#( OKAY BUT !! he was poisoning himself in the name of survival )

[endawn]

akatosh, watching his hero of fate almost get taken out by a tummy ache:

[reidrum]

under the mistletoe

note: happy first day of reidrumas! a nice little munch!spencer to keep you warm <3

summary: in which penelope uses a plant to get her friends together, or the time you find yourself under the mistletoe with spencer

cw: smut 18+ minors dni, munch!spencer, fingering, oral (f receiving), heavy kissing, idiots in love, friends to lovers, fem!reader, reader wears a dress and heels

wc: 2.8k

12 days of reidrumas

The annual BAU Christmas Party became an accord Penelope headed all on her own, and was a job she took very seriously. The amount of times the team had been called away on a case near or on a major holiday is too sad a number to count, so whenever there was certainty that there would be no case or bureau event, Penelope went all in.

That is, on David Rossi’s credit card, of course.

Light up sleighs and reindeers adorned the front lawn of Rossi’s mansion, of which was decorated with red ribbons and twinkle lights galore. The silhouette of the biggest Christmas tree you think you’d ever seen was illuminated in the window as you approached the front, rubbing clammy hands down the sides of your dress.

You don’t even know why you’re so nervous, just that you are. While it had been some time since you had joined the team and you have definitely had some fun nights out with them, the nerves never get easier to deal with when you know a certain genius will be in your presence.

It seemed everyone knew of your crush on Spencer except the man himself. The way your face heats up when you’re near him, the words tripping over each other as you try to speak, somehow are not dead giveaways to him. If he notices your nerves, he doesn’t mention it, and you don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

A call of your name from the bottom of the stairs grabs your attention, and you see none other than Spencer coming up the stairs to meet you. He straightens out his sweater and looks at all of you, “You look nice.”

Suddenly you forget what words are, “Um…I.. thanks! I just got this, and I thought the antlers would be cute too.” you gesture to the light up headband. 

“They’re really cute.” he smiles and gestures you to walk in, and you’re both ambushed by Penelope immediately.

“You’re here! Oh, you look so cute with your little reindeer antlers,” she gushes, “And Spencer! Looking so dapper!” You both walk down the hallway with her, seemingly leading you to the kitchen when she abruptly stops halfway.

“You’re too cheery. What did you do?” you squint.

“Don’t hate me.”

Your eyebrows raise, “What did you do?”

“Why would we hate you?” Spencer says at the same time.

Penelope pauses, and with a hint of mischief in her voice, “Look up.”

Your eyes trail upwards to the arch of the door you’re both stood in, and there hanging with its leaves and red and white berries tied in ribbon, is of course, mistletoe.

“Penny.” you mumble under your breath. If she heard you she paid no mind, only beaming at you both with her Cheshire cat grin. You look over at poor Spencer, who’s sheepish smile and red cheeks are breaking through his stoic demeanor. 

“Did you know mistletoe in nature is actually poisonous? It’s a parasitic plant that has to grow on other trees in order to survive. But it’s holiday tradition comes from Norse mythology when the son of Odin is killed and his mother is so upset her tears turn into the berries on the plant, as a symbol of her love for him.” Spencer rambles out of nervousness.

“That sounds nice Spence,” Penelope grabs both of your hands and positions you in front of each other in the doorway, “Okay great, I’m sure you know the rules of mistletoe. Now kiss.”

“Penelope.” you lightly chide. Her persistence is a match for no one, there’s no way of getting out.

“You have to, that’s the rule! If you don’t, Christmas will be ruined!” she sighs dramatically.

You blink at her a few times hoping she understands that she’s out of her mind and that it’s a little cruel to put you and Spencer in this situation. This is probably his worst nightmare. He has that thing with germs you remember and you both are merely friends so there’s no way he’d see you like that, yet alone want to kiss you because a plant said you had to.

Spencer clears his throat in front of you, and says with a soft voice, “Well, if it’s going to ruin Christmas…”

Huh. Maybe not as cruel as you think.

You turn your head to meet his eyes, “You’re okay with this?”

He nods sheepishly, “I—I mean I love holidays, and even though I’d never done this part of Christmas, I’d hate to break tradition….”

You look at him with disbelief, but Penelope’s smile could not be wider and she squeals, “Amazing! Okay, I’m ready.”

You both look at her knowingly, and she immediately puts her hands up. “Alright, fine! I can take a hint. But, I want details later, both of you.” she busies herself off in the kitchen.

Spencer turns his body to face you, hands tentatively reaching out to ghost the curve of your hips. His eyes look to you for permission, and with a slight nod he takes purchase, bringing you closer while resting his hands on your sides. You gingerly place your flat palms on his shoulders, and it’s then you realize just how close you both are. His breath fans softly against your face, and even in heels you find yourself rising a bit further to meet his lips.

Just mere milliseconds before your lips meet he whispers with the softest pitch you’ve ever heard, “You sure this is okay?”

You think you give him a nod and a word of approval, but it’s lost as soon as you press your lips onto his with no hesitancy. His hands pull you closer to him, leaning deeper into the kiss. The endorphins run loose before  being corralled immediately as the kiss ends as quickly as it began.

He pulls back and he stares at your puffy lips, lips that are puffy because of him and it’s enough to drive him insane. He needs to find a way to have you like that again, to feel your lips against his again fearless of a watchful eye, to show you that he really doesn’t give a damn for tradition, but would do rituals and ceremonies on end if it meant getting to kiss you like that again.

You’re about to say something when your name is called from the living room, the other girls now noticing your arrival and waving you over to grab a drink. You look between them and Spencer, “I should go,” you say reluctantly, “Find me later?”.

He smiles softly, “I’ll find you later.”

You hesitate before moving, wondering if it’s even a good idea. But you realize you’re already this far deep, so what difference would it make? Your eyes dart between the girls and Spencer once more making sure they’re not looking, and rise to your toes again to kiss his cheek, “See you later, Spence.”

A blush rises to his cheek as he touches the spot with his fingers, watching you walk into the living room. You might be the death of him, he thinks.

—

The party’s gone on, games of white elephant are played and countless wine bottles are scattered around the place. He finds himself in an aimless conversation with Matt and Luke, he thinks they’re talking about some sport, but all Spencer can think about is you and your damn lips.

You’re addictive, he’s come to find. He’s had a taste of the forbidden fruit and now fully empathizes with Eve, thinking if something was as nectarious as you, he’d also have to go to great lengths to get it again.

He excuses himself from the conversation, not caring if they said anything, and goes off to find you. You’re sat on the loveseat with JJ that’s entirely too small for the two of you, but you certainly look comfy wedged into the seat. He circles around the back, resting a hand on your shoulder to let you know of his presence and bending down to whisper in your ear, “Is this a good time to find you?”

You startle a little at the voice, calming once you recognize it to be Spencer. You’re surprised he actually came and found you like he said he would, and by the look of his face it seemed like a determined mission.

“I’d say it is,” you smile up at him, his body looming over you behind the couch. He holds a hand out for you, “I’ll be back, J.” you tell her as you stand up. She looks between you and Spencer and a smug look rises to her face.

“Okay…be safe.” she winks. You groan.

Spencer leads you away from the bustle of the living room and further into the depths of Rossi’s mansion. You both walk side by side, talking aimlessly about anything and everything, grateful to have moments just walking with each other. You push open on a fancy door, revealing a vastly large room but with the same crown modeling as the rest of the place. A three piece couch set rests in the middle, and bookshelves filled with antiques line the walls.

You’re intrigued by the telescope pointed out the window, bending down to look through it. Spencer looks up from the book he’s holding on the other side of the room and watches you. You’re ethereal, the moonlight casting a soft glow on your figure making you look like an angel from above. You gaze through the lens to look at the stars, and he can’t help but wonder how lucky he is to have you in front of him and not in the sky with the rest of them.

“Can I confess something?”

You straighten your back and turn around, eyes widening, “Um, sure.”

“Nothing scary, I promise,” he reassures.

“That’s not concerning.”

He takes a deep breath, “I had an ulterior motive, when I came to find you.”

Your brows furrow nervously, “What do you mean?”

“No no, I meant it, it’s nothing bad,” he confesses, “I just… really wanted to kiss you again.”

Oh. “Me?”

“Yes, you. Who else?” he chuckles.

You stammer, “W—Well, I just wasn’t sure…”

He nods and slowly walks to you, “Would that be okay?”

You look up at him and see that he’s so close again. The waft of his cologne invades your senses. His hair is long again, you told him once he looked good with long hair and he hasn’t so much as looked at some scissors since then. The ends of his curls tickle your forehead when his head dips, lips mere nanometers away.

“Yeah.” you barely muster an audible whisper.

The corners of his lips twitch, “Yeah?” he says in the same pitch, leaning even closer.

“Please.”

His lips press to yours again for the second time this night, and he kisses you with a fervor you couldn’t comprehend. He brings one hand up to cradle the back of your head, padding the impact as he uses the other to back you against the wall. Your hands come up to tangle in his hair, lightly tugging on the roots that makes him fold even more into you.

Kisses travel down the side of your neck to the nape, and he spends time littering the area with lovebites. The soft gasps that leave your mouth only spur him on, but it’s not nearly enough for him.

“Sweetheart,” he pants between kisses, “Need to—fuck—need to taste you, please. Can I?

Your blown out eyes meet his, and it wasn’t even an option to say no when he was begging you so desperately, “Yeah, yes, please.”

His hand snakes through the slit on your dress, tracing the edges of your panties and grinning when he hears your breath hitch. He toys with the edge some more before dipping a finger below the band, never touching you where you really need him but getting awfully close.

“Spence..” you whine.

He groans, “Fuck, you sound so pretty saying my name and I haven’t even touched you yet.” He puts you out of your misery when he finally drags the pad of his index to the bundle of nerves at your center, tracing light circles that draw the prettiest moans he’s ever heard.

You grip his forearms for more stability, feeling your legs turn to jelly. Spencer sees your struggle and wraps an arm around your waist, “I got you, pretty girl it’s okay.” A few more minutes of teasing you and marking you relentlessly and he decides you’re okay enough for him to stand on your own, so he can sink to his knees in front of you.

He doesn’t break eye contact as he crouches down, making sure you’re okay every step of the way. His finger is still tracing a line from your clit to your entrance, the wet line seeping through your panties. He bunches up your dress and silently gestures to you to hold it, and steadies his hands on either side of your hips. He presses chaste kisses up your thighs, your breath getting heavier with each one closer to your center. The delirium hits an all time high when he presses a firm kiss to your core.

Skilled fingers hook your panties to the side, revealing you in all your glistening glory, “Look at you,” he marvels hoarsely, “that all for me?”

You nod fast, “Yes, yes Spence please.” you whine out, you’d sound like you were in pain if it were anyone else.

“Hey, hey it’s okay, don’t do that. I’m gonna take care of you, promise.” he coos, calming your pleas, “Come on, leg on my shoulder.”

The new angle opens you up beautifully for him and he can’t help himself when he leans in and swipes a tentative tongue through your folds, satisfied when he hears the sound of a guttural moan leave you.

You immediately slam your hand over mouth as he taunts, “Careful sweetheart, can’t be too loud or someone’s gonna walk in.”

You try to keep your moans and whimpers to a minimum as he continues eating you out like a man depraved, like all he was meant for on this earth was to be between your legs. He prods a finger around your entrance and slowly slips it in, you whimper and clamp your fingers into his hair tugging tightly.

Spencer groans into you at the feeling, and adds another finger swiftly moving them in and out. You’re getting close, he can feel it from the way you clench around his fingers, unable to stop himself from thinking about how you’d feel clenching around him.

“Ah—I’m….I’m close.” you whimper.

He speeds up ever so slightly, “Yeah? Okay angel, you can let go, it’s okay.”

Soon your climax washes over you, with you gripping his hair tightly and his fingers never faltering as he rides you through it. He slows down his pace as you come down before gently taking them out and giving you one last lick through your folds before standing up.

You yelp but it’s quickly muffled by him kissing you again. He feels you smile into the kiss and matches you before you both start giggling and pull away.

He can hear the smile in your voice when you rest your forehead on his shoulder, “That was…”

An arm wraps around you again to hold stable, “Good, I hope?”

You press a soft kiss at the base of his neck, “Really good. I guess we have to thank Penny now.”

“Actually…”

“What?”

“I may have been the one to tell her to put some mistletoe up.” He confesses sheepishly.

“You told her? S—So you could…like…” you ramble.

“So I would have a chance to kiss you, yes.”

You get real shy in front of him as if he wasn’t on his knees for you five minutes ago, “That’s really sweet…you could’ve told me.”

“I wanted to! But I thought you might not feel the same way because I notice how you are around me and I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but then Penelope told me you felt the same and I just figured one of us had to pull the bandaid off.”

You smile shyly, “I get nervous around you, because I really really like you.” you quietly admit.

He pulls you close into his chest, kissing your forehead softly, “Well that’s good then, because I really really like you too.”

Penelope is obviously over the moon when she finds out, giddy as can be knowing her two best friends are now together. What she doesn’t tell you, is how she sends the mistletoe to a preservation company to be pressed and framed. She’s just preparing to have the best gift ever to bring to your wedding.

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One Two

Fish guy is actually pretty much the same height as Steve when they’re sitting next to each other on the edge of the pool. Steve finally gave in, the heat of the day getting too much, and is trailing his feet in the water – fish guy doesn’t seem to care, but Steve still made sure to shower before he came out here. Next to Steve’s feet, the flat point of fish guys tail is also swirling in the water.

Fish guy loves pears. Steve’s sure they’re his new absolute favorite thing, and Steve’s watched him demolish six, cores and stalks and all, one right after the other.

He’s licking sticky juice from his fingers. Steve can’t see his eyes behind the shades; but he’s certain fish guy is watching him. Probably waiting to see if Steve will produce more food; fish guy has developed a hearty appetite, and he hasn’t put on much weight yet, but he’s not exactly what Steve would call emaciated either. A little over a week of regular food is obviously helping.

“Okay,” Steve sips on his beer, the points to himself, “Steve.”

“Steeee,” fish guy readily replies, nodding. Steve has no idea how or when he picked up the nodding and head shaking, but he uses both correctly, as far as Steve can tell, so Steve doesn’t argue.

Steve points at fish guy. Nothing, then a curious head tilt.

Steve’s starting to come to the conclusion that maybe fish guy just doesn’t have a name. Which, okay, Steve can kind of see that. He vaguely wonders if fish guy has any family; if he’d even want to go back to the Upside Down.

“Right. Should probably name you something vaguely fish related, no? Should we stay on brand?” Fish guy cocks his head the other way, like a bird. They’ve been sat here long enough that the sun has started to dry the ropey mess of hair that fish guy has; it gone kind of curly now, pinging up as it dries.

