Whumptober2024 - Blog Posts

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nakahara Chuuya/Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs) Characters: Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs) Additional Tags: Dehumanization, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Nakajima Atsushi Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakahara Chuuya Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nightmares, Childhood Trauma, Whumptober 2024 Summary:

The world was dark. So, so endlessly dark. Even on the days Atsushi was able to step outside, to feel the sun hitting his skin and to hear the laughter of the other children, it was all so dark and cold. The warmth of the sun felt distant, and the laughter grated against his ears, a symphony of sounds he could not make, a joy he could not know.

Atsushi relives his past during a nightmare, comfort is given, a lifelong question is answered.

Finally finished another whumptober prompt! This is my first time writing for ChuuAtsu so I hope yall like it!

They were exhausted. They had had so many fights all one right after the other, and it was beginning to feel like there was no escape.

Atsushi and Akutagawa had been bickering the whole time, pushing blame onto the other, yelling out orders, and calling each other petty names that in the whole never really mattered. Atsushi could feel the tiger getting tired, he could feel it in the way he couldn’t move as fast, how his healing was slowing, how every single time he moved, he felt pain shoot through his body.

AKA Atsushi and Akutagawa are pushed to their limits as they fight with abilities they don't know

Prompt 2: Trust Issues Prompt 3: Set Up For Failure

I’m rising from the dead for whumptober!! This is my first time doing any writing challenge, so I’m excited to see how it goes!! This work does prompts 1; Panic Attack and 2; Hallucinations.

I plan to do 7 works for whumptober, and I’m really excited to write them! For now, enjoy some dazatsu (I’m so sorry Atsushi)

Emily Margaret Paxton, age twenty-seven, pushes her toddler on the swings. Christine laughs and smiles with chubby cheeks, ruddy from the excitement.

The Winter Soldier watches from less than ten feet away.

Steve has lived through a world-ender before. At least, it was the end of the world for him. Everyone he knows and loves, gone in an instant. The ones who aren’t dead, warped by time and age.

It was not so simple as an instant this time.

Bucky wakes up and there’s a hand in his- in the open cavity of his chest. He screams, even though he knows better, he knows better. There’s a flash of silver as the hand pulls back. A scalpel. They were- they were cutting him up inside again and how could he have ever thought this was over, it’s never over-

The Asset is a flawed machine. He is the shattered pieces of what may have at one point in time qualified as a ‘person’. Sentiment is a malfunction. They tell him this and he knows it, yet he repeats the same mistakes over again, wipes be damned.

His handlers are very wise. They have created methods to counteract the corrosion of his loyalty.

The first time he feels it, he doesn’t realize it for what it is.

It’s a whisper in his ear. Sinister, cruel. It sounds like Stick. It sounds like Fisk.

Matt shakes it off and goes on his day. It’s an anomaly. It’s trauma or a side effect from that hit he took last night. It’s an isolated incident.

Until it’s not.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Uncle Ben slurs through the blood bubbling around his lips. “You gotta- you gotta remember that, okay, Pete?”

Peter nods frantically, shoving harder against the wound. Pressure, right?

Gwen Stacy is Spider-woman. And it’s good, right? Helping people, saving people?

Except nobody ever sat Gwen Stacy down and said you can’t have it both and you can’t stop once you start and don’t you see you’re cannibalizing yourself?

She thinks she would have put on the mask anyway, eventually. But maybe she would have been a little more careful about it.

There’s a resounding crack. The deck breaks beneath them. There’s a split second of clarity, the eye of the metaphorical storm. Clint can see his own panic reflected in Natasha’s wide eyes.

He lunges for her, managing to grab hold of her forearm just as another tremendous wave breaks over the ship, breaks the ship. They slam into each other, Natasha taking the opportunity to slide her free arm around his waist, and just like that, they’re underwater.

It started, as so many things in Jessica Jones’ life, with a cheating scumbag of a husband. Cases like these were a dime a dozen, and almost always turned up the same result. No woman hires a P.I. if the relationship is perfect. Or even, you know, functional.

