#22

We have seen enough fem! Danny but what about fem!Jay?

And its Danny's first time seeing jay as a female.

Danny sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes fell on the figure next to the window and his heartbeat quickened. He desperately tried to cover his blush with one hand while the other suddenly felt clammy and slippery around his backpack's strap. Oh, gods if I really died this time I hit the jackpot in heaven!

His beloved looked so pretty as a woman he almost had a heart attack just by laying eyes on her. Jay's luscious blonde hair fell in waves over her shoulders and the bangs covering her eyes made her lips look even more delectable. She wore a pretty white skirt with a flower pattern that gave the boy full access to her long slender legs that made him gulp. He traced her splendid curves reverently as if gazing at a masterpiece of a genius artist and sighed in his heart longingly. Danny could bet that she would fit beautifully in his arms, just as her male counterpart did, and complete him in ways he could never describe.

"Hey, Jay." He greeted, making no effort to hide his blush now. It was only natural that she knew how the mere sight of her could bring him to his knees! He wouldn't dare hide his adoration from her and deceive her about his feelings. She should know that he was hers and hers alone, regardless of the insects that kept buzzing around him.

The time-looper was awarded with a smile that made him go beet red all the way to the tips of his ears and practically melt into a puddle of goo beneath his desk. He wasted no time in mirroring it and entering a seemingly one-sided conversation with the elegant beauty.

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

"I don't know how I did it, but I've never felt happier!" Danny would later confess at lunch, holding Jay's dainty little hand in his like it was the most precious jewel in the world.

"You don't know how you got her to agree to date you?" Zack looked up from his lunch and stared quizzically at the pair.

The way he saw it they had been crushing hard on each other since Daniel had first transferred and now he had finally grown the balls to ask her out. Then the boxer thought back to his own crush and the realization dawned on him that sometimes he also couldn't put into words how much he loved and cared about her. He shot his friend a look of understanding and Vasco gave him a thumbs up, too busy stuffing his mouth with rice to verbally congratulate the new couple.

Danny was grateful for their support and nuzzled into Jay's nack, eliciting a soft gasp from the blond that almost sent him into very dangerous territory. Later, he told himself, when it's only us two and she wants to share that kind of intimacy with me! He could wait.

For Jay. Anything.

[Short and sweet. Sorry I couldn't write more, I'm in a bit of writer's block currently but I hope you liked it, nonetheless! <3 ]

Vasco: Who thinks I can fit 15 marshmallows in my mouth? Zack: You're a hazard to society Danny: And a coward. DO TWENTY.

With so many loop Danny is bound to forget his love for Jay.

That's where the beauty in all of this lies.

Whenever he forgets he just falls in love again. He may not be in a relationship with Jay for a couple of loops, but ultimately his heart never stops yearning for him. Danny always comes back, and Jay is always there for him, waiting with his arms open like he always does.

It can appear suffocating from an outsider's perspective, but he's never quite wanted anyone like he does the silent blonde. He's had relationships with others, and he's hooked up with almost everybody in his circle at one point or another, but it isn't the same. If anything, it only makes him crave deeper to return to those warm arms, to place his face in Jay's neck and hover over the skin of his neck, never sure if he wants to sink his teeth into the appetizing curve or cover it with sweet kisses.

He knows his love in a way that brings him a sense of stability and tranquility which the loops have robbed him of. He knows the sound of his heart even without placing his ear to the boy's chest. He has counted and kissed and loved each and every single beauty mark on his milky skin, and he could tell you where each and every one of them lies with his eyes closed. He knows how the constellations on his skin are his greatest insecurity, but he loves each and every star more than the sun itself.

Daniel doesn't always remember his love, but he never forgets how their bodies fit together like a puzzle as if each piece had been solely created for the other. He may not recall all the nights they have spent together under the moonlight, all the kisses they shared, and all the perils they've faced side by side but his heart never wavers in its demands. He allows himself to fall deeper and deeper, but never allows the darkness to taint such a precious bond. Not this one! Never this one!

