside her twisted painfully. No matter how much she hated him, there was still a part of her that remembered the boy he used to be. The one she had cared for. The one she had lost. Ballade grappled with CatNap, the two rolling across the ground in a violent struggle. She managed to slip behind him, locking her arms around his neck in a tight chokehold. He clawed desperately at her arms, but after enduring a surge of electricity and severe burns, his strength was fading fast. He was no match for her.

"You are not going to die!" she shouted, tightening her grip as he thrashed. "I won't let him take you, Theo!" CatNap's breath came in ragged gasps.

"No! My god... he wouldn't abandon me! After everything I did for him, he wouldn't just..." His voice faltered, and his wide, panicked eyes darted upward. DogDay appeared beside them, his arms wrapping around both Ballade and CatNap, reinforcing the hold. His voice was soft, yet firm.

"He abandoned us a long time ago, old friend." CatNap's gaze snapped back to the trapdoor above. The Prototype, his supposed savior, was already withdrawing, disappearing back into the darkness. There was no hesitation, no second thought—just cold indifference. The realization struck like a blade to the gut. The god he had worshipped, the entity he had given everything for, had never truly cared for him. A furious growl rumbled from his throat, and he twisted violently, trying to break free.

"Let go! Let me go!"

"No, not this time!" Ballade barked, her grip unwavering. "I ran from you once, blaming you for what I had done. But it was my fault for abandoning you with that thing when you were just as manipulated as the rest of us. And I am so sorry, Theo!" His struggles weakened, his body trembling. His voice came out in a whisper, fragile and broken.

"N-No... he- he didn't..." But the truth was right in front of him. The Prototype was gone, and all that remained were the people who still cared for him, even after everything.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry for blaming you. You only did what you thought was right, and I believed in you. We both did. We put our faith in something we thought would save us, something that promised us salvation—but all it did was take everything away. And I let it happen. I turned my back on you when you needed me the most." Her voice trembled, thick with regret. "I can't take back the things I said. I can't undo the pain I've caused, the choices I made, the years we lost... but I swear, Theo—I swear—I want to make it right." even after everything that happened, even after they put each other through, she just couldn't bring herself to hate the young boy whom she loved with all her heart.

"I-I'm..." she peeked her head over his shoulder and let out a breath when she saw tears streak down his burnt face, she loosened her grip when she felt the fight drain out of him and he instead hunched forward and start crying. "I'm sorry for what I've done...!" she hummed softly as she moved her arms to wrap around his body and embrace him, her head leaning against his cheek and nuzzling it softly to comfort him.

"I know, I know..." Ballade left CatNap to DogDay, who was clinging to the toy and repeatedly apologizing for the state he had reduced him to. She turned toward the Player, who had been watching. "Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling down to avoid overwhelming them.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm good." They let out a sigh of relief and reached forward to gently pat her head.

"I'm sorry we weren't there to stop him in time. I feel awful for leaving you alone." Ballade shook her head, waving her hand to dismiss the concern.

"It's fine, really. I'm just glad you were here in the end." They smiled softly and withdrew their hand. Ballade helped them to their feet and then glanced back at CatNap and DogDay.

"I think this is where we leave you," she said, causing the Player to look up at her in shock.

"What?" She chuckled at their reaction.

"Don't worry. You're just going to have to go on without us for now, but we'll catch up. I’m going to have CatNap find DogDay's legs—he definitely left them somewhere. I also need to grab a couple of things. If you're going deeper into the factory, there are some things I need before we can follow." Ballade patted their shoulder. "But I must warn you... what you went through up here is nothing compared to what's below. If you're not careful... you might not make it out." The Player swallowed thickly.

"Right... I’ll take that warning to heart."

Lullaby

word count: 9428

Fandom: Poppy Playtime Pairing: N/A Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Familial Occupation: Caretaker Ability: Ballerina Music Box

The character takes the appearance of a beautifully crafted music box ballerina figurine made of the toughest porcelain and glass, their clothes made from real fabric that is soft to touch and hair so smooth and silky you'd mistake it for real hair. Attached to their back is a wind up key that continuously spins when they're active and stops when they switch off. If the key is removed they cease to operate until key is returned and they are wound up again. Before CatNap, the character was the one to put the children to sleep with their built-in music box that would constantly be updated with new songs to play to help ease the children to sleep.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name

Warnings: spoilers for chapter 4 and those who haven't played the game, blood, death and all that shit.

"Lullaby" pt. 2, pt.3

bound to be mistakes that I was too lazy to find or fix.

that is all.

This beautiful ballerina is what every little girl dreams to be! Each doll sold plays a different song when you wind her key and her articulated, posable body in shimmery outfits add to storytelling. This doll is ready and waiting to be taken home to sing and dance for your little girl, all day, every day, forever and ever!

She is your best friend, Ballade Ballerina!

-

Subject: 1179

Original Procedure Date: 11/90

Behavior:

Assigned to Home Sweet Home within the Playcare, it acts as a motherly figure towards the children with a "warm" and "caring" attitude. That attitude switches off around the staff and it acts "cold" and "unresponsive" but will do as it's told when given orders. This was one of the few experiments that had their cognitive thinking intact instead becoming one of those mindless individuals.

Much like it's predecessors, while also maintaining the ability to think and respond, it acts as a bodyguard and or security that monitors the children when it's lights out. Nothing seems to get past its watchful eyes while also documenting who comes and goes both Home Sweet Home and the Playcare.

A stage was built into Home Sweet Home where it resides while its built-in music box would play lullabies to help put the children to sleep or when they're stressed it would help calm them down, however, it roams around during the "day" and interacts with the children.

While their temperament becomes apathetic around the regular employees, it becomes more nervous and prone to aggression around the scientists but what intrigues me the most is how it acts around me. Sometimes it would shut down completely when in my presence but is obedient to any order I give it, going so far as to drop any other previous order to complete a task I give it.

Conclusion:

Have it remain within Home Sweet Home for further monitoring.

Subject 1179 is one of the more successful Bigger Bodies that thinks, acts and listens while it can go unmonitored and it won't act out or misbehave.

Signature: Dr. Harley Swayer

-

"Hey, wind up the key already."

"Just... give me a sec, alright. This thing is so hard to turn!" two human employees struggled to turn the wind up key attached to the back of a giant four meter tall ballerina figurine doll, the coiled spring within its body needing to be tightened enough to function throughout the day. The two let out a breath of relief when it finally clicked into place and the third took a step back just as the figurine sparked to life, she sat on her knees with her head in a bowed position but when she turned on she slowly sat up with her eyes blinking to life.

"Good, you're awake." a yawn escaped her lips as she stretched her arms above her head, she looked down at the human in front of her when they snapped their fingers in front of her "Ballade, state your tasks for today." her face, made of the finest but toughest porcelain, held little to no emotion as she continued to stare the human down.

"Wait for the children to wake. Help the children get ready for the day. Entertain the children as the day progresses. Assist the Smiling Critters if needed. Abide by the orders the employees give. When the children--" she stops when they held a hand up to her, their other hand pinching the bridge of their nose in mild irritation.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. I hate doing this." one of the other employees places a hand on their shoulder.

"It's standard procedure, pal. We've got to ask so we know that she knows her daily duties and tasks. If anything is amiss we've got to report to Dr. Sawyer." the three of them shudder, missing how Ballade twitched at the mention of the doctor "You know how he is, that freak."

"Yeah, and besides, we're lucky that we're around one of the few toys whose first thought isn't to bite our heads off." at that comment, they peak up at Ballade and saw how she just continued to stare at them, eyes unnervingly not breaking contact with the three of them as they spoke "Let's not take our chances though." they step off her stage and draw the curtains.

"You know what you're supposed to do." she nods and they leave, she lets out another yawn before finally standing to her feet and waiting for her cue. She laced her fingers together as she stretched her arms and legs, not that she needed to, and got into position at the sound of the soft pitter patter that was the children's footsteps along with more heavier footsteps of the Smiling Critters.

"Haha, alright children. Now that you're all awake, let's help wake up our last friend! You all remember what to do, right?" the voice chuckles softly when the children nod their heads enthusiastically "Alright. One, two, three... oh, Miss Ballade~ rise and shine!"

"Rise and shine, Miss Ballade!" a silence washes over them when nothing happened.

"I think we need to be a little louder, one more time children. Oh, Miss Ballade~"

"Rise and shine!" they hear the sound of soft laughter as a melody starts to play from behind the curtain, they all cheer when the curtain is thrown open and Ballade steps out with a bright smile on her face.

"Good morning children! Thank you for waking me, I really needed that. So, kids, are you all ready for breakfast? Let's find Picky Piggy, I'm sure she's fixed you all something to eat!" at the mention of food a few children scatter to the dining hall, and a few other children lingered around and waited for Ballade "Remember kids, with a healthy diet and enough practice, you just might be able to be like me one day." she says as she takes a step off her stage while reaching for one of the children.

"Really? Can I become a ballerina like you when I grow up?" a genuine smile spreads across her porcelain face as she picks the little girl up and holds her up, the girl starts to laugh when Ballade nuzzles her nose against hers.

"Of course, when you believe in yourself, anything is possible." a laugh escapes her lips when the little girl wraps her arms around her neck and hugs her, she grunts when another pair of arms wraps around her and pulls her into a hug. She pursed her lips and looked down at DogDay, whose already permanent smile stretched wider while his tail wagged when she managed to free her hand to gently caress the back of his head "Good morning to you too, DogDay." he giggled softly.

"Good morning, Miss Ballade." she happily greets the other Smiling Critters, who were rounding up the leftover children, and form a line so no child is left out during breakfast. DogDay was leading them with Ballade, who was ultimately the tallest toy within the Playcare, was the last in line while Hoppy, Kickin and Bubba were mixed in with the children. As they made their way to the dining hall, Ballade was singing different nursery rhymes with the children and Smiling Critters joining in happily to keep them entertained "Who's hungry?"

"We are!" DogDay smiles as he steps to the side and gestures for the children to take a seat in the dining hall, where Picky was setting up the food.

"Well, go take a seat and Picky will serve you right up!" Ballade takes a step back and watches as the children take their seats, whether it be with their friends or by themselves, even the Smiling Critters take their designated seats "Miss Ballade, join us." DogDay says, Bobby smiles warmly as she gestures for Ballade to sit with them.

"Yes, join us!" she gently shakes her head.

"Perhaps later, we are still missing a face." this caused DogDay to look around and notice who exactly was missing.

"Drats, he must have gone back to sleep. Allow me to--" she raises her hand.

"I shall retrieve him, it will be no hassle. Besides, he listens to me." DogDay's ears lowered as a soft whine escaped him, she gave him a comforting smile as she gently patted his head "Do not worry, friend. I will make sure he comes down to join us for breakfast." he nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Alright." another whine leaves him when both her hands pinch at his cheeks and start stretching them, this caused the children to laugh when DogDay grabbed her by her wrists to stop her "Okay, okay!" she lets go and chuckles when he was rubbing his cheeks, Crafty and Bubba comforting him when he cried softly.

"Good, I'll be back with him in toe." she pats his head before turning on her heel and leaving.

The Smiling Critters consists of eight members, that being DogDay, Bubba Bubbaphant, Bobby BearHug, CraftyCorn, Hoppy Hopscotch, KickinChicken, Picky Piggy and last by certainly not least CatNap. Ballade was created before the Smiling Critters and is the one in charge of them all, keeping them in line and checking on them as ordered by the Doctor himself. She, of course, knows about the experiments and knows who the children were before they were placed into their Bigger Bodies. They, too, recognized Ballade as the nice caretaker who looked after them when they were still human and trusted her with all their heart. Ballade's stage resided within the main foyer in the center of the room where she would usually sing and dance for the children, as for the Smiling Critters, they generally resided in cells beneath the Playhouse but Miss Stella Greyber thought it would make the children happier if they stayed in Home Sweet Home so Ballade wouldn't have to go far from the children just to check on the Smiling Critters.

That being said...

"CatNap~ I know you're in there." she gently knocks on the door before opening it to find the colossal cat sleeping soundly on his cat bed, she enters the room and closes the door behind her then approaches him. Her hand reached to press gently against his head, she smiled fondly when a purr rumbled out of his throat and she continued to stroke his head as she knelt down on her knees "It's time to eat, Theo." she spoke softly, she tilts her head to the side and saw that his eyes opened.

"I'm not hungry..." she frowned.

"I see they still haven't fixed your voice box yet." he grunts at her words.

"They don't care about me." he looked up at her when she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on top of his, her cheek rubbing into the top of his head.

"But I do, and I wish I could help you." her eyes trailed down his body and winced when she saw his skeletal figure "And I wish for you to join us for breakfast, my boy. The others are waiting for us to join them, so we mustn't keep them waiting." he huffed and turned away from her, his tail flicking around in disinterest.

"They're not waiting. They don't care about me either." she pouts but doesn't stop petting him.

"That's not true, they care in their own way. Won't you do this for me, my sweet boy?" it still wasn't enough to convince him, haa, when he gets like this she only has one last thing to resort to "I see, I guess I'll leave you to sleep. But DogDay will be very upset." a subtle smirk stretched across her lips when his ear perked up.

"DogDay...?" she shrugged her shoulders as she removed herself, dusting the skirt of her dress.

"Mm hmm, he was upset that you weren't there to join us for breakfast. I won't pressure you to join us, but I guess Crafty will be the one to keep him company." playing with his feelings like this was cruel but DogDay was CatNap's closest friend where he got pretty jealous when the others got too close to him "I'll tell him you're still sleeping, so sweet dreams my baby~" she's waving him goodbye as she takes her leave and closing the door behind her, she's walking away and quietly counting down from five and the moment she gets to one his door was kicked open. She snickers to herself and stops to wait for him, as she's turning around she notices that he isn't slowing down and before she can do anything to avoid him he crashes into her.

*SLAM*

*THUD*

*CRASH*

"What was that?" DogDay was quick to his feet at the sound of a loud crash, the others quickly settled the children as he and Kickin rushed out to see what it was, only for them to hold back their laughter at the sight. The cause of the sound was CatNap charging into Ballade and the two of them tumbling down the stairs when they reached the bottom Ballade fell face first into the floor with CatNap on top of her, DogDay continued to laugh quietly as he approached them "Are you... alright, Miss Ballade?" he and Kickin burst out into laughter when she answers them with a thumbs up, face still in the floor.

"Sorry, Miss Ballade..." CatNap apologies as he lifts his hand upon realizing his paw was pressed into the back of her head.

"It's alright, my dear boy. You were just excited to eat with your friends." she reassures them that she's alright as they help her to her feet and they return to the dining hall, Ballade had a bright smile on her face at the sight of all her children eating together. Despite the horrors that lie beneath their feet, she could never ask for a better job than thi--

"Ballade." her eyes snap away from the children and see that it was Stella Greyber calling her name, she gestures with her finger for her to come so with one final look at the children she slinks away to see what the Head of Playcare could possibly need from her.

"Miss Greyber, how may I be of assistance today?" a bead of sweat formed on Stella's cheek as she stared up at the figurine, despite the friendly smile on her face, her eyes were void of any emotion as her voice was monotone.

"I need you to accompany me and the other Head Executives for a meeting, we have some guests that I'm worried will act out." she raised a brow.

"Act... out?" her mind thinks back to the other times Stella or the other Head Executives called her out when they were having meetings with especially unruly guests, she slowly nods her head "I understand, Miss Greyber." Stella smiles and claps her hands.

"Splendid, just follow me out." she nods her head but stops and looks to where the Smiling Critters are.

"Oh, CatNap!" she calls out, his head snaps up and looks to where she is, he scowls when he sees Stella but his gaze softens when Ballade smiles "Look after the children for me while I'm gone, hmm? I trust you'll keep them safe." her smile brightened when he nodded, slowly, but he nodded.

"Okay..." she laughs softly and waves the children goodbye when the children bid her goodbye, Kickin and Hoppy pout as they watch Ballade follow Stella out before they all look up at CatNap, who went back to eating his food "... what?"

"How come you're in charge? I thought she'd at least choose DogDay."

"I'm not in charge. She only told me to look after the children..." DogDay nods.

"Yeah. Besides, he needs more time to hang around the children! Since he visits the doctor more often than us, the children have been missing him and want to spend more time with him! She must have thought of that as to why she chose CatNap to look after the children." Bubba nods.

"I agree, CatNap is becoming quite popular with the children." Bobby giggles softly.

"Sounds to me you're just jealous she chose him and not you two."

"We're not jealous!" Crafty places her hands on their backs to calm them.

"Now, now, no fighting. Miss Ballade wouldn't want us to." CatNap watched as his friends bicker amongst each other as he thought of the real reason Ballade asked him of all the Smiling Critters to look after the children, or rather, watch. The reason she asked him was because he was more capable of guarding them while she was away, she didn't act as just a caretaker to the children, she was also their bodyguard in case guests that were welcomed into the Playcare acted aggressively around the children or staff. She waves at the few children outside Home Sweet Home as well as the Miss Delight teachers as she continues to follow Stella to the Gas Production Zone, and it was the moment she was out of sight that she dropped her friendly demeanor.

The human employees were quick to shuffle away when Stella entered with Ballade trailing close behind, her heavy footsteps echoing throughout the production zone as they stepped onto the lift and had them lowered towards the prison. Stella looked back at Ballade and noticed how she grew nervous as they traversed through the toy graveyard, she was nervous herself but she noticed how the figurine was clasping her hands together as she kept her glass eyes down to avoid looking at the toys. To the people who are unaware, they would think that it was just rejected or ruined toys they were walking by, but to the people who knew the truth... it was better not to think about it for their own sanity.

"You're here, finally!" Leith Pierre, Head of Innovations and owner of Playtime Co., announced when Stella entered the room with Ballade in toe. He was speaking with Stella as Ballade looked around the room and spotted the familiar looking box in the corner of the room, she sighs, so she was on cleanup duty huh? She blinked when Leith was in front of her and snapping his fingers to get her attention, she slowly turned her head to look down at him and saw the irritated expression on his face "Alright, you know what you're to do, hmm? I've got six guests coming down to discuss a couple things when in reality, I'm just going to have you two get rid of them. It's the media that's gotten a little too nosey and I need you to silence them for, well, ever. Got it?" she stared blankly at him then nodded.

"Understood." he gives her that all too familiar smile; fake.

"Terrific! Get into place." she nods once more and takes her place beside the door. Despite being in the lower area of Playtime Co. where a prison was built, the room was nicely decorated with all sorts of toys littered around so it wouldn't be odd to see the popular, life-sized doll of Ballade Ballerina in the room. She takes a breath before holding the first position (a basic ballet position) with a kid-friendly smile on her face, she also temporarily slowed her wind up key so you wouldn't hear it tick as it moved "Okay, bring 'em in."

...

...

'So boring...' she could feel the yawn building up in her throat but had to fight it down as to not alarm the unsuspecting guests that she was alive and watching their every movement, she had been watching them closely since they stepped foot into the room and would look away when they would glance up at her. The three Head Executives were answering questions their guests were asking and it started off with the usual, she was watching them again but stopped when they gestured to her.

"My little girl has a Ballade doll, I never would have thought you would have made a life size version of her. I've seen the Huggy Wuggy and Kissy Missy ones, but I still can't get over the sheer size of them." Leith laughs at the comment.

"Of course, of course! The children love them, or rather, they love to climb all over them. Our Ballade here is our most delicate one. Unlike Huggy, who's made of fur and fluff, or Mommy, who's made of plastic, she's made of porcelain. She's one of our finest toys and mascots, the children just love her."

"Does she sing too?" Stella nods.

"She does indeed, she has the wind up key and everything but it's a hassle to wind it up because of the technical stuff inside her." the lady deflated a little.

"A pity. Well, anyway, back to the interview." she picks up a stack of papers and then spreads them across the table to reveal a couple photos of the factory, it was a wonder how they managed to capture them when it was against the rules to film or document anything when within the factory, they must have a really good photographer "I am very curious about the many locations within Playtime Co., especially the building we're in now."

"Yes, and by the looks of it, it kind of looks like a... prison?" Eddie M. N. Ritterman, the Head of Research, just let out a laugh.

"A prison? Don't be ridiculous! Why would we, a company known for making toys, build a prison? This place is merely a warehouse for toys that just didn't appeal to the children." that answer didn't really convince the interviewers, not that it mattered, they weren't leaving this room, let alone the building itself "We bring toys that don't make the cut down here so we can brainstorm and see how we can make them better! Down here is where all the "science" happens, you know?" they raise a brow.

"Science?"

"Well, our leading scientist isn't here to give all the boring details about how we run things, but he's what makes the toys come to life! He's the reason why our Ballade here is so lifelike, you see." at this comment one of the interviewers stood up and looked at Ballade closely.

"Now that you mention it, it's almost as if her eyes are following me..." he murmured to himself and started moving side to side to see if she was really watching them, the three Executives watch Ballade's eyes closely and saw that she managed to not look at him and when the others saw this as well he was quickly yanked back into his seat.

"Stop that, you're making yourself look like a fool." they whisper sharply.

"But I swear we're being watched." Leith chuckles at that.

"You can thank our security for that! We pride ourselves in our security to make any intruders as uncomfortable as possible." that comment caused them to grow a little nervous, Eddie laughed when he could feel the rise of tension because of Leith's words.

"What Leith is trying to say is that with our security, anyone that trespasses onto Playtime Co. property without proper invitation, well, they better hope that the silent alarm that goes off is the only thing they should be worrying about." this caused the lot of them to shrink a little, the staff hadn't realized that this man came onto the property multiple times disguised as a guest to take photos but he didn't go unrecognized by Huggy and Mommy, the mascots who were the security for the main entrance and Game Stop of Playtime Co.

"Mister Pierre, sir, we didn't mean--" Stella winced and looked away when Eddie raised his hand to stop them. Eddie's eyes narrowed as they all looked at how their guests shrank under his gaze.

"Now, there's no need to apologize. I must say, you got some really good shots of our factory. I should thank you, clearly we need to update our human security since they failed to check if anyone was carrying a camera when it is prohibited to bring such things into the factory. A hazard, you know? I should get to that right away!" he stands to his feet and readjusts his blazer "I'll be sure to have our security take care of things." Stella and Eddie follow close behind as they leave the room, closing the door behind them and leaving the six people in there.

"Great! They're probably going to call the police."

"They're going to have us barred from entering the property."

"I'm more surprised they didn't confiscate the photos."

"He said that security was going to "take care of things", or whatever that means."

"Think we can just leave?"

"Yeah, and find the exit through this maze? I think it'd be better to wait for security." they start discussing what they should do when they hear a subtle ticking sound, they look over and see that it was coming from the Ballade Ballerina figurine "Is it... ticking?" one of them asked as they approached her, looking her up and down and noticing how her wind up key was turning.

"Is she on or something?" they jumped when the box in the corner of the room started making a noise, the crank on the jack-in-the-box turning on its own and playing its familiar tune, creeping them out even further "Is it automatic or something."

"Shut it off if it freaks you out so much." a few of them approach the box while the others paced the room.

"All around the cobbler's bench..." the man in front of Ballade whipped his head up at her when she started singing, the room fell into silence when both she and the box started playing "Pop goes the Weasel", Ballade sang it slowly with an eerie and dull expression on her face "The monkey chased the weasel..." the woman pacing the room shook her head.

"Why is she singing?"

"Is she supposed to sing that slow?"

"The monkey thought 'twas all in fun..." the man in front of her shook his head as he approached the door.

"Fuck this." he rushes for the door and grabs the doorknob, he's in the process of yanking it open when a large hand slams it shut. He stares at the hand that is bigger than his head before slowly looking up to see Ballade staring down at him, his breath hitches when she stares him straight in the eyes.

"Pop goes the weasel." the room is filled with screams when her hand grabs him by the neck and closes around it, promptly snapping his neck and killing him on the spot. What followed next was the sound of blood-curdling screams and cries for help, yet their pleas fell to deaf ears as they were killed like cattle in a slaughterhouse. When the room fell quiet, Leith peeked inside and smirked softly at the sight of Ballade feeding Boxy Boo the dead interviewers one by one, well, the interviewers who weren't already half-eaten by the gluttonous toy. He whistled softly when he saw a few holes in the concrete walls, she was quite the masterpiece, he had to admit. Despite being a porcelain doll that is normally very fragile, the doctor had constructed her body with the finest but toughest porcelain he could find. She acted as not only the security for Playcare, she was essentially a bodyguard for the three Head Executives as well as extra muscle for cleaning up dead bodies "Open wide, Boxy." she cooed as she held a dismembered torso in her hands and dangled it above him, a faint smile graced her lips when he obliged and opened as wide as he could and she dropped it into his mouth.

"Haha, well done!" she didn't pay Leith any mind as she continued to feed Boxy "We'll have the Specialist mop up all the blood, and Ballade? Don't forget to clean yourself up." at the mention of that, she looked down at herself and saw the blood dripping down her fine china.

"We're lucky porcelain doesn't stain easily, or else it'd be a pain to explain why she's been dyed red." Eddie comments, Stella sighs softly.

"Well, she does get the most maintenance out of all the toys. She requires a lot of cleaning or else she'll fall apart." Ballade let out an oh when she felt Boxy nudge her side, she looked down at him and saw that he was licking the blood off her fingertips. Experiment 1160, better known as Boxy Boo, was the first experiment from the Bigger Bodies Initiative that was a success but unlike her, he was violent and gluttonous with his purpose being the disposing of lower-ended employees aware of the Initiative. While her main purpose was to look after the children within Playcare, she also helped Boxy Boo and the Specialist deal with "clean-up duty" and because of that, she was constantly around him since she was the only one who could control him. Due to that, Boxy Boo was more like a dog around her since she treated him nicely.

"Clean up the rest of the bodies then you can go back to Playcare after returning Boxy Boo to his cell." she nods her head.

"Yes, sir." she has to hold Boxy Boo's head down to stop him from lunging towards Leith, who approached her knowing that she would keep him safe from the ravenous toy, just to pat her on the arm.

"Good girl." she just huffed softly. It only takes a couple minutes for Ballade to feed the last of the bodies to Boxy before he's tuckered out and slinking back into his box, she's caressing the top of it and cooing sweet nothings to him until he falls asleep. He too was once a child, she wasn't going to treat him like a savage just because he'd lost himself to this experiment, she had a role as a caretaker and she was going to fulfill it no matter what.

"Goodbye, Boxy Boo. I'm sure I'll see you soon." she says as she pats his head, he whines softly but lets her go nonetheless. She exits the room and is escorted back to the Playcare by a few prison guards, she smacks their hands off her when they grab her and practically growls at them not to do it again. She doesn't really get in trouble for killing any of the employees, Leith prefers it because it's fewer people to pay wages to, he practically encourages it and the humans all know it. Ballade double checks she'd gotten all the blood off of her before finally stepping back into Playcare, it was easy for her to lie to the children about her whereabouts and why she was gone as it was the breathe. Sometimes she felt guilty for lying to their faces but it was better for them not to know; it was better for them to remain unaware that she was a stone-cold killer who was more than capable of killing them.

"Come on, Miss Ballade! We made something for you." she gasped softly, placing a hand on her chest.

"For me? You shouldn't have." she'd been led by the hand of a few children towards the playground close to the schoolhouse where they showed her small drawings they made "What's this?" they laughed softly.

"Miss Delight told us to draw something that makes us happy, so I drew you!"

"Me too!"

"I did too!"

"Miss CraftyCorn helped me with mine." Ballade took each of their drawings and looked at them closely, making sure to look at each detail "Do you like them, Miss Ballade?" she smiled fondly at the drawings before placing her hands on their heads one by one, snickering softly when she messed with their hair.

"I love them. It warms my heart to know that I make you happy." she pats their backs when they hug her legs "Now come, let's go join the others. I hear you guys are playing hide and go seek." they gasp in anticipation, hide and seek was always fun with the Smiling Critters. Ballade sat with CatNap under a tree by Home Sweet Home as they watched the children run around looking for spots to hide, they were too big to participate in hiding and though the other Smiling Critters were just as big, they were more capable of hiding than them. CatNap is curled up behind her as she lets her body rest against his, her hand gently stroking his head while his tail thumped gently on the ground.

"Thank you for looking after the children, CatNap. Did anything happen while I was away?" he lets out a soft grunt.

"No. The children were well-behaved." she smiles.

"That's good. Did they give you any trouble?"

"Not really, they mostly bothered DogDay." this caused her to laugh softly and she looked over to where DogDay was and saw him chasing around one of the children he managed to find that was hiding in a bush "He is the favorite one amongst us all."

"With his friendly personality, I wouldn't see why anyone wouldn't like him." CatNap huffed at that "But you're still my favorite, I always did love the smell of lavender compared to vanilla." she chuckled when he started purring as he nudged his against her side, she rewarded him by scratching under his chin while pressing a kiss atop of his head, this only intensified the purring. About an hour or so goes by before the game ends and they come to collect the two, only to find them both sleeping soundly in each other's company. Ballade didn't mean to fall asleep, she could technically go days without "sleep" so long as her key kept turning, however, her key had stopped since she was leaning against CatNap and she evidently fell asleep on him. It took Bubba to wind up her key to get her to wake up, and when she did, she apologized for doing so since she promised she'd watch them play.

"CatNap can put just about anybody to sleep!"

"But I didn't expect to see Miss Ballade to fall asleep. She's never one to fall asleep while on duty."

"Perhaps whatever she had to do tuckered her out." no, my key just stopped and I inadvertently fell asleep... but CatNap is very nice to nap around, hence his name. To make up for it, Ballade spends the rest of the day with the girls, and the boys who want to participate, practicing ballet moves. Of course, she only shows them how to do basic moves but shows off her body's flexibility, since her body didn't have bones she could bend and twist her body however she liked. She was by no means like Mommy Longlegs, who could manipulate her body however she liked, but she could easily fold her body in half with little to no strain.

"Am I doing it right, Miss Ballade?" she looked over and saw a little girl trying to perform the pirouette but couldn't quite keep her leg up as she spun nor keep herself from tumbling a little.

"You're quite close, little one, you just need to work on your balance." she kicks at the ground.

"You make it look easy." she chuckled softly.

"I struggled a lot too, it takes years and years of practice. As they say, practice makes perfect. Just don't give up and your efforts will be rewarded." she takes a step back and performs the pirouette once more and does a little bow at the end, she takes a knee and gestures for her to try again "Nobody is going to make fun of you for not getting it on the first go." Ballade, no, [F/N] watched with a fond look as the little girl tried and tried again to stick the landing and was getting there with each attempt she made.

[F/N], that was her name before she became Ballade Ballerina; before she got stuck in a body that she couldn't recognize. She couldn't remember much before her time at Playcare but she did remember that she was older than most of the kids at the orphanage, perhaps that's where she could her motherly tendencies from and why she loved to care for the children, because she knew better than the adults who lied to their faces like they were stupid, but she wasn't stupid. What she could remember was the day when she was chosen, out of all the children who were more eager to be selected, she was the one that was picked and she didn't know how to feel. At the time she was anxious, both at the thought of being with a new family but also leaving the kids she had grown to love, but what choice did she have? Maybe she was happy that she was leaving that underground orphanage to see the sun again, she was excited to feel the wind blow through her hair and to be normal again.

All that happiness was short-lived when she was taken deeper into Playtime Co. to be experimented on by the infamous Doctor Harley Sawyer, that cruel and ruthless man who cared not for her wellbeing but the advancement of science and what he could do. She could almost remember the day she woke up and felt trapped in a body that she just knew wasn't hers, she just felt wrong. Her body no longer felt dense but rather hollow, if she tapped her finger against herself she could hear the way it would make a clinking sound as if two cups came together. Her face felt like it was stuck in place and she couldn't properly express the way she felt, even if she felt herself cry she couldn't even feel the tears that would fall down her cheeks. She felt it was impossible to move, that if she did she would come apart, even still, she could barely bend her knees and elbows and they were stuck in place.

Doctor Harley Sawyer called her his masterpiece, how her body was made from delicate porcelain that he reinforced to make her durable enough to not break easily if she were to suffer enough force or heavy weight to her person. Her body had articulated joints so she could fold and bend her body like a normal person but didn't suffer the strain or pain a human would, she was capable of twisting her limbs in all directions and not feeling a thing. She was practically a machine, she felt like a machine because she had practically lost most of her senses. She couldn't feel anything upon her glass-like skin, taste anything on her artificial tongue, or smell anything through her nose that felt more like decoration on her face. She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep and if they didn't want to deal with her they could just turn her off by the wind up key on her back that was practically her lifeline. Without it, they could practically turn her off forever and forget about her.

They threatened her with that possibility each time she wouldn't give them the results that they wanted, that if she continued to act up or be difficult they'd throw her away to rot in the prison. That terrified her, she didn't want to be trapped in a cell in a body that felt more like a cage, so she complied and listened. Listening is what granted her freedom, or rather, to leave the lower levels and return to Playcare as Ballade Ballerina, the life-sized music box figurine, to care for and protect the children like she did when she was still human. [F/N] felt herself die each time she would smile at these children, knowing that what she was doing was only going to get them killed and she could do nothing but smile and laugh as they'd be taken, happy that they were chosen like she was... only for their lives to be cut short before it even began.

She was just like those damn adults.

"Miss Ballade?" she blinked when the little girl called her name.

"Oh, y-yes? I'm sorry, I was distracted. Show me again, why don't you?" the girl frowned softly then approached Ballade, taking her hand and squeezing it.

"You don't have to lie, Miss Ballade. I know I'll never be as good as you, so it's fine to tell the truth." her heart ached at her words, and she quickly shook her head and held the little girl's hand within her bigger ones. The few memories she managed to cling to before she became what she is today was that when she was growing up, when she still had a family that loved and cared for her, she wanted to be a ballerina. How ironic, but she remembered when she was young and had that same devastated look on her face when she just couldn't get the basic moves right and was ready to give up.

"No, no. Being as good as me shouldn't be what's on your mind, you've got to be as good as you can be. You won't be as good as me, and that's fine, because you can just be better than me."

"Can I really?" she nods.

"Of course! Because you can continue to grow, while I'll forever be the boring doll who is only good at ballet." she let out an oh when the girl started rocking back and forward.

"I think you're pretty cool for just a boring doll." if she could cry she'd feel her eyes glisten with tears.

"... I really appreciate that. Now come on, show me again. I'll be watching, I promise." she's clapping her hands in encouragement when the girl tries again and again until he finally sticks the landing, she's rewarded with Ballade picking her up and twirling her around with a proud look on her face "See? You did it! Just like I said you would, I am so proud." she caresses her cheek against hers then booped her nose.

"Thank you, Miss Ballade." she says as she wraps her arms around her neck.

"Anything for you." she spends the next half hour performing a couple more moves before the adults tell them that it was time to head back to Home Sweet Home. She allows DogDay and Hoppy to lead the children back into Home Sweet Home where they are separated by gender and brought to separate bathrooms to clean up, she ends up in the kitchen to help Picky sort out dinner while the rest of the Smiling Critters are left to set up the dining hall. She's standing in her usual corner when the children finally arrive with Bobby and Crafty pleading for her to join them at their table, she planned to decline their invitation but was brought over by CatNap nudging her over to them. It felt quite nice to just sit with the Smiling Critters and since she didn't need to eat to sustain herself, she sat quietly with them and would speak every now and then when they spoke to her.

"My favorite part of the day..." CatNap said after dinner was finished and they were all leaving the dining hall.

"Because you get to go back to sleep?" he nods and turns towards the staircase to return to his room, only to be stopped when he is grabbed by a few of the kids and tugged towards Ballade's stage.

"You can't go to sleep yet, CatNap!"

"Miss Ballade's gonna read to us." this caught his attention and he looked to where she was stepping onto her stage after taking a book from one of the kids "You're gonna join us, right? Miss Ballade always makes storytime fun!"

"Come on CatNap, join us."

"It just wouldn't be the same without you." he grumbles softly.

"... alright." they cheer and practically climb all over him when he takes a seat in front of her stage, she smiles when CatNap joins the crowd of children but knows that he is going to sleep through most of the story, not that she minded.

"Okay, kids. Despite having read this story over a thousand times, I'm sure you wouldn't mind hearing it again." she clears her throat then throws her arm out for dramatic flare "The Adventures of the Word Wizard!" they all laugh when she puts on a theatrical performance as she read the book, using different voices for characters and playing her music box for some background noise. She always was good at storytime, able to draw the children in with ease and entertain them, it warmed her heart to see them so invested in a story they had heard time and time again but not get tired of it.

It was one good thing this stupid place had to give her.

"And with his final word, this story has come to an end." the children, including the Smiling Critters, all let out a round of awes that it was over "And now it's time for bed." she laughs when they made more sounds of disappointment, besides Catnap, who stood up and started carrying that were laying on him off to bed.

"Can't we have one more story?"

"Yeah, just one more?" she shakes her head.

"I'm afraid not. Besides, you're all yawning." she closed the book and placed it down as she stepped off her stage and to where the few tired children were sitting, the Smiling Critters gathered the other children and either started carrying them or leading them back to their beds "Sleep is just as important, one should not neglect the need to rest just to continue having fun. I mean, look at CatNap! All he does is sleep and he has fun."

"Then he must be having a lot of fun since he's always sleeping."

"Uh huh, and he must be having the most wonderful dreams because of that. So, why don't we all go to bed so we can dream and have fun while we're asleep? We can always continue the fun tomorrow, it's not like it's going anywhere." that was a lie, she nor the children had no clue whether that would be their last night alive and that thought scared her "Now come, CatNap is ready to help you children to sleep."