Steve really wants to comb it out, but he has no idea how fish guy will react; they’ve only just made it to sitting next to each other. Steve’s vaguely aware that combing someone else's hair is a bit...familiar, but he figures fish guy is kind of in his care or whatever.

Maybe they could build up to it.

“Fish,” Steve muses vaguely to himself, “fishing? Scales? Tails? Fishing, fisher? Fisher, Eddie, Eddie Fisher, that singer guy Mom really likes. What do you think, how does Eddie sound? Good as anything, right?”

Steve has no idea what’s going on behind the sunglasses, but fish guys head keeps cocking curiously to the side. Steve points to himself, “Steve.”

Fish guy, replies, “Steeee,” as expected, nodding.

Steve points to fish guy, and says, “Eddie.”

Fish guy points to himself cautiously, and quietly volunteers, “Edidie?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve says, nodding, “near enough, man. Eddie. Sounds good.”

“Good,” Eddie replies, startling Steve a bit because it’s clear as a bell.

“That’s right, good. Eddie.”

Eddie, very slowly so Steve can clearly see what he’s doing, reaches for Steve’s beer bottle. Steve’s instinct is to take it away, what if it’s poisonous or something? But then he figures Eddie’s been pretty clear about rejecting stuff so far if he doesn’t want it; plus he lived in the Upside Down for, presumably, years. If he can survive in a toxic environment like that, then surely a sip of beer won’t hurt him.

Eddie’s funny as he lifts it, sniffing cautiously before he works out the mechanics of fitting his lips around the neck of the bottle. He drinks. Seems to ponder it for a moment, and then drinks again, giving the bottle a mournful little shake when he realizes it’s empty. There wasn’t much left anyway; Steve figures he’ll be okay.

“Good,” Eddie says as he hands the bottle back, “inied.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, “finished.”

“Why do you think he doesn’t have any gills?”

“You are definitely asking the wrong person here Robs,” Steve scatters another handful of peas into the water, watching as Eddie bobs along, collecting them one at a time and popping them into his mouth, “ask Dustin. He’ll produce a book. There’s literally always a book.”

“I don’t want to ask Dustin, he’ll actually try and explain it to me...I’d rather speculate emptily.”

“You do love a bit of empty speculation.”

Robin nods in agreement, “so, no gills, what do you think?”

“I think…” Steve ponders for a few seconds, filling up the dog bowl with the rest of the peas and floating that on the water, “that he can’t actually breathe underwater. He can just hold his breath for a fucking long time.”

“Nah. Boring. Plausible. Logical. Could be correct. I need something wild Steven.”

Steve thinks, but he doesn’t have much of an imagination, not like the kids or Robin. Clever people have good imaginations; Steve’s not one of them. But he does remember hearing something about bugs one time, “he breathes through his skin.”

“Fucking rad.”

“You have been spending way too much time with Argyle.”

“He has the good stuff Steve, supply and demand,” she says shrugging, and then, “why, you jealous?”

Steve huffs, rolling his eyes. Because no, of course he isn’t. Much. Maybe a tiny bit. But that’s okay, Robin should have other friends and stuff he guesses. She pokes him in the ribs and he flaps at her.

It just encourages her, obviously, so he tries to ignore her which just makes her ten times worse. She pokes more, and she just knows him too well, goes for his ticklish ribs and before Steve knows what’s happening he’s on his side, trying to curl up to get away, begging for mercy and shrieking with laughter, Robin hollering “admit your jealousy Steven. Say uncle! Say iiiiiiiiiit!!”

Robin disappears suddenly with a splash and yelp. She scrambles on the grass, trying to right herself from where she was shoved, Eddie suddenly flopped half on top of Steve, his tail twisting around Steve’s middle. Robin scrambles back a few more paces, Eddie’s arms locked at the elbow to hold his torso up off the ground as far as he can, claws raking into the grass.

He’s completely silent, and Steve, shocked, just sits for a moment, looking at the back of Eddie’s soaking head. The water’s dripping from his hair in rivulets down his pale back, his shoulder blades standing out sharply, the knobs of his spine visible where his back is held in a sharp arch.

He’s puffed up like an angry cat, Steve thinks absently.

He makes eye contact with Robin over Eddie’s shoulder, and she raises her eyebrows just a teeny tiny bit, ‘what the fuck?’

Steve shrugs, ‘I don’t know.’ Then tilts his head to the house a little, ‘give us a minute.’

Robin frowns spectacularly, ‘I’m not leaving you alone with the crazy fish guy’ or words to that effect, Steve guesses.

He nods toward the house again, trying to give his best, ‘I’ll be fine,’ vibes.

She looks hugely doubtful, but does move away, all slow and careful. Eddie hand walks to keep himself between between Steve and Robin, his tail clenching around Steve as he does.

“Eddie,” Steve’s hand hovers in the air for a few seconds before he bites the bullet and lets his hand rest on Eddie’s tail. It’s surprisingly smooth. Not soft exactly, but not hard. Doesn’t even feel scaly really, just smooth and warm it doesn’t look scaly either, now that Steve can have a close up look. It’s just...black. Matt black.

Actually now that he’s here, there are some funny little slits toward the tippy bit, they kind of look like they could be openings, but he doesn’t have time to investigate because Robin’s gone, so Eddie turns to him.

Steve has no clue what to say as Eddie’s tail slowly unwraps from his middle, “Eddie,” he starts, as Eddie slips back into the water.

“Steee.”

Steve just sighs, retrieving what are now Eddie’s sunglasses from where they’ve fallen by the edge of the lawn, “what am I going to do with you?”

Eddie tips his head, listening, but Steve doesn’t have anything else to say. At a loss, he heads inside to make sure Robin is okay.

A/N I know the time line doesn't work with Argyle since this happened after starcourt but lets just all agree to ignore that. There is no tag list for this work.

Part Four

[revelboo]

I forgot, have you ever written Sunstorm? Might be a cool one to try! Reader finds him in a nuclear power plant (gotta get that yummy enriched uranium) (that’s a joke but it would be funny)

I keep thinking about it now. You always give me the hardest characters, first Metroplex, now this irradiated, raving lunatic. 🤣 I’m just going to BS a way for reader to survive him instead of insta-death from radiation poisoning.

Love Me Dead

Sunstorm x Reader

• What was that? Slowing down in the road, you turn your spotlight onto the fence lining the road. Or the lack of. Something had taken out a huge swath of it. A drunk driver running off the road? Pulling over, you park and walk through the ruined chain link fence, playing your flashlight over the damage. Why did it have to be here? Aiming higher, you think you can see one of the cooling towers through the trees. Know the place was decommissioned and that the lingering radiation is negligible, but you still don’t like it.

• Swinging the flashlight beam to play over the trees, you catch a glimpse of yellow deeper in. A pulse of fitful light. “You okay?” Calling out, your voice is swallowed by the night. Too hurt to answer? Moving closer, your breath hitches as you keep moving toward that faint glow. Watching it pulse and dance. You have no idea what it is, but it’s the loveliest thing you’ve ever seen. Swearing softly as you get close enough to realize it’s not a wrecked car you’re seeing, though your brain can’t make sense of it either. A mangled mess. Skin crawling as your light reveals a giant face.

• Drifting in and out of restless recharge, he’s not sure what’s real and what’s only in his processor. Only that he can’t fail now. This is only a new trial, a test to ensure his worthiness as the hand of Primus. Betrayed and only barely escaping his allies and not without damage. All because they can’t believe his truth. Think he’s insane. Is something there approaching him? Or just another phantom?

• Mangled glass and metal and that dancing light. Hearing that hum deep in your bones as you reach out. The rational part of your brain jangling alarm bells, warning you that anything that pretty is probably dangerous. To stop. That you don’t even know what it is. It’s like you’re possessed, body moving on its own. And that dancing will o’ the wisp arcs to meet your fingertips and you go rigid realizing you just made a horrible mistake.

• Jolting to awareness as that shock of connection slams through him, he hisses through his denta. Feels his spark snaring and tangling with you, that euphoric high making him shudder on a groan. Trying to understand what you are as he wraps himself more firmly around your fragile light. Thoughts and emotions not his own spilling into him, a life he’d never lived his to experience. A gift given to him, a reward for not losing faith, for not faltering in his belief. And then your panic and fear slices into him so visceral it hurts as he delves deeper into you. Claiming what was offered freely.

• Can’t break that connection as something spills like poison into you. Feeling seen and judged as he engulfs you until you’re drowning in him. Feeling that madness become a tide threatening to pull you under. Feeling him. Sunstorm. A name to go with that face floating through your mind, those thoughts that aren’t yours. And you can’t escape, as he digs in deeper, refusing to let you go. Whispering that you made an offering. Giving him something you hadn’t meant to. Hadn’t realized you could give as you grieve that loss and he wraps tighter around you, his thoughts whispering in yours, brushing against you in shivers of chaos and conviction that this is right. Meant to be.

Next

[ichorai]

stitch ; coriolanus snow.

pairing ; young!coriolanus snow x capitol!reader (gender-neutral)

synopsis ; and he clearly wasn’t thinking straight, because his feet didn’t bring him back to his own filthy, dirty, rat-infested home. he brought himself to your winged estate, gardened and manicured and polished to perfection.

words ; 8.7k

themes ; angst, action, mild fluff

warnings / includes ; themes of classism, violence/injury/death/drug misuse, foul language, lucky being lucky, a lot of kisses, coryo's paranoia, he's much more toxic this chapter someone pls save reader (aka doomed by the narrative), i tried to keep him in character as best i could </3

a/n ; thank you for all the support on this series so far! if i've planned this out right, there will be two more parts coming after this one!

series masterlist. main masterlist.

Considering you survived numerous explosions and a metal-pipe lodged in your abdomen, you weren’t looking all that bad. Though you were still badly aching, the injuries you had sustained during the bombings strayed away from your face, save for a few small cuts and bruises that would heal in no time. It made it easy for you to pretend like everything was okay as you donned a crisp, ironed, academy uniform. A new one, that wasn’t stained with your blood and the arena’s dust.

All the doctors had advised you to stay at the hospital to rest and recover. But with the games starting in mere hours… you couldn’t leave Wovey alone. You made a promise, and you intended to keep it.

After surprisingly little begging, your mother caved and signed the release forms for you, on the condition that you’d stay on a wheelchair for the entire duration of the games—or until you were fully healed. Whichever came first. 

Coriolanus came early that morning, looking more tired than the last time you saw him, and promised your mother that he’d take care of you with a charming smile. He kissed your cheek, thumb brushing just beneath your jaw, before wheeling you off to the academy. The warm, fresh wind was refreshing against your face, billowing your hair to and fro.

“I gave her rat poison,” Coriolanus said as he pushed you along. 

The suddenness of his words startled you into a flabbergasted silence. You stared straight ahead for a few moments, lips screwing to the side, trying your best to remain calm. Then, you gritted out, “What in Panem made you think that was a good idea? If Highbottom finds out… it’ll be over for you, Coryo. That’ll be grounds for worse than expulsion.”

“Lucy Gray has to win. She can’t—on her own. I had to give her something.” Coriolanus’ hands flexed on the handles of the wheelchair. 

“I can’t cover for you forever, Coryo,” you whispered, words almost lost to the wind. But he heard.

He narrowed his pale eyes at the back of your head. “You won’t tell, will you?” There was a biting edge to his tone.

“You’re an idiot if you think I would.” You pressed a hand over your bandaged abdomen, obscured by the vibrant red fabric. “Besides—if you go down, I’d go down with you. With enough secrets of yours I bite down on… that makes me an accomplice, too.”

Lucky Flickerman’s eyes were wide as saucers when you showed up to the academy in a wheelchair. He fluttered over to you with a reporter following close behind him, shoving a camera into your face. You loved him, truly, but it was hard to tell apart the Lucky that appeared in front of cameras and the real Lucky your mother was best friends with. A myriad of questions fell from the mustached man’s mouth, and you only managed to answer one and a half of them before Sejanus appeared, and Lucky turned to him to ask him questions about his missing tribute.

With a roll of his eyes, Coriolanus pushed you down a ramp (one that hadn’t been there until just a few hours ago, when they heard news of you coming in a wheelchair), and settled you in front of a monitor with your name on it, in the middle of the rows of seats. His was by the very edge, much to both of your dismay.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he told you, enveloping one of your hands in both of his. He kneeled down in front of you so he’d be at eye-level.

You nodded, but pursed your lips. “Why did you tell me? About the…” You trailed off, worried someone would overhear. But he knew what you were talking about—the rat poison.

He tried his best to give you a genuine smile, nudging his knuckles beneath your chin. They felt cold against your skin—a stark contrast to what the wind outside had felt like. “It’s like you said, isn’t it? Enough secrets of mine you hoard, the more you’re tethered to me.”

You couldn’t quite tell if he was joking. Your lips parted, but no words left your tongue.

Dipping forward, he pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead. “Let’s hope this is over quickly.”

Let’s hope they all die quick, he might as well have said.

“Mmh,” you told him, sparing something akin to a smile. Though, it might’ve looked more like a grimace. Coriolanus’ head was far too preoccupied to notice. You felt sick, and glanced around at all the other students who were taking their seats. Lucky was making his way to the front to get some final touch-ups, flashing you an encouraging wink.

A minute later, he waved away the makeup artists and brandished a microphone from thin air. You almost rolled your eyes—his amateur magic tricks were certainly getting better and better.

“Okay, everyone, places! We’re about to go live! Just because we’re not hosting doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Help me out here, alright? Don’t get lost behind your screens. No yawning, no gum-chewing—keep your chins down, heads up, shoulders back, people! And—do remember to smile. It’s why we have teeth.”

Lucky began grinning from ear-to-ear as a demonstration. 

His teeth are far too white for his face, Coriolanus thought as he settled into his seat. A shade brighter and I’d surely go blind.

With a hand raised, Lucky began counting down with his fingers. He announced himself with his usual charming flair—and when the music started thrumming, low and ominous, he began wishing everyone a happy Hunger Games, before rushing off to stand behind all the students. 

The large screen in the center of the theater lit up with a shot of the tributes walking into the arena. Several dozens of smaller screens surrounding it gave the students a wide plethora of different angles. 

Your throat went dry upon seeing Wovey and Lucy Gray emerge from the entrance tunnel holding hands. They smiled at each other—one of the smaller cameras managed to catch it just perfectly—all soft and encouraging. Peacekeepers pushed the two onward with the barrels of their guns and they were forced to separate. 

“Stand on your marks or you will be shot,” the announcement system buzzed.

Some of the tributes sobbed. Some of them hardened with determination.

The cameras panned around—until one of them landed on a hanging body, strung up by bloody ropes. Your eyes widened when you recognized him as Sejanus’ tribute.

Was he dead?