Jessica, for her part, probably should not be judging these people. She herself has managed to fuck up every hint of happiness that ever came her way. The best relationship she’s ever had was with her victim’s widow. Still, she judges.

What better way to celebrate the anniversary of Michael’s death than by getting absolutely knackered?

Karen Page likes to think of herself as a self-reliant person. She’s no expert fighter like Matt or Frank, but Karen can take care of herself. Hell, she murdered her kidnapper. Seven shots. Seven slugs in the chest. She has a gun license and a piece of her own now, but the weight still feels like Wesley’s gun in her hands. Karen marches herself to gun range once a week to practice, Frank sometimes showing up to offer tips. She’s improved a lot, and she was pretty damn good in the first place. Growing up in a small town will do that, scrounging entertainment from Dad’s gun and soda cans.

Being decent with a gun doesn’t do her much good in the courthouse.

See, people who kidnapped Spider-man typically ran up against a problem, eventually- how do you keep him down?

The thing that far too many people know about Spider-man is that he heals fast. Like, really fast. Videos of him taking hits that kill a normal person are everywhere on the internet. Even when he gets hurt, hurt bad, he’s back in the suit within a week. He can take a hit and he can hit back. His well-documented super-strength quickly rends most restraints to shattered pieces. So how do you keep him off his game? How do you keep him?

There’s one thing that everyone needs- mutant, enhanced, basic bitch human- and that’s sleep.

She allows herself to envision a clean journey back. A miserable hike, nothing the Black Widow can’t handle, then debrief, and then collapsing on her couch and not leaving her apartment for two days. Recharge time. Every great spy needs it.

Sunburn was not something she had given any particular thought to.

Natasha’s certainly thinking about it now.

Kate Bishop does not want a protege. Maybe in a decade or so, when her joints start to stiffen. But at twenty-seven, she doesn’t think she’s quite adult enough to adult someone else.

Much less this someone else.

Unbidden - Part 1

Summary: During a date night, an intimate moment is turned sour when Crosshair is forced to relive some of his darkest memories from his time on Tantiss. Arlo is there to help him through, but he's not so sure how to let her in.

Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch

Pairing: Crosshair x Arlo (Original Female Character)

Word Count: ~6,000

Warnings: Panic Attack

Written for Whumptober Day 1 Prompt: Panic Attack

Not sure if anyone is still following these two cuz I know it's been forever and a day since I posted anything for them, but here is another little thing I wrote for them! Chapter 2 will be up in 1-2 weeks <3

Starlit Honeycomb

Whumptober 2024 | Day 15 : Childhood Trauma

One shot focused on the Deadly Sins' family dynamic, mainly via Beelzebub's daughter, Nectar, when she was a kid.

Fandom: Helluva Boss & Hazbin Hotel

Word Count: 2,493

AO3 Link <3

---♡---

Lilith threaded her fingers through the viscous substance that made up Nectar's hair. A shimmering starscape of weightless matter that resembled a cascade of wavy shoulder length locks.

The little lilac fox looked up at Lilith with a big grin, "Mama!"

Lilith shook her head with a small smile, "No no, your mama is Beelzebub. I'm Charlie’s mama." Lilith gestured her head towards Charlie who was intensely focused on whatever was going on between two stationary rubber duckies on the floor.

"Beezeub?" Nectar frowned at the word, it didn't make sense in her brain. The word was too long and had too many sounds. Lilith seemed to pick up on the child's frustration. Although Nectar's normally lilac colored irises glowing an emerald green made the fact clear.

"How about you just call her Bee? Most people do anyway." Lilith laughed with a bright cadence.

Nectar narrowed her eyes, her thoughts drifted away from the difficult to pronounce words to the sudden taste of strawberries on her tongue as Lilith laughed.

"Why do people taste like things?" Nectar questioned as her and Lilith were quickly distracted when the door opened behind them. Nectar's little heart did a little happy flip, but her heart fell on its face when Lucifer walked in.