"Oh, alright." she scoops them up while grabbing another by the hand to lead them back to their rooms, she's tucking them into bed and pressing kisses onto each of their heads as she passes them. She's mentally counting each child to make sure that all have been returned to bed and that none were missing, the last time she failed a headcount she, well... let's just say she never misses up the headcount anymore.

"Are they all here?" she nods "Whenever you're ready..." she goes through the assortment of songs she had before finally choosing one, the moment CatNap heard her music box start to play he exhaled enough of the red smoke from his mouth to help them doze off but stay awake long enough to hear her sing.

"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green~" this was CatNap's favorite part of the day, not only did he get to sleep, but he got to help Ballade put all the rowdy children to sleep as he listened to her sing. Before he got put into this body, when he was Theodore Grambell, Ballade was the only one who understood him. He had few friends and preferred keeping it that way because the other children annoyed him, but Ballade was different. Instead of pestering him like the adults would, trying and failing to get him to open up, she would merely sit with him in silence and wait patiently for him. She had a boisterous but calming personality that she could easily switch between depending on who she was interacting with, it was why the children loved her so much; it was why he loved her "Because you love me, dilly, dilly. I will love you~" she looks at CatNap and smiled at him, despite the permanent smile on his face, she could see a crease in his lips that let her know that he was giving her a genuine smile

When her music box struck its final cord and all the children had fallen asleep, she brushed the hair out of one of their eyes as they slept soundly before standing to her feet and going over to CatNap. The back of her hand brushed against his cheek and scratched under his chin as she walked him back to his room, she stayed with him until he fell into a deep slumber and wouldn't notice when she slipped out of his room to check on the other Smiling Critters. She found them all sleeping in their designated rooms and made sure to give them goodnight kisses as well, she had a feeling they would know if she didn't give them one, then went back to roaming the quiet and empty halls of Home Sweet Home.

Since she did not need to sleep, she aimlessly roamed around Playcare for nothing in particular, or that's what it seemed if people weren't aware of why she was stationed in Playcare. Huggy Wuggy was the security for the main lobby, Mommy Longlegs was the security for the Game Station, and Ballade was the security for Playcare. It was rare, very, very rare for someone to trespass onto Playtime Co. property after hours, and nearly impossible to make it past Huggy and Mommy alike to get into Playcare. The only likely situation you could get past those mascots was if you were an employee who knew their way around, but one thing was for sure, you would never make it past Ballade. She knew the entire layout of Playcare as well as the prison below, Leith and the Doctor made sure of that, so no matter where you go, she would always find you. Despite her large stature, she was very nimble on her feet. She was so good at sneaking around that you wouldn't even know she was behind you until she spoke up. The Doctor, Stella and Eddie would constantly make her sneak up on Leith to scare the living daylights out of him, she had to hide behind them when he threatened her with solitary confinement if she kept it up.

Anyways-

"It was almost too easy..." a voice whispered as they explored the Playcare, completely unaware that they were being watched. Ballade didn't bring it up with the three Executives when she noticed after the carnage that there were only five bodies instead of six, how the sixth one got away undetected, she'll never know, but he won't make it far. People were already aware that there was an onsite orphanage within Playtime Co. but as stated before, cameras were not allowed onto the property in case they caught something that would get them into a whole heap of trouble "If I can make it out of this maze, I'll make a fortune out of these photos." he spoke as he entered the Playhouse where he couldn't help but marvel at the sight of the playground with maze-like elements decorated with colorful brick walls and tunnels but it was pretty creepy exploring when there were no lights to illuminate the building, he makes sure to put the flash on before taking photos on his camera.

He takes a couple photos of the dark just to see where he is going, but when he sees the developed photo he is a little startled to see a pair of glowing eyes through the darkness that is staring right at him, he looks back in the direction he took it and takes another photo. He freaks out when the eyes are closer, so he starts walking backward while taking another with each step, he tries to listen for footsteps but can only hear his own as well as his panicked breathing. Whatever he was seeing drew closer and closer, but no matter how hard he tried to catch a glimpse of what was chasing him, he couldn't see past the flash, and through his terror, he accidentally dropped his camera. He's quick to drop to his knees and blindly search for it only to freeze when he feels a soft breeze on his face. With trembling hands, he finds his camera and takes a photo just to set the flash off and sees staring at him through the darkness was Ballade.

"How naughty~ Playtime Co. doesn't take lightly to trespassers." her hand was quick to close around his mouth before he could let out a scream and sound off the alarms, her fingers are digging into his skin as she planned to snap his neck but thinks for a bit "... hmm, the Doctor has stated that he's been wanting a live test subject. Guess you're the lucky one, congratulations." she picks up the camera and drags the poor man down to where Doctor Harley Swayer was, ignoring the confused stares from the prison guards and employees alike as she made her way to his lab while the photographer struggled against her iron-clad grip.

*KNOCK*

"What is it?" Sawyer cocked a brow when he didn't get an answer and the door was opened, usually, he'd yell at anyone who'd interrupt him but was surprised to see Ballade enter the room "My, what brings you here little dancer?" he smirks when he saw the way her body started to tremble, well, that was until he saw her drag in an unknown man.

"I caught an intruder, sir."

"And you're telling me this why?" she bounces on her feet nervously.

"You said you wanted a live test subject, so I brought him thinking you'd want to use him for your research." the man looks up at Sawyer for any sort of help only to be ignored when he lets out a sigh.

"I don't need him for anything, so you can just feed him to Yarnaby." she nods her head.

"Is Yarnaby in his cell?"

"Yes, he is. Close the door on your way out." she nods once more.

"Yes, sir." she let out a breath as she closed the door then looked back down at the man "You have no idea how lucky you are, Mister Intruder. You won't have to suffer at the hands of the Doctor and will get to die a quick death... well, that all depends if Yarnaby has been fed or not." she chuckled softly when she saw the panic flash on his face, poor man should have left when he had the chance. She's back in the prison and tells the guards to open Yarnaby's cell door and when they do she tosses the photographer inside and closes the door so he can't leave.

"Wait, no! Please, let me go! I-I swear I won't publish those photos!" she's in the observation room as she tosses the camera up and down "I don't want to die...!"

"You should have thought of that before you decided that taking pictures was worth more than your life." his body slumped when she shrugged her shoulders "Oh, Yarnaby~" she called out just as the door that kept Yarnaby contained opened up, her expression is indifferent when Yarnaby stepped out and looked up at the man curiously. This lion-like toy is rather adorable with its derpy expression and one would think he was going to play by the way he was tilting his head, that was until his face opened up to reveal his large open mouth hollowed out inside his head with rows of sharp jagged teeth along the outer rim of his mouth. The man couldn't even get a scream out when Yarnaby's mouth closed around his head, spilling his blood all over the window and killing him instantly.

Such a shame, she thought. He had quite a promising future if he had just left Playtime Co. instead of taking a few more pictures, maybe she should have let him go so he could expose the dark secrets this toy factory had but if she didn't kill him, the others surely would have.

"What a shame." she murmured before crushing the camera in her hand and looking back into the cell to see Yarnaby now aimlessly chewing on his torso, she always did find him adorable.

Ocean

word count: 4880

Fandom: MCYT Pairing: SBI Family x Brother!Orca!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Familial Occupation: Pirate Captain Ability: Orca Hybrid

The character is that of a orca hybrid, allowing them to have traits of a orca. They have abnormal strength and speed with keen senses of hearing and sight, making their eyes and ears almost sensitive to anything. They are also granted with an abnormal height and the gift to shapeshift from a human/normal form to a more monstrous form. Both in and out of their full form, they are granted excellent swimming abilities.

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name [S/C]: Skin Color [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color  [U/N]: Username

Warnings: vulgar language, violence.

got this idea after reading this story by @sunflowerdaisybee​ of their SBI x sibling!reader, go check out their story because I liked it very much.

might make a part two, might not.

that is all.

“Full bore into the abyss!”

“Are you mad?!”

The captain of the ship that was sailing through a terrible storm let out a wild laugh as thunder boomed and lightning crashed from behind him, his crewmembers were hurrying themselves across the deck to prevent the ship from possibly capsizing from the terrible weather all because their captain was just too damn stubborn to go around the storm and instead went through it. This group of individuals was not your average group of ruffians, this was a group of pirates that was overrun with ocean type hybrids! Not a single one was a human, and the captain of this pirate crew was an orca.

The Killer Whale: [M/N]! This individual was wanted throughout the entire ocean for his countless crimes against the laws of the sea. Piracy, smuggling, arson, murder, impersonating an officer, sailing under false colors, kidnapping, looting, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, general lawlessness, and those are the few that he can remember. He was the reckless kind that would not hesitate to take matters into his own hands to get the results that he wants or needed, but he was also smart enough to know not to do anything too foolish. His crew was always his number one priority before anything else, he thought of them as another family; one that he had not left behind to live the life he wanted on the ocean.

This man was crazy and he just loved the ocean, it always made him feel free, he wondered if this is how his father felt whenever he would fly in the sky away from the ground. That’s why he loved the thrill of sailing through storms, that thrill of the waves crashing against his beloved ship, it always got his blood pumping whenever the rain poured down on him and that slightly fear of their ship not making it through made it all the more exciting. This man was an orca hybrid, a more than enough reason as to why people dubbed him the Killer Whale, but that’s beside the point. [M/N] was constantly in his full orca form. In his human form, he is about 7″2ft; his half human/half orca is about 8″0ft; his full form is 8″8ft, so this man is already gigantic from the beginning. 

“Hah!” turning towards the crewmate that shouted at him, he gave them a toothy grin as his hold on the wheel tightened so he wouldn’t lose the ship to the ocean waves “You afraid to get wet?” a few other crewmates groan, when he spoke like that, there was no talking sense into their captain. He laughed once more at the state of his crew as soon as they were out of the storm, they were all exhausted from their battle against mother nature and had practically passed out on the deck as soon as they hit clear waters and skies.

“Captain... can we please rest now?” he huffed, running a hand over the smooth skin of his head and nodded.

“Well, alright. We’ve done enough sailing, why don’t you drop the anchor so we can rest up tonight?” he rolled his eyes at the sound of loud cheering “You bunch of sea guppies, we’re all creatures of the sea! What’s there to be afraid of is we do capsize?”

“We lose all the treasure we accumulated over our countless adventures.” this caused [M/N] to pause, looking up in thought before nodding his head.

“Heh, now that’s a good reason, matey.” he laced his fingers together, cracking them over his head as he turned on his heels and started making his way to his quarters, passing by his vice-captain to give him some orders “You’re in charge while I go rest up myself, call me if anything happens.”

“Yes captain.” he clicked his tongue with winking before finally leaving, he let out a sigh while stretching his arms then collapsed onto his chair in front of his desk. He then kicks his feet onto the said desk while popping the cork of a bottle of wine and taking a couple swigs from the alcoholic beverage, he hums to himself as the liquid ran down his throat while some slipped between his lips and ran down his jaw. Licking his lips, he sniffles to himself as he looked around his personal room and smirked to himself, never in a million years would he have thought he would make a name as infamous as his own. 

“I really should pay the old man a visit.” he leans back once more, an arm hanging back as he takes another swig of the wine before pausing while letting out a hum at the sound of a bird.

*CAW*

*CAW*

“Hmm?” pulling his head up, he raised a brow at the sight of a crow landing on his foot “Now what’s a bird-like yourself doing out in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to land for miles?” he lifts his leg slightly and there he saw a letter of sorts strapped to its leg, his face lit up as he moved his leg so that it was closer to towards him so that the crow could perch itself on his hand. He set the bottle of wine down to caress the side of its head, humming softly when it leaned into the affectionate gesture. He soon removed the letter off of its leg and then proceeded to move it so that it was perched on his shoulder, with that, he opened the letter and read through the contents.

"Dear [M/N],

It’s been a long time, hasn't it? I won't take up too much of your time since you're probably very busy, being the captain of an infamous pirate crew, so I'll make this quick.

You left the house at a rather young age so you probably haven't met your brothers. That's right, you have three younger siblings! Adoptive, I know, though one of them actually is my biological son while the other two I picked up just like you.

I thought that if you're near the SMP, you could swing by and I could introduce you to them. I mentioned that they had an elder brother that was a pirate and they were more than excited to meet you. I hope you could meet them as well, but I won't pressure you to stop your adventures to meet them.

I'll see you when I see you.

Yours truly, Philza."

“Hmph, it’s almost as if he’s reading my mind.” he muttered to himself but ultimately felt excited after reading the letter, brothers? Philza picked up more kids and dubbed them his sons, now that was exciting to hear after a few months of no letters. He opens a drawer and drops the letter into the half-full drawer of letters from his father, he closes it then pulls out a blank paper, a quill and some ink to write his response. He reads it over before nodding his head and closing it, sealing it in an envelope then wax sealing it with a symbol of his pirate crew “Make sure this letter gets back to my dad, I’m counting on you.” he snickers softly when the crow salutes before flying off. 

‘Brothers, huh? I wonder what they’re like.’ he thinks back to his childhood with Philza and laughs to himself, he remembered how much of a handful he was for the already old man. He always loved being near the ocean, whether it be because he’s an oceanic hybrid or not, it was always so refreshing to be in the water than out of it. Philza wasn’t that big of a fan because of his wings so to compromise, he would pick him up and fly to a good enough height then drop him from a said height into the water for a big splash. Thinking back to his childhood brought a smile to his lips, he nods his head and stands to his feet and makes his way to the main deck where his crewmembers were casually talking while doing their assigned chores.

“Hear me, men!” he shouts, this caused them all to look over at him, raising a brow when they saw the bright smile on his face “Tomorrow, we set sail for the SMP! I have a certain someone waiting to see his son.” they all share glances at each other after the short announcement.

“We’re heading to land?”

“Then that means...”

“Party time!” he laughs at the conclusion, that was true. Whenever they did visit any island, that would always mean they head to the closest tavern to party for the rest of their stay there and relax until [M/N] decided they leave. He shook his head when they immediately raised the anchor while their navigator took to the wheel so they could head to the SMP ASAP, well, at least they weren’t wasting any time.

[with the sbi family]

“Dear old man,

It sure has been a long time, so imagine my surprise after you blessed me with the news of me having brothers. I’m very excited to meet the boys you have failed to mention in the previous letters, were you planning on surprising me or did you forget?

You must be getting really old if you did forget, and you wonder why I call you old man, old man. That’s beside the point, I’d be more than happy to drop everything just to see you and my new brothers. Don’t ever think that you’re giving me trouble just for a visit, I’ve been meaning to visit you anyways.

I don’t know exactly when I’ll arrive at the SMP, but knowing my crew, they’ll make it a top priority just to get to an island to relax after weeks of being on the ocean waters. We’ll be docked at the same place we always stay at whenever we come to visit.

See you soon.

Your favorite son, [M/N].”

“Pft, bold of him to assume he’s my favorite.” he muttered under his breath after reading the reply from his eldest son, his crow returned from [M/N] with a satisfied look on its face. Philza was excited to see the response and was thrilled when he read that [M/N] was quite literally dropping everything just to meet the brothers he had mentioned in the letter. Speaking of which, he hadn’t meant to mention [M/N] around his three sons, it was an accidental slip of the tongue and the three boys demanded to meet [M/N].

“Was that from the pirate?” Technoblade, the now second eldest who was a piglin hybrid, asked him as he rested his arms on the armrest while his head laid on top of his arms “Did he say he was coming?” Philza chuckled softly as he nodded his head, raising his hand to rest on top of his head.

“It was, and his name is [M/N].”

[M/N]: his eldest son that he accidentally picked up when he was sailing through a storm because god forbid he fly through it. The young orca was a stowaway in a crate of food that was likely abandoned or lost by his own family, so with nowhere to call home, he took the young calf as his own and raised him to the man he is today.

Wilbur: the second and biological son to Philza, a human child that bared more of a resemblance to his mother, the love of Philza’s life Kristin (Samsung Fridge) who’s love for music and theatre. Though he was quiet on certain occasions, the older man adored his son for bringing back the boisterous atmosphere after his eldest son left the home.

Technoblade: the third son, he found this young piglin hybrid alone in the nether with nothing more than the clothes on his back. He was probably the same age as Wilbur, he also thought Wilbur could use a brother since his eldest was gone and Wilbur looked lonely. Making sure that Technoblade wasn’t missing or anything, he brought the young boy home and raised him alongside his other son.

Tommy: his fourth and youngest son was randomly dropped off in front of his home with no letter or any sign left of the boy’s parents, but it was startling how similar this young child shared an appearance like himself. He probably wouldn’t have brought Tommy if it weren’t for the fact that both Wilbur and Technoblade were excited to get a younger sibling, so he thought, why the hell not and closed the door behind him with Tommy in his arms. 

“When is he going to get here, dad?” Wilbur asked, popping his head beside Technoblade.

“He isn’t coming directly to the house, so we’re going to him at the dock.” he let out an oof when Tommy threw himself onto Philza’s lap, a bright look on his face as he stared up at his father.

“So we’re going to see his ship? A real pirate ship?”

“That’s right, if you’re good enough, he might just let you aboard.” he chuckled when all three of them let out cheers of excitement, but himself was just as excited as his sons to see [M/N] again. How long has it been exactly since he last saw [M/N]? Several years, perhaps? He was seven when he first picked him up and he raised him to about seventeen years old before he left, Wilbur was born three years later and he’s currently eight... eleven years? That sounds about right.

“How old is he now, dad?” Wilbur asked.

“Hmm, if I do the math right, he should be about... twenty-eight?” Tommy makes a face.

“Old.” Technoblade and Wilbur snort, Philza just chuckled with a shake of his head and decided to tell them all the stories of the infamous pirate Killer Whale and all his adventures across the sea. When he finally got the letter that [M/N] arrived at the SMP and decided that he and his crew were staying for a couple days up to a week, he informed his youngest three and watching them scurry around to get ready was one of the funniest things to see. 

“Is he as scary as you made him out to be?” Tommy asked.

“Well, I say it’s like a character he has to play. He’s known as a ruthless killer of the sea, but he’s actually quite a big softy. Hah, he would often play with other sea life whenever we would go out swimming and sometimes he would cry at the sight of turtles being harassed by zombies. He gets very embarrassed whenever I bring it up.”

“Will he like us?” Technoblade asks “He’s twenty years older than us, don’t you think he’ll find it odd to have brothers that’s two decades younger than him?” Philza just shook his head.

“Not really. Family is family in his eyes. He told me that his ragtag crew of pirates are the family he couldn’t bring with him when he started his adventure. They range from a variety of different ages, different species, you name it! Whether you’re children or not, he’ll still consider you his brothers.” he was relieved when that was enough to reassure Technoblade, to which the young boy nodded his head as he reached forward to take Philza’s hand, Wilbur noticed this and took his other hand whilst Tommy sat a top the shoulders of their father. 

“Hurry up dad, I really want to meet him!” Tommy shouted, he laughs to himself when he was then being dragged to the docks by Wilbur and Technoblade, who were just as enthusiastic as their youngest brother. They now stood in front of tavern that was bustling with noises that ranged from shouting, screaming and singing...? Can that noise really be considered singing? Philza takes a deep breath and goes to enter but quickly stepped to the side, pulling his sons with him, when a barrel flew through the doors and crashed into the wall behind them. 

...

...

“I’m having second thoughts.” Technoblade says after hearing loud cheering come from inside the tavern after the barrel came flying through the doors.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I promise, he’ll tone it down when he sees you guys.” he put Tommy down and made sure he was close to his brothers, he takes a deep breath as he approached the doors before finally pushing them open and entering the tavern. Technoblade, Wilbur and Tommy held onto the end of Philza’s haori and they were all blown away that the tavern was filled to the brim of oceanic hybrids that were partying like there was no tomorrow. They paid the family no mind as they continued to sing sea shanties while cheering on the two big hybrids that were drinking ale from barrels.

“Chug, chug, chug, chug!” the crew chanted wildly, one of the two collapsed to the ground, the barrel spilling ale everywhere for they weren’t able to finish it. The latter continued to drink and when he finished he let out a loud breath then slammed the now empty barrel to the ground before letting out a loud cheer, throwing his fist in the air with a wide grin.

“You’re a few years too early to challenge I to a drink off, mate.”

“That’s the captain for you!”

“Him and that bottomless stomach of his!” [M/N] gave a toothy grin, snickering to himself when his vice captain came up to him and wrapped their arm around his shoulder, he goes to continue to drink but was stopped at the call of his name.

“[M/N]!” he turned his head and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of the blonde man, Philza flinched slightly when all eyes were on him and was having second thoughts, he soon let out a grunt when [M/N] came rushing over to him with his arms wide open.

“Dad!” he exclaimed before kneeling down to wrap his arms around Philza and bringing him into a hug, his dorsal fin and fluke wagging as he embraced his father after so long “It’s so nice to finally see you after all these years!” he adds as he pulls away but still had a hold on him, snickering softly when Philza’s feet couldn’t touch the ground.

“It’s good to see you too, [M/N]. I missed you.” [M/N]’s fluke tail continued to wag, a few of [M/N]’s crewmates whistle at the sight.

“Wow, so that’s the man that raised captain [M/N]?”

“He really is a bird hybrid?”

“Is he a crow?”

“I’ve never seen a bird hybrid up close.” the blonde man started patting [M/N] on the shoulder to gain his attention and when he got it, he gave him a nervous smile.

“There’s still a few people I need you to meet.” at that, his face lit up once more and he moved Philza to the side and there he saw the three children that had to be his brothers. The tallest of the three had short pink hair that looked like it was growing with skin that was a lighter shade of pink than his hair, a paper crown sat a top his head as he wore a simple white button up, trousers and boots. The second was a boy with curly brown hair and matching brown eyes, he wore a bright yellow sweater with blue jeans and shoes. The smallest of the three had bright blonde hair that matched his-- their father along with the blue eyes, he wore a simple white shirt with red sleeves, shorts and sho-- wait a damn minute, where are his shoes? “[M/N], these are the brothers I mentioned in the letter. Meet Wilbur, Technoblade and Tommy. Boys, meet [M/N].” said man hurriedly put Philza down and gave the three young children and friendly smile.

“Hello, it’s great to finally meet you three. I hope we can get along.” [M/N] felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek when the three only stared up at him in silence, then Tommy burst into tears “Wha-- what?” he paled, ignoring the way his crew were laughing as he tried to comfort the crying boy.

“Wow, you made them cry.”

“Some brother you are.”

“So scary.” his crew booked a private room so that Philza can usher the boys in to calm them down, to which the older two stood in the hallway, though, Philza was looking down at [M/N] as he was hunched over in a corner and drawing circles into the ground.

“Am I really that scary?” this question got him a smack across the head.

“You’re literally a killer whale, [M/N]. You’re huge with an intimidating aura surrounding you.” this caused him to continue sulking “If you don’t want to scare them, especially Tommy, why don’t you look like a human?” this caused [M/N] to flinch at the suggestion.

“Human?” he stood up and looked into his reflection through the mirror and pulled a face, placing a hand on his cheek “I don’t remember the last time I adorned the appearance of a human, my whole pirating life revolved around me being an orca.” Philza shrugged as he looked into the mirror with him.

“Well, it’s either that or you live with them fearing you.”

“Now that’s just mean.” he shrugs.

“But you and I both know that it’s true.” [M/N] exhaled through his noses and looked at his reflection once more, dangit. Wilbur and Technoblade were whispering sweet nothings into Tommy’s ear to soothe him, to which he had calmed down from his crying.

“I didn’t expect him to be that big.”

“I didn’t expect Tommy to cry.” Wilbur then looked down at him “Didn’t you say that you were a big man, Tommy?” the five year old only sniffled.

“I am a b-big man!” they all flinch, to which Tommy let out a yelp, when there was a knock at the door. They relaxed when they saw that it was only their father, however, he was briefly talking to someone from behind the door before shuffling inside.

“Come on, don’t be getting shy now.”

“I feel weird.” it was [M/N]’s voice, but it sounded different compared to earlier. Philza waved his hand and so [M/N]’s let out a sigh and finally entered the room, causing the three children to stare in slightly shock at his different appearance. Instead of the body of an orca with legs, [M/N] now looked completely human with pale skin and black markings where an orca’s skin was black. He still had an abnormal height but at least it wasn’t overwhelming like before, he had short messy [H/C] hair with deep [E/C] eyes. The clothes he wore looked a little looser and baggy compared to when he was an orca, I guess that was because his muscles were more apparent when he was an animal. As a human, he also had many tattoos of islands that he must have visited along with a few flowers, feathers and a compass, his ears were pierced as well and he had a black crow feather hanging along the side of his face from his hair “There, you happy?” he said as he looked at his father, placing his hands on his hips while leaning his weight onto his foot.

“Very, you look just as handsome as the day you left.” this comment raise heat to rush to his pale skin, Philza then clapped his hands as he looked at the other three children “Boys, this is [M/N]’s human form, I hope it’s less scary.”

“You’re making me look bad.” [M/N] nervously rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes averted from the three small children, he takes a deep breath before approaching them and kneeling down, making sure he didn’t get too close so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable “I’m sorry if I’ve made you three nervous, I didn’t mean to. I haven’t exactly interacted with young children in a long time, but I really want to make this work because this is the first time I’ve had brothers this young before. I’ll stay like this to make sure you guys are comfortable around me, how does that sound?” he believed that Wilbur and Technoblade could handle it, but he was more worried about Tommy, the poor boy cried on sight. He waited nervously and eagerly for his response, swallow thickly as the blonde boy peered over the shoulders of his older brothers shielding him from the stranger.

“... did those hurt?” was the first thing Tommy said, [M/N] didn’t understand the question until he noticed where Tommy was looking, he glanced down while raising his hand and saw that he was staring at the few scars along his chest that were peeking from under his shirt.

“Huh? These? Psh, with the adrenaline pumping, it barely hurt. What hurt was getting the damned thing all stitched up.” he then raised his arm “Wanna see the scar I got after getting harpooned?” Philza stood in the background, a happy smile gracing his lips that [M/N] managed to get the boys to settle down and marvel at works of art all over his body along with the scars left behind the countless battles he’s had over the years. It made him happy that, despite the initial introduction, Tommy now sat snug in his lap while Wilbur and Technoblade sat beside him as he pointed at each of his tattoos and the meanings behind them.

‘I’m glad they’re getting along, I guess I was worried for nothing.’ 

Headcanon:

[m/n] spoke with his brother’s for hours, recalling another one of his tales, that he hadn’t realized that the noise from inside the bar had died down whilst his own father was leaning against his back as he fell asleep.

he probably would have moved them to the couch if it weren’t for the fact that even the three young boys had fallen asleep on him.

he was in a predicament.

fuck it-- he might as well just sleep on the floor with them.

the morning was great because he was cuddled up with his brothers along with his father.

it wasn’t so great for his crew because they were all groaning in pain from the hangovers from the excessive drinking.

he threw water of them to wake them up and told them to stop bitching. 

when the three boys were awake, he brought them aboard his ship and showed them around.

them and his crew were more than excited to show the children around, however, they too had to look like humans as to not overwhelm and startle children.

they were rewarded with booze.

when [m/n] had to set sail again, tommy burst into tears once more because he wanted [m/n] to stay.

why couldn’t he stay?

did he not like them?

quite the opposite really.

he was a wanted man, and the longer he stayed in a certain area, the faster the government authorities got to capturing his band of crazies.

wilbur and technoblade were just as upset because they wouldn’t get to see or hear all his epic tales and spend time with his crew.

[m/n], however, promised to visit more often and send letters to hear from them.

he even promised to send or bring them souvenirs from his adventures, giving them something to look forward too.

when asked why he couldn’t just stay longer, his answer was the fact that his story still hadn’t found its ending just yet and was still being told and written. 

the next time he did drop by he had a few new tattoos that signified his brotherhood to them and represented each brother.

a lute for wilbur, a cutlass sword for technoblade, and an infinity sign for tommy.

tommy thought the infinity sign looked dumb.

when told that it was his limitless brotherly love for him, he had second thoughts.

though he tried not to make it blatantly obvious, to which he failed at it, tommy was without a doubt his favorite brother.

he promised the three brothers, that if they were ever to call him in need of his aid, he would not hesitate to drop everything just to come and help them in dire need.

he was their elder brother, and he was going to make up for his absence for not being there for them when they were growing up.

Helper pt. 3

word count: 7262

Fandom: FNAF Security Breach Pairing: Sundrop/Moondrop x Female!Reader Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Romantic  Occupation: Daycare Helper Ability: Animatronic Moon Jellyfish

The character was modelled after a moon jellyfish, so they are an oceanic type animatronic that mostly resided in the daycare to assist when needed within the pizza plex. The appearance they adorn is that of a tall woman and the animalistic part of her design would be, other than a human-like face, they would have a large bell (the blob of a jellyfish is called a bell or hood) on top of their head that would act as a large hat, and attached to the underside of the bell are the tentacles and stingers. They are not stingers, they help the character locate children and feel for their surroundings. The bell on top of their head also glows in the dark.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name  [B/C]: Base Color  [S/C]: Secondary Color  [F/C]: Favorite Color  [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: spoilers to those who haven’t seen fnaf sb.

“Helper” pt. 1, pt. 2

“[F/N]~” said woman chuckled softly at the sing song voice coming from the child that sat in her lap, hearing the child trail her name off while leaning backwards so they could look up at her. [F/N] hums in response, placing her hand on their back and pushing them up gently so they wouldn’t fall “You’re not exactly… alive, right?” this question caught her off guard, she wasn’t really expecting to hear those words come out of a six year olds mouth, but she nods her head.

“If you mean I’m not exactly a human, then yes.” the child nods their head, looking forward and letting [F/N] brush their hair “Why do you ask? Does me not being a human make you uncomfortable?” she halts in her brushing once more when the child turned around.

“Nah uh! I like you, I like you a whole lot!” they exclaim as they hug her, she pats their back just as they pull themselves off her “It’s just that my mama told me that machines are incapable of falling in love.” [F/N]’s mood dampens a little, her hand caressing the small child’s back.

“Well… I wouldn’t say she’s wrong.” the child now tilts their head to the side in confusion.

“But aren’t you and Mister Sunny in love?” this question caused her to flinch, her internal fans starting up when she started overheating “Mister Moon as well! Sometimes, when you put us to sleep, I see you two acting like how my mama and papa act. I think it’s very romantic~” [F/N] pressed her lips into a thin line, her hand now beginning to fan her face.

“Don’t you know when people are being intimate it’s only right to give them privacy and not peek?” this caused the child to giggle, she then presses her hand onto her forehead, shaking it lightly “Goodness child, I would appreciate it if you would look in the other direction in the future.”

“Hehe, no promises.” [F/N] playfully rolls her eyes under her eyelids before beginning to tickle their stomach, their laughter was enough to get Sundrop’s attention and he came skipping over.

“Hey, hey, hey! How’s my favourite lady? Are you guys having fun over here?” a few of the children that were following Sundrop came over and started playing with [F/N], a few draping themselves over her shoulders and others settling themselves in her lap, the remaining few were playing with her hair and hat.

“We’re just talking, sunbite, ain’t that right?” the child covers their mouth, trying to contain their laughter.  “Must be a good conversation if y’all are laughing this much!” [F/N] noticed that most of the children were distracted amongst themselves, except for the one child that started it all, so she covered their eyes with one of their hands before reaching forward to cup his cheek and turn his face towards her so she could press and kiss to his cheek “Uwah— what was that for?” he asks, pressing his hand to his cheek while flustered.

“Just showing you that I love you.” the moment she dropped her hand from the child’s eyes, they noticed how lovey dovey they were acting again. They were pretty sure that if none of them were there, they would act even more affectionate, telling by how [F/N] held Sundrop’s smaller hand in her own and was gently caressing his knuckles before the both of them lace their fingers together.

“Oh, stop it, starshine. The children are still here…” she just giggles, her head perked up when a notification went off in her head.

“Oh, it seems like it’s nap time.” she starts to laugh when Sundrop pouted “Don’t worry, you’ll be back before you know it. Nap time only lasts an hour or so. And besides, it’s Moony’s turn.” she kisses the backside of her hand, when she lets go, she couldn’t help but blush a little when he pressed his own lips to where she kissed him.

“Alright, let’s round up all the children.”

“They’re not cattle, Sunny.” this caused them both to laugh. Of course there were the few children who didn’t want to settle down for nap time, but after being promised a snack time right after nap time was enough to get them to comply. [F/N] gives Sundrop a kiss on the forehead and coos sweet nothings into his ear to calm himself down, it always did hurt sometimes when the two would switch, but it’s been getting better. She was in the middle of playing a lullaby when the lights turned off and Moon appeared, she didn’t hesitate to welcome him with a kiss, to which he leaned into the affection before the two of them went to work.

Moondrop watched [F/N], watching as she sung beautifully to the sleeping children, he now come to love nap time. Children were a nightmare, especially the rowdy ones and those that just downright refused to sleep because they still had so much energy, but [F/N] made his job so much easier, and he even go to spend time with the animatronic woman that stilled his usually cold mechanical heart. He flinched slightly when he felt a stare so he looked down and saw the same young child smirking slightly at him, wriggling their eyebrows at him when they noticed the way he was staring at her. That child had a pillow thrown at them for that, causing them to laugh but shushed immediately when he leaned down and glared lightly at them.

“Silence child, and go to sleep. I want some time with her, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go to sleep and not speak a word.” they nod their head and zip their lips before rolling onto their side and closing their eyes to sleep, he nods his head as he stands up straight “Good.” he keeps his eyes on them for a second longer before skipping over to her.

“Are you done over there, Moony?” she giggles softly when he draped himself over her shoulder, leaning his cheek into hers.

“Yeah, they’re all sleeping soundly. Now it’s our alone time.” she giggles again, face turning a slight shade of red as he takes her hands a pulls her away from the nap area.

“Hehe, what are you doing, moonlight?” he leads her to the centre of the daycare and tells her not to move, he then proceeds to move everything out of the way until everything is clear. He then hurriedly returns to her and when he he reached her, he took a bow, one hand behind his back while the other was outstretched to her.

“Would you do me this honour and sharing a dance with me?” he raised his head and watched as her eyes opened, emotions swirled in those gorgeous galaxy like eyes and it was making him fall in love all over again, she then laughs and takes his hand.

“It would be my pleasure.” her other hand lays in his other hand and soon they were standing close together, however, she tilts her head in confusion when Moondrop was staring up at her “What's the matter?” he frowns slightly.

“… sometimes I forget how tall you are.” she snorts.

“That’s your concern?” she looks down at him and watches as he tries to think of a solution, his face then lights up when he got an idea and he snapped his fingers. He slips from her grip once more, raising a finger to tell her to wait once more and watch, and so she does. She holds her arms together and watched in mild confusion when he called down his cable and clipped it to his back, she slowly raised her head and laughed quietly to herself, covering her mouth with her hand when she understood what he was doing “Really?” he now hovered in front of her, one arm to his back while the other was outstretched to hers once more.

“May I?” she shakes her head but takes his hand.

“You may.” his already permanent smile grew as he held her close, now looking down at her, despite the fact it was the cable that was giving him that advantage. A melody started playing out of him and together the two of them slow danced around the daycare, she was giggling every so often because it was her that was leading them around but he would often twirl her around, what she loved the most was when he dipped her, hand firmly on her back and hand to hold her up and her hair and the strings of her bell hat was hanging beneath her and touching the ground, one leg kicked up as well.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” she looks up at him, her galaxy like eyes staring in his void black ones, she then snorts as he pulls her back up and so she let her head rest on his chest, hearing the gears in his body turn as she hummed softly.

“There isn’t a single day that doesn’t go by and I’m not deeply in love with you— with you both.” she looks up at him “I can’t be more happy that I was made to be yours.” he stares down at her before he starts laughing wholeheartedly, dipping her once more but this time he was leaning down, laughing into her neck.

“You have no idea how much this means to Sundrop and I!” she starts laughing with him, arms wrapped around his neck. When he pulled her up, he made sure to hold her tight as he lifted her off the ground and twirled her around and together the two of them danced for the rest of nap time until it was over “I’ll see you again soon, my love.” she giggles, giving him a final smooth until the lights turned back on, and when she pulled away, she as met with Sundrop.

“Hello, sunbite.” he giggles, cupping his cheek and waving his hand.

“Hello~” she rolled her eyes with a chuckle then went back to gathering snacks for the children while Sundrop woke them up, for the rest of the time until closing, [F/N] was monitoring the energy drained children and keeping them entertained with bracelet making while Sundrop was playing around with the more energised children.

“Miss [F/N]! Look at my bracelet.” a young girl cheered, rushing up to the animatronic woman and holding out the bracelet “How does it look?” she carefully takes the bracelet into her larger hands and inspects, the girl looks up at her with a nervous look before a bright smile washed onto her face when [F/N] smiled at her.

“It’s wonderful. You have a natural gift for jewellery making.” she takes the young girls hand and ties the bracelet around her wrist then gently kissed the top of her hand “It would greatly please me if you could teach me.”

“Y-Yes, certainly!” [F/N] already had numerous programs on jewellery making and various other programs, but having children teaching her in exchange was always nice. [F/N] made two friendship bracelets by the time the young girl made her second, the ones she made were themed after Sundrop and Moondrop and she couldn’t help but smile at her accomplishments “Are you going to give those to Mister Sun and Mister Moon?” she nods.

“Indeed, do you think they’ll like it?”  “Of course! They were made by none other than you, Miss [F/N]!” she nods once more, that light flush rising to her cheeks. [F/N] watched her stand to her feet and rush off, she was going to question what she was doing but giggled to herself when the girl grabbed Sundrop by his hand and was dragging him over to where she was sitting “Mister Sun, Mister Sun! Miss [F/N] has something to give you!”