He always falls for him. Sometimes he acts goofy in his love, making grand gestures that turn out unbearably corny because he knows they make Jay smile. Other times they just share the sort of quiet love that has them waking up in each other's arms in the morning, that has Danny simply waiting for his beloved to arise so he could pepper him with kisses and cuddle with him the entire day. Then, they love with passion and share their bed each sleepless night, and the time looper tries to etch into his memory each centimeter of his sweetheart. He never can preserve these memories, he simply isn't built like that, but he tries, oh, how he tries to never forget...His Jay never faults him for it...even though he wished he would sometimes.

No matter what shape their affection takes, be it a slowly smoldering coal or a passionate and wild flame they always somehow end up in each other's embrace, even if only by accident. And they always fall for each other, no matter how many eons have passed since they first did so. If Daniel weren't so selfish he would perhaps let go of him, but the truth is he is greedy...so...so...greedy...

small snippet from my WIP

Shards and Splinters | Weeping Embers

Dried leaves fluttered in the breeze, crunching amongst each other as if whispering secrets into the wind to be carried away. The streets lay abandoned, everyone still asleep tightly in their warm beds awaiting the dawn of yet another day like any other before. But today wasn’t going to be a usual day.

From the moment his eyelids opened, and he jolted out of bed breathing as if he had been chased around the whole world by an army of demons Archer Uberto could tell there was something different about today. The sun rose to the skies just like every other morning, drowning the world in light and warmth as it had done perhaps trillions of times before, yet still, the boy could not shake the feeling something was out of place. It wasn’t anything obvious, else he would have noticed by now, like how you’d know if someone had moved your socks from their rightful place, but not if a splinter was missing from your desk. The feeling, although persistent did nothing to deter him from entering back into his routine almost robotically, forgetting about the dream that had startled him awake, or of the pungent smell of creos in his home...

Archer paused repeating the thought that had just passed through his mind. Creos? What even were creos and why did he think of that? A puzzled expression flashed on his face before the shrill ringing of his phone broke his line of thought, pulling him back into reality harshly. His body moved on its own, traversing the neat and clean room all the way to the small bookshelf adorning the whole left wall of his room before turning off that blasted noise, so he could once more rejoice in the softer morning sounds.

A crow stood atop one of the branches that neared his window, silently observing the teen as he exited the building dressed in an old baseball shirt and dark green jeans. It cawed out twice before taking off into the mushy clouds in search of its morning meal.

The sudden flapping of feathers alerted a nearby mouse and sent it scurrying back beneath the dumpster it had crawled from, the dark feathered bird now taking its place, atop the lid that rested on the wall behind it. From there it had a clear view of the lanky teen as he scurried into the backroom, before coming out with a green apron and getting behind the counter, just as the doors of the cafe opened to let in a stream of groggy and grumpy customers who couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries at such an early hour.

Archer sighed in relief upon hearing the bell hung above the door ring one final time that day, the last customer exiting the small Starbucks, coffee in hand. With a sudden sense of accomplishment, the boy grinned to himself, returning to the backroom. He greeted the rest of his colleagues politely and made a bit of small chat before changing from his uniform back into his soft dark jacket and exiting the building while humming a soft tune and swinging his arms in

Page Break

the air as if he were conducting a band of invisible musicians. There were barely any people on the streets at the time to judge him, and even those who saw him as mad he could not be bothered to pay attention to.

Upon crossing the street, he stopped in the middle, waiting for someone to come out of nowhere and run him over, but after a few minutes and not even the sight of a bike, he let out an exasperated sigh and continued on his journey back to his warm bed and fluffy pillow. Perhaps next time he would have more luck, Archer pouted jokingly while swatting a few stray strands of mahogany hair out of his eyes, only for the evening breeze to blow them right back into his face, blinding him momentarily. And it was all it took, just that one moment, he smelled that same scent his room had that morning, and that feeling came back over a thousand times stronger.

He whirled around clutching his sides, as a stinging pain bloomed right where his ribs caged his lungs and the wind picked up, raising clouds of fallen and dried leaves into the air and surrounding him. Archer clenched his eyes tightly, burying his head into his chest, now fully aware that that feeling of something being awfully wrong had not been only in his tired mind.