His chest gave a hunkering breath, though shallow and wheezy, and you dreaded to think about how much pain he must’ve been in. 

“Guess we can all sleep better now knowing he’s off the streets,” Lucky said into the microphone. The audience of students behind you burst into sporadic cheers and bouts of laughter.

This must’ve been the last straw for Sejanus, as he got up from his desk and just about chucked the entire monitor across the theater. It fell against the stage with several clutters and thunks. Many of the students nearby flinched. 

“YOU’RE MONSTERS!” he screamed, face wrought with anguish. “ALL OF YOU!”

With that, he stormed out. Perhaps if you weren’t confined to your wheelchair or in a great amount of pain you would’ve followed him, you thought. But maybe you were just making excuses for yourself.

Sejanus was a brave man with a rash head. You were neither brave nor rash.

Lucky began to count down again. And just as he reached one, a loud, buzzer-like sound rang through the arena. Echoed into the theater from the monitors.

The tributes began running every which way. You had your eyes fixed on Wovey. At first, she seemed to jaggedly step towards the center, where a selection of weapons were laid out. But she thought better of it once she saw all the commotion and scuttled back to the rows of seats as fast as she could. She climbed and climbed, and your chest was heavy with the idea of her falling, or of someone following her. Nobody did, thankfully.

There you go, sweetheart. Hide.

The last you saw of Wovey was the top of her small head before she disappeared behind the dusty seats. Good.

Then, you turned your attention to Lucy Gray, running around and screaming for Jessup. You briefly glanced back at Coriolanus, who was looking incredibly tense. His entire face seemed to be set into a deep frown.

What is she doing? he mouthed, mostly to himself. Run!

Immediately, buzzes rang out through the theater as tributes were slowly eliminated and disappointed students got up from their seats. You tried your best to avert your eyes from all the blood and gore. The screams, however, you couldn’t escape. A girl three seats away from you puked all over the floor, much to Lucky’s irritation.

To your relief, Lucy Gray managed to find Jessup amidst the chaos, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the hole in the ground—into the tunnels. A few angry tributes were following after them at a worryingly quick pace. Lucky made a rather smug comment about the gamemakers being prepared enough to have security cameras installed in every nook and cranny, even after the bombing “disruption”. 

You let out a large breath you didn’t realize you were holding in when Lucy Gray managed to crawl into a room through a flap in the door, Jessup hot on her heels. The tributes cursed and yelled, but no one dared follow in after the two in fear of getting hurt while trying to get in.

“Thirteen tributes remain,” announced Lucky. He looked to you and gave you a wink. “Reaper still looming large on top of the charts while Coral and her pack try to make a play. Little Wovey has done an excellent job of scaling the broken columns and hiding beneath what’s left of the seats. Let’s hope we see her soon.”

You glanced at your monitor. There were options to send her food or water if need be. But not yet. You had to be resourceful with the donations you had.

“Six tributes gone in minutes. If they keep it up at this pace… we’re going to be out of here in no time.”

Many hours passed. It was incredibly quiet for a long time—save for Lucky moving off to the side to do some reporting of the weather. Some students even fell asleep by their monitors. 

You were growing tired too, lids heavy with exhaustion and head bobbing up and down a few times. You tried to keep yourself awake, paranoid that something could happen to Wovey if you were to accidentally doze off. To your relief, you snapped awake when a hand rested on your shoulder and Coriolanus kneeled down beside you, offering a bottle of water. It felt wrong to be drinking at your leisure when the tributes were probably parched right now. 

You took the bottle with a grateful mutter of thanks and took a hefty swig.

“How are you feeling? Your wounds okay?” His hand moved up to gently smooth over the back of your head.

“I think so,” you replied, before grimacing. “I don’t like watching this, Coryo. I never have.”

“I’m sorry,” he offered. “I can take you back, if you want. To the hospital.”

“No. I have to stay,” you protested. He seemed relieved at this, not keen on leaving any time soon. 

With a curt nod, he gestured back to his own seat. “Just—let me know if you need anything.”

“You should focus on your tribute, Coriolanus,” you told him, brushing the back of your fingers along his jaw.

“My tribute didn’t have a metal pipe sticking out of her a day ago,” he whispered. “You’re priority number one. You always will be.”

“Well, I’m fine. Lucy Gray, however, is much more at risk,” you replied airily. “If my Wovey can’t win… I’d really rather see her alive.”

Those pale eyes of his searched yours.

“I love you,” he said. It was abrupt and sounded as if someone was strangling it out of him.

“I love you, too. Get back to your seat before Highbottom finds a way to get mad at you,” you told him. With a pointed jerk back to his seat, you heavily emphasized, “Again.”

With a squeeze of your shoulder (you tried your best not to grimace, since he pressed right against a large bruise on your collarbone), he rose back to full height and headed back to his monitor. 

The arena was still silent, even an hour later. Just as you were beginning to seriously consider taking a nap, there came a rustling from the rubble. Lamina, the other district two tribute, rose from behind a large stone slab, and approached the hanging Marcus.

His blood from all the exposed wounds he’d acquired had slowly dripped down his body and formed a frighteningly sizable, semi-dried puddle down below. It was a wonder how he hadn’t already succumbed to his wounds. 

Lamina climbed up the broken stone columns to make her way to him. There were several dried tear tracks on her face, and her nose was very red. Lamina stroked Marcus’ head, and he seemed to jerk alive with her touch. His chest rose and fell in a broken, staggering motion. 

“Please…” he croaked. “Please…” 

He dissolved into gentle sobs.

When Lamina raised her hatchet, you tore your eyes away and looked downward. There came a sick squelch as she struck him and the audience gasped. Lamina cut at his bonds and watched his body crumple down to the ground. Donations for Lamina began to steadily climb higher.

Pup Harrington, Lamina’s mentor, decided to take it upon himself to be the first one to send his tribute a drone with water. Dread settled the pit of your stomach when the drone buzzed in through the broken rooftop of the arena—but it didn’t seem to slow down. No, it only accelerated faster and faster the closer it got. Lamina gave a little shriek and ducked just in time—the drone crashed into the stone column and exploded into a thousand metal parts. The glass water bottle fell down below and shattered by Marcus’ now-dead body.

How were you supposed to send Wovey water now? Perhaps you’d send her food instead—that way, it wouldn’t shatter and go to waste if it hit anything. You scrolled through the options on your monitor. Apples would be a good choice. Plenty of water in them. But you held back—Wovey might’ve been asleep underneath those seats.

A few more hours passed by, slipping well into nightfall. You took a vial of prescribed morphling from your bag and downed it in one go. You could feel it buzzing through your system almost immediately, numbing the sting of your still-healing wounds. It just so happened that Highbottom swept down the steps then, eyeing you behind those spectacles of his. You shuddered and leaned your head down onto the table. The drugs were making you incredibly sleepy.

Highbottom stopped just behind Coriolanus. “You can’t save her by watching,” he murmured to his most loathsome student. “What do you want from that girl?”

“Nothing,” the blonde gritted out. “I want her to live.”

“Mmh. And the Plinth Prize would be a happy coincidence, I suppose.”

Coriolanus’ eyes squinted at nothing in particular. “I believe I’d be entitled to it.”

“Of course you do,” Highbottom retorted, tone heavy with condescension. “And who do you think makes the final decision for the prize you so covet, Mr. Snow? Wake up. Even if Lucy Gray Baird somehow wins it all, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don’t see a single dime. So… ask yourself this: how much do you care if she lives now?”

Coriolanus was gripping his hands into fists so tight that they turned a ghostly-white.

“And I know… if the young and talented Y/N wins that prize… it’ll go straight to you. Isn’t that right?” Highbottom’s lips twitched in amusement when Coriolanus stiffened. “So it seems that neither of you will be seeing that prize, Mr. Snow.”

His jaw twitched, and he snapped his head to the scowling dean. “You can’t punish them because of me. That’s not fair. Y/N doesn’t deserve that.”

Highbottom let out a gruff laugh, quiet enough for nobody to notice. Mostly everyone had gone home or was asleep, anyway. “It’s not like Y/N would have won anyway—not with that quiet little runt. Kid was doomed from the very start. Take a good look in front of you, boy. Take a look at those tributes—and then you come and tell me what’s fair.”

The very last word was practically spat at him. The dean turned on his heel and marched off. 

Still, hours passed by silently. Lucky was clearly growing agitated with the fact that things were moving so slowly. He’d already had to cancel two dinner appointments.

When Volumnia Gaul stepped into the academy, a dark cloak draped over her shoulders, you were already half-awake. She stood beside you menacingly, and you startled into full alert with a small noise of surprise, the bright blue of one of her eyes boring right into you. She said your name then, all low and elongated. You could barely suppress the shiver that ran down your spine. Still groggy, your blurry peripheral vision told you that practically every one had retired for the night. Save for a few straggler students and, of course, Coryo. You noticed, with muted interest, that every single screen was frozen on an image of the Panem crest, rather than the security camera footage inside the arena.

“I can smell the morphling on you,” she muttered, brows raised. “You should go home. Get some rest. Change those bandages of yours.”

You glanced down at your abdomen—a grimace made its way onto your face when you noticed that your uniform (new, mind you), was stained with a fresh bout of blood. You’d bled through your bandages. With a frown, you uneasily swallowed. It didn’t seem like Dr. Gaul was going to accept no for an answer.

“I, uh—” She noticed the way you began to angle yourself to Coriolanus. He’d fallen asleep by his monitor, in a similar fashion to you.

Her mouth pursed in mock-sympathy. “Coriolanus wants to stay. Watch over his songbird. I suggest you find someone else to wheel you back home.”

Your lips parted in surprise. A part of you wanted to protest, but you were far too tired to argue. “I can get myself home,” you told her. “Good night, Dr. Gaul.”

A creaky, amused titter fell from her throat. “Your little one is good at hiding. A shame she’s not going to make it.”

A wave of nausea rolled over you. You determinedly fixed your gaze on the ground and began to push yourself out of the academy. Volumnia watched you go with narrowed eyes. Once she was sure you were gone, she made her way to Coriolanus. 

The boy had a job to do.

Bobbin’s blood was still all over his hands. Dried, now. Dark with time. Dr. Gaul stitched up the gash on his left shoulder blade—he wondered if you had been in this much pain when you woke up in the hospital. But it was different, because he was slashed by a little boy, and you fell onto a metal pipe. Coriolanus wasn’t sure which one was better. 

Not that it was a competition. It was all Sejanus’ fault anyway, he concluded.

He had wanted to sprinkle bread crumbs on his dead tribute’s body. What a waste.

Once Dr. Gaul had sent him off back home with his wound tightly bound, he staggered out with a heavy chest and tear-stained cheeks.

And he clearly wasn’t thinking straight, because his feet didn’t bring him back to his own filthy, dirty, rat-infested home. He brought himself to your winged estate, gardened and manicured and polished to perfection. 

This should be mine, he thought. I should have this. I deserve this.

And then, another irrational thought crossed his mind as he rang the doorbell. 

It will be mine.

The doors swung open—which mildly surprised him, considering it was very late at night—and your mother peeked her head out. She eyed him with part confusion, part surprise. Then, she caught sight of the blood on his hands. The door widened to let him through. 

Almost immediately when he stepped in, your mother roped him into a warm embrace. He inhaled and choked on air. And then, he dissolved into a fit of wracking sobs. She crooned and stroked her hand along the back of his head.

“What’s this, Coriolanus? Whose blood is this?”

He hiccuped and drew in a staggered breath. “It’s… mine. I got into a fight with a classmate about the Games. It got violent and bloody—Dr. Gaul fixed me up.” He emphasized a wince and gestured to the wound on his shoulder. He let your mother fuss over him, demanding to take a look at the gash. Reluctant, he unbuttoned his uniform again to let her see.

It seemed the commotion was enough to wake you up, because you had limped to the top of the grand staircase with sleepy eyes and messy hair. 

Once your mother caught sight of you out of bed, she pulled away from Coriolanus to chastise you, but her words fell on deaf ears. You mumbled out your boyfriend’s name in confusion, before leaning heavily against the bannister to slowly step down, wincing with the movement. 

Coriolanus was quick to move upstairs, meeting you near the top, as you had only managed to descend a handful while he jogged to you. He cupped your face first, smoothing his thumbs over your jaw the way he always did. And when you spread your arms, he just about fell into you, his nose dropping down to the junction between your neck and your shoulder. His entire form trembled with his cries, muffled into your skin. 

It was as if he’d been reduced to a child all over again. Eating paste, salty with his tears of hunger. 

“Coryo,” you whispered, gripping at his waist. “Coryo, please tell me what’s going on. You’re worrying me.”

He hesitantly withdrew his damp face away from your neck. “Can we… talk privately?”

With pursed lips, you looked down to your mother at the bottom of the staircase.

She cleared her throat tiredly. “I’ll leave you two be. But no funny business, understand? Y/N needs to recover.”

With a serious stare in Coriolanus’ direction, she turned and marched off to the Northern wing.

“Come on,” you told him. “Let’s go to my room.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, rubbing the space between his brows. His arm wrapped over your waist to help you up the few steps. “It’s so late, and I just barged in and interrupted your sleep—”

“Coryo, you’re covered in blood. Sleep is the last thing on my mind.”

Once in your room, you shut the door and leaned against it. Coriolanus made his way to your bed and sat on it, face buried into his hands.

“Does this have something to do with Dr. Gaul?” you asked, watching him with keen eyes. 

His head snapped up and he regarded you curiously. “How’d you know?” 

“She told me to leave. And all the screens were… frozen.” With slow steps, you limped across your room to sit right beside him. “Whose blood is that?”

Coriolanus was silent for a long while. So long that you wondered if he even heard your question at all.

“Don’t—don’t hate me. I need you.”

“I won’t hate you. I love you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Stop it, Coryo. You don’t get to decide whether I l—”

“It was Bobbin.” He effectively cut you off, rendering you speechless. “I killed him.”

You stared at him as if he’d grown another head. “The… the district eight boy?” With each passing second, your eyes grew larger and—wetter. Coriolanus had to turn away. “You were in the arena? Dr. Gaul made you… oh, Coryo.”

“Sejanus went in to see his friend.” The last word was sneered out in a rather demeaning manner. “The tributes started attacking us. I… I hit Bobbin with a rock.”

He left out the gorey details. How he kept bashing Bobbin’s head in even after his body stopped twitching. How it felt… powerful. 

“It was self defense, then,” you murmured, drawing closer to brush your lips against his shoulder, just above his sutures.

It was, at first. And then it… wasn’t. Coriolanus pursed his lips. 

“Bobbin… he was Wovey’s friend, I think.” Your voice wavered, and you blinked away the tears that welled up in your eyes. “I hope she’s okay.”