“Something for me? Daw, you shouldn’t have!” she holds her hand out to him and he places his in hers, she then proceeds to tie the sun themed friendship bracelet around his wrist, being careful around about the bells around his wrist as well, but when it was done, he pulled the bracelet close to his face to inspect it.

“What do you think? I made matching ones for you and Moon.” she says, revealing the second one so he could see one that looked similar to his but was themed after Moon “Do you like it?” Sundrop let’s out a squeal of sorts as he stares at it before clapping his hands.

“Absolutely, and I believe Moon will like the one you give him.” she hums at that, holding the one she made for Moondrop in her hand.

“I do hope so.” time flew by so quickly that it was already the end of the day and parents were coming to pick up their young ones, it was Sundrop’s turn to start cleaning while [F/N] was there to monitor the guardians that were there to pick up the children. There have been a few incidences where complete strangers would try and take one of the children, but they never got far with her and Sundrop there to stop them, but that is a story for another time.

“Thank you again for taking good care of our child, we appreciate it.” [F/N] nods her head.

“It is our duty to take care of the children, and besides, he was a dear to have around.” she cooed softly while caressing the young boys cheek with the back of her hand, the boy giggled and leaned into her affection before being pulled away by his mother.

“Yes, well, we must get going now. Come on now.” 

“Aw, but mum! I wanna say bye to Miss [F/N].”

“No buts! Off we go.” he pouts as he’s ushered away but he makes the effort to take a quick glance back towards her to wave her goodbye, she smiled at the gesture and waves goodbye. It was obvious that some parents hated the fact that their children adored both her and Sun/Moon over them at times, telling by how a young child would cling to the both of them begging not stay, but of course, they’re not allowed to keep the children there for long.

“I swear, my son’s birthday was ruined tonight.” she heard a mother complain from afar while handing over another child to their guardian.

“Yeah, I wasn’t there to see the performance, but I heard that Freddy had a malfunction and collapsed during his performance.” her eyes shot open and she turned towards the gossiping mothers.

‘Freddy collapsed?’ she thought, that sounded impossible. Freddy has the most daily maintenance out of all the animatronics because he is the face and star of the Mega Pizza Plex, so she couldn’t accept the fact that he had a simple malfunction during his performance.

“Miss [F/N]?” she lets out a soft gasp then glanced down to see the young boy she was holding in her arms looking up at her in concern “Are you alright?” she blinks owlishly at him before closing her eyes and smiling at him.

“Why I’m alright, thank you for worrying about me.” she says, leaning down to place him on the ground, she grimaced a little when the boy still looked worried but simply gave him a light push on the back to get him to go to his father that was waiting for him “You better get going, we’re closing soon and your father is waiting.” she stands up straight and waves him goodbye and though he was hesitant, he hurried over to his father, holding his hand and waving her goodbye.

“See you again, Miss [F/N]!” she nods and watched them disappear, unbeknownst to herself, the grip on her hands grew tight to the point she could feel herself dent.

“I hope to see your faces soon!” [F/N] exclaimed happily as she waved the last family goodbye, she looked side to side in search for anyone else before turning on her heel and speed walking over to where Sundrop was, who had his back to her as he was at the table that had the equipment for the bracelet making “Sunny, darling! I need a favor of you.” she says, not noticing the way he hid the things on the table when she approached.

“Oh, starshine! What can I do for you?”

“Do you mind holding down the fort for me? I just heard that Freddy isn’t feeling well, and I thought I could check up on him. I hope you don’t mind.” she thought that he would disagree, he never liked them being so apart, so guess how surprised she was with how easily Sundrop agreed with her.

“You're absolutely right, sunbite! You’re such a good friend to worry about your other friends, so go on right ahead and pay that big ole teddy bear a visit just to see if he’s doing alright!” he says, going to so far as to pushing her out.

“A—Are you sure?” she questions, glancing back at him and being mindful of her step as not to tumble over “I’m not being troublesome, am I?” she adds, now out the door and holding it open to look at him, to which he shakes his head.

“Not at all! We got this, so go say hi to Freddy for us!” she pulls her hands back when he quite literally slammed the door in her face, she stares blankly at it for a couple seconds before snapping out of it, leaning backwards in confusion.

“… well, I didn’t expect that.” she stands there a second longer until she turned on her heel and made her way towards Rockstar Row, leaving Sundrop and Moondrop in the daycare.

“I didn’t expect her wanting to leave, but we’ll take her absence as our opportunity to make her a gift.” he cheers as he returns to the table, Moondrop nodded his head within their shared mind.

“There’s not a moment to lose!”

[with [f/n]]

“Look, mummy! Look, it’s the Daycare Assistant!” [F/N] heard a couple of the children call out, to which she greeted a few of the leaving guests before picking up the pace so she could see Freddy without having to see Vanessa. It was strongly advised that they didn’t roam around while the Pizza Plex was in the middle of closing, but she was just a little bit too anxious. She waved at the last child she saw then hopped into the elevator in the Atrium and pressed the floor to take her to Rockstar Row, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground a little impatiently. Finally the doors opened to the floor she needed and she stepped out, she glanced around and saw a couple Security and Caution Bots, greeting them with a wave before something caught her eye. Glancing over, she briefly saw the door to Freddy’s room open then close.

“How odd.” she muttered but shrugged her shoulders, she’ll see soon enough, she approached his door and it automatically opened as she approached it “Freddy!”

“Aahh!” she rolled her eyes when he screamed, what caught her attention was when she saw him quickly close his chest cavity, he turned around and saw [F/N] and quickly that panicked look disappeared and he raised his hand “Oh! Why hello there, [F/N]! What brings you here? You’re usually helping Sundrop clean up the Daycare at this time.” he fidgeted under her watchful eyes, hands carefully caressing his chest, she then sighed as she shook her head.

“I’m here to see you.” his head perked up.

“Me? What for?” she scoffed, taking a step forward and grabbing him by his forearms.

“I heard you malfunctioned and collapsed during your performance.” his eyes widened.

“How did you know?” she huffs.

“World travels fast amongst complaining parents.” she then shrugs, she sighs and caresses his arm with her thumbs “What I don’t understand is why YOU of all animatronics malfunctioned. Monty I understand, even Roxanne and Chica dearest, but you? Management takes extra care of you, so I’m confused as to why you malfunctioned.” she raised a brow when he slowly slipped out of her grip, his hands now holding her forearms.

“All I can say is that it was a simple slip up on my end, I thank you for your concern, friend, but I must rest.”  he retracts his arms and holds them “I haven’t fully recharged yet, and I feel awfully tired.” her head perks up and soon nods.

“Oh, yes! Forgive me, I’ll leave you to charge! I need to head back to the Daycare, I feel awful for leaving Sunny on his own to clean. You know how children can be, such a pain to clean up after at times.” he nods his head, pumping his fist.

“That must be a hassle, so you better get to it.” she nods, patting his arm and turning to leave but stopped when Freddy called out to her “But before you go… was a child missing from the Daycare any time today?” this caused her to pause, he watched her look up as her AI looked through the data of each child that attended the daycare that day.

“No. I did a thorough headcount and there wasn’t a single head missing.” she approaches him once more “May I ask why?” he noticed her move her eyes from his face and down to his chest cavity, poking it, he immediately raised his hands to cover his chest and turned away.

“No, was just wondering, is all.” she knew he was lying to her, but he must have a reason as to why, so she just let out a deep sigh as she shook her head.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it.” she gives him a hug, holding tight before letting go and leaving him alone. Unbeknownst to her, he let out a breath of relief as his chest cavity opened up to reveal the missing head he was talking about, the young boy named Gregory that was hiding in his chest cavity the moment she stepped in.

“She’s gone now, superstar.” Gregory lets out a exaggerated sigh.

“Dang, that was a close one!” he exclaims, he rushes over to the window and saw her walking into the elevator doors “Who is she? I think I’ve heard of her, but I’ve never seen her before.” Freddy approached Gregory from behind and glances through the window to see the elevator doors closing just as he approached.

“She is the Daycare Assistant, she helps the Daycare Attendant care for the daycare. She is a wonderful friend, and I believe you would like her a lot, she is very fond of children and cares for them as if they were her own.” Gregory scoffed, throwing his head back as he rolled his eyes.

“If she could even have children, that is.” he waves his hand “She’s still just a machine, so she can’t exactly conceive a child.”

“W-Well, it’s that thought that counts, is it not?” he just shakes his head.

[at the daycare]

“Sunbite, darling?” [F/N] pushes the door to the daycare open and peeked her head inside, she was a little impressed that Sundrop cleaned up the daycare thoroughly while she was gone, but now she was a little concerned because she couldn’t see him “I’m back, Sunny!” she called out once again, her shoulders slumped, however, when she didn’t get an answer. She entered the daycare, placing her hands on her hips and was ready to call out to him again but gasped when he hung from above her, upside down and a wide smile on his face.

“You’re back, starshine! Welcome!” she smiles softly, nodding her head.

“I’m back.” he rights himself but made sure he was still hanging in front of her, hands behind his back as his hands held something “Sunbite?” he giggles softly, legs kicking gently in front of him.

“I have a surprise for you.” he muses, waving his finger around then pointed at her face.

“Aw~ how sweet.”  “Close your eyes…” he trailed off when he realised her eyes were already closed, how she saw without her eyes being open, he’ll never know… but whatever! “Well, um… make sure you can’t see!” she chuckles and covers her eyes with her hands.

“Alright, okay.” she heard him muttering to himself, probably talking with Moondrop, something then jingled in front of her that made her tilt her head.

“You can open your eyes now!” she does so by removing her hands from her face then opening her eyes, and there she saw a necklace Sundrop and Moondrop had made that was themed after her but had sun and moon beads mixed into it as well with her name “Moony and I made this for you, we hope you like it!” she takes it into her hands and inspects it closely, she then laughs softly and holds it closely.

“I love it, you two, I love it very much!” she gives them both a big smile and holds it out to them “Put it on for me?” they didn’t hesitate to swipe it from her, she removes her hat and moves her hair so they wouldn’t have trouble putting it on, and when they did, she grabbed a miniature mirror to look at it. She was made and styled in the Victorian era, so it didn’t match her at all, but she loved it nonetheless “It’s perfect.” Sundrop claps his hands.

“Terrific! We’re glad that you love it.” she continues to admire it before putting the mirror down and offering her hand to them.

“Hows about we call it a night? My battery is finally catching up to me and I desperately need to charge.” Sundrop nods his head.

“Oh, absolutely! We get to cuddle!” she chuckles at that, she wraps her arms around Sundrop’s waist and he lifts them over to their now shared room. She enters first and takes her place by the charging port, when Sundrop enters, he turned into Moondrop because the lights were off and he approached her.

“Can I get my gift?” she giggles.

“Of course.” she takes out the one she made for him and puts it on his other wrist, he marvels at them both before pulling her into a hug and together the three of them look at their matching jewellery “Now we all match.” she nods her head, nuzzling her nose against his head.

“We do.” she sits on her knees and one of the stingers attached to her hat slithered over to the charging port, she pats her lap and Moondrop didn’t hesitate to rest his head on her lap so they could snooze together.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” he smiles, nodding his head.

“Yes, and we’ll see you.” and with that, the moment that stinger plugged into the charging port, her system shut down and she was in charging mode. He takes a deep breath, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face plate into her lap, but not without taking one final glance at his and Sundrop’s bracelets. He couldn’t contain his bashful smile as he fell asleep in her lap, neither of the two unaware of the events that were going to take place throughout the night.

[an hour later]

EMERGENCY WAKE UP CALL.

DAYCARE LIGHTS OFF.

BOUNCER MODE… ACTIVATED.

PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS… DEACTIVATED.

[F/N]’s eyes opened, her system booting up at an hour they weren’t supposed too. When she was on recharge mode, it would take several hours for her to reach fully charged mode where she can last a few days without having to enter a charging station. But she had woken up from her slumber way to early, and the only reason that were to happen was when the daycare lights turned off at a time they weren’t supposed to… or if Moondrop was running amok, something like that hasn’t happened in the longest time. Similar to DJMM, Parts and Service installed a Bouncer Mode into her system that would activate when unruly guests make a scene, but it was used to subdue Moondrop when the staff couldn’t handle him.

“Sunny…?” she murmured out first, the stinger that connected itself to the plug disconnecting and returning to her as she slowly stood up and scanned the area for the animatronic “Moony? Where are you?” she closed her hand into a fist and grimaced when she felt her initial strength to take down animatronics like Monty was activated… something must be wrong, that restraint was activated for a reason. She exits their tent and noticed the lights in the daycare were indeed off, she looks at the time and was confused to see that the hourly mark for the power to convert to the charging stations hadn’t hit yet. With that in mind, she stepped out onto the balcony and looked around, only to hear Moon’s sinister chuckle.

“Naughty, naughty~ bad children must be punished.” her eyes immediately flew open as she slammed her hands onto the railing of the balcony, leaning over to see that he was chasing around a little boy who was frantically going through the playground and making a mess to distract him.

“Please! Just leave me alone!” her eyes locked onto the child and scanned him quickly before he disappeared into the playground while Moondrop cleaned up the mess he made.

CHECKING GUEST LIST… UNKNOWN.

CHECKING DAYCARE REGISTER… UNKNOWN.

CHECKING LOST AND FOUND… UNKNOWN.

CALCULATED RESULTS… LOST CHILD.

“Lost child?” she questioned, soon the conversation with Freddy came back to mind when he asked her if she was missing a child. She rolls her fingers along the railing, hearing it tap against the metal, but that child was completely unknown. There was no data of him anywhere, she shakes her head, that doesn’t matter that very moment, Moondrop was acting far more aggressive than he usually is and she was afraid he was going to do something neither of them were going to like. She calls down the cable just as she jumped over the railing, grabbing it and allowing it to lower her to the ground, she was careful to quietly land on the ground, as not to alert Moondrop of her presence.

“Dang it, where are those stupid generators?” Gregory hisses to himself, getting lost in the playground yet again “Why the heck are generators even in a children’s playground? Talk about a hazard.” he freezes up when he heard the bells on Moondrop’s costume jingle, oh god, he was crawling around in the playground as well.

“Where are you? Children aren’t allowed to stay after hours.” he pressed his back against the wall, covering his mouth to quiet his breathing but the beating in his heart beat so loudly it was giving him away “Come out, come out, wherever you are~” oh god did he want to just curl up into a ball and disappear, a small whimper escaped his lips when he saw Moondrop’s fingers appear around the corner of the wall. There was nowhere for him to go, he was trapped and that freak was going to get him. He closed his eyes and was ready for his life to flash before his eyes but they suddenly shot open when Moondrop let out a yelp, he looked over and saw that Moondrop was gone.

“H-Huh?” wiping away the stray tears, he looked around the corner and his eyes widened to see the same animatronic jellyfish that came to Freddy’s room holding Moondrop as if he were a cat.

“Moony? What are you doing playing around in the playground? You know that’s only designed for children, and don’t you remember the last time you went in there?” she giggles fondly at the memory, remembering how his limbs got stuck and he was screeching at her not to look “You know I can’t fit in there, so color me surprised when I had to yank you out of there.” yup, that’s what happened. The moment she saw the opportunity to grab him through one of the openings, she leaned in and pulled him out before he could see the young boy.

“You don’t understand, starshine. There’s a child!” he exclaims, throwing his arms up, to which she rolls her eyes while nodding her head.

“Right…” he sighed when he knew she didn’t believe him “Remember the last time you said that? And when we checked to see what it was it, it was only Roxanne and Montgomery playing tricks on you. Perhaps they’re doing it again.” he pouts as she lowers him down, she giggles to herself when he crossed his arms and started to sulk.

“I’m telling you, there’s a boy running around.” she smiles fondly at him, placing her hands on his shoulders and giving them a light squeeze, her eyes then went over to where Moondrop was and there she saw the boy. He flinched backwards and was going to hide but paused when he saw her jerking her head to her left, her stingers raising up and pointing in the same direction. He was confused at first but looked in the direction and there he saw another generator, she gave him a look of reassurance but quickly looked away when Moondrop looked at her.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but the last time we jumped to conclusions… we were barely let off with a warning.” this caused his shoulders to slump, she then turned him towards their room and gestures to it “Why don’t we go back to sleep? Perhaps you’re just anxious to see the children again that your AI is playing tricks with you.” with his back to the boy, Gregory peeked his head out from the play structure and his face lit up when her stingers pointed out all the generators, saving him the trouble of actually finding them.

“Maybe you’re right. The children have only recently started liking me again.” she smacks his arm, moving from time to time to block his view of Gregory as they continued to talk.

“They’ve always liked you, my love, they’re only shy.” she caresses his cheek and kisses his forehead “Now let’s go back and cuddle.” he giggles at that.

“Hehe, I like that idea for mu—” he was cut off when they both heard something fall, turning their heads, there they saw Gregory had accidentally tripped over a chair after he was staring at the two of them acting lovey dovey “So I wasn’t making it up!” he exclaims as starts making his way over to him, Gregory did not hesitate to pick himself up and run over to the other playground to get the last two generators.

“Ah, please! I don’t even want to be here!”

“Moon, what are you doing?!” [F/N] shouts as she chases after Moon, ducking down to avoid hitting a few of the obstacles in her way while Moon easily manoeuvred around them and was getting closer to Gregory “Moon! Stop right this instant!”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but no can do.” Gregory crawled into the playground and Moon was right behind him, [F/N] tried to grab him but she failed when he just slipped out of her reach and she couldn’t crawl in after him. She cursed under his lips, taking a step back and using her enhanced eyes to see through the dark and locate where both Moon and Gregory were in the playground.

“Moondrop, I swear if you hurt that boy you’re never going to hear the end of it from me!” she shouts, she managed to find Gregory and saw that he was backed into a corner after getting one of the two generators and Moon was hot on his tail “I will NEVER forgive you if you do anything to that boy, Moondrop! I swear on it!” this caused Moon to stutter in his movements, momentarily freezing in place, she took that opportunity to rush over to where Gregory was and pull him out of the playground instead.

“Hey! What’s wrong with that guy?!” she shook her head.

“I should be the one asking you that.” she whispered “My Moony doesn’t act like that, much less threaten a child and refuse to listen to me.” Gregory noticed black tears swell in her eyes as she stared at where Moon was before turning away and finding the last generator, however, she was tackled to the ground and evidently dropped Gregory.

“[F/N], dearest, hand over the child while I’m being nice.” she looked back and Moon and saw he was holding her by her waist, she glared at him as she pushed herself on her back.

“When my moonlight is being nice, he doesn’t threaten me!” she shouts and proceeds to kick him off, this time, she was going to keep Moon distracted while Gregory climbed into the playground to get the last generator “Little boy, if you climb in through the slide at the back, you’ll find the last generator!”

“The last in the back? Got it!” he quickly did as she said and followed her directions, her ears perked up when she heard a wire so she looked back and saw Moon connected the cable to his back and was planning on flying over her and after Gregory.

“Oh no you don’t!” she exclaims, kneeling down then jumping up and grabbing him by his waist. The cable wasn’t able to handle the weight and snapped, causing them both to fall to the ground. Moon gets up immediately and tries to get to Gregory once more but couldn’t when [F/N] picking him up, arms wrapping around his arms and his torso, keeping him apprehended “Moon, don’t make me break you.” he lets out a grunt when he felt her tighten her grip, his metal body starting to dent a little.

“I know you can, but I know you won’t. You love me too much to do that.” he feels her loosen her grip so he was going to slip out of her grip but suddenly she tightened her grip once more, making it impossible for him to free himself.

“True, but unfortunately for you, my system is telling me to do everything in my power to stop you from doing something stupid.” he glances back at her and saw that her iris’ were red instead of white “My feelings for you will be suppressed until you are under control.” finally, Gregory managed to get the last generator and the lights were switched back on. You glanced around then took a look at Moon only to see that he switched back to Sundrop, she lets out a sigh of relief and loosen her grip but hugs him instead.

“[F/N]? What are you doing awake? You’re supposed to be asleep.” she shook her head and buried her face into his neck.

“You and Moony were gone so I got worried…” they heard a creek so they turn and see Gregory trying to leave, now this set Sundrop off and stomped over to Gregory, [F/N] following behind him to make sure he didn’t do anything.

“Rule breaker, rule breaker!” he shouts, picking Gregory up and carrying him out of the daycare “You are BANNED from the daycare!” he adds, dropping him on the ground, [F/N] peeks her head out from behind him and waves Gregory goodbye.

“Have a good night, little boy.” she says.

“Security alert, security alert! Woo, woo, woo!” she pulls a face, looking down at him as they both retreat back into the daycare, him slamming the door behind him for good measure.

“Was that necessary?” he stomps his foot, crossing his arms.

“Absolutely!”

Headcanon:

watching him angrily write down BANNED in all caps on a wide white piece of paper was very entertaining.

several BANNED signs.

she couldn’t help but laugh that he seriously banned the boy from the daycare.

he told her not to laugh.

he also asked her to draw “angry eyebrows” and a “frown” on his face to display his anger.

she told him he was being over dramatic.

he told her she needed to take this seriously.

he then proceeded to cry to her that he just wanted to look after the boy but he turned the lights off and brought out moon.

she asked him if there was something wrong with moon because he was acting off.

he went silent.

she decided not to pry.

now, when the lights would go out and moon was lurking about searching for gregory, she would not be too far behind to keep moon under control.

when freddy and gregory were in the elevator and frantically pushing the buttons to get the elevator to close, [f/n] appeared and tackled him to the ground.

this had happened on several occasions, but it was very effective.

when [f/n] found gregory and freddy on their own, gregory, no matter how many times he was saved by her, was still just a little wary of her.

could you blame him? his life is literally on the line and the only one he can trust that moment was freddy.

he calmed down when [f/n] broke down crying about how that wasn’t her moon.

her moon was calm and kind, sure he was stern, but he would never hurt children no matter WHAT they do.

she even showed them the necklace they both made.

freddy let her cry into his shoulder and pat her back to calm her down.

now-

when freddy needed to charge, [f/n] would take over monitoring gregory.

she was a walking nightlight and you could see her from far away, she was also big so he could easily hide behind her.

if he was tired, they would find a place to rest and she would hide him under his bell hat and he would be out like a light.

a thing gregory also noticed was that where she was, none of the security bots would come over to where she was.

she said that the security bots won’t monitor the area where she is because she was more then enough to handle the situation that was happening there.

the same cannot be said for the animatronics.

that didn’t mean she didn’t bodyslam monty when he chased after gregory.

he forever stuck to her side.

[f/n] and freddy: the overprotective parents that will fight you on site if you dare hurt their child.

Contract pt. 2

word count: 39,011

Fandom: Gravity Falls Pairing: Stanley Pines x Alvah (OC) Pronouns: He/She/They (usually goes be she/her) Relationship: Problematic Occupation: Guardian Ability: Demonic Powers

Since the individual is a resident of the Nightmare Realm, while also being the embodiment of evil from across multiple dimensions, the power they have is almost unlimited. They are capable of traveling to different dimensions throughout the multiverse but when they do step foot in such dimensions their powers become limited unless they are able to form a contract, similar to Bill through his deals, that allows them to have full access to their powers. They are capable of shapeshifting their appearance to blend in with the locals or at least influence the minds of those who set their eyes on them, but if there were anyone to bear witness to their true form, their own minds would destroy itself and drive them into madness.

Keys:

n/a

Warnings:

blood, violence, and spoilers for those who haven't read the book of bill.

"Contract" pt. 1, pt.3

there are bound to be mistakes in here that I a. missed or b. could not be fucked fixing.

season 2, episode 12. a tale of two stans

Her eyes widened slightly when Ford pulled the gun strapped to his back and aimed it at her, causing her to halt in her tracks and stare at the end of the barrel. She raised her hands and opened her mouth to say something but he had already pulled the trigger and a beam shot out of the gun and shot right through her face, taking out the entirety of the left side of her face.

"Alvah!" Stan shouts, this causes Ford to flinch and slowly lower his gun and stare at the woman in front of him. Her remaining eye slowly moved to look at the giant-sized hole in her face, and instead of the red substance known as blood dripping down her face, there was a black-like tar oozing out and dripping down the side of her body. Her eye looked back towards Ford and the shocked expression slowly twisted into a sadistic grin as maniacal laughter erupted out of her, a black smoke with a red glow burst out of the gaping hole in her face that was full of eyes staring at him. She raised her hand and gestured to the shadow to return inside where it escaped from before hovering her hand over the wound on her face and healing it, the way it healed was odd. Instead of seeing skin weave itself back together, her skin was like a shattered porcelain doll slowly putting itself together piece by piece.

"Is that how you greet an old friend, Stanford?" she asked after the last crack was sealed up, and it was as if she was never broken in the first place.

"Alvah, I... I didn't recognize you." he spoke as he looked her up and down, she did the same thing and sighed.

"That's on me, I suppose. This isn't a form you're accustomed to seeing." they all watched as she approached Ford, placing a hand on his shoulder that slowly glided across to his other shoulder when she moved behind him, soon both of her hands were on his shoulders but when she peeked out they were surprised to see that she-- or rather, HE looked different "This one was more to your liking, was it not?" even his voice made them shudder. Dipper and Mabel take a closer look at Alvah, and their jaws drop when they recognize him, it is him. It was the mystery man from McGucket’s memory that none of them had any recollection of, the man who was the cause of McGucket’s decline in sanity.

"I see you've not grasped the concept of personal space in the years I have been gone." he let out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around Ford's neck, nuzzling his cheek against his more rugged one.

"Nope. But I've missed you, Fordsy~" he cooed out, he snickered and pulled away when Ford aimed the gun at his face again, raising his hands up in surrender "You know those human weapons aren't going to work on me, but it is a pain to fix these bodies. That was the first time it was damaged since I first made it." he let out a huff as he lowered his weapon.

"Then it's a good thing that they can even penetrate a body like yours." he looked towards his brother again, who was staring at the both of them in shock, and grumbled when he felt Alvah's hands caressing his body "What are you doing now?" he let out a grunt when the end of his coat was lifted up a little as his hands glided up and down his torso, squeezing it a little before moving up to his biceps.

"I see you've bulked up a little throughout your travels. You're not that puny little stick that would get blown over by a small gust of wind." Ford sweat dropped when he pulled his hands back, wiping away the imaginary tear running down his face while sniffling a little "I can't help but be a little... proud." he laughed when Ford pushed him away by the face.

"Enough of your needless chatter, devil." Alvah let out a laugh as he lifted himself off the ground, floating in front of Ford with a cheeky grin.

"A devil you summoned to care for your loved ones." Ford let out a sigh at Alvah's childish behavior, seems he hasn't changed a bit. He turned towards the audience staring at them in bewilderment as Alvah hovered close behind him, his head hovering over his shoulder with his long black hair draping itself over his shoulder "I did as our contract stated, Ford. I kept your loved ones, and their loves ones, alive." his eyes zoned in on the poor state they were in and glared at Alvah.

"You were supposed to protect them, Alvah! Protect and keep them out of danger!" now this caused him to scoff as he rolled off of Ford's shoulder, he continued to float in front of him as he snapped his fingers and they all watched as his hand burst into a black and red flame and a scroll formed in his hands that slowly unraveled. In a text they could not understand, except for Ford himself, Alvah pointed to a specific section.

"It says I am to keep your loved ones alive. Not keep them out of danger, nor protect them. As long as they do not die under my watch, I haven't broken our contract." he shrugged his shoulders as Ford took the contract, reading over it to see that it in fact, did say that "Perhaps you should have worded it like that." he lowered the contract and glared up at Alvah, who continued to grin.

"You..." he then sighed.

"But it's also my fault that I got stuck here for thirty years." this caused him to raise a brow, Alvah points to a different section this time "For the time you are not in Gravity Falls, I am to remain here until you return. That was technically to protect your research and whatnot, but I never would have thought to change it when you disappeared." this managed to crack a smirk on his face.

"So you could not return to the Nightmare Realm?" this caused him to scowl.

"No, no I could not."

"Hang on, hang on." they both look to where Stanley spoke up, approaching the two of them with a confused expression "You... you two know each other? And Alvah, you're... a man?" Ford shook his head with a sigh.

"Yes, we know each other. I am the one who assigned him to take care of things in my absence, but I see that he failed to stop you from reactivating the portal." he just shrugged.

"And for me being a man, well, no." they watch as he lowered himself to the ground "I am neither man nor woman, I am not a being that can be identified by something like sex or pronouns. I am an interdimensional being, an embodiment of all that is evil. An amalgamation of evil from across multiple dimensions and parallel worlds. I am... evil itself." he looked even more confused, Ford raised his hand in front of Alvah's face.

"He is quite literally the embodiment of all that is evil, created in the Nightmare Realm that managed to gain a consciousness." he nods.

"In simpler terms, yes. My name wasn't even Alvah, to begin with," he then gestures to the man beside him "Ford is the one who bestowed the name "Alvah" onto me because he didn't want to call me by my title." this caused him to huff, pushing his glasses up a little.

"The Harbinger of Chaos is hardly a name." he shrugged, he winced when he was flicked in the nose.

"You were trying to be sweet when you gave me the name as well, not knowing that the biblical meaning behind "Alvah" means evil." he then chuckled, leaning back and allowing his body to float again while resting his head in his hands "It's the reason I even kept the name." Ford sniffled.

"Wait!" turning their heads, they see Dipper looking up at Alvah in shock while flipping through the pages of the third journal "Harbinger of Chaos? That's you? That was you, Alvah?" Ford's eyes widened at the sight of his journal, along with the fact that there were children present, now that he fully registered it.

"Aw~ you read my chapter. He said some real nice things about me, didn't he?" Dipper gasped when Alvah snapped his fingers and the journal disappeared from his grasp, he read through a couple of lines and snickered softly while showing Ford "With the few details I gave you, I think you captured my likeliness rather nicely." he tried taking the journal from him but this only caused Alvah to laugh and pull it away from Ford's reach.

"Alvah, give it back to me!" he laughed.

"Nuh-uh, it's his now." with that he tossed it back over to Dipper, who just barely caught it "He managed to find it all on his own, I don't think that hiding spot was good enough. A different snot-nosed brat managed to find your second journal as well, so you're not good at hiding things."

"Right." he cleared his throat and dusted himself off, Alvah floated behind him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders "It seems you already know who Alvah is, but allow me to properly introduce him. This is the Harbinger of Chaos, a being I contacted to keep my research safe and those I care about alive." he glared at Alvah, who snickered beside him.

"And you only did it because things went south for you. You never would have formed a contract with me if he didn't--" Ford promptly slapped his hand across his mouth, silencing him.

"They do not need to know the full details." Alvah scoffed and pushed his hands away, his eyes then moved to where Stan stood along with the kids.

"Other than that, he is correct. From the time you all stepped foot in Gravity Falls, I have been watching every little thing you've done. Every. Little. Thing." when he said that he booped them each on the nose "However, I am not allowed to directly interfere with what you do with your daily lives. So with each adventure you've been on, I was just watching in the shadows and making sure you didn't die at the end of the day. Like so." with a snap of his fingers, a burst of smoke formed in front of them that was playing back to each adventure. If they were being honest, it always felt like they were being watched, but seeing it for themselves, made them shudder "At times I had to rush you for you to get to places in time, at others I would manipulate the background to help you."

season 1

for the gnomes, she knew mabel would be walking into a trap to become the gnome queen and hurried dipper along to go save her.

when the "sea monster" was trapped in the cave entrance, she snapped her fingers so when it was thrashing, a particularly large chunk of debris would fall and make it malfunction.

made the sun rise so that the wax figures would melt.

spoke to mabel to get her to hurry along and stop gideon from killing dipper.

couldn't do much but would have stepped in if the ghosts were going to kill dipper, mabel and the other teenagers.

kept an eye on dipper in case the manotaurs or the multi-bear were going to double cross him.

kept her eye on the doubles if they overpowered dipper and would set off the sprinklers if things went south.

their lives weren't particularly in danger but if they got too far from gravity falls she would have chased after them herself.

each time they went back in time she was there to make sure they didn't get stuck in that point of time.

made sure mabel and stan wouldn't fall to their death and would prevent dipper from getting too hurt against rumble.

kept a close eye on the twins when gideon shrunk them down as well as stan if they didn't figure out he was ticklish.

kept her eye on the summerween trickster so he didn't get too close to the kids, almost interfered if soos didn't eat it from the inside.

if they weren't able to apprehend the monster she would have interfered.

no real threat.

just kept a close eye on them.

kept a close eye on the children in case they weren't able to figure out the body swapping.

no real threat.

was there to help them save waddles, but if push turned to shove, she would have interfered.

was the one to keep bill in check and save the children, stan and soos from intentionally losing to bill. 

would have killed that little brat gideon if he did serious damage to the twins.

season 2

was there to protect the children and stan from becoming zombie food.

distracted the shapeshifter when they were in the caves and would have killed it if they didn't manage to capture it in the cryo-pod.

would have set the mini-golf park on fire if those little "golf people" really did hurt the children.

made sure bill didn't do anything "too" bad to dipper when he took his body.

kept her eye on giffany and would have short-circuited the place if things got out of hand.

no real threat.

was the one that got mcgucket moving so he could protect them from getting their mind erased by his memory gun.

kept her eye on the children when they went through globnar.

she and the love god kind of know each other, so she threatened that little cherub to not do anything funny while she was there.

kept her eye on them but couldn't do much with that ghost lingering.

"I now see what you meant by just "keeping them alive", Alvah." he just giggled with a shrug.

"I have seen every possibility, every timeline, every choice, every win, and every failure you have ever chosen. I know the outcome of every scenario, and even today, I knew would be the day Stanley succeeds in finishing the portal to bring Ford back to his original dimension." this revelation slowly caused Stan to look up at him.

"So... did that mean you knew that my brother would be trapped in the first place?" this caused them to look at him, a hint of betrayal in his eyes as he looked towards Alvah "If you were watching that whole time, did that mean you could have helped me save my brother? You could have helped me speed up the process instead of watching me wallow in misery for thirty years as I tried to fix my mistake?!" Alvah, whose face was blank as he stared down at Stan, blinked slowly before a soft but pained smile appeared across his lips.

"Yes, I could have." Stan's face slowly scrunched up in anger as he grabbed a hold of Alvah, pulling him close.

"You did nothing! You could have done something to help me, but you didn't! You said you were on my side... you said..." Alvah exhaled deeply through his nose as he gently took Stan by his wrists and pulled them off him, he lowered his face and gave him a sympathetic look.

"I would have if I could have." he spoke, Stan takes his hands back from Alvah as he refused to look at him "There are events in this timeline that I am not allowed to prevent or speed up. Thirty years ago, your brother was meant to go through that portal, he was meant to be trapped and it was on this day at this time that he was meant to return because of you and your efforts."

"Still, you could have helped me." this caused Alvah to sigh.

"Alright, let me break it down for you." they watch the smoke disappear when he slaps his hands together and then pulls them apart, they watch a blue thread surround the room as he pulls his hands away. He floats off the ground and starts looking through the thread before finding a specific one, he brings himself down and holds it out in front of them "Here is the timeline we are currently in. Here it contains every event that's occurred leading up to today. See how the thread is flowing smoothly? No hiccups or anything. My interferences are minor, and it doesn't cause any damage. Now let's go back thirty years, to the day where all this began." he pulls the thread back and it stops at a park that was glowing bright, he enhances on it, and they see in both awe and shock the exact moment Stan accidentally pushed Ford into the portal.

"Now let's say I did help you on the reconstruction of the portal, say instead, that it took us a couple weeks or months to get it fixed and we bring Ford back. Ta-dah, the day is saved." pulling his hand back a thread branches out from the original one and expands out "Because of this change, a new timeline is created out of the original; a new story is born. So, what happens to the original one?" his hand hovers under the original thread and they flinch when he closed his hand over it, crushing it beneath his palm and severing it completely "It's effectively destroyed and erased like it never existed, meaning everything that's happened so far never-- or rather, it never WILL happen. And even so, I'll get into serious trouble if I were to mess with serious events in the timeline."

"But, like," Alvah makes everything disappear when Mabel spoke, looking all nervous under his gaze "aren't you like a super powerful being? Can't you break the rules? Couldn't you have helped Grunkle Stan save his brother?" this caused him to chuckle, kneeling to Mabel's level so his drastic change in height didn't scare or overwhelm her.

"I find it flattering that you think I'm oh so powerful, I am, and I do tend to bend the rules a little bit, but if I were to break this..." they watch his already pale skin turn paler as fear struck his face, he's now curled up in a ball while clutching his head "I'll get in trouble with... them. It's been thirty years, and I've neglected my duties because I was stuck here, they're gonna yell at me." the sound that escapes him is like a whine like croak.

"Ah hem, uh, who exactly is them?" he points at Dipper, shaking his head.

"Someone you don't wanna know and don't wanna cross. They may seem all nice and mystical, and sure they're an extra-dimensional being that could wipe out my very existence but doesn't because if they do then they're erasing the very aspect of evil and they can't have that because it's just a pain... anyways, they're basically god." he lets out a sigh, pressing his hand against his forehead "So you see, Stanley, I couldn't help you even if I wanted to. The only thing I was allowed to do was... watch." his shoulders slump when Stan refused to look at him.

"So, when you say you're evil..." 

"I am every bad choice you make, every selfish action, every terrible mistake. You could say I'm like that devil on your shoulder telling you to ignore the angel."

"So, you tell us to do bad things?"

"Pft, no. I'm just giving you the option, I'm not telling you to do anything. You're the one who chose it in the end, so that technically makes you a bad person." he then shrugged his shoulders, they then point up at him.