“There’s no way I’m going to die to a cloud of leaves today” he screeched, before choking on something and falling into a coughing fit, his eyes watering and his ears ringing.

Dick felt sick to his stomach as his brother's wails echoed through the cave.

He and Bruce had been the first to respond to his beacon. Batman's antidote didn't work against this new strain of fear toxin, so they had to bring him back to devise a cure. Tim was unresponsive, trapped in whatever hellish illusion Scarecrow's gas had triggered. They had barely been able to get him into the car, with how wildly he was flailing. His limbs struck around violently, uncoordinated. Not trying to attack, but as if he were desperately trying to flee from something. (The smell ozone lingered in the air) Once they'd reached the cave, they had to strap him to the medbay table to keep him from falling off.

And the screams.

God, the screams.

The first one had made Bruce recoil and nearly drop him. None of them had ever heard him scream like that before. It was something out of a nightmare, high-pitched and raw, carrying an unimaginable amount of pain. (Like a death wail) There was a frenzied, tortured quality to it that had Jason stumbling away and tripping when he reached the scene. It had made their blood run cold.

"It's like he's dying." Jason had remarked quietly from the side once they'd moved to another part of the Batcave. The red helmet lay discarded on the table he was leaning on. His face was pale, and there was a tremor barely hidden in his voice. A disturbed look flashed in his eyes, as if he was remembering something. (Pools of swirling green)

Bruce's black gloves squeaked as his fists tightened. He was stone-faced, but his sons could read the worry in his blue eyes. The Batman was just as helpless as them. It made his blood boil. (Electric currents buzzed through the cables on the floor)

The room was bathed in blue light from the Batcomputer. A white cup of cold coffee sat untouched by Jason's elbow next to the keyboard. (An accident waiting to happen) It sat there since the afternoon, when they had been urgently called for an Arkham breakout. Tim's coffee. Dick was suddenly struck by the absurd though that his brother would never leave his coffee around like that. Hysterical laughter bubbled up in his throat, but he swallowed it down. Distantly, he recognised that his fingers were twitching along with his baby brother's screams.

It was all so incredibly wrong. The whole situation was just plain wrong. Red Robin's mask should have held against the gas. Hell, Crane should never have had the time to make a new type of toxin in the first place! It made no sense! (It made no sense to put an ON button inside the machine!)

Muffled screaming could still be heard even though the medbay walls. It was now more hoarse and ragged, as if whoever was making the noise had swallowed a bucket of sand.

Truly, it was a testament to Alfred's strength and devotion that he had stayed and taken care of him through all of it. Meanwhile, they'd fled like cowards into another room, pretending as if they were figuring out a cure, and not hiding from their failure.

The computer was processing the blood samples at an agonizingly slow pace, while they stood there unable to do anything to soothe their brother and son, respectively. The sounds grew more strangled and faint the longer it went on. They'd cut out a few times, when he'd run out of air, but they always inevitably started back up twice as anguished. (Incredible how he so rarely ran out of air, as if he didn't even need to breathe.)

Dick couldn't even imagine what Tim was going through to make him let out such a sound. (Privately, selfishly, he was glad that Damian was not home to witness it.)

With Jason's gun pointed to his head and Batman preoccupied with his third son, Crane had bragged that the gas made you relive your most painful moment. Dick turned a blind eye to his brother using a bit more strength than necessary to knock out the rogue.

They tried to figure out what Tim's worst experience was. Jason brought up the Titan's Tower, Bruce the JJ incident. Dick quietly proposed it could be something from the year he went missing to find Bruce. (Something from before they knew him, something from before he was Tim, something from when he was Da-)

The screams cut off again for a few blissful seconds, then started back up. It was a miracle he could keep going after so long. Dick felt his stomach churn. He'd heard people yell, cry, and shriek before, but this was something different. Something born entirely out of agony. Something guttural, prolonged, and horrible. Something no human should ever be able to produce. (Only something that was no longer human could let out such a scream.)