Coriolanus said nothing as he frowned. He didn’t like how much you cared for her, no matter how much of a hypocrite that made him. It was like Highbottom said… the kid was doomed from the very beginning.

“Are you okay?” you asked him, voice as soft as silk.

“I don’t…”

“It’s okay if you’re not. I’ll be here for you.”

“You’re too good,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re always just so… good. How do you do it?”

There was a considerable silence before you reached over to take his chin between your fingers and force him to look at you. “I’m just trying my best. And you are, too. Don’t discredit yourself, Coriolanus. You’re good for me. You always will be.”

His pale eyes flickered. Then, he kissed you. Slow and soft, begging for more but—you pulled away with a hum before he could press further against you. 

A distinct coldness fell over his expression. “You can’t tell anyone what I told you. About Bobbin.”

You studied him for a few seconds. Watched the way he folded into himself with such caution. Compartmentalize and shield the most ugly parts of himself away from you. It was a defense mechanism of sorts. You knew it all too well, and narrowed your eyes at him.

“Why do you always think that I’ll go about and tell the world everything you say to me? Do you not trust me?”

He sucked in a shuddering breath. “I do. I do, of course I do. You just—you know everything there is to know. You can destroy me completely, and it’ll be my fault because I let you in—because I let myself fall in love with you.”

Your features twisted into one of shock. “Is that what you think? That I’m seeking to destroy you? Bring you down? What—Coriolanus, why would I do that? Do you hear yourself? How many times do I have to say that I love you until you realize that I mean it?” 

“You can love me and still betray me. They’re not mutually exclusive.” There was a terse silence that stretched thick between the two of you like taffy. His brows furrowed together and he stared angrily down at the ground as he frustratedly worked his jaw. “I’m not saying you will betray me. I’m saying you could. And that… that terrifies me.”

“I won’t. You said it yourself, remember? I’m tethered to you. I’m an accomplice—I know too much,” you said, exasperated. “But there is nothing I want to take from you. I gain nothing from stabbing you in the back. I just—I want for us to be a normal fucking couple!”

Coriolanus hung his head. With another sharp breath, he nodded several times, as if he was snapping himself out of his own thoughts. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I trust you. I’m sorry.”

When your countenance softened inexplicably, Coriolanus let himself slowly tear his walls of paranoia back down. His hands returned to you then, far more hesitantly cradling your face, gripping your hips, squeezing your thighs as he kissed you. It was familiar and comforting, yet simultaneously all too much.

“Will you stay until I fall asleep?” you panted into the kiss, trying to break away as your lungs screamed for air. “I miss you. It’s been so long since we just… existed alone together.”

He nodded—because how could he say no to you?—and helped you settle back onto the bed. Let you hold onto him, let you trace mindless shapes into his arm. Watched as your eyes fluttered shut and you fell back into what looked like a restful sleep. Envy curled within the confines of his chest. Sleep graced you so easily. Why did everything come to you so easily?

Nonetheless, he dipped forward to brush his lips against your temple, before gingerly pulling away. You stirred with the jostling, but stayed deep asleep. With that, Coriolanus made his way out of your room, clicking the door shut as softly as he could, and descended down the stairs. He left your house with a heavy chest and a throbbing shoulder.

Early the next morning, your mother came to the academy with you to watch the end of the Hunger Games—and to be there for moral support, she’d told you. She wheeled you in with a bright smile, greeting all the staring students with a friendly confidence. Once she brought you in front of the very same monitor as yesterday, she kissed the top of your head before flitting away to speak with Lucky, who was all smiles and charm. You overheard him saying that he was confident the games would come to a close soon. Your mother said something in reply, but their voices were drowned out by the swell of students entering the theater.

Coriolanus walked in only a few minutes after you, Tigris on his arm. The two of them made their way to you—Coryo was stone-faced, looking more tired than ever. Tigris appeared more worried than anything, but she was just about glowing in her new pink dress, all sharp angles and pristine fabric.

“You look beautiful,” you told her genuinely once she drew closer to you and took both your hands in hers. “I love your outfit. The color suits you.”

“Thank you,” she replied, flushing a pleased rouge hue. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been impaled by a metal pipe,” you told her with a slight grimace. “But, you know… no better way to fix that than to watch children kill themselves through a screen.”

The two cousins laughed dryly at your sarcasm. Tigris then enthusiastically told you that the dress she was making for you was ready—and you grinned and told her you were incredibly excited to come see it. With that, she nodded and left to take her seat amongst the stands, wishing the two of you good luck. 

Once she was gone, Coriolanus reached out to grasp your shoulder. Your talk with him last night plagued him for hours and hours when he should’ve been asleep. 

“Did you sleep well?” you asked him, leaning into his touch when he brushed his knuckles against your cheek. “You look tired, Coryo.”

A wry smile. “Slept like a baby.”

It was a lie, and you knew it. You frown-smiled at him nonetheless.

He bent at the waist, tilted your face up to meet his, and kissed you square on the lips. Some of the students in the stand wolf-whistled, and it felt distinctly like Coriolanus was putting on a show for them, and for the cameras. And you were, well—you were an unwilling actor.

When he pulled away, he smiled at you and gestured to his seat in the corner. “Whatever happens, I’ll be right there.”

“Okay,” you murmured. “Likewise.”

Coriolanus found himself wondering if you were hiding something from him. Why did it feel like you were drawing yourself away? Were you planning on sabotaging him?

Before he could dwell on it anymore, you gently nudged him off, as Lucky was beginning his opening remarks once again. He talked about the mystery behind Bobbin’s death (sending a cold tremor up Coriolanus’ spine), but moved on rather quickly to the stats board. 

The few remaining mentors settled down and the rest of the students in the stands quieted to watch the games continue. 

Not fifteen minutes later, commotion started brewing between Jessup and Lucy Gray. It was hisses and twitches from the boy at first, but then grew into explosive anger and panicked aggressiveness. Frightened, Lucy Gray began to doggedly run away from her friend, crawling out of the rubble-strewn tunnels and back into the main arena. 

“Something’s wrong,” Lysistrata, Jesssup’s mentor, said. “He wouldn’t turn on her like this.”

You narrowed your eyes at the hazy screen. There seemed to be foam collecting at the corners of Jessup’s mouth as he chased after Lucy Gray, demanding to know what she’s done to him. The hazy memory of Lucy Gray at the zoo mentioning a bat bite resurfaced into your mind.

“It’s rabies,” you told the two. “The foam in his mouth. He’s got rabies—the bat bite in the train, remember?”

Coriolanus and Lysistrata’s eyes both widened. 

“The same district folding in on itself!” Lucky announced into the microphone, and began rattling off some more unnecessary commentary.

“Send him water!” Coryo demanded Lyssie. 

“What?” she asked, watching in horror as her tribute tried to make a grab for Lucy Gray, but she ducked away just in time.

Impatient, Coriolanus stood up and leaned over her desk with gritted teeth. “Remember the posters in the war? Rabies—it makes you afraid of water. Send him a drone!”

Lyssie’s mouth opened and closed. “That’ll scare him!”

“Yes,” he said, tapping on her monitor. “It’ll get him away from her. Jessup is done. And you’re the only one that can get it right to him.”

With a tight frown, Lysistrata reached forward to order a water drone. Lucky was preening with all the action.

“Thank you,” Coriolanus breathed out once her order processed through. 

“Nothing to be proud of,” she said, scowling at the screen.

Lucy Gray was begging for her friend to snap out of it as she climbed up a fallen stone pillar, and screamed when a water drone came whizzing right past her ear, crashing into Jessup. Glass went flying every which way. The water had done its job scaring him—Jessup yelled and tittered with the sudden force. He fell backward and toppled right off the pillar. His body made a sickening crack as it came in contact with the ground. The audience exploded into cheers. 

Horrified, Lucy Gray slid down the pillar after her barely-alive friend, hands shaking. A terrible sense of guilt washed over you.

“Jessup?” she asked, shaking his shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere. Okay? You watched over me, now I’m watching over you. Sleep now, Jessup. Sleep.”

Jessup’s death was slow and painful. Lyssie sent a bitter glance towards Coriolanus, before storming off. 

But the horrors weren’t yet over for Lucy Gray—Coral and her pack appeared from behind a large pile of rubble, cornering her like coyotes would a lamb. They sneered and jeered at her.

You turned to look at Coriolanus, seeing his face crumple with desperation. His eyes flickered to you for a brief moment.

“Use your donations!” you called over. “She won’t fight, Coryo. You know that!”

With a frantic nod, Coriolanus snapped his gaze back to his monitor, and hurriedly pressed down on eight drones of water for his tribute. 

“Mentors allying together in such troubling times!” Lucky exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. “Will it be enough to save the songbird?”

The little machines whirred into the arena at alarming high speeds, and crashed into the unassuming tributes surrounding Lucy Gray. She ducked and covered her head with shaking hands as water and glass and metal parts flew every which way. 

“Hey!” one of the mentors exclaimed. “You can’t attack the tributes!”

“I’m just sending water,” Coriolanus retorted back, looking extremely relieved. Then, he looked back at you, and mouthed, thank you.

Taking advantage of the knocked down tributes, Lucy Gray rushed forward, grabbed a glass of water that remained miraculously unshattered, and ran off to hide behind another fallen pillar. You remembered that Coriolanus had given her rat poison—a part of you wanted her to use it to survive, and the other part of you hoped she wouldn’t ever touch it in fear of people finding out about Coriolanus cheating. That would spell the end of him.

Coral and her pack roused with groans and aches. They moaned about losing Lucy Gray, before setting their sights on Lamina and pursuing after her. It was a shame to watch her go, you thought, remembering the kindness she did for Marcus. She was stabbed in the abdomen (reminding you of your own bound bandages), and fell into a crumpled heap beside her district-mate.

While they were all busy going after her, one of the smaller screens caught Lucy Gray appearing back from behind the rubble, placing the full water bottle back on the ground. She hurriedly reached over to dump water out of any of the other bottles that hadn’t broken. 

Lucy Gray managed to escape Coral just as she began to notice what she was doing, darting up some broken stairs and into a duct, latching it shut so they wouldn’t be able to follow her in. Lucky made a sullen comment about how there were no cameras set up inside there.

Coral and the pack retreated back down to survey all the water Lucy Gray had dumped out, save for the one single bottle. You wondered if said bottle was filled with rat poison, by any chance. 

Since you had your gaze focused on one of the smaller screens, you hadn’t even noticed little Wovey emerging from a row of seats not too far away from where Lucy Gray was hiding inside the duct. 

Your eyes frantically turned to the main screen when one of the pack members exclaimed, “It’s Wovey!”

“No, no…” you muttered, leaning forward in your wheelchair, ignoring the painful sting in your side. Wovey was quick to disappear back under the seats, scampering between rows and small gaps under fallen rocks so that they couldn’t follow after her. Twisted relief clawed at your chest and you heaved for breath when they muttered defeat and decided to go back down to the ground. The group began to dissolve into an argument, which thankfully kept them otherwise occupied from going back to hunt after other tributes. To none of your surprise, Coral ended up stabbing Mizzen right in the chest. 

“And who do we have here?” said Lucky when the main screen changed to show a coughing girl emerging from her hiding place. “Ah! It’s Ill Dill. Tuberculosis on legs.”

Dill staggered towards the water bottle. Uncapped it and drank a few small mouthfuls. She coughed and wheezed. Lied down slowly, chest still rattling with coughs. It had to be poisoned, you concluded. To die right after taking that drink… it was far too much of a coincidence. Lucy Gray must have used the poison. You didn’t dare chance a glance back at Coriolanus, afraid you’d see cruel victory in his eyes.

Reaper ran out a minute later, calling out for Dill as he rushed to her. “Dill? Hey, what happened? Dill! Dill, wake up!” 

And when he realized his district-mate was dead… Reaper let out a guttural scream. It echoed and ricocheted around the arena for everyone to hear. You frowned and tucked your arms closer to your sides.

To your surprise, Reaper began to move the dead tributes’ bodies to where Marcus and Lamina were. He laid each of them carefully beside one another. Fixed their positions and brushed the dirt away from their face. Dill first, then Mizzen. Then Bobbin by the entrance—to which none of the other mentors knew who killed except Coriolanus and… you. 

Reaper tore down the long Panem flag hanging from the arena’s wall. The students burst into boos and derogatory yells. He dragged it over to the makeshift morgue and draped the dusty fabric over the corpses. 

There was a lump in your throat as you watched him stand over the bodies he had so meticulously arranged. He gave the tributes one last shred of dignity when the Capitol—you included—had so monstrously stripped every bit of it away. You twisted in your chair to look at your mother in the stands. She had a hand over her mouth as she watched on, looking every bit as choked up as you.

Reaper gazed straight into one of the cameras and spread his arms. “Are you gonna punish me now?” he asked. “ARE YOU GOING TO PUNISH ME N—”

His yells were suddenly cut off by a breaking news announcement. They still echoed about the theater, and you still could hear Reaper’s strong voice in your head. 

Volumnia Gaul sat stiff and menacing on the large screen, her single, beady blue eye seemingly ablaze with a cold fury.

“Capitol citizens, I’m afraid I must interrupt our Games to announce a tragic loss. One that affects us all. Felix Ravinstill, son of our beloved president, has this morning succumbed to his injuries sustained in the rebel bombing.” The screen changed to display a horrifyingly graphic image of Felix’s dead body covered in bruises and unhealed gashes. This was met with gasps and cries from the crowd. “Out there in the districts… they will be celebrating this young boy’s death as a triumph. I will not allow my Games to give our enemy such victory. I swear to you, here and now, before the sun goes down tonight, a rainbow of destruction will engulf our arena. Even if it means there’s to be no victor in these Games!”

Scandalized murmurs spread throughout the theater. 

Your lips parted with shock. What was the point in having the Hunger Games without a victor? You turned to look at Coriolanus, who was looking every bit as distraught as you. 

A rainbow of destruction, Gaul had said. He knew exactly what that meant. With a tight expression, he sat up and ran out of the theater. You watched him go with utter confusion, calling out his name, but your voice was drowned out over the sea of upset students.

Where was he going? To plea his case with Dr. Gaul or Highbottom? Or… no, he’d told you about the snake muttations Gaul had in her lab—while you were drowsy and delirious with pain, but you could remember it faintly—how they were rainbow in color, fast as lightning as they struck down Clemmie. Did that mean those snakes were going to be set loose in the arena? 

Your heart skipped a beat. Wovey could hide from the other tributes, sure, but small, fast, and most likely deadly snakes? She wouldn’t stand a chance. 

And what of Lucy Gray? What was Coriolanus planning on doing for her?

Fifteen minutes later, Coriolanus came running back in, sweaty and breathless. Just in time, because Coral and her pack were beginning to close in on Lucy Gray, stabbing spears through the vent flap. One of the boys down below the ducts began to cough and sputter, not in an unsimilar fashion to Dill, before collapsing down to the ground with a shudder, blood pouring out of his nose. 

