#(hoping to try and clear out my replies for once. Making progress! Got some long ones to do on a not-tonight day)

[handsomethrowrug]

OOC:

[faelune-home]

FFXIVWrite 2024 #1: Steer

(A/n: I'm immensely glad the first week has submission leeway, cos my brain could not compute ideas at all. I've only now started getting some thoughts for things to write, though at this point, I only have this :'D So i have work to do to catch up now

But this is an idea I randomly got the other week and the timing with ffxiv write means i can potentially put this idea to work, depending on the prompts that come up - a light rewrite of the endw role quests featuring the Scions to help alongside. Let's them fill in any skill gaps my wol might have, plus any other bonuses like seeing their reaction to events they didn't experience, or culture groups they missed out on.

So this first example is the healer quest, cos it's a nice thought to imagine Alphinaud and Arenvald getting a catch up moment as friends, just one moment before its back to work.

These role quest re-writes have a mild bit of timeline fudging, everything happening pre-lv86 and so a long time until that happens, then I'll have to see when is a proper time to end them after lv87 in order to include the Scions. We'll figure it out as we go!

So largely spoiler warning for Endwalker's 1st half as far as lv85/86 and the beginning quest of the Healer Role quest.

Word count: 1624)

Fhara and Alphinaud ported into Ala Gannha, having already received their briefing on the goings on in the region from Raubahn. They were there to help the Silver Griffins, an order established in aiding Ala Mhigo’s reconstruction, and in helping rehabilitate former soldiers and wean them back into communities. A goal that would no doubt take much time and effort, but unfortunately was already at risk of being halted due to the onset of Blasphemies stirring up fear and dread in the world.

Technically, only Fhara herself had been requested due to her reputation. Every emissary sent from Eorzea and beyond clustered into a tiny strategy planning hall in the Radiant Host’s quarters descending upon her as soon as she’d entered the room. But even she had to admit that most of the skillsets they required of her weren’t her strengths, at most only basics learned in the past so she could be ready in an emergency, but she would hardly call herself well rounded. But all the better to have a more capable friend join her on these ventures.

After all, in the aftermath of Thavnair falling victim to the Final Days, there wasn’t much else for the Scions to do other than try to ease the worries of the civilians and aid them in their asylum to Sharlayan. Fhara couldn’t quite call it a distraction from current events but she hoped that taking them somewhere less crowded with anxiety and tension, somewhere yet unaffected by the larger impact of the Final Days, maybe it would help clear minds to think on the next step they needed to take.

Even if they were beset by blasphemies nonetheless.

“Arenvald has spoken of this venture in his letters recently. They’ve made some small steps toward helping some families, but he’s quite hopeful it can make a larger impact in bringing communities together and moving Ala Mhigo forward and beyond its occupation era someday,” Alphinaud stated once they were steady on their feet from the long distance travel.

“He and Raganfrid have a lot of work ahead of them, but I’m glad they’ve made some progress to start. It’ll be a long road,” she responded, ears perked as she looked around for their hosts.

“Indeed. As a friend, I would have liked to offer to assist them with it, but the Scions’ aid began and ended with the liberation of Ala Mhigo and it’s up to the people to stand on their own feet from here on. I’ll simply have to make do with Arenvald’s updates in future, while this instance is really an unfortunate outlier given the scale of this calamity,” he replied, looking torn over the fact they had to be involved at all.

Fhara’s ear flicked at the sound of crunching dirt behind her, signalling his approach before he made his appearance known.

“Unfortunate or no, tis good to have you both here to help all the same,” Arenvald greeted them both as he wheeled up to them, his warm grin being matched by the two Scions, “I’m sure this isn’t how any of us would’ve hoped to meet and catch up, but we can’t always have it easy, can we? “

“Actually, why don’t I leave you two to catch up first while I check in with Raganfrid on what’s been happening?” Fhara suggested, thinking to herself that it’d be best to let the pair catch up properly as friends before they had to worry about any official business, “You can fill me in later once we’re settled in.” She could see Alphinaud giving her a look out of the corner of her eye, though she tried to look inconspicuous.

“Already rushing into work? I would’ve expected that out of you, Alphinaud, not this one,”  Arenvald chuckled, even as Alphinaud seemed to protest weakly at the suggestion, “But aye, fine, last I saw him he was down by the river’s edge minding some of the kids. Tell him we’re good for our stores as well, I just checked it.” Fhara nodded, giving them both a friendly wave before she darted off where he’d pointed, leaving the two friends alone in the middle of the village.

“You’re well then?” Alphinaud asked, aware it was a rather simple start. It rightfully earned a light chuff in response.

“Well enough. Obviously I’ve got loads of work here, but it’s getting on. I feel I should be asking you if you’re well, given you’re busier than me with twice the workload. I’m surprised those tiny shoulders of yours haven’t cracked carrying half the world’s weight yet.”

“I’m hardly shouldering it alone,” he countered the friendly jibe, although it also felt as if the act of drawing attention to his many woes suddenly made him feel that bit more weighted, “Still, you are right, there is…a lot going on. I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of stopping though.”

“I can imagine, with what I’ve heard about your old man, and a little bit of what’s happening over in the Shroud.”

Right as a dark expression crossed Alphinaud’s face at the thought of it all - Thavnair, the Garleans, the Blasphemies, his father - Arenvald gave him a light shove to shake his mind away.

“Hey, none of the heavy shite now, we can save that till we have to chat with Raganfrid proper. C’mon,” he said, gesturing to a shaded seating area under a pitched piece of fabric and proceeding to roll ahead, leaving Alphinaud to hurry after him with a hastily mumbled affirmation.

“I’m surprised they haven’t given you a better wheelchair for the terrain while you’re posted out here,” Alphinaud added as they walked, noticing the high backed chair was much the same as Arenvald’s original infirmary stay.

“They’re working on one, just all the nonsense about getting proper parts to make it and such. And I keep telling them if the parts were better needed somewhere else, like someone else’s cart or machine, I’d make do waiting a bit longer. The least they insisted on was giving me a better tread for the paths and rocks round here,” he reported, giving the wheel a pat once he slowed to a stop under the shade, Alphinaud noting indeed it was a heftier rubber that still looked in good condition, no signs of wear and only lightly dusted.

“Garlond was passing through at one point checking on things, and he offered to make me some kind of hightek thing with all sorts of bits and bobs and shite, and ‘oh it could float you over entire ridges with enough aether crystals’, but nah,” Arenvald said, his brief impression of the engineer making the other laugh, “He’s definitely busy enough with half the work he’s doing on his own business and all the airships the major cities use, I’m not gonna give him more work.” 

“Cid is never one to stay idle, though he certainly has a bad habit of taking on more projects when he’s already busy enough,” Alphinaud hummed, remembering how frazzled Cid often looked in his workshop, and of his own making.

“At least he’s got that assistant to keep him right, I swear, the face on her when he started talking parts and labour and costs could put the fear in any other man,” Arenvald chuckled darkly.

“Ah, I’ve only met her a few times, but I know enough that Miss Jessie is not one to be taken lightly,” Alphinaud confirmed, recalling tales from Biggs and Wedge. Arenvald settled back into his seat, making himself comfy.

“Either way, while it’d be nice to have an upgrade, this is doing me well enough for what I need right now.” And with a confident smirk, he added, “I’m lucky I had the weapons training before all this, got enough arm strength to see myself through a full circuit of most of the valley ‘round these parts before I’d need someone else to help.” The final note was punctuated with a hefty flex of his arm, earning a bemused shake of the head from Alphinaud.

“Your strength was never in doubt. But still, tis good to see you adjusting well.”

~~

“It’s good to see him lighten up with a friend here, those letters always do perk him up when they arrive,” Raganfrid hummed, him and Fhara watching over the village from the ridge.

“Yeah. I was hoping to give them some time alone before we had to focus on work. Just five minutes without worrying about everything else in the world,” Fhara said, tail flicking behind her.

“Aye…a pair their age shouldn’t have to be worrying about official duties and stopping wars, but they stood up for the deed anyway. I’d like to hope that the work we’re doing here means the generations after Arenvald’s won’t have the same troubles he did. Just a future without hardship.”

“Knowing Alphinaud and his sister, I don’t see them ever slowing down, even if we manage to bring this to an end. They could’ve chosen a quiet life in Sharlayan but instead they’re out here insisting on helping everyone else.”

“Well, can’t say I’m too upset to hear that. As much as it is a shame they’ve got the world on their shoulders, I’ll be a hypocrite and say I’m glad there’s young ones like them willing to pick up and do what’s right in the world.”

Then with a smile at Fhara, Raganfrid added, “I suppose they do have quite the guardian to keep them safe though. Never need to fear the danger they’re in so long as you’re around.”

She returned his smile with one of her own.

“I try my best. And I’ll do the same here for your people, I promise you that. Me and Alphi both.”

[ya-what--ya-erster]

@ivys-head-is-spinning @deim0sdread Have this. …..

…..

JUST TO BE CLEAR THIS IS HALLA WORK IN PROGRESS BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT SORRY THE SPACING IS WEIRD SO IS THE TIME SKIPS DEAL WITH IT <3

…

“Help yourself to some food, and you can show yourself out whenever ya please. I gotta go, Paulie. Ill be home for a while midday, then I gotta go to my other job and I aint gonna be home til late.” “Mhm.” Paul mumbles, pulling his eyes open just a little. He reaches forward and kisses Darry. “Bye.” Darry says, and he leaves for work.

He thinks about Paul all day. He thinks about him until its late and hes walking through the door. He steps into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich, and he finds- The table is stacked with grocery bags. On the fridge, theres a note left.

‘I put the refrigerated stuff away. Dont worry. Also made one of them sandwiches i know ya like. Get good rest.’

Darrys grinning like an absolute idiot as he reads the note, signed by ‘P’ with a little heart next to it. “That asshole.” Is what he says, but really its a weight lifted off his shoulders. Food. Enough for a week or too. That saves a lot of money, money he can use to pay all the other things he has to pay.

“I need some cash.” Paul says to his father. “Whatd you do with what I gave you this mornin?” “Went grocery shoppin.” “Your mother went shoppin.” “Not for us.” “Who, then?” “You remeber Darrel Curtis, yeah? Hes in a bad way. Him and his brother are working two jobs each, and Ponyboys picked up part time so he can still go to school and theyre still barely payin for nothin. I though maybe Id… help em out.” “Spent my money on grease then?” “Sorry, I just thought-“ “Youre a good kid.”

Two days later, Darry has a day off, and hes treking across town to the west side to thank Paul. Hes dressed as nice as possible, and when he knocks on the Holdens door he feels fine. “How can I- Darrel! Oh, its been such a long time! Come inside!” Pauls mom greets him. “Hi, Mrs. Holden.” He says. “Is Paul here?” “He will be in a little while. Why dont you come eat? I just put breakfast on.” “Oh, I couldnt-“ “Of course you can. In fact, Ill send you home with some for your brothers too!” Paul pushes through the front door then. “Hi, mama- Darry. Hi.” Paul smiles. And Darry cant help but look away as his face turns red. “Darrel’s going to join us for breakfast.” Mrs. Holden says brigtly. “You should have just slept in. It would do you some good.” Paul says to Darry. “I’m used to getting up early. I just… thank you, Paul. For the food. You aint got a clue how much it means to me. With all you gave me I might have enough money to do Christmas for Soda and Pony.” “Do you not usually?” Paul asks, a concerned look on his face. “I try to do a good dinner, but we really aint able to afford much else.” Darry admits. “Im glad to have helped.” “I love you.” Darry whispers. Paul looks around nervosly, the returns it with a smile. “Come sit!” Mrs. Holden calls from the kitchen. Darry playfully punches Pauls shoulder. “Cmon bro, your mom is gonna feed me.” Paul laughs. “Okay bro.”

“So Darrel, Paul says you work for a roofin company. Tell me bout it.” Mr. Holden says. “Its good.” Darry replies. “Ive fallen off my fair share of roofs, but lucky Im grease cause most of the houses I fix are one story homes.” “How are your brothers?” “Good. Pony still dont talk too much after what happened. Most days he dont say nothin at all. But hes gettin better. And Soda, too. Hes gettin better.” “Im glad to hear it. That poor boy didnt do a thing to deserve what he got. Losing his best friend.” “Hes real torn up about it.” “It must be hard on you too.” “Its sad. But I aint got time to mourn. I gotta work so we dont lose nothing else.” “Youre too young for how fast youve had to grow up.” “I, uh, I better be headed home maam.” “Let me get you some food!” Mrs. Holden jumps up and begins rummaging through cupboards. Once she finds some tupperware she loads it full of hashbrown and bacon. “Paul, wont you drive him home?” “Course I will, mama.” Paul smiles. He stands up with Darry. Pulls him close by the waist and leans in and- pushes him away as quickly and he can. “Here, Darrel.” Mrs. Holden presses the tupperware container into Darrys hands. “I hope my boy treats you right.” “What?” Darry coughs, nervous. “I saw that honey, it aint just a friendly thing. And i think i always knew. Its okay, boys.” Mrs. Holden takes Paul and Darrys hands. “I wont tell nobody. But if you two are in love, thats what it is and im proud of you because love is a beautiful thing.” “Thanks mama.” Paul’s says, tears filling his eyes. “Of course baby. I love you. Now you two go. Ain’t nothing romantic going to happen in front of your mama. Darrel, you and your brothers and all your friends always have a safe place here. Always.” “Thank you, Mrs. Holden.” “Get out! Go! Have fun, use protection, I love you boys.”

Paul parks the car in Darry’s driveway and the two of them go inside. “Pony, Soda! I have breakfast for y’all. Mrs. Holden made it for ya.” Ponyboy sits down at the table next to Soda within a few minutes. “Heya, Paul.” Two-Bit appears in the kitchen too. “Hi.” Paul says. “We already ate, so you boys help yourselves to this stuff. We’re gonna go. Talk about some stuff.” “Sure you are.” Soda says with a grin.

“I’m gonna kiss you.” “You better.” Paul pulls Darry to him and does indeed kiss him. “I love you so much.” Paul says. Darry pulls away. “I love you too. More than you’ll ever understand. You’ve done so much for me… for my brothers. I love you and so don’t think nothin will ever make me stop. You know there ain’t no way I’ll ever be able to pay you back for what you’ve given me but I’m gonna do my best to pay it back by being the best damn boyfriend you ever did have. I promise.”

[wave2tyun]

sooo, hello!!🥹💞 or welcome back!!!!

i don’t really know how to start this, at first i prepared a pretty long text because i wanted to explain why exactly i deactivated and what has been happening, but in the end i chose to scrap that and not get into in detail because it’s all related to my personal life and it's probably better to just keep that private, plus it’s some pretty heavy stuff as well, and i don't want to load that onto you. so this has kind of turned into a ramble instead amdbjdn

truth is that i have been struggling, a lot. october was one of the worst months mentally for me, which is when i chose to deactivate. at some point i did start slowly feeling better and i wanted to come back on here earlier than this but then things got worse🙂 like so much fucking worse😭😭 it’s still hard to believe and it still hurts and i almost can’t stop thinking about it, but looking back, i’m at least glad about getting through things the way i did- because i feel like the me one year ago would have acted and handled those situations so differently, or maybe i would have barely been able to handle them at all.

in the midst of it all, i started to lose my passion for writing. writing stopped being a form of escapism or a way for me to use my creativity. it just felt like a burden. whenever i wanted to write and opened up a doc i just felt paralyzed only by looking at it. i couldn’t get anything out, nothing for days on end. i felt like i was losing myself, in multiple aspects, not just writing, and the disappointment that overcame me only added more and more to my stress.

and i’m not going to lie, i’m still struggling a lot to write again :’) but i do want to give it another try. maybe it’s the fact that i first started out last year in december that is kinda making my heart tingle for it again andbjsns this period of time feels nostalgic:(

however, due to personal reasons (not regarding anyone on here, just to make that clear) i’d feel much safer and much more at ease to continue with a different username, i hope you guys can understand. i do feel very attached to my previous one but i really want to be able to post comfortably.

i do kind of regret deleting my other blog because of all the memories i’ve lost, but at the same time i’m also happy i did it because in a way it allowed me to fully choose to work things out and focus on myself without feeling burdened or rushed.

i don’t know how long it’s gonna take for me to post something new. i’ve been working on multiple things at once but the progress has been quite slow ambdkdn but at least it’s something!!!! so it might take a long time, it might also not. i don’t know, i’m just gonna let things be and let them happen whenever they happen. maybe you guys can also tell me some of the fics i should repost?? i won’t do them all at once cause they were quite a lot and that would clog up the tags anbdjdnd + i also need to proofread them again cause most of the time i’d do that directly on tumblr before posting🥲

soooo yeah. if you’ve read through this whole post, i really appreciate it!! :(<33 i’m happy to return on here while being in a better state, and if there’s anybody who would like to talk, do feel free to send me a message or an ask!! i’m still at home on winter break, but i will go on a trip pretty soon😔✊🏻 just so you know in case i might be slow with posting/replying!!

i hope 2024 will treat both me and you well. i hope it can be a year of growth and love, a year where we can freely let go and start anew. in a world where you constantly get beat down for everything i still want to choose to be gentle, sensitive, and soft. i love you guys!!!! :(💞💓💖💘💞💓💞

[stargazer-sims]

Journal Entry #50

previously - Journal Entry #49 (part four)

Victor

It's Tuesday again.

I keep doing this, recording entries on Tuesdays. Unlike last Tuesday, nothing much happened today, but that's not to say I don't have news. Even if today wasn’t eventful, the weekend was.

I finally heard from Seiji. It took him until Sunday to reply to the multiple texts I'd sent him on Friday, but better late than never, as they say. What's going on with him will require some explaining, so let me come back to it, 'cause I'm sure you want to know how Yuri and I are doing too, right?

Right. Here comes the health update. There’s some good news and some not so good news.

Good news first; I'm feeling a lot better. It's like my body decided to kick itself into high gear and get some serious healing done since Friday. I’m still getting headaches, but they’re not nearly as intense as they were before, and the blurriness is completely gone from my vision now, which is super encouraging. Today, I didn't take any pain medication for my arms and rib, not even ibuprofen.

In hindsight, I think I probably should've had a little something in the afternoon, because my rib was hurting by the time I got back from spending several hours at the hospital with Yuri. The chairs in there aren’t particularly comfortable and it’s hard for me to sit for long periods of time. But, you know me. I was trying to be a tough guy about it.

My biggest problem right now isn't pain. It's that I'm restless and nearly bored out of my mind. I'm still not cleared for exercise, but I keep trying to sneak in some shoulder stretches and a bunch of leg work whenever I can. Normally, I'd be training, going to work, cooking and cleaning, and taking care of Yuri, but I can't do any of that at the moment and a guy can only take so much inactivity. I'm going kinda crazy with nothing to do.

As for Yuri, his progress hasn't been quite as good as mine. He's slowly getting better, but he's still in the hospital. It's been a whole week as of today, and I don't think he'll be getting out for at least another week.

He hasn't reached the stage where he's bored yet, probably because he's really weak and he's still sleeping a lot, but at least he's able to get out of bed on his own now. He was even up and walking for a few minutes this afternoon. I coaxed him to drink some water afterwards, which probably looked hilarious because I was holding the cup for him and I had to hold it between both hands while he sipped through a straw.

He's still not eating, unfortunately, so they're still giving him intravenous nutrition infusions. I'm sure he's capable of eating independently, but I think he's scared, and nothing anyone's said so far has been enough to motivate him to try.

Dr. Kasongo has already brought up the subject of tube feeding at home, but only with me because neither of us feel Yuri is ready for that conversation yet. Obviously, tube feeding will be an option of last resort, and we really don't want to frighten or upset him any more.

I’ll be honest, the idea upsets me too, not just because I hate the thought of how debilitating it’d be for Yuri, but also because I don’t think I grasped exactly how sick he is until I had that conversation with his doctor. Like, I’ve always understood that his illness is serious and chronic, but I don’t think I fully comprehended the magnitude of it, if that makes sense.

Dr. Kasongo is hopeful that we won’t have to go the tube feeding route, in any case. She’s certain Yuri will settle enough to start a liquid diet by mouth in another day or two, but I'm not sure it'll happen as soon as she imagines it will. Not without some kind of intervention, at least.

The nutritionist came to see him while I was there today, and he had a complete meltdown in front of her. It was pretty clear that he did not want to hear anything about the food plan she was suggesting for him once he's released from the hospital, and his solution was to dissolve into tears and ask her to leave. I think I've seen him cry more in the past week than in the entire duration of our relationship. Yuri hardly ever cries. He rarely shows any emotions really strongly for that matter, regardless of how he's feeling inside, and it's difficult to see him in such a vulnerable state.

The nutritionist told me she's going to ask the doctor to make a referral to a psychologist for him. I already know he's not going to like that, and I’m predicting he'll cause a scene over it, but I do think it's a good idea for him to speak to someone.

That having been said, I can also empathize with his reluctance. At first, I didn't want to talk to the psychologist Dr. Sato referred me to either, but now I actually kinda like him. The initial referral was supposed to have been to talk about the emotional effects of my accident, but I told him I can get over that by myself, so we discuss other stuff instead. I've talked to him about the death of my dad and sister, the stress of being the main caregiver for somebody with a chronic illness, and the challenges of being an immigrant.