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DannyTim woke up feeling like he had swallowed glass. His vision was swimming, and his head pulsated painfully. (He hoped he hadn't died this time, or Jason might actually kill him for stealing his gig again.) A sudden wave of searing pain made his muscles spasm painfully.

A big shadow loomed over him. Someone was touching his forehead and speaking to him in a hushed tone. The words were garbled, like he was deep underwater. They should really work on their pronunciation.

"-im.... -nother shot...-eetheart"

There was a pinprick somewhere on the back of his elbow. He tried to pull away, but his arm felt like lead. He let out a scratchy, quiet whimper, and immediately regretted it. The pathetic excuse for a protest left his throat feeling like it had been burned from the inside. The Demon Brat would never let him live this down if he learned of it. The big shadow returned to shushing him and patting his hair. It felt cozy and safe, like Dad.

Darkness once again closed in on him, and he settled for listening to the big shadows rumbling to lull him back to sleep. (He awoke panting from the phantom electricity still coursing through his bones, searing off his flesh and replacing his blood with green-)

Screaming into the night

Danny is reborn as tim.

Tim gets his memories back near the beginning of his robin run when he still has a rocky relationship with Bruce. He’s scared and keeps his mouth shut. This goes on for years never getting the right time to be revealed.

It isn't until the scarecrow uses a new fear gas that it comes up. Tim is hit and has to relive the portal incident. He is screaming with no brakes and does not respond to anyone.

The bat family has idea what he is seeing but they do find out from scarecrows taunting that the gas makes you relive your most painful memories. The entire family is wondering when this happened and when Tim wakes up he is not going to be very forthcoming.

I remembered the Mommy Sammy loop and I was wondering - what if it was combined with the Little Daniel getting adopted by Big Deal loop? For example, what if Danny is adopted and the whole Johan incident happens soon after, but Sammy decided that she'll take her in under her wing. Female Johan and Samuel would be so cool.

Meanwhile, Danny is growing up and he realizes that Samuel and Johan are girls but Big Deal still hasn't realized it. Cue Daniel casually tring to tell Sinu and Yeonhui and the rest of Big Deal about it and them not believing him because what girl would be as much a psycho as those two (they think this with affection).

It would also be kinda fluffy since Samuel would probably stay with big deal and maybe try to legally become a business mogul (kind of like going to school and still making one mcn, just not with workers).

Idk I just thought it was a cool idea. Sorry for all the rambling.

"All of them are dumbasses," Daniel grumbled, kicking pebbles.

"Mhm." Sammy didn't even bother pretending otherwise, as she completed another test and began checking her answers.

Daniel had just returned from his usual daily attempt at opening Sinu and Jake's eyes regarding Sammy and Johane's gender. It had gone as expected, he got laughed at and sent on his way so the adults could 'do their job' (playing video games until 3 am). He had managed to convince Yeonhui a few weeks ago, as the girl was obviously much less dense than the two dunderheads leading the crew.

The time-looper trapped in a 7-year-old's body gave a long-suffering sigh, crouching near the steps on which his big sister figure was sat.

"They even had the gall to laugh in my face and tell me that I was making stuff up to avoid doing my homework. Can you believe that?!"

"The audacity." Samuel drawled making the tiny boy bristle even harder.

"You aren't even listening to me!" He shouted in annoyance, maybe a bit too loud for how late at night it was.

'Yep, definitely too loud' he sweatdropped when the lights in the building behind them turned on. A ruffled, half-asleep brown-haired girl made her way out after a few beats of silence, followed closely by her loyal companion. Eden took one look at them, deciding that whatever human business they were doing didn't affect him, and headed back in after a large yawn. Johane looked tempted to follow his example.

"What are you two doing?" She asked instead, plopping down beside Sammy. "You know you're going to ruin your eyes like that, right?"

Sammy looked up at her. She had a flashlight strapped to her head and was checking her answers in pink glitter pen while the book was precariously balanced on one of her knees. The buff girl pointedly pushed her glasses up her nose.