"Then what about old man McGucket? We saw that memory of you two, or the woman you. You two were arguing about something." he then let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair and messing with it.

"I went to see him to say sorry, and what did I get in return for my efforts? I got shot in the face!" he looked at Ford and saw him looking up at him in confusion "It was back when you two were first testing out the portal and he got sucked in by accident, remember how he lost his mind because he saw something that freaked him out?" he nodded his head.

"Yes? It was what convinced me to quit the project." he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe, yeah, well he saw... me." they all stare at him in confusion, not understanding what seeing him mea-- they were taken aback when Ford grabbed him by the arms and started shaking him.

"You mean Fiddleford saw you? He saw the real you?!" Alvah manages to rip himself free from Ford's hold and push him back.

"Yes! But it was completely by accident. We figured you two were getting close to finishing the portal but we didn't realize just how quickly, so imagine my surprise when I was relaxing in the Nightmare Realm and some scrawny little human poked his head through a hole in our dimension." he can almost remember it like it was yesterday, just casually relaxing in the Nightmare Realm because there's basically nothing to do except laze around when a hole opened up. Curiously, they did approach it and concluded that Ford and his little assistant Fiddle-whatshisname had finally managed to successfully finish the portal, but what caught them by surprise was when a head poked through. They recognized the human as Ford's assistant, they tilted their head to the side as they stared at him while the human looked up at them and their face slowly morphed into one of pure terror.

"You... aren't supposed to be here." they spoke, voice disoriented through the chaos that was their body. They sighed softly when the human screamed in fear so they did the only sane thing they could think of, they raised their hand and pushed him right back where he came from, and the hole disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

"What was that?" looking over they see Bill approach them, his singular eye tinged with curiosity.

"I believe your toy has finally finished his project." this made the triangular figure glow with glee, clapping his hands joyfully as he floated circles around their head "Congratulations, Bill. You're finally getting your doomsday." he let out a laugh as he hovered in front of their face.

"I know, right? I'm gonna go round up the others!" ah, good times, he then shrugs his shoulders.

"He saw my real body and I pushed him out before any more damage could be done, or if he saw anyone else." Ford starts rubbing his temples to ease the forming headache, Mabel raises her hand "Yes?"

"What does having seen your body have anything to do with McGucket going coo-coo?" he opens his mouth to speak but stops when Dipper opens the journal.

"Oh, I know the answer to that. It says here that since their body is made of all the evil throughout countless dimensions, parallel worlds, and alternate universes their body is so corrupted that if anyone were to gaze upon their true form then their minds would slowly descend into madness from all the chaos stored into one being." Alvah snaps his fingers.

"Ding, ding, ding. You are correct." he then sighs again "Because of that and our contract, I went to say sorry but even in a different form Fidds still recognized me and lost his mind. I tried to calm him down but in the end, he made me lose my temper and then I got shot with the memory gun." Ford heard him use the nickname he usually used for Fiddleford, sputtering a little when he used it.

"Fidds?" Alvah laughed.

"Oh, yeah! Ever since you kids helped him jog his memory, he came to me and asked, or more like demanded, I tell him everything he's forgotten. So once a week I'd visit him to help him remember what he's forgotten, we've gotten quite close since then." he winks at Ford, shrugging his shoulders as he floated off the ground again and wrapped his arms around his neck to nuzzle into his cheek once more "Aren't you happy we're getting along? You always scolded me when I made fun of him." he snickers when he started pushing him off again, struggling against Alvah's iron grip.

"Sure, but I'm not happy that he spiraled so deep because of my mistake." Alvah hummed softly.

"Then what are you going to do now?" this caused him to look up at the demonic being, he pulled himself away and smirked at him "Now that you're back, I have completed my end of our contract. But how about we extend it a little longer?" Ford narrowed his eyes on him.

"What do you mean?" Alvah placed a finger on his chin as he looked up in thought.

"Well, since Stanley opened the portal a second time, the connection between this dimension and the Nightmare Realm has gotten stronger. Who knows how long until Bill forces his way through, and the end of the world happens." a look of concern immediately crossed his face, he looks away to think but gasped softly when Alvah was directly right in front of him "Extend our contract, Stanford, and I'll continue to keep you and your family alive. I'll make sure Bill doesn't come into contact with them this time. I'll make sure he won't be able to make deals with them like he did with Dipper. You can leave their well-being to me while you focus on keeping him at bay." his gaze hardened on the man floating in front of him, showing off those pearly whites that could tear him to shreds.

"... the last time I didn't listen to you, I was met with betrayal and nearly lost my mind." Alvah was silenced when Ford glared at him, knowing what he was going to mutter "If we change up the conditions of the contract... then so be it." Alvah's grin returned, this time stretching from ear to ear as he clapped his hands.

"You made a fine choice, Stanford!" snapping his fingers, the contract reappeared before them once more. A red spark of lightning shot out of his finger, and he changed that he was able to come and go from this dimension to the Nightmare Realm whether Ford was in Gravity Falls or not, Ford himself changed up the part where Alvah was to protect his family instead of just keep them alive. They made a few more changes here and there before concluding that they were satisfied with the new contract, Alvah grins as he reads through it "Now, until the defeat of Bill Cipher, I am to protect your family from any potential dangers while making sure you don't make any past mistakes. In return, I have more access to my powers while I am in this dimension, and I can do whatever I want as long as no human gets hurt in the process." Ford reads through it one more time before nodding his head.

"Yes... I am satisfied with the changes to the contract."

"Wonderful!" they watch as both Ford and Alvah lift their thumbs to their mouths before biting into their flesh hard enough to get it to bleed, they hover their open wound over the contract and let a few droplets get on the golden parchment until Alvah snaps his fingers again and the palm of his hand burst into flames. This time a quill appeared, and he used the blood as ink to sign his name then he gave the quill to Ford to do the same, after he finished signing it Alvah felt a surge of power course through his body "Oh, yeah. Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Just remember to keep up your end of the contract." he only grinned as the contract rolled up and flew into his hand, it disappears when he closed his hand into a fist.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." his hands were then enveloped with a bright yet dark red flame, he stared at the smoldering flame before waving it off and booping Ford on the nose "With that I'll finally take my leave and return to the Nightmare Realm." this caused the others to stare in shock.

"You're leaving?" he laughed softly.

"Yeah, but not forever. I've been away from my real body for thirty years and I need to go and check up on it to see if I'm alright. I might be a little stiff for being away from it for so long." he then crossed his arms with a smile "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd miss me." the twins look at each other, still a little intimidated under the gaze of his red eyes, but they did nod a little.

"We'd like to think that you didn't lie to us this entire summer, Alvah. That the woman we've been hanging around didn't just look after us because of a contract, that you genuinely did it out of the kindness of your heart." this comment caused the smile on his face to drop a little, his face twitching as guilt ate at his nonexistent heart.

"I..." he couldn't finish his sentence and instead turned towards Ford, they let out a sigh but then gasped softly when something was thrown at them, Mabel was able to catch it and when they saw what it was their eyes widened "Take a look at that when you're not busy. You might find something worthwhile." it was his memory tube they were searching for that they couldn't find, he winked at them before finally turning away. Ford took a step forward and they watched as Alvah's body went limp, his body falling into Ford's arms before it could fall to the ground. There they watched as his shadow leaked out of him and loomed over them despite being attached to the wall "See you later." it spoke before a burst of laughter rang out through the room and the shadow disappeared.

Elsewhere... 

In the chaotic hell that was the Nightmare Realm, a somewhat surreal unstable void filled with swirling shades of dark purple, red, and yellow almost like a lava lamp. However, the being we're focusing on resides in a different section of the Nightmare Realm. Though the sky was still red they were surrounded by stars as they lay motionless in a body of clouds, that was when their body twitched as they stirred awake. After being in a coma for about thirty years, the Harbinger of Chaos arose rather slowly and weakly from where they had been lying for the past three decades. With a body made of a chaotic tangle of writhing, red tendrils and jagged lines adorned with numerous glowing red eyes that peer out from the dark depths of its flesh, they opened their mouth, and a horrific scream roared out that would deafen the ears of mortal beings... turns out they were just yawning. 

"Mm, it's been a long time." with a voice made up of the screams of all that they have slain, they spoke for the first time, and it almost felt foreign "I need to remember not to make the same mistake twice the next time I form a contract with a different being. I do not want to be stuck in such a predicament ever again." they note to themself, grabbing onto nothing to pull themself up until they were no longer laying in the luscious clouds that was their bed. Since their consciousness had been in that vessel alone, their main body had remained dormant the entire time and gave off the atmosphere like it was dead, but now their power was surging through their body and anyone residing in their section of the Nightmare Realm could feel that they had returned.  

The Harbinger of Chaos, the embodiment of evil throughout entire realities woke up one day and decided that they weren’t just going to be just a meaning, they were going to be alive. Where there is good, there will always be their counterpart that is evil, influencing individuals to do what they believe is the better option. As the devil on their shoulder, as the temptation that led Adam and Eve into biting into god’s sacred fruit, they are tasked with bringing the darkness out of people’s hearts. They do not crave world destruction, they do not want to destroy or take over dimensions, they think that’s just hard labor and a waste of time and effort, they’d rather just let their influence seep into the minds of others so they can destroy their own worlds. 

“My old friend, it has been a long time.” this being of evil perked up at the voice, tilting their head to the side at the sight of such a majestic being “I am a little hurt at the words you spoke.” they let out a chuckle themself. 

“I was only teasing. Besides, I knew you were watching ever since Stanley completed his mission to save his brother. And was I lying? The only reason you haven’t wiped me from existence is because if you do, the very concept of evil would disappear? But wouldn’t that be a good thing? Worlds without evil would be… perfect.” they let out a sigh. 

“But a world without evil would be out of balance. Good and even coexist together for a reason.” a hum is the only response they get. 

“Anyways, what are you doing in the Nightmare Realm? Did you venture across worlds just to visit little ol’ me? I’m flattered, really? It does things to my already inflated ego~” a chuckle leaves them as they float off, the Axolotl following close behind them “Are you worried Bill might pick up a fuss now that I’ve returned from dimension 46'\? He always avoids areas that you’re in.” the ethereal being let out a sigh. 

“I suppose. He was always one to bottle up all his feelings then let it all out at once rather than sharing his thoughts.” this caused them to let out a laugh while snapping their fingers to open windows to other worlds, peering into one they were met with talking frogs “I think it would be better for him to show a different side, don’t you think?” this caused them to roll all their eyes. 

“The last time he showed a vulnerable side he got his “heart” broken, remember? It’s the whole reason I was in dimension 46'\ in the first place.” they swipe their hand and peer into another window, now seeing a bunch of magic fly across their vision “If you want him to share his thoughts, you’ve got to force it out of him. The only way I see him talking about his feelings is in Theraprism.” 

“You’re right.” this earned them another laugh, they watched as a dark energy seeped out of the tip of their hand and infested the open windows that surrounded them, corrupting a few individuals before quickly closing the windows “I hope you don’t make too many changes with the Pines family, friend.” 

“You don’t need to worry about that, Axolotl. I’m a tough nut to crack.” this earned them a raised brow, and they shrunk a little under their gaze. 

“Perhaps, but what about that vessel of yours?” 

“What about it?” Axolotl gave them a knowing look, floating around them as they laughed softly. 

“You and I both know what I’m talking about.” they laugh a little more when they see all their eyes look in different directions, avoiding their bright gaze “Oh, I am only teasing. But you’ve been in that vessel for over thirty years. Sure, time works differently on beings with such a long lifespan, but your mind was in that of a human body for so long. You and I both know that things changed, whether for the better or for the worst.” they were met with silence, they peak over their shoulder and saw their gaze was back on the Pines family once again, namely on the Stan twins. 

“It… really complicates things.” 

“What will you do now?” their hand hovered over their view of dimension 46'\, their finger tapping against the image before swiping it away. 

“Fulfill my contract and come right back, I suppose.” 

“I see. Then, I’ll take my leave. I hope to see you well, my friend.” and with that, Axolotl left as silently as they appeared. They floated aimlessly in the chaos that was known as their home and sighed to themselves, this is why they preferred to laze around instead of doing fieldwork, it was always stressful and required too much thinking. They spent most of their time taking care of businesses that had been left unattended due to their absence and watched their influence fill the heads of people who couldn’t make a choice, it was always fun watching people be conflicted in their choices. Time certainly worked differently in the Nightmare Realm and different dimensions because when they looked back to dimension 46’\ the two brothers had left the basement and were staring at each other’s reflection, Ford even had a different change of clothes. 

“Perhaps I should inform them that I might be gone for a while to catch up on my work.” they thought it over before nodding their head and expanding their view on dimension 46’\, their finger circled around the image before allowing some of their consciousness to seep into the dimension before continuing their work. Alvah manifested within the second dimension (as a flat figure within the shadows) and looked around to find himself in the hallway, he travels through the shadows (similar to how giffany traveled through digital screens) until he found himself in the room where Stan and Ford were arguing with each other “I don’t suppose I’m interrupting anything, am I?” they both jump at the sound of his voice, turning in the direction it came from, they found the male version of Alvah in the reflection of the mirror in between them. They both turned their heads to look but found the space empty, so they looked back toward the mirror and saw him pressing his fingers against the glass, showing off the sharp, pearly whites as he looked at them. 

“You’re back, Alvah.” he chuckled softly, pushing himself off the surface of the mirror to cross his arms. 

“Yes, but not for long. I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, so don’t expect to see me lingering around for a while. It won’t take me long to finish up, but I won’t physically be around to keep an eye on your family. But if you really need me, just say my name and I’ll be there to save the day.” he snickered softly when Ford scoffed, readjusting his glasses. 

“I highly doubt we’ll need you to “save the day”, Alvah. You’ve made it clear that you’re not allowed to directly interfere with events, as you’ve put it.” he chuckled and looked Ford up and down, Stan was a little startled when he saw the end of his brother’s coat lift up to mirror what Alvah was doing in their reflection. He was looking him up and down once more, throwing his coat open to see he swapped out that black sweater for a red one while also messing with his hair “Would you quit it, Alvah?” he demanded and attempted to smack his hands off him through their reflection, it almost looked like he was fighting air, but Alvah just laughed and pulled his hands back. 

“Oh, you know I’m just teasing.” he giggles softly when Ford tugged on his coat and tidied up his hair. 

“If you want to make yourself useful, could you deal with the U.S. government? Stanley here tells me that they know about the portal, I’m just surprised they haven’t kicked down the doors to the shack yet.” this caused Alvah to start laughing, throwing his head back before wiping away a tear and leaning against the mirror with his elbow. 

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about those government officials. They won’t be bothering us again.” they both shudder when they saw him lick his lips “I made sure of that.” Ford glared at him. 

“Alvah! I specifically told you not to harm humans.” he rolled his eyes with a groan. 

“Hey! That was after we signed the updated version of our contract! I did it before then, okay? I also made it look like an accident, so you shouldn’t have to worry about backup coming to check up on things. Oh, and I gathered up all the evidence they managed to secure while they were stalking us.” he snapped his fingers, and a stack of discs and folders appeared behind them on a desk “You’re welcome.” Ford hummed softly as he looked over the documents. 

“Well, this is perfect. Well done, Alvah. I knew I could count on you to handle matters like these.” Alvah bows his head rather dramatically with a smirk “I’ll deal with these; I’ll call you when I need you.” he twiddles his fingers to bid Ford goodbye, this leaves Stan and Alvah alone, to which the demonic being pressed his hands against the glass of the mirror once more to look at Stan, who refused to look at him. 

“Are you mad at me, Stanley?” he asked, tilting his head to the side to try and get a look at his face but with the angle the mirror was facing he couldn’t properly see him “Is it because I didn’t help you with the portal, or because I knew the truth the whole time? Or was it because I knew what exactly you were suffering and did nothing about it?” he continued to watch him through the mirror for any sort of reaction but even then, Stan didn’t give any sort of reaction. Lowering his gaze to his hands, he saw that they were balled up into fists and shaking a little, was it anger or sadness? His fingers tap against the glass a little in thought, thinking of any way to get him to turn around “… do you hate me, Stanley?” Stan flinched at the sound of the voice and that was enough to turn him around, and there he saw the version of Alvah that stood by his side through thick and thin, his Alvah. Looking at him were those sharp green eyes that held a warmth like an early morning day, that kind and beautiful smile that lit up a room, and hair that was as soft as a freshly washed blanket. 

“You…” she tilts her head to the side and watches Stan approach the mirror, finger raised to point at her face “You don’t get to ask those questions, Alvah. From the beginning, you knew who I was, but I didn’t stop to question you. I should have known that someone like you wouldn’t have stuck around for as long as you did out of goodwill. You probably programmed that body of yours to meet my preferred standards, huh?” she tilts her head again, her eyes looking around the room in thought before landing on his again. 

“That is how I construct my vessels, yes. They take up the physical traits that would best suit those who gaze upon it, just like the male version of this vessel. I adorn that appearance because when I was first summoned, I knew how much the female population made Ford uncomfortable. I copied the personality of somebody he once cherished, but I didn’t drop it because it’s quite funny.” she took a step back and opened her arms to gesture to herself “For you, this was the ideal type of woman you have been craving; both in appearance and personality. This body was modeled just for you.” she watched the way his face screwed up but this time he looked like he was in pain, he swallowed thickly while gritting his teeth. 

“Then, did anything… did anything matter to you?” he wasn’t looking at her, so he didn’t notice the way her eyes twitched a little “Did any of what we had… matter to you, at all?” he looked up at her and saw the way she just continued to stare at him, his shoulders slumped, and he turned away to leave. 

“… from the day we first met to today, I have never lied to you.” this caused him to look back at her but noticed that she was no longer in the mirror “Take that as you will, Stanley.” 

season 2, bonus episode. harbinger of chaos 

“So, dudes, Alvah gave you that memory tube that contained the memory old man McGucket erased from way back then?” Soos, who was unconscious the entire time Alvah revealed she wasn’t who she seemed, questioned as he and Wendy followed the twins to where they could watch the memory tube. They hadn’t seen Alvah in a couple of days, Grunkle Ford told them that he, she, they? Whatever, she was so busy in her dimension that she wasn’t going to be around much, and the times she was she was down in the basement helping Ford out with his stuff. It was quite odd in the beginning, mostly because Alvah usually stuck by Stan’s side, but from what they were told, when he first met her, she always stuck by his side and watched him through mirrors or shadows. Anyways, they snuck back into the former base of the Society of the Blind Eye to steal the contraption that allowed them to watch the stolen memories of Gravity Falls and hauled it back to the Mystery Shack “What do you think we’re gonna see?” he asked curiously as they hooked it up in the attic. 

“Do you think we’re gonna see the world's secrets?” Mabel suggests rather excitingly. 

“We don’t know what exactly McGucket put into the memory gun, but I highly doubt it went that far. It would probably be something recent during that time.” Dipper answers, Wendy hums softly. 

“Whatever it is, I’m glad I brought snacks. We can munch on these while we watch.” Dipper laughed softly at Wendy, lightening the mood. Now that they know that Alvah is actually a being of pure evil, he was a little nervous to peek into that mind of hers to see what was going on thirty years ago where it all began. Soos and Mabel rearranged the room a little so they would be more comfortable to watch, so after finally setting it up he inserted the memory tube and took a seat beside Mabel. The screen spurred to life and the dark room was filled with static until it turned black, it stayed like that for a couple minutes and it confused them, was something wrong with it? 

“Hey, dude, did you set it up right?” Dipper scratched his head as he stood up, approaching the screen to see if he had done something wrong. 

“I thought I did, maybe I missed—” he let out a startled shout as he fell backward when a loud crash came from the TV, looking back up at it, they were all startled to see the shadowed figure of Stanford in a mirror, and he looked enraged as his fists banged against the mirror glass. 

“FORD!” he shouted as he continued to bang on the glass, he pushed his face against the glass to get a look at Stanford and he found the young man hunched over his desk. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, which was true, now that he had angered Bill Cipher, that triangular bastard had been tormenting the poor human to the point he couldn’t even sleep anymore in fear that his body would be taken advantage of “You’re going to allow yourself to wallow away in this shack? You’re not going to do anything to retaliate against him, and why? Because you’re afraid? You allowed him to take advantage of you despite all my warnings, and now that you lost poor little Fiddlesticks you’ve come to realize that you’ve got no one left. Tell me, what exactly are you going to do now? Have you finally given up, Stanford?” 

“As… as long as I don’t give in, he won’t win.” he glares back at the mirror where Alvah lets out a malicious cackle, his fists continuing to bang against the glass. 

“You think that’s enough to keep him at bay? Do you think that’s enough to keep him from getting what he wants? Unless you dismantle that portal of yours or destroy those journals, he’s going to continue torturing you until he succeeds. You sealed your fate the moment you took his hand, Stanford.” he scoffs, red eyes void of emotion but you can tell that he is giving him an unimpressed expression “You were such a gullible and naïve little thing that just a tiny bit of praise had you dancing in the palm of his hand; had you constructing the very thing that could destroy your universe.” he let out a laugh when Stanford stood to his feet and approached the mirror, slamming his hands against the frame and glaring at his shadow. 

“Mock me all you want, Alvah, but I made the discovery of a lifetime. I was able to create something that could have changed the world; that should have changed the world.” 

“Yeah, in a bad way. And sure, you were able to create it from scratch, but that idea wasn’t yours. You weren’t able to create something without his blueprints, this portal was his idea in the first place, and you were foolish enough to make it for him. To him, you were the perfect little puppet that didn’t even realize his strings were being pulled.” he laughed when Stanford punched the mirror, shattering it to pieces as the shards scattered across the floor beneath his feet, but he still saw his shattered reflection through the shards “If you had just listened to me from the very beginning, none of this would have happened. But why listen to me? As a being made up of an amalgamation of evil, of course, you shouldn’t trust me. Your muse would never lie to you~” he watched Stanford continue to glare down at his reflection before walking off, Alvah chuckled and followed him through the shadows that lingered through the barely lit house “He is never going to quit. He is never going to leave you alone. You will never be safe. You will never get to live a normal life again. You will never be sane. He sees everything no matter where you are. He is always watching.” Stanford stops in front of another mirror and faces Alvah once more, glaring at the shadowed version of himself instead of his own reflection. 

“Then what do you suppose I do? The only other option would be to…” his eyes glance over at a closet that kept his weapons, he hears another chuckle and raises his head to see Alvah leaning against the mirror. 

“You really think a bullet would end this madness? Hardly. You can’t get away from him, not even through death. Unless you can figure out a way to sever the connection between your mind and his control, you’ll never be able to get away.” he thoroughly enjoyed the way Stanford’s face crumbled up in pain “Well, what if I can help weaken it?” this caused him to perk up. 

“What… what do you mean?” he jerked backward when a bright light burst out of the mirror, his face hardened when he saw the same scroll of paper Alvah first introduced to him a few months back when things weren’t so bad “You know I’m not going to agree to that after what happened.” Alvah’s hands rolled along the side of the scroll as he peeked his head out from the side, lowering it a little as his fingers tapped against it. 

“You should know, Fordsy, that my contracts are different from his deals. He always manages to find loopholes through his deals and is generally the one at an advantage, while my contracts are stricter on myself and those who sign them.” he then gestures to the blank canvas “Whatever your demands are, I will match them to either an equal value or lesser. Through my contracts, I don’t need that portal to cross over to this dimension.” 

“If that’s the case, why would I—” Alvah raised his finger to stop him. 

“That’s where the contract comes into play. While I can access this dimension, my powers are much more limited than if it were the real me.” he holds the contract out to him once more “State whatever you want, Stanford. Whether it be keeping you safe from the dangers that linger outside this shack, or something minor like keeping an eye on your family while you stay here, I’ll be forced to do whatever it is. I don’t seek destruction, that’s not my thing.” Stanford stared at him in confusion. 

“But you’re also a being that influences the minds to do atrocious things. Why would you do something so unlike you for me?” he flinched when he was met with a vicious grin. 

“Because taking his toys is so much more enjoyable. When you two broke off, whatever your relationship was, he caused quite a ruckus in the Nightmare Realm that I found unbearable. I’m gonna enjoy the face he’s going to make when he realizes I took the one thing he thought was going to be his until the end of time.” Stanford clenched his hand into a fist as he stared at the blank contract waiting to be filled with his demands, what other options did he have? With the help of this demonic being, he can get Bill out of his mind so he can focus on more important matters, and even if he manages to get into his mind, Alvah is more than powerful enough to get him out “So, what do you say? Wanna sign a contract with me?” 

“… I can state whatever I want, and you’ll have to abide by it, no matter what?” the grin on his face grew wider. 

“Whatever you want, and I’ll do it for you.” Ford’s hand slowly lifted from his side and pressed against the mirror, in an instance, the demands he wanted were being written across the once blank page. A few other spots were filled in and he knew they were for Alvah, while they were allowed to travel between the Nightmare Realm and his dimension, they were to remain in Gravity Falls if he wasn’t there to keep it from being destroyed by the anomalies within this hick town, while in turn they were allowed access to their powers in order for that to happen. The contract turned towards Alvah, and their grin didn’t disappear, instead, he watched as they tore into their thumb to drip what he believed was blood and signed the end of it. Stanford took a step back when the contract came out of the mirror and a quill appeared beside it, Alvah pressed against the mirror and looked at him with anticipation “All you’ve got to do is sign it, and I’ll be at your discretion.” he swallowed thickly as he stared down at the part where he was supposed to sign it. Looking back at the quill he saw it swing side to side for him to take it, so with a deep breath he raised his thumb to his lips and tore into the flesh. He winced in pain but shook it off, hovering his thumb over the page and allowing a few drops of his blood to drip onto the page before taking the quill and signing his name. 

“Now… now what?” he was met with silence when the contract disappeared, leaving him and the shadow of his reflection within the darkness of the room. He stood nervously as those beading red eyes stared right back at him, slowly, he watched his reflection raise his hands and start banging against the mirror. He took a step back when each strike against the glass started getting more and more violent to the point the glass began to crack, when the glass did shatter a black liquid spilled out and poured onto the floor. He watched as the liquid bubbled and sizzled until a hand burst out and slammed against the floorboards, slowly, through the gurgling and groaning noises that emitted from this blob of goo, a figure pushed themself out of the puddle of tar. 

“What a pain…” he flinched at the sound of the voice as the figure stood to its full height, one that was looming over him, and threw their head back, which caused some of the black tar to splatter across the room and some even got on Ford. Their hands ran up their face then threaded through their hair and after wiping away the black tar from their face, he was met with a pale face a bright ruby red eyes with thin slitted irises. The figure before him appeared as a tall, long-limbed, broad-shouldered adult man of indeterminate but reasonably young age, with jet-black hair with his bangs falling slightly over his eyes and strands on the sides of his bangs framing his face though the length seemed to vary because his hair seemed to be part of his shadow while bearing this form. The outfit he wore comprised mainly in a classic Victorian fashion. It includes a white long-sleeved shirt with an intricately knotted red cravat under a black double-breasted suit with red buttons, matching black trousers, and a pair of dark brown leather riding boots, covered by a red, split, and full-length, long coat with ruffles exclusive to the shoulders “I must say, you have quite a sense of fashion, Fordsy~” the man cooed softly, twirling a strand of his black hair around his finger. 

“W-What?” he spread his arms open then gestured to his being. 

“This vessel was created to adorn the appearance my contractor so desires. As I said, I have no face, no sex, no appearance of my own. Whenever someone signs one of my contracts, I take up the appearance that my contractor feels most comfortable.” he then leaned down until his face was inches away from Stanford’s “This appearance was modeled just for you, Fordsy~” he was promptly shoved away, causing him to break out into a fit of laughter. 

“And the personality?” he shrugged. 

“Taken from someone you once cherished.” this caused him to look away, he dusted himself off and bowed his head once more “I am Alvah, the Harbinger of Chaos, and I am at your every beck and call until our contract is fulfilled. How may I be of assistance today?” Stanford stares down at the demonic being he summoned, his eyes full of so many thoughts, before taking the hand that was offered to him. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

… 

… 

“So…” the children, Wendy and Soos, stared at the screen with mouths agape after the screen turned back to static, indicating that the memory had finished “McGucket erased the memory of when Alvah and Ford made their contract.” 

“That he did.” they all let out screams of surprise at the sudden voice, looking up, they were met with the female version of Alvah, who was chuckling softly that she managed to scare them “I believe he was going to shoot Fordsy with it, but since I came to his house that fateful day, he used it on me instead.” they all stare up at her in shock before calming themselves down, she then casually leans against the TV as Dipper approaches her. 

“But… if he erased that memory, wouldn’t that mean you should have forgotten what you were meant to do?” she shook her head. 

“Oh, no. You can’t erase a mind so vast. To me, it felt like the moment you walk into a room and forget what you were supposed to do but remember it an instance later when you’ve left that room. If he wanted to completely erase my deal with Ford, he would have had to shoot me with that gun a good hundred times.” she takes the memory tube and tosses it up and down a couple times “That day was one of Ford’s lowest moments, where he didn’t know what to do and had nobody to turn to. Yet, I had not abandoned him. I believe that since he was in such a dire situation, that was the reason he agreed to sign a contract with me. If he were any saner, I don’t believe he would have.” 

“So… how did you and Stanford meet anyways?” Wendy asked “From what we saw, you were confined to mirrors and shadows. What was your relationship with him?” this caused her to laugh. 

“For the second part, I was more like a caretaker or maybe a babysitter?” she shrugged her shoulders while giggling “That man could not look after himself, and after Fidds left him, it was up to me to keep him from doing something that would end up with him not waking up the next morning. It was almost sad.” 

“And the first part?” she raised a brow, Dipper twiddled his thumbs nervously “H-How did you two meet?” she looked up in thought, exhaling deeply through her nose. 

“Well, that’s a long story.” she glanced back over at them, chuckling a little when she saw them looking up at her with anticipation “Well, it all started about… thirty years ago, I believe.” 

Flashback… 

“What do we have here?” the Harbinger of Chaos approached Bill within the Nightmare Realm after his return from a dimension, to which he was peering into said dimension through their windows “You seem to be in a jolly mood, Cipher? May I inquire why?” they hummed softly when Bill let out a boisterous laugh, looking away from what he was looking at to look up at them. 

“Hahaha, I just found the most gullible human ever!” he gestured for them to peer into the window, and there their eyes laid upon a young-looking human man “Get this, I recognized his brilliant but cocky and insecure nature, and I used his near-friendlessness as ideal conditions for manipulation, so I introduced myself to him as a muse who chose one brilliant mind every century to inspire.” they let out a hum as they watched the human man write stuff down in a worn-out journal. 

“So, he’s the next pet to build your portal?” he nods his head. 

“Uh-huh. I showed him the blueprints for the portal, and he said he’d get started on it immediately. Psh, this has got to be one of the easiest suckers I’ve ever got to construct the portal in like, what, centuries?” 

“Possibly longer, but I must agree, this guy seems to be very naïve.” 

“I know, right? At least the other humans I tried to get to build my portal were more skeptical, but this guy is just dancing in the palm of my hand. It won’t be long before I can finally get out of this janky hellhole.” he heard a chuckle and let out an oh, looking back up at them “A very nice hellhole, since you can’t exactly leave.” they just gave a shrug in response. 

“Oh, it’s bearable. And besides, I can technically leave whenever I want, I just have to abandon this body in the process.” he lets out a hum “I’m somewhat curious about him, you wouldn’t mind if pop in and bother him from time to time, do you? He looks fun to make fun of.” Bill laughs. 

“Sure, go ahead. As long as you don’t distract him from completely the portal, I don’t care what you do.” 

And that’s where they found themselves watching Stanford Pines, hidden within the shadows that surrounded the man. They had to admit, he definitely had a brilliant mind from the mass amounts of research he managed to accumulate throughout the six years he resided in the hick town that was Gravity Falls, but he was just so damn stupid. Apparently, he found murals about Bill Cipher hidden within a cave and thought “oh yes, this doesn’t scream demonic entity at all” and managed to summon him, or rather, just caught his attention. As they continued to watch him, before his little assistant arrived, he was rather neglectful of his own well-being and would go days of staying hunched over his desk figuring out equations. 

“You’re quite dumb for a man who proclaims to be a genius.” they laughed to themself when they saw Stanford, who was currently brushing his teeth, spit out what was in his mouth and whip his head around in search of the voice “I’m right here, dumb, dumb. Look up.” he slowly raised his head to look at the mirror, squinting his eyes the longer he stared at his reflection before jerking backward when a grin spread across his lips. His reflection slowly started to laugh until a sort of darkness wrapped around his body and he was staring at a shadowed version of himself, a bead of sweat bled down his face when beading red eyes appeared all over his body and stared at him. 

“W-What…?” his reflection chuckled. 

“For a human who uses such big words to make himself much smarter than he actually is, I feel quite proud that I’ve rendered you speechless.” it felt unsettling to hear his voice even though he did not speak, his relfection’s finger draws circles in the glass “I’ve been watching you for some time, Stanford Pines.” he quickly grabbed his glasses that were sitting on the sink and put them on, staring at the figure in shock and awe. 

“You know my name?” they roll their multiple eyes. 

“Yes, I just said I’ve been watching you. I was bound to pick up your name.” they hum softly when his face flushed up in embarrassment “Anyways, I can’t help but say that I’m impressed that you managed to gain Bill’s favor.” the mention of Bill caused him to perk up, a little smile gracing his lips. 

“Really?” they huffed. 

“Sure. He’s gathered many brilliant minds over the years throughout the multiverse, but I’ve never seen him favor one specific human before. He’s given a lot of his time to you, and as I said, I’m impressed. Humans, in particular, are his least favorite. Still, he seems to put his distaste towards them to the side for you.” their gaze hardened a little when he saw the way his face flushed up, but this time, for a different “… anyways, I was just spying on you to see what all the hype was about. I don’t really see much.” they snickered when they saw how his face fell and looked back at them, his face scrunching up in confusion. 

“What do you mean by that?” they hummed softly, crossing their arms and turning away. 

“I thought you were smart, perhaps you can figure out why I don’t find you as interesting as your little muse does~” they laughed to themself when his face flared up, so they pointed at him as they continued to laugh “Haha, your face looks so funny when you do that! Do it again.” Stanford scoffed and turned around to leave, thinking that whoever this being was could only communicate through mirrors. 

“Hmph, I don’t know what you are, but I’m smarter than you think I am.” 

“Oh, really?” he gasped and saw the way the red eyes appeared on his shadow on the wall “I bet you were thinking I was confined to mirrors and your reflection, but no. I can appear within your shadow as well. Nowhere is safe for you!” throughout the day Stanford had to put up with them making fun of him and teasing him, even when he tried to cancel out the noise with music, they found a way to interfere with the soundwaves so he could hear their voice. They were now back in the Nightmare Realm laughing their head off with Bill Cipher, who was now dealing with the aftermath of what they did to Stanford “He is so fun to mess with!” Bill snorted. 

“I’ve got to thank you, though he’s just complaining, he seems to be leaning on me more. Telling me how this “shadow has been bullying him”, just a little bit of reassurance has him trusting me more and more. Keep it up, would you.” 

“Hah! Like I’d give up making fun of this human! I haven’t been this entertained in years.” 

Over a couple of months when the progress of the portal had just begun, both Bill and them would play their little game with Stanford Pines. Where they would poke fun at him and point out his little mistakes while Bill would reassure him and help him figure out the problem, this led to Stanford trusting Bill more and more and cementing them as the bad guy. Though their power didn’t revolve around the mindscape like Bill’s did, they were still very much able to enter it, and they made the poor mistake of entering Stanford’s mind and witnessing how deep his obsession with Bill ran. Hmm, though they also made fun of that Fiddlestick guy, they were now beginning to prefer him with how… weird, Stanford was. 

“So… Bill tells me you’re known as the, Harbinger of Chaos?” he asked questionably. 

“Ooo, finally curious about me?” they asked within Stanford’s shadow, he had the light cast behind him so they could be “sitting” across from him “I thought you’d never ask any questions about me. Bill tells me you’re not quite fond of me.” he huffed. 

“Of course, because unlike him, you make fun of me.” he saw the way they rolled his eyes, if only this poor sucker knew “But I can’t stop my curiosity. I asked Bill about you, but he told me if I wanted to know more about you it’d be best if I were to ask the source itself.” they leaned back in the seat they were in and shrugged their shoulders. 

“Well, shoot, dumb, dumb. Ask away.” they laughed again when he pouted, calling him dumb dumb always got that reaction out of him so they resorted to calling him that from time to time. 

“Mm, so what Bill has told me, you’re not exactly a… person, per say?” 

“Well, it is hard to put it into words, but let’s just simplify it and say I wasn’t exactly born like you, your friend, or Bill Cipher. I was not created either. I have been around since the beginning of all that was created. I am simply the manifestation of evil throughout countless dimensions; an amalgamation of all that is evil. I AM evil itself, that managed to conjure a consciousness and become the very being that I am today.” they raised their hand and Stanford managed to see their hand glow red “I am every bad choice you make, every selfish action, every terrible mistake. I am the influence that drives you to do bad things.” 

“So, you tell people to do bad things?” they shook their head. 

“No. I don’t tell people to do anything, it’s their fault that they ended up doing something bad, not mine.” he nods his head as he writes down what they said in his journal. 

“Does that mean you’re the very definition of evil?” 

“That it does, but that doesn’t particularly mean that I am evil.” he watches as the glow floats around their hand “My being doesn’t exactly have the concept of “feelings”, you know? I don’t feel like being the bad guy or being the good guy either. I don’t feel joy, anger, sadness, fear; I can replicate those feelings, but I myself can’t exactly feel anything.” 