He says I'm psychologically healthy and that I don't need long-term therapy. I agree one hundred percent, but having someone objective to confess all my doubts and insecurities to has really helped me feel a lot better mentally. I'm happy to have that support, to go along with the support I'm getting for my physical recovery.

We'll see how it goes with Yuri and his psychologist. I'm envisioning hysterical outbursts, but I'm sure one of us will let you know what happens for sure.

Okay, I guess now it’s time to tell you about Seiji and what happened on Sunday afternoon.

I'd been with Yuri for the morning on Sunday. Mom and Julian picked me up around noon, just after Yuri's grandmother arrived to visit with him. She had Yuki with her as well, so it was probably a good thing I was leaving. According to Yuri, the energy of me and Yuki together in a room can sometimes be a bit overwhelming for other people. The last thing he needed was to deal with that.

Anyway, Mom, Julian and I had lunch at my favourite sushi bar, which was kind of chaotic because neither of them knows how to use chopsticks and even though I'm a chopstick wizard, I can't use them right now either. We all ate with our fingers, which earned us a lot of disapproving stares. I think people were mostly staring at me because I was picking up pieces of maki with the fingertips of both hands together, but I didn't care.

Back at home, stuffed to the brim with salmon, eel, rice and vegetables, I was ready for a nap on the couch and was not at all expecting my phone to ring. When it did, I was startled out of my drowsy stupor, and nearly fell off the sofa. Then, I recognized Seiji's number on the caller ID and all thoughts of napping suddenly dissipated like mist.

I tapped the 'answer' icon on my phone's screen, and didn't even bother with hello.

"Hinamori-san! Where the hell have you been?" I demanded. "Sakura and I have been trying to reach you for days, you know."

"We're not on a first-name basis now, Nelson-san?" was his testy response.

"Really, Seiji? You ghost me for days, and you're annoyed with me?"

"Sorry.”

"Yeah, you should be."

"I wasn't ready to talk," he said. "I went out to the country, to my grandparents' estate, 'cause I just needed to get away for a while."

"What for?" I asked. "And why didn't you tell Masao you were going? Why didn't you tell Takahiro and Fox? Like, how do you leave town without even telling your best friend and his boyfriend?"

"I headed out when Taka was at work," Seiji confessed. "I left him a note."

"You... No, you know what? Never mind," I said. "Why did you need to get away. Did something happen?"

"Did something happen?" he repeated, his tone incredulous. "Dude, are you kidding me right now? How are you even asking that? Like, what do you think happened?"

"I... don't know." I said, perplexed.

"You're so stupid, Victor.” He sounded as though he meant it.

I did my best to force down the familiar sting of humiliation at hearing that. Kids at school used to call me stupid, and it’d always made me feel horrible. My inner child wanted to cover his ears and hide under the nearest desk so he could cry without drawing even more ridicule.

But then, a little voice in my brain that sounded very much like Sayuri Ishida's seemed to whisper, that's not true.

It really isn't true, and I need to keep reminding myself of it. Dr. Ishida had put that monster from my past to rest, once and for all, and I used her words like a shield in my mind. You have an eye condition called hyperopia. Your ability to read is normal. Your intelligence is above average.

“I’m not stupid,” I said, as calmly as I could manage. It was mostly for my own benefit, but still, I wasn’t interested In letting Seiji’s dig at me go so easily.

Seiji made a dismissive snorting noise. “Whatever. Must be the head injury, then.”

I pulled in a deep breath. "Seiji, listen. I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you please tell me what's going on? Me and Sakura and Masao have been worried about you.”

“Masao should know,” he said.

“Maybe, but Sakura and I don’t.”

Several seconds passed before Seiji finally spoke again. “Fine. I guess I owe you some kind of explanation. Can you… are you like, okay to go out? I don’t want to talk about it on the phone, but Taka said you’re in a wheelchair and…uh, you know…”

“I’m not in a wheelchair,” I said. “I had to use one for like, maybe three days after I got out of the hospital. That’s all.”

“So, you can go out?”

“Yeah, but you’ll have to come and get me if you want me to go somewhere with you. I’m not cleared to drive yet.”

"When's a good time?"

"Now? I'm not doing much, so whenever works for you, works for me."

"Okay," he said. "If you literally meant now, I can be there to pick you up in like, twenty minutes."

"That sounds good," I agreed. "That gives me plenty of time to grab some water and throw on a sweater."

You're at home, right?"

"I'm at home. See you when you get here."

He showed up about twenty-five minutes later, looking like he'd spent the week in a tent rather than living in luxury at his grandparents' sprawling country estate. His hair was a mess, there were dark smudges beneath his eyes, and he was moving like he was the one who was injured. He looked like he hadn't gotten more than a few hours sleep in the last several days.

"You look worse than I do," I commented, once we'd exchanged greetings.

"You look... surprisingly good," he remarked. He sort of nodded at my arms, where the bottom of my casts were peeking out past the ends of my slightly too-long sleeves. "You know, except for that."

"I'll be rid of these in a few more weeks."

"And then what? Back to the mountain?"

"Naturally," I said.

I couldn't interpret the expression that passed across his features. It didn't last long, but I hadn't missed it, and it could've been anything from disbelief to worry to disapproval. It could've been some combination of all three.

"Let's get going," he said, and although neither of us verbally acknowledged it, we both blatantly pretended the previous few seconds hadn't happened.

The car ride was weird. Normally, Seiji and I would be joking and laughing, listening to music a bit too loud, and talking about our favourite subjects. This time, we were silent, and the only sound in the car was Snowflake by Arashi, playing quietly on repeat.

Where we eventually ended up was in the valley, in Hanamigawa Park. The last time I'd been there was on Yuri's birthday, back in September. The park had been vibrant with colour then. Now, it was brown and grey and dismal, the last vestiges of winter not quite having given way to the tenuous first signs of spring.

We got out of the car, and I followed Seiji across the grass until we came to a bench.

"So...?" I prompted, after it felt like we'd sat there for at least five minutes, staring at our shoes.

"So, what?"

"About that explanation you owe me."

"Yeah." He scuffed the toe of his boot on the ground. "I've been thinking."

"About what?"

"I'm going to move to the city. Try to get a grown-up job. Maybe go back to college or something."

"What are you talking about?" I said. "Your job with the Recreation Association is a grown-up job. There's a lot of responsibility in teaching people how to ski and snowboard."

"It's not the kind of responsibility I want any more, if I ever did."

"What?"

"I quit," he said.

"You quit your job?"

"I quit everything."

At that, an awkward silence stretched between us for several seconds because I had no idea how to respond. I wasn't sure what he meant by 'everything'. I thought I could guess, but I didn't want to assume.

When the lull was starting to feel too long, I finally ventured, "Define 'everything'."

"Everything," he repeated. "I quit my job, I told Taka I'm moving out, and I'm hanging up my board. Masao already knows, so don't bother to ask if I've told him."

"You're not going to compete any more?"

"I'm not going to snowboard any more."

I stared at him. "Why?"

As if it were too difficult to hold my gaze, he looked away from me and began to fidget with his hands. "I can't do it any more," he said.

"But... why?"

"You know how people say the mountain is magical? That there's a guardian spirit?"

"Yeah."

"It's just a story," he said. "The mountain is nothing but a cold, dead rock, and it'll take everything from you with no regrets. With no feelings at all. I named my snowboard because, for some dumb reason, I let myself think it had some kind of spirit inside too, but you know what? It's just another lifeless object."

I had to admit that what he said was correct. From a purely factual standpoint, the mountain is rock and snow, and snowboards are just Fiberglas and wood or carbon, but I have to admit I like the idea of there being something more to them than that. I love the stories of the mountain spirit Yukimatsu and his beautiful sword Shirayuki, and I believe that Elsa is more than a piece of sports equipment. When Elsa and I are flying down the mountainside, I definitely feel something from her, and sometimes I imagine I can hear her singing.

"I thought you loved snowboarding," I said.

“Maybe I used to. Or maybe I still do, but it's like a toxic relationship that you can't seem to leave until it's almost too late. Like, you can't make yourself get out of it until it steals every last bit of hope and happiness you ever had."

"I don't understand," I said, because I really didn't.

"Do you know, I think I might've accidentally hurt Masao, trying to get to you when I saw you go down?" he said. "You know how tiny he is, and he was trying to hold me back."

"I didn't know," I said.

"If it wasn't for Fox, I probably would've..." He didn't complete the thought, but instead continued with. "Takahiro said I was literally screaming. The thing is, though, I don't remember. I don't remember Masao grabbing me, or me knocking him to the ground or... anything. All I could think was, you could be dying and the people you care about most wouldn't even be beside you."

"Obviously I didn't die."

"Yeah, but how were any of us supposed to know that at the time? You didn't see it the way we saw it. Masao said it looked like you could've broken your neck, and I... I couldn't handle losing somebody else like that."

It took a second for my brain to register what he'd just said. Somebody else. Had he seen another snowboarder go down like I had? Someone who hadn't been as lucky as me?

"Who...?" I began, but quickly closed my mouth because something told me I shouldn't pry.

But, it was too late to worry about it when Seiji started to answer anyway. "Didn't Yuri ever tell you about Tsubaki?"

I tried to recall if Yuri had ever mentioned anyone by that name. "I don't think so. Who is she?"

"I thought he told you everything," Seiji said.

"Apparently not."

"Tsubaki was our..." he trailed off, and then amended. "She was the woman I loved."

"Oh."

"She was our teacher in our final year of high school," he went on. "Me, Taka and Yuri were in the same class, so we all knew her. She wasn't that much older than us and most of the boys in our year had a crush on her, but for whatever reason, she liked me and Taka best. Maybe 'cause she was into snowboarding like we were."

"You went snowboarding with your teacher?"

"Not while she was our teacher," he said. "But, we all talked about it all the time, and we'd see her up on the mountain on the weekends."

I'd seen one of my high school teachers skiing on Granite Mountain once. It had felt strange and out of context to me, and I'd tried to pretend I hadn't even noticed him. But, regardless of my effort to ignore him, the rare sighting of my chemistry teacher outside his natural habitat had been enough to distract me, and it resulted in me getting yelled at by my coach at the time.

I'm sure I succeeded in forgetting about it almost immediately afterward, and I’d never even dreamed of bringing it up with him at school. I couldn’t help but winder what it would've been like to have a teacher like Tsubaki, who I could've geeked out about snowboarding with.

"Seems like she would've been a cool person to know."

"She was amazing," he said. "When we graduated, she said we could call her by her given name, and we became friends. We all used to hang out, me Taka, Yuri, Tsubaki and her best friend Mei. We went snowboarding together then, and we did other stuff like going on road trips or going to someone's place for a meal and to play games or watch movies. Or just talk. Tsubaki and I talked a lot."

"What happened?" I asked.

"With me and her?" he said. "She always told me that she didn't want to have a relationship with me, but towards the end, I felt like things were changing between us. She was starting to treat me less like a friend and more like... well, not a boyfriend exactly, but something deeper than snow buddies, you know?" He sighed. "Then everything... ended."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Yuri really never told you about any of this? He never told you about Tsubaki's accident? How she..." He paused, closing his eyes. "How the mountain took her from me."

It was at that point when I realized Yuri actually had told me. I hadn't made the connection immediately because he hadn't gone into detail and hadn't used Tsubaki's name, and I hadn't wanted to press him for information. "He mentioned he had a friend who died in a snowboarding accident," I said. "We didn't talk much about it."

That figures. Yuri wasn't that close to her anyway." He gave a little shrug. "Yuri doesn't know how to be close to people.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Are you saying he’s not close to you?” I asked.

“Dude, from where I’m standing, he’s not even all that close to you,” he said. “I mean, where the hell was he when you needed him? At work, and even when all of us were at the hospital with you and we were trying to call him, he ignored us. You know how many times Taka tried to reach him?”

“He was probably in a meeting,” I said.

“Why wasn’t he on the mountain with you? That’s where he should’ve been.”

"His job is important, Seiji. Besides, what happened probably would've happened anyway, even if he had been there.”

"That's not the point," Seiji said. "The point is, he doesn't care about anybody but himself. Why was it you and Sakura who were checking on me? He's supposed to be my friend."

"Sakura and I are your friends too," I reminded him. "Yuri couldn't check on you. He's been in the hospital since Tuesday."

"So what? He's too sick to send a text?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he was." I met his gaze. "Are you seriously mad at Yuri because he didn't text you for a week?"

“I’m mad at him because he’s an asshole. Because he got someone he doesn’t appreciate or even deserve.”

“So, you’re not actually mad at him. You’re jealous.”

“Whatever,” he said. “I know you love him, but wouldn't it be better to love somebody who gives a shit about you? If you'd died out there, he would've just carried on with life as normal."

"No, he wouldn't," I said. "You obviously don't know him as well as you think you do, if that's what you believe."

"I know him well enough," he said. "I've never seen him shed a tear over anything or anyone. But you? You treat everybody like they matter, and you deserve at least that much in return."

"Everyone deserves to be treated like they matter because everyone does matter," I said. "Where are you even going with this?"

"You didn't have to come halfway around the world for Yuri. You could've stayed safe at home and had anyone you wanted.”

“I want Yuri,” I said simply.

"I don't know why. He's a crappy partner."

“Yuri loves me just as much as I love him, and he treats me like I matter," I said. "Maybe you’re convinced he’s a crappy partner because he wasn’t where you thought he should be, but that’s not how it works. We don’t get to script real life to our tastes. It just happens, and sometimes it sucks, and then we gotta figure out how to deal with it.”

“You think I don’t know that?"

"Do you?"

"My life has sucked for the last three and a half years," he declared. "Worse than yours, probably.”

“My life doesn't suck," I said. "There are parts of it that suck. Like, everything's not always easy or fun, but overall it's good, and I'm happy."

"Then, you're delusional." He got up abruptly and started to walk away. "This was a waste of time."

Stunned by the suddenness of his decision to leave, I stared at his retreating figure for several seconds. When I pulled my wits back into place at last, I had to run — contrary to doctor’s orders — to catch up to him.

"Seiji, wait!" I called. "We're not done."

He glared at me. “Yes, we are.”

"You said you were going to give me an explanation."

"I did. It's not my fault that you're too dumb to figure it out."

That was the precise moment in which I lost my temper. I think that if I could've grabbed him and shook him, I would have, but maybe it was a good thing I couldn't.

"I'm not dumb!" I yelled. "I'm sick and tired of everyone saying I'm stupid! I'm probably smarter than you, but I'm not a damn mind reader, so if you want me to understand something, then explain it in a way that makes sense!"

"Fine!" he said. "You want it in language your brain can handle? Here it is. I'm done pretending I'm okay. I don't want to be in this place, hanging around with people who remind me how useless I am and how much I've lost. I don't want to be on that damn mountain every day, thinking of her."

“But—”

"I can't keep running the risk of putting my parents through what her parents had to go through. What I had to go through. It's not worth it. I'd rather have nothing myself than to leave my family with nothing."

"But, there's lots of other stuff—" I began.

“There isn't," he said. "Snowboarding was the only thing I was good at. I’ve failed at everything else. Like, I was rubbish in school, and I was useless as a medic. I couldn’t even…”

“What?”

“There was only snowboarding, but you know what? Snowboarding fucking wrecked my life, Victor! There's no part that it didn't touch, and I can't fix anything now. All I can do now is protect the people I love, and try to forget it."

By the time he was done with this speech, he was crying. Evidently not wanting me to see that, he wiped his sleeve across his eyes so fiercely that I'm sure it must've hurt.

"Seiji—"

"Leave me alone," he said.

“You’ll never forget, you know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You can go to the city if you want,” I said. “You can go to the other side of the world or a whole other planet, but you're never gonna outrun grief or anger or whatever. You might think you feel better for a while but there's really no place far enough away to escape from it."

"What the hell would you know about it?"

"You might be surprised by what I know about it," I told him. "But I'm not gonna give you a lecture. If you’re not ready, you wouldn't listen anyway.”

"I doubt you know about it like I do," he said.

"Maybe not exactly in the same way you do," I conceded. "But, you know what? I get what it's like when somebody who was the center of your world suddenly isn't there any more."

There was a lot more I could've said. I wanted to tell him I know what it feels like to think about someone every single day and picture how the future might've been different if they were still around. I often wonder about all the stuff Dad and Caroline and I might've said to each other, and all the ways I could've been a better person when they were alive, and how they'll never know what i learned because of them, and who I became because of them.

Tears were still leaking from Seiji's eyes, but he wasn't trying to hide them any more. As I watched, he stood there with his head bowed and whispered, "I couldn't save her. No one could."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

He shook his head, but regardless of that, he started telling me anyway. "It was just a normal Saturday," he said. "I was working with Mountain Patrol, and my team got the call about an accident up on the expert run. I didn't know it was her until we got there. The advanced care paramedic on our team took one look at her and somehow he knew right away that her neck was broken. It was really bad."

"That had to have been a shock."

"They took her in a helicopter down to the hospital in the valley." He went on as if I hadn't spoken. "You know, to assess her and try to stabilize her. They might've rushed her to one of the big hospitals in Kyoto afterwards, but... there wasn't time. Her parents were in Tokyo, and there wasn't time for them to get here, either. Me and Taka were the only ones with her, and I don't know if she was aware of us being there, but I was holding her hand when she passed."

"I'm sorry," I said.

I thought about my mom. I hadn't found out until many years later that she'd been with my dad in the hospital when he passed and had been able to say goodbye to him one last time. Caroline had been killed almost instantly, so Mom didn't get that final goodbye with her, and I can't decide if that was a blessing or not.

I mean, I can't wrap my head around how terrifying and soul-shattering it'd be to hold your baby as she took her last breath. Watching your partner die would be devastating enough, but losing a child...? And my mom had to suffer through both. The pain she felt must've been immeasurable, making even mine seem minor in comparison.

I don't know how she handled it. I don't know how she survived it. I think if something happened to take Yuri away from me, I'd die too, of a broken heart. Or maybe I wouldn't literally die, but I'd wish to stop existing if he wasn't by my side.

I had to resist the urge to hug Seiji as he stood there crying. His whole body was visibly rigid, and I knew he wouldn't want me to touch him. Takahiro probably would have if he were there, but Taka the compulsive hugger could get away with it and Seiji might even relax enough to reciprocate. In fact, Taka is the only person I've ever seen give Seiji a hug that didn't look unnatural or uncomfortable. Had Seiji always been that way, or had his trauma caused him to change?

He swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I shouldn't have told you all that."

"It's okay. You must've needed to say it."

"Maybe. It was just... that thing you said. About somebody being the center of your world? She was, you know. She would've been, for the rest of our lives. I would've taken care of her, and I think we would've been happy, but... None of that's gonna happen now."

"Have you ever talked about this with anybody before?" I asked.

"Only Taka," he said. "He's the only one who understands. Everybody else thinks it's ridiculous 'cause we weren't even in a relationship."

"A friendship is a relationship. So what if you weren't her boyfriend? That doesn't mean it should hurt less."

"You don't think I'm like, being dramatic or whatever?"

"Why should I think that?" I said. "I don't have the right to tell you how you're supposed to feel or what your grief is supposed to look like, do I? Maybe you're like Yuri and you hardly ever cry for anything, no matter how destroyed you feel, or maybe you're like me and you cry over every little thing, or maybe you're somewhere in between. It doesn't matter. It's all valid."

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me for letting you feel however you feel."

"Yeah, I do. Most people would judge me for it."

"I'm not into judging other people for their feelings," I said. "I've got plenty of my own that I'm busy judging myself for."

"You shouldn't. Like, if you can tell me my feelings are okay, you can tell yourself that."

I offered him what was probably a lopsided smile. "I'm working on it. My psychologist says I have to stop creating burdens for myself."

"You're seeing a therapist?"

"Yeah. Unbelievable, right? My doctor referred me to him after my accident, but we've been talking about everything. He's helping me get perspective."

"Perspective," Seiji repeated, as if he were contemplating it.

"You know," I said. "Like how some stuff in your life seems so big and overwhelming, you don't know how you're supposed to deal with it? Sometimes you have to break the situation down and manage it bit by bit."

"Like learning a trick," he said.

"Exactly. Remember when you first learned to ride? There were probably lots of people around you doing all kinds of crazy tricks, and you couldn't even do an ollie yet. Now, you're the one who's flying, but you had to build up to it, one skill at a time."

"So, how am I supposed to do it?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe start off with figuring out what's really going on in your head. Like, are you sad or angry or scared, or what? And then... I don't know. Ask yourself exactly why. Like, if you're angry at a specific person, or you're scared about a certain thing."

He nodded. "I guess that makes sense. But... do you think I need professional help for that?"

"Maybe? I'm probably the last person you should ask about that. I didn't even know I needed professional help until I was getting it."

"But, it's working, right?"

"Yeah, but it's not magic. You have to want to get your shit together before you can get your shit together, and you have to work at it."

"Good to know."

"Listen," I said. "Everything's gonna be okay. It may take a while, and it might not look exactly how you wanted it to, but it eventually does get better."

"Thanks."

This time, I could feel my smile in my entire face. "You're welcome, but give credit to Yuri, too. He taught me that."

"Yuri taught you optimism?"

"He taught me about resilience," I said. “That’s better than optimism.”

“How so?”

"’Cause it’s realistic. And it’s honest.”