"You know what I meant." Johane huffed "You're going to damage your eyes even more, then you'll have to wander around like a blind bat before age 30. And what's gotten in you, pup, why'd you shout at 1 in the morning like a damn prairie dog?"

The child shuffled his feet, the tips of his ears reddening.

"I didn't mean for it to be that loud. It's just that the guys-"

"What guys?"

"Sinu and Jake" Sammy supplied

"-are being such idiots that it's starting to really irk me!"

Johane paused, probably still a bit slow from tiredness and trying to gather her thoughts and articulate them in a kid-friendly way.

"Did you just now notice?" Was all she managed to come up with. "I mean, they've been like that since-"

"Forever." Sammy completed her sentence, closing the book and turning off the flashlight before turning to face her two younger siblings figures. "So those fuckers can't take the fact that me and her were born with vaginas and boobs. What are you gonna do about it? It's not as if you can force them to change their minds..."

The maniac smirk that spread on the beastie's face (She thought him that! That was her greatest achievement in raising the little hellspawn and no one could deny it!) made her pause. Sammy knew how devious the brat could be, but as she thought back to what she had said offhandedly just now, the Economical Studies students could already predict his thought process.

"Thanks, Sammy! You just gave me a great idea, I knew those crocodiles with lightsabers would come in handy again!" He ran up to the buff girl and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before running off.

"What have we just unleashed?" Sammy pondered out loud.

"And where is my kith?" Johanne slurred already half-leaning onto her shoulder.

#5

Daniel strutted down the corridors like he owned the place. He was a man on a mission. A hunter. His pray? The cryptid dressed in cheetah print prowling around James Lee's old school ready to melt out of the shadows and mow his ass like grass.

His ghost detector beeped twice when he turned it left.

"Huh?"

Daniel pulled down his anti-bullshit protection glasses. He was all geared up in pink hello kitty pajamas, ready to fight against the cheetah-print abomination and thus end the urban legend's grip on the common people. That and he really wanted to kick Gun's ass while being literally half his size just for shits and giggles.

He needed a change of mood after he had begun the loop strapped to a table and bald while being interrogated by Jinyeong. When the doctor had asked about his deepest darkest secret he had looked him dead in the face and uttered ominously "I'm supposed to get a senior discount when I go shopping" before promptly passing out. It was technically true, though, by the look on the man's face, he probably thought something had gone wrong with the serum. With how he had been ranting about squirrels even before he got the serum Jinyeong might actually assume he had lost his mind.

Brushing away all other thoughts Daniel reached into his backpack and pulled out a thick book the size of his head with "How to catch a cryptid" written in bold red letters on the cover. He flipped it open at a page he had marked with a cute squirrel sticky note that had unfortunately gotten crumpled in his backpack and began reading aloud.

"To catch a cheetah print abomination in the wild you must first know what it is. A cheetah print abomination is the Mothman's cousin and shares with this its distinctive mating cry and other negligible physical traits such as height comparable to Slenderman and an outward appearance that makes people tremble at the sight of it." Daniel hummed as if he had been given great knowledge and flipped the page, continuing to read aloud.

"The cheetah print abomination is easily spotted by its abysmal fashion sense and atypical behavior, such as being turned on by physical combat and physical injuries caused during fights (for reference check page 67, paragraph 9 "What to do in the event of a wild Jonngun attack, tips and escape methods by prof. Daniel "the Taller" Park)."

Daniel ignored the sound of creaking floorboards and continued reading before he suddenly stopped and let out an exclamation of glee.

"Oh look, they even have a photo!"

He raised his book in the air and put the grainy picture of a black baby cow parallel to the man staring at him. He made a big show of analyzing the picture and let out appropriate sounds of understanding and awe while comparing it to the live specimen. Finally, Gun had enough of the perceived mockery and ripped the book out of the boy's hands, took one look at the page Danny was currently reading and at the picture, and promptly tossed it out of an open window.

"No wait, that was my only copy!" He bemoaned while looking at the darkness behind the window dejectedly. "You know you're going to have to pay me back for that, right?'