"Hey Lily!" He walked up and gave Lilith a kiss on the cheek. "How are the girls doing?" Lucifer beamed at Charlie, the apple of his eye. Lilith joined him in looking at their darling little girl, her gaze calm but filled with adoration.

Nectar's small bee wings buzzed a few times as she watched the three. The scene tasted like yellow on her tongue but she couldn't understand why she felt a sting of pain within her as well. She hadn't been hurt so why did she feel hurt? Nectar's undeveloped brain didn't have any other description other than 'sharp' for the sensation. Maybe the key to get rid of it were in those rubber duckies Charlie was focused on. Charlie was older than her by a year or two, but seemed infinitely more wise.

As Lilith and Lucifer chatted about their respective days, Nectar stood and went to where Charlie was sitting. Wondering why the taste of cupcakes layered her tongue as she approached the other girl. Charlie had abandoned her intense focus on the rubber ducks. Instead she poured over a book, making small notes in the margins with crayons.

Nectar was too young for tact and had a question. "How do you get your mom and dad to look at you warm?" Nectar asked bluntly. "And taste like yellow, I don't like orange." Nectar added.

Charlie looked from the book to Nectar excitedly, too young to be put off by the straightforward question, "I dunno, but we can figure it out!" Charlie's eyes glimmered with excitement as she hummed in thought. "When I read and make pictures they look more warm." Charlie gestured to the wall, various lines and colors on crinkled mismatched papers were hung up with the same reverence as a professional art piece. "I dunno what yellow tastes like though." Charlie admitted, the thought of colors tasting like anything rattled around in her head.

Nectar was in awe at the artwork, her irises changed hue from lilac to a sunshine yellow. "I can do that!" Nectar nodded intensely, her one track mind now on a mission of upmost importance.

Charlie stood, giving a military salute. "I wish you luck, lieutenant Stardust!"

Nectar had no clue what a lieutenant was but she mirrored Charlie's gesture. "Aye aye Cap'n Cupcake!"

Nectar went to work, she didn't want to steal Charlie's crayons so she grabbed the next best thing. A steel, mostly full blue paint can. This would do perfectly. Thankfully the lid of the can was loose enough where she could pry it off with her small claws. Nectar didn't have a paint brush so those same claws would do. Obviously that meant she should stick her entire hand into the paint can to get some paint on it. So she did. The cool fluid lapped onto her fur before Nectar withdrew her arm with a small shiver. Nectar took a piece of paper and hovered idly over it for a few seconds. She didn't have the faintest idea of what to even draw. She should ask her font of wisdom.

Nectar strolled back to Charlie, a red paint can in tow. "I've come to deal. I'll open this can if you tell me what to art."

Charlie turned away from her crayons and paper, her eyes widened at the paint can. The possibility of a new way to create won her over instantly, "Deal. And uh..." Charlie thought for a long moment before snapping her fingers, a glimmer of golden dust falling from her fingertips as she smiled widely. "You could draw your family! That’s what I did for my first one." She gestured to a paper on the wall covered with strangled lines that vaguely resembled shapes. But as Nectar looked at it, she could definitely make out Lilith, Charlie and Lucifer. It was a masterpiece.

Nectar popped the paint lid and slid it to Charlie, shaking the other girl's hand with her non-painted hand. "Thanks Captain." Nectar nodded confidently not noticing the door opening again and the vibrant Beelzebub greeting Charlie's parents. Nectar had a mission after all.

The small fox plopped back down in front of her paper. "Family, I can art family." She told herself. The paint on her arm had gotten all brittle, that wouldn't do. She couldn't double dip either, so she dipped her other arm into the can. This time when her claw touched the page it moved with purpose. Nectar made a tall figure and a smaller figure. She put four lines out of the sides of the taller one and two out of the shorter one. As the little girl drew, her irises shifted colors again, back to that sunshine yellow, but this time, her irises glowed too. Their brightness rivaled fireworks as Nectar's joy illuminated the page beneath her. She was just about to get to whatever the third figure should be when she was suddenly lifted off the ground.