“I see how optimism can be unrealistic.”

“Resilience is sort of like body armour,” I said. “Having it on doesn't mean nothing ever hurts you. Sometimes it hurts like hell, but you get through it and you survive, and eventually the pain isn’t so bad any more. Yuri's constantly showing me that, whether he realizes he is or not."

"Okay," was all he said in response.

He started walking again, in the direction of the park gates. I fell into step beside him, and the quiet between us this time didn't feel quite so fraught.

When we reached the place where we'd left his car, I asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"Take you home, I guess," he said.

"I meant in general."

"Oh." He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow. I've got a couple of appointments to view apartments. Do you want to come?"

"So, you're definitely moving?"

"I guess so."

"What kind of job do you think you'll get when you move there?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really," I said. "I was just curious."

"I'll probably end up in a convenience store," he said. "But, I was training to be a paramedic before, so I might be okay at taking care of sick people at home or something. And I like kids, so maybe I'd do all right working in a daycare. Or tailoring. I learned how to draft patterns and sew from my mother, so I could probably do that."

"I didn't realize you were training to be a paramedic. When you said 'medic' before, I thought you meant you had the certified mountain rescue course. The advanced first aid one."

"I do have that certification," he said. "But, I was in college for paramedicine. After she... after Tsubaki died, I dropped out because couldn't handle it any more."

"How far did you get?"

"Not very far. I finished the first in-class module, and Mountain Patrol was my first part-time clinical placement. That was it." He made a face that might've been self-disgust. "Useless, right?"

"Not necessarily," I said.

"What?"

An idea was starting to form in my head, but I didn't want to say too much to Seiji until I'd had a chance to talk to Yuri about it first. "You think you could drop me off at the hospital instead of at my house?"

"I'll drop you off anywhere you want," he said. "But, what'd you mean?"

"About you quitting college?"

"Yeah."

"There might be more options for you than snowboarding or working in some dodgy convenience store in the city."

"Right."

"I'll come with you to Kyoto tomorrow," I said.

He frowned at me. "You've got some kind of ulterior motive, don't you?"

"Maybe."

"You're trying to convince me not to move."

"No, I'm not trying to do that. If you want to check out the opportunities in Kyoto, there's no reason not to. All I'm saying is that you might want to go there with something better in mind than working at a convenience store. Like, if you're serious about home care or child care, maybe try it out and see if you like it before you take off to the city and commit yourself to a lease and everything."

"You think I should do that in Mt. Komorebi?"

"Think of it as a safety net," I said. "Stay home for a bit longer, try some different stuff and find out what you really want. Then go off and chase your dream, whatever it is."

"What if I really don't want to stay here?" he said.

"Nobody can force you to stay. All I'm saying is, before you leave, make sure you're deciding and not just reacting."

"Okay," he said. "But I still feel like you're up to something."

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow," I said.

"I'm not going along with it, whatever it is."

"You don't have to go along with it, but you should at least wait to hear what it is."

He drew back his arm as if he were going to punch me, but only flicked my shoulder instead. "You're a massive pain in the ass, you know."

"Yeah," I said. "I hear that a lot, but for some reason, people love me anyway."

"I hate you," he growled, but I knew he wasn't being serious. "Get in the car, Nelson. Wouldn't want to keep you from your pain in the ass other half."

"You didn't really mean what you said about him before, did you?"

If I was expecting an apology or a retraction, I would've been disappointed.

“Some of it,” Seiji said. “He is an asshole, and you seriously could've done better, but if you're happy..." He raised his hands in a gesture that seemed to indicate there was no further comment he could offer. "Anyway, you can tell him I'll come by and see him in a day or two. I'll make Taka and Fox come too, if they haven't been there yet, and I'll bring daifuku mochi. The strawberry kind."

"He's not eating," I said.

"Since when has Yuri ever said no to strawberry mochi? Me and Taka have literally seen him too weak to sit up, and he’d still be lying there demanding a little bite of our strawberry mochi. It's his all-time favourite. That, and tinned peaches, but they're probably already on the lunch menu at the hospital."

"How do you—"

"Just tell him," Seiji said, "And tell him I'll even feed him if he needs me to. Oh, and also tell him to expect a huge piece of my mind for what he did to you. He had no business abandoning you like that, and he definitely has no business taking you for granted. Actually, having somebody as devoted to his pathetic little ass as you are, he should consider himself the luckiest person in the universe."

I didn't show it on the outside, but inwardly, I was both relieved and amused. It might not be an apology, but I figured this was as close as Seiji would get to saying he still considers Yuri his friend.

Even if I hadn't liked hearing what he'd said about my husband, I couldn't blame Seiji for being upset. From Seiji's point of view, maybe Yuri's behaviour after my accident had looked horrible and uncaring, but Seiji hadn't seen him in my room with me immediately after. He hadn't heard the pain and guilt in Yuri's voice when he told me over and over that he was sorry, and he hadn't seen how hard Yuri worked to help me at home when he really should've been resting himself.

"I'll tell him," I said. "I think he'll be glad to see you."

"Yeah, whatever." He opened the passenger door for me, and I climbed into the car. A moment later, he slid into the driver's seat. "I'm leaving for Kyoto at eight in the morning. You'd better be up and dressed when I get to your place."

"Don't worry," I assured him. "I'll be ready."

((More about Seiji & Tsubaki from a different perspective, for anyone curious))

[an-android-in-a-tutu]

The answer to that question, it turns out, is "steal a car."

The road they landed on is gently winding and wooded on either side. It's not wilderness, the road is well-maintained, and you can catch glimpses of openness through the trees where it's been clear-cut, the loggers leaving just enough of a strip of greenery to prevent people in passing cars from seeing the ugly barrenness left behind. At least, that's what Claire's mom told her, once, in the back of the car driving down a road just like this one, and she never questioned it then.

She's learned since that parents aren't as infallible as they seem when you're twelve.

(She still doesn't know what happened to her mom. Now she never will.)

The point is that it's not a busy road and it's not studded with helpful landmarks that'll tell them where they've landed, so they've got no way of knowing how long it'll take them to get anywhere by following it.

They need transportation.

Of course, their ability to procure it relies on a car actually turning up, and it takes a solid half hour of walking down the side of the road before they hear the approaching rumble of an engine cutting through the quiet night. Claire sticks out her thumb, and Cas slides back down into the ditch out of sight.

The car that ends up slowing to a stop next to her is a blue prius, and the guy at the wheel looks like a total soccer dad. He's got laugh lines for fuck's sake, and the first thing out of his mouth when she cautiously approaches the window is "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just looking for a ride." She mumbles.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" He asks, all fatherly concern.

"Trying to get back to town." She replies vaguely. "Do you know how far it is?"

"About another twenty minutes, if you'll let me give you a ride." He smiles at her. "A lot longer if you keep on walking."

Claire hesitates, wavering on the spot.

"Do you?" He asks, smile fading. "Want a ride, I mean."

"Yeah, that's kind of what the whole sticking out my thumb thing was about." She replies, but she still doesn't move.

His expression softens. "Hey, it's okay, I promise. Why don't you hop in the back? I'll take you wherever you want to go, no strings attached, I swear."

"Shit." Claire grimaces. "I was kinda hoping you'd be a creep or something."

"What? Why?" He exclaims.

The driver's side door gets yanked open and he turns around to come face to face with the barrel of an assault rifle.

"Get out of the car." Castiel orders, voice about as rough as it always is, but in context it's probably especially intimidating. To Claire, he adds: "Not every car theft is going to function as karmic retribution, sometimes you have to go with the convenient option."

"Oh god. Oh god, please don't shoot me." Says the guy, putting his hands up and staring wide eyed at the gun."

"I know that I'm just saying I'd feel better about it if he'd been at least a little bit skeezy." She rebuts, pulling open the passenger side door as well. "I'm young and pretty and I've got nowhere to go, it wouldn't be that hard for some guy to get ideas."

The guy in the driver's seat hasn't moved, and he looks about ready to wet himself.

"Out." Cas repeats, gesturing with his gun. The guy whimpers a little, and Claire winces. "It's not as though people never pick up hitchhikers with altruistic intentions, this was as likely as any other outcome. Maybe more so."

"Yeah, whatever." She rolls her eyes. "Dude, you gotta get out of the car."

He jerks up in his seat, finally startled into motion, and immediately gets caught on his seat-belt.

"You have to unbuckle yourself first." Castiel informs him helpfully, gun never wavering an inch. The guy starts scrabbling at the buckle frantically, not looking at what he's doing and making about zero progress.

"Please- please don't kill me." He begs, voice cracking. "I have a family."

"Congratulations." Castiel replies, bored. "Most humans do."

Claire makes a face. Castiel sees her making the face. He sighs.

"Claire." He says, disapproving.

She puts up her hands. "I feel bad!"

"We need transportation, Claire."

"He says it's not that far, we could probably make it to town on our own and just steal a car there." She points out. Not that either of them are great at hot-wiring vehicles, but they could probably manage, between the two of them, right?

"My feet hurt." Castiel declares, like it's the worst thing in the world and a totally reasonable reason to steel a car from a perfectly nice man instead of walking for an hour or two.

"Point." Claire says, sliding into the car and reaching over to unbuckle the guy's belt for him. Because, well, Cas' feet hurt. What can you do? "Sorry buddy, them's the breaks."

The guy lurches out of the car to get away from her, and then veers aside to give Cas as wide a birth as he can, hands coming up again. Cas keeps the gun trained lazily on him.

"You'll- you'll let me go now, right?" He asks.

"Mhm." Cas shrugs, gestures dismissively with one hand. "You need anything?"

"What?" The guy sounds like he's about to start crying.

"From your car." Cas clarifies, looking unimpressed. "Do you need anything?"

For a long minute the guy just stares at him.

"... Can I have my briefcase?"

Cas looks to Claire, and she twists around to look in the back.

"It's under the seat." The guy says, helpfully, and she contorts herself around over the centre console to grope blindly for it.

"You could just get out and go around." Castiel points out.

"I got it." Claire snaps back, feeling her fingertips brushing leather. She heaves herself forward a little more and manages to grasp the handle, yanking it up with her when she pulls back. "HA!"

She passes it through the open door to Castiel, who tosses it to the guy, who fumbles to catch it with numb fingertips and clutches it to his chest.

"Anything else?" Castiel asks.

"I think I left my cellphone on the passenger seat?" The guy replies tentatively. Claire turns around to look for it.

"I'm not seeing a cellphone." She says.

"Are you sitting on it?"

"I think I'd know if I was sitting on it, Cas-"

"What?"

"...Found it."

"Were you sitting on it?"

"Shut up." She tosses him the phone, which is a lot clunkier than she remembers cellphones being when she was a kid. She didn't actually ask how far back they ended up, if that's even something Cas can tell. Has she even been born yet? There's no way they're that far back in time. For one thing, the guy in the car is dressed basically normal. For another, there are cellphones. Cellphones aren't that old, are they?

Cas catches the thing, and instead of passing it along, he flips it open, looking at the little screen.

"Is this the date?" He asks, turning it to face the guy.

"Um... yeah? Wait, no-" He stutters, sweating under Cas' bland scrutiny. "The damn thing kept resetting on me and it's always such a hassle to change it so I just leave it... like that..."

He trails off, withering as Castiel stares at him.

"What is the date."

"October tenth?"

"Year."

"2005." He supplies promptly, clearly too terrified to comment.

"Thanks." Cas says, slinging his gun back over his shoulder, he tosses the phone over, underhand, and gets in the driver's seat. "Call someone for a ride."

"Our other car is in the shop-" The guy starts to say, but Cas slams the door and starts the engine, and he skitters back to the edge of the road like they're gonna swerve and hit him as they pull away.

"See? He'll be fine." Cas says. "He has another car and everything."

"Yeah but it's in the shop, Cas." Claire counters, waving at the guy in the rear-view as he stands there watching them, clutching his phone and briefcase to his chest. "Who's gonna drive his kids to soccer practice, now?"

"Soccer practice?" Castiel asks, amused.

"Well not in this car, obviously. This car is a sensible hybrid he takes on business trips. His wife drives a station wagon- ooh or a minivan- to cart their five kids to their various extracurriculars." She informs him, tilting her seat back and putting her feat up. "Soccer and baseball for the boys, ballet for the girls. Violin for their youngest who's the sensitive type. His names Jeremy. But now with no transportation, they won't get their required enrichment, driving their mother up the wall and putting a strain on their parents' marriage, leading to a messy divorce, and the stress will put Jeremy onto a dark path that leads him to abandon his passion for music." She shakes her head sadly. "He'll never play Carnegie hall, now."

"Claire, you never told me you were such a talented psychic." Castiel says mildly. "If you'd said something, perhaps I would have spared him. Also, put your seat-belt on."

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes, snorting, but she complies, not even bothering to point out that he's not wearing his, the hypocrite.

"We'll switch cars when we get to town," Cas says after a moment, "he'll get it back in a day or two, tops."

"We should," Claire points out, "because he is definitely going to call the cops on us. Kind of a bonehead move, giving him his cell back. You looking to get into a police chase?"

"Not yet, he won't." Castiel informs her. "He didn't have any bars."

"Sure," Claire says, "you couldn't help it could you."

Castiel keeps driving in silence.

"He was just... so pathetic." He says, finally. "Like a sad, wet dog."

Claire barks out a laugh.

"Mean!" She says, punching him in the shoulder, and he smiles back at her, pleased with himself.

"Where are we headed, anyway?" She asks. "You got a plan?"

Castiel hums thoughtfully.

"It's October tenth," he says, "on November second, in Palo Alto, California, Sam Winchester's girlfriend is murdered by a demon, sending him and his brother down the path that will eventually lead them to starting the apocalypse.

"It's not the first or the last domino, but it seems like as good a place to intervene as any."

"Plus, you know, sucks for her," Claire says. "Dying and all."

"Yes, sucks for her," Castiel muses. "Best if we can prevent it."

"So we're headed to California then?" Claire asks. "That'll be cool. Hey, we've got like three weeks, maybe we can hit the beach."

Castiel doesn't reply.

"Cas?"

"We have another stop, first." He doesn't look at her.

"Where?" She asks, uncertain.

"Pontiac." He says. "First, we're going to Pontiac."

They don't talk for the rest of the drive.

I HAVE. A self indulgent AU that I'm not sure I've ever discussed here but I'm too lazy to check. It's about endverse Cas travelling in time back to season one to stop the apocalypse, which has been done and done very well, but the twist is. Endverse Claire.

[moonstrider9904]

Raising Morale

@rexandechosandwich I've gone on and transfered it to tumblr!! Thank you for still reading this lil fic :3 and thanks to @kaminocasey @dumfanting for remembering I wrote it and giving me that little shout out!

{my masterlist}

Pairing: Crosshair x Reader x Tech (no clone x clone)

Summary: Tech and Crosshair have been hard at work for days now, and you just know they need to be rewarded and treated nicely.

Warnings: smut, NSFW 18+, minors DNI. Massaging and back rubbing. Oral (male receiving), handjob, ball play, cumshot, some language and dirty talk, some jealousy, slight voyeurism, male masturbation, brief orgasm denial.

Word count: 3.1k

Tech removed his goggles and rubbed his eyes vigorously, grimacing at the way they stung. In that short period, Crosshair rubbed his forehead and looked away from the desk as he tried to think of the last time he’d been that immersed in work. When Tech asked for his help, Crosshair first imagined he’d only be in the sidelines hearing Tech chatter and watching him work—well, he’d been proven wrong. This was the first time Tech had actually needed his help.

The two had been hard at work with that engine prototype all day, and they were nowhere near done. Three different approaches to the calculations and programming had been taken by the two clones, arguably the smartest in their squadron and even among regs (especially, in Crosshair’s opinion), and no results had been achieved. Neither one of them knew how much longer they’d be willing to sit in front of that, all they knew was that this particular engine prototype was top priority for the higher ups and they had to get it done quick. Wasting time just wasn’t an option.

You walked into their barracks, empty except for the two of them sitting at the large table positioned in the center, seemingly messier than before. You didn’t even bother to try and decipher what they were working on; your brain saw the devices, the engine, the wires and the computers for programming and it simply went nope. But just as you walked in, you noticed the two of them rubbing their eyes, visibly exhausted.

“How long have you two been at this?” You headed over to the room’s control panel to increase ventilation, hoping that would help them out a bit.

“Time is irrelevant,” Tech commented, his voice normal and contrasting with his tired expression as he put his goggles back on. “Results are what we currently need.”

“Have you gotten any?”

“No,” they said in unison.

You sighed. “Why don’t you get up and stretch your legs, get some air? I hear they’ve got a great dessert selection today in the mess hall, why don’t the three of us go?”

“Can’t,” Crosshair said.

“We can’t afford to,” Tech added.

“Guys, if you stay here with barely any air, pushing yourselves past your limit—at least tell me you’ve gotten something to eat.”

They both shook their heads absently, focusing again on their project.

“Are you kidding me? Come on, we’re going to the mess hall.”

“My darling, I promise we’ll attend our basic human necessities when we finish this.”

“Or at least make some progress,” Crosshair slurred.

“Is it really so important that you can’t even take a break?” You asked.

“Yes,” they replied, once again at the same time.

You sighed. “Well…” your mind got to work and you then decided you were determined to help them out. While you didn’t know much about what they were working on, you knew they couldn’t go on like this. Maybe you could help them blow off some steam, clear their heads a bit, bring them some quick relief and overall keep them motivated.

You walked up behind them and placed each hand on one of their shoulders. The fact that they weren’t wearing any armor on their upper bodies only made it easier for you, and you realized how particularly lucky you were that they only had their blacks covering them from the waist up, except for Tech’s forearm pieces which he needed to control some of his gadgets. The gentle touch of your hands on their shoulders soon got a bit more pressure as you moved from their shoulders to their back, pressing softly wherever you felt bumps and knots. The two men groaned at your touch, their heads unconsciously leaning toward you.

“Darling…” Tech said.

“Just trying to help,” you spoke softly, leaning in towards Tech and starting a trail of kisses from his earlobe to his jawline and then back up, all while your hands continued the massage you were giving them. “You boys can still work while I do this, right?”

“We’ll see,” Tech said almost in a whimper, your kisses sending chills down his spine while your massage made him feel like he was in heaven. “If only just knowing when we’re done we could do more helps keep motivation up.”

“I’ll do what I can,” you purred into his skin, only to then feel Crosshair’s long, slender fingers snaking up your waist and tugging your blouse.

You looked at Crosshair, his piercing eyes demanding your attention. You shot him your most charming smile and leaned in closer to him, aiming to treat him the same, but he wound up capturing your lips with his. You giggled into the kiss and aided yourself with your hand on his shoulder, traveling to his back and digging your nails into the fabric of his blacks, running them up and down. You drew a groan from Crosshair, low and velvety, and his hand went behind your head to secure you firmly and deepen the kiss.

With a seductive laugh, you stood back up, still gently stroking their arms. “I shouldn’t distract you too much,” you said as you began to kneel down, getting down on the floor only to make your way under the desk. The two of them chuckled, pleasantly surprised by your antics, and from the shadow of being under the desk you smiled up at them.

“You boys insisted on still working,” you teased, pointing your finger at them. “So you better keep working, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Crosshair purred, taking his hand down to stroke your cheeks and under your chin. Playfully, you slapped it away. “Eyes on your work, soldier.”

Crosshair confidently flashed his smug bastard grin at you before looking back at the engine prototype in front of him, now more motivated than he was when you’d first walked into their barracks. Tech seemed to have had his spirits lifted as well, and in no time you began to hear their chatter regarding their work. While they seemed to get more immersed in it, you knew you had to get to work as well and started removing both of their codpieces, noticing their large bulges already begging to be released from the confines of their blacks. You smirked at yourself, oddly proud of what you were doing, and you finally undid the buttons of their blacks and freed their cocks from their confines.

You waited a bit, partly wondering who to start with, but also pausing to build up some anticipation in them. You watched both of their members, standing without any help, occasionally leaning as though trying to find you, throbbing and pulsating and even gleaming with some precum—and you hadn’t even started doing anything yet. Those boys were so overworked and so eager to feel you on them, and you made it your main goal to treat them nicely.

You first leaned in closer to Crosshair, long and a bit slenderer than Tech, but enticing nonetheless. You wrapped your fingers around his girth, hearing him hiss above the desk when you slowly ran the tip of your tongue from the bottom up. The contact was bare, but you already had Crosshair’s chest heaving up and down, and from above, he glanced at you under the table only to see the way you smirked at him, tongue out, as you ran more of it along his length.

“Focus, Crosshair,” Tech said as though nothing were happening. “We do not have all day.”

“Right,” Crosshair struggled, gritting his teeth and bringing himself back to focus, convincing himself he could keep it up. You were just licking, right? That didn’t have to be a big deal. But then, you began circling your tongue around his tip. You heard the sniper huff a couple times above the desk while you kept pleasing his tip, using your free hand to slowly pump up and down Tech’s cock so as to not ignore him. Finally, you took in as much of Crosshair’s length as you could into your mouth, noticing the way his hips briefly bucked as you sucked on him.

It was vulgar. Obscene sounds of sucking, licking, and popping occasionally jumped above Tech and Crosshair’s discussion. While Tech kept his composure seemingly better, he did steal a few glances at you underneath the desk, momentarily examining the way you pleased Crosshair’s cock before returning to his work, a part of him wondering and anticipating what you’d feel like on him.