“Do you feel pain?” 

“Hmm, well, there hasn’t been anything in existence that’s able to harm me. Bill is quite literally the only being that is of equal power to me, but there is a being more powerful than us. You could say that is when I do feel the fear.” Stanford perks up at that, raising his pen a little. 

“Oh! Bill has mentioned such a being before.” they nod. 

“So, he has. He doesn’t like to mention it, but they make him nervous as well. Don’t tell him I told you that, he’ll get fussy. Anyway, there hasn’t been a time where somebody has managed to hurt me, much less leave a mark. I’m more of a neutral being, I don’t care for world domination, and I don’t care enough to save worlds. It’s none of my business; not my circus, not my monkeys.” 

“I see. Bill tells me that his and your powers are somewhat similar.” it takes them a second to understand what he meant before perking up, snapping their fingers in remembrance. 

“Ah, yes! Bill has his “deals” to inhabit his host's minds and “cross over” to your world. Unlike him though, I can appear here whenever I want. I don’t need a gateway like he does. Anyways, while he has his deals, I have my contracts. The terms of the contract are set by both me and my contractor, only when we agree and sign the contract may I physically enter their world. They’re stricter as well, we must abide by the terms and conditions, or else the contract with be null and void. We must follow it to a T, or else the contract with destroy itself, and my physical body will cease to exist and I return back to the Nightmare Realm.” 

“And what about your real body?” 

“It becomes stationed. While I am still able to infect other universes with my chaotic influences, it’s not nearly as effective if I were to do it myself. If I want to control the physical body I created in this dimension, I would have to give up the consciousness in my main body to control that other one. My powers are also limited, so while I can easily erase a planet from existence, my powers would simply be reduced to where I can only decimate a city.” 

“That’s… still very threatening.” they shrug their shoulders. “You mentioned your real body? Each time I’ve seen you, you’ve only taken up my appearance. Are you faceless?” they hum. 

“I am. I am neither man nor woman, I am not a being that can be identified by something like sex or pronouns. I have no face and no physical appearance to call my own. However, if a being lesser than I were to witness my true form, their minds would slowly descend into madness from all the chaos stored into one being.” 

“Can you describe what you look like? 

“Hah, are you going to attempt to sketch me?” he nods. 

“Your chapter won’t be complete without it.” they stared at him for a couple seconds then laughed when he raised his head, waiting for them to say something, they just gently shook their head. 

“Alright, okay. I have a body made up of a chaotic tangle of writhing, red tendrils, and jagged lines adorned with numerous glowing red eyes that peer out from the dark depths of my flesh. That’s all you’re going to get.” this caused Stanford to look up at them, mildly frustrated at the brief description, but he took up the challenge and started sketching with what he was given. They both sat in silence and all that was heard was the repeated strokes of Stanford’s pen sketching across the page, they were quite impressed that he was drawing with a pen instead of a pencil. After what they believed was an hour of Stanford consistently stopping to think and continue to draw, he let out a sigh and dropped his pen to pick up his journal. 

“How does this look?” they lean forward and Stanford watches as their collective eyes shoot open and look at the page, he was startled when his journal was plucked out of his hands by an invisible force but when he looked down, he saw that the journal’s shadow was grabbed by them. Looking back up at them, he saw how they held the journal close so their eyes could take in his sketch “Is it… good?” a soft chuckle left them. 

“Hah… alright, I’m starting to see it.” they lowered the book, and he saw something genuine in their eyes “With the limited information, this is surprisingly the most accurate depiction of me. Well done, Fordsy, you’ve won my praise.” they hummed when he became flustered, of course, he would, he’s never been praised by them before, so it made him feel special. 

“Oh, well, it’s nothing much. I did struggle a bit.” 

“Don’t humble yourself, Fordsy.” they turned the book around so he could see his sketch “Not once, in the trillions of years I’ve been alive, has anyone made a sketch as accurate as you have. Nobody can look at the real me without their minds declining into madness, and lesser beings aren’t skilled enough to draw a sketch this good with the lack of details. This is most likely the first and last sketch of me. Be proud, Stanford.” they huffed softly at the soft hue of pink appearing on his cheeks as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. 

“Thanks.” he gasped softly when his journal was tossed back into his hands. 

“Don’t expect to hear more praise from me for a while, that’s Bill’s job.” Stanford chuckled, feeling more at ease with the being that was harbored within his shadow. 

“Sure…” their eyes stared curiously at him when his face scrunched up in thought “I hate to be rude, but is there anything else I can address you by? The Harbinger of Chaos is a bit of a mouthful, and I don’t exactly want to call you chaos or evil, so…” this got a laugh out of them. 

“I don’t have a name. Not even Bill calls me anything. I just… exist.” Ford blinked at them, his face softening a little. 

“Can I… give you a name?” 

“What am I? A pet?” they laughed when he raised his hands and shook them. 

“No, no! It just… it just makes it easier to address you? Yeah, that’s it!” they sat there staring at him as he tried to defend himself, but they just scoffed, leaning into their seat as they crossed their arms. 

“Alright, Einstein, give me a name.” this ceased his needless chattering, and they sat in silence once more as he tried thinking of a good name that would best suit them, he mumbled a couple under his breath but he noticed the way their eyes would crease in displeasure at a couple so he kept thinking “If I don’t like it, I’ll skin you alive.” this caused him to start thinking harder. 

“Um, how about—no, no, that doesn’t sound good. Uh, erm… oh!” he snaps his fingers, face as bright as a child on Christmas day “Alvah! How does that sound?” he started to shrink in on himself when they said nothing but stare at him “W-Well, Alvah is a gender-neutral name with Hebrew roots. Translating to “his highness” or “rising,”.” 

“… you do know the biblical meaning to the name “Alvah”, also means evil, right?” this caused him to pause, looking up in thought before crumbling due to the fact he forgot that small detail, he jumped a little when they started to laugh “I like it.” 

“W-Wha— really?” they nod their head. 

“Yes, Alvah. It has a nice ring to it; I like the name, and I like the fact that it correlates to my being. You’ve won my praise again, well done.” Alvah rolled their eyes when Stanford became flustered once more “Don’t let it go to your head, alright.” 

“Heh, I’ll try.” they both share a laugh. 

Alvah didn’t want to admit it, but Stanford was beginning to grow on them, not enough to stop him from completing the portal, but enough that they started to… care, bleh. They never once cared for him when he would wound up falling asleep at his desk how his sleep schedule became worse and worse, or how he would never eat or restock on food, or even have a shower once in a while. Never once they did care about how he neglected his well-being but ever since the day he gave them that name, their perspective on him changed. 

It was one of those days were Stanford decided to continue working on the portal and he fell asleep at his desk, his shadow loomed over him and Alvah’s form slowly took over and looked over his sleeping form. Humans don’t particularly feel great in the morning after sleeping in such an uncomfortable position, and because they can’t exactly touch his physical being, Alvah used different shadows to pick Stanford up using his shadow and carry him to his bed where he could get some hours of comfortable rest. Stanford would always wake up confused when he found himself in his bed, sometimes asking Fiddleford if it was him that moved him to his bed, but his assistant would deny any involvement in such a thing. He thought it was his muse that possessed his body to move him to his bed, so after asking him, he was met with laughter. 

“Oh, that? Alvah, or whatever you named them, is the one that moves you.” this stunned him, Alvah? “I’m surprised too. Sometimes I would catch them in the act, but they just say they’re doing it, so you won’t cause any hiccups when building the portal. Gotta say they’re always one to think ahead. So, stop falling asleep at your desk, alright?” Bill’s eye narrowed on Stanford when he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“R-Right, I’ll try and stop that.” back in the Nightmare Realm, Bill found Alvah peering into a universe with a human and talking dog. 

“I didn’t think you’d begin to care about our little pet human, Alvah.” this caused their hands to jerk back as they turned to look at Bill. 

“Whatever do you mean?” he hummed. 

“You don’t like humans. You find them one of the most repulsive living flesh bags there is, so I don’t understand why you’re beginning to care about this one.” this caused them to huff, snapping their fingers and the window of the universe they were just looking at disappeared and the one of dimension 46’\ appeared so they could watch Stanford and Fiddleford continue their work on the portal. 

“I thought I was doing a good thing for you, Bill. His progress has slowed a little because of him neglecting his body, would you rather his health to decline while he’s in the process of completing his project?” Bill narrowed his eye on them for that, he had noticed the way Stanford’s work had become a little sloppy because of his wanting to please his muse “I’ll stop if that’s what you want.” 

“Hmm, I guess you can continue your babysitting. I wouldn’t want him to mess up when he’s so close.” they laughed as they gently tipped his hat, causing him to reach for it when it fell off “Hey!” 

“If I didn’t know, you sound jealous.” their eyes creased when they saw his yellow body hue a slight red, whether it be of anger or embarrassment, they weren’t going to question him on it. 

“Jealous? Of what? You taking care of him? I can take him to bed as well!” 

“Mm, without hurting him?” Alvah laughed when he glared at him, the last time he possessed his body, he accidentally fell down a flight of stairs, but they were lucky he was only on the middle part of the staircase instead of the very top “Alright, alright. Now go, he looks like he misses you~” they cooed while pointing at Stanford, who was writing a new paragraph in his journal about his muse. 

“Well, duty calls.” they waved him goodbye and went back to doing their job as Bill returned to Stanford, however, even they began to question why they were looking out for the human. They jotted it down to just looking out for the human for Bill, he needed him alive and healthy for his portal to be complete so he could leave this awful place. If he leaves and takes over dimension 46’\, it’ll leave them in the Nightmare Realm all by themself, which they honestly would prefer. They would have their peace and quiet once more and not have to hear Bill’s consistent chatter about world domination, perhaps he’d let Stanford live, he did have a soft spot for that human. Whatever, it’s none of their concern. 

Until it was. 

“Hey, Alvah.” they let out a hum as Stanford sat across from them as they played a game of chess, letting him know that they were listening, they stared at the pieces on the board as they thought of where they should move their rook “You know a lot about, Bill, right?” he noticed the way their hand pause for a second before slowly moving their rook across the board. 

“I do. Why? Are you curious about something, Fordsy?” their eyes look at him curiously. 

“I believe he is… hiding something from me.” they hum again, watching Stanford move his pawn forward “I can trust you, right?” they shrug. 

“Whether you trust me or not, I don’t care.” 

“Let me rephrase it then; have you lied to me at all?” they rolled their fingers on the armrest of the chair before letting it rest there but their finger started drawing circles in the air. 

“I do not lie. I may keep secrets, but I am not prone to lying. I don’t see a point in lying to someone.” 

“Even if it were to hurt their feelings?” 

“I don’t care about people’s feelings. I’ll tell you a bit of the truth, but I won’t tell you the full truth. It isn’t considered lying if I don’t tell you the full story.” he narrowed his eyes at Alvah’s logic, to which they shrugged again as they moved their bishop to take the knight that was previously being protected by the pawn “Now, why do you believe Bill is hiding something from you? Don’t you trust him?” they raised a brow when they saw him hesitate, now this is new. 

“It’s just, well,” he let out a sigh as he moved his other knight to take their bishop “Fiddleford and I are so close to finishing the portal and he’s been acting… different.” they tilt their head to the side. 

“Different? How so?” he laces his fingers together, pursing his lips as he tries to think of the words. 

“Well, he started to question where the origin of the portal had come from. When I told him it was from a close source of mine, he didn’t fully believe me but didn’t stop to question it.” he looked up at Alvah and saw that they were still listening, going so far as to roll their wrist to get him to continue “When I brought it up with Bill, he told me that Fiddleford was merely jealous that I managed to create such a complex machine.” 

“And? Do you believe Bill?” his eyes hardened a little. 

“I want to believe him, but Fiddleford would never think like that. He’s been my intellectual equal since our days in Backupsmore. I don’t believe he’d ever be jealous of me, but I don’t understand why Bill would say such a thing.” 

“How can you be so sure? Things could change over time.” they watch as he moves his rook but in retaliation they move their other bishop across the board, forcing him to use another one of his pieces to shield his king from being claimed “You should always be careful who you place your trust in, Stanford. One might take advantage of your friendliness, and you would never know which one is doing it. They’ll say nice things to weaken your resolve, and the moment you open your arms out to them, they’re stabbing you in the back to get what they want. But what do they have to gain out of it.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, on one hand, Fiddleford dropped everything just to come and help you with this project. He left his wife and child and didn’t even stop to question what he was getting himself involved in, quite the dedication he has for his best friend. On the other hand, we have Bill Cipher. An interdimensional, dream demon who acknowledged your brilliance and chose you out of billions of other humans to be the one to complete his lifelong project. Taking time out of his routine to come visit you, whether it be in reality or within the sanctum of your mind. Both these individuals seem to hold a place in your heart, they are something special to you, and you are struggling to decide which one you should place your trust in.” they moved their rook forward and took out another one of his pieces, which forced him to move his king “So, who do you trust more? The one who was there when you were nothing, or the one who was there when you became something?” they moved their queen across the board and smirked to themself “Checkmate.” his eyes widened as he looked at the board and saw that their pieces cornered his king, he let out a sigh as he collapsed into the back of his seat. 

“I don’t know what to do.” 

“Well, sort your feelings out. Your mind is clouding your judgement, and one day, someone is going to get hurt because of your foolishness. Decide who to trust. But let me tell you one thing.” he swallowed thickly when their tone got dark “Be careful around Bill. He’s not all that he makes himself out to be. He is one too hold a grudge to those who have double crossed him, and though you might be his favorite, don’t expect him to go easy on you.” they started laughing before raising their hands to form a triangle over their left eye “Beware of the beast with just one eye.” Stanford shielded his face when darkness enveloped the room as their laughter rung out before it all disappeared, he swallowed thickly as he looked around in a daze. 

“Beware of the beast with just one eye?” Alvah watches Stanford in the shadows as he mulled over their words, they themself grinned rather mischievously. 

“The seed of doubt has been planted.” they snickered quietly before returning to the Nightmare Realm and waited for the chaos to ensue. 

And so, we’re getting closer to wrapping up this flashback, but also not quite there yet. Alvah already knew that Stanford and Fiddleford have almost completed the construction of the portal, but they hadn’t realized just how close, because whilst they were minding their own business in the Nightmare Realm, relaxing after fulfilling their daily chaotic routine, they were startled when a hole opened up and out of nowhere. Curiously, they did approach it and concluded that they had finally managed to successfully finish the portal, but what caught them by surprise was when a head poked through. Upon closer inspection, they recognized the human as Fiddleford, they tilted their head to the side as they stared at him while he looked up at them and their face slowly morphed into one of pure terror. 

"You... aren't supposed to be here." they spoke, voice disoriented through the chaos that was their body. They sighed softly when he screamed in fear so they did the only sane thing they could think of, they raised their hand and pushed him right back where he came from, and the hole disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. 

"What was that?" looking over they see Bill approach them, his singular eye tinged with curiosity. 

"I believe your toy has finally finished his project." this made the triangular figure glow with glee, clapping his hands joyfully as he floated circles around their head "Congratulations, Bill. You're finally getting your doomsday." he let out a laugh as he hovered in front of their face. 

"I know, right? I'm gonna go round up the others!" they wave him goodbye and can only imagine the look of devastation on Stanford’s face the moment he realizes that everything he had built was all for nothing, that Bill was taking advantage of him the whole time while they themself knew about it all and said nothing about it. It was probably a couple hours later where Alvah was laying in a body of clouds relaxing, they didn’t really feel fatigue or exhaustion like living beings, but it was very relaxing to just longue around and do nothing. Well, that was until they heard something in the distance. One by one their eyes would slowly open and dart around to try and locate the source of the sound but couldn’t find anything, so with a low groan, they pulled themself up to try and find it but jumped when something flew into their face. 

“What the—" suddenly their face started getting wet and when they moved their eyes to look at what it was, they saw that it was Bill “Bill? What happened? What are you—” they let out a grunt as they managed to rip him off their face like a sticker, they held him in front of them and there they saw that he was… crying? 

“Y-You’ll never believe it…” their eyes look at him in confusion. 

“What? What happened? Why are you crying?” he sniffled and moved so that he was sitting within the palm of their hand. 

“Sixer figured out what I was planning after that little mishap with specs, he swore “eternal vengeance” and shut down the portal.” this revelation caused a few of their eyes to widen a little, they didn’t expect that outcome “But it’s not like I was going to let him get hurt, when we were going to ravage his dimension, I was going to let him join our band of freaks. With that sixth finger of his, he would have fit right in!” they nodded their head and laid back down on the clouds. 

“So, what are you going to do now, Bill? That portal is practically finished, all you’ve got to do is switch it back on and you’ll have your apocalypse.” Bill knew he wasn’t able to do anything in the physical realm unless he possessed Stanford’s body, so he looked up at them with a hopeful look in his ey— “I’m not doing it for you.” he let out a huff at their words. 

“Why not?! You’re able to manipulate their dimension however you please! You’ve been watching him so you know how to turn the thing on, so you could just do it for me!” they just shrug. 

“Don’t wanna.” Alvah laughs when he got angry “It’s none of my business whether he abandons you or not. I never said I was on your side, nor was I on his side. I’ll do whatever is most entertaining to me.” they hear his growl under his breath before he floats off their hand. 

“Fine! Don’t help me. But I’m not letting Sixer get away with this.” they shrug and relax into the clouds. 

“Do what you want.” they laugh quietly to themself and watch Bill float away, probably heading to O’Sadley’s, a multidimensional pub in the Rock Bottom Asteroid Belt of the Vicious Spiral Nebula. They wait until they could no longer feel his presence within the Nightmare Realm before appearing within Stanford’s dimension, they’re in his house but they couldn’t find him, so they search outside and found him standing in front of a bonfire with all three of his journals in his hands “Whatcha doin’?” they laughed when he jumped, panicking when he nearly dropped his research into the fire but quickly caught them and held them close to his chest. 

“A-Alvah…?” he looked down and found them inside his shadow, they waved up at him but noticed how his face hardened “Did you know the purpose of the portal?” they titled their head to the side. 

“Yes.” he let out a groan, throwing his head back in frustration “I warned you from the very beginning, Fordsy? You’re quite dumb for a man who proclaims to be a genius. He was playing you from the beginning and I was giving you subtle hints about it, but you weren’t able to pick up on it. This is exactly why I called you dumb, dumb, dumb.” he never did like it when they called him that, but that’s exactly what he was, a complete and utter fool. He can recall the times where they hinted at the fact that Bill was lying to him, it was mostly during the times when he praised Bill, and they would call him a fool for saying such a thing and mock his intelligence.  

“Are you here to stop me?” 

“Stop you from doing what?” 

“From shutting down the portal! Isn’t that why you’re here?” they laughed again. 

“Hah! No. Bill did want me to switch it back on, but I don’t wanna do that. I could care less about what he wants. I wasn’t on his side to begin with, I was just here for the entertainment.” they blow a raspberry as they shrug “But remember what I told you, Stanford. He is not going to go easy on you, you better find a way to keep him out.” he swallowed thickly at their words. 

“Yes, you are right.” 

“I was right from the start. I told you; I don’t lie.” 

“No, no you do not.” 

Alvah watched from within his shadow as he tried figuring out a way to keep Bill out of his lab but allow him in, since he made that deal with Bill that allowed him into his mind, he was worried that when he fell asleep Bill would possess his body and attempt to reactivate the portal. Alvah clearly doesn’t care about the outcome, they stated they’re not on Bill’s side, but they didn’t say they were on his side either. He didn’t know if he could trust their word on it, Alvah wasn’t confined to his mind and could freely travel through shadows and any reflection, so he couldn’t think of a way to keep them at bay like he could with Bill. 

Alvah thought it was quite impressive that Stanford managed to input a retinal scan on the door to his lab, knowing that when Bill was in the possession of any sort of body, the pupils of their host tend to become thinner while their sclera turned a shade of yellow. So, when he did eventually fall asleep and Bill did come into possession of his body, they watched within the shadows how Bill punched the steel door until his knuckles started to tear and bleed, he then resorted to scratching at the door like a caged animal until he split his nails. Bill, when possessing a body, was restricted to the physical capabilities of his host, so they were a little surprised at the strength Stanford had to be able to leave marks on the door. When Bill eventually gave up and returned to the Nightmare Realm, they appeared on the wall where Stanford lay unconscious and stared at the state of the door. Covered in scratch marks and smeared with his blood, if they hadn’t witnessed what happened, they would never have guessed a human man caused that much damage, rather a blood thirsty beast clawing desperately to get inside.  

Stanford woke up in the morning and his hands were in agonizing pain, he thought he would have found himself in front of his lab door but instead he was in his bed once more. Lifting his hands out from under the covers he was surprised to see they were wrapped securely in bandages and on his desk was a bowl that had a hand towel drenched in a mixture of his blood and water, alongside it was a glass of water and what looked like his aspirin. He would have thought that it was Fiddleford that treated his hands, that he had returned after what he had put him through, but beside the glass of water was a tiny note. 

‘you’ve got a bit of cleaning up to do ~ a’ 

“Alvah…” he whispered softly, he looks back down at his hands and noticed that his nails were a little shorter than the last time he checked. He took a breath as he gently rubbed over the bandages; they were on his side. Back in the Nightmare Realm, Alvah ignored the distant crying and screaming and watched Stanford closely, their finger drawing circles through the window to his dimension. 

“Ah, I’ve got too much work cut out for me.” 

Alvah watched as Bill grew desperate while Stanford’s mind slowly descended into insanity, they didn’t know if his desperation was what kept their involvement with Stanford to a minimum, but he had yet to notice how it was them patching up Stanford with everything that geometrical freak was throwing at him. They themself didn’t understand why they got involved with Stanford, they didn’t understand why they were helping him, they kept telling themself that it was just to spite Bill. They didn’t like Bill all too much, that’s why they were on the human’s side. Well, it was quite funny seeing him throw tantrum after tantrum each time Stanford denied him access to his mind. The zombie incident was a mess, it was a little hilarious watching Stanford and Bill converse through sticky notes like the humans do in their educational prisons, the oddest one by far was Bill taping a snake into his journal and how he retaliated? Playing Bill’s favorite song “the world is small ever after for always” by Inkwell, unfortunately it was now replaying within the Nightmare Realm. 

They appear within Stanford’s room but noticed that he was nowhere to be found, they reappear inside his lab and don’t find him in there either. He couldn’t possibly be outside, the season changed to the colder one so there was no way he was outside unless he wanted to be frozen like a popsicle. Roaming the hallways of his barely lit shack, Alvah was struggling to find him, but when they searched upstairs, they noticed that one of his windows leading to the roof was open. It was the early morning, and the sun was up, but it was barely peaking through the thick clouds that blanketed the earth with layers of snow, but outside on the rooftop was Stanford. He was woken from his slumber when he felt a blast of freezing cold air blow through him, his eyes shot open, and it took him a couple seconds to realize that he was outside. His eyes slowly trailed downwards, and he realized that he was on the roof of his shack, his foot hanging off the edge as if he was about to step off. If his body wasn’t already shaking due to the cold, then his body started to tremble at the thought of Bill… he slowly pulled his foot back and inched away from the edge, hugging his body that was turning blue due to hyperthermia. How long had he been out here? He could barely feel his fingers and the snow was seeping into his clothes and melting, nothing feels worse than wet socks. Maybe it was due to him being lost in his thoughts or the sudden gust of wind, but his eyes widened when he lost his footing and started to fall. He clawed desperately at anything to catch himself but due to the layer of snow on his roof he found nothing to grab, a gasp left him he had practically fallen off the roof but was caught in midair by his wrist.  

“How’s it hanging?” looking up, he didn’t see anyone but when he looked forward, he had realized he had fallen in front of the open window where his shadow cast inside and there he saw Alvah had caught him by his shadow “Now what are you doing outside? It’s cold out, isn’t it?” they laugh as they pull him inside, placing him gently on the ground. Their head tilts to the side when they saw him shivering so they closed the window and drag him to where the fireplace was well lit and the song “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics was softly playing in the background, they disappear but reappear to drape a blanket over him to help. 

“T-Thank you…” they let out a hum, he looks down at his hands and saw they were wrapped in bandages and his body felt oddly sore, had the shock made him unaware of the pain he was experiencing? 

“Bill knows.” his eyes flicker towards Alvah. 

“He knows? H-He knows what?” 

“… he knows that I’ve been the one helping you.” he jumped to his feet but fell back down when a wave of exhaustion washed over his body, what did Bill do to him? “In the beginning I kind of let him do what he wanted with your body, but he almost took it too far and I had to intervene. Questioned what I was doing so I told him how I was just doing it because it was funny seeing him all angry at the loss of his favorite toy.” 

“What did he do?” they snapped their fingers, and he was suddenly in front of his TV and in their hands was a VHS tape. 

“You’re really not going to like this.” they put the VHS in the player and watched as the TV spurred to life, they watched Stanford’s face closely, and he was completely stunned. He almost didn’t recognize the wild-eyed hermit staring back on the TV; it was him. Or rather, Bill in his body, from the previous night.  

“Welcome back to the puppet hour with Bill! Say hi, kids! Today’s puppet is my old pal Sixer. Sixer’s had a rough day. But his night was rougher, wanna see?” as the TV displayed what exactly happened the night prior, they watched how his face contorted with a range of different emotions; disbelief, shock, anxiousness. On the floor, Bill had graciously littered the floor with polaroids of his adventures with little headings on them. He picked them up slowly but paused when Bill started speaking again, but this time, he heard another voice “What do you think you’re doing?” what he was watching was the moment when Bill was hammering nails into his hand, or, he was planning on hammering nails into his hand. He placed the first nail into the center of his hand but before he could swing the hammer down, his wrist was caught by Alvah grabbing him by Stanford’s shadow. 

“What does it look like I’m doing, Cipher? Interfering~” within the restrictions of Stanford’s physical capabilities, he struggled under Alvah’s hold “It was quite funny watching you mess with his body in the beginning, but come on now, doesn’t he need his hands? How are you going to get him to turn the portal on if you mess up his hands?” they’re laughing at the way Bill struggled to free himself from their grip. 

“So, you’re the reason sixer hasn’t given up yet!” 

“Am I though? Just watching the back-and-forth banter between you two is just so funny! If I didn’t know it, it seems like you need him more than he needs you! I didn’t think you’d be such a clingy, little ex.” Bill manages to throw their hand back, his twisted grin turned into a glare “Oh, but that’s right. You aren’t the one that’s meant to be thrown away, it’s supposed to be the other way around. I just didn’t expect the great and mighty Bill Cipher to be so… desperate.” 

“Clingy…? Desperate?!” they continue to laugh. 

“Am I wrong?” the video of their interaction ends there but he could tell that any time when Bill attempted to harm his body, Alvah interfered and made sure that not a lot of damage was inflicted on his body. Picking up a polaroid, he found one where a dart from a dart board was lodged into his temple, so he raised his hand and felt more bandages “I don’t think you want to watch this part.” this caused him to look back towards the TV, he watched in confusion as Bill limped towards a payphone and… he punched in Stanley’s phone number, h-he wouldn’t. 

“Hey, brother, it’s Sixer. I’m going to take a swim in the frozen lake tomorrow, so if you don’t hear from me, I just want you to know that it’s because I never loved you. Buh-byeeeee!” Stanford felt as if his heart was in his throat, but his eyes closed in relief when he heard the dial tone, the pay phone was out of order. The message hadn’t gotten through, he opened his eyes and saw how Bill turned back to address him “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look what you made me make you do! Tomorrow’s tape is gonna be much worse. Want the show to end? Go downstairs and work on the portal. Or I’m gonna have to show you what I’m really made of.” Alvah eyes Stanford as the TV screen turned static, his face seemed to be a mixture of emotions again. This time, however, he looked completely livid. He stood to his feet and ripped the VHS tape out and threw it into the fire, watching it turn to cinders before screaming. 

“You have no power here! You’re just in my mind! I can outlast anything you can—” Alvah watches as he halts in all his movements, they let out a sigh when they know that Bill’s power over Stanford must before taking over his mind. They grabbed him by his shadow when he started to sway and placed him back down on his coach, laying him down as his body twitched and trembled due to the chaos going on inside his mind. They loomed over and watched him, his face contorting in pain, his breath becoming heavier as sweat dripped down his face.  

I don’t care. 

This human means nothing to me. 

Their misery is entertainment, that’s all. 

But… 

They lean closer to his face before letting out a sigh, raising their hand over his face and pressing their index finger the center of his forehead, whispering a few words under their breath and his face visibly relaxes. 

"That should be enough... hopefully."  

Stanford felt as if his body was paralyzed.  

Where am I? 

It felt as if his bones were being pulled slowly, slowly out from their sockets. 

It was excruciating. 

I tried to scream, but nothing came out— 

“Think, Sixer. You let me. In. Your. Head. Do you realize what I can do in here if I want? I can flip a switch that makes every neuron burn with pain beyond imagination. I can rewire your optic nerve so that the sky is below you, play a tone that gets louder and louder until you bash your own skull just to make it stop. I can delete memories randomly, just for fun. Maybe I already have. What do you want to remember? Your mother’s face? Your own name? Who are you anyway?” 

“That’s ridiculous! I’m… I’m…” his tried to think of his name but his mind what completely blank, a snap echoed through his head, and it came to him “I’m Stanf—” and he lost his train of thought again when the snap echoed once more. He pressed his hands to his head when he felt his sockets start to strain. Any and all his tendons would pop, his bones would slinter. He fell to his knees, on the verge of emptying what was in his stomach. 

“You’re my property. Don’t forget it. The hillbilly abandoned you, your father won’t want you returning without millions, you have no friends, and if you died out here in the snow, who would even miss you? And let’s not forget about your Alvah. You think they actually care about you? You think just because they’re still around they’re doing it because they like you? Don’t make me laugh. They don’t care about anything, much less a human with little to no value to them. They are one of the most neutral beings throughout the universe who never picks a side, who would watch a universe burn to cinders than lend a hand, who wouldn’t shed a tear or bat an eye at the sound of screaming and anguished cries! They won’t help you; they won’t save you, and they won’t interfere so long as I—Ah!” Stanford let out a gasp when Bill was suddenly blasted away from him, he felt something embracing him and pulled him back as Bill collected himself and came back “Wha—you! What are you doing here?!” he tried to look up at the figure, but a shadowy hand covered his eyes, their arms wrapped protectively around him as a voice spoke. 

“I’ve come to steal your precious little toy, Bill~” they let out a laugh, Stanford shuddered out a breath at the sound of a voice that was made up of what seemed like thousands of screams and cries, possibly even more “You sound like you’re projecting, poor, sweet, little Billy. Are you still mad about what happened all those years ago? Talk about holding a grudge, huh? I was right about that one about you, Bill.” he managed to peek through their hands and saw the way Bill turned a bright shade of red as he got angry, his eye glaring at what he knew was to be Alvah. 

“You… why are you choosing to help him?! You don’t even have a contract with him, and yet you’re going to help him?! You’ve never done that for anyone! You’ve always just sat by and watched things happen! You’ve never interfered! You’ve never done anything!” 

“Who knows, but I do know that watching you like this is just the best thing I’ve seen in over trillions of years!” Stanford was pushed back, and he was met with the overwhelming sight of a dark black and red storm cloud where you could hear disoriented and agonizing screams “If taking Stanford Pines is what’s going to keep this game going on a little longer, than I’m willing to interfere just to see you become less of what you believe you are, Bill Cipher!” 

“I will never forget this!”  

Stanford awoke with a fright, shooting upwards and panting out in exhaustion. Looking down, he found himself sitting on his couch but after looking around he found his living room cleaned up with the polaroids pilled together and placed in a shoebox on his coffee table. He stands up and finds a little note sitting on top of the pile, picking it up, he felt his lip tremble as he read it. 

‘fine, I may care a little ~ a’ 

He didn’t care if Alvah was on his side because they found it amusing when Bill threw a tantrum, or because they found it entertaining to watch him lose his mind, but this goes to show that they were willing to keep Bill at bay for him. He holds the note close to him before turning on his heel, he knows what he has to do now.  

Meanwhile, the residents of the Nightmare Realm hid in the deepest corners of their dimension in order to keep away from the onslaught that was going on. Bill was screaming out in frustration while Alvah laughed their head off, the two of them in an ongoing battle where the Harbinger of Chaos wasn’t taking anything serious while Bill was trying everything in his power to erase them from existence. Two of the Nightmare Realm’s most powerful beings were fighting because one of going through a messy break up while the other was just bored, the Axolotl would be severely disappointed in them.  

… 

… 

“And that’s my past with Stanford.” she ended with a fond smile, thinking back to that day thirty years ago. While she was telling this story, she refrained from dropping Bill’s name or any involvement of him and merely referred to him as “his muse”, Ford would be angry if she told them about his deal with Bill instead of him, so she was going to wait “In the beginning I was just an insufferable guest, he came to like me over the course of the portal’s construction and when Fidds left him and went insane, I became a sort of caretaker to him. With how stubborn he is, I’m probably not going to get a thank you out of him.” she stood there and waited for a response, she looked at them and saw the way they were staring up at her with teary eyes. 

“You… you really cared for Grunkle Ford.” her face twisted into an incredulous one. 

“Care? That’s funny. I cared enough to keep him alive, but I didn’t care enough to keep him out of harms way.” she deadpanned when Mabel wrapped her arms around her legs. 

“You’re not denying that you care.” Alvah scoffed as she scooped up Mabel and placed her back down beside Dipper “Then what about Grunkle Stan? Do you care about him? What’s your past with him? When did you two first meet?” she chuckled softly. 

“Hmm, that’s something you’ve got to ask him about. Ever since my contract with Stanford, I had kept an eye on anyone relating to him. Albeit friends or family, but I kept my eye on Stanley for a long time.” she places a finger to her chin, looking up in thought “My first genuine meeting with Stanley is something I can’t particularly remember, I was always lingering around in the shadows helping every now and then. But I don’t think he’ll want to discuss such a memory, he’s been distant from me since the reveal, which is understandable.” she raised a brow when she saw the determination on Mabel’s face. 

“I will get that backstory, no matter what it takes!” with that the girl rushed off to find Stan, she just shrugged her shoulders with a shake of her head. 

“Did you, though?” she hummed at Soos’ question, he shrunk a little as he twiddled his thumbs “Did you actually care about Mr. Pines? O-Or even us? Was everything you did just an obligation?” they didn’t notice the way her face twitched a little, she let out a breath as she looked towards nothing in particular. 

“Who knows? But whether I care or not does not change the fact that I am here to protect you. You are under my protection, and I will make it so that Bill does not bring you any more harm.” Dipper flinched at the mention of Bill and rubbed his arms, he looked up and jumped slightly where he sat when he saw Alvah kneel down in front of him “And I am so sorry that I stood by and let you make a deal with him, Dipper. I saw you when he took your body, but I wasn’t allowed to do anything.” she could remember that day as if it were yesterday, when she, Wendy and Soos approached Bipper and when Dipper tried to stop them, he flew through her body. She remembered turning around and seeing the distraught look on his face, but she was forced to look away and pretend she didn’t see him, it really did make her feel remorseful. 

“W-Why couldn’t you?” 

“You should know about time anomalies, Dipper. That stupid time baby or whatever would be furious if I were to mess with this timeline even more so than I already have, if I were to have prevented such a thing I would get into even more trouble. My contracts can bend a lot of rules, but messing with the flow of time is a definite no.” she took his hat and ruffled his head “Why do you think I was lot more attentive back then?” he thought back to that day and did remember the pained expression on her face when she and Stan brought him to the hospital. 

“So, you couldn’t directly interfere with what happened over the summer, but you could intervene as long as you didn’t stop us directly?” she nods “Then, could you tell us what’s going to happen next?” she pressed a finger to her lips as she placed his hat back down on his head. 

“I can’t share any spoilers, now, can I?”  

“Alvah!” she let out an oh at the sound of her name being called, they all looked up and saw Ford at the door “I need you down in the lab, could you come and assist me?” she saluted him with a smile. 

“Coming~” he waits for her behind as she looks back down at Dipper, she winks at him and boops his nose “Duty calls. See you later, sweetpea.” they watch as she turned on her heel and walked out with Ford, her appearance changing back into her male version, the one that Ford prefers. He follows closely behind Ford, chatting with him as he speaks about a rift, and as they pass the living room his eyes catch Mabel and Stanley. He lifted his head up and noticed his brother and Alvah walk into the gift shop, the latter laughing softly as Ford spoke, he flinched when Alvah turned and met his gaze. He twiddled his fingers to greet Stan before turning away and going down into the lab with Ford behind him, he let out a sigh as he fell back into his chair. 

“Do you miss her, Grunkle Stan?” he looked down at Mabel before letting out a scoff, crossing his arms and looking away. 

“Miss her? After everything? Pah, I say good riddance! Am I a little upset that she’s hanging around my brother now? Maybe. Am I sad that I no longer talk to her anymore? Kind of… but that doesn’t mean anything! Clearly what we had meant nothing to her!” Mabel looked up at him, a brow quirked upwards as he rambled about everything that happened between them would be forgotten sooner or later. 

“I didn’t want to bring this up with you, Grunkle Stan, but I saw the night you two dance together.” she had to hold back a squeal when he flinched, his face turning bright red at the thought of that night “I saw the way you looked at her, but I also saw the way she looked at you. She told us how she isn’t able to properly feel emotions, but what I saw that night, I can guarantee you that wasn’t fake. She said it herself; she isn’t a liar.” he let out a groan. 

“But she hasn’t be truthful either!” Mabel’s gaze hardened on him. 