"Whadda doin' Honeycomb?" Beelzebub's voice was vibrant and not even a little upset as the Deadly Sin held back laughter. One of Beelzebub's lower hands tucked her phone back into her back pocket.

This was Nectar's chance, she was about to point and show her mom what she made but Beelzebub was already carrying her to the bathtub.

"Let's get you un-blue, ya? And if you help out..." Beelzebub leaned in with a conspiratorial whisper, "I'll snatch up some of Luci's apple juice for ya. Deal?"

"Deal!" Nectar replied excitedly. She could show her mom her creation after helping her out. Plus, Lucifer's apple juice was the most divine thing in Hell.

"Atta girl!!" Beelzebub grinned as they both giggled loudly.

The process took a lot longer than Nectar could stay awake for. Apparently her entirely covering both her arms in blue paint wasn't the best idea. Beelzebub let out an exhausted huff as she lifted the sleeping Nectar in her arms.

"Thanks for letting us stay late, Luci. Didn't think that'd take so long." Beelzebub smiled apologetically at the King of Hell.

"Don't worry about it, Beelzebub. Both the girls had a good time, that's what matters. Oh! And hers the payment for the little one." Lucifer handed over a plastic jug of freshly squeezed apple juice.

Beelzebub took it with a soft laugh, her smile turning more warm than guilty, "Thanks Luci, I'll see you on the flip, ya? And I'll have Belphie check on Nectar's eye thing. That goat is the best doctor I know." Beelzebub nudged Lucifer with her only unencumbered hand.

"Take of care of this cutie pie." Lucifer grins, booping Nectar's nose.

Beelzebub laughed in response, "I will Luci." She looked at her daughter in her arms, “I will."

---♡---

Beelzebub tapped her foot impatiently, her eyes going from Belphegor's office door and then to the bland white tile of the hospital. The Deadly Sin of Sloth requested she wait outside during the tests. Beelzebub would normally object, but Belphegor was the only doctor that was able treat Nectar in any capacity, or any of the Deadly Sins for that matter. So, she had to put up with the goat. It wasn't everyday your kid's eyes started glowing or changing colors after all. Beelzebub's focus left the repeating white and instead went to the wall mounted TV. It played a rerun of the same episode of an ancient TV show on repeat. Forever.

"Riveting." Beelzebub groaned as she sank into her seat.

Beelzebub wasn’t sure if ten years had actually passed but it felt like they did before the door finally opened. Out of it stepped a tall, violet, furred goat woman. A soft blue flame flickered between her horns. Belphegor’s lab coat would have completed the heir of authority if it were not for the lazily buttoned gaudy Hawaiian shirt and sweatpants.

"Belphegor, what the fuck are you wearing?" Beelzebub asked with a deep frown.

"Comfort." Belphegor replied simply, the woman's voice was void of a tone. As if every detail was matter of scientific fact. Including her fashion choices.

There was a long pause. "So, how's Nectar?" Beelzebub pursed her lips.

"She is well." Belphegor replied.

Another pause.

"Like, no issues? What'd you find? How about the eye thing?" Beelzebub fired each question off.

"There are issues, as there always is. The concern about the irises is among them."

The silence returned to the room.

Beelzebub was ready to slam her head into the wall in frustration. "Belphie!"

Belphegor smiled, "Beelzebub."

Beelzebub would have stubbornly played Belphegor’s game if she was fine waiting in a hospital hallway for the next century. But, she doubted her daughter wanted to do that.

"You win, what’s going on with my kiddo?" Beelzebub sighed.

"20,210 to 20,749, you are losing your touch." Belphegor jotted a note on her clipboard. "But yes, let us go over the results. Please join me in my office" Belphegor gestured down the hall. "A nurse is with the girl." She added before Beelzebub could ask.

The two entered a large room, although it more resembled a library. Books upon books filled each wall and most of the floor. Beelzebub may have checked a few out but Belphegor already seated behind her thick walnut wood desk. The Slothful sin pulled out a purple folder, taking a mass of documents from it. Beelzebub internally groaned, so much it turned to an outward groan.