Rat poison. You were sure of it. 

They stabbed at the duct some more until it buckled and broke under her weight, and she came crashing down. Hurriedly, Lucy Gray stumbled up to her feet, climbed over the dead body, and ran as fast as she could away from Coral. They were hot on her tail. Everyone watched with bated breath.

And then—the loud whirring of a carrier came descending down the center of the arena. A large, blackened cylindrical tank was being lowered into the center through the broken rooftop. You let out a shaky breath of petrification. Inside must’ve been the snake muttations Coriolanus told you about. 

The few remaining tributes stared at the tank with wide eyes, too stunned to move. 

“I’d wager that that is going to be no good.” Lucky smiled as he stared at the screen. “But wouldn’t it be fun if it was candy?”

Both the arena and the theater lapsed into utter silence. 

Until—until little Wovey peered her head up from the seats. She’s so frail, was your first thought. Slowly, she began to climb out of the rows and hopped down broken pieces of stone to get back to the ground. 

“Wovey—” you found yourself saying aloud. Many eyes drew to you. “No, no, no…”

You watched as the little girl walked towards the large black tank with wide eyes. She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her grimy hand. Reaper was warning Wovey to keep away, but the little girl was still moving closer.

“Is it over?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Can we go home? Please…”

“Fuck! Fu—shit, fuck! No, Wovey!” you frantically yelled as if she could hear you. Desperate to get her to stop going towards the tank, you looked down at your monitor.

Not many donations… 

But enough to send a drone.

Maybe if you sent food—it’d distract her. Keep her away.

And so you began placing an order for a food drone, much to Lucky’s commentary delight. With shaking hands, you pressed confirm.

But there was one thing you hadn’t considered. 

You hadn’t considered the drone coming in from directly in front of Wovey—with the tank right in its way. A whizz, a blur of silver metal, and murmurs of shock from the crowd. The machine drove itself against the glass tank and broke apart into a thousand pieces. Small red apples went flying every which way. Wovey stopped in her tracks for a moment. 

It was a temporary relief.

A crack formed in the tank. And then—another splinter within the glass. And another, and another, and another. They formed a terrible sort of spider web. 

“No,” you whispered, lips quivering. It was all your fault. “Oh, no.”

With that, the glass gave way to its fractures, and burst apart in a cascade of glittering shards. The snakes came tumbling out just as Dr. Gaul had said: a rainbow of destruction. They took down Wovey first as she screamed, slithering over her small body until you saw no part of her left. You had fallen silent, but your entire body ached as you violently shut your eyes, eliciting a hot tear to streak down your cheek. 

“Not candy! Down goes Wovey!” Lucky announced, though he winced with an apologetic glance in your direction. “Sorry, Y/N.” 

The rest of the snakes were quick to pick off Coral’s pack, and then Coral herself, who cried out that all those lives she took… they couldn’t have been for nothing.

They slithered around Reaper, who sat strongly by the pile of bodies he had arranged. He died alongside them as the serpents closed around his throat.

And that just left Lucy Gray.

“All colors lead to Gray!” Lucky announced, overly pleased with his wording.

Coriolanus smiled, victorious. “She’s—she’s won. It’s over. She’s won! Let her out!”

“Afraid that’s not your call to make, Mr. Snow,” said Lucky. He pointed over to Dr. Gaul, who was watching from the theater’s stands with crossed arms. 

The students all murmured and gasped. Coriolanus looked around helplessly.

“Dr. Gaul, she’s won!” he asserted. “It’s over, let her out!”

Volumnia stared at the blonde boy with narrowed eyes, but said nothing.

And then… Lucy Gray began to sing as the snakes slithered their way to her. They coiled over her ankles and into the ruffles of her dress. Over her arms and around her stomach. Along her back and draped on her shoulders. She sang and sang, her voice strong despite the itchy dryness in her throat.

“Why aren’t they attacking her?” Festus Creed demanded. 

Coriolanus set his jaw. “Must be the singing. It’s calming them.”

“She can’t sing forever,” he replied with an upturned nose.

Everyone in the audience watched, enraptured, as Lucy Gray sang her heart out, wrapped in iridescent snakes. You let out a shaky exhale, and another tear slipped down your face. Watching Wovey go was one thing—you didn’t want to watch Lucy Gray die, as well.

Anger rose in your throat. 

You turned your wheelchair away from the screen—away from your damned monitor. It was your fault Wovey was dead. You wouldn’t watch Lucy Gray die, too.

“LET HER OUT!” you screamed at Dr. Gaul. Coriolanus flinched and stared at you with wonder, along with the rest of the student body. You bared your teeth in a pained snarl, and you let the tears freely fall. They were scalding against your skin, along with the multiple cameras that had turned right to you. “She won. Who’s going to donate to your Games next year if they know you’ll just kill their victor off? Let her out, Gaul!”

“Dr. Gaul, please,” Coriolanus pleaded, nodding at your words. “Let her out.”

“Get her out!” Tigris chimed along. Your mother voiced the same sentiment a second later, her face shining at you with pride. 

One by one, students began yelling at Dr. Gaul to get Lucy Gray out of the arena until practically everyone was chanting along.

“Nobody’s going to watch your Games without a victor!” Snow told her over the swell of voices. 

With a sharp scowl, she raised her hand. Almost immediately, the crowd fell into silence. 

“Get her out,” she quietly grumbled to one of her assistants.

Lucky clapped and announced excitedly, “She’s won! Lucy Gray has won! Coriolanus Snow is the winner of the 10th annual Hunger Games!”

Victory music began playing throughout the theater—trumpets and drums and bells echoing into his ears as the students rushed down from their seats to congratulate him. Shaking his hand, slapping at his back, ruffling his hair. Tigris was at the front of it all, smiling at him so wide it was a wonder her face didn’t split into two. She wrapped him into a warm hug and he held her tight, laughing into her shoulder as the weight of realization fell against him.

He’d won.

Once he pulled away from his cousin, he pushed through the packed crowd to get to you. You were on your feet already, though your weight was leaning heavily against one of the handles of your wheelchair. You were positively overwhelmed by all the commotion around you. 

He held your face with both his hands and kissed you in front of everyone. The cheers grew louder and louder, and Snow pulled away smiling wider than he ever remembered smiling before.

But when he looked at you again—truly looked at you—there were still tears spilling from your eyes. They didn’t look quite like tears of joy, either.

“She was thirteen,” you sobbed, curling against him. “Coryo, she was thirteen. It was my fault. My fault.”

Caught up in his own victory, he’d very nearly forgotten who you were talking about. It took him another second to realize that you were crying over Wovey. Irritation clawed at his chest and he frowned at you. You should’ve been congratulating him—not thinking about your silly dead tribute. What were you expecting? Hadn’t you known this was coming?

Nonetheless, he held you to his chest with empty words of comfort murmured into your ears, rubbing a palm up and down your back in a placating manner. He kissed your forehead and the crowd swooned with the romance of it all. 

You jerked away from Coriolanus when you felt a distinct pain shoot up your stomach. You looked down, noting the darker red blotch in your uniform. 

It seemed like you’d bled through your bandages again.

taglist: @nicksolemnlyswears, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @marjorieisreading, @emlovesya, @dallaav, @sillyskeletonpatrolghost, @sunshine-stars-12, @intoomanyfandom-s, @eclipixels, @unclecrunkle, @wotcherpeak, @dangelnleif, @freyafriggafrey, @scaraslover, @tiaamberxx, @dracuno, @c-losur3, @ashy-kit, @innercreationflower, @spear-bearing-bi-witch, @mymadokamagica, @24kmar, @cowboylikerhian, @ireallydontcareanymorebrooo, @curled-hair-red-lips, @har-rison-s, @aoi-targaryen

[etfrin]

❝ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴜꜱʜ❞ — chapter sixteen | coriolanus snow

「ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ:」 SFW | canon typical violence, coriolanus snow, dean highbottom | lmk if i forgot anything

「ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ:」 young! Coriolanus Snow x female! Reader

「ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:」 coriolanus wins and he loses

「ᴀ/ɴ:」 okay guys so we're ready for Eminem! Coryo right? Remember to give your love and feedback, thank you <33

Beta read by the infamous @nowitsmissing

masterlist | navigation

Snow reaches the auditorium in time to see several tribute deaths. He knew immediately that it was because of the rat poison and not because of some sickness these tributes already had. Lucy Gray was on the run from Coral. He holds his breath.

Coriolanus hadn't even sat down on his mentor chair. He leaned against the door of the auditorium instead. He didn't want to miss a moment of this.

“Coryo,” you take away his attention.

“Dove,” he said, startled, his head turning to you. You were in a black dress (surely breaking the rules); while Tigris was wearing a pink outfit.

“Tigris,” he greeted his cousin.

Tigris smiled sweetly at Coryo. “We came to support you.”

Coriolanus nods in return, his attention returning to you. He should look at the screen but he couldn't keep his eyes off you. He thinks that you would always steal his attention like this. Take his mind off of important things. You're dangerous. You're a drug.

“Coryo,” you said his name again. It sounded like fate. He gives you a soft smile. He said your name. It sounded like a boy praying to his goddess.

Your eyes turn to the screen. He doesn't.

“She will be okay,” you reassure him.

He hums in response.

“You should go sit down with Tigris,” he said. He wants to kiss you. But he's not sure he's allowed to. Thankfully you lean in and press your lips against his. He sighs, his mind calming down.

You press another kiss to his lips before going to sit with Tigris. Lucy Gray was still alive. Coriolanus turns his attention to the screen again. He could see Lucy Gray running around, trying her best to escape Coral's wrath. Then the snakes come in. The cage shattered. A girl dies. Coriolanus remembers that Lucy Gray had called her nice.

The boy who had used the flag to cover the dead bodies of the tributes dies. His name was Reaper. Clemensia’s tribute. Coriolanus wants to look away. He doesn't. Coral dies. Everyone watching The Hunger Games hears her last words.

“It’s not fair… I couldn't have killed them all for nothing.”

Coriolanus looks away. Coral is dead. He bites the inside of his cheek. They all killed each other for nothing. The games were nothing but a show of power. A way to undermine the district. There were thousands of other alternatives but his home chose the cruelest way of all.

Survival of the fittest. Simple as that.

As he tells himself that, he looks back to the screen. Lucy Gray was being engulfed by the snakes. The snakes weren't biting her. Familiar scent. He walks inside the auditorium. He sits on his seat.

Lucy Gray began to sign,

“You're headed for heaven

The sweet old hereafter

And I've got one foot in the door

But before I can fly up

I've loose ends to tie up

Right here in the old therebefore

I'll be along

When I've finished my song”

More snakes come around her. She would suffocate to death even if they didn't poison her. Coriolanus panics, he yells out, “Dr. Gaul, she won!”

“It’s over! Let her out!” He adds louder, letting his peers hear. Everyone died except one. A single winner. The winner is the Capitol even if Lucy Gray will be crowned as the victor of the tenth annual Hunger Games

“Why aren't they attacking her?” A fellow mentor's questions.

“It must be her singing,” he said immediately, he had thought of the excuse beforehand. Lucy Gray once mentioned in the zoo how she charmed a snake by singing. Therefore it didn't sound ridiculous. “It's calming them.”

“Well, she can't sing forever.”

He's proud he didn't punch the guy.

Lucy Gray continues singing. She wins the heart of the Capitol all over again with her voice and her lyrics. Every student in the auditorium begins to chant,

“Let her out!”

He suspected that the citizens of the Capitol were doing the same as well. There would be great consequences if the game doesn't have a victor. Dr. Gaul knows it too. An announcement is heard throughout,

“Lucy Gray is the victor of the tenth annual Hunger Games."

Coriolanus Snow won.

He's numb. He's overjoyed. Everyone screams out his name. Many congratulations are received. Dr. Gaul wasn't in sight. He felt Tigris hugging him. All he could think was of you. He had the plinth prize. He has the damn prize!

Snow lands on top.

He finds you standing in the corner. Coriolanus breaks into a disbelieving laugh. He picks you up and twirls you around. Coryo doesn't know how he has the strength but it didn't matter. He was very happy. Nothing can stop him now. His life was set.

He puts you down and kisses you. It wasn't appropriate for the public. He didn't care. He kisses you until his breath is knocked out. He gasps as he breaks the kiss. Coryo could still hear the cheers.

“I love you, Coriolanus Snow.”

“You're my soulmate,” he whispered.

He doesn't see your reaction to his confession. He feels horrified about how he blurted it out. He wasn't thinking. Not even a bit. And now, a few minutes after he won, he was being escorted by the Peacekeepers somewhere.

Probably to receive the prize.

He runs his finger over his scar over and over again. Not even realizing that the scar was oddly shaped like numbers. His feet tapped the floor. It was the only sound in the car. He gains a disapproving look from a peacekeeper. He doesn't care.

He can feel his heart in his throat. He doesn't know how to explain this to you. He prepared himself to lie that he noticed the date on your wrist recently and realized that you were always meant to be his.

Despite knowing who your soulmates are, it was rare in the Capitol for people to end up together. That's because the rich marry for power, not love. Even the poor marry for similar reasons, love doesn't feed anyone. It doesn't provide a roof.

This was an exception.

He's gonna have enough money to have a roof.

He has enough love to be with you.

Everything is going to be fine.

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ✧

Not.

Everything wasn't going to be fine. That's because after waiting for hours and hours in an empty hallway. Two peacekeepers guarding him. He knew that something went wrong. Perhaps Dean Highbottom was trying his best to convince everyone not to give him the prize. He's not going to win though, Coriolanus fought tooth and nail for it.

He deserved it.

It's not long before he is called into the room. There's no one in sight except Dean Highbottom waiting for him near a round table that is placed in the center of the room. He walks towards the center, stopping a few steps before the table. His heart stopped. His palms were getting clammy and he could feel himself getting a bit dizzy.

Fuck.

The table has his mom's compact and his father's handkerchief, the same handkerchief he had wiped Lucy Gray's tears with. His father's initials were stitched onto the fabric. He could smell the rose scent in the room even though the compact no longer carried the rose-perfumed powder.

“Mr. Coriolanus Snow,” Dean Highbottom began by placing a document on the table, in front of him to view. The handwriting is familiar.

It's yours.

“We have proof that you have cheated.”

“Your father's handkerchief and your mother's compact. How many times I have seen her use it, reminds me of roses.”

He doesn't hear what the Dean is saying. He skims over the words on the paper. It was a confession. A confession by you. You had confessed that you and Coriolanus were in this together. You were willing to take the blame.

“She won't be punished,” Highbottom said, “The girl was foolish for soughting your company. Her father has taken care of everything.”

“But you, Coriolanus Snow, will be a peacekeeper for the next twenty years of your life.”