The man's expression twisted into a sneer and he reached for the boy, intent on getting rid of this disrespectful bug. His attempt was promptly met with a wet shoe to the chin and then another when he tried to kick the little gremlin away. He looked disgustedly at the little puddle forming beneath the second shoe before looking up at the boy.

"It's holy water." Daniel shrugged pulling out a pair of flip-flops which he used in place of his thrown sneakers, "Need to be prepared, you know."

A laugh bubbled up in Gun's throat at the sheer absurdity of the situation. He was getting mocked by a child in hello kitty pajamas who thought he was a cryptid and had turned his holy water-soaked sneakers into projectiles against him. He stared down at the still-smoking cigarette in between his fingers and pondered upon his life choices for a few awkward minutes while the gremlin stared at him with a mix between curiosity and wariness like he was some sort of weird creature he had just encountered.

"I need something stronger than this." He announced, snuffing the cigarette beneath his shoe and turning around.

As he walked out of the school he heard the genuine voice of the little hello kitty-clad menace echoing down the halls.

"You know, smoking and drinking can be really bad not only for your health but also for your interpersonal relationships!"

Gun walked faster.

As Croissant fumbled around in the dark for his beeping comm, he cursed every single one of them. Alphabetically. 

#14

A squeaky hammer hit the desk hard enough to dent the wood.

"Alright folks, the first meeting of the 'Ulrta Mega-Simp Club' has officially begun!" Daniel announced before pointing to his vice president, Zack. "What's on today's list of discussions?"

The boy cleared his voice and adjusted his fake mustache before reading loudly from his clipboard.

"To begin with, we must welcome our new members and let them introduce themselves and the reason they have decided to join our glorious army-cough! club."

"Did he just verbally cough?" Someone whispered incredulously, causing Danny to slam his hammer repeatedly onto the desk for silence.

"Then we must inspect the status of their inner simp through a trial...TO THE DEATH! Afterward, we have a 30-minute break for tea and snacks and proceed onto the usual afternoon program of simping."

The president adjusted his own neon green fake mustache with a thoughtful look, before motioning for them to go ahead as planned. He sat up and cleared his voice gravely.

"My name is Daniellicus Maximus Eugeneseternalbaneicus Park. I am the devoted and eternal simp of the beautiful, brilliant, generous, superb, glamorous-"

Zack coughed and was rewarded a nasty glare in response before Danny continued.

"JAY HONG, soon to be Jay Park, loop-willing!"

He unraveled a poster bigger than himself with Jay's face while confetti rained down on him from the vents. It made it entirely worth it to have stuffed Vin Jin's goons into the vents the previous night with the confetti cannons. His performance was rewarded with deafening applause before Zack took the stage.

He looked around, leaned into the microphone, and just said, " I love Mira."

His 'secret' was received with deadpan stares that all seemed to say 'we know'. The boy left the stage silently, the tips of his ears burning brightly, but with a proud expression, as if daring anyone to protest.

The whole Burn Knuckles came onto the stage to express their adoration for their cinnamon roll leader, then the Beauty Dept. girls, who had to be escorted off the stage for expressing their love for Eli in a manner that was too frightening for the male population to bare. After that whole fiasco came a few other no-name simps who sang their praises for the object of their affection (someone had literally read a poem about how much they loved the cafeteria, which...fair, it was free food and free drama, what more could you ask for).

The first stage of their meeting ended somewhat peacefully.

Then came the trials.

DUN! DUN! DUN!

Everyone jumped and turned towards Zack, who sheepishly lowered the beatbox he had pulled out from god knows where. They were all lined up and Danny pulled out a tube of toothpaste, while the boxer fished his phone out of his pocket and began filing the interrogation/interviews with the flair of a professional cameraman.

"What would you do for your bias?" was the question addressed to all members and each of them gave an answer that was more worrying than the other, up to the point where homicide and world enslavement was mentioned.

Satisfied with their new simps the two concluded the interviews and awarded each of them with a badge made out of the lid of a noodle cup with the words 'I'm a proud member of the UMSC' written on in sharpie.