"Ughhh, just gimmie the quick version Belphie. I'd rather not be here for a decade." Beelzebub plopped into the seat in front of the desk, slinging her legs over the armrest.

Belphegor looked up from the documents, "Nectar is a danger to herself and others and I don't trust you to take care of her. I recommend putting her down." Belphegor said coldly.

"Ex-fucking-cuse me!? Belphie what the HELL does that mean!!" Beelzebub stood as she slammed all four hands to the desk.

Belphegor calmly leaned back in her overstuffed office chair. "You wanted the short version, that is it."

Beelzebub's third eye blazes open as she bares her fangs, "You talk like she's some pet, she is my DAUGHTER, Belphegor! Don't you DARE suggest hurting her!!” Beelzebub knew a genuine fight between two Deadly Sins would be catastrophic, but in this moment she would happily bake Belphegor into a pie.

Belphegor raised a hand, "I said that was the short version, its more complex than that of course."

Beelzebub didn't move from her standing position but her features return to normal. "Long version. Now."

---♡---

"So, why the sudden 'wine night'?" The Queen of Hell swirled her wine before sniffing it, humming in appreciation. "Who knew Hell had such fine vintages." Lilith sipped the beverage.

Beelzebub grinned proudly as Lilith savored the rich flavors.

"I mean, we could do a weekly get together and go through my backlog of wines. Maybe I could grab some parenting wisdom from ya!" Beelzebub teased.

"I'd gladly offer it, you aren't exactly mother material." Lilith said with a soft chuckle of honesty.

Beelzebub joined with her own, much more vibrant giggle. "Damn Lily, harsh haha!"

Lilith leaned forward in chair, her smile now a pensive frown, "Why did you have Nectar, Beelzebub?" The Queen of Hell circled her finger around her wine glass. It was a genuine question, no malice was behind it as Lilith's tone remained even. "You seem to pawn her off whenever you get the chance. The girl is going to start to think me and Lucifer are her parents."

Beelzebub's shoulders slumped, the wings on her back drooping. "...look, I love the kid. Really, I do. She's my little starlit honeycomb." The Queen of Gluttony's gaze drifts. "But... I wasn't really expecting a 24/7 party guest. And then one day, I had one..." She slumped down further into her seat, "I can handle hostin parties and tearin' it up but I'm not cut out for this Lilith. You wouldn't happen to be willing to..."

"Really?" Lilith cut her off with the disappointed remark.

Beelzebub's eyes snapped back to the other woman's, "Its not like I have many options here, Lil." Her voice wasn't sure whether to be defensive or fearful, "Putting a girl like her with anyone less than demonic royalty would be terrible idea." Beelzebub tapped her finger to the armrest of her seat. "I'm not trusting Satan or Leviathan with her obviously, Mammon would try and profit from her, and Belphegor has stated multiple times she won't. I've only really got Luci or Asmo."

"Or yourself." Lilith interjected.

"..." That shut Beelzebub up.

Lilith sighed, drinking the last remnants of wine in her slender glass. "I'm sorry, but we can't. We have Charlie to look after. And I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to leave this responsibility to someone else."

Beelzebub's ears flatten on top of her head. For the first time in awhile, Beelzebub let's the silence hang before she speaks, "Belphegor said that the kiddo eats emotions, connected to em or something. All of her vast power is connected to her own psyche." Beelzebub buried her head in her hands as if she could hide from the fact. "If she has a breakdown she might just level half a fucking ring, Lilith." Beelzebub felt her eyes begin to sting. "Please, she needs a better mom than me..." Beelzebub tried her best to keep in tears as she let out shaky breath. She didn't look up at Lilith when the other woman rose from her seat.

"You can start by being one." Lilith scolded.

.

.

.

Unseen, Nectar stepped back from the entrance to the kitchen, her dull orange irises met the floor's frigid gaze. The 'sharp' feeling was back. 'Oh.'