Coriolanus wanted to protest but in his mind, he felt slightly glad that you were safe. And what would he say in his defense? The evidence was clear. There was nothing to do but accept his fate.

However, he wanted to know why you had confessed. He begins to play in his mind that he could pass all this off as circumstantial evidence. But your blatant confession had ruined everything. He knew you wouldn't break under pressure so what was the reason?

Coriolanus begins to feel bitter, the relief of your safety fading away. You should have been punished too. He wasn't the only one into this. If he goes to hell, you should too. You're his after all. This wasn't fair.

This wasn't fucking fair.

What Dean Highbottom says next sends chills down his spine,

“You hear that, boy? That's the sound of snow falling.”

NEXT PART

[lovelybeesthings]

Stupid bunny ch 1? 2 3

Coriolanus Snow x reader

Word count: 1.8k

Y/n Ashwood was the daughter of a very powerful family that was a part of the structure of the Capito, the Ashwoods had been one of the few honorable families to survive the falls of the most powerful families. Y/N was a very sweet innocent girl who never had to survive by eating raw meat or scraps and didn't have to fight for a scholarship to attend the Academy.

Alongside her wealth she was a beautiful girl with long lashes, rosy cheeks Doe eyes, and plum lips, her hair was in bubble braids or in long curls her hair was silky smooth by the touch of it and her looks were ones of a saint, y/n was looked at as a white soft rabbit or a doll to some as her life seemed to be in the hands of her family.

As Y/n attended the academy it was inevitable she was popular she had the looks and the Brain which amazed her peers how can a girl who looks like a saint and fragile to touch look at such hordes of sights? Y/n had known of the Snow family as they were one of a higher class but close to the bottom she knew exactly of Coriolanus Snow his long curly locks and his charming looks.

There was also one more reason Y/n Ashwood knew of Coriolanus Snow she had been his fiance since the moment they were both been born the Ashwoods and The snows had set the engagement in motion when y/n was 7 years old she met snow on one occasion and it was breath taking she still remembers it the way he had walked toward her as she hid behind her mother he took her hand and kissed it introducing himself.

*Present day*

As our days with our distracts pass soon to the games I notice how Coriolanus looks at his distract trains Lucy grey I’ve seen her girl from distract 12 I see the way she build skinny pretty from her distracts condition but to me there’s no hope a performer in an hunt I say shell die in the first 10 minutes but the way I catch his eyes longing at hers every moment at her*

My trainee was a boy named Reaper his build was strong and what I’ve read he had even attacked a peacekeeper which betters the odds.

“Coriolanus!” *I say as i see him alone for once passing by as I say his name he turns his head as his eyes lock to mine* “y/n?” *I walk closer* “I’ve missed you it’s been so long it just seems your time has been consumed so much into the game you know my family’s gonna. Host another dinner party you should come!” *I say smiling brightly* “I don’t think so I-i have to see how to better Lucy’s chances” *I look at him and my nose crutches from his response* “you mean your tribute right?” *I say harshly* “Yes, is their something the matter y/n?” *he responds more in colder tone* “it’s-s just seems like your mind is more on the girl then the goal of winning I mean she’s not the strongest tribute and doesn’t seem that smart” *I say as my words drop with venom getting so hung up on my words I don’t notice his expression to get more pissed* “Y/n! I have to spend my time on her, okay? I don’t have the riches to pay for the academy I need to be on this scholarship you can’t even view my point as your life is handed to you” *he says coldly making me shiver and I realize where I went wrong* “Coriolanus wait-t I didn’t, I wasn’t trying to make it seem that way!” *I say as my face blush’s from the embarrassment and I try to resolve this small argument* “y/n just shut it I have to get back to Lucy” *I feel this utter poison in me as I grab onto his shirt as he begins to walk away* “STOP! Don’t leave me!” *i say as a demand he quickly turns and looks at me but his eyes cold his look disturbed with my existence* “you’re just a stupid bunny” *he says as his words feel like a ridicule*

I’m end it here cause I started to hate it 🥲 if you have any suggestions or anything just tell me plz

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 5

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

Back at my desk for chapter 5 today, but no Charlie; he has abandoned me :(Tea this evening is Lady Grey with some milk and sugar.

Can you all believe that this is the last chapter of book 1????!?!? One out of 4 done! Anyways- let's get into this short chapter:

OMG. I would have been so pissed if I was transmigrated somewhere and had to start as an infant with my entire adult brain. RIP those circumstances for Airplane (p 264)

Honestly though, I am so here for the argument between Shang Qinghua/Airplane & Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan. Fight it out! The fan/not fan and the author who has no idea what's happening LOL

okay but I stand with Shang Qinghua/Airplane -> Shen Yuan really does know a lot of the lore for someone who supposedly hates this book (p265)

Oh god airplane doesn't even know that shen qingqiu here was poisoned (p267)

(okay Re: not knowing about the poisoning- correction he does, I dont know why he was confused about the mushroom side quest though. If anyone has clarity about this comment pls!)

okay but what's this demon- it's kind of scary clever (p269)

the SASS of this system going through an update and only giving automated answers LOL (p270)

it's making me laugh that the actual author and creator of this world cannot recall a single side character's name XD (p272)

+1 to the party! We have Gongyi Xiao (p 275).

what's touching him?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?! (p278) that's terrifying!!!!!

Shen Qingqiu still over here missing his boy. Re: Gongyi Xiao not being as good as Luo BInghe at picking up Shen Qingqiu's subtle non verbal cues while fighting and shen qingqiu being upset by it (p280)

I swear if that slither creature snatches those mushrooms before shen qingqiu has a chance to snag them I will be so pissed on his behalf (p282)

All three of them: WTF is that?!?!?! Airplane side eyeing shen yuan: did I write that tho??? (p.284)

RE: snatching the mushrooms- I don't think it can touch the mushrooms(?)

OMG. Shen qingqiu just made mortal enemies with this fish snake man (p 287)

At this point I don't know if he is trying to gaslight himself. But no matter what, Shen Qingqiu is really convincing people he's a little unwell about losing Luo Binghe. He mentally tells himself he's fine but man is his behaviour wild. (p 289)

OOp. Airplane calling Shen Yuan out about his feelings regarding Luo Binghe 👀 (p 290) Which Shen Qingqiu completely fails to respond to.

That's it for book 1!!!!!

I am NOT ready for the next turn of events. That foreshadowing at the end with this mushroom plot! These mushrooms better survive or poor Shen Qingqiu is fucked.

I cannot wait to start book 2 tomorrow!!!

[tsarinatorment]

okay so-

on the discord i was scrolling through past convos in a desperate search for a link that i've seen before, and i came across another one of your and fsinger's aus starring Michael👀

It was like a Kronos Wins/Time-Travels AU where Michael, Thalia, Bianca, Nico, and Hazel are the MCs and I was like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and then when the first main plotpoint was basically Michael going "SAVE MY DAD" my FIRST thought was that one Puss In Boots: The Last Wish scene;

Michael, about Apollo: I will save you!

Every other god, suffering in Tartarus: Save us too!

Michael: ...if it's convenient!

like. gnawing on this au rn. i gnaw on all of your aus. this one and the Lee Lives/Apollo Becomes Mortal/BotL Au are officially my favs (Eclipse at this point is basically canon to me lol)

but yeah. I know this au has a BUNCH of beloved characters die, which would have admittedly upset me like, three years ago, but now?

now i merely eagerly rub my hands as my brain imagines how this scenario goes down eheheehhe

Ah yes, this AU! Not one I've thought about in a while, but still a fun one!

Fun fact, for you if you missed the origin of it, and also for anyone else who might be reading this and hearing about this AU for the first time - this is an AU spinoff of my AU fic Tears Will Not Wash Away Your Crimes, where defeated!Kronos from canon timetravels back to the start of TLT to take Michael out before he could become the threat that saves Olympus (see: my long rants on how by being the one to realise Williamsburg Bridge needed to break, Michael stopped Kronos winning on the first day of the siege). In that fic, he succeeds in making Luke kill Michael, and while the fic never goes on to state it, it does become an alternate timeline where Kronos does, in fact, win (due to various factors such as Luke's betrayal not being discovered because Percy wasn't there to survive being poisoned and reveal that he was the traitor, etc. and also Kronos knowing how the demigods/gods operated and basically having the cheat code of being able to squash anything they try before they try it).

But also I am a perpetual Michael!lives fan, so with the enabling of @fearlessinger, as you mentioned, another AU spawned off of this, whereby when Luke carelessly mentioned Apollo by name, he caught Apollo's attention and the god himself turned up to whisk Michael away to safety. In the end, though, it doesn't stop Kronos from winning, because no-one knows enough to trump what Kronos knows. Hence, Kronos wins!AU.

But then!

There are some key changes that go down because of Kronos' prior knowledge... Change #1: Thalia is not restored by the Golden Fleece. Kronos did this because he wanted her as his host, but he tried that last time and it failed - he won't try again. Change #2: The di Angelos do not leave the Lotus Casino. No Thalia in the running suggests that Hades may not have bothered to pull his own children back into the prophecy race - if he really wanted them to be feasible as prophecy children, he'd have brought them out when Percy was claimed, as that would make Bianca a similar age to Percy and therefore viable as an alternative. Bringing them out a year or two later makes his kids younger than both Thalia and Percy and doesn't actually make sense, unless it was a response to being the only Big Three god with no kids involved... Change #3: Daedalus doesn't die, because Nico isn't around Change #4: All our Greek Hero demigods (and the Hunters) are dead, barring the above, and Michael, who was kept safe on Delos the whole time.

And these changes all line up quite neatly into a ridiculously large plot, based on the following consequences:

Consequence #1: the gods are thrown down into Tartarus Consequence #2: the triumvirate's deal with Kronos for their support involved getting Apollo as their prize so Caligula can still claim the sun god spot and Commodus gets his revenge. Apollo is passed to them, instead of Tartarus Consequence #3: Michael is rather pissed off about all of this

What happens after that, well. Imagine Michael, no longer trapped on Delos because the twins aren't there, making his way to Delphi. Imagine Phoebe initially reclaiming Delphi, before Kronos realises she was never on her side and instead release Python to reclaim it; Michael has enough time to speak with his grandmother, but only very little before he's forced to flee into the Labyrinth to hide.

Imagine Daedalus trying to atone for all the deaths he's caused by keeping this one demigod still alive, hidden in the Labyrinth while Michael tries to work out how the fuck he's supposed to save the gods, but never even considering not doing it ("the gods", of course, meaning "Apollo, mostly").

Imagine Apollo weakened, but still able to make dream contact. Apollo not being able to dissuade Michael from trying to save him. Apollo with nothing left to lose except his one son he can't protect himself, so he gives Michael knowledge, things to help him stay alive.

Knowledge, like how the daughter of Zeus is a tree but isn't dead, can be healed by that golden fleece (Percy, Annabeth and Grover retrieved it still, but the tree was not sick and so it was never hung upon it). Knowledge, like how there are two more Big Three kids trapped in a place where time doesn't move.

(Imagine Apollo chained up and forced to be his own oracle as his divinity is drained away. Imagine a little girl with sickle-rings on her fingers being drawn to him anyway, this captive god of the Beast. Imagine the god that still wants to save a child, if only he had the chance)

Imagine Michael healing Thalia with the fleece, the pair of them fleeing from the remains of camp (the remains of Michael's home) as Kronos realises he's there. Imagine Michael and Thalia edging into a casino that's too bright, too jovial compared to their broken world, and pulling two younger demigods back into the timestream. Imagine lurking in the Labyrinth, in the Underworld and discovering a dead girl who still remembers when she shouldn't.

Imagine these demigods plotting, scheming, desperate, and the power of three children of the Underworld combined, pooling their powers together until they can go anywhere the shadows touch.

Imagine them rescuing a god, and the little girl coaxed along with them.

And when they've got one god back... it's only a matter of time before they get the rest.

(And when Kronos discovers it's Michael, again, that foiled him in the end... Well. Some Fates can't be denied)

[theharmonious13]

Trial of the Double Feature

Omg I love the Blurple background to honour Tsuno and Kamimura

So unreal to see the 'death portraits', Tsuno's stab trap holes and Kamimura's blood coming out of his mouth and subtle blood along the neck because of his sweater 😩

Poor Watari and Ken are inbetween two podiums of the deceased 😩

~~~

Based on the layout... if we are to assume every survivor will end up between two deceased podiums that leaves Watari, Ken, Mai, Hama, Wada, Hiroaki and Okazaki alive

Meaning Yanagi, Ojima and Tamba are getting killed off next

Probably won't happen but I LOVE theorising based off of visual elements

(Note: After learning Okazaki dies this theory is debunked immediately but I like to have fun okay? 😭😂)

~~~

Danganronpa rules for who escapes, makes sense

Omg Tamba accusing Wada, so naive but you're ded to me anyway Tamba 😩

Hanano getting coy... *yes*

I love how Mai, Yanagi, Ojima and Hiroaki agreed straight away that Wada was telling the truth and that stabbing Okazaki was deserved

Watari popping off with the voice acting and raw emotion, being on Wada's side, calling him her friend 🥺

Ken telling Tamba not to talk about Kamimura that way... thank you for showing respect

Ken saying Kamimura wasn't weak 🥺

Hama telling Wada to breathe/they just have to clear his name, he can understand what he's going through and it's a very sweet moment

Ken jabbing at Tamba (I'm using the 'exactly what it sounds like' in regards to the 3D printer' as an example) is what I live for now

Wada yelling at Tamba is deserved

Man I'm really hating how accusatory Tamba is even though this literally happens every trial

Hama guarding Wada going to the bathroom omg he's so sweet guys I love their dynamic

Why does Hiroaki even care about the above lol

Okazaki accusing Ken of murdering Kamimura and everyone else dog piling him... knew this was coming but I hate this so much anyway

DON'T INTERRUPT KEN WHEN HE DOESN'T GET A CHANCE TO BUD IN, LIKE EVERY TRUAL

I give Okazaki the middle finger while she spurts out this stupid theory

'Stop talking like you know me! Or him, for that matter! You don't know shit about either of us!' YES KEN (and voice actor) POP OFF (especially at Okazaki lmao)

Okazaki claiming to be Ken's therapist is 💀 especially after she said she was his guide councillor which is very different...?

Body discovery announcement came in clutch LET'S GO - Wada and Ken didn't kill their besties

'The infernal energy coming out of that room was disrupting my arm's structural integrity' Hama 😂

ANXIETY ATTACK? Ken nooooo

OKAZAKI WE HAVE SELF PRESERVATION HERE PLEASE, ALOT OF THE CAST THINK BADLY OF THEMSELVES

Hiroaki being blunt about the self harm isn't exactly tactful but needed for the trial

Hama says he was bopped on the head, Okazaki replying with 'he wasn't bopped' 😂

Hama saying Okazaki being in the chemlab was a violation and her agreeing 😂

Tetro is teaching me new words like flunitrazepam (also why was Okazaki keeping an eye on it, sus)

I'm with Watari, THEY HAD CYANIDE?