It didn’t help Crosshair when you started sucking just a bit harder on him, almost as if her were a straw. Trying his best to maintain his grip on the wires he was securing steady, the sniper, trained to keep himself still, trembled and shuddered as your mouth continued taking him closer to bliss. You weren’t sure if he could feel, but you smiled proudly into the blowjob, a part of you now determined to break Crosshair from his usual strong demeanor.

Above the desk, Tech chuckled, the sound filling your ears and riling you up more.

“That is not good enough, you need to hold it steady,” Tech said.

Crosshair growled. “I am.”

“If you say so,” Tech dismissed him, clearly only teasing.

Playing with Crosshair, you slowed your pace down a bit, licking softly along his shaft and barely sucking anymore. Though his body seemed to relax and you knew he’d be able to work easier that way, you at times noticed the glances Crosshair stole from you. Even in the brief second his gaze landed on you, you could tell he wanted more. Furthermore, he was concerned as to why you’d slowed down, and you knew you had him where you wanted.

You then let go of Crosshair’s cock and used your two hands to pull Crosshair’s blacks further down, revealing his balls. You kept pumping on his cock, every vein of it enhanced by the saliva you’d left on it, and you took your face down to nuzzle his balls before tracing your tongue over them, teasing Crosshair all over again before taking one of his balls into your mouth and gently sucking on it. You heard him grunting; his legs tensed to the point where they trembled, and you pictured his hands fisted on the table, his knuckles probably turning white underneath his gloves. Letting go of the first of his two balls, you kissed it gently before moving onto the next one and working it the same way, only now squeezing your hand slightly around his cock as you continued pumping.

Fuck, Crosshair thought to himself. He wanted nothing more but to put everything aside and fist your hair, make you suck on him at his command rather than yours, but he did his best to keep his focus on the task at hand. The pressure you were putting on him made him work faster, and the equations and formulas he was solving filled the papers quicker than before you’d arrived at the scene, indirectly pleasing Tech. If that’s what you did to Crosshair, he’d be amazed at what you’d make his mind do.

But even Crosshair’s resolve faded, and when he was on the brink of ecstasy, he dropped the pencil and nearly crumpled the paper in his hands. His hips began bucking and, though he tried his best not to let any noise come out of him, Crosshair let out a whimper followed by a series of moans, moans only someone at your mercy would let out. Against all his pride, he was coming undone under you, pumping his cock slowly, licking and sucking at his balls. Squirming, Crosshair crumpled when you switched from his balls back to his cock, determined to lick every last drop of his release. His forearms supported his weight as he hunched over the table, breathing heavily and unable to avoid grunting out your name when at last the ropes of hot, white cum shot from his cock, which you happily took in.

Exhausted, but much more relaxed than before, Crosshair collapsed onto the table, his forehead resting on the cool surface as his eyes made out the blurry scribbles he’d made on the paper. Panting to catch his breath, you felt proud of yourself as you began scooting over to where Tech was, anxious to give him a go.

“Is that really all you can take, Crosshair?” Tech said, never removing his eyes from you. His hand went down to caress your cheek, gently rubbing your skin with his thumb.

“You have no idea what she does,” Crosshair said breathlessly.

“Oh, well,” Tech said more to you than to him. “Let’s show him how it’s done, huh, darling?”

Tech took his thumb down to your lip and you kissed it only to make your way down to his cock, keeping still and only letting your breath fan over his sensitive skin. Seconds passed and you didn’t see Tech budging, until you finally began teasing at his tip with the edge of your tongue, staying there in hopes of making him snap, but Tech remained solid. Gradually, you began taking in more of his cock, bobbing your head up and down and making sure to run your tongue over his veins. The most Tech did was smirk, but he managed to continue focusing on his work like nothing were happening.

“I am surprised a man with the composure of a sniper couldn’t handle much more than this,” Tech said, his eyes never leaving the engine he’d begun to weld. “But clearly, we are in my area of domain.” Tech smirked with the words, purposefully trying to play with Crosshair’s ego.

The sniper’s eyes went down you find your figure under the table. “Are you going to let him talk to me like that, doll?”

Your reply was only a tiny glance at Crosshair before you took in the most of Tech’s length as you could manage while your two hands began uncovering his testicles. Tech felt a chill run through his whole body when you began playing with his balls, slowly massaging them, shifting them around as you knew would bring him the most pleasure. Tech kept his confident front up, but you noticed a faint movement in his hips, telling you that you were managing him just well.

“Ah, so you know that little trick,” Tech bit his lower lip.

His words riled you up more; you applied the slightest more pressure over his balls, and to your pleasure, you drew a light moan from Tech, briefly noticing the way his head tilted back before he focused back on the engine. You did that again, and then again, until you had Tech muttering a string of curses beneath his breath.

The sight of you finally starting to break Tech, playing with his balls and sucking his cock under the table while its surface was messed up with equipment and devices, it had such an effect on Crosshair that he felt himself getting hard again. As he saw your movements under the table, he pictured you sucking on him instead, riling him up all over again, bringing him to your mercy. His mind then began to wander to other scenarios in which he could claim you, have his payback, make you be the one whimpering helplessly as he split you in half. Slowly to not overstimulate himself, Crosshair began pumping his cock as his eyes remained trailed on you as you worked your way with Tech.

Still refusing to budge, Tech tried his best to not let his focus falter. While he’d certainly already proven his point that he could last longer than Crosshair in full focus, he still wanted to see how long he’d last. It didn’t help that you switched from sucking his cock to his balls, the way you’d done with Crosshair, and you were pleased to hear him shudder and suck in air through his teeth the moment you began.

Starting just by kissing and barely flicking your tongue over his balls, you noticed Tech be on the brink of insanity by the time you were fully sucking on his balls and applying the same pressure at the base of his cock. Not before long, you heard a thud on the table followed by Crosshair’s laugh as he popped a toothpick into his mouth, keeping up the rubbing on his cock. The sight of Crosshair pumping his own member distracted you for a moment, made your mouth water, longing for his taste, until you remembered what you were trying to prove. Soon, Tech’s groaning filled the room and his hips barely began to buck when you released him and pulled back, leaving his hungry, eager cock all alone.

“What…” Tech panted. “What-what are you doing?”

“You need to be nicer, darling,” you mimicked his nickname for you. “Can you promise you won’t be rude and cocky anymore?”

“Are you seriously asking me that question?” Tech panted, referring to Crosshair’s demeanor being that way all the time.

“Wrong answer, sweetheart,” you turned to Crosshair. “Maybe I’ll suck your cock again.”

“Please,” Crosshair flashed that smug grin of his at you, embellished by the toothpick, but you were too distracted by his hand pumping his long member, at times circling around the tip.

“No, no,” Tech cupped your cheek again. “I am convinced, I promise I… I’ll be better…”

You chuckled seductively at him. “See, that wasn’t so hard, sweetheart.”

Decisively, you took his cock into your mouth while resuming playing with his balls, and it took Tech barely a few seconds to reach the edge again until he was finally tipping over it, moaning deliciously in that smooth voice of his as his head tilted back and his vision blurred, even with his goggles on, bucking his hips at you until he felt his cock releasing all the tension. Tech was already lost in you, but he felt himself lose his own mind when you sucked and swallowed all of his cum, tracing the very tip of your finger over his cock afterwards to further tease him. When you stopped, his body finally collapsed back onto his chair, and he took a hand to his forehead to help himself calm down.

You got up from under the table, dusted off your clothes and smoothed out the fabric, taking a deep breath before making your way to the door.

“I’ll give you boys another treat when you’re done,” you told them with a wink before closing the door behind you, leaving the two clones more motivated than they’d ever been.

Taglist: @zoeykallus @sageislostinspring @misogirl828 @dangerousstrawberrypie @salaminus @ladykatakuri @whore4rex @morganlefaye13 @seriowan @kimageddon @rain-on-kamino @prozacspice

[imtooscaredforthis]

Entrapment

Ghostface x Reader

Chapter one: Secratary-In-Training

Mentions of: Anxiety, A Slightly Creepy Boss, and none really

A/N: A NEW GHOSTFACE X READER? YEAH BABYYY! I’VE BEEN SO EXCITED AND ITS FINALLY HEREEE But I’m super proud of this and stuff so :))))

Tags: @gloomyladyy @froegis @darthwhorecrux

Pacing back and forth, you fidgeted with your hands, trying to decide what to do for what you guessed was the fifth time tonight. It’s a simple question. Do you make that nerve-wracking phone call and possibly wake someone and waste their time? Or do you just go get some rest?

The decision should be clear, and yet, you’ve been hesitating for the past forty-five minutes now. You’d probably be able to make up your mind if you weren’t trapped in this godforsaken bachelor’s pad. You should take a walk. But it’s late at night and your apartment is in a bad neighborhood, damn it.

Groaning, you thread a hand through your tangled hair, before getting to your feet and walking over to the phone. It’s been four days (five in an hour or so) since your interview with The Roseville Gazette. You thought you hit it off with the Editor In Chief, but now, it seems like you were wrong.

You don’t even know what you did. You could’ve sworn he liked you, and the interview went great, from what you could tell. “You know what? Screw it. I’m doing it.”

Pulling the landline off of the hook, you dialed the number, calling him. You twirled the cord with your finger, listening to it ring. It wasn’t long until he picked up, and immediately, you regret it. Your body tenses and your hands get all clammy. You were preparing to leave a voicemail, but not actually face him. What do you do? What do you say?

“Hello?” At least you didn’t wake him. He did sound a little tired, but not to the point where he just woke up.

You almost forgot to speak until you heard him repeat himself and ask who he was speaking with. “Hi, sorry, this is Mr.Jamison, right? My name is _____, if you remember. You interviewed me the other day for that open journalist position.”

You can’t stand how anxious you sounded, your voice shaking slightly, almost as if you were on the verge of tears. “I remember.”

“I was just wondering-”

“Listen, sweetheart. Your writing’s good. You just don’t have the experience that’s required. I’m sorry, but the position is already filled.” He replied, making your stomach drop.

“But I did that Internship at The Palm Beach Post. I don’t have experience because I just graduated. This was going to be my first job, and you could just have someone train me.” You need this job.

Money has been tight, and The Roseville Gazette is the only news source around here, it seems. You can’t afford to move, and there is no way you’re working at some shitty fast food restaurant to stay afloat.

“Please, I‘ll do anything. I don’t even have to work as a journalist. I really need this job sir, please.” Your desperation grew, and you didn’t care how embarrassing this would be, as long as you get a job.

There was a soft sigh on the other line, one that makes some hope flutter in your heart. “Since the current receptionist’s out on maternity leave, the company’s gotten a temporary replacement. She’s been flaky, so I guess I could give you her job for the next couple of months.”

“Thank you, sir. You have no idea how much this means to me.” You gushed, relieved that you got a chance at this.

“Don’t mention it, and don’t call me sir. Come in by nine tomorrow morning for training.” With that, you thanked him and wished him a good night, before hanging up the phone.

Finally, you could relax, knowing that you were making a step towards your future. It was just a baby step, due to the small change of plans, but once you convinced Jamison you would be a good journalist, some good progress could be made.

Patience. You just needed patience. You had plenty of time, and your dream life of being a famous reporter in Miami will come soon enough.

For now, though, you need to get some sleep. You have a long morning ahead.

--

After almost sleeping through your alarm, you managed to get ready and rush off to work. The office is only a couple of blocks away from your apartment, so you walk there. Not that you have a choice though, since you don’t have a car.

The mornings always smell like engine exhaust and wet dew mixed together, due to the wildlife and city overlapping, and the fact that you get to spend so much time walking next to the road or through crosswalks, where someone almost hits you with their car every single time.

While Roseville is urbanized, it’s a small town compared to the huge city you used to live in, so you are used to this sort of thing. The walks, the smells, the shitty drivers, everything.

You managed to make it into the office somewhat on time, at 9:01. The desk that used to be occupied by that sweet old woman who you supposed was the replacement, was now empty, and it seemed like where you would be working, so you set your things down, looking around for Mr.Jamison.

He was in his office, which was just right next to your desk. He popped his head up from behind his monitor, glancing at you, before getting out of his chair and walking over.

If you had to guess, you’d say Mr.Jamison is middle-aged. His hair is a greyish black and is slicked back with some sort of gel, and he sports a bushy mustache to go along with it. Today, he’s wearing a normal white dress shirt with black suspenders and pants, his sleeves rolled back to his elbows, revealing his forearms.

“How are we doing today?” He greeted, putting a hand on your shoulder. You glanced at it for a moment but decided not to think much of it. He’s just being friendly, don’t make it weird. “I’m good, thanks. How are you?”

“I’m doin just fine. Let’s get into this, shall we? Your job is pretty simple, you sit here, answer the phone, transfer calls, fax things, etc. I’ll help walk you through some of the jobs you have here.”

And so began your training, with Mr.Jamison showing you self-explanatory tasks that you already know how to do. You know how to use a monitor, you know how to use a fax machine, and you know how to use a phone. He should know that too, considering you put it in your resume and told him just last night.

You tried not to seem too annoyed about it, saying a few small, “I know”s or a “Yeah, I’ve done that before.” But he didn’t seem to get it.

--

Rachel chuckled to herself lowly as she peeked through the blinds of the breakroom. “Jed, Jed, check this out.”

Getting her partner’s attention, she motioned for him to walk over to her. He did as told, looking through the blinds and seeing a rather young woman talking with his boss. “What happened to Ronny?”

“Oh, you know how Jamison is. He likes his secretaries young and dumb. I told you that poor old lady wouldn’t last long. I wonder how long she will, though.” She murmured, and Jed couldn’t help but wonder the same thing.

[todoroki-waifu]

Can I ask for some fluff with Chifuyu~~Where girlfriend reader is use to being affectionate (she’s a naturally affectionate person) so when saying sweet things to him, hugging, cuddling, hand holding, etc. she’s not shy about it and doesn’t really blush compared to Chifuyu who is the opposite! Like he’s always blushing bad and nervous with her being so sweet or close like that. So what if one time Chifuyu decides to be confident and try and make her blush hard for him instead?!! What does he do and/or say💗?

Note: Thank you soooo much for the request! I’m so sorry that this is so late! Not sure if you saw my previous post, but I was out of town and got sick. Feeling much better now! Please don’t hate me! 

Chifuyu x F! Reader

Warning: Some slight suggestive NSFW themes? Cursing (just ass and hell was used a couple times here). Female reader. 

Genre: Fluff and comedy

Word Count: 1,193

----------

Note: This was the video I used for reference lolol.  Chifuyu was desperate. He wanted to make you feel the way he did. He wanted to see if he could make you nervous or blush. 

No. 

He needed to know if he could also make your heart flutter the way you did to him. 

But maybe going to Baji wasn't really the best idea. Chifuyu was hesitant at first, but he trusted his captain and hoped that he could provide him with some quality advice. 

"Slap her ass." "Wha-what?" "You know, give her ass a little smack." Baji said as he tied his hair back to keep cool from the burning sun. The Toman gang and you were hanging out at the park, taking advantage of the clear weather and summer break. "I can't do that! That's disrespectful!" "Not unless she told you she likes and wants you to do it." Baji replies quickly. He'd never suggest touching anyone without permission. "I wouldn't know. I never tried it." You and Chifuyu have been dating for a few months, but your physical touches only consisted of kissing, holding hands, and hugging. He was too nervous to go any further. He really valued your and his relationship! "Okay, okay. I got it." Baji grins as he calls you over. "Wait, what's your idea?" He sees you slowly approaching him. "Tell her her ass looks juicy. It's a trend going around and apparently girls like it." "What?! I can't say that! Isn't that a little too much?" Chifuyu was trying to think of an alternative but it was too late. "Say what?" You smile at your boyfriend, tilting your head as Baji slaps his hand on his friend's back. "Yeah, buddy, you told me to call her over. What did you wanna say?" He encouraged his vice captain. "Oh, need some privacy? My bad. Let me give you some space." "Everything okay?" You asked, seeing how he looked a bit nervous once Baji left. "Ye-yeah. I just wanted to tell you that your b-butt looks. . . j-juicy." God he just wanted to punch himself until he passed out. This was such a bad idea! Why the hell did he even go with Baji's plan!? "Wait, really? You think so?" Chifuyu hears the excitement in your voice, taking a moment to process your reaction. He thought you'd slap him or think of him as a pervert! "Ye-yeah! It looks great!" He quickly responds. "I'm so happy!" You squealed as you did a little dance. "I've been training with Mikey and doing these new exercises to build my endurance. I have noticed that my muscles are a little bit tighter so I'm glad you noticed, too!" You've been learning how to fight so you wouldn't be a liability to the others. Your main goal was to keep up in a fight so you weren't really focused on building your bottom. But hey, you'll take the added bonus. "Really? Well, it's been paying off! You look amazing, babe! I mean, you always do." Chifuyu felt slightly guilty that he didn't notice until you twirled around a bit. He didn't want to be rude if you caught him staring, but he did steal enough glances to realize a difference. In all honesty, he didn't care much for physical looks. What was important to him was the inside and you had one beautiful soul. "Yay! Thank you!" You turned to the side to show more of your backside. "Did you wanna touch it?" Cue Chifuyu's face erupting into different shades of red. ----------- The first attempt was a failure for him. The only positive was that you were happy with your progress, but you didn't blush once! It was your date night today so he thought he'd try out his new approach this time. Without his captain's help. He got the idea from one of his shoujo mangas and prayed that it would be a success. Chifuyu arrived earlier than the designated meeting time, not wanting to be late. "Chifuyu-kun!" He heard you call his name as you rushed over to him. "Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting too long." "Not at all. I just got here as well." "That's good. I was afraid I wasn't gonna make it. There's a lot of people out today." You fixed your hair. "How do I look? It was super crowded at the train station." "Gorgeous as always." He smiles as he gently takes your hand and plants a soft kiss. "Ready to go, princess?" The only nickname he's ever used with you was 'babe' or 'baby' so he thought to switch it up a bit this time. "Princess?" Although his heart was pounding at his attempt to act smooth around you, he kept his gaze on you. Was that a blush? Was your heart finally fluttering? "That's new. I love it!" You giggle as you now wrap your arms around his neck. "Then if I'm your princess, that means you're my prince." He feels you lay a quick kiss on his lips as you stare lovingly at him. "O-of course!" Now he was faltering. "I hope that our story will have a 'happily ever after'." You buried your face in his chest and he's thankful that you couldn't see his flustered reaction. Chifuyu's heart is joyfully dancing in his chest while he couldn't believe that you'd want a happy ending with him, too!

----------- Note: This video was used for reference lolol.  The vice captain's next effort was inspired by a video he saw while scrolling through his phone. This had to be it! He's never done this before so he was excited to see your reaction. You were hanging out in his room, trying to pick a movie to watch. While you browsed through the selection, he asked if you could stand up. "I wanna show you something." He tries his best to not stutter. "Sure! What is it?" "Hold your hands together." He interlocks his fingers and you do the same. You mimic his movements, watching him lift all his fingers from one hand. Once your fingers were up, he laced both your hands with his, raising your arms above your head. Chifuyu swifty and gently pins you against the wall while his free hand settles on your hip. "Chi-chifuyu-kun..!" Your __(e/c) eyes widen as a red hue decorated your cheeks. There it was! He did it! Gosh, you looked so cute! "A-ah, sorry! Was that too much?" He instantly releases you, Chifuyu's daring demeanor now replaced with his usual, bashful self. Your boyfriend looks away, trying not to seem like he was relishing in your embarrassment. He kind of was and he'll forever keep that image in his mental file, but he didn't want to make things awkward. Chifuyu then feels a slight tug on his sleeve and he directs his head towards the source. He sees his girlfriend, staring up at him with big and mesmerizing __(e/c) orbs while your cheeks continue to hold their red tint. "Can you..can you do that again?" You ask timidly, pulling him slightly closer to you. Heat suddenly rises to his entire face, his mind too frazzled to produce any coherent sentences. You were definitely going to be the death of him. 

[violettelueur]

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE SIXTEEN || KYOTO SISTER SCHOOL EXCHANGE EVENT - GROUP BATTLE 2

↳ featuring : basically everyone at this point from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of explosions + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 29 march

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 2.2k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ previous episode : kyoto sister school exchange event - group battle 1

↳ next episode : kyoto sister school exchange event - group battle 3

↳ barista’s notes : it’s been a while huh? ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ BUT! my exams and easter hoilday is nearly here, so i will be able to update more than i have been this month, so thank you all so much for being so patient with me ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡ my heart can’t take all the kindness ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ other than that, i hope you all enjoy today’s episode since fushiugro doesn’t pop up until like episode eighteen...so hope you love all the made up scenarios that i have constructed ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only.

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter.

2.5. for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique : hopefully this video is slightly better...

no cursed spells used this episode..

but the little sword swing is inspired by this : here

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing.

“What’s with the smiley look on your face?” you asked as you lifted your eyebrow in curiosity since the man in front of you had a somewhat goofy grin plastered on him while adding a ridiculous amount of sugar cubes into his coffee cup causing you to shiver since you couldn’t imagine how sweet the caffeinated drink would be now if you tried it right now.