Afterward, the newly established UMSC had a wonderful, peaceful tea party in which they bonded over their shared love of their bias and other various things. Unknowingly, Daniel had created the ultimate weapon against the 4 Major Crews, whose own members would slowly be baptized into the simp way and join the UMSC, turning it into an unstoppable force of over 3 thousand fanatic followers and devoted simps.

I was wondering about a time loop in which Big Deal takes in Yohan and he trains under Samuel and in which Samuel was female. I feel like Samuel would definitely still be as tall if not buff and pass as masculine, so a time loop where she either stays with Big Deal and Yohan or she helps Yohan with God Dog and his mom.

I just thought it'd be interesting for one of Big Deal's fighters to be female and none of them except Alexander knowing and finding out.

(Mommy Sammy is simultaneously the most unhinged and brilliant idea I've ever been asked about! Like, does she still tear her clothes off when she fights or is that just me being weird? Nvm. Since most of my loops are from Daniel's perspective we'll just pretend he died early in this loop and is currently spying on various people waiting for his loop to end.)

Sometimes Danny wondered if the loops had been made by some unstable maniac. [Shhh, don't expose me!]

When he had stared the loop already dying it hadn't come as that much of a surprise. It was more annoying after you got used to it. That meant, however, that he hadn't gotten to check on anything that might've been changed from the original setting of the loops. He was a bit further back, that he could tell from how small his body had seemed at first.

He hadn't expected to drift towards a familiar street in search of entertainment and do a spit-take with his immaterial smoothie.

"What in my green god-given mustache?"

It wasn't Big Deal's new addition, in the form of one chestnut-haired dog-lover, that had garnered that reaction from the spirit, though it did add to the oddness of the situation. Danny's eyes drifted from the boy currently pummeling some no-name extra into the ground, to the person keeping a watchful eye over him from a little ways away while traumatizing fighting several other people.

Hovering over Johan like a mother hen was a distinctly-not-how-he-was-supposed-to-be-shaped Samuel. The mullet was there, in all its sexy glory, as was the terrifying signature grin and the usual two-piece suit, though it seemed to fit rather strangely on his body-oh! on her body. Samuel was a woman!

She was a buff strong woman and had Danny not been so utterly besotted with his beloved he would no doubt be slightly crushing on her at first sight. As it was, however, he just shuddered at the thought of her matching her counterpart and his apparent eagerness to rid himself of his tops at any possible opportunity and wondered if she were the same. He hoped that wasn't the case.

He paused, looking back and forth between the small Johan and Sammy (that was a good name to call her for now!). His mouth opened in the shape of an o. There was care in her gaze and even, if he were so bold to dare say it, affection. But not the kind that led people to have butterflies in their stomachs and sweaty palms, it wasn't the kind that burned, no, it was the soft type that came with taking a young one under your wing, it was the type that made you want to cherish and protect, the kind that didn't burn, but merely warmed and warded off the darkness. Sammy saw the little copycat as her ward.

Really, speaking from his own experiences, these tiny humans were really easy to get attached to. Hell, he himself had gone through the same thing with the boy in question at one point or another.

Samuel was a person that Danny associated with greed. A man willing to do anything to reach his goals. The sight of his female counterpart being so parental and openly caring for someone that couldn't do anything to further her position and status settled a part of Danny that had always wanted to believe that there was some semblance of good in the former Worker's member.

A tentative smile pulled at his lips as he watched the one-sided carnage fight end and Sammy's eyes instantaneously move to scan the young prodigy for any wounds in a motion that was so familiar to the spirit that his eyes glazed over for a moment. How many times had it been him doing this for a younger version of Johan? He couldn't recall, but the memory left a faded bitter-sweet taste in his mouth.

His soul shuddered with the pull of the loop. It was time to start anew. This time, however, with the peace of mind he hadn't had in a while, that came with the realization that if Samuel was worthy of redemption, then perhaps so was he.

"When these loops end, I will have that peace." He whispered the promise breathlessly, as the fragments of his soul drifted into the breeze.

The hourglass was turned, and the sand started falling again.