I've been wondering if the killer took Kamimura's tongue as a trophy too, can we just body check the entire cast right now please? Lmao

'Finally! It was poison!' Good for you Tamba but why did it have to be so ironic that it was on Kamimura's case that he couldn't shut you down 😭

Hiroaki just admitting he was going to kill himself and replying with 'why are you looking at me like that's 😭

Means Tamba was wrong about the poison though hehe, thanks Hiroaki

Yeah Tamba had a blonde moment, I'm on Okazaki's side for this one being annoyed at her

Poor Tamba is cooked, at this rate she's definitely not surviving unless Von wanted to do the stereotypical mainline Danganronpa games survivor cast archetypes trope 😭

'How did they get into Kamimura's room?' guys we LITERALLY just mentioned the 3D printed room key 😭

Omg I'm one of the biggest Hayashigeki shippers out there BUT THIS ARGUMENT IS AWESOME! I AM THRIVING! Well written for both characters and there's been chapters worth of tension stock piled out until now that they need to work through together hehe

Why are we assuming Kamimura knew about the second key? Anyways

KEN AND KAMIMURA (wholesomely and shippingly) SLEPT TOGETHER 🥺

'Do we have a pickpocket in here?' Stares intensely at Okazaki

Wada freaking out about not solving Tsuno's case, thanks guys for solving it anyway 😭♥️

If Kamimura somehow built the trap without Ken noticing that would be messed up (I've thought about Tsuno killing Kamimura because of the fandom but not vice versa)

I really want to know if Tsuno was the intended target or not, if she wasn't it'll be even more sad

I love everyone telling Tamba to shut up, especially Mai 😭

Tamba really needs to stop gunning for Ken or Imma get mad 💀

Man all of the resentment/arguments are coming out of this trial

Yanagi you don't want the reputation of throwing off trials but we're doing it a third time, that establishes a pattern 😭

'If you don't tell me where you were last night you've lost all my trust' Mai omg that sentence went HARD

Omg Yanagi was trying to get into the locked room, please don't tell me he's going to get executed for admitting it 😭

WATARI AND HAMA ARE BECOMING FRIENDS, I actually jumped for joy when I heard Hama say he was watching Watari practice fire dancing in her room

That's very vivid description from the Hall Overlord, I do have to wonder if she just so happened to peek out at all the right times and then continue to prep for the murder

Here we go, Tamba where you at 😭😂

I proceed to be so engrossed in the trial that I have no comments, I am fully obsessed

I don't want to think Tsuno is implicated, but if there isn't a second key (which there obviously isn't) then logically it makes alot of sense for her to be involved with the pre existing alibis 😩

Gets engrossed in the trial again

Okazaki has a coat THAT'S HOW IT DIDN'T GET SEEN

WE ARE ONTO YOU OKAZAKI

We have less than 20 minutes yet PLEASEEEE ISTG THIS BE THE LAST SUSSED PERSON

'Okazaki was patrolling' Nah bitch more like moving around freely without anyone suspecting you ✨

'Can you open your coat then?' OJIMA YES

Blood in the coat

SHE'S GETTING PANICKY AND BACKED INTO A CORNER, OMG MY PRAYERS MAY BE ANSWERED

OKAZAKI IS SNAPPING!? WHAT IS KONKONKONKON

FACE REVEAL WHATTTTTTT

SHE'S BEAUTIFUL! AND HAS A PAW EARRING!? OMG THE WHOLE SUIT IS BLOODY OMG

SHE'S A COMIC BOOK VILLAIN? THE EDITING OF HER NEW SPRITE/CG MOVING OMG

SHE'S MOCKING THEM FOR BEING SLOW TO SOLVE IT!? I'm actually amused at this oml

THE MUSIC IS SO DERPY, I FEEL LIKE I'M IN UNDERTALE RN HELP

'A band of dimwits this easy to kill!' Omg why am I loving Okazaki at her killer reveal

WATARI IS SO UPSET AND RIGHTFULLY SO

The way she said Oni boy got me crushing a little bit 😳

Okazaki giving vital hints because she wanted to create an extremely interesting murder case makes a TON of sense

Gdi I was fairly confident it was Okazaki but I should have been ride or die on it lol

If she somehow ISN'T THE KILLER and reveals a truth bomb right now my jaw will drop to the floor

She's talking like Gundham Tanaka and I'm loving it

THE PHANTOM THEIF OF NAGOYA!? WAS SHE TSUNO'S GREATEST ENEMY OUTSIDE OF THE KILLING GAME TOO BECAUSE SHE'S LITERALLY THE ULTIMATE SUPERHERO? THEY'RE LITERALLY BOTH FROM THE SAME AREA

OMG I WAS RIGHT

I had headcanoned she was a crime doer outside of the killing game because of the gun ownership BUT OMG IT WAS SO OBVIOUS ALL ALONG WHY DID I NOT SEE IT

WADA IS GOING TO STAB HER AGAIN, AND KEN CAN JOIN TOO

KAMIMURA MUST HAVE SEEN HER DOING SOMETHING SUS AND HAD TO BE KILLED BECAUSE WITNESS TESTIMONY

I love Okazaki's monologue so much you don't understand

She's kinda crushing on Tsuno desperately wanting attention? Must be a small town crime doer who WANTS to Tsuno to be her rival because it's not her talent

THAT LAUGH VOICE ACTING WAS AWESOME OMG

She called Hiroaki a Dunk Ass 😭😂

WADA POP TF OFF!

Tsuno cared about Kamimura and that drew her attention... Tsuno died for love? DELUSIONAL SHIP COMING ON?

Harada inspired her by saying 'life is short' and 'Kamimura is short too!' Okazaki omg you cannot be serious 😭😂

I NEED SOMEONE TO TRANSCRIBE OKAZAKI'S MURDER CASE RECAP BECAUSE I CANNOT EVEN RIGHT NOW

'When the temperature started dropping and it was clear that someone had to die I thought hey, now is my chance to end a long and tumultuous character arc!' WOAHHHHHH 😂

Okazaki calling Kamimura a Sad Sack 😩

OKAZAKI SPRITE IN THE TRIAL ROOM

THEY CUT HER SUMMARY SHORT, JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED 😂😂😂

Or almost lol, loved the intermission anyway

She admitted Hasegawa is smarter than everyone which is a... compliment in a weird and twisted way?

Okazaki calling Wada a sad little loser 😭

KEN BEAT UP OKAZAKI LETS FUCKING GO

WADA WAS GONNA GO TOO AND I WAS THERE FOR IT

Omg Okazaki said Watari could have been the perfect sidekick one day

Watari said she will NEVER be like her and she HATES her this is the angst I needed omg I LOVE IT

POOR WADA, KEN AND WATARI THOUGH THEY ARE ALL EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED

Okazaki's about to get the most mid execution like Celeste because she's so outlandish

Okazaki wanted to give each individual student a goodbye? How strange and unexpected

'Nishi, in our next life, we'll be foxes okay?' 😭😭😭

'In every life after, I will follow that flame too' At least Okazaki genuinely liked Watari 😭

Midas Touch

Dr Haruka is absolutely disgusted by Okazaki's actions 😂

Torturing is quite the dubbed down word for what Okazaki did lol

Is Okazaki's name Yume? Does Dr Haruka know Okazaki?

Dr Kan was disappointed Tsuno didn't kill and Dr Haruka saying Tsuno didn't seem to be the type to crack shows how strong she was 💪

This was the most unique execution I've ever seen, I love it alot

Cheap motive? Wonder what it is

Kan put on the music at the trial? LOL

264 - Regulation Review

No don't modify the body discovery it comes in clutch THEY'LL GET THROWN OFF AND BE HEAVILY MISLEAD 😭

Monomoko was smart with turning off the cold tbh

Monomoko has got ALOT of dark splotches now oml

OKAZAKI WAS DR HARUKA'S KID? AND SHE WAS JUST UPSET WITH HOW SHE DID REGARDING THE KILLING GAME INSTEAD OF LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT HER *CHILD!?*

Okazaki's name is Yume... or is that a dead name maybe? Disapproving parent my god...

She's trying to get Dr Kan's child in the killing game, probs because she hates Dr Kan lol 😭

265 - Tactical Retreat

Takeshi too overwhelmed, how relatable...

He finally spaced out again 😩

266 - Apology Tour

Wonder how this cat fight will go

She's done with Yanagi? NOOOOOOOO

Mai is going on her vigilante and angsty arc

Tamba's apology is making me almost cry ngl

Mai called her Rui 🥺

267 - Grieving Process

Wada's so drained, my poor boi

Hiroaki talking to Tsuno in front of Wada will be good for both of them I think, hopefully they can bond more because of this

Wada says I love you to Tsuno again 🥺😭

HE MADE WADA NEW CLOTHES? OMG

SOFT CLOTHES FOR WADA, HIROAKI IS SO THOUGHTFUL

HUG!? YESSSSSSSS

HE WOULD ALSO GIVE WADA A HAIRCUT? WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE? NEW SPRITE? OMG MAKEOVER? OMG I NEED TO SEE IT NOW

[yarpharp]

Okay but amidst all the insane thirsting for Astarion, I am that one demisexual who just can't help but wonder: if you actually got to the choice where you and him just TALK all night instead of fuck, and you ACTUALLY got to talk your way through a dialogue tree instead of an immediate fade-to-black, what the hell would you two talk about?

I'm not saying that Astarion isn't a conversationalist. He had to make himself extremely good at inane small talk and faking interest when he lured people back to Cazador, of course he's good at making conversation. Even when you talk to him outside of the romance chatter, he's undeniably suave for all that a lot of his lines feel heavily rehearsed or carefully curated.

But if you put him in a situation where he actually had to engage personally in a discussion, what would he offer? He's spent 200 years under the control of an absolute motherfucker who repeatedly tortured him. When did he have a chance to indulge in anything but what he was told to be? Did he manage, with his roguish skills, to steal books and things? Did he hide and hoard a very beaten but precious collection of nonsense tomes under the floorboards of a room, or in an overlooked nook somewhere? Did he have a brief stint where, amidst his time hunting for the next mark to bring to Cazador, he chatted up some amiable merchant guild people? How good was he at toeing the line in such a way he could have the smallest inkling of a social life?

It's questions like these that end up leaving me to think of wild possibilities. Yeah, maybe he did have a weird collection of books. He might know how to sew very elaborate embroidery patterns from some book he stole from some merchant daughter's bookshelf. He might be shockingly knowledgeable about a stupidly specific type of regulatory city laws that've been outdated for eighty years because he once seduced a would-be prosecutor for the courts of Baldur's Gate. Perhaps he did casually chat with some fellows from the Alchemist's Guild because they were happy to tell him about their crazy experiments while never remembering his face as a result of running on barely five hours of sleep. Thus, he knows a LOT about experimental poisons or how to turn healing potions into bombs using only one obscure ingredient that anyone can grow in their city garden. Maybe he did have a few acquaintances he was fond of but never actually let himself care about too much out of fear, and when he found out they had died of old age while he kept living in a fucking nightmare he still gets choked up about it (but he does a terrifyingly good job of hiding just how bothered and upset he is about it, because surviving Cazador meant being very good at faking irreverence in the face of what he was actually feeling).

Or maybe none of that happens. Maybe he's still too disbelieving and mistrustful of your honest interest to only chat and not immediately engage in sex. He'll instead just let you talk, and make a few comments. He'd rather watch you and listen to you than be any more vulnerable than he already feels. Such is his way, in the name of keeping himself safe.

... Yeah. This shit fucks me up.

[keirawantstocry]

can I request uhhhh uhhhh pac telling tubbo about his missing leg. Since tubbo doesn't canonically know abt it 🥺.............

i love seeing you in my inbox absolutely you can

Tubbo drummed his fingers on the table as he stared down Pac. “What did you wanna talk about?” 

The other man looked nervous, his hand coming up to fiddle with the strands of his hair and his eyes glanced around at anything but Tubbo. “Well. I care about you a lot, you know that.” He let out a nervous laugh and Tubbo nodded. 

“Of course I do, Pac.” 

He took a deep breath and released his hair, setting both of his hands folded in front of him. “I want to tell you what happened to my leg.” 

Tubbo's eyes went wide. He jolted up out of his seat and pushed Pac gently aside so he could sit side by side with him in the booth. He took one of his shaking hands and squeezed it. “Okay. Breathe. Calma. Tell me whenever you're ready.” 

Pac gave him a sweet smile. God he was a beautiful man. “I was in prison. Me and Mikey. Ages ago. With Cell.” He swallowed hard and his grip on Tubbo's hand tightened. 

“Cellbit?” 

“His name was Cell back then. It's what the inmates called him. If they survived an experience with him one on one.”

Tubbo's eyes widened even more. “Cellbit has killed people?” 

Pac laughed humorlessly. “Cell has done a lot of things.” 

Suddenly Tubbo's blood ran cold. “Pac, why are you bringing up Cellbit?” 

The Brazilian just stared at him, deep into his eyes. Without him even speaking Tubbo knew.

“Holy shit, Cellbit cut off your leg?!” 

Pac shook his head slowly and said in the quietest voice Tubbo had ever heard from him, “He didn't cut it off.” 

Tubbo's mind was whirling like one of his fastest Create machines. What else could he have possibly done? 

“He ate it,” Pac said in a hiss. 

They sat there in stunned silence. The depth of emotion in Pac's eyes was wide and tumultuous. It was fear. So many different shades of fear. 

“Why were you afraid of telling me that?” 

Pac laughed dryly. “Trauma… it does strange things.” 

“What is it like a thing for you now? Weird kink?” Tubbo laughed but stopped as soon as he saw the expression on Pac's face. “Oh shit it is.” He stumbled to recover himself. “That's fine, it really is. I mean hey we're all into some weird shit right?” 

Pac smiled shyly. “Yeah.” 

Tubbo took up his other hand in his and squeezed them both. “I love you.” It was hard to say, felt like the words were poison in his throat but Pac needed to hear it right now and Tubbo knew he was right about that as soon as he saw Pac visibly perk up at his words. 

“I love you!” he said so easily, so quickly, as if the words didn't hurt to say. It made Tubbo's heart ache but he pushed past it. 

“Thank you for telling me.” 

Fuck his smile was beautiful. “Thank you for listening.” 

“Anytime king.” 