“Oh, nothing~ I’m just glad that I got to spend time with my daughter since we both have been so busy lately,” Gojo answered you brightly before grabbing the small metal spoon that was placed on the white saucer below his cup to stir the dark drink to quicken the process of the sugar dissolving.

Right now in the afternoon, you and Gojo were at a random luxury dessert place in the middle of Tokyo, where he had unexpectedly dragged you out of training that you had with the first and second years - much to their complete dismay - to have some ‘father and daughter’ bonding time together, leaving them to prepare today’s training by themselves since their plans were ruined with you now gone out of the scenario.

“Please don’t call me that,” you muttered as you processed to swirl your iced orange and mango juice with your straw before taking a quick sip of the cold beverage causing the tropical flavour to enlighten a light feeling of happiness within your stomach.

“So~ how is training for the exchange event going on?” Gojo asked as he took a sip of his cup causing you to look up at him before moving your lips away from the plastic straw. “It’s going well, Fushiguro and Kugisaki are improving bit by bit as well as the second years, it’s progress,” you replied back as your head began to nod slowly as you began to process everything in your head.

“Ah~ I knew I could count on you,” Gojo mentioned with a proud smile present on his face before looking over to the side to find the waiter coming to your table with the desserts that you both had ordered.

‘Well...isn’t it really your job as a teacher to train them?’

“Thank you so much,” you said to the waiter as they placed down your plates before giving you a nod as they processed to look after the other customers that were also in the cafe right now, leading Gojo to look at the treats in such delight before handing you one of the plates since he was the one that ordered everything - which was a complete surprise since you didn’t think he would remember you liking orange juice at all.

“Here you are! Tiramisu with fresh strawberries on top,” Gojo expressed with an excited tone causing you to look at him with a perplexed expression before slowly peering down at the small white plate that was placed in front of you to only find the mentioned dessert with a small fork right beside it.

“Did...you know I like tiramisu?” you asked bewilderedly since you had never mentioned anything about your favourite treats to Gojo since he was so keen on ordering as quickly as possible the second you both got here, to get the beautiful desserts as early as possible leaving you no room to add what you wanted.

“You were looking at it on the display when we got here, so I thought you wanted to give it a try,” Gojo informed you, leading you to look at him once again in surprise before steadily taking the fork in hand to dig into the treat you were gifted with.

“Thank you,” you mentioned with gratitude before you slowly began to tuck into the meal leaving Gojo to look at you with a smile before changing his gaze towards the sweet treats that were displayed at you both right now before gleefully taking the strawberry shortcake as his first choice.

“Y/N...when the exchange event comes...don’t use your curse technique at all,” Gojo said in a serious tone leading you to look up at your teacher in confusion due to the unexpected change in atmosphere, before sighing since you thought it was common knowledge by now and there was no need for him to remind you.

“You don’t need to tell me that, I can tell that the Kyoto Principal is coming to be watching, right?” you rhetorically asked as you slightly tilted your head to the side, “you don’t have to worry about anything, I ain’t that stupid, besides...the Kyoto students from what I’ve seen are real drags,”

                                              ꕥ

‘I swear I feel like using a curse spell right now’

At this current moment in time, you were in a somewhat difficult situation as you were rapidly zooming past the forest trees that were surrounding you while continuously avoided the arrows that were coming towards your way as some flew right past you while others struck the tree trucks that were somewhat protecting you from them, leaving you with the job to find an escape route since you were still trying to find clues of the mole that Gojo mentioned to you before the Exchange Event started as well as the second-grade curse that was needed to be exorcised to end the first day of the two-day event.

Shifting your eyes to the side, you noticed Fushiguro running in the same direction as you as he needed to keep up with you to make sure that you were safe and there was a way to help you avoid attacking your opponent right now since that was a new rule implemented to keep the game fair. However, with the abandonment of the use of your curse technique, Fushiguro needed to make sure he could defend you and have your back right now.

Quickly, you turned your head back to face forwards to ensure that you didn’t bump into anything or tripped up anywhere since you still had no idea where you were heading right now. From what you could recall, the area that was mapped out to the event’s arena was quite vast and it was getting somewhat difficult for you to sense everyone’s cursed energy since they were all now scattered in different directions with different distances leading your sense on them to become disorganised around you causing some difficulty to sense the curse you needed to locate for.

During this train of thought, Fushiguro couldn’t help but notice a few odd but small objects flowing through the air in front of both of you and him, causing the erratic-haired sorcerer to slightly tense up since he wasn’t sure what they were but also knew he couldn’t act too careless right now since it could be a trap that was set by the Kyoto side. However, as you both continued to sprint forward, those same small objects gilded right past between both of you and Fushiguro causing him to able to identify what they were.

‘Flower petals?’ Fushiguro thought before noticing how a few more pink petals would flow between you and him causing the shikigami user to look at you in confusion (since it was summer meaning there was no way they were just in bloom) as a few more of them gracefully fluttered past you which lead Fushiguro to slowly remember something, yet it was blurry in his mind right now. However, before his mind could even process anything to clear up the blurry image, you swiftly raised your arm to unexpectedly grab a few of the pink petals causing him to snap out of his daze before you left him more perplexed about what you were planning.

“Gojo, what are you going to do?” Fushiguro questioned, as he slyly noticed how your grip on the petals began to tighten before a small smile graced itself upon your face.

“Right now, let’s just say I ain’t planning to follow the rules if he keeps attacking me!” you answered back in a loud tone causing the grade-two sorcerer to glance at you with widened eyes as he wanted to halt you from what you were organising to do. Although, it seemed like it was too late since your hand opened slowly to release the pink flower petals back into the air before you took hold of his sleeve to pull him further so you both can take a long distance away from the same petals right now.

Suddenly, another arrow appeared from the trees as it was making its way towards you both leading you to smirk slightly as you let out of your classmate’s sleeve to take a hold of your katana that was still within its wooden sheathe as you needed to prepare for what was about to commence. 

As the arrow drew closer and closer to you and Fushiguro, it couldn’t help but slightly grazed its sharp metal tip on one of the rosy coloured petals causing a sudden large explosion to commence right above you and Fushiguro while the other petals began to follow due to the first explosion’s residue hitting them as well leading to a row of large explosions to employ to which caused Fushiguro to look at the scene in complete shock before noticing how you were beginning to casually unsheathe your katana from its metal hold.

“You see, if I follow the rules, there is no way of telling them to stay the hell away from me,” you muttered, as you spun around to face the opposite direction before fully swinging your sword sideways leading to a crescent wave of cursed energy to speedily manifest as it flew across the whole woods while somewhat clearing the fiery explosion that was already enough to keep Kamo in place for some time leading Fushiguro to inspect the destructive site in complete surprise since he had no idea that you were able to carry out such an attack. However, it seemed like there was no more time to admire your work as you gripped onto his school jacket’s sleeve, once again, as you had already turned back around to continue running to god knows where.

‘Maybe I went a little overboard…’

                                              ꕥ

“What was that?” Nishimiya asked in slight fear, as she peered in the direction on where the unexpected explosions had occurred while noticing how some of the trees were suddenly on fire while others just seemed to be missing leading Kugisaki, Panda and Mechamaru (who were down below on the ground) to look towards the direction where they hear the destruction.

“Woah,” Kugisaki muttered in awe since she had a slight feeling that it was you, who caused the mass destruction just seconds ago.

“Well, it seems like we don’t have to worry about Gojo,” Panda mentioned to his lower classmate before he swiftly got back up on his feet to attack Mechamaru by launching a punch into the robot’s face causing Kugisaki to turn to him in shock since she thought he was still unconscious.

‘Yeah, I don’t have to ever worry about her’ Kugisaki thought confidently before turning towards her opponent with an annoyed look on her face.

                                            ꕥ

“She can do that with flower petals?!” Utahime screamed in shock as she peered at the screen that was now just a pure full screen of static leading her to nearly drop her cup of tea, while Gojo looked at the same screen in slight surprise before he began to giggle while processing to remove his hands that were resting behind his head in amusement of what he had just witnessed from you.

“Awhhh so pretty~” Gojo commented as he clapped his hands like he was applauding you, leading Utahime to turn her gaze towards him in an irritated manner.

‘You love to keep surprising me, don’t you Y/N?’

“And that’s one bird down! Mei-san, is it possible to get another?” Gojo questioned as he peered back to his colleague causing her to giggle slightly as she opened her eyes again.

“Just who did you take in Gojo? You have a good eye if you decided to take her as your daughter, how much did you pay for her?” Mei replied, only for Gojo to look at her with a cheeky smile.

“Nothing, absolutely zero yen! I got her by pure chance, don’t tell me you’re planning to take her away from me, Mei-san?” Gojo jokingly commented back, before turning his sights on the Kyoto Principal, who seemed to be somewhat shocked at the current events that were transpiring on, but managed to maintain his composure leading to the strongest sorcerer to turn back to the other multitude of screens that were in front of him right now, like he was at the cinema watching an action movie.

‘The Kyoto student from what I’ve seen are real drags’

“That’s a bit harsh and violent from those said ‘drags’, don’t you think Y/N?” Gojo muttered under his breath as he waited for another crow to replace the one you had destroyed earlier.

‘At this rate, she won’t be able to track down the mole if Kamo is going to keep attacking her...oh well~ she’s a smart person, she’ll figure it out without even facing them’

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

[delimeful]

nothing in this world (i wouldn’t do) (2)

warnings: mild blood/violence/injury, demon slaying, miscommunication, impromptu first aid, mentions of spiders, virgil tempting fate with his internal dialogue again

-

Whenever Virgil wasn’t sleeping, he was on the move.

At first, it had been because he didn’t trust himself around towns for too long, and there was always the chance of a real demon slayer getting wind of that ridiculous rumor and trying to track him down and kill him for it, even though it totally wasn’t his fault.

But then, as time went on, his bizarre pseudo-popularity seemed to have a different side effect.

Namely, every time he managed to save another human and hauled them back to the nearest town, he’d be practically swarmed. Antsy townsfolk would hurriedly inform him of the horrible tragedy they’d heard about up north, or the mysterious disappearances by the woods between this town and the neighboring one, or any sort of rumor that they thought a “demon slayer” should know about.

Where exactly were all the real demon slayers when people needed them? Why was he, an actual demon, seemingly more accessible for seeking help?!

Still, he wasn’t exactly doing anything else with his life (his unlife?), and if there were less demons, that meant the world would be safer for Thomas, didn’t it? So off he went, taking the less-traveled paths and following vague leads right into more danger.

His latest case had been a requested one, from a weaver in the last town. She had received a letter from her brother saying that he planned to come visit, and weeks later, he still hadn’t appeared or replied to her many return messages. The worry seemed to weigh her down like a physical burden, and he’d agreed perhaps more easily than normal.

Now, he was wedged into a shallow crevice in the mountainside and sorely regretting that decision.

The issue wasn’t the demon, no. He’d actually been making good progress on getting deeper and deeper into its territory in the past few days.

The issue was that he wasn’t the only one hunting it.

First, it had been a gaggle of young teens, and he’d been so alarmed that he’d almost dropped right out of the trees and ushered them back out of the woods. The less humans traipsing around this deep in demon territory, the better.

Of course, that was when he’d managed to spot the swords strapped to their sides, and suddenly, never appearing before a human again was looking more and more appealing. He’d immediately switched gears from tracking to stealth, and honestly, should have just turned tail and left then.

Instead, because those kids were around Thomas’s age and he still needed to find that weaver’s brother and also he was a sentimental idiot, he trailed them at a distance, always staying downwind and poised to bolt.

They handled themselves well at the beginning, and then the environment began to warp around them, and then it turned out there was more than one demon nesting here, and Virgil had been on the brink of jumping down and interfering, swords or no swords, when--

Between one blink and the next, one of the demons was cleanly beheaded.

The demon slayer-- for what else could he be-- smiled brilliantly as the body disintegrated to ash, holding a hand out to help one of the teens to their feet.

“It seemed like you all could use a little assistance,” he’d said, turning to face one of the other demons with a confidence that visibly unsettled it. Above, a circling crow cried out raspily. “My dear Missus informed me of your call for backup.”

If the stranger’s swift execution hadn’t tipped Virgil off, the way the baby slayers looked up at him with blatant awe was clue enough. This slayer was powerful and charismatic, whereas Virgil was neither of those things, so he was going to stay right here in his crevice until the whole situation had sorted itself out.

The three other demons seemed to have no such qualms, lunging at him in a semi-coordinated attack. The slayer handled them with terrifying ease, and for a moment it seemed that the battle had been settled, as simple as that.

Of course, that was when the landscape twisted further in on itself, buzzing like a disturbed wasps nest, and Virgil realized abruptly that this was the first time he’d seen so many feral, newly-created demons in one territory.

A stronger demon was keeping them all in line, like the queen of a hive. And it wasn’t at all pleased about the intrusion.

The slayer seemed to have caught on as well, his sword held aloft in threat. “Looks like the real fight starts now,” he said with a sharp, cocky grin.

Mere minutes later, the smile had grown considerably more strained.

Coincidentally, he’d taken considerably more damage in that time as well.

The slayer had given as good as he got, but against a demon’s healing factor, it wasn’t good enough. He was losing.

“Get out of here!” he instructed, and the baby slayers hesitated, clearly torn. He shot them a dazzling grin, hiding all signs of fatigue even as another blow rattled his sword. “Come now, don’t you know an order when you hear one? I don’t want any distractions while I handle this gruesome ghoul, so back to town with you!”

He cut off any further arguments by pointedly leading his attacker astray, giving them ample time to flee. Virgil felt some of the tension fade from him as the baby slayers got away cleanly, leaving just the slayer and the queen.

Really, he shouldn’t want the slayer to survive. Not when having a slayer that strong anywhere near him, or even in the same country as him, could easily be a death sentence. That didn’t change the jolt of panic that went through him when the queen finally gained the upper hand, knocking the slayer back into sheer cliff face hard enough to snap something.

… A slayer that protected others from demons so wholeheartedly was one that would protect Thomas.

The queen advanced towards the slayer, wounded and weakened but already gloating about how his flesh would be more than enough to completely rejuvenate her. Her entire focus was on the human’s fallen form.

Virgil dropped down on top of her soundlessly, claws piercing through muscle and fat until he’d torn her nearly clear in half. She shrieked in outrage, but a skull-crushing stomp was enough to knock her unconscious for at least a few moments.

The slayer, exhausted, half-crumpled against a tree, and his shoulder very clearly dislocated, looked up at him for a moment with something like hope.

When they met eyes, however, that was swiftly extinguished in favor of wary frustration.

“Another demon?” he complained, trying rather unsubtly to grasp for the sword that the queen had knocked free of him. “Exactly how many monsters can one fit on a single mountain?”

The sword was entirely out of reach, but Virgil kicked it a little further away for good measure. The slayer shot him a petulant glare.

Virgil pointed at a scrap of bloodied cloth left behind from one of the baby slayers, trying out a questioning rumble. Backup coming for you?

“I’m offended that you think I would answer that,” the slayer responded, nose upturned, “or any other monosyllabic interrogative questions, for that matter.”

Virgil growled low in his throat, frustration bubbling up. If he ditched the slayer here without backup, there was no guarantee that someone would find him before the morning came, and Virgil was relatively sure that the demon he’d just stabbed through wasn’t the only threat up here.

Not to mention the cold. He hadn’t thought the nights were cold enough to harm people yet, but demons seemed a lot more durable, and the slayer was shaking just slightly. He remembered the few times he’d had to sit out snowstorms while traveling back home up the mountain, and couldn’t help but feel sympathetic.

So, leaving the slayer behind to fend for himself wasn’t an option. That meant doing something insanely, dangerously stupid: taking the guy with him.

Precautions first, then. He was pretty good at hiding himself from other demons by now, but human scents were a lot more trackable.

Virgil scooped the slayer sword up off the ground by the hilt, grimacing at the burning sensation it emitted. The slayer’s jaw dropped.

“Hey! You can’t just take that!” he cried indignantly, starting off on a tirade about craftsmanship and integrity. His rant cut off sharply as Virgil raised the sword and brought it down on the queen’s neck.

His motions were stilted compared to anyone who actually knew how to use a sword, but it hardly mattered. The sun-blade cut through easily, decapitating her in one motion and leaving only ash behind. He took a moment to hope for the soul of whoever she’d been before being turned, and a longer moment for the weaver’s brother, who was surely dead. Exhaling lowly, he planted the sword blade-first in the dirt.

It was tempting to keep it; he’d certainly wished more than once for an easier way to deal with his adversaries than the bloody scraps he normally got in, but there was no way he was bringing a demon slayer and a demon killing sword with him. That was just asking for trouble.

“That demon did all the work in an honest fight against me, and yet it’s the backstabber turning against his own kind who actually gets to eat me? That’s sad, even for a demon,” the slayer bit out, still trying to inch his way back up into a standing position.

Virgil ignored his muttering and took a testing breath in through his mouth. The slayer was definitely bloodied, but most of the major injuries mustn’t have broken skin, because the smell wasn’t too bad. It probably helped that he’d managed to avoid being injured in this fight, and so didn’t have a desperate need to heal like normal. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t even need a nap to make up for it.

He reached out for the slayer’s collar, already mentally plotting out the most efficient way to a distant abandoned bear den when a piercing shriek sounded, and his vision was suddenly full of flapping feathers. He staggered a few steps back with a surprised yelp.

“No! Missus Fluffybottom, you beautiful fool!” the slayer cried out, sounding incredibly distraught.

Virgil swatted outwards and managed to catch his furious assailant on the second try, his hand easily big enough to grasp it. He drew it away from his face for inspection, and realized that the screaming and wriggling bundle of fluff was actually a young crow.

“Scourge! Fiend!” the crow yelled at him in a belligerent tone that was uncannily similar to the slayer’s. He blinked down at it, befuddled.

“Wait! Don’t hurt her,” the slayer said in the most subdued voice Virgil had heard from him all evening. He looked up and found that the slayer had managed to climb to his knees, but wasn’t struggling to move further. “She’s a simple bird, no threat to you. You’ve already got your prize, haven’t you?”

There was something uncomfortably desperate in his gaze, and Virgil realized with a start that the slayer absolutely believed he was about to kill his bird in cold blood. He opened his hand, bracing for another assault, but the crow kicked off and flew right to the slayer instead, nestling against his collarbone. “Roman, Roman, Ro-man!” it crooned.

“Get out of here, you finicky little fowl, go! Shoo!” the slayer-- Roman?-- commanded, to no avail. He glanced up at Virgil, lifting his good hand and turning his bad shoulder slightly as though to shield the little creature.

Virgil averted his eyes from the bird, hopefully conveying how much he didn’t care about her. If he had enough self control to not murder-kill people despite it being all monsters like him wanted to do, he wasn’t going to snap because a bird the size of his palm repeated some swears in his direction.

Back to business. He grabbed the back of the slayer’s outfit and pulled, hauling him up onto one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. … Or like a sack of other, non-food items. Virgil sighed through his nose. Whatever.

Roman sucked a breath in through his teeth as his injuries were jostled, and then immediately started squawking in protest upon realizing the indignity of his position. The crow-- apparently dubbed Fluffybottom-- repositioned herself to a perch on Roman’s calf and joined in on the complaints with her own raspy calls.

Virgil ignored them, already focusing on the trek ahead.

---

By the time they reached the cave, Roman had long stopped muttering creative obscenities under his breath.

The slayer might have actually fallen unconscious, but Virgil wasn’t going to jostle him around just to check. If he stopped focusing on their surroundings, he could easily hear Roman’s heart beating, the blood pumping beneath his skin, tantalizingly out of reach--

… He had mostly focused very hard on their surroundings. The point was, the slayer was definitely still alive, which meant him passing out during their travel was fine. Convenient, even.

It certainly made it easier to squat and carefully lower his body onto the cave floor without worrying about any sudden thrashing on Roman’s part. Laying flat on his back with only the slightest crumple to his brow, the guy looked a lot less intimidating. He was probably Virgil’s age, honestly.

He also looked unsettlingly corpse-like at the moment. Virgil considered for a moment, and then sidled over to Roman’s side, tugging his injured arm out of the curled up position it had taken. He carefully maneuvered it until it was straight out, forming a right angle with Roman’s side.

Then, he pulled, applying a slow, steady pressure. The misaligned bone shifted back into place with a sickening clunk, and Roman cried out as he regained consciousness. Virgil released him, and he instantly cradled the limb to his chest.

“What in the name of--,” he started, and then seemed to remember it all at once. Or the wave of pain from all those other injuries hit him all at once. One of the two.

Either way, he sagged back against the ground, squinting at Virgil suspiciously as he bustled around the small space. Missus Fluffybottom landed on his forehead, making him look even more ridiculous.

“I notice I am not devoured,” he finally spoke, almost conversational.

Virgil ignored him in favor of moving to arrange some firewood near the mouth of the cave.

“Not even a teensy bit,” Roman continued, making a show of inspecting himself for missing flesh.

Virgil continued to stack rocks around the wood. He was beginning to regret waking the slayer up, dislocated shoulder or not.

“Now, my silent saboteur, I want you to be honest. Are you planning to turn me into some sort of spider?” the slayer asked, and that was enough to finally make Virgil turn with an incredulous raised eyebrow.

“What?” Roman defended, pinkening. “That’s a real thing that a demon did to some people! And you seem... spider-y.”