“Neither have you.” his shoulders slump, she let out a huff “I understand that you’re upset, but from what I can tell, everything she’s done leading up to this point has been on her own accord. Her helping us and everything, and with whatever you two had going on, I’m sure she did it all for a reason.” he rubbed the back of his neck “But she said she couldn’t quite remember when you two first met? She said she was always lingering around and watching, but her first interaction with you, she can’t really recall it.” he let out a breath as he leaned against the table, looking up in thought. 

“First interaction, first interaction…” her fingers were crossed, repeatedly thinking in her head “please remember, please remember”, he then shoots up and snaps his fingers “Oh, yeah! I totally remember!” she’s quick to take a seat beside him, looking up at him excitedly. 

“Really? What happened?”  

“Well, it was when the Mystery Shack was finally getting some traction.” it was just like any other day at the Mystery Shack, people come in, he lies through his teeth about the attractions in his house while sprinkling jokes in every now and then before scamming those poor suckers out of their money. It was at the end of the day when the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes upon approached him at the counter, he was at a loss for words as she looked at him. She had blonde hair that was the softest tone of blonde that he’d compared to sand on a beautiful sunny day, eyes as green as freshly cut grass that shun like an emerald if the sun hit them just right. Compared to these hicks, she was wearing elegant and formal clothing, so she stood out compared to the rest of the crowd.  

She was like a gem amongst a pile of rocks. 

“Good evening, Mr. Mystery.” she giggled softly as he gawked at her, his eyes blinking rapidly as she spoke to him in a soft voice, she laughed when he pointed at himself with a confused look “Well, yes. Is there anyone else that goes by the title of Mr. Mystery?” he cleared his throat and quickly collected himself, pulling on his collar but unable to cover the flush that spread across his cheeks. 

“I guess not. I am the one and only, Mr. Mystery.” he holds his hand out to her “The name’s Stan Pines, pleasure to meet you.” she takes his hand and shakes it. 

“I am Alvah, it’s lovely to meet you too.” she took her hand back and continued to smile up at Stan, he let out a nervous laugh. 

“Are you new around here? I don’t think I’ve seen you.” 

“I’ve been around here and there, but normally keep to myself. I heard the attraction going around these parts and decided to pay a visit to the “Mystery Shack” everybody was raving about.” she hummed softly as she gently flicked a jar of eyeballs “And I have to say, I see what all the hype is about. You have a very fascinating collection on your hands. Did you hunt them down yourself?” she slowly raised her brow when he pulled on his tie. 

“Ah haha, well. You could say I did, I mean, they’re here now, aren’t they?” 

“I suppose so.” they both noticed how the tourist was beginning to leave so Alvah took that as her cue to leave as well, she twiddled her fingers at him to bid him goodbye and proceeded to walk away but stopped when he called out to her. 

“Hey!” she stopped in her tracks and turned back to him, curious at what he had to say “Will you come again?” she tilts her head to the side. 

“Are you personally asking me to come again? I’m honored.” she giggled when he scoffed, messing with his tie again “I’ll come back every now and then. I’ll go broke if I come back every day with how much you charge.” 

“Y-You can come back any time! Hehe, free of charge…” she hummed softly, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. 

“Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Stan.” she winks at him before walking out the door, unbeknownst to her, he had the derpiest grin on his face as he waved her goodbye. 

“Hehe, you’ve still got it, Stanley.” now he couldn’t help but scowl at the memory “I believe she only did that out of pity. Oh wait, she can’t feel pity, now, can she? She must have saw how pathetic I looked and decided then and there would be when she asserted herself with that appearance, knowing it would ruin me.” Mabel placed a hand on his arm and gave it a light squeeze “I knew… I knew that smile was just too good to be true. She outconned me.” 

“Well… what if she meant it? Didn’t she say that everything she’s done leading up to now, she’s never lied to you.” his resolve softened a little before shaking his head upon realizing what she said. 

“How do you know that? We were alone when she said that.” Mabel let out a nervous laugh. 

“Ah hahaha, were you? I totally wasn’t listening in on your conversation. Nope, not at all.” Stan shook his head and gently ruffled her head. 

“Our first meeting wasn’t anything special. She was just a tourist who claimed to be fascinated by what the Mystery Shack had to offer, but she’s probably seen even grander things than this junk house.” with that his face saddened once more, seemingly missing the bond both he and Alvah had before the cat got out of the bag, he had almost wished she wasn’t who she claimed to be. 

“Do you hate her?” there it was again, this time spoken by his niece.  

“… I don’t know.” Mabel just couldn’t stand for this. She may just be twelve years old, but that’s old enough for her to see what Stan and Alvah had. She saw the way they looked at each other, the way they spoke to each other and how could she forget that tender and intimate moment they shared on that night. This mishap couldn’t be the undoing of their relationship, and she’ll make sure of it “H-Hey, kiddo, where are you going?” he asked when she jumped off the stool and started running towards the vending machine. 

“Just to ask Alvah a couple questions!” he stood to his feet, reaching his hand out to stop her but was too late when she punched in the code to the vending machine and walked down the hallway to Ford’s lab. Back with Alvah, he was currently leaning over Ford’s shoulder as they were discussing their plan to seal a leakage caused by Stanley reactivating the portal once more. 

“So… are you really not going to thank Stanley?” he let out a scoff. 

“Thank him? For what?” 

“Well, for returning you back to your dimension. Surely you must feel some sort of gratitude.” he leans back when Ford turned around, giving Alvah an irritated expression. 

“He was the reason I fell in in the first place. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had to be in there.” he hums softly. 

“That is true, then how about impressed?” this got a short chuckle out of him. 

“Impressed by what?” 

“Well, how about him teaching himself about quantum physics? Reconstructing the portal with only having a third of the portal’s instructions, completely unaware there were more instructions due to the invisible ink? Building it all by himself while also maintaining a business that was so successful and also looking after his great niece and nephew? He had no help either. Not from McGucket, Bill or even me.” he raised his finger, wagging it side to side in front of Ford’s face “If anything, your brother is goddamn genius. He has my praise.” he laughed when Ford smacked his hand away. 

“You’re giving him too much credit if you’re calling him a genius.” he shrugged and allowed his body to float, leaning backwards and resting his head in his hands. 

“What can I say? For a high school dropout who had no further education for himself, I am very impressed that he managed to reconstruct the portal the way he did. He had almost completed it by the time he got his hands on journal two and three, and it didn’t take him too long to complete it.” he smirked down at Ford, giving him a toothy grin “If that doesn’t make him a genius, then pardon me.” 

“You seem to like Stanley a lot. When we first met, you did nothing but ridicule me.”  

“Hah! Of course, I told you it was because you were stupid enough to fall for Bill’s flattery. The self-proclaimed genius who didn’t even realize he was being played. Unlike you, Stanley is emotionally intellectual. Though he didn’t admit it, he knew there was something wrong with me, always questioned why someone like me would hang around him. Sure, it was the same between you and Bill, but he had you in the palm of his hand in a couple hours. Stanley was a harder nut to crack. He liked the fact that he was getting attention from a beautiful woman, but he was so guarded it took a couple years for him to fully allow me in. Hmm, but I believe we’re back in square one now.” he shrugged his shoulders “He also makes me laugh.” this earned an eyeroll.  

“Yes, yes, because all you care about is whether or not you are entertained.” he snapped his fingers, now leaning forward. 

“Yes, exactly.” 

“Alvah!” both men jump at the loud call, turning around, they see Mabel abruptly enter the room with a determined look on her face. Ford briefly looks up at Alvah and saw him change back into their female appearance, he noticed that they tend to do that around the children and Stan’s employees. 

“What is it, sweetheart?” she answered, continuing to float in the air but this time positioning herself as if she was in a chair with her legs crossed “How may I assist you now?” she let out a yelp when Mabel grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her down. She now sat on her knees as Mabel held her by her collar, staring her in the eyes with a serious look, a bead of sweat bled down the side of her face. 

“How do you feel about Grunkle Stan?” she let out a sigh as she slumped in her hold. 

“This again? Are you ever going to let this go, Mabel?” she allowed the young girl to thrash her around and hang by her grip. 

“How can I?! His feelings are all over the place ever since learning that you were lying who you were all this time.” she muttered under her breath that she didn’t exactly lie if she didn’t tell the full truth, she was kicked by Ford, who promptly looked away when she looked back up at him “It’s up to me to clear up this entire misunderstanding. To help you fully understand your feelings for Grunkle Stan.” she only deadpanned. 

“Good luck with that, kid. This body isn’t exactly designed to comprehend emotions, I don’t even have a personality to call my own.”  

“That’s really sad.” Mabel let her go and she allowed herself to fall to the ground, the young brunette stepped over her and rushed towards Ford, who awkwardly stared down at her in mild curiosity “Grunkle Ford, do you have anything that can project people’s thoughts?” this caused Alvah to look up at Ford, who he himself looked up in thought while rubbing his chin. 

“Do I have something that can project people’s thoughts? Why, that’s very specific. If only I—hah! Of course I do.” he continued to rub his chin as he debated whether it would be a good idea “As much as I’d like to decline the usage of this machinery, I am also more curious as to what you have been up to with my brother the past three decades.” Alvah let out a huff as she pushed herself off the ground and began to float again. 

“And why should I allow you to use this on me? It’s quite dangerous to peer into the mind of the embodiment of chaos. Aren’t you afraid you’ll end up like McGucket?” Mabel let out a laugh. 

“Psh, like you’d let that happen. You like me too much, and besides, I’m adorable! Would you deny this cute face?” Mabel doesn’t wait to answer as she turned back to look up at Ford to ask, or rather plead, to use the device he mentioned. This left him to look up at Alvah and see the way she pouted with a tinge of pink flushing her cheeks, she was trying so hard to deny Mabel’s claims but was ultimately failing. That’s where she found herself sitting on the chair in front of five monitors, sitting particularly in front of a large screen while two smaller ones were to her right and left. If she remembered correctly, Ford dubbed this device as Project Mentem as a defense against Bill, which main functionality was that it could scan one’s mind and bioelectrically encrypt one’s thoughts “So we just put this thingamajig on her head and we can see her thoughts?” Mabel asked as she held the helmet in her hands, Ford nodded as he took it from her and approached Alvah. 

“It’s much more complicated than that, but yes, that’s basically what it does.” she looked up at him and saw he had a cheeky grin on his face, she sneered at him while shaking her head. 

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he chuckles softly. 

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To see the thoughts of an actual deity is something I wouldn’t have imagined. I thank you greatly for this, Mabel. You children have quite the rein on Alvah.” she just shook her head; he placed the helmet on her head then pushed a couple buttons on the control console to which it on. All five screens spurred to life and the room illuminated with a green light, the two wait patiently for something to appear on the screen but were left confused when it remained blank.  

“Is it working?” Mabel asked, his face furrowed in confusion as he pushed a couple buttons. 

“It should be.” she snickered softly. 

“You’re going to have to try and little harder than that. If you want me to think about something specifically, you have to ask~ I can blank out my mind all willy nilly. Either that or I overload your machine. My mind has a vast amount of information.” Ford huffed at her, it was never going to be that easy “Of course not.” she stuck her tongue out at him when he glared at her, she turned her attention to Mabel when she approached her, grabbing her by the legs and looking up at her with a serious expression. 

“Think about your first real encounter with Grunkle Stan.” this sparked something within her mind and the screens behind her displayed her first real encounter with Stanley. Mabel was expecting the same thing Stan told her but was greatly surprised to see something entirely different, both herself and Ford took a step towards the monitors to try and figure out what they were looking at but couldn’t quite place it. 

“The first time I met Stanley was when you wanted me to give him that postcard, Ford.” his eyes widened when he saw Alvah’s male appearance appear on the monitor walking across an empty street to approach a rundown motel, he glared at a pedestrian that bumped into him but ignored them in favor to accomplish the task at hand. He looked at the postcard once more and shook his head at the lack of information on it, in handwriting unbecoming of Stanford that read “PLEASE COME”. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked through the parking lot and towards the various rooms, Mabel let out a soft gasp when she saw Alvah walk past the Stanmobile, so this really was her first meeting with Stan. His hand glides across the many doors until stopping at one in particular, he looks at the mailing address once more before raising his fist and knocking on the door “I have a postcard for Stanley Pines~” he called out as he repeatedly knocked on the door, Alvah had all the time in the world, so he continuously knocked on the door until it swung open. Stanford already knew that this was thirty years into the past but seeing the disgruntled version of his brother was something that caught him off guard, it almost felt like it was yesterday he saw this worn-out version of Stanley. 

“Alright, alright! Don’t you see the mail slot?” Alvah just chuckled as he held the postcard between his two fingers. 

“Sorry, but the sender wanted me to make sure you got your hands on this. Didn’t want this getting lost in the mail.” he holds it out for him to take and as Stanley reaches to take it, he cheekily pulled it back “Make sure not to lose this.” he laughed when it was snatched out of his hands while the shorter man glared at him, he just backed away slightly while raising his hands up. 

“Whatever man.” the door is then slammed shut, Alvah rolled his eyes as he dusted his hands off. 

“Welp, did what I was supposed to do.” with his task done he snapped his fingers and returned to Gravity Falls, the memory ends and they look towards Alvah “My very first impression of Stanley Pines was that of a pathetic human who had hit rock bottom. I was honestly surprised that this was the brother that caused you so much discontent, Ford. This was the so-called man who “ruined your life”, talk about living up to what little his name had other than disappointment.” Alvah was smacked in the leg by Mabel, who glared up at her after hearing what she had to share about Stanley. 

“That isn’t very nice, Alvah.” she shrugged her shoulders. 

“Well, that was me in the beginning, when I was still just Fordsy’s little shadow. After you disappeared into the portal and I was stuck in this hick town, I remained within Stanley’s shadow.” the monitors flicker on once more and they watched as she watched over him, while he worked days and nights to repair the portal and would fall asleep at his desk trying to solve Stanford’s notes. She would appear behind him and instead of returning him upstairs, she would retrieve a pillow and blanket and drape it over him so he would be more comfortable. When the Mystery Shack was slowly building up fame, she would be out influencing people to go pay a visit to the man displaying a world of mystery, and it was on that very day Alvah finally became the woman she was to the Pines Family “My opinion of Stanley changed over time. You could say his devotion to bring you back and to fix his mistake, dedicating his life to save you swayed my feelings about him. There was nothing more to it.”  

“Can you think of the instance you felt something for Grunkle Stan? Something that wasn’t displeasure or just an obligation to look after him? Something that had caught you off guard.” they watched as she furrowed her brows as multiple instances went by, but nothing stood out until she slowly perked up. 

“It was… the year before you two were supposed to have arrived. It was your birthday.” this startled Ford a little “Stanley never celebrated your guy’s birthday, I knew the reason, but he told me it was because he didn’t really have anybody to celebrate it with. I wasn’t around in the beginning because I was doing other stuff, but apparently, he planned a whole party. He spent hours writing up comedy roasts about his employees, but in the end… nobody came.” they look back towards the monitors and are met with Alvah walking down a street where she accidentally bumped into Soos. 

“Miss Alvah!” she smiled at him, waving her hand to greet him. 

“How are you, Soos? Today’s a lovely day for a stroll, is it not?” she raised a brow at the glum look on his face “What’s the matter, big guy?” he let out a sigh as he took his hat off and rubbed the back of his head. 

“Mr. Pines is celebrating his birthday this afternoon, but I won’t be able to make it. My Abuelita needs my help all afternoon and I won’t be able to make it.” that and the fact that he himself didn’t exactly like celebrating his birthday caused her to nod her head “I was hoping you would tell him I said happy birthday. There’s no way you would miss it!” she didn’t even realize it was their birthday that day, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. 

“Of course I will. I’m sure he’ll be saddened without you in attendance, Soos. Give your Abuelita my regards, sweetheart.” she let out an oof when he pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tightly while lifting her off the ground. 

“Thank you so much, Alvah!” he puts her down and rushes off, waving his hand goodbye as he ran off “I’ll make sure to make it up to you!” she kept up her happy face and the moment he disappeared her face relaxed as she looked away. 

“I spent the rest of that afternoon looking for a gift for Stanley. He is quite easy to please, so I found a vintage and expensive wine, but the hard part was finding a cake.” she laughed softly at the memory, the monitors display her at multiple bakeries and pastry stores in search of a cake but for some reason they were all sold out “In the end I had to make the cake myself. It didn’t end… quite well.” the monitors flickered to her attempting to make a cake but instead setting a kitchen on fire with a panicked look on her face, by the time the sun was beginning to fall she had finally made a decent looking and tasting cake after many trials and errors. She found herself in front of his front door and proceeded to knock on it continuously until it was thrown open, she pulled her hand back when he looked ready to shout at whoever was knocking before pausing when he realized who exactly was in front of him. 

“… Alvah?” she let out a soft laugh as she leaned forward to take in his appearance. 

“Haha, what happened to your eyebrow? Did you burn it off?” she questioned as she reached forward and brushed a few of his locks out of his face to get a look at the singed hair, she giggled when he smacked her hand away and turned away to hide it. 

“No! Anyways, what are you doing here?” he sputtered backwards when she lifted something up with a bright smile on her face. 

“It’s your birthday! I came to celebrate with you.” he stares at the rather pretty looking cake as she pulled something out and saw it was a bottle of wine “I would have come earlier but would you believe it? The whole town was out of cake, so I had to make one out of scratch. Let’s just say I’m not particularly good at baking.” she titled her head to the side when she noticed he was just staring at the cake. 

“You made this… for me?” 

“Who else would I make this for?” she pushes him inside and closes the door behind her, he follows her like a lost puppy as she walks into the kitchen and places the cake on the table. He takes a seat as she grabs two glasses out of the cabinet and places one in front of Stan and another where she was going to sit, she uncorks the bottle and pours them both a glass before pulling out a candle and placing it in the center of the cake “Soos wanted to be here as well, but you know how he is around birthdays. And besides, having a simpler birthday is much better than going all out. Saves you a lot of money, doesn’t it?” she finally took a seat at the table and stared at him with a fond look in her eye, leaning against the table with the side of her head resting on her knuckles. 

“You…” she hummed softly. 

“Happy birthday, Stan.” Alvah’s face turned confused when Stan abruptly stood up and walked over to her, she was startled when he pulled her out of the chair and wrapped his broad arms around her, embracing her in a rather bone crushing hug. Her eyes widened as he buried his face within her shoulder, her arms were pinned to her side while her head was over his shoulder, she managed to twist it a little to try and look at him but noticed the way he nuzzled into her shoulder to hide the fact that he was tearing up “S-Stan? Are you—” 

“Thank you, Alvah. I really, really needed this.” Mabel and Ford noticed the way her eyes twitch when Stan tightened his grip on her, she managed to slowly lift her arms up the best she could and gently pat his back. 

“O-Oh, it’s no problem. You know there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Stan.” she purposefully didn’t address him as Ford because that would have saddened him and taken his special moment away from him. They stayed like that for a couple seconds until Stan finally let her go but continued to hold her by the arms, she tilted her head to the side to get a look at his face but saw him turn away to hide his tear-stricken eyes “Hah, are you crying?” he frees one of his hands to cover his eyes, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“No! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he flinches when she pulled him forward by the hand that was holding her so she could cup his cheek, he blinks at her and felt her wipe away a few of his tears while smiling softly at him. 

“Come on, tough guy. You don’t have to hide your vulnerability from me, I’m not going to make fun of you.” he huffed at her as she takes her hand back, he sniffles a little and wipes away the remaining tears and gives her a toothy grin. 

“I appreciate this a lot, toots! I’m gonna go find a lighter so I can light this candle! I’ll be back in a sec!” she waves him off and stands in the kitchen alone, Mabel and Ford soon notice the way her smile dropped from her face as she looked down at the wooden floor with a conflicted expression. On the smaller monitors they saw a flurry of words come across the screen, words that had her questioning herself. 

WHAT IS THIS? 

WHY DID I DO THAT? 

WHY DID I DO THIS? 

I DON’T CARE FOR HIM. 

I’M DOING THIS FOR STANFORD. 

THIS MEANS NOTHING TO ME. 

I DON’T ACTUALLY FEEL... 

“In the beginning, I didn’t feel anything.” Alvah spoke as she stared at the monitor when Stan walked back into the kitchen with a lighter in hand and in a chipper mood, she smiled at him and the two sat at the table where he lit the candle and blew it out with a face that reminded her of a child on their birthday “I knew he was going to drink himself into a stupor had I not arrived, but I didn’t expect to feel...” Mabel looked up at her, a curious look in her eyes. 

“What?” her eyes flicker towards the monitor and saw only one word. 

“Pity.” coming from her, it could be condescending, but by the remorseful look on her face as she stared at Stan’s face, they knew that she meant it in a genuine way “He just looked so sad, like a kicked puppy out in the rain. I had watched him at even worser times than that, but for some reason, actually being there made it different.” soon the summer played out for them and Mabel watched every interaction she had with Stan, and she watched intently as the way Alvah’s eyes started to look genuine. 

“Alvah, you...” 

“It was nothing. The personality I adapted was merely to match his own, but...” since the children were always off doing their own thing, they never knew the type of relationship she and Stan actually had. Ford witnessed firsthand the closeness she had with his brother and Mabel concealed her excitement of the hidden lore her great uncle had with this interdimensional being “My mind had been inside a human body for so long that it started acting like it, started feeling like it.” Mabel looked away to look up at Alvah after watching the memory where Alvah and Stan danced at the party where she first met Candy and Grenda. 

“Feeling?” her face scrunched up and instead of just Stan, it showed the children, Soos, Wendy and a few others as she thought of each emotion. 

“Anger. Sadness. Joy. Remorse. Guilt.” the memory of when the children were forced to be sent back home when Gideon had won and they couldn’t do anything about it, how when they did win, she felt an immeasurable amount of guilt inside her because she knew this was going to happen but it was at the cost of the possibly of the children losing that had her mind racing. The next scene had Ford’s eyes widened to the point his eyes were bulging out of his eye sockets while Mabel let out a squeal, that was because it was when Stan had kissed her “L-Love...” 

“You kissed my brother?!” he was shocked to see her face a bright shade of pink, she suddenly sprung to her feet as she placed a hand on her chest. 

“No! He kissed me! And it’s not like I continued to think about that moment! It was just a spur of the moment and Stan probably would have done it to anyone that was next to him! It didn’t mean anything at that moment!” 

"... I didn't, NOT, like it." she looked like a dear caught in headlights when her thoughts were exposing herself "You just... caught me off guard, is all. I wasn't expecting it." 

"Oh? So, are you saying if I were to kiss you again, you wouldn't protest?"  

"Don't push your luck, Stan. Just because I said I liked it; doesn't mean you'll get a taste anytime you want." Alvah refused to look up at Ford from where she was sitting because she knew that man was going to strangle her, however, Mabel was in front of her and started shaking her arm. 

“So you two were in love! That’s so cute!” she let out a scoff, face still flushed with embarrassment from being caught while throwing her hair over her shoulder. 

“Psh, in love? That was the only time--”  

"Stan... Stan, s-stop it!" Mabel was busy staring at Alvah so she didn’t see what memory was playing but Ford was, and to think he’d wish for the day he wasn’t wearing his glasses. Before Mabel could see what was playing Alvah hurriedly lifted the helmet off her head and the monitors switched off, they both look up at her and saw the look of shame on her face. She pushes the helmet into Ford’s hands before slowly kneeling on the floor and curling up into a ball, her hands clutching her head “I wasn’t supposed to get attached... I wasn’t supposed to gain human feelings.” Mabel knelt down and placed her hand on her back, gently rubbing circles into her back to comfort her. 

“But you did, and it looks like it’ll really upset you if Stan started to hate you.” her face scrunches up in confusion. 

“I am hated by millions of people just for simply existing. I am the devil on people’s shoulders who they blame for why their lives have fallen apart. I am so used to being the source of their hatred that I never once cared for the opinions of beings lesser than I am. But... I—I can’t stand the thought of Stan not liking me anymore.” she looked up at Mabel with a sort of desperation in her eyes “I wasn’t supposed to care, but I hate that I do now.” 

“And I’m happy that you care.” Alvah huffed “Now just repeat what you just said now and go say it to Grunkle Stan.” this snapped her out of whatever melt down she was having; she stood to her feet and shook her head. 

“No way! He doesn’t need this now!” Mabel shook her head and took Alvah by her hands. 

“But he does! He looks so lost without you. You two were always together throughout the summer, and not having you by his side is making him upset.” this caused her to start overthinking everything, should I actually tell him how I feel? Should I say sorry? Should I-- 

“Wait a minute, why I am taking the advice of a twelve-year-old?” she suddenly glares at her “I don’t got to listen to you! I am going to deny the fact that I have feelings for this old man and suffer in silence. Yes, that sounds much better.” Mabel face fell. 

“What? No! Are you seriously not going to tell Stan that it was him that caused you to develop human feelings? That it was him that got you to care?” 

“The last thing I need to hear is him gloating that he got an agent of chaos to fall in love with him. And besides, I highly doubt he wants me dating his brother.” at the mention of that, they both look at Ford and saw the way he was shaking his head at the thought “So, we are going to leave what we have just discovered in this very room. I don’t want to hear any of this outside this room. I don’t want to have to talk about the fact that I’ve grown soft. This conversation stays and dies here. Got it?” 

“But--” Alvah gives her a sharp look, Mabel let out a sigh and kicked at the floor “Got it.” she nods. Mabel leaves dejected that Alvah wasn’t going to do anything about this but she was determined to help her confess her feelings to Stan, yes, with a newfound determination, she was going to play cupid once more. Alvah stood in the room with Ford staring at her with an incredulous expression, she turns her attention to him with narrowed eyes. 

“You don’t get to speak. You had a relationship with a triangle.” she holds her hand up to keep him away when his face turned red from embarrassment “Oh, my muse~ I would do anything for you, even if it means the collapse of my mind, body and soul! Ooo, woe is me!” 

“Stop talking!” 

“So poetic, Fordsy!” 

season 2, episode 13. dungeons, dungeons and more dungeons 

after the fiasco that was the reveal of alvah’s true feelings, she had now taken it to the point of avoiding everyone and keeping herself in the basement unless she’s needed.  

that being said, mabel would come bursting into the lab and attempt to drag her upstairs so she could interact with them all, especially with stan. 

she swore never to talk about what happened, but she never said she wouldn’t do anything about it.  

dipper was really confused as to why mabel was more love crazy than usual. 

he felt sorry for the poor sucker his sister had her sights on this time. 

ford found it amusing seeing her act like a deer caught in headlights whenever she spotted stan before he saw her. 

it went so far as to her jumping out a window. 

she fixed it immediately. 

anyways- 

“Alvah... Alvah...!” Dipper shook the empty body that was Alvah until it stirred to life, her eyes blinked to life and looked around before settling on him in confusion. Ford explained to them that her body in this dimension was merely a vessel for her to take control of so whenever she was “sleeping”, it was actually her signing off and returning to her main body. Dipper calling for Alvah warranted her attention and caused her to come back to see what the young boy wanted, she didn’t expect to see him staring at her with a pleading but enthusiastic expression as he held a book in front of her “Alvah? Yes! Um, hey! Do you want to play Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons with me and great uncle Ford? He’s already agreed to play with me and two players is enough but three players would be even better! But you don’t have to play with us, I’m sure you’ve got even more important matters to attend to that I probably pulled you out of. You can totally say no! It’s fine. It’s totally fine. Ah haha, heee...” she stared at him with a rather scrutinizing gaze as she looked between him, the book and Ford standing behind him. 

... 

... 

She now found herself laying on her side with a thirty-eight-sided die in her hand, shaking it within the palm of her hand before tossing it onto the play mat where the other two nerds leaned down close to see what she rolled, she chuckled softly when Dipper cheered that she rolled a high roll while Ford sighed bitterly. Whether it be the fact that within this flesh bag she had grown soft or it was just the children having a way with her, she couldn’t deny Dipper’s plea to play his favorite role-playing game with him and Ford. She was well aware of the concept of Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons after watching Ford and Fiddleford play it during their time building the portal and how it was similar to a different game, but she allowed him to explain it to her in great detail while giving her an already made character for her to play with. 

“Are you sure you’re not cheating, Alvah?” she scoffed, twisting her body so that she was laying on her back with her legs crossed, bouncing her knee every now and then. 

“Maybe you just suck at this game, Ford.” she smirked when she got a snicker out of Dipper, Ford hmphed at her while she stuck her tongue out at him. Dipper was having even more fun because instead of having figurines representing their characters, Alvah was using her powers to bring them to life while also creating a real layout of the story Ford created for their characters to move around. Both Alvah and Ford were magic casters, though Alvah was a sorcerer and he was wizard, while Dipper was a little ranger. Quite the odd party, but Alvah refused to be anything else “What are we up to now?” he hummed softly as he rolled a die between his fingers. 

“Alright, you enter the chamber. Princess Unattainabelle beckons you. But wait, it’s a trap!” she rolled her eyes as Dipper gasps “An illusion cast by Probabilitor the Annoying.” Dipper hands Alvah a couple die for her to roll as he and Ford shake their fists to scramble their own die within their closed fists. 

“You know his weakness, right?” Ford grins at Dipper. 

“Prime statistical anomalies over thirty-seven but not exceeding fifty-one.” the two throw their rolls down first, Dipper taps her shoulder and she throws down her die and allows them to tally up the amount “Yes! Ungh! In your face, cardboard wizard!” the older man hummed softly as he picked up the little cardboard screen meant for the DM to look at the main antagonist. 

“Hmm, the old boy looks a bit different than he did back in my day.” Dipper nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, they change the art every few years. Thankfully, you missed the period when the creators of the game tried to make it cooler.” this got a chuckle out of Alvah, he shuddered at the memory “Must’ve been dark times, those 90’s.” he spoke as he picked up a red card, even Ford grimaced. 

“Yeesh. Sounds like a good time to be stuck between dimensions.” 

“Great uncle Ford, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Where were you before you came out of that machine, and what have you and Alvah been doing down here? Are you two working on something behind that curtain?” this question caused the two of them to look at each other, she shrugged her shoulders and gestured for him to speak. 

“Dipper, it’s best if you and the family stay away from that subject. Honestly, I’m not sure any of you could handle the real answer.” 

“But-- But I can handle it.” Ford raised his finger to cut him off. 

“Ah-ah. But I can show you a little something I brought back with me.” they watch as he pulled out a little red bag from his pocket and empty the contents out beside him, a few more die spilled out from it but a peculiar black box caught their attention, her eyes widened when he opened it. 

“Is that... an infinity sided die?” she asked, Dipper looked at it in awe as Ford nodded his head as the young boy watched the symbols continuously change. 

“That’s so cool... and impossible.” Ford opened his mouth to explain but let out a soft gasp when the die flew out of the case and into the hands of Alvah, who held it close to her eye while turning it over. 

“I haven’t seen one of these suckers since the last galaxy was formed. I’m pretty sure these things are outlawed in over nine thousand dimensions.” Dipper gasped at that. 

“Why?” 

“Well, take a look at the symbols. Infinite sides mean infinite outcomes. If you rolled it, anything could happen. Your faces could melt into jelly. The world could turn into an egg... or you could just roll an eight. Who knows?” she huffed when Ford snatched it out of her hand and placed it back into the case, closing it before she could take it again. 

“And that's why I have to keep it in this protective cheap plastic case.” she scoffed with a laugh. 

“How safe.” he ignored her. 

“Now, back to the game!” Dipper had a splendid time playing DDMD with Ford and Alvah, she may not have been engaged like they were but at least she put in the effort to play with them and with her powers making it all come to life just felt magical to him. 

“I had so much fun! Thank you so much great uncle Ford, Alvah!” she twiddled her fingers from behind Ford. 

“Perhaps you could make the next one, sweetheart. I just know you’re full of ideas, Dipper.” he lights up. 

“Does that mean you’ll play again?” she gave shrug but nodded her head. 

“Yeah, sure.” she huffed softly when he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close, she leaned down to hug him back while patting his back “Perhaps you should go back upstairs. You’ve been down here all day, and surely it takes a lot of time to create a new adventure.” he pulls away from her, snapping his fingers at her. 

“You’re right! I’ve got a lot of thinking to do! Thanks again!” they both wave him goodbye as he ran to the elevator to head back to the shack, the both of them drop their friendly facades and turn back to where the curtain Dipper previously mentioned was. 

“So, you’re really going to keep this between us?” he spoke, his body naturally turning back into his male form “He’s going to figure it out, whether he stumbles down here accidentally again or you tell him yourself.” Ford let out a sigh as he looked over the console, tapping his fingers across the metal surface. 

“Stanley told me to stay away from the children, but so far, it’s been proven difficult because they keep approaching me. Or rather, they keep approaching me since you’re around.” he shrugged.  

“I’ve been looking after those kids the entire summer. I’m surprised they still even want to hang around me.” he said as he laced his fingers and cracked his knuckles above his head ”Anyways, where were we before Dipper interrupted us?” he approached the side of him with a sort of glass case in his hands. 

“Cleaning up my brother’s mess.” 

“Ah, right.” he entered the portal room and it took Ford a second to register what he said. 

“Hey, wait! What do you mean we? You were in the Nightmare Realm, dammit!”  

that entire week mabel and stan were preparing for the duck-tective finale and the day had finally arrived. 

mabel invited grenda to come over and watch it with them, she was more than happy to attend. 

stan, mabel and grenda enter the living room and were shocked to see ford and dipper had taken over the room, it being littered with papers of various equations from their ddmd campaign. 

they were even surprised to see alvah laying behind ford covered in papers herself. 

she was "asleep" after failing a saving throw and her character was killed off so she returned to the nightmare realm to take care of some business as she waited for them to finish but continued to use her powers to bring their game to life.  

they pleaded with them to move their game to a different room so they could watch their show but they were very adamant that they couldn't, saying they were going for a world record. 

stan takes it upon himself to remove a few of the graph papers but ford caught him by the wrist, halting him in his tracks. 

"Move that and pay the price." Ford threatened, his grip on his brother tight to prevent him from reaching any further. 

"Oh, what, fifty magical dwarf dollars?" 

"Don't mock our fantastical monetary system!" 

"I'll mock all I want. It's my TV room." 

"It's my house! You..." Ford takes a breath, sighing to himself as he squeezes the bridge of his nose "Listen, Stanley, did it ever occur to you that if you joined us, you might actually have fun? I mean, Alvah didn't need to but joined for Dipper's sake. I'm sure they'd love it if you played with us as well." Stan's gaze hardened at the mention of her. 

"What? Now you listen to me. As long as I live, I will never--" he snatches the bag of Ford's dice out of his hands, ignoring Dipper shouting at him to wait "Ever. Play your smarty-pants nerd game!" he declares before throwing it to the ground, spilling all the dice out onto the floor including the case that secured the infinity-sided die. Ford and Dipper watch in a panic as the case opens and the die bounces out and lands on a wizard symbol, the dice sparked onto the cover of the DDMD box and they all watch as the characters from the game come to life. 

"Mortals of Dimension 46'\, kneel before me and..." he rolls a couple die and throws them onto the board, leaning down to get a look at what he rolled before grinning menacingly at them "snivel! I am Probabilitor, the greatest wizard in all mathology, give or take an error of 0.4." 

"Uh, is this normal?" Stan questions as they all back away, Mabel and Grenda grabbing Alvah to pull her unconscious body away. 

"Have you come to send us on the quest of a lifetime, because we're the smartest players you've ever met?" 

"You are the smartest players I've ever met. That's why I'm going to eat your brains to gain your intelligence. Especially that one lying there. It's what I do." 

"It's his thing." 

"What?!" Dipper turns and grabs Alvah by her collar, shaking her body back and forth "Alvah! Come back! Come back right now! The game came to life and they're going to eat our brains!" Ford throws his coat back to reveal the gun strapped to his waist, he pulls it out and spins it around his finger before aiming it towards Probabilator. 

"Your math is no match for my gun, you idiot!" 

“Math ray!” Ford grits his teeth when he feels a blast of wind blows past him after shielding his eyes from the bright light that came from the man before him, he thought he was going to be thrown out of the room but was surprised to see a sort of red force field shield them all from the attack. A groan came from behind him so he looked back and saw it was Alvah slowly pulling herself up from the floor while her hand was shining a soft hue of red, Dipper let out a sigh of relief that he managed to get through to her and her body instinctively put up a shield to keep them out of harm's way. 

“I wasn’t even gone for that long, and you guys managed to get yourselves into trouble?” she’s on her feet now ripping off the graph papers they so rudely stuck on her when her body was unoccupied, it was when she took off the one stuck to her face was when she paused and stared at Probabilator when she turned around and started to leave “Good luck, you guys.” they stare at her in shock. As she passes Stan, he caught her by the arm to stop her in her tracks, and though the situation is dire, Mabel doesn’t miss the way Alvah flinches when he turns her around. 

“What do you mean good luck? Didn’t you say you’d keep us out of danger?!” she gave a shrug, face turning a soft pink under his gaze. 

“I did, but didn’t I also tell you I can’t directly interfere with events in time? This so happens to be one of them.” she then points behind her with her thumb “I’ll just be in the background. I’ll make sure you guys don’t die under my watch; I promise.” 

“What?!” 

“You guys are going to have so much fun! Family bonding, yaddy yaddy yah! The whole shebang. I can’t just obliterate him out of existence, that’d be cheating.” she takes her arm back and goes to walk off again but this time Probabilator causes her to freeze. 

“Obliterate? Hah! With that mediocre display of magic? I have a hard time believing that!” Stan watched how her face twitched and how she fought down what he believes was anger and irritation. 