[changingplumbob]

Foster Household: Chapter 9, Part 4

Carson can hear the music before he gets in the building. It may be freezing cold but as he steps inside the heat from students bustling about and dancing has warmed the place up. First port of call, the voting booth. He doesn’t recognise most of the names on the ballot, they’re probably the older students, but he does an obligatory tick for the ones he’s seen the most posters for. Turning around he searches for Onyx and finds them standing on the edge of the dancefloor.

Carson: Hey

Onyx: *pulls funny face* This is boring. Why are we here again?

Carson: blah blah important teen milestones blah blah

Onyx: Hmm, so how’d your appointment go? Feeling less... compulsive?

Carson: Not yet, it’ll take time I guess

Onyx: Did you talk to him about... you know? Wait was it even a him in the end?

Carson: It was a him called Chad

Onyx: Chad? A Chad that's a counsellor?

Carson: He looked like he’d taken a break from surfing to be there, but he was a pretty good listener

Onyx: Did he help with dating issues

Carson: Basically he was like, you’re young, don’t be stressing about woohoo right now, ask her out if you want. But he mentioned something called being asexual that I might look into

Onyx: Not to cut you short mate but Ariadne is heading your way

Carson: Very funny

Onyx: I’m serious, she's been glancing over at you and now she's walking

Carson: Wait- where are you going

Onyx: To see if Zharfira wants a dance, you got this

Onyx said a quick hi to Ariadne but sped off leaving Carson alone to talk to her.

Ariadne: Imagine seeing you here

Carson: *laughs* I’m sorry about jetting off this afternoon but I had scouts and the ferry can be a hassle

Ariadne: Oh? How long have you been a scout

Carson: Since I started school. My older sister Keira did it and it looked like fun so I gave it a go. I’m actually a Llamacorn scout, I’ve earned every badge there is to get

Ariadne: Very impressive. Do you want to grab a seat? It’s a bit loud just here

Carson nodded but he really wanted to say he’d love to.

The pair sat down and watched some of the other students dancing. William and Darwin were trying to master the robot while Onyx had managed to pull Zharfira on to the dance floor.

Carson: You look really nice Ariadne

Ariadne: Aww, thanks. Alexander wanted me to have a simple dress and save for senior prom but James let me go for the sparkly one. He says you only live once

Carson: Definitely the right choice

Ariadne: So I imagine it takes a lot of work to get to be a... what was it again? Llama scout

Carson: Ah, Llamacorn

Ariadne: What is a Llamacorn

Carson: Honestly, not certain. I imagine it to be a llama with a unicorn horn

Ariadne giggled and Carson felt himself get more confident.

Carson: Uh, I might grab a bite to eat, do you want anything?

Ariadne: Thanks but I’m okay, if I eat I’ll just spill it on my dress

Carson went to the buffet and looked over the offerings. The meat options looked dodgy, they were probably not stored at the proper temperature. No, no, they were food poisoning waiting to happen. But a desert? Surely a fruit tart would be safe. Turning back to the tables he noticed an unwelcome sim had moved near Ariadne and was talking to her. Squaring his shoulders, he returned.

Artemisia: If you wanted I could show- oh, Carson

Carson: Hi Artemisia. Would you like to join us

Artemisia: *scoffs* You're not here together. Ariadne you could do so much better than four eyes. Not leagues better but better

Carson: Aww, are my see through frames not fooling you? How sad

Artemisia: Ugh, why do you have to be so calm? It takes all the fun out of it

Carson: I’ve been dealing with your snark since we were toddlers, I can survive it

Ariadne: *surprised* You two go that far back?

Artemisia: We’re not friends but our siblings are so yeah, we know each other. Knew Carson here when he first begun to poop himself

Carson: You’re not my friend? I might cry

Artemisia: Shut up. You look like a marshmallow in that suit, pink and round. Haven’t you ever heard of exercise? Tell me you don't find him attractive Ariadne. I'd give him a 2 at most

Carson wanted to get back to flirting but Artemisia seemed content to stay and have Ariadne’s attention. It didn’t help that alongside her looks she could turn the charm on when it suited her. He didn’t think Artemisia really liked Ariadne, most likely she just wanted to annoy him. Eventually distraction arrived.

Roger: You ready for that dance Ariadne

Ariadne: *smiling* I’d love to

Carson felt his heart sink, why couldn’t he have offered first. He disliked dancing but the chance to hold her hand... But like normal Roger and Artemisia couldn’t be in talking distance without an argument occurring, and began to bicker over outfits before Ariadne could stand up.

As the bickering continued Carson took the opportunity to talk to Ariadne again. He may not get much more time tonight.

Carson: So, I mean, if you enjoyed the sun and sand today you could always stop by my house tomorrow? I live within walking distance of a ton of beaches and it could help you get some warm in before the school week

Ariadne: I-

Roger: You’re a piece of trash Artemisia!

Artemisia: Projecting again are we Roger?

Roger predictably stormed off and Ariadne got up to go after him, speaking over her shoulder.

Ariadne: Friend me on social bunny and I’ll let you know what my day is like

Artemisia: I will

Carson: She wasn’t talking to you

Artemisia: Keep telling yourself that, we know no one would choose you when I'm around

Previous ... Next

[manga-summaries]

Gachiakuta vol 3 summary

We resume with Rudo and his 2 Support buddies trying to escape. Uh oh, locs guy drops in front of them. Did he kill Zanka?!?! Nah, he likes tough guys so he just incapacitated him via a nick with his poison claws. Locs guy does not give a shit about grunts though, so he slices through Gris the veteran Support guy with his giant claws.

Rudo stares in horror and catches Gris' amulet as it goes flying. He flashes back to his early time with Regto and how Rudo found his passion for finding worth in what others throw away. Fade back in, and Gris comments that that is actually how Rudo's power works: finding the worth in any object he touches and drawing out its full power. And boy has he pulled out the defensive power of Gris' amulet

Rudo managed to hold off locs guy (who jovially shares that his name is Jabber and is very excited to have fun fighting Rudo) fairly easily since the amulet prevents him from touching Rudo while Rudo wails on him every time he tries. Jabber realizes the amulet is working off detecting hostility, so he poisons himself so he can unconscious attack Rudo. This is effective and now Rudo is on the ropes while trying to figure out how to beat a unconscious insane masochist

Zanka staggers back in to help out. They get some good hits in but once they think they've won, Jabber stands back up, conscious again, while Rudo collapses. He must have been nicked by the poison claws at some point. Jabber poison Zanka again to re-incapacitate him

Jabber grabs Rudo- his goal all along- and jumps out of the building. But oh ho who's there but every Cleaner we've met so far! They tell Jabber to give up, and he cheerily acknowledges there's no way he'd beat all of them when he's already taken a beating and also his boss would be pissed if he fails the mission of kidnapping Rudo, or he resolves to fight to the death and have fun doing so

Before the fight can start, a woman shows up behind him. She's named Cthoni, and she says it's time to retreat. Jabber is resistant until she says boss "had a great big smile." Then he acquiesces happily. Before they dip, he notices Rudo's gloves and says "Your hands... You have that series too? The boss will love to hear this! Okay byeeee Rudo 😘" And on that cryptic note, the two villians teleport away through a magic manhole cover the woman uses

Scene change: everyone regroups at the Cleaner HQ. Rudo is sad and sulking outside because he feels useless for not being able to protect anyone while Enjin tries to tell him well done for holding his own against such a powerful foe. Rudo is sure Gris is dead so he's mourning, but Enjin brings him to the infirmary where hey! He's alive! That's kinda bullshit but good for him! He survived thanks to the Cleaners only healer Giver, Eishia.

A man then walks through the door. He recaps the new information they've learned about the raiders from this whole ordeal (that they're trying to find a way through the boarder into the Sphere). Who's this? Ayyyy it's boss man! Welcome back boss man!

He introduces himself as Corvus, and he welcomes Rudo into the Cleaners since he's pleased with what he's seen of Rudo's drive to protect the other Cleaners. He invites Rudo into his office to share what info he has: everyone who tries to cross the boarder dies. Except, there's a mysterious woman who lives near it who's rumored to have seen "some who can go up and down without dying on the way." She's Rudo's first lead on how to get back, and maybe how he survived the fall in the first place. We end with Enjin delivering Rudo's official Cleaners uniform

[dutifullyshamelessearthquake]

Hi hi!! I was thinking and wanted your opinions! i feel like canon cyno would have given Tighnari a lot of trouble because Cyno, at the start of their relationship was really bad at explaining symptoms and how he felt physically (and maybe emotionally too) I’m imagining that Cyno being trained to hide things like that in the name of his work (and also self preservation, like if captured you don’t want to give away that you’re injured to the enemy) has just resulted in him not knowing how to explain things very well and maybe not always being super in touch with his body.

so when Tighnari asks him very simple things like “what are your symptoms” Cyno will just be like “I’m tired” when in reality he’s got full blown flu symptoms. This could be extra tricky if it’s potential poisoning cuz if Cyno can’t explain himself nari can’t help as easily. “Does your stomach hurt?” “Yes” “is it a sharp pain, ache, or a sick feeling?” “….what?” And of course the classic “how are you feeling” “…I’m fine”

i feel like Tighnari would end up finding ways to speak Cyno more and ask very specific questions and asking for cyno to describe what he is feeling. Asking what are you feeling instead of how are you feeling, or explaining what symptoms can feel like in a person and see if that matches

I also think, while i can’t come up with stuff on the spot, it could make for really funny conversations too lol 😂

I'm sorry it took me a decade to actually answer this ask 😭 Digging down into the dusty depths of my askbox right now!

BUT YES I LOVE THIS! Looking at Cyno's entire canon past, and the line of work he ended up in, I can see it being this huge hurdle he had to overcome with Tighnari. Everything has always reinforced that he has to be strong, he can't show weakness, and his problems are primarily his own. Answers like "I'm fine" and "Nothing is wrong" has become complete second nature and will come out automatically without him even really thinking about what he wants to say. I can absolutely see Tighnari asking him very specific questions in the beginning just to try and get a grasp on how he's feeling.

"How are you feeling?"

"..fine."

"Okay, let's try that again. Are you in any pain?"

"I... suppose so."

"Alright where does it hurt? Head?"

"Yes."

"Stomach?"

"Yes."

"Chest?"

"No."

And it goes on like that with every tiny symptom. It's a long dragged out process but it works, and as time goes on, Cyno slowly begins to understand what he needs to tell Tighnari when something is wrong.

I do imagine when he's really in survival mode, Cyno will instantly slip back into old habits. He'll arrive on Tighnari's doorstep, struggling to breathe and covered in blood, and just on instinct blurt out "I'm fine." when Tighnari asks. At some point Tighnari starts to recognise that's a sign that Cyno is in fight or flight.

[zombiedumbie]

00. THE BOY

'Wolf brought another strange kid home' masterlist.

'onnanoko' means 'girl'.

based on Law's light novel, fluff, mentions of loss of memories, 1st person pov, mentions of blood.

Wolf brought another strange kid home.

I thought as I saw the old man enter the house with a boy in his arms.

I found it amusing, after all, it's not like he did this often, and in fact, I was one of those children. The very first, however, with no memory of who I was; unlike the others who had a name and a past.

The boy was the second. Wolf laid him down on one of the old bedrooms; he had deep dark circles under his eyes and light, but noticeable, white spots on his skin; he was skinny, had scraped knees, and dried blood on his clothes.

He didn't seem much older than me, maybe a year or two at most, which was already frightening because, you know, boys were definitely scary.

He wore patched-up clothes and seemed to own the white hat with black dots that rested beside him, as his hair appeared marked by the accessory. His leather shoes looked worn, perhaps from too much walking; I wondered what had happened to him before Wolf found him.

Wolf gave me a cloth and a bucket of warm water and asked me to at least clean his face, and when he woke up, he'd give him new clothes for a bath. I tried to do it carefully not to wake him, but when he moved, I bolted out of the room like a frightened deer running from Wolf when we go hunting.

I sat on the couch looking frightened after stumbling down the wooden staircase, almost as if I had been caught doing something wrong.

"Onnanoko", Wolf called me after a while; that's what he used to call me since I didn't have a name. He told me he wouldn't give me a name because he wasn't my father.

"I think the kid woke up, get some soup for me, yeah?" He asked, preparing a tray. I had to climb onto one of the chairs to reach the pot safely without spilling it on me. I handed him a deep plate of hot soup, which he placed on the wooden tray. I watched him leave the small kitchen to go upstairs, wanting to see the boy again, but my extreme fear of new people kept me in the kitchen.

I silently observed the orderly chaos of the old man's house. Wolf seemed to have a slight problem with hoarding things; his entire house was full of scattered items, like old radios on the floor, appliance remnants, crowded shelves, bottles of magic liquids, plants that, despite him not watering them, seemed to survive amid the chaos; even the stairs had books leaning against the corners. I didn't know what color most of the walls were since they were covered with paintings.

All surfaces were cluttered with knick-knacks, but those we needed to use always had a reserved space. I couldn't lie, in the first few days, it all seemed overwhelming, and I felt a bit suffocated, but as time passed, the house became more comforting than stifling.

I couldn't blame him; he was an inventor, his mind must work too fast to even care about taking care of all this.

I nestled into an empty space on the cold countertop while watching the snow flurry against the back door when I heard a crash from upstairs, like something had fallen on the floor.

I ran, afraid that the old man had hurt himself, or worse, the boy had hurt him. I climbed the cluttered stairs so quickly that the wood didn't have time to creak beneath my feet, a courage I didn't even recognize in myself. I pushed open the white door of one of the old rooms; Wolf was sitting there, seemingly sampling the soup, while the boy looked at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"Now you know there's no poison. It's okay; I'm not your enemy. I'm not on the 'justice' side either, but I'm not the kind of scum that would ambush a kid", Wolf spoke. Neither of them seemed to have noticed my presence.

It was only when Wolf handed the soup to the boy that I saw the gleam of the scalpel in his hand, but after sipping the broth, he put down the blade and started eating. And then, he began to cry as if his life had been saved in that moment.

"Damn… it's so good. So good!" He said, not pausing to stop talking and shove more food into his mouth. Wolf chuckled at the boy's reaction.

"I'll give you a few seconds", Wolf practically teased him. I sighed in relief, apparently everything was fine.

I stealthily left the room, but then I heard him call me a few minutes later. "Onnanoko!"

Shit, had he seen me? "I know you're there, bring some of those clothes", he grumbled. What does this old man think I am? His maid? But I did it anyway, I did it, after all, "give and take." The boy was no longer in the room when I placed the clothes on the bed; I rushed outside without saying a word to Wolf.

I returned to my room and left them to talk; Wolf would probably make the same deal with him as he did with me, so he wouldn't need my presence for that. I was also scared to talk to the boy, after all, he had a scalpel! Was he thinking of hurting us? But Wolf was strong; he wouldn't let the boy harm the old man, so I would be safe. As a precaution, I wedged a chair under the doorknob of my room.