Virgil scowled at the insulting way the comment was phrased. Spiders were cool and helpful and oh yeah, they didn’t annoyingly needle him while he was busy keeping them alive. He abandoned the fire to stalk closer and drop to a squat by Roman’s legs, dodging a wild kick easily. He pointedly tore a long swath of white fabric from the slayer’s overlayer.

“Hey! Do you even know how long embroidery like that takes--,” Roman cried, and Virgil smacked a hand over his mouth, drawing close and hissing quietly. The sound was close enough to a shush to get his point across, going by the way the slayer huffed indignantly but didn’t speak when Virgil pulled his hand away.

He did whine in protest when Virgil grabbed his injured arm, but then he went still and silent, like he thought any sudden movements would end with the whole limb removed. Virgil wrapped his forearm in the fabric, and then looped the extra around his shoulder, maneuvering him as painlessly as possible, and tied it off.

Roman’s silence suddenly felt distinctly different.

Virgil pulled him up into a sitting position by the front of his shirt, and tightened the knot slightly. The sling looked just about as good as could be expected, given the circumstances.

“You are actually a demon, aren’t you?”

Speech was one of those human things that Virgil still hadn’t recovered, but he thought that the sarcastic fang-bearing smile he directed at Roman spoke volumes all on its own.

“Then why are you tenderly nursing a demon slayer back to health?” he retorted, sounding bewildered and incredulous in equal measures.

Why are you pushing your luck? Virgil thought back, clicking his teeth in irritation and shoving the slayer back into a prone position.

Roman let out a high pitched wheeze, his good arm coming to cradle his ribs defensively. “Or not-so-tenderly, I suppose. The question stands!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and returned to the half-built fire. He’d pestered the only doctor in town for first aid lessons for months, he wasn’t going to stop practicing medicine just because of a little thing like being turned into a demon that craved human flesh.

To his surprise, the silence lingered as he worked, long enough that he turned and cast a suspicious glare over his shoulder at the slayer, who jolted nervously at his attention.

“Wh-what?” he asked, fiddling with the torn edges of his sling. “No escape attempts here, haha!”

“...” Virgil squinted at him and his blatant fake laugh for a long moment, trying to figure out just what was wrong with the scene.

Wait. Where was the bird?

A chill ran down his spine, and he twisted to stare at the mountainside beyond the cave entrance. No raspy-voiced baby crows in sight.

It had to have gone for help, knowing exactly where Virgil and its slayer had holed up. Roman knew he’d realized it, was watching him with the wary expectancy of a cornered hare in front of a trapper.

A surge of furious panic did bubble up in the back of Virgil’s mind, but he quelled it with relative ease.

If backup was coming, then the human was no longer his problem.

Pleased at the neat way the situation had resolved itself, Virgil tapped two fingers to his temple in a gesture of farewell and scrambled out the cave, scaling the cliff face and resolving to put as much distance between himself and this region as possible.

With any luck, he’d never run into that particular slayer again.

[love4buckybarnes]

HERE IN BROOKLYN

Summary: Stuck for the night in Brooklyn, New York, Y/N meets a stranger at the bar. At first it seemed like a one night stand, but the more time they spend together, the harder it is to let go.

Bucky Barnes x Reader. SMUT WARNING-unprotected sex, oral receiving male&female, and steamy hot.

A/N: hope you enjoy this one. I had a pleasure to writing this one. My inbox is open for anonymous requests.

“This can’t be happening right now!” Y/N exclaimed at the woman behind the desk. “When will the next flight be?”

This was the cherry on top of one of the worst weeks of her life. Her asshole of a boss sent her on a work trip to Brooklyn, New York, in the middle of winter. She worked as a marketing agent for a sales business. Earlier morning on this day, she pitched her strategies to a potential client. It was important because this was the last opportunity to prove herself to her boss. Unfortunately, they rejected her ideas and upon hearing the bad news, she was fired on the spot over the phone. So, here she was at the airport only trying to get back home.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, there’s nothing I can do,” the check-in clerk apologized to calm the frantic woman the best she could. “Because of the oncoming storm, all flights have been canceled until further notice. We will post new flights once we feel it’s safe.” She turned her attention elsewhere to help another customer.

Y/N stood there for a minute, dumbfounded, before storming away. “This is bullshit,” she muttered under her breath.

White powder fell from the sky, covering the ground in a blanket of snow. Icy, bitter air nipped at any exposed skin. Y/N could see the fog of her frustrated breaths. She tightened the thick coat around her as the snow quickened its pace. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the cold. Everything felt like it was crashing down on her. Finally, after waiting in the freezing snowfall, the headlights of the cab appeared in the distance.

• • • • •

Bucky laid there on the couch in his living room, listening to the low hum of the TV. All he wanted was to get some much-needed sleep. Whenever his eyes closed, instead of darkness, he would see memories of his past fill his mind. He’s seen a therapist. Any progress he makes, the doubts that whispered in his head held him back. It wasn’t going to be that easy, he knew that. Nothing he could do can change or erase what he’s done.

Instead of some shut-eye he grabbed his coat, and he found himself wandering outside in the cold. He made his way to the local bar down the street.

Bucky took a sip of the bitter liquid that calmed his nerves. Even though he couldn’t get drunk, he still enjoyed the taste and the burn in his throat. With enhanced hearing, his ears picked up the faint sound of boots walking to where he was sitting. In the corner of his eyes, he watched the woman sit down next to him.

“3 shots please,” she requested to the bartender, voice distressed. She choked one down as soon as they have been set down in front of her.

His head cocked to the side to get a better look. Her beauty struck him. She was absolutely breathtaking. Bloodshot eyes met his briefly. He noted the puffiness around the fragile skin as if she had been crying.

Bucky couldn’t help himself. He leaned over, so she could hear him over the loud music and voices. “Rough night?”

The second shot glass was raised up and she paused, looking at him. “Could be better,” she replied dryly. The clear liquid passed her lips. She cringed at the taste in her mouth.

“Yeah, mine too.” He took another sip of his beer. “Are you from around here?”

She shook her head. “I’m here for a business, or was,” she explained. “My boss fired me today because I didn’t get the contract... I was supposed to fly back home tonight until they canceled the flight. So now I’m here.”

Bucky’s face scrunched up at what she said. “Yeah. You’re night is much worse than mine. I’m sorry. That definitely sucks.” He swiveled the stool around that he sat on to face her and stuck out his human arm. “I’m Bucky.”

She looked down at his hand, hesitant at first, before placing hers in his. “Y/N.” She shifted in her seat to get a better look at him, she recognized him. “Wait a second, you’re the Winter Soldier. I’ve watched you on the news.” Y/N found him attractive. The long dark hair she’s seen him with on TV was cut short, and he had the most striking blue eyes she had ever seen.

Not being used to people recognizing him, he looked away. He was mostly afraid they would judge him for the bad things he did, instead of the good. “Which side of me have you seen?”

Y/N frowned at this. “Both. I like the good Bucky.” She drank down the last shot.

Bucky went to say something else but tensed up when her arm reached out, a hand grabbing on to his. Normally, he would freak out whenever someone touched him out of nowhere. That was then, so he relaxed.

She tugged on him. “We should go dance. This is my favorite song.”

At first, he stalled, staying in his seat. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. I don’t really dance.”

Y/N ignored his protests and continued to drag him on to the dance floor. She stumbled on her own feet, feeling fuzzy from the alcohol.

Bucky was a bit uncertain, but he followed her anyway. She swayed her hips to the beat with a grin on her face. He stood there, not knowing what to do, nor did he have any intentions to join her. That was until a pair of arms wrapped around his neck. On instinct, he placed his hands on her waist. He decided he needed to loosen up and live a little, mimicking her movements.

Y/N had a boost of confidence from the booze running through her veins. She pushed herself up on to her tippy-toes and pressed her lips on to his.

For a second he was frozen in shock. A rush of something unexplainable came over him, telling him to kiss her back. His palms moved to each side of her face as the kiss deepened. “Want to get out of here?” he asked against her lips. Y/N nodded, and that’s all it took for Bucky to lead her back out into the cold.

• • • • •

As soon as they made it inside of his apartment, she was against the wall, Bucky hot on her tail. Their mouths locked in an intense kiss. Bucky kicked the door closed with his foot as he moved his mouth roughly against hers. His human-hand was placed at the small of her back, guiding her hips to brush against him. Y/N panted for breath when he tore away to pepper her exposed neck with kisses, her head lolling to the side to give him better access.

Bucky had a sudden sense of nerves, causing him to pause his pursuit. “To be honest, I haven’t done this in a long time.” The words he spoke came out in shaky whispers.

She looked at him in a dazed way, her eyes filled with lust. “Do you want to stop?”

To answer her question, Bucky kissed her again. His tongue that wove into her accepting mouth found hers, and they danced together. He hoisted her up by her thighs, her legs wounding themselves around him. By the time they reached his bedroom, most of Y/N’s clothes were thrown every which way, leaving her in only her bra and underwear. Bucky’s mouth made a trail from her lips to her neck. His lips traveled further down to find the curve of one of her breasts. With ease, he popped the clasp of the undergarment and tossed it behind him. Y/N arches at the warmth of his tongue flicking against her nipple. He sucked it into his mouth. Teeth grazed the swollen bud while his hand massaged the other.

“You’re overdressed,” she said, breaking the silence. She gripped the bottom of his shirt. He lifted his arms to assist her.

For a second Bucky’s insecurities got to him and closed his eyes tight, scared of what she’ll think of his metal arm. But all his fears washed away when she didn’t even acknowledge it, pulling him closer towards her. Y/N’s hand found the zipper to his jeans and he kicked them off, his briefs following in the same direction.

He hooked his hands, one on her hip and one on her thigh. Before she knew it, she felt the dip of the bed under her weight as she sunk into the sheets. Their bodies pressed ever so close together, skin to skin. Lips locked, his fingers lacing into her hair. Once again, he let his lips wonder her body until they reached the spot where she wanted to feel them the most.

Hot breath brushed against her clothed core. A cool sensation ran along her slit. Without a warning, her thong was torn off. Light feather kisses littered the inside of her thighs.

A breathy moan seeped out when she finally felt his wet mouth encase her pussy. He suckled on the bundle of nerves. The flat of his tongue licked up in a slow motion. He wrapped his arm around her to pull her closer. The cold feeling came back. She shivered in response as it pressed its way into her entrance. She twitched and writhed under his touch.

Tension rose inside her as she was reaching her peak. At the sound of her moans and motions of her squirming, the movements of his tongue on her clit quickened its pace. His metal fingers moved in a rhythmic motion inside her. She screamed out his name. Her orgasm washed into his mouth, and he sucked her clean.

Bucky crawled back up and kissed her, the taste of herself on his lips exciting her. She flipped them over, wanting to return the favor. Without wasting time, she took his rather large length in her mouth. Tongue flicked and circled around the head.

“Shit baby. That feels incredible,” he said through gritted teeth. His hands found themself tangled into her hair.

She bobbed up and down, massaging his balls. He quivered at the sensations he was feeling. Before he could let go just yet, he pulled her up and was back on top, his knee spreading her legs apart.

They shuddered in unison when the tip of his groin brushed against her entrance. Not being able to contain it any longer, he shoved the rest of his dick all the way inside as far as it could go. He groaned in pleasure at her wetness.

Bucky went slowly at first. He wanted to avoid hurting her, but she urged him to speed up. Her nails dug into his shoulders, crying in ecstasy. His breath fanned over the side of her face and bare skin.

“Fuck, I’m going to cum,” he growled out in a hungry tone. He pounded in to her in fierce strokes. She felt extraordinary against him.

“Me too,” she moaned out, her eyes rolling back.

They both let out a series of almost animalistic moans, the rush of their release sending them into complete bliss. Bucky collapsed on top of her, propping himself up so he doesn’t crush her. He rolled to one side of the bed. Y/N followed him, her arm and leg slung over his torso. Bucky pressed a kiss to her temple, wrapping his arms around her too. The two laid there breathless, like they had the wind knocked out of them.

• • • • •

“Careful, it’s hot,” Bucky warned her, handing her a mug of steaming hot tea. He took a seat next to her on the couch with a cup for himself.

“Thanks.” She sighed at the warmth the mug gave off to her hands, the heat soothing her insides. They were fully dressed and shared a large blanket that bundled around them.

The rest of the night was spent sat on the couch together, talking and getting to know each other. Y/N spoke about small bits of her life, and he told her some things he remembered before he became the Winter Soldier, back when Captain America was his best friend. Soon enough, they both drifted off to sleep against each other. And for once, rather than nightmares, Bucky had pleasant dreams.

The weather cleared up the next day. Bucky and Y/N spent most of it wondering around Brooklyn. He showed her around to some of his favorite places.

Bucky quickly grew fond of Y/N. He felt at ease around her, which is something that he hasn’t experienced in a long time. Was it crazy to say it is love at first sight? The things he was feeling, he wished it would never go away. Everything about her made him crave and want more. The little quirks she did like her laugh and the way her eyes crinkled. And when she got shy, she would play with her hair. Y/N’s presence enticed him. The usual worries, the negative thoughts, and all else that beat at Bucky daily went away.

Y/N sensed it too. She saddened more when the day went by. Being around Bucky, she felt light on air as if she was floating and like she was on Cloud 9. There was something in her that was begging her to stay. It told her not to board that flight and go home. But she was afraid of being vulnerable so fast. She was also not used to change.

Later on, they found themselves at a park. Both sat down on a bench, watching families play on the snow and people all around them.

Bucky turned to her. Those steel-blue eyes that were starting to tug on the strings of her heart held sadness. “Do you really have to go?” he asked, his voice gloomy.

Y/N thought for a moment. She almost wanted to say no. “I should get back home.”

“Or you could stay,” he pushed. “You’d like it here and would be happier here. It’s New York. There are opportunities here, you could find a better job, and there’s me.”

Something rubbed her the wrong way. She stood up, whirling around to face him. “You only met me last night, and you already think you know what’s best for me?”

He was taken aback at her outburst. His hands went up in a defensive stance. “No, not at all,” he said quickly. “I’m sorry that you thought that. I just don’t want this to end.”

“You’re just being selfish. I’m sure there’s plenty of girls that you could pick up at the bar that I’m sure would be happy to have sex with you,” Y/N snapped out. Her own words surprised her. As soon as they left her mouth, she regretted them.

Bucky was confused at her words. “You assume that I picked you up at the bar just for sex? Is that what you think all of this was? And hey by the way, you’re the one who came on to me.”

Y/N jabbed at his chest. “Yeah, well, I was upset and had a bit to drink. I didn’t think it would go any further than this.” She wasn’t even upset at him. She honestly didn’t know why she was mad. Maybe it was the fact that .

The commotion stirred attention from a couple of bystanders as they watched the scene unfold.

“I’m not just some guy that uses girls. That’s not me at all,” he retorted back, standing up too.

Y/N became distraught and emotional. Her eyes watered with fresh tears. “It shouldn’t have gone further than it has. I’m supposed to move here all because you got caught in your feelings? Well, I did too. We have to say goodbye.”

“But it doesn’t have to end now. I feel something for once in the longest time.” Bucky felt his stomach turn. His fists balled at his side, clenching and unclenched.

“I’m sorry, Bucky,” she croaked out. “I can’t stay. I can’t change everything suddenly for you when we just met.” She turned on her heels and ran off, hurrying down the park. She waved down a nearby taxi.

Bucky just stood there watching what could be the start of his life drive away. The cab disappeared, and his head lowered. He felt stupid. He knew he was in the wrong. She had every right to feel and think like she did. At first, he thought about just forgetting it and going home. But he didn’t. He couldn’t let it go. “Fuck!” he blurted out loudly, scaring the surrounding individuals. He raced down the street and flagged down a taxi as well.

Y/N grabbed her stuff from the conveyor belt. She got there just in time. The plane that will take her home had just landed. Her mind was swirling with many emotions. She felt the guilt eat away at her for being mad at Bucky. She couldn’t blame him. He had been through so much. All he wanted was something good for once. She also wanted it so badly too. But her life isn’t here. She wasn’t about to put it on hold.

Before she could make another step forward, she felt a cold touch on her shoulder. Y/N recognized it as the metal arm that belonged to Bucky. He spun her around. She went to speak, but lost her train of thought when a pair of lips came crashing down on hers.

A few seconds into the kiss, Bucky pulled away. He placed his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him. His eyes said everything. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, doll,” he whispered. “It wasn’t my intention to make you feel like you had to change your life. You’re right. I was being selfish. I just, I felt different around you. For once, when I’m around you I was at peace. All the worries and darkness that I have, is pushed aside. It felt so good to have a sense of freedom from the constant battle I have everyday. I didn’t want to lose that.”

Tears fell from Y/N’s eyes at his confession. His thumbs quickly swept them away. “I’m sorry too, for getting mad at you. I let my emotions and doubts get to me. I know you’ve been through a lot. I’m so grateful that I make you feel that way.”

He kissed her again, this time it was soft and full of promises. “You’ll come back, right?” he asked, hopeful.

Y/N smiled, nodding. “Yes. Yes, of course I will, Bucky. I promise.”

They shared one last kiss. It wasn’t a goodbye. It meant see you soon.

Y/N kept that promise.

• • • • •

She leaned against the window, looking out. The plane has just landed. Y/N gleamed with happiness and excitement. She couldn’t help the smile that lit up her face.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to JFK Airport. It is 7:43 pm and 60 degrees out.’

Her happy thoughts drowned out the rest of what the captain was saying. It was the end of March. The snow has melted away. Here she was, back in New York.

Bucky sat at the bar, beer in hand. His mind wandered with delight. He couldn’t stop thinking about it all day today and yesterday. Mid-sip, his extraordinary hearing, his ears perked up at the sound of heels approaching him.

“Rough night?”

His lips curved up in a grin. That voice was something he was impatiently waiting to hear again. Setting the bottle down, he swung around. There she was. The woman who has not left his mind ever since they met stood right in front of him.

“Actually, my night just became even better,” he spoke. The grin on his face broke out into the dorkiest smile.

Y/N’s matched his. “I have some good news to share.”

He arched his brow in response.

She sat down on the stool next to him. “I got an internship,” she began to say. “And if they like me enough, a permanent job. Here in New York to be exact.”

Bucky’s heart swelled, as if it was going to burst out of his chest. He reached over and kissed her. Oh, how much he missed those addicting lips. He pulled away. “That is wonderful. I’m so happy for you. Congratulations, Doll.”

“The good thing is that the people I’m working with I’ve personally worked with in the past,” she said. “So it’s almost a guarantee.”

“Well, we need to celebrate. How about I take you on a proper date?”

Y/N’s heart soared. “I can’t say no to that.”

This was the beginning of a new start for both of them, together.

[skiyoosmi]

to the stars above | z.

featuring. zhongli (genshin impact)

genre. fluff, angst, smut, ancient-liyue!au

word count. 5.4k

marga's notes. aAAAa look look, it's my first commission!! school has kept me really occupied for like the past month but after pulling a few all-nighters, i've finally finished my responsibilities along with this little baby! once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to my bubs @ramannnn for trusting me with this one <33

Nobody knows when the world began, how it came to be and why it continues to be. Even I, whose mind is filled with nothing but wonder for it, have no idea. One thing I am quite sure of... is how mine did.

It all started with him— a man of many titles, different identities yet at the end of the day, all these monikers are the same; it's all him. He adored Liyue more than anything else, knew it like the back of his hand. He went where the winds lead him, stayed where the moon shines upon him, stood where the golden sun kissed his skin. He found serenity in the walks he travels as he goes about his day, the sceneries his eyes take in and the calm sounds the nature resonates for him. And as if it was fate decided upon by the Celestia, it led him to me. Suddenly, my little world that used to be nothing became everything... quickly and all at once.

An exasperated sigh escapes from my lips, frustration and disappointment filling my whole being as I stare at the blank parchment paper I held in my hands. Another day was again wasted with no progress, I thought, mentally beating myself up for not being productive enough. Before I could further drown myself into such pessimistic ideas, I snap out of it and let my eyes cherish the view that lies ahead of me. Though I feel a little guilty for taking Vermeer's place, I can only whisper an apology with little to no sincerity. Because truly, nothing can beat the picturesque landscape of Luhua Pool— the crystal clear waters that would most probably reflect my face like a mirror if I were to ever look at it, the ruins that ignited the spark of curiosity within me, wondering about the pasts it holds and the stillness and feeling of peace it gives me as I sit in this cliff. Feeling somewhat a bit better, I place my things on top of the old bag I bring no matter where I go. There's always a better day for writing, I tell myself as a form of consolation, bringing my slim arms up to begin stretching. I've been sitting on this log for quite a long time now, after all.

"It seems like you are in a bit of a dilemma," a deep voice comments from behind me. Out of surprise, I lightly jump and turn my head towards the stranger. Right at that moment, it felt as if all the air circulating inside my body had been depleted. Captivating was an understatement as to how he appeared before me. With the sunlight striking his face and accenting his unique features further, he stood with his hands behind him, head tilted as he looked at me with interest, all while keeping his dignified posture.