“Mediocre...? Me? My magic is mediocre? Me!” she startled them when she suddenly grabbed Stan and shook him while glaring at him, and while it wasn’t directed at him it still scared him to see the angry side of Alvah “If you think you can get away with calling me mediocre, you’ve got another thing com—no, no.” she let Stan go and approached Probabilator with the intentions of strangling him but managed to rein herself in before she could lay hands on him “No, no, no. You can’t do anything, Alvah. Calm yourself. Be the bigger person and let it go. Yes, that is what you’re supposed to do.” she nods her head and starts walking away. 

“Is she oka--” Dipper cut himself off when she came rushing back in. 

“No, I’m not.” they were taken aback when she punched him square in the face that she probably broke his nose, he fell to the ground with a cry but he also threw his staff in the air, and she caught it and stared at the die at the end of it before turning her gaze down at Probabilator “Here’s a lesson on magic. Though it varies depending on which dimension you’re in, they all circulate around the same thing. Magic is recognized as the use of mana to create phenomena, outside the limits of normal science. The usage of magic has varying degrees, with only the skill, personal power-level, imagination/knowledge, and/or morality to define the borders of the magician's limits.” as she explained, they watched as she started drawing a magic circle in the air that glowed an ominous red “Magic is all about bringing something that didn’t exist into reality, and that is the beauty of magic.” after completing the magic circle she tapped on it and they watched as it glowed so bright before blasting a pillar of fire at their foes, burning them to a cinder. 

“Well...” Dipper spoke, she then started to laugh as she kicked at the box art of Probabilator. 

“Hah! How was that for mediocre, huh? Try using your mathology in the afterlife!” she leans to the side when she notices that she accidentally overdid it with the magic and destroyed the kitchen and left burn marks everywhere “... I’ll fix that.” now they’re outside the shack while Alvah was floating around and fixing it up after what happened during the portal's reactivation, she didn’t have time to fix it earlier but after the mess, she made she finally made time to do it. 

“Mabel, is Miss Alvah a witch?” Grenda asked as she watched Alvah float off the ground after taking a tree that had lodged itself into the roof and replanted it back into the ground, they all kind of forgot that Alvah being a supernatural, interdimensional demonic being was a secret. 

“Well, Grenda, actually--” 

“That’s so awesome! Do you think if I asked, she would teach me how to use magic as well? I wanna be a witch!” they hear a laugh and see that it is Alvah slowly descending from above but continuing to float as she holds the staff over her shoulder. 

“That would be quite difficult, little Grenda. In this dimension, you humans don’t particularly have mana or any other sort of energy that allows you to wield magic. But you do have science, which happens to be the more limited but modernized version of magic.” she chuckled softly when Grenda huffed, kicking at the grass while crossing her arms. 

“That’s not fair!” she pats her head. 

“Life’s not fair, kiddo. Perhaps you should go punch someone, it always brings a smile to my face.” 

“You’re right!” with that Grenda runs off to go punch the nearest person, she chuckled at the young girl before throwing her arms towards the newly fixed Mystery Shack. 

“And there you have it! Good as new!” they all hear a creek so they look up and see the iconic S from the Shack slowly slip off and fall to the ground, she let out a breath as she dropped her arms “I’m not even going to bother.” she looks down when she saw Dipper approach so she lowered herself to the ground and sat herself down on her knees. 

“Thanks for helping us, Alvah.” she smiled softly and gently patted his head “You’re not going to get in trouble, are you? You said that was an event that you weren’t supposed to interfere with.” this caused her to let out a huff. 

“I really wasn’t supposed to do what I just did. I was technically supposed to allow him to kidnap you and Ford, and take you guys into the forest while Mabel and Stan came to your rescue. It was to help your guy’s development and relationship; you guys are trapped within the game and they were going to play it to save you.” this caught them by surprise “Since I’ve already interfered, I don’t think I’ll get in trouble for telling you what was supposed to happen. It was my first offense; I’ll probably be let go with just a warning. So, if you guys see the time police, tell them you never saw me. I don’t want to deal with that stupid Time Baby.” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you mean to tell me that we actually played that nerd game? For real?” she nods. 

“Yes, you played that “nerd game” to save your brothers, and you actually had fun doing so, and won against his smarts with your dumb luck. If you remove the mathematical and hard-thinking concepts out of DDMD, you will greatly enjoy the game. You put aside your distaste for the game to save both Ford and Dipper, which helped with your guy's relationship, and you guys realize that your bit— I mean, bickering isn’t going to do you any good, blah, blah, blah.” she thanked Dipper when he helped her up while she tossed the staff behind her “So, I’m sorry that I let my ego get the best of me and ruined your adventure. This is why I don’t really get in the way of these things, because it takes the fun and development you guys were supposed to have, out of it.” she hummed softly when Mabel approached her, taking her hand and tugging her forward. 

“And we greatly appreciate your help, Alvah. Is what why you’ve been staying out of things as of lately?” she nodded her head. 

“Uh-huh. You should spend as much time with each other as you possibly can because you don’t know when it’s going to be your last.” Mabel pouted at that, Alvah didn’t realize where the little girl was leading her until it was too late, because the next thing she knew was Mabel grabbing Stan and pulling the two of them together and they fell into each other. 

“Then will you watch the season finale of Duck-tective with us? It wouldn’t be the same without you, and since you played with Dipper and Grunkle Ford, then you’ve just gotta watch it with us!” she swallowed thickly as she slowly looked up at Stan, her face slowly losing its composure with how close they were as she started sputtering out any sort of excuse to decline “Come on, pretty please~ won’t you do it for me?” looking back down at her she saw her infamous puppy dog eyes with her trembling lips, she let out a sigh. 

“Alright, fine.” both she and Stan take a knee when they were yanked down so Mabel could hug them both, they plant a hand onto the ground to stabilize themselves while wrapping another arm around the young girl. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she hugged them a little longer before letting them go and jogging over to Dipper to urge him to join them, Ford was planning on declining the invitation but looked over towards his brother and demon and saw the way the two of them acted like awkward teenagers. It was honestly quite amusing, two people who are known for being outspoken and confident were reduced to nothing but silence, and from what he learned through her memories the two of them were known for flirting with each other and couldn’t keep their hands off each other. She wrapped an arm around herself while her free hand rubbed her face, Stan himself hand one of his hands caressing the back of his neck while the other planted itself on his hip. 

“So...” they startle each other when they spoke at the same time while turning to look at each other, they immediately turn away when their faces were inches apart, she starts playing with her hair as she took a breath while Stan took his hat off “How have you been?” she perked up when he spoke to her, looking up at him, he was dusting his hat off before placing it back on top of his head. 

“Well. Could I assume the same for yourself?” he gave a shrug. 

“Eh, I’ve been better.” she nodded softly, and her mind went back to the conversation she, Ford, and Mabel had in the lab and that feeling of guilt started pooling up in her stomach again, she’s grabbed a fistful of the skirt of her dress and was playing with the bundle rather nervously. 

“Stanley, I... I’m--” he looks down at her, curious as to what she had to say, she looks up at him and he saw this look in her eyes when they locked eyes, she looked like she was going to say something before her body slumped and she instead reached up to fix his fez that was slipping from his head “I’m happy you are faring well.” her hand slips down to his face where it briefly rests upon his cheek before she pulls it away, she holds her hand close to her chest as she walks towards the shack to follow Ford inside where she misses Stan reaching up to place his own hand on the cheek she last touched. 

“Alvah.” upon joining them in watching Duck-tective, she sat on the ground beside Grenda while Stan, Dipper, and Mabel all squeezed onto the small sofa. She found the plot to be a little amusing, that the season finale revealed how the duck protagonist had a secret twin brother, which almost reminded her of someone. She felt a little nudge so she looked up and saw Mabel wiggling her eyebrows at her, she rolled her own eyes and shook her head before looking back at the TV. 

season 2, episode 14. the stanchurian candidate 

alvah is, of course, with stanford when dipper comes down to complain about stan stubbornly refusing to listen to him and mabel about running for mayor. 

while he ranted on and on about the fact, ford looks at alvah to see whether or not his brother actually wins the election. 

she gave a shrug while making a “sort of” gesture. 

she watched in amusement when ford pulled out a necktie that had the capabilities to control the wearer. 

“use it responsibly” he said, like hell they would. 

when it was the day of the election, ford couldn’t seem to find alvah until he looked upstairs and found her watching the election. 

he saw the way she was giggling softly to herself as she watched stan, a soft hue dusted across her cheeks. 

not in love, she says. 

ford ridicules her but he was swiftly punched in the face. 

season 2, episode 15. the last mabelcorn 

Alvah wasn't allowed to join Mabel on her quest for the unicorns because Ford said that "a being as rotten as her would scare them off", or whatever that means. She thinks he's just a sucker that believed that whole pure of heart sham all those years ago, she already knew that was a farce from long ago but thought it was too funny to reveal. She could easily get past those stupid unicorns and either a. take their hair by force or b. compliment their hair and ask for tips, that usually works. Ford told her that he wanted to spend some time alone with Dipper, having already revealed what they were doing in his lab all those nights ago, and Dipper practically pleaded with her to allow him to spend time with his idol. 

So here she was, sitting outside the shack with nothing to do. She watched aimlessly as the little critters that roamed the forest would peek out and approach her curiously before wandering back into the forest where she would reward their curiosity with little peanuts left out by Soos, she had a walnut in her hand so she swiftly crushed it within her palm before outstretching her hand to a squirrel that padded up to her. She watched as it sniffed her hand curiously before eating right out of her palm, it would be so easy to close her hand around its neck and tighten her hold around it. She could do it slowly and watch it struggle within her grasp, clawing at her hand to escape despite knowing its attempts would be futile. Or perhaps she could just crush it like she did with that walnut, how she would feel its neck snap in an instant; quick and painless. She let out an oh when it suddenly scampered away, she flicked the reminisce of the walnut onto the grass and relaxed back on the steps. 

"... I know you're there, Stanley." she hummed softly when she heard a crash from behind her, she waited a couple seconds before the door opened, and out came Stan dusting himself off while clearing his throat "Come to have a chat with me, Stan?" she pats the free space beside her and waits to see whether or not he'd take her up on the offer, he grumbles to himself but plops himself beside her. 

"Why aren't you with brainiac one and two or Mabel? You're usually hanging off his shoulder or keeping Mabel out of trouble." she merely shrugged her shoulders as she plucked another peanut from the bowl and tossed it toward another squirrel. 

"Fordsy wanted to spend some time with Dipper alone to devise a plan against Bill, and Mabel will be just fine. And you didn't hear this from me, but she's gonna punch a unicorn in the nose. It's rather glorious." she giggles softly to herself at what the future has for Mabel, sure her love for unicorns vanishes because they're nothing but a sham, but it sure was a spectacle to witness. 

"What? She punches a unicorn?" this got a laugh out of Stan "Almost tempted to follow them just to watch."  

"She might need comfort when she returns. Because of their little "purest of heart" scheme, they make her a little insecure about how good of a person she is. She might need some reassurance when she gets back, but those other girls keep her from falling too deep." they sit in silence and Stan watches her closely, he stares at her face specifically. Ever since it was revealed that she wasn't all that she seemed to be, whether she was a man or not, she wore a rather cocky grin on her face and carried a haughty attitude, she was just unrecognizable to him. But right now, under the grace of the sun and a calming summer breeze, he was blessed with the Alvah he had grown rather attached to... like he'd ever admit that part out loud, god he hoped she couldn't read minds (she can, in fact, read minds). 

"You're staring." he jumped at her voice, fidgeting from where he sat when her eyes trailed away from the wilderness that surrounded them and onto him, he swallowed thickly and stared deep into those soft, rich green eyes of hers. He was the most socially aware between himself and Stanford and took pride in himself with how well he could read people, he thought he read Alvah well, but there was just something lacking within her eyes "What's on your mind?" 

"Pointdexter refers to you as a devil, so are you like Bill?" 

"By that, are you asking if he and I are the same species?" he gave a kind of gesture. 

"Do you have a shape form like he does?" this question causes her to burst out into a fit of laughter. 

"I'm not a Euclydian, Stan. Their species have been long wiped out like their dimension, no thanks to Bill." she paused when she saw the confused look on his face "They are, er, were a two dimensional species that were only shapes like squares and circles." 

"And triangles?" she nods. 

"Uh-huh. They were incapable of seeing the third dimension, but Bill, he was different. But due to that, he accidentally destroyed Euclydia. He'd say otherwise, but we beings know what happened that day." 

"So you're saying that you were there?" she shrugs. 

"More or less. You're technically not supposed to know this, not even Ford knows this, but I could care less. Bill tells an entirely different story, saying he did it for power, but he only says that because he doesn't want to confront the fact that he erased his species off the face of this universe. He refuses to see that it was his fault." 

"Whoa." she nods, he looks at the ground as he thinks of another question to ask "But you do have many forms, right? This and the one you use for Ford aren't the only ones, are they?" she shakes her head. 

"No, they aren't." Stan then watches as she changes shape into a variety of different people, or rather, species "I have contracts with many people for trillions of years and taken the form of different species. I don't really have a proper identity to call me own." she spoke in different voices and even languages as she changed from a monster with tentacles for a face and even a tall newt with a purple skin tone before finally changing back to Alvah. 

"That sounds sad." 

"It really isn't. The contracts were easy to fulfill and I didn't have to stay in a body for too long. This one, however, is the longest it has existed." she said as she raised her arms to look at her hands "Without me even realizing, it started developing..." he raised a brow as he looked at her hands then back up at her. 

"A consciousness?" she chuckled softly. 

"Feelings." he blinked at her words "Every body I made moved like a machine with simple instruction. Listen to the contractor, fulfill the contractor's wishes, and complete the contract. Simple." 

"But?" she finally looked away from her hands and stared at him, long and hard. 

"I would leave these bodies and return to my own so I wouldn't get... attached. But, I was stuck in this one for so long it-- or I, started to feel. That is impossible, I'm not supposed to feel anything." the longer he stared into her eyes the more he started to see something that once wasn't there "And yet here I am beginning to enjoy the company of a small human family to the point I would do anything to secure their safety; to the point that I don't want you... to hate me." his eyes widened at her words. 

"Alvah." she turns away and wraps her arms tightly around her torso 

"Stanley, I am... sorry, for how I've treated you these past couple of weeks. I'm sorry I've been distant, I'm sorry I've avoided you. It’s just... so hard for me to come to terms with these feelings that are so foreign to me. These feelings are something I can’t control, and no matter how hard I’ve been denying them... they just keep coming back.” he sees how her arms tightened as she spoke “I don’t know if it’s this body or my feelings. I’m supposed to know everything, I’ve seen countless possibilities, millions upon trillions of endings but not one... not one where I--” he blinks when she abruptly cuts herself off. 

“Where you what?” the suspense was killing him, he tilts his head to try and get a look at her face but instead he saw a faint hue on the tips of her ears when she spoke so softly it would’ve been lost to the wind. 

“Where I...” he couldn't quite catch what she said but he saw the way her body suddenly froze, as if the sudden realization of her feelings finally caught up with her. He was startled when she quickly shot up to her feet and turned around, speedwalking to get inside the shack and possibly hide from him “I-I—I need to go! It was swell talking with you again, Stanley! Talk to you later!” she tries to get away but Stan was fast enough to stand to his feet and catch her wrist before she could get too far. 

“No, no! You can’t just stop there! You can’t just leave me hanging there, Alvah!” each time he felt her try to get away he would tug her back, he knew that she was much stronger than him, he knew that she could throw him off but this was a rare moment of Alvah being vulnerable with him so he wasn’t going to lose her when he was so close “You don’t get to spill that all on me and expect me to just sit there! I still... I still care about you! I still think about what we had, about what we did and said to each other and I hoped it wasn’t something you did out of obligation. That what we had meant something to you, the real you! That you actually... care for me. That finally someone chose me, and that since you knew it was me from the very beginning, you actually wanted me.” she stopped fighting him but she didn’t turn to look at him, his grip on her tightened as his face hardened “Won’t you say something, Alvah?!” he tugs at her and forced her to turn around and there... there he saw a sight that will forever be engraved in the back of his mind. The color red had practically covered her entire face as she tried her best to shield it with her forearm but failed, she was looking everywhere but at him and she looked so flustered; so, embarrassed that she looked so adorable in his eyes that it made him forget that the person in front of him was the embodiment of chaos and evil.  

“I... I do care about you, Stanley. I care when I-I shouldn’t be able too.” she moves her arm so her hand could cover the lower half of her face as she looked away “I’ve seen those kids die—I've seen you die so many times. To the monsters that roamed the forest... or by your own hands, and it scares me so much. Is this how you humans feel when you care about something so much that you feel like you’re dying? I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I were to lose you...” his hand slowly reaches for her other wrist and pulls it down so he could look at her clearly, the one that caught her slid up her arm and rested on her cheek where she finally looked at him and he saw so many different emotions swirling in those beautiful eyes of hers. 

Fear, anguish, regret, confusion. 

“Humans are more... complex than machines. We feel things that can spiral out of control if left alone.” his thumb started stroking her cheek in a form of comfort and she melted at the affection, her eyes fluttering close as she leaned into his touch “If what you say is true, then running from it will make you hurt more.” her eyes opened again and he couldn’t tell if the glisten in her eyes were tears or something else. 

“You make my nonexistent heart beat. I... I...” he saw the way that word was stuck in her throat, how she struggled to say it as she hid her face in the palm of his hand. Instead, she blinked when she felt his other hand cup her cheek and slowly turn her towards him once more, the two of them stare at each other until he started leaning in. A weak gasp left her when he pressed his lips against her, unlike the other kisses they’ve shared, this one was so short and faint she’d compare it to a peck. He pulled away and she saw his cheeks were tinted the faintest shade of pink but her face turned even more red, however, it didn’t stop her from wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a much needed kiss. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her waist to pull her close and reciprocate the kiss, they’d pull away briefly to allow him to breath but they’d pull each other right back in for more. Her hands removed themselves from his neck to cradle his face within her hands while his own roamed her body, he manages to catch them when they fall back into the door behind her with his hand slamming against the door frame, when they break away, they rest their foreheads against each other with his hands caressing his face affectionately “Stanford’s gonna kill me.” Stan snorted softly at what she said. 

“Why do you say that?” they move from the door to take a seat on the yellow sofa, all the tension from earlier gone as she cuddled up to Stan’s side, his arm wrapped around her side to keep her close. 

“He has come to realize my infatuation with you and threatens me about getting close. Says he doesn’t want a repeat in history, but I’m insulted that he compares me to Bill and you to him. If I’m being honest, you are much smarter than your brother.” 

“Hah! You’re just saying that because you like me.” she shakes her head, lacing her fingers with his and giving his hand a squeeze. 

“No, I am being very honest. You are much smarter than people give you credit for, Stan. I have watched you ever since you stepped for in Gravity Falls and your actions leading up to your brother’s return have been remarkable. If anything, your brother has much to learn from you. Be proud of your actions.” she quirked a brow when she felt his grip on her hand tighten a little as his body trembled, looking up, she giggled quietly to herself when she saw him covering his eyes with his hand “Stan, are you crying?” he looked away from her. 

“No! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she hummed and reached to grab at his wrist and pull it away from his face, she gave him a soft expression as she cupped his cheek and wiped away his tears. 

“I told you this before, Stan, you don’t have to hide your vulnerability from me, I’m not going to make fun of you.” with that she kissed his tears away and nuzzled her cheek against his, he laughed softly and returned the gesture to know that it was appreciated “I still don’t fully understand what these feelings are or how I should confront them, but I do know you are something dear to me, as well as those children, and Wendy, and Soos and even Stanford. I’ll do anything to keep you safe, but there are just some things I just can’t prevent from happening in order to do so.” he hummed softly at that. 

“So, there is more to come?” 

“More than you could think.” he let out a grunt when she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face within the crook of his neck, hugging him tightly “So when that day comes, please know that I am so sorry that I had to let it happen.” he opens his mouth to reassure her that he’d forgive her, that it couldn’t possibly be as bad as she’s making it out to be, but seeing how she tightened her grip on him made him think otherwise. 

“Whatever you say, toots.” they decide to go back into the shack in fear that Mabel and her friends would reappear and catch them doing something they definitely didn’t want them to see. Alvah hadn’t realized just how much she missed spending her time with Stan, whether it doing something productive or just simply lazing around doing absolutely nothing but basking in each other’s company. She found herself craving more of Stan then she ever realized, she wanted him to smile at her more, she wanted to be the reason of his laughter, she wanted to be the center of his universe, but she knew deep down that she could never replace the love he had for his family. So, even if she had to be fed breadcrumbs in order to stay in his mind, she wouldn’t mind. 

“Did somebody say unicorn hair?!” both herself and Stan jump at the sound of Mabel’s voice, has it been that long already? She hadn’t even realized how long she and Stan spent together to the point that Mabel had returned from retrieving the unicorn hair, she guessed Dipper now knows that the muse she was talking about long ago was now in fact Bill Cipher and that she and that triangular freak have got ongoing beef. They both leave the room they occupied and make their way to where everyone was huddled in, however, the moment Stan’s eyes caught the glistening shine of gold he was quick to leave her side. 

“MONEY!!” she sweat dropped when he grabbed an armful before breaking down the backdoor as he fled, she sighed but clapped her hands when she entered the room. 

“Well done, Mabel, I knew you could do it.” taking in their disheveled attire, she snickered softly when she saw the unicorn tears and blood that covered the girls followed by scratches and bruises “You did a good job, kiddo. I’m real proud of you.” she praised as she knelt down and gently ruffled her head, she pulled her hand away and saw the way her eyes glistened with tears. 

“Thanks, Alvah, I really needed that.” she winked. 

“Don’t worry about it. Those unicorns don’t know a thing about you, but I know for sure that you’re the greatest little girl there could ever be.” she soft gasp left her when Mabel threw herself into Alvah’s arms, her eyes widened a little at the action as she slowly lifted her arms to wrap around Mabel and embrace her. Her mind went back to what she said to Stan and she immediately felt the guilt pool in her stomach, but she ignored it to nuzzle her cheek against the side of Mabel’s head. 

when stan came back, he and alvah spent a few more quiet hours to catch up on lost time. 

she made sure that mabel was busy with her friends so the young girl wouldn’t catch them doing anything. 

it was when things were getting more intimate when she was suddenly ripped from his grasp and a crash followed close behind.

opening his eyes, he was met with a hole in the wall as well as a loud thud. 

that was due to the fact when dipper and ford put up the protective barrier to bill-proof the shack, ford made a few miscalculations and demon-proofed the house. 

so when the barrier went up she was repealed out of the shack, to which she was on the top floor and fell from a great height.  

dipper was immediately apologetic and ford chuckled when she glared at him to fix it, well, that was until stan popped his head out from where she was thrown out. 

the next hour is spent with her running away from blasts from his gun while stan, dipper and mabel try and stop him. 

season 2, episode 16. roadside attraction  

“You really don’t want me anywhere near your brother, huh?” Alvah, who was in his male form, cooed from where he was floating over Ford, who was currently trying to figure out a way to fix the rift after it was damaged by Dipper when he learned the truth about Ford and Bill and shot him with the memory gun, only for the blast to ricochet off his head. After learning that Alvah and Stan settled the awkward tension they had and were acting flirtatious again, seeing them acting all lovey dovey and not getting enough of each other. He would try to ignore it but knowing what they were doing in just a room across from him had him storming in, no matter what they could be doing, and ripping her away from Stan to confine her in the lab “So overprotective, Fordsy~” he giggles to himself and twirls and strand of his long black hair around his index finger. 

“I do not want to know what kind of tomfoolery you and my brother get up to.” he huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Like you and Bill?” he snickered when he saw Ford stiffen, dropping the pen he had in his hand as he slowly turned red. Whether it be from embarrassment or anger, or perhaps both, he’ll never know. He scoffed when Ford whipped his head over to where he was floating and glared at him with such vigor, if looks could kill, he’d be dead where he stood—er, well, floated “Hit a nerve, did I?” he hummed softly when Ford grabbed him by the ankle to yank him down, making sure they were face to face as when he spoke. 

“How dare you bring that up, Alvah. You know exactly what Bill did to me.”  

“Then you should know better than to compare me to Bill, Stanford.” he opens his mouth to protest but was shushed when Alvah shook him off “I can hear your thoughts without needing to read them, and to say I’m insulted would be an understatement. My adoration for Stanley is completely different from the obsession Bill had for you.” 

“I-It wasn’t an obsession!” 

“I stalked you two for over a year, and he would not shut up about it either. I will go through those journals just to find those receipts; I will do it. I will give you the time and date for each instance, don’t tempt me.” they stare at each other for an intense few minutes until Ford breaks away with a disgruntled sigh, he watches as he returned to where he was before in silence before speaking “... I’m not going to hurt him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I already know what he’s been through. From his upbringing, the ten years he spent alone on the road to the thirty years of bringing you back. I don’t plan on damaging him even further, intentionally, that is.” 

“Intentionally?” Ford waited for an answer but was met with silence, he turned back to look at Alvah to question him but paused when he saw the distraught look on his face “Al--” 

“Let's just say, there’s just something I can’t prevent from happening.” Ford wants to question him on what that means but knows that if it has something to do with the timeline then Alvah will not tell him, despite being an all knowing and powerful being, there seems to be some rules that even he cannot and will not break. He goes to return to work but saw the way Alvah perked up like an internal alarm went off in his head, he raised a brow curiously. 

“Now what?” Alvah lifted his hand up and the shadows beneath him rose out of the ground. 

“Your brother seems to be in need of assistance.” Ford furrowed his brows in concern and got off his seat, standing beside Alvah as the shadows acted as a way to see what was happening. Ford always wondered what Alvah saw whenever she was, as he called it, the Shadow Realm, when they conversed. The image was distorted and hazy but clear enough for them to see what was going on on the other side, and there they saw Stan encased in webbing in some sort of cave. 

“Wasn’t he going on a road trip with the kids?” he nods. 

“He is, but it seems he ran into an arachnimorph. Quite nasty, if I say. If he’s lucky, he didn’t run into a female one.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“They’re more aggressive than the male arachnimorphs. You know, like normal spiders.” the image then shows a tan skinned woman with tan marks over her eyes in the shape of her sunglasses and on her shoulders where straps were present. She had sandy-blonde hair and a brown birth mark on her left shoulder, and though her torso was that of a normal human woman, her lower half was that of a spider “Him and his dumb luck.” 

“Are you going to help him?” he shakes his head. 

“As much as I want to, it’s one of those moments where I can’t.” he nods his head. 

“I see.” he goes to make the image disappear until that woman started getting closer to Stan. 

“You tricked me!” he shouted at her “I’m eighty-percent certain you don’t really love me at all!” this comment caused Alvah to furrow his brows, though he already knew the plot of this adventure, he still was a little jealous that Stan and this spider-woman went out on a date. 

“Ha! Men will fall for anything. You’re so funny. Great story. I love a man with shoulder hair.” 

“You... you didn’t mean it about my shoulder hair?” Ford and Alvah to roll their eyes. 

“Tell me, Stan, before I transformed, who’d you think was in charge? You, with your cheesy lines and fake confidence? I’m the master pick-up artist here. Sorry, toots. This time, you’re getting used for your body, which, to my species, is food. Allow me to slip into something more horrifying.” with that, the arachnimorph pulled its mouth open like that of a body suit and revealed its true form “I wonder what beverage pairs well with a vintage seventy-something-year-old man."  he grits his teeth as he glared at her from where he was hanging. 

“Why I oughta, when my partner gets here, you’ll be sorry!” this caused the arachnimorph to let out a laugh as she got close to him once more. 

“If you already had a partner, why’d you flirt with little ol’ me? Wouldn’t that break their heart if they learned of your infidelity?” he just let out a laugh. 

“Not really. I used my better lines on her and I’ve practically got her wrapped around me finger.” Ford looked up at Alvah and saw the irritated look on his face followed by the soft blush tinting his cheeks, he rolled his eyes knowing that what Stan had said wasn’t too far off from the truth “Besides, unlike her, I didn’t really like you all that much. Just trying to show off to my nephew how professionals work.” she let out a laugh at what he said. 

“Hah! Thanks to you, that boy will probably do more harm than good with your advice. It’d probably be better if he didn’t listen to you, because in the end, look where you ended up.” 

“Sure, but my partner surely won’t leave me hanging and come to my rescue!” the way he emphasized on the surely was meant for him to appear right that moment to save him, Darlene looked around for the appearance of such a partner but no one came “Come on, Alvah! I know you’re watching!” Darlene laughs once more as she got close to his face, he winced and leaned as far away as he possibly could while being confined to the webbing. 

“Sorry, sweetheart, but it looks like you’re all alo—ah!” Stan was startled when a fist appeared from beside his head and punched Darlene in the face, knocking her a few feet away from him, though he gradually calmed down when said fist uncurled and a hand glided across his jaw and caressed his cheek. 

“Hello, beloved. Can’t go a day without causing trouble, huh?” Stan smiled at the sight of Alvah appearing from out of his shadow, her arm around wrapped around his shoulder as she pulled herself close to him so she could rub her cheek against his “I, for one, like your shoulder hair.” he giggled bashfully to himself as he nuzzled his cheek into hers. 

“Aw~ I knew you would.” before she could say anything else she let out a grunt when she was shoved away from him by another figure, Stan was surprised to see Ford appear as well by grabbing Alvah by her face and pushing her away while pointing his gun towards the arachnimorph. 

“That’s enough of that.” she glared at him but scoffed as they both step out of the shadow “This isn’t a good idea, Alvah.” she shrugged as she stood in front of the twins to ensure she was the first target that Darlene woman would go for. 

“As long as I’m not the one to take her down, we should be fine. Now hurry up and free your brother, I’ll keep her back until the kids get here.” 

“Mister Pines!” she chuckled at the sound of Grenda’s voice echoing through the cave. 

“Speak of the devil.” the children came rushing in to save Stan but were greatly surprised at the sight of Alvah and Ford already in the process of saving him “Children, take your uncles and get out of here. I’ll hold her back while you get away.” 

“Miss Alvah! How are you here?” 

“Magic~” she quickly turned her attention back towards Darlene when she came charging at her, she caught the six-legged creature by her hands and dug the soles of her feet into the ground to keep her from pushing her back. She grimaced when the pincers on her face chittered as she leaned close, Alvah winced when she heard the sound of subtle cracking so she glanced over at her arms and saw tiny cracks forming around her elbows “Yeesh, have you ever thought of eating a couple breath mints? You smell as bad as that guy back there.” she said while motioning to Ford with her head. 

“Hey!” Stan snickered. 

“She’s got a point, Sixer.” she leans away again when Darlene let out a chuckle. 

“So, you must be the partner, huh? Did you know that your Stan over there whispered sweet nothings into my ear? He thinks he’s such a smooth talker with his cheap flattery and cheesy one liners.” Alvah rolled her eyes. 

“Well, they worked on me.” she looked away when Darlene gave her an incredulous look. 

“Wait, seriously?” she shrugged her shoulders. 

“What? I’m a sucker for flattery.” she let out a yelp of sorts when she was lifted off the ground then slammed back down into the ground, it didn’t hurt, but she grimaced when she heard more parts of her body start to crack “Hey, hey, now. Let’s be gentle, I’m a fragile little thing.” 

“You also look like a sweet little thing, I wonder what you taste like.” 

“Well, you’ve got to ask Stan if you want to answer to that question.” she winked but let out another grunt when she felt this overweight arachnid push her deeper into the dirty cave floor, she was getting dirt and cobwebs in her clothes and hair, what a pain “I beg, please get your ugly face away from mine. I don’t appreciate it.” Darlene laughs again as leans in close, her pincers wiggling inches away from Alvah’s face. 

“I won’t let any of you get away. You’ll make a perfect addition to my collection.” Alvah scoffed. 

“And I won’t let that happen.” the moment she heard them finally free Stan she hiked her legs up and kicked the overgrown spider off of her, she springs back up to her feet then held up her hand when she noticed them start to approach to help her “No, get out of here! I can’t handle her.” 

“But--” 

“I said go!” though reluctant, the group turn tail and ran out of the cave, leaving Alvah and Darlene alone together “If this were any other situation, I would finish you in an instance, but this ain’t. I’m just gonna give you a hard time.” she winks at the arachnimorph and uses two fingers to gesture for her to come. 

“I'll make you regret not running with the rest of them.” with the others, they were all high tailing it down the moment and towards the skyline, Candy looked back towards the cave entrance that got smaller and smaller as they ran further down the moment. 

“Was it right for us to leave Miss Alvah the way we did? I can’t help but worry for her.” Ford shook his head as he ushered the children to run ahead of him and his brother, occasionally looking back towards the cave in case the arachnimorph did manage to get past Alvah. 

“Oh, no. I believe she would be very cross with us if we didn’t leave. She can handle her own, I promise you that.” 

“Yeah, but you should have seen here when we had to fight against zombies. She looked hot as hell.” Dipper covers his ears at the words that were used, and though Mabel couldn’t help but agree, she did awe a little. 

“Ew.” 

“I don’t need to know that, Stanley.” 

“Zombies?” Candy and Grenda question, though neither got an answer when the sound of shouting came from behind them followed by loud crashes, they didn’t have time to turn around when flying over them was Darlene and Alvah tumbling down the mountain. Alvah was shouting as she punched Darlene in the face each time they were in the air and Darlene would retaliate when she was on top of her, Alvah would sometimes be able to catch her fist and punch her right back across the face but other times she would have to take the hit. Alvah couldn’t really feel pain each time a strike connected but she could feel her body crack more and more against the super strength the arachnimorph species possessed. They both crashed into a tree with Alvah landing on top of her, she continues to land blows on her but Darlene used her legs to kick her off her. She manages to catch herself and rushes towards Darlene and when her fist connects to her face, this time, her left hand all the way up to her forearm completely shatters. 

“Well.” 

“Alvah!” she looks back at the group and saw them stop when they notice her missing limb, she looks back down at her shattered hand then quickly looks back at them and waves them off. 

“I’m fine! Just hurry onto the sky tram! I’ll catch up!” Ford was quick to heed her demand and ushers them all into the tram, having to force Stan on before he could rush off to help her.  

“Hah! So, you’re not a human! Should have figured that one out, Stan seems to have a type.” Alvah shrugged then twirled a strand of her blonde hair. 

“Yeah, seems to me he’s into blondes. At least I was right on that mark, hmm?” Darlene laughs. 

“Well, since you’re down a limb, you won’t be that much of a threat!” with that she was quick to run off and chase after the fleeing group, Alvah scoffed and looks back down at the hole her shattered arm left. 

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Ford looks back and saw Darlene was leaping from tram to tram and gaining on them fast, no thanks to the stupid tram going at the speed of 0.1 miles per hour, however he perked up at the sight of Alvah not too far behind and instead of fixing her arm like she did when he blasted a hole in her face, the same black tar oozed out from the hole the damage did and became her new arm that grew larger with claws instead of hands. He also noticed that she ripped off her other arm so she could have two, so he saw her running along the cable while also using her new arms to swing herself towards them. When Darlene finally caught up to them and started encasing them in her webbing, Alvah swung herself up and kicked Darlene off and onto a different tram that was ahead of them “Is that all you got, freak?!” 

“Are you alright, Alvah?” she leaned back to see Ford peaking his head out of a window “You took quite the damage fighting that arachnimorph.” 

“That’s because this body isn’t meant for fighting, it’s only meant to look good. Besides, this vessel doesn’t seem to be able to contain the updated version of our contract.” she should have known when Ford allowed her more access to her power her body would become more brittle with how old it is “But I'm fine, nonetheless.” a soft gasp left her when a couple pieces of her face chipped off and fell, more black ooze leaking out of her face.  

“What was that, Alvah?”  

“I-It’s nothing!” Darlene lunges for Alvah once more but she swung herself around the cable holding up their tram and kicked Darlene back once more before lowering herself down to get a look at the group through the glass window “Candy!” the little girl jumped at the sound of Alvah’s voice, looking at the older woman, she gasped at the sight of her disheveled state. 

“M-Miss Alvah? Are you alright?” she waves her free hand, her claws digging into the roof of the tram to keep her from falling. 

“Don't worry about me, sweetheart. You’ve got this though, right?” Candy blinked at Alvah’s words, taken aback that she knew that Candy had a plan to deal with Darlene if she hadn’t showed up, so she smiles and nods her head while giving her a thumbs up. 

“Affirmative.” Alvah returns the gesture before hoisting herself back up, one of her arms wraps around the attachment that connects the carriage to the cables above them while the other is pressed against the roof just as Darlene jumps back. 

“Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily.” this earned her a chuckle “What’s so funny?” 

“Well, you don’t seem to realize you’ve walked into my web.” this caused Darlene to look down and noticed how the hand that was pressed against the roof allowed the black ooze to cover the surface and the moment her legs touched it they covered her legs completely to restrict her from moving “Hope you ain’t afraid of water!” she lets out a maniacal laugh when Candy pulled the emergency lever and the latch that connected the carriage to the cable above them released and they fell, they fell directly into the geyser “old reliable” that went off and shot them right back up into the air. They were sent flying down the mountain with Darlene taking the brunt force of crashing into everything while Alvah was running on top of the carriage as it continued to move, she made sure to release Darlene when they made it down and broke through the kiosk at the bottom of the mountain, right underneath the boot of the old statue that came down and crushed her. 

“My only weakness, a giant boot!” she cried out as she struggled to get out from underneath said boot “A giant newspaper or a giant cup would also have been pretty bad.” Stan and Ford managed to break down the carriage door where all occupants came tumbling out after rolling down the mountain. 