"Oh, hello. I am afraid so, yes," I respond, or rather, mutter under my breath since I was not really used to having sudden encounters with other people, nor am I fond of it. I tend to keep to myself, finding it much more peaceful than having to tend to others' overbearing expectations and demands which is partly the reason why I chose to live in the outskirts, far from the center of Liyue that contrasts my comfortable abode, "I apologize. I failed to realize that somebody other than Vermeer liked to stay here," I told him, arching my eyebrows a little when he let out a breathy chuckle.

"Oh, you have no need for such formal apologies. I do not always go here, at least probably not as often as the man you call Vermeer. I was simply taking a walk and I think I got carried away by Liyue's view and eventually, my feet led me here," he explains, a hint of sheepishness present in his tone, "and I guess I'll have to thank my feet for that."

Because it led me to you, interesting one. For many years, it will remain unspoken, kept by the strange man to himself and unveiled once his heart gives up from the resistance he upholds.

For the following hours of lounging around Luhua Pool, I learned a lot about the stranger— he calls himself "Morax," and like the god of Liyue, he enjoyed history and is extremely knowledgeable about it, aspiring to know and understand everything of the world, he often brews tea, even going as far as inviting me once I am free from any form of work. Just as he shared facts about himself, I did too.

"So, Cheng, you said you have a bit of a dilemma?" he inquires, slightly angling his head towards the direction of the side I'm sitting on. I nod my head up and down, mouth forming into a small pout of disappointment as I remember that today has not been that progressive.

"Yes. I am trying to write a novel, you see. Something that will leave an impact on this world so that even if I may pass, I will still live on the memories of people," I tell him, an ambitious expression present on my face. He hums, eyes going over the terraces that make up the current view we have and the two huge statues standing by the ruins, "Why so?"

I pause for a moment to think of a reply, "I guess I just do not want to let someone alone in this cold world. Wouldn't that be too cruel and sad, to just leave them with nothing?"

If I'm able to write words that will provide comfort to my readers, then maybe... just maybe the world will be less lonely... even for just a little bit. At least, that's what I thought as silence consumed us, the sun setting as if to remind us that finally, another day is nearing its end. Now, what will tomorrow bring?

"Well then, I do hope I will be able to read at least some of your works at least once," he speaks as he stands up, lightly dusting away his clothes, "It certainly has been a pleasure to be your company, Cheng."

As he walks down the slope of the hill, his somewhat broad back facing me, I call out, "Will you be back?"

He stops and turns, a soft smile is plastered on his face as he responds, "Only time will tell."

But time was no friend of mine. At least that's what I have come to realize as many days passed without him returning to this place. Though maybe it's only because it almost felt as if time slowed down and I was only eager to see him again, something I have scolded myself to— what a fragile heart do I have to already seek a stranger's presence? That is what others call love at first sight, a devilish portion of my mind whispered cheekily within me and I gasped in disbelief, "Absolutely not," I lightly slap both of my cheeks, "I'm just too coped up in my own world. I probably need to go see more people."

That thought remains a simple yearning though because once again, I find myself lounging around the same spot in Luhua, a quiet hope ignited within me, fulfilled when I hear the familiar voice he adorns as he speaks, "You're here."

I release a sound that is between a giggle and a breathy chuckle, "And I see your feet had led you here once more?"

"They were curious, or should I say... I was," he explains as he takes a seat beside me, his posture remaining solid despite the uncomfortable position.

"Of what?" I ask.

"Of you," he simply replies, unaware of the sudden yet unsurprising effect it had on my heart that was already beating rapidly with just his mere presence. I try not to be so showy of it though, too embarrassed to even think of how fast I became fond of him.

But it was no wonder. After all, he himself was an interesting one; from the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, and the way he's just him... all and every action hold so much dignity that it just leaves me almost breathless and in awe every single time my eyes finds their way to his figure— and to think that this was just our second meeting? My mother would most probably let out the most shameless giggle as I tell her these thoughts, pushing me and teasing me like a normal person in their teens would. I shake my head to get out of these thoughts, listening to Morax as he tells another wonderful tale, almost making me think that he lived it himself with how he knew it, going over even with the smallest details.

"You know, Morax, you have such a good memory to remember all of those things despite simply hearing about it," I suddenly speak up in the midst of the silence that engulfed us while he tries to think of the next story to tell, "I hope I can stay in them too... in your memories, I mean. I know I am far from being the most interesting person but for some reason, I wish for that."

He pauses, eyes trailing slowly towards me, beyond my knowledge, before he lets out a somber smile. You already are, is another one of him that becomes an afterthought.

I heaved out a sigh before shaking my head again, "Ah! Why do I keep having such lonely thoughts? Forget about that. Please do not mind me, alright? I think I really need to stop being stuck in the mountains."

I pick up my small bag and shuffle inside it, letting out a quiet sound of 'aha!' as a sort of celebration when I successfully got a small book out, "Here."

He blinked his eyes in confusion, wondering what it was I handed to him so I spoke in delight, "You told me you wanted to read at least one of my works so, here. I am warning you though, it is not like the ones that sell best in the bookstores. It might bore you, or weird you out like what others say."

"What others say?"

"They say it's too unrealistic, too impossible... but I believe otherwise. We live in a world where gods and adepti watch over us. What makes my story impossible then?" I ponder, him still being confused.

"What is it about anyway?" He asks, having no idea of what the context my book had.

"It's about an archon who began living as a simple man in Liyue."

Our meetings became more frequent after that and eventually, we got comfortable with even just the presence of each other, having no need for long talks and such, but just peace. Today, like any other day, Morax was just reading the book I gave him, while I was thinking of what my next story would be about. Occasionally, he looks at me with an odd expression that is almost equivalent to astonishment, as if I have done something so great that it made him look at me that way.

"What made you think of this plot?" he asks all of a sudden, not forgetting to put a piece of paper that served as a bookmark on the page where he stopped just in case he accidentally closed it.

I hum, thinking about my answer to his question, "Hmm. Truth to be told, it was just a mere wonder for me. Archons and the adepti, although not entirely immortal, live so much longer than an average human does, watching over us as we go about our daily lives, waiting for sudden wars to break out and then fight the enemies that attack us. Growing up, those were the things that all the people around me told me. So I began to wonder, do they ever get tired? Is it not too taxing to keep on doing that? What if... they just lived with us, among the crowds? Because I think it is too lonely wherever they are. Would it not be better if they were with us, rather than above us, so they could at least have memories to live by?"

Morax does not give a response, or rather, he finds it difficult to find one. Still, it does not stop the affection that spreads within him. He does not say it out loud, but for someone who prefers to be alone, Cheng was full of empathy. And somehow, that did wonders to Morax's heart.

"Now that I think about it, I kind of actually want to address my books to them now," I hum once more, "It would be like a message for them: Do not be too lonely even if we pass. Because of your help, through these stories, we can show you that we lived a good life."

I huff as soon as I finish my sentence, "Although one of those who read it said that was impossible, because according to them, why would archons give up their power to live a life where there is only simplicity?"

Morax let out a sound that made it look as if he got offended himself, "Archons can do that, can they not?"

"I know! That was what I was saying to them. Anyway, I am not forcing them to like what I wrote. It's just a story, after all. It can do no harm," I shrug, beginning to fix my belongings as the sun began to set, "I should go now, Morax. It is still quite a long walk to my home."

"I want to live a good life too," he suddenly tells me, making me halt and turn to him in confusion, "With you. The good life and memories you shall tell in your stories, can I be part of them too?"

The universe does not stop for anyone, nor does time— science will consistently proclaim this fact matter what timeline we shall live in. No matter how much someone begs to the Celestia to grant their wish of controlling, or stopping time, no one will be able to do such things. But somehow, it seems like when it comes to him, everything is possible as I feel my world stop at his words, just like the way it also began when I met him. And as if planets were colliding with each other, I suddenly felt my heart crash upon him and as if out of instinct, I let go of the truth.

"Of course. It would be the greatest thing to have you."

Life was strange in its own way. That is what I have come to realize in this simple life of mine.

Despite the fact that the "me" of the previous year has never even thought about putting my whole being on my sleeve, it is pleasingly odd how right now, I find myself in this kind of situation with the man who swept me right under my feet and claimed my heart as his.

“You're cold," I whisper amidst the silence of the night in my abode, my index tracing the ears of the man who had me sitting right on his lap, the shorter strands of his silky hair tucked behind them. So, so alluring.

He takes hold of my wrist, planting a soft kiss on its side, all while maintaining eye contact as he quietly drawls, "Then I suppose you can keep me warm tonight. Will you?"

As if in a trance, I nod my head, letting him take the lead as he laid me down, back against the soft mattress, him following on top with his arms supporting his build. With arising confidence, I circle my arms around him and pull him down, bringing our lips together, a sigh of relief escaping both of our mouths as if to say, "Finally."

I wonder if he thinks the same way as I do— that this was Celestia in its own way. I felt like I could do anything as long as it was with him. The kiss felt like the power we once suppressed from each other became a supernova that changed our world's course all of a sudden. But despite the tension and heat we both emitted at the moment, there is a warmth that engulfs me the same time he fully wraps his arms around me.

I am here. I will always be here.

No noise disturbs the peace we have created, only the quiet sound of crickets reach our ears but even that fails to distract him from what he's doing. He gently tugs on the sash that keeps my coat tied. Nimble fingers explore the remains of my clothing, loosening all until I am set free from them.

His eyes raked over my body, an expression of awe plastered on his face for so long that it made me somewhat conscious. Because as he unravels his to me, I am enlightened by the fact that my figure is nothing worth comparing to his — not even close. A hint of sweat glints from his skin due to the moonlight, making him look even more ethereal. But who was I to complain?

So instead, I look down, fiddling a little with my fingers as I feel my cheeks heat up. How is it that I only realize now what kind of situation we are currently in? Before I further drown in such shameless thoughts, he lifts my head up by the chin, an amused look on his usually-gentle face, "Are you feeling shy, beloved?"

I meekly nodded, to which he lets out a soft laugh and whispers, "Don't be. You are the epitome of beauty itself. If you don't believe me, allow me to show you nothing but truth tonight, I swear under the moon and all these stars."

He dips down and captures my lips in a kiss once again with more passion, if it was still even possible.

"You are made for me, as I'm made for you," he proclaims as he thrusts inside me after minutes of preparation, soft pants and groans following his statements. I can only whimper in response, pain evident in my tone at first with my hands lightly clawing at his back. I pray to the heavens above that they don't leave awful marks after this.

He halts and utters an apology, thumb caressing the bone of my cheeks while he waits for me to adjust. He scans my face after a few seconds, relief flashing in his eyes when I nod for him to continue.

"I... b..." I try to speak out but the pleasure overwrites any sensical thought that goes through my mind. He slows down a little, looking over my face and smiles, urging me to talk.

"Stay with me, beloved. We still have all night," he tells me, encouraging me to voice what has been on my mind.

"I... I belong to you, always have and always will..." I manage to croak out, voice quite hoarse due to the sounds that I let out previously. Perhaps pleased with what I have proclaimed, he begins going even deeper and at the same moment, I begin falling deeper.

"Yes, yes, you do," he repeats like a mantra, his voice sounding more and more desperate to reach his high. I cry out with him, creating a harmony that even the best bards shall be ashamed.

It was a long night— the longest yet most beautiful night I have ever had in this simple life of mine. And in that moment, as we reach the stars together, I knew right there and then that this man is someone who will be etched in my heart for as long as I live, deep into its roots— for him, it shall beat and it shall love.

You, who are reading this, most probably have had enough of these teeth-rotting praises I kept on writing. But what can I do except to apologize? These words are the only ones that can flow out of my mind and mouth to show how magnificent it was to be loved by him.

Well, nothing significant really changed. He was still the same gentleman I met, if anything, more gentle. Just like in the beginning, he made my heart flutter every chance he gets, no matter how many years have already passed.

We built a dynasty together.

But maybe I should have known that ours were also bound to crumble like the ones that have long existed even way before us.

Days, months and years went on, I realized that he was actually the opposite of me— unlike me who was clearly not parallel with time, he held it right on the palms of his hand. I was not blind, nor was I a fool, I can clearly see how he looks like he has not aged a day, all while I was here, maturing more and more each second that passed by, the amount of signs of me aging increasing significantly.

Morax. Knowledgeable of history as if he lived it himself. Time. All these thoughts eventually congest my mind as realization dawns upon me. He was not merely a man named after the god himself— Morax was him, he was Morax.

"How appalling," I mutter with a hint of sadness and dismay in my tone. I stood in front of the mirror, fingers hovering over my face, wrinkles appearing as I scrunch it. A pair of firm arms snake its way around my lean waist, chin resting on one of my shoulders as he hums his words, "What has got your beautiful mind occupied, my beloved?"

Taking hold of his arms, I turn my body around to face him, a somewhat melancholic smile etched on my face as I look up at his much taller frame, "You are a sight to behold, even to this day." He arches one eyebrow out of amusement and curiosity, wondering why I suddenly started pouring him compliments. After all, my shyness prevents me from consistently doing so. Nonetheless, I continue speaking, "I wish... I could be with you even when everything changes into a whole new world."

I lifted a hand up to cup his cheeks and began rubbing it lovingly, a lone tear finally dropping from my eye as soon as I closed it, "but I cannot, I do not have the ability to do so... I am but a mere mortal, after all."

His eyes widen as he finally discerns my actions and concerns, immediately opening his mouth in hopes of consoling me but I beat him into speaking, "It's alright, Morax. I have been putting the pieces together for a while now. I am in no way angry. I just..." I pause, gulping hard before my lips start to quiver, "... I cannot imagine how lonely it must have been. And now... I think about it and I... I do not want to leave you alone again."

My cries eventually start becoming louder, something that is very new to the both of us, seeing as I have always been composed. Love can change a person into a whole new being. I remember a book I have read once and at the moment, I can only agree. Maybe it was the way my heart clenches at the mere thought of him walking alone, or the way I can imagine us taking our last breaths together yet I know that will never happen— but either way, it was painful.

He whispers sweet nothings to my ears, placing light kisses on my temple as he leads us to the bedroom to rest once my tears have finally ceased and I have calmed down. His hold on me gets tighter every time I let out a small hiccup due to crying, almost as if he was telling me that he was feeling the same pain as I was.

Hours pass by as we lay in silence. My tears have long dried up but we remain coped up in each other's arms.

"Would it not be interesting if you bear the name Zhongli?" I ask him in a somewhat croaky voice.

He peers down and tilts his head, "Now where did that thought come from?"

I shrug, or at least try to, and look up at the ceiling as we shift our positions to lay on our back, hands finding one another and intertwining, "Hmm... nowhere. Just a name I wanted to give you in case that you are needing a new one."

"Oh? How come it would be interesting then?"

I look at him with a comforting yet sad smile.

"Because it means it's time to leave, to go somewhere far away... and unfortunately, I will have to leave soon."

He furrowed his eyebrows together, "Do not say that. Who knows? Maybe you will be able to live a hundred years by my side. Besides, I think it sounds lonely. I do not think I would want to get reminded of the fact that you are not here with me."

I hum, "But if you bear the name I gave you, wouldn't it feel like I never went away? That no matter where your feet take you, no matter how far you go, I am and will always be with you, just as I have vowed."

The wooden door leading to my writing room slowly slides open and Morax's head peers in, an adorable smile plastered on his face, "You have been quite busy these days, beloved. I do not wish to disturb you but I am starting to long for your presence."

I let out a shameless giggle, "Alright, alright. Just let me write down a few more words while I still have ideas to input."

He peeks on the parchment paper out of curiosity, taken aback when he finds his name on it, "You are writing about us?"

I nod proudly, "My last piece."

"... But why?"

I smile and approach him, taking his hand and placing my forehead against his after he lowers his head down to my level, "I told you, did I not? I do not wish to leave the person I love with nothing. So that you will not be lonely, my words will be with you. I will be with you, always..."

"... and to tell the gods... to tell you, that I loved every second of my life with you— that it was, indeed, a good life."

"Who are you, young man? Are you my son?" I speak with a very hoarse voice, squinting my eyes at the figure in front of me, as if my poor vision will allow me to do that.

I hear a melancholic yet gentle sigh come from him before he takes my rough hands and looks afar, "Don't mind me. I'm just someone who vowed to be with you for as long as time lets us."

"Oh.... really? That’s quite endearing," I hum, "Well, may I know your name?"

"This… I think I may just have an idea to whom this book is for," Paimon trails off, looking over at the traveler who was in the same trance as her, "Paimon thinks we should let the strange person we saw a while ago give this directly to Zhongli!"

Lumine nods, turning around and starting to run towards the direction they were at previously, recalling the person named Cheng who gave them the novel they just finished reading. They were unique, dressed in layers of robes and it was almost as if they lived in the old times of Liyue. Even the way they talked and moved screamed ancient.

Just as they turned the corner, a woman near the Liuli Pavilion called them over, "Traveler! Here!" As they approach, Lumine cranes her neck to look around the area but to no avail, the strange person was long gone.

"Are you two alright?" the woman asks, much to their confusion, "I saw you talking to literal air awhile ago and I was worried you have eaten something strange."

The pair looks at each other in surprise before Paimon replies, "You didn't see anyone? Like a person dressed in the strangest attire? They dressed really anciently!"

The door of the Liuli Pavilion opens and there goes Zhongli, a calm expression morphing to an awkward one when he realizes he barged into an ongoing conversation. He apologizes for the disturbance and despite the curiosity he had upon overhearing bits of Paimon's statements, he starts his walk back to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. At least not until he hears Paimon call his name, "Zhongli! Wait! A person named Cheng. Do you know them?"

He abruptly stops and turns to the two, eyes wide for a second before it returns to his usual demeanor, "How... how do you know of them?"

"We met them," Paimon says, as if it was the simplest thing to do, "Well, honestly, we don't know because we were apparently speaking to nothing but air! It's so odd!"

He stays still, honestly having no idea of what response he should give them because he himself found it hard to believe.

"Well anyway, they asked us to give you this nov— wait, where is it? It was just in your hands a while ago, Traveler!"

In the midst of the loud chaos made by the two in the middle of Liyue, he thinks he knows what to do and where to go now.

It was the day of the Rite of Parting, an event where he's supposed to be taking part of, even just a part of the audience. But he finds himself hanging around the Wanwen Bookhouse, eyes scanning the shelves until it stops at a familiar name engraved on the cover of a book.

"Oh! Greetings, Mr. Zhongli! I see you took a liking to a very great and romantic novel," Jifang comments as she sees the book in his hands.

He looks at her, "Is it really great?"

She gasps in delight, "Yes, indeed! Almost all of the Liyue folks have enjoyed this story! You can say it is a classic, especially for readers! Cheng definitely outdid themselves with this one! Such a mysterious person yet equally amazing. Imagine? Being able to make such a beautiful love story with Morax? They don’t mention the present name they gave Morax though, such a shame. Maybe it was due to old age, they wrote it until the last moments of their life after all. Anyway, I have to get back to work but enjoy reading that masterpiece!"

He feels his heart swell in pride upon knowing his lover had his wish come true. His nimble fingers carefully open the pages of the book and hours later, as he sat inside the Funeral Parlor after taking the novel home, he finds himself absorbing each and every word Cheng have written, the loneliness sitting idly inside him subsiding little by little.

I found solace in the countless cups of tea you brew whenever I encounter distress with my works, the endless stories you tell with a smile so beautiful that not even the most heavenly scenery can vanquish, but most of them all, the feeling of your hand intertwining with mine, providing me with serenity no one else has ever done before. Under the moonlit night of Liyue, I remember your wistful amber eyes, staring deep into my soul as you proclaim your love and desire for me. How foolish was it of me to think that I could live this life without even experiencing such warmth and intimacy?

It is a banality, really — how I wish to become a well-known writer with unique tales and yet the story I am telling is something so common to folks that they have most probably heard similar ones before. But I guess this is what it means to love and to be loved. Everything is like a cycle that just keeps on being repeated, yet we never get tired of it, of the feelings it brings. So, thank you, Morax. Words will never be sufficient to show how grateful I am to you for showing me a whole new world but I suppose this is still a way for me to give back to you.

With this little book of mine, I hope my heart reaches yours regardless of how many eras may have passed before and after us. So, my beloved, do not be too lonely without me. Even if you find yourself longing for my presence, just open this and my heart shall be with you.

This belongs to you, it always will.

And I do, as well.

[allywritesforfun]

{Confessions} Karl Jacobs x Reader

summary: your favorite director came out with a new movie so Karl invites you over to watch it with him

pronouns: not mentioned

word count: 1910

masterlist

You and Karl have been pretty good friends ever since you moved into the neighborhood. He was one of the first people to welcome you in. You moved from your hometown to find more excitement in your life, and boy did Karl give you the excitement you always wished for.

At first, it was simple gestures of friendship. You baked cookies one day for yourself and had some left over that you packaged up and gave to Karl. You even took the risk of adding your phone number to the basket. To your surprise, he actually called that night to thank you.

Those calls became weekly, to daily, to no calls at all. Instead, you simply went over to his house. You two did easy little things, your favorite was making “neighbor bracelets” which Karl renamed as best friend bracelets. Both of you still wore yours today.

You’ve built a very good relationship with Karl, you both trusted each other with your lives. Both of you had the other's spare key just in case. The neighborhood wasn't sketchy, but life is life and the two of you were prepared to drop everything to help each other out.

Tonight was a special night. You and Karl were super excited about a new movie coming out of Netflix. Karl knew how much you loved the director, so he invited you over. You were ecstatic.

You offered to bring pizza since Karl provided the drinks. After you picked up the pizza, you headed straight to his house. You parked behind his car and welcomed yourself in, you two basically lived together at this point.

“Karl!” You called, “I have the pizza! Where we watching this?”

You heard a voice from downstairs, “I set up the basement to look like a screening room!”

You chuckled to yourself, that was such a Karl thing to do. Karl always went all out on everything he did. That was one thing you admire about him: he always lived his life to the fullest.

You stopped at the kitchen first to drop off your keys and your shoes and picked up some extra napkins, you weren’t the neatest eater.

You made your way carefully down the stairs, step by step. You had a history of being a bit clumsy and may or may not have dropped pasta down the stairs before.

You turned the corner to the right and stopped immediately. The room was beautiful, with an even more beautiful sight in the middle.

Karl really did surprise you this time. When he said he made it look like a ‘screening room’ you thought maybe some aisle lights and very original signs, but no.

The room was completely transformed. Everywhere you looked, you found something new. The first thing you noticed was the amazing set up around the couch. Karl moved the couch to the middle of the room in front of the projector. Above the couch draped satin sheets that made the set up look like it was from a fairy tale. At first you didn't notice the fairy lights spread out on top of the sheet, but it made the perfect touch. Next was a line of squishmallows leading up to the couch. You even laughed at the little outfits Karl put on them to make them look like workers. You followed where the little workers directed, which lead you straight to Karl.

“Surprise!” He jumped, arms wide open.

You set the pizza down on the coffee table in front of the couch. You took another look around and noticed the abundance of blankets that Karl had laid over to the couch to look really cute and really comfortable.

“Karl,” You covered your mouth in awe, “It's just a movie, you didn't need to do all of this!”

He grabbed your sweatshirt and pulled in for a hug, “But I wanted to! You were so excited for this movie and if it ends up being trash then I wanted to make sure there was at least something good about it!”

You put your arms over Karl’s shoulders and leaned into the hug. You always felt safe in his hugs. His hugs were unmatched. They always drained all of the negative energy out and replaced them with safe and secure vibes.

Karl waddled you two over to the couch and he gently set you down. He stayed up and grabbed the remote while you got the pizza ready.

“This was so sweet of you to do,” You told him. “Thank you very much. I think this might be one of my favorite nights with you.”

“That’s good to know, I’ll make sure I do this more often,” Karl laughed, causing you to blush.

You enjoyed every day with Karl and treasured your friendship to the point when you weren't aware of your own feelings for him. You wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of your life with him, but you wouldn't let yourself think in a romantic way. You feared losing due to unlevel feelings. Karl knew so many people around, so why would he pick the new person in town?

You buried your feelings so far down that you blamed your blushing on going down the stairs and getting overheated from it… because that makes total sense. Karl sat down next to you, about a forearm's length away.

“What type of pizza did you get?” Karl asked.

“I wasn't too sure on what I wanted myself, so I got half pepperoni and half sausage,” You answered.

“Oh good! I was feeling both today too, in sync aren't we?” Karl questioned.

You shook your head, “No, you’re obviously way ahead of me!” You made gestures around the room, “I would've never thought of something this beautiful!”

“Not as beautiful as you,” Karl said under his breath.

You heard it loud and clear. Karl gave you these compliments every once and while. But again, you pushed it off to the side and rationalized it by saying that he says it to everyone. You weren’t special or some sort of exception. What you didn't know was that you were the only one that Karl called beautiful. All of his other friends he called ‘pretty’, beautiful was just for you.

Karl started the movie and the opening seemed off. This wasn't the typical comedy that the director normally did, this was a horror movie. You shifted around in your seat.

“Are you alright?” Karl asked.

You nodded, “Yeah, I just assumed it would be a comedy.” It's not that you hated horror, you in fact enjoyed the storyline of most of them over any other category. It was the jump scares and suspense that you hated.

“Did you not watch the trailer? It was pretty obvious by the dark mysterious basement that it was a horror thriller.”

“No I didn't,” You admitted. “It's alright though. I'm sure the director made it one of the better movies.” “Oh my gosh,” Karl turned and made eye contact with you, “You’re scared aren't you?”

You almost forgot to reply by the eye contact. Karl had the best eyes that you’ve seen. They were so vibrant and you always got lost in them, no matter how hard you tried not to, “Pffft. Me? Scared? Nope, never. It's just a fictional movie that happens to have events that could very well happen tonight or at any point in someone’s life.”

“What the honk?” Karl asked. “You are scared! I can already see it in your eyes and movement that you're scared. Here,” He offered his hand, “Take my hand and you can squeeze it when you get scared.”

You gladly took his hand and refocused your attention back on the movie. It was off to an alright start. You could already tell who was going to die and what character would be your favorite. You didn't jump until a door loudly shut in the movie. You slightly yelped and squeezed Karl’s hand.

He laughed and squeezed back, “That made you scared? You’re in for a long movie.”

You shook your head, “It was a loud noise! How did you not jump?”

“I wasn't really paying attention I guess,” Karl admitted. “Your hand is just so soft and I was trying to think about what lotion you use.”

“Oh, I think I put some Bath and Body Works on them before I left. I took a shower and they got pretty dried out.” You were obviously very unaware of Karl trying to flirt with you. This became a regular thing. It was surprising how much Karl was into you. You accidentally rejected him almost every day, yet he never let up.

The movie progressed and got scarier with every scene. The plot really developed and you loved it. You were so caught up in the movie that you didn't even realize that you were laying down in Karl’s arms.

“Are you okay with this?” Karl whispered into your ear.

You didn't realize that he had his hand on your waist, resting on some exposed skin, you nodded back at him, “Yeah, of course.”

You saw Karl’s cheek turn to a dark red hue despite the darkness of the room. You smiled to yourself and leaned more into him, with the excuse, of course, that you thought there was going to be a jump scare.

Karl’s free hand danced his way around to meet yours, which he nonchalantly took. It was a perfect moment for the two of you, even though neither of you knew about your feelings for each other. This was your first time cuddling with him. You absolutely loved it. You loved the fact that you didn't even have to ask, it kinda just naturally happened.

The movie ended and you two stayed in the same position for a while. You talked about the movie which eventually led to telling stories. You let Karl do most of the talking, you enjoyed watching his eyes light up when he told you about his childhood. The only time Karl’s hand left yours was to either fix his hair, or give you head pats.

Both of you ran out of things to say and laid there in comfortable silence. Karl moved his hand up and rubbed your arm for a while, which made you pretty sleepy. You yawned and snuggled into Karl more than you already were.

You felt him lean down and kiss the top of your head, “Y-You know I really like you right?” He asked.

You nodded, “Yeah I would hope so, I’m here like almost every day.”

“No, I mean like- god this sounds childish but I like you, like you,” He confessed. “Like I invite you over all the time and want to hang out as much as I can because you bring me so much happiness and joy. Like, I’m falling really hard for you and I don't think that you picked up on it.”

You sat up in his arms and stared at him, “You’re joking right? Because you’re the only person that I’ve wanted to be with since I moved, but I didn’t think that I had a chance because you’re so sweet and kind, and you know all of these people so I just kind of ignored my feelings because I didn't want to lose what we already have.”

Karl cupped your cheek with his hand, “y/n, you’re the only one that's had a chance.”

[cobrakaisb]

modern day romeo and juliet part 2

read part one here!

a/n: here is the largely anticpated part two of the imagine! after getting numerous asks begging for a part two, i decided to finally publish it. sorry it took me so long besties but school and softball have been kicking my ass lately. love you all!!! 

summary: you and hawk are going strong but your friendship with sam and demetri has fallen apart, or has it. (also warning: reader gets a bloddy nose in this imagine if that bothers you in anyway don’t read)

word count: 1,711

“so are you and hawk like together now?” moon asked as the two of you walked to the cafeteria. “yeah,” you answered, a light blush coating your cheeks. “oh my gosh yes! i’m so happy for you!” she shouted, wrapping her arms around your shoulders, squeezing tightly. “thanks moon,” you replied half-heartedly. moon immediately picked up on your sad demeanor, “what's wrong?” “nothing,” you answered, giving her a fake smile. moon was going to call your bluff, but she was interrupted by hawk. “hey guys,” he greeted, pulling you into a tight hug. 

“hi hawk,” you replied, arms wrapped around his waist as he swayed you back and forth. “are you sitting with us at lunch?” he asked, looking at you. “yeah probably. your friends won’t mind right?” you asked. hawk immediately shook his head no, the two of you just staring at each other intensely. “you guys are so cute! i’ll see you later y/n,” moon announced, walking away from you and hawk. the two of you pulled apart, hands intertwined as he led you over to the cobra kai table. 

“anything from sam?” hawk asked quietly. you gently shook your head, causing hawk to frown. he placed a gentle kiss on your forehead, “she’ll come around,” he assured. “i hope so,” you mumbled as the two of you sat down at the cobra kai table. your sad mood was immediately lifted however when doug and big red started throwing napkins at you. 

“i can’t believe she’s actually sitting with him,” demetri said, appalled at the fact that you were sitting with hawk at lunch. “why wouldn’t she be sitting with hawk? they’re together now,” moon said, a happy smile on her face as she watched you laugh from your spot next to him at the cobra kai table. “i still can’t believe that. how could y/n even like someone like him?” sam asked, angrily stabbing at her lunch with a fork. moon’s eyes widened as she watched sam. “aren’t you happy for her?” moon asked, confusion clear in her voice. 

sam scoffed at moon’s words. “why would i be happy that she’s fraternizing with the enemy?” sam asked. “the enemy? do you even hear yourself?” moon asked sam, and even demetri looked surprised by sam’s words. sam was silent, shooting a sad look your way. “you regret it don’t you?” demetri accused sam, but she just remained silent, looking down at her lunch. “regret what? what did you guys do?” moon asked. 

“when we caught y/n and hawk kissing at your party a while back, we may have kicked her out of miyagi-do,” demetri mumbled, feeling ashamed by their actions. “are you kidding me!” moon yelled, causing some heads to turn, but she just shooed them off with a wave of her hand. “that’s why y/n has been so down lately? because you kicked her out of karate?” moon asked, while demetri and sam just nodded. “you guys are the worst,” she continued. “thanks for reminding us,” sam mumbled, sparing a glance at you. 

you were laughing at something that doug had said. “that’s too funny,” you mumbled between laughs. the boys just laughed at how funny you found doug’s joke, when in reality it wasn’t meant to be that funny. “i can’t believe that you’re in miyagi-do y/n. you’re nothing like those dorks,” doug said. you tensed up at his words, and hawk took immediate notice. he glared at doug, ready to tell him off, but you beat him to it. “i’m actually not in miyagi-do any more. they kicked me out,” you said sadly. the boys all looked around in embarrassment. “but it’s whatever because i have a boyfriend and all the children we adopted now,” you joked, holding up peace signs.

“what kids did we adopt?” hawk asked, confusion clear in his voice. “literally everyone here. they are all out children,” you explained, gesturing to the table full of boys. the boys all burst into laughter while hawk just wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side. you rest your head on his shoulder, placing a small kiss on his neck. “ew! imagine having to watch your parents do that!” doug shouted jokingly, throwing a fruit snack your way. everyone laughed at him, and soon lunch was over.        

--

“hawk! wait for me!” you shouted, walking out of the locker room dressed for gym class. hawk immediately stopped walking, waiting for you to catch up to him. “hi!” you said, giggling as he peppered small kisses all over your face. “hawk let’s go!” one of his friends yelled from up ahead. hawk grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers, as he pulled you towards the front of his squad. 

together the group of you walked onto the soccer field. of course the boys were being confident, walking with their heads held high. you just rolled your eyes at them and their cocky behavior. “alright let’s remember to keep the aggression to a minimum due to the school’s new policy,” the gym teacher shouted as she blew the whistle signaling the start of the soccer game. 

almost immediately, sam and the other miyagi-do students were blatantly going for the cobra kai boys. you noticed that doug was about to retaliate but hawk held him back, mumbling something, which clearly calmed him down. the game continued, and hawk scored a goal. you cheered loudly for him, and he just winked at you, causing you to blush. the game went on, and each dojo was getting progressively more aggressive. you were running down the field when someone called you name, causing you to turn around. the next thing you knew, the soccer ball was flying towards your face. you didn’t have anytime to cover your face, and so you got hit in the face with the ball. 

“what the fuck!”  you shouted, hands flying up to your nose which was now gushing blood. “y/n!” hawk called from across the field, running over to you. “baby let me see it,” he demanded, pulling your hands away from your face. he removed your hands, and tilted your head back to help stop the flow of blood. “who did this?” hawk asked loudly, glaring at everyone around him. when nobody answered he shouted even louder, “who did it?” this time sam stepped forwards. “it was an accident, i swear,” she rushed, looking nervously between you and hawk. 

hawk rolled his eyes at sam, his jaw and fists clenching. “yeah i’m sure it was,” he growled, taking a threatening step towards her. “hawk!” you shouted, but he ignored you. “i-” sam started but she was cut off by hawk. “what? kicking her out of karate wasn’t enough? i get it that you guys don’t like me, but just because we’re together doesn’t mean that you should punish her for it. especially since we’re happy. don’t come near her again!” he finished, and you couldn’t help but swoon. he’s defending my honor. that’s so hot, you thought.  

after his conversation with sam, hawk took you to the nurse’s office. she just gave you an ice pack and some paper towels, before sending you back to class. you and hawk were walking to your next class when sam and demetri approached the two of you. “i thought i told you to stay away from her,” hawk said, stepping forward but you stopped him by placing your hand on his chest. hawk huffed, but stayed quiet. it was silent between the four of you, all of you just staring at each other. “was there something you guys needed?” you asked. 

demetri cleared his throat. “yeah we were hoping to talk to you. preferably without your boyfriend,” he said and hawk tried to step forward but you stopped him once again. “yeah that’s fine. i’ll see you in class babe,” you answered, kissing hawk’s cheek before shooing him away. once he walked down the hall, and was far enough away from you, you looked towards demetri and sam. “what was it that you wanted to talk about?” you asked, crossing your arms. 

“we wanted to invite you back to miyagi-do. it was wrong of us to kick you out,” sam said, not making eye contact with you. you scoffed at her words. “why should i even come back? you guys made it pretty clear that you didn’t want me there,” you said. “that’s because you’re dating hawk of all people!” sam shouted at you, and you glared at her. “sam! we came to make amends not cause more problems!” demetri interjected, glaring at the larusso girl. 

“look y/n, i’m sorry, for everything. i know that you really like hawk, and that the two of you are happy together. and,” demetri started, taking a deep breath, “if you’re happy then i’m happy for you. i understand if you don’t want to come back to miyagi-do or even be our friend, but i just want you to know that i’m sorry for everything, nose included.” you smiled at demetri’s apology. “thanks demetri, that means a lot. i don’t think that i’ll come back to karate, but i’d love it if we could try and fix our friendship,” you said, looking at him. “yeah, i’d like that,” demetri answered, a big smile on his face. 

the two of you turned to face sam, who remained silent the whole time. “i’m sorry too y/n. i never should’ve kicked you out of miyagi-do for being with hawk, especially since you guys are great together. and i’m sorry for your nose. i’ve been such a bitch to you, and i understand if you don’t accept my apology, but i would like to be friends again,” sam apologized, looking at you shyly. you smiled softly at the girl, “i’d like that.” sam smiled back at you. you all knew that things were going to be different now, and this isn’t something that you were just going to forgive and forget, but you were all willing to make amends and that’s all that matters. 

you walked into your next class, taking your seat next to hawk, with a smile on your face. “everything okay?” he asked, looking you over. “everything’s perfect,” you answered, kissing him softly.  

[circus4apsycho8]

lemon drops. | i | ib ~ garry x reader

Summary: After a barista accidentally switches up your coffee order, you meet a stranger who doesn't...really seem like a stranger.

~ one ~

You wonder how long you’re destined to carry on like this.

A sigh escapes you as you trek down the stairs of your college’s science building, beginning to wish you had just waited for the elevator. Ugh, so many flights. At least it’s good for you, even though your burning calves screech otherwise.

You adjust the straps of your backpack, frowning as you continue your trek down. Okay, only one flight to go. Powering through the burning sensation in your limbs, you breathe a sigh of relief as you land on the ground floor, not hesitating to exit the building.

Finally, some fresh air! You inhale deeply, drawing yourself into the present as the cool fall air clears your mind. Time to start the walk home.

Step by step, the bustle of busy students fades away as you progress down the path. Your thoughts drift off as you continue. The quiet is soon filled with the hum of a busy town. Due to the overcast weather, it isn’t as busy as it normally is, thankfully. It provides much needed time to think.

The question from earlier comes back to haunt you: exactly how long is this going to continue?

Your frown bitterly as the source of your troubles comes into view: the old art gallery you had visited nearly a year ago. Every time you pass it, a foreign feeling envelopes your mind into a hazy static. It’s not something you can decipher, or have been able to. It sends chills down your spine - the day you visited that art gallery, something changed. You can’t remember what, but you know something is eerily off about that place. And yet, after all of this time, you still haven’t figured it out.

It takes you a minute to realize you’ve stopped in front of the gallery, silently staring at it as your mind does its best to decipher the meaningless fuzz drifting through your head.

What does it all mean? What happened? What am I missing?

Soon enough, though your thoughts gradually slide to a halt as your gaze shifts to a building across the street. Snapping yourself back into the present, you find that it’s a small coffee shop. Newly opened, it seems, but it looks promising. Something within your gut prompts you to enter, so you approach it.

As expected, its interior design is modern with a sleek touch, soft instrumental music highlighting a cozy atmosphere. The inviting scent of coffee drifts throughout the café, drawing you towards the counter so you may order something of your liking.

Once that’s done, you step towards the end of the counter, where you wait for your beverage to be completed.

As you wait, you hear the bell above the door jingle as someone new enters the shop. You decide to ignore the newcomer, electing to scroll through your phone instead. You really don’t want to talk to anyone at the moment; after all, you have enough on your mind as it is.

Soon enough, the barista hands you your drink. You thank her with a smile as you take it, going to take a sip when you realize something is off with your cup.

First, the drink is not the correct size! Secondly, its temperature is the opposite of what you requested. And finally, the name scribbled onto its side is not yours.

“Huh?” you mumble, going to examine the name.

gary

Yep, looks like your drink got switched with someone’s. Damn, that means socializing is in order to make things right.

A sigh escapes you as you look around for anyone else waiting for their order. You spot a man sitting down nearby, the most prominent feature about him being his mop of lavender-colored hair. How pretty! He too is focused on his phone, but you can make out dark, black eyes. Something about him simultaneously intrigues you and makes your head hurt.

He’s familiar...but why? I feel like I would’ve recognized the color of his hair had I previously met him...

You frown, shaking away your thoughts as you step up to him.

“Excuse me, sir?” you question, willing your voice not to shake. Why are you nervous? Why does your head hurt?

He glances up, immediately shutting his phone off and smiling at you. “Yes, miss?”

“Is this your name? I think they gave me the wrong drink.”

You show him the name on the cup, watching as he studies it with a narrowed gaze.

“It is,” he says, chuckling. “Albeit misspelled, that seems to be mine.”

“Misspelled?”

“G-A-R-R-Y is how it’s supposed to be spelled, but almost everyone botches it at first. No matter, I’m just glad to have my beverage.” He chuckles, the sound sending a shiver down your spine. How is he so familiar…?

You freeze as his eyes shift to yours. Something about his dark eyes...that gaze...it’s triggering something lurking within the deep recesses of your mind…

And yet you can’t quite put your finger on it.

A few heartbeats pass as you search for a reply. Thankfully, it comes for you in the name of the barista calling your name from the counter.

“Sorry, I just realized I gave you the wrong drink at first,” she apologizes, smiling.

“Oh, that’s all right. I gave it to the person who ordered it,” you say. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. Have a good day!”

“You too!” With that, you grin in victory as you cup your drink, turning back to Garry.

The lavender-haired boy catches your attention when a chuckle escapes his lips, his dark eyes studying you. For some reason, your heart skips a beat as your name falls out of his lips. A pang of nostalgia surges throughout you. What is happening?!

“Forgive me if I’m coming off in the negative, but I can’t help but think...you’re awfully familiar to me,” Garry says, nearly echoing your thoughts and easing your relief.

Okay. So you’re not going insane. Epic. “You know, I was actually thinking the same thing. I feel like we’ve met before.”

“Then we must have,” he comments, taking a sip of his drink.

“Yeah, but I just can’t put my finger on it,” you mumble, sighing.

“Well, I believe we can figure it out if we put our heads together.” He lifts the flap of his jacket, reaching inside to pull out a small notebook and pen. He tears a sheet of paper out before stowing the item back inside, leaving the pen in his grasp as he leans over to place the paper on the coffee table in front of him. After taking a moment to scribble something onto the scrap, he hands it to you. A smile threatens to appear on your lips as you see that it’s his number. His handwriting is neat, but unique. You decide that you like it as you set the paper away, in someplace safe.

“Thank you. I suppose I’ll see you around? I have to go pick my little sister up from school now, but I’ll try to text you soon.”

He nods. “I’ll be looking forward to hearing back from you.”

A/N: Reader is Ib's big sis :P I hope you enjoyed! Chapter two will hopefully be out soonish <3