“Kid, that was ingenious! How’d you know it would work?” Stan raised as he pulled Candy into a side hug. 

“Useless travel pamphlets.” 

“Stanley.” they all flinch and look back towards Darlene, who transformed back into her human form “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. You’ll let me out, right?” she spoke while twirling a strand of her hair, batting her eyes to lure him in. 

“What? After all that? Seriously, do I look like an amnesiac?” he shouts as he approached her weakened form. 

“Haha, you’re so funny. Have you ever considered becoming a comedian?” before Stan could answer her, he was pulled back by Ford just as Alvah stood over her with the carriage held above her head. 

“Stan’s already got a supernatural being in his life and that isn’t you, sweetheart.” Alvah ignored her cries and dropped it on top of her, she makes sure her legs stopped twitching and goes to turn around until she caught her reflection in the glass “Well, that was irritating, she broke my face.” she murmured as she brought her hand up to caress her cheek that was missing a couple pieces. 

“Are you alright, Alvah?” she moved her eyes and saw Ford approaching her, she huffed and turned around. 

“I already said I was fine. And again, this body was not meant for fighting, only to look good.” she let out a grunt when he grabbed her by the face, pulling her close so he could examine the damage “And you say I’ve got issues with invading personal space.” she squeaked when he tightened his grip on her face, squeezing her cheeks and yanking her closer to glare into her eyes. 

“At least I don’t do it in every waking moment.” she just shrugged her shoulders, he threw her head back before grabbing at what was left of her arms to look at the ooze that replaced what was missing “Is this your blood?”  

“Close, it’s my “flesh”, more or less.” 

“Not that smoke?” 

“The smokey version of me you see is the power I simply use to invade your head, you know, like that sand man? This goop would be the more accurate term to what my body is made up of, dead flesh.” she pulled a face when he pulled out a vial and scooped some of it up, he dangles it in front of his face and shakes the glass bottle “Really?”  

“The more I learn about you, the better.” she rolled her eyes then paused when she heard someone clear their throat, peering past Ford, she saw that it was Stan sheepishly kicking his feet while rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Oh Stanley, are you okay?” she cooed softly while reaching for him only to recoil back when she remembered the state she was in, but she was taken aback when he reached forward and grabbed her clawed hand “I thought you wouldn’t want to touch these rather grotesque hands of mine.” he laughed. 

“I got acid spit in my face, your arms are the least of my worries.” she giggled softly and used her other hand to covered her face. 

“You sap.” Stan opens his mouth to add something else but felt something rest on his shoulder, he turned his head to see what exactly it was only to let out a startled shout at the sight of a severed hand laying on his shoulder. The others watch in shock when Stan let out a scream and threw the arm in the air but stopped when Alvah burst out into a fit of laughter, she raised her hand and caught the arm then waved it cheekily at them “Thanks for the “hand”. Haha, get it?” she continued to laugh as she let the ooze slither back into the hole it came out of then connected the severed arm in its place, she rolled her arm a couple times then grinned when the cracks fused together smoothly. 

“Fascinating, but wasn’t that the arm that shattered?” 

“It was, but as long as I can find the pieces, I can put myself back together. Like so.” Dipper shrieked when he saw another arm drag itself over to where Alvah was, she picks the arm up abd repeated the same process she did with the first arm “Ta dah, good as new.” she let out an oh when Mabel tugged on the end of her skirt, she kneels down and tilts her head in mild curiosity then blinked when Mabel placed a rainbow band aid over crack and hole on her face. 

“There, now you’re as good as new.” she caressed her cheek and smiled softly. 

“Thank you, Mabel.” she let out a yelp when she was pulled back by Ford, she huffed at the action. 

“Let us return, Alvah.” she rolled her eyes and stood to her feet, snapping her fingers to rid of all the cobwebs and grime that got on her after that distasteful squabble. He raised a brow as he watched her approach him and reach for his hand, she laces her fingers with his as best as she could and pulls him close until they were practically cheek to cheek “What are you--” she ignored him to look back at the group. 

“See you back at the Mystery Shack.” with that she fell backwards and pulled Ford with her, he wasn’t prepared for the sensation that was them falling into their shadows and it felt like they were submerged briefly in a body of water before falling upright back in his lab. She chuckled softly when she felt his grip on her hand tighten significantly but when he came to realize they had returned he immediately let go, he looks back at her and saw Alvah changed back into his male appearance and rubbed his cheek that was bandaged. 

“How long will it take you to repair your face?”  

“It shouldn’t take too long since it’s small.” he hummed softly when he realized Ford was staring at him rather intently “What? Something else on my face?”  

“... you really have changed, Alvah.” his face twitched at Ford’s statement “You never stepped in whenever someone was in trouble, you always watched as if it were the most boring thing you ever had to do. You’ve stated you are a neutral being that’s job was only to spectate and observe, nothing more than that.” his fingers picks at the small band aid on his check while averting his gaze from Ford’s. 

“Why? You prefer if I abandon your family’s safety instead?” 

“No, I’m more curious as to why you would risk yourself getting into trouble to step in when you know you could face dire consequences.” Alvah continues to pick at the band aid as he thought back to his time spending every waking moment with the Pines Family and he couldn’t help but smile rather bitterly. 

“I, too, am very curious.” he then chuckles “I’ve got your brother to blame for half of it, though.” Ford scoffed. 

“I’ll say.” he rolled his eyes. 

Savory

word count: 7225

Fandom: IRL!MCYT Pairing: Quackity x Male!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Romantic Occupation: Baker Ability: N/A

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [D/N]: Dog Name

Warnings: cringey

I like making my oc’s and even readers really tall, fight me.

this is hella gay and it hurts my brain because I rushed it.

that is all.

Dammit.

That was the only thought going throughout Quackity’s mind as he ran along the streets, why you may ask. Simple really, it’s because he lost his gorgeous pet cat, Tiger. Sure, he knew that Tiger was quite adventurous and most certainly feisty, but never would have thought that Tiger would run off so suddenly as he did, he immediately sprung into action and fled his house in search of his dear sweet pet cat.

“Tiger! Oh please, where did you go? Tiger!” he called out rather frantically, soon enough, worry started to arise when countless scenarios started playing throughout his head. What if Tiger got hit by a car? What if Tiger got mauled by another animal? What if someone took his cat?! Now the panic was starting to kick in and he was searching in a more frantic manner, running up and down the footpath while continuously calling out his cat’s name. When everything seemed dire, he heard the sound of soft laughter, he turned his head and he couldn’t help but freeze up at the sight before.

He wasn’t really one to act as flustered as he did at the very moment with his outgoing and flamboyant personality, but he really couldn’t help it at what was before him. He also had to agree that George had the pretty privilege and was most certainly gorgeous, but this guy took the cake. Short/Long [H/C] hair with strikingly bold [E/C] eyes, even from a fair he could tell that this rather attractive male had quite a broad and muscular body and that smile that graced his face that caused a slight tint of red to dust his cheeks as he played with a cat. Wait-- cat? He took a closer look and his eyes widened in a mixture of relief and shock at the sight of Tiger curled up beneath this man, showing his underside so he could scratch his belly.

“Hey! That’s my cat!” he shouts as he rushes over, this sudden commotion caused the man to stop petting Tiger and raise his head to turn over to where Quackity was currently rushing over, he nearly stumbled over his own footing when his [E/C]’s landed on him.

“Oh? I’m sorry.” he apologized, he tried standing to his feet but laughed when Tiger launched himself forward and clung onto the shirt of the stranger, who laugh as he held Tiger close so he couldn’t fall, laughing even more when the cat curled up in his arms and started purring when he started scratching under his chin “I didn’t know he was yours, kind of distracted me when he was sprawled all over the footpath.” Quackity returned the kind smile with a rather nervous one, rubbing the back of his neck when he realized just how tall the man in front of him was, probably about 6″3-4ft tall.

“It’s no problem. Thought I lost him, I’m just glad he’s alright.” the stranger nods his head and watched as the shorter one of the two reached forward to take his cat back, now it was Quackity’s turn to laugh when he saw how much trouble the stranger was having giving his cat back. When Tiger felt the man was no longer going to hold him, he started letting out meows while clinging onto his shirt, crying out louder when Quackity tried taking him back “I am so sorry.” the stranger just shakes his head.

“Oh, not at all. For some reason, animals tend to love me. I grew up with a lot of pets and my folks call me the animal whisperer with how much our pets loved me.” a couple minutes went by and Quackity wasn’t able to get Tiger to let go of the attractive stranger so he let out a sigh, hands pressing against the lower side of his back as he stared at his cat that soon climbed out of his arms and was now resting on his shoulders.

“I really am sorry about him, he’s not usually like this.” he only hummed, reaching up and scratching under his chin once more.

“He’s a real cutie he is.” he then offers his hand to the shorter man, polite smile on his face “I’m [M/N] by the way, thought you’d want to know.” Quackity’s eyes perked up at that and took his hand.

“Um, my name is Alexis! But people call me Alex.” he nods his head before pointing at the cat “Oh, his name is Tiger.” [M/N]’s eyes lit up at what he said.

“Tiger? Aw, such a cute name.” he cooed.

“Do you have any pets?” his eyes lit up once more.

“Of course.” he then turned his head, raising his hand and bringing his fingers to his lips before letting out a sharp whistle “[D/N], come!” he shouts, Quackity turned his head to where [M/N] was looking at was startled at the sight of a merle great dane barreling over to where they were standing. [M/N] laughs as he grabs Tiger and raises him above his head when his dog tackled him to the ground, he let out an oof as his body landed on the ground with a thud but he still continued to hold Tiger above him so he wouldn’t get trampled by his dog 

“This is my great dane [D/N]!”

“He’s quite big.” [M/N] rolls his eyes as Quackity took his chance to finally take Tiger out of [M/N]’s hands without him fighting back.

“Of course he’s big, he’s a great dane my guy!” he exclaimed, Quackity knelt down and set Tiger down and he was rather thankful that his little furry companion decided to loiter around him, he laughed when [M/N]’s dog started licking his face but he managed to push his face away to get a breather “See? Animals love me.” he nods.

“Sure, I’ll believe that when I see you start talking to birds.” he pursed his lips at the thought.

“Don’t tempt me.” when his great dane managed to settle down, he rolled his neck and rubbed his back after taking the full impact of his weight and his dog’s, he then noticed [D/N] nuzzling his snout into Quackity’s thigh and he hummed softly “He likes you.”

“Eh? Really?” Quackity’s face flushes once more when [M/N] gave him a gentle smile as he nodded his head, scratching his dog behind the ears. 

“What’s unique is that [D/N] is usually so defensive around strangers, but he’s taken a liking to you.”

“R-Right.” the two of them continued to chatter, though they moved locations to a nearby bench so that they weren’t sitting in the middle of the footpath and out of the way of walking pedestrians, and they were overall enjoying each other’s company. [D/N]’s head was resting on [M/N]’s thigh as he nuzzled close into his owner’s side while Tiger nestled silently in Quackity’s lap, the latter calmly patting his cat as it slept. The two of them hadn’t even realized how long they were talking for until they saw the street lights beginning to turn on as the day turned into night, [M/N] gave Quackity an apologetic look as he stood to his feet, gently patting his dog’s head after the abrupt action.

“Oh! I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.” now it was Quackity’s turn to stand up, being more careful as he held Tiger in his arms.

“No, no! Not at all, I actually enjoyed this afternoon.” he then looks to the side, his nervousness beginning to crawl up the back of his neck “I was also kind of hoping we could talk again.” [M/N] blinked at the request before smiling softly, he pulled out a pen from his wallet to pull out an old receipt and scribbled something down on the back of it, he tore off the needed part before scrunching up the waste and handing the other part to him.

“Call me when you’re free, yeah? Then I’ll know when I’m not taking up your time when you’re busy.” he then waves his hand to bid the other goodbye before walking off with [D/N] by his side, yipping and barking while jumping side to side then following his owner home. Quackity continued to stand there like a fool before letting out a long groan, the soft blush on his cheeks continuing to grow as his hand tightened into a fist, accidentally crumbling [M/N]’s phone number.

“Dammit.”

Quackity was soon looking forward to having conversations with [M/N], he most certainly had the best humor when it came to the entire Dream SMP, but [M/N] was just so goddamn comedic there would be hours where the two of them are just talking while making jokes. It soon became a competition between the two of them to see who could make the other laugh first or the most, so far Quackity was the reigning champion between them but [M/N] wasn’t too far behind. Currently, Quackity was laying in his bed with his phone beside his head and there he was chuckling softly at the sound of [M/N]’s boisterous laughter sounding from his phone’s speaker.

”Come on, that joke was funny!” [M/N] cried out, he snorted to himself when he could tell that [M/N] was clutching his stomach as he continued to laugh, to which he only shook his head.

“I see that I am the ultimate victor when it comes to comedy since now you’ve resorted to dad jokes and puns in order to get me to laugh.” the latter snorts, wiping away a tear that shed.

”Dad jokes and puns are funny.” Quackity rolls his eyes, rolling onto his side so that he was facing his phone, smiling softly as [M/N]’s icon shun whenever he spoke, the light illuminating his darkroom.

“It depends on what joke.”

”Alright, I have another one for you!” Quackity shook his head once more, resting his cheek onto his closed fist as he closed his eyes, waiting for [M/N] to tell his terrible joke ”Why couldn’t the pirate finish the alphabet?” he hummed, genuinely trying to answer the joke but his mind came to a blank, maybe because it was the sound of [M/N] trying to stifle his laughter at the terrible joke.

“I don’t know, why?”

”Be... because he got lost at C!” it wasn’t the fact that it was the joke that made him laugh, it was the sound of [M/N]’s laughter that made him smile, maybe also the sound of a thud coming from his side of the line, he probably fell off wherever he was sitting because of how hard he was laughing “It’s such a terrible joke but it’s just so funny!” he exclaims, sniffling a little before taking deep breaths to calm himself.

“You have such terrible humor.”

”I do not!” they then both started laughing, soon the laughter died down and the two of them sat in their respective rooms in silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, it was rather comfortable and the two of them basked in the silence as they listened to the sound of each other breathing softly. [M/N] closed his eyes as he leaned back in the chair he was resting on, he glanced at the time and noticed that it was already past midnight, he grimaced to himself and leans forward to apologize to Quackity but paused when he heard the soft sound of his snoring. His gaze softened a little as he stared down at his phone, he then chuckled softly as he picked up his phone and raised it to his lips “Sweet dreams, Alexis.”

[time skip: a few days later]

Quackity had gotten rather busy lately, with all his assignments from school and late-night streaming, he hadn’t really been able to converse with [M/N] overcall but rather having a few short conversations through text, but that was that. [M/N] also had his own things he had to take care of so he wasn’t necessarily that distraught when he would politely decline hanging out, a man’s gotta do to live, you know? He was now walking down the busy streets of California with no clear destination in mind, just a simple stroll and stopping here and there while casually listening to music blaring through his earphones.

’Hmm, I could really go for something sweet right now.’ he thought to himself, pursing his lips before taking a seat on a nearby bench, pulling his phone out, and thinking about [M/N] ’He did mention that he was in the food industry, maybe he might know a place or two.’ he shrugs his shoulders before scrolling through his contacts, pressing on [M/N]’s icon before letting it ring.

...

...

“Hello? [M/N] speaking, to whom am I speaking with?” he chuckled softly at the sing-song voice [M/N] used as he answered the phone, already knowing that the man on the other side of the phone knew exactly who it was.

“It’s the one and only.” the man on the other line perked up immediately at the sound of his voice.

”Alexis! Haha, what can I do for you? And not to be rude, I hope you can be a little quick, I’m kind of in the middle of work.” Quackity immediately felt bad for calling now knowing that his friend was in the middle of something.

“Oh, I am so sorry! I can call ba--”

”No, it’s fine, really!” [M/N]’s voice was sincere as he spoke, he couldn’t help but be a little flustered that he would take up his time just to talk to him over something so small, god, he felt embarrassed right now ”Now why did you call me? Is something the matter?” yeah, he was feeling really embarrassed now, he pressed a hand onto his face before looking to the side.

“No, it’s nothing major.” he groans to himself, throwing his head back “I was just feeling like eating something sweet right now and thought you could recommend someplace to eat.” his face flushed a shade of red when all he earned from the other male was silence.

”... hmm, where are you right now? Are you at home?” he shakes his head, before he could answer he heard [M/N] let out an oh ”Hold that thought.” he furrows his brows when he hung up, he let out a huff.

“Wow, rude much.” he sat there for a minute or two then perked up when he heard his phone ping, pulling it out, he saw that it was from him.

From: [M/N]  To: Alexis

look up.

“Look up?” he then heard tapping so he raised his head before jumping on the spot at the sight of [M/N], when he finally spotted him, he smiled softly and waved his hand to greet him. Before [M/N] ended the call, he looked at the window of the building he was in, and to his surprise, he saw Quackity sitting on the bench outside, quite the coincidence. He soon waved his hand to gesture for him to enter, and how could he refuse the opportunity to see his friend. He soon realized that the building he entered was a bakery of sorts that also served as a café, it felt very homey and it put his mind to ease, he then looked over the counter and saw his friend waving at him with a bright smile.

“Hello, I humbly welcome you to my café that produces baked goods of all kinds. Whether they’re the generic cupcake or brownies, or French pastries like Canelé or Crème Brûlée. You’ll find what you want here.”

“Wow, really? You own this place?” [M/N] huffs.

“Did you really just ignore everything I just said?” Quackity raises his hand, snorting a little at the offended look [M/N] was giving him.

“Well, what kind of reaction do you want me to give you? Do you want me to say “oh my god! You see all sorts of desserts for my fatass to eat? Wow, you’re a life savior!” no, but it is pretty cool.” he starts to laugh when [M/N] has him an unamused.

“Damn, alright.” he waves at his employees to take care of the other customers while he personally dealt with Quackity, he leaned against the glass case and smiled softly at him “Well, what can I get you sir? Is there anything appealing that you want?” he looks at the assortment of desserts before raising his head to look at [M/N], he thought for a minute before a devious smirk worked its way to his face.

“These all look certainly appealing, but,” [M/N] raised a brow in question when Quackity snapped his fingers then winked at him “the most delectable one I see is you.” [M/N]’s eyes widened slightly at the poor pick-up line, but that didn’t stop the slight pink flushing to the tips of his ears, Quackity thought he got him until he gave an answer.

“Unfortunately for you sir, I am not on the menu.” he gives a smirk of his own, leaning forward so that he was a few inches away from his face “I am a delicacy few can afford, so it’d be smart of you to choose wisely sir.” he giggles to himself when it was Quackity’s turn to be flustered, pursing his lips and turning his head away to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Okay... that was smooth.” he grins.

“Thank you. Now seriously, what do you want?” he went for the safe route and went for a Mexican Pan Dulce, one that would hit home, he had been missing Mexican cuisine so eating it again would definitely be nice. [M/N] shows him to a seat then sits with him, he stated he was on break so it should be fine to catch up a little “So how have you been? We haven’t been able to talk as of lately because we’ve both been busy, how’s your streaming been?” Quackity told him about his Twitch and YouTube channel a few weeks into their friendship and told him he could call him by his channel name but the latter was quite insistent on just calling him Alexis, saying that if he didn’t have a cool name to go by, they’ll both be addressed by their boring names.

“Well, walking into your café just reminded me what I wanted to do for a new video.” he quirked a brow, raising his cup of coffee to his lips, waiting for him to lay his new content idea on him “I wanted to do a cooking stream.” [M/N] claps his hands.

“How delightful, I’ll make sure to watch and make small comments on what you’re doing.” Quackity pursed his lips at the way he said it, he didn’t know if he was saying that to be nice or to poke fun at him.

“Well, since I now know your knowledge of cooking is quite out there, I was wondering if you would like to be a special guest on my cooking stream?” his eyes widened slightly once more at the suggestion, he then furrows his brows slightly.

“Alexis, cooking, and baking are two completely different things. To simplify, cooking is the broader category of food preparation methods, while baking is one of those methods. Cooking can be done a number of ways, while baking requires the use of indirect, dry heat from an oven to prepare food for eating.“ he pulled a face when he knew Quackity wasn’t listening to his explanation.

“... then it’ll be a baking stream!” [M/N] only shook his head with a sigh, but he laughed nonetheless “You don’t have to agree if you don’t want to, but we both know that I’ll fuck up everything without the proper supervision.” he watched as the [H/C] male lean back in his seat, rolling his fingers against the tabletop before shrugging his shoulders.

“Meh, sure, why not?” Quackity cheers “But it’ll cost yah.” he deflates.

“What?!” he then snorts.

“I’m pulling your leg.” they both hear a whistle so [M/N] glances over and saw one of his employees, they gesture to the clock so he glances down at his watch and pouts “Pity, it seems my break is already over. I was hoping to talk a bit more with you, but alas.”

“I’ll tell you when I’m planning on having my stream.” he nods.

“I’ll see you then, Alexis.” he winks before leaving to get back to work, he hums to himself, leaning back in his seat before munching on the pan dulce, now beginning to look forward to his next stream.”

[day of the stream]

“Pizza? I thought we were baking.” [M/N] said softly, putting down his bag and gently greeting Tiger as he entered Quackity’s humble abode, he also brought [D/N] and promised that his dog wouldn’t be too much trouble. He pursed his lips as he watched Quackity sit up in his kitchen before turning around to face him, tutting his finger.

“Pizza is a type of bread so bake is the correct term, however, you look at it.” he laughs when he saw the other roll his eyes, continuing to pet Tiger.

“Well, I’m sorry. I’m just used to baking sweet things, not savory, but I do know how to make a pizza.” he hums to himself when Quackity clapped his hands, a bright smile on his face. [M/N] watched silently as Quackity set up his PC and the camera, directing it to where they would be baking the pizza, he brought an extra pair of clothes just in case things got messy, he had watched a couple of Quackity’s videos and saw just how chaotic he was, but he was hilarious nonetheless.

“I’m almost ready setting up, oh! Here’s an apron.” [M/N] let out a laugh when he chucked it at him, he pulled it off his face before standing up and putting it on, tying the laces around his waist before pulling his hair back, making sure that flour wouldn’t be able to get in his hair.

“Is there anything you want me to do specifically, or no?” he hums at the question before shaking his head, giving him a smile and a thumbs up.

“Just be yourself.” he hummed at that, Quackity did tell him to wait, he was going to start his stream and greet his chat first before introducing them to his guest. Watching him was quite entertaining, seeing how he was able to hype his chat up to what he had in store for them, snorting to himself when he heard him claim how he was a “professional chef”, he shook his head at that. Quackity noticed this and spared him a knowing glance before looking back towards the camera, he rambled for a couple more minutes before clapping his hands “As you’ve already read in the title of the stream, we have a special guest that will be joining us today and helping us! Isn’t that exciting?” he glances at his PC to see the chat going crazy.

”Who is it?”

“Did you meet up with someone?”

“Karl?”

“A guest!”

“Alright, alright, calm down. He’s a friend of mine and he isn’t really a streamer or content creator, just your average joe.” [M/N] looked at him.

“Hey!” he shouts, this caused Quackity to throw his head back while laughing, he pats his chest to calm himself before throwing his arm out in the direction where [M/N] was sitting.

“Come on in, my friend! Come and introduce yourself to the chat.” he shook his head before getting up from where he saw sitting and walking into the camera shot, having to bend down slightly because the camera was pointing down at an angle that could fit Quackity and not himself.

“Hello~ I am the guest, my name is [M/N]. Nice to meet you all.” both himself and Quackity were blown away at how fast the chat was spamming messages and even donations, [M/N]’s eyes scanning them as fast as he could to read what they were saying.

“Awooga!”

“Sexy voice!”

“Gorgeous!”

“Tall hunk!”

”Wow, I believe your chat likes me.” he mumbles to himself, a soft blush rising to his cheeks as he continued to read the continuous compliments coming from the dozens of viewers, he then perked up when someone sent a donation.

ur_mom donated $5

Damn quackity, your friend lookin hella fine, if you know what I mean? he single? 

“Um, yes? I am single, but I’m not exactly looking for a relationship with a minor, please and thank you.” now the chat was roasting the hell out of the person who sent the dono, he laughs once more before glancing down at Quackity who had an offended look “Oh, come on now, don’t tell me you’re jealous that your viewers find me more attractive than you?” he scoffs, pushing him back with a laugh.

“Hell no! Looks isn’t everything, skill is key and I’ll demonstrate that through our cooking stream!” [M/N] pulls a face, placing a hand on his hip and leaning on his side.

“I literally own a bakery, I bake for a living. That’s the whole reason you invited me, remember?” they stood in silence for a couple seconds before Quackity pushes [M/N] away by his face and faces the camera once more.

“Today we will be making a pizza!” the chat begin to laugh when [M/N] swatted his hand away and gave him an offended look.

“Oi!” for the first half of the stream, [M/N] was practically stopping Quackity from harming himself, being floored when the man literally put his finger into boiling water to check if it was warm enough, he was surprised he hadn’t burned down his kitchen for how reckless he was.

“Alexis, I’m literally getting a headache with what you’re doing.” he says as he watched him mix the two cups of water and the yeast with a spatula all because he didn’t have a mixer, he slaps a hand onto his forehead when he then saw him pick it up and sniff the mix before coughing and gagging at the smell “I’m going to smack the shit outta you if you don’t stop that nonsense, boy.” Quackity laughs as he looks up at him.

“I know what you’re doing!”

“Mm hmm.” he then taps his shoulder.

“Then, I’ll leave this to you while I go prepare the flour.” he only sighs in response to that, taking the measuring cup of water and yeast and stirring it with a whisk instead, gagging himself at that smell that was coming from it “Where’s the bowl? Who the fuck stole my bowl?!” [M/N] only sighed as he shook his head, glancing over his shoulder.

“Look in your cupboards, Alexis, you didn’t pull any other bowls out.” he lets out an ah at that before crouching down and rummaging through his cupboards to look for a bowl, [M/N] squints at the abomination he was mixing, adding some more yeast in it just as Quackity returned with a bowl.

“Alright, we got the bow here.” he glances down at it and sighs, he changes his gaze to Quackity.

“That’s a strainer, not a bowl, keep looking.” he looks down at it before laughing, throwing it away and searching for a bowl once more, when he couldn’t find one he left the room calling for his mother and asking her where a bowl was, only later to return with one in hand.

“Ah! It was right in front of me.” he cheered, he then leaves once more to grab flour, showing it to the camera “Gluten free flour!”

“Gluten free? Damn.” Quackity smacks him in the arm before proceeding to look into the packet, opening it up and attempting to pour it into the bowl, [M/N] then looks up in thought before putting the measuring bowl to the side.

“What kind of yeast did you use again?” he asked, taking the box of yeast and reading through it.

“Vegan yeast.” he grimaces once more as he reads through it, he then glanced back at him.

“You do know that nutritional yeast is deactivated and will not rise, right?” just as he said that, a dono saying what he saw popped up.

...

...

“Anyways-” [M/N] closed his eyes, Quackity only laughed at his response before resuming the stream. Most of the time it’d be [M/N] pointing things out and giving detailed instructions on how to properly make the pizza, he had to admit, he knew he was nitpicking everything Quackity was doing, but he genuinely couldn’t help it when his main profession involved baking, but the latter didn’t mind whatsoever.

kazterboro cheered! x500

Can we get one flour handprint on that crisp black shirt?

“Goodness gracious.” [M/N] murmured softly, he eyed Quackity and grimaced slightly when he noticed that he was genuinely considering it.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t think about it, flour is a hassle to get out of clothes until they are washed, I would know from experience, Alexis.” this only earned him a roll of the eyes as he mixed the flour with salt and yeast as he removed any cooking equipment from the counter that they won’t be needing anymore into the sink when the mixture turned into a dough and they were in the process of kneading it into its shape. [M/N] didn’t think much time went by when he turned away but by the time he returned, he saw Quackity had two flour handprints on his chest and they weren’t going away “... you better wash your hands with soap before you touch that dough.” he sulks but nods his head.

“Right.” he sighs with a laugh before rolling his sleeves up.

“I’ll knead the dough until you’ve finished, yeah? Shouldn’t take me too long.”

“Right, but I want to knead it too.” he nods before getting to work, Quackity was surprised because by the time he turned back around he saw that [M/N] had already kneaded the dough enough to the point he was able to spin it around on one hand while tossing it into the air before catching it spinning it around in one hand once more “What the hell? Barely a minute has passed and you’re already doing that?” [M/N] grins.

“My skill never fails to bring out the best in what I make.” Quackity continued to stare at him before reaching forward.

“Gimme a try.” he raised a brow.

“Sure you’re up for the task?” he waves his hand.

“Psh, how hard can it be?” this only earned him a quirked brow before [M/N] handed him the dough, five seconds later the dough he threw up and landed on his head. The two of them stood in silence before [M/N] burst out into laughter at how funny that was, he wiped away a tear before reaching forward and grabbing the edges of the dough, and lifting it up to take a peek at Quackity. There, he saw his face was a slight shade of red due to the fact that he made himself look even more foolish and he was avoiding his gaze.

“Now that was funny.” he says, he removes the dough from off of his head and chuckled when he noticed that his face was covered in flour “Perhaps you should leave this to me, huh?” Quackity did not like the mocking tone [M/N] was giving him so he removed his headphones off his head and let them hang on the microphone, he then took the dough from him and placed it down before grabbing a fistful of flour. He let out a gasp when Quackity threw the flour at his face, [M/N] coughed when he inhaled it before sneezing and waving his hand in the air to clear his vision.

“Not so funny now, is it.” [M/N] raised his head and stared down at him.

“Oh, it’s on.” the chat went wild as they watch the two grown men start throwing flour at each other and making a whole mess in the kitchen, laughing as they did and not even caring that they were going to have to clean it up in the end. They hadn’t known how much time and gone but [M/N] stopped to catch his breath, maybe it was the amount of flour in the air that caused him to start coughing or how much he was laughing, he stopped paying attention really. He took a step forward but paused when his foot slipped on the pile of flour beneath his foot, he panicked and reached forward, grabbing hold of Quackity but ultimately, they both collapsed to the ground “Ah... sorry.”

“No, no. We both should have seen this coming.” look down, Quackity froze up when he realized just how close he was to [M/N]. Pushing himself up, he realized that his hands were on either side of [M/N]’s head and his chest was pressed against his chest and his face was ridiculously close to his, he shuddered a little when he felt [M/N]’s hands gripping his thighs a little.

“Alexis?” when he opened his eyes, they both started to blush at the awkward position they were in, even more so when [M/N] tried to lift his head but that would result in them touching noses “Uh...” they laid there for a good couple seconds, wordlessly staring into each other’s eyes but they finally moved when [D/N] trotted over to them and licked Quackity’s face.

’Thank you [D/N] for breaking that awkward moment!’ Quackity screamed in his head before pushing himself completely off of [M/N] and waving his hand towards the camera, the chat spamming him about what happened.

“Sorry about that! Just a little mishap, that’s all!” [D/N] even graced the audience with his presence by jumping up and his front paws were on the counter, Quackity continued the next part of the stream while [M/N] continued to lay on the floor, face bright red but hidden as he covered his face with his hands.

’He was too close.’

[time skip: a few hours later]

[M/N] was currently in Quackity’s shower and he was having one of those deep shower thoughts running through his mind as he washed his body and hair of the flour that got on him when they had that little flour fight and when he collapsed to the grou-- he let out a silent shriek as he slapped his hands onto his face, face turning red once more as he remembered the feeling of Quackity on top of him as his hands tightly gripped his thighs... damn, his thighs were pretty thi--

“Stop!” he shouts as he slaps himself across the face, letting out a groan as he let his hands drag his face down. Quackity sat in his living room feeling refreshed by flustered himself, Tiger resting along his shoulders while [D/N] was resting his head on his lap. They finished the stream rather smoothly despite the little bit of tension in the air, but they didn’t let that get in their way from creating the abomination they called a pizza, [M/N] refusing to eat it in fear of getting food poisoning from their creation. He offered to clean the kitchen while Quackity had a shower first, insisting that it would be alright for him to do so, he let his head lean back but was mindful of Tiger.

“Dammit, stupid feelings. Why the hell do I feel like a school girl in those TV shows?” he muttered to himself before throwing his head forward, inwardly apologizing when both pets pulled away at the abrupt movement. His hands were pressed against his cheeks as he remembered the feeling of his thighs in [M/N]’s hands, the feeling of his breath fanning against his face along with the way his eyes didn’t seem to waver as they stared at each other “God am I gay...”

“You’re what?” he shot up and whipped his head to the point he was surprised he didn’t neck himself with how fast he moved, there he saw [M/N] in different clothes, towel hanging from his shoulders as his body steamed a little from the long hot shower “I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, good for you.” Quackity stood to his feet, face red once again as he shook his hands and head.

“No, no, no! No, I-I’m not-- no, I don’t-- dammit!” he shouts, slapping a hand to his forehead “You know how I am with the jokes, I’m was kidding... I’m no--.” he lets out a groan as he sits back down, head in his hands as he tried to calm himself, god he was having such a gay panic that he wanted to die. [M/N] took a seat beside him, keeping a distance to ensure that the other was comfortable and whether or not he should touch him or not comfort him.

“I understand, I guess I just misunderstood what you were saying, there’s no need to panic.” they sat in a comfortable silence until Quackity raised his head, eyes hesitating to meet his.

“... are we gonna talk about what happened?” a soft blush flushed onto his cheeks.

“What do you want to talk about? Did I make you feel uncomfortable?” he shook his head.

“No! Not at all, honestly, I just wasn’t expecting it.” he raised his hands and pulled his beanie off his head, running a hand through his hair before messing with it “If I’m being honest, it was pretty gay.” [M/N] stared at him, he snorts before bursting into laughter.

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty gay.” they both share a laugh before staring at each other, Quackity gasped softly when he noticed [M/N]’s hand was slowly inching towards his, stopping just a couple inches away as he raised his gaze to look at him. He was silently asking him if it was alright, he didn’t need a verbal response when he laced their fingers together before bringing their hands up so they could both see how Quackity held his much larger hand in his own. He caressed the male’s hand with his thumb, reveling in the feeling of his soft/rough palm against his own.

“This is very gay.” he nods.

“It is.” [M/N] pulls him slightly until they were close again, not attempting to hide how flustered he was getting, he gave Quackity’s hand a light squeeze as he stared at him with a soft and gentle gaze “Do you mind if I...?”

“Make it even gayer?” the latter rolled his eyes but nodded his head, Quackity didn’t have the voice to answer him so he meekly nodded his head. Now that he had the go-to, [M/N] raised his other hand to gently cup his cheek, reassuringly caressing his thumb into his cheek before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. When he pulled away, he saw Quackity was shaking softly, eyes screwed shut as his face now resembled that of a tomato... hell, maybe even brighter. 

“I hope this shows you how much I like you, Alexis.” he said softly, to which the other hesitantly opened his eyes and saw the look of pure love swirling in his eyes, he let out a soft groan as he covered his face with his forearm and turned away.

“Dammit... stop messing with my feelings like that.” [M/N] only let out a chuckle, tightening his hold on his hand when he felt him try and take it back.

“So, do you accept my feelings?” he let his eyes peek from over his forearm and saw how he was waiting for an answer like a puppy, he tried to be stern with his answer but his voice betrayed him with how nervous he was.

“Y-Yes, I do.” he cursed himself that he stuttered, but the other found it quite cute as a wide smile spread across his face as he let out a cheer, throwing his arms up then wrapping them around his smaller frame and pulling him into a hug.

“You really have no idea what this means for me...!” he whispers softly, face buried deep in his shoulder. Quackity glanced up at him before slowly wrapping his arms around him to return the gesture, the heat never disappearing as the beating of his heart continued thumping aggressively against his chest. [M/N] pulled away and gave him an eager look before pulling him into a much deeper kiss this time, pouring all his heart and soul into it so Quackity can feel just how in love he was with him, he was gasping for air by the time he pulled him away as a string of saliva was what was connecting them together.

“Now that was gay...” he said softly, out of breath, [M/N] snorted at that before resting his forehead against his head.

“Yeah, but you’re gay for me.”

Headcanon:

when they start dating, [m/n] is fine that quackity doesn’t want to reveal his relationship to his viewers or friends just yet, it was quite understandable and waited patiently until he was more comfortable.

quackity usually doesn’t hesitate to express how he’s feeling, but he just feels so much more flustered when he’s around [m/n] and he’s usually the one that gets embarrassed when [m/n] showers him in love.

[m/n] definitely bakes food and has quackity taste test them to see if they’re alright or not.

bake nights. they have bake nights sometime during the week and it usually ends with them being covered in flour or some sort of batter.

this usually ends with them showering together.

quackity is the little spoon, without a doubt.

he enjoys feeling [m/n]’s arms wrapped around him and keeping him close, he’s actually quite warm and he enjoys the warmth coming from him to the point that he clings to him like a koala.

[m/n] makes little appearances here and there during quackity’s streams, his viewers have come to enjoy seeing him show up randomly during his streams.

[m/n] also checks up on him, handing him food and water and makes sure he’s alright and looking after himself. making him tea or something else warm to drink from all the screaming he’s doing.

the other twitch streamers also like [m/n] a lot, not only was his funny that he was a perfect match for quackity’s comedy, he was just so goddamn gorgeous that they were jealous that quackity had a front row seat to see him.

sometimes quackity gets jealous with how the chat keep flirting with his lover, the same going for [m/n] when they say something quite provocative.

but nonetheless, they both know that comments like those mean nothing to them.

their relationship was their little secret until quackity decides that this fine hunk of meat was all his, and his alone. 

he was yours, and you were his.