#*noticed* that someone was spying on him (which none of the other people who were spied on did)

[heph]

05x05

Remember the episode where Wilson pretended he was doing drugs and dating a sex worker after he realised that House was spying on him 😐

[kasagia]

Dancing with the devil IV

Pairing: Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x fem! royal!reader Summary: Unknowingly, you fall into a trap from which it will be difficult to get out. The only solution seems to be to make a pact with the devil himself. A devil who seems all too happy to finally get his hands on you. Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen's Masterlist ~•♤♤♤•~Main Masterlist ~•♤♤♤•~ PART III ~•♤♤♤•~ PART V ~•♤♤♤•~

“It's a refreshing change. Don't you think, Y/N?” Your friend inquires as you sit on the windowsill, gazing out at the landscape of Kaitain.

You hum, nodding your head, keeping your watchful gaze on the ramp where the next ships are landing. A shiver runs through you as you recognise the familiar black Harkonnen orb. Whoever designed their ships must have worked hard to even make them look... disquieting. Y/F/N notices what you are staring at.

"Don't worry." You comfort her and hold her hand. "I won't let you marry that brute. There is no worse fate than being Harkonnen's wife."

"It's not that… just if it was someone else. Na-Baron, for example." You tense slightly at her mention of Feyd. Your eyes follow hers, and you notice her staring at him longingly as he walks out, surrounded by his soldiers. You feel bile rising in your throat.

"Na-Baron?" You ask stupidly, trying to ignore the sudden, unexpected feeling of jealousy. Which, of course, was a pure act of stupidity on your part. Because how could you be jealous of Harkonnen? And yet, you felt like gouging out your friend's eyes for staring at your Feyd for too long.

"He... isn't that bad at all. Despite what they say about him. He cared about me there - on Giedi Prime. In their crazy way... but thanks to him, the stay there wasn't so... terrible." You tense up and roll your eyes at her words.

As if there could be angels on Giedi Prime. As if HE could be something more than the cunning devil who breaks hearts, takes the souls and lives of innocent people. As if he could be something more than a bloodthirsty sadist raised by the most disgusting man who ever lived.

"Believe me, it's just a facade. The moment you let your guard down, he will show you his true colors. And this is a far cry from the image of his personality he painted in your head. He wants you to consider him your ally. This way, it will be easier for him to use you for his own benefits. Spying on his brother or something like that, I'm not sure yet. Maybe he's also looking for sexual release after his harpies are dead?"

"Y/N!"

"What? I'm just thinking out loud." You reply with a shrug. Your gaze remains focused on Na-Baron. Princess Irulan welcomes him and his brother rather reluctantly. She behaved quite similarly towards you. Except for her special coldness and malice reserved for you, to which you had become accustomed by now.

"You must know him very well to see through his intentions so quickly. I also remember that as children you were often in the company of him, Paul Atreides and Princess Irulan."

You flinch when Na-Baron's gaze suddenly turns to the palace. But you know it's impossible for him to recognise your silhouette among the palace's many windows... or at least you hoped so. Regardless, you decide not to tempt fate and walk away from the window, turning around to face your friend.

"That was a long time ago."

"But you must know him very well. Or at least the child he was."

"Trust me, he was never a child." You reply, pouring yourself a glass of wine. You don't want to tell her anything else.

You don't want to explain to her exactly when Feyd lost his childhood, when he stopped being your friend and the boy you played with, when you lost him, when the place of the charming boy from Lankiveil was taken by the bloodthirsty, psychopathic, brutal Na-Baron of Giedi Prime. Because only you knew the Prince of Lankiveil. And the memory of him will follow you to your grave.

Because you knew there was no salvation for him, that the boy you gave your heart to was dead, and his murderer was none other than the Baron. And all you have left of him is a shell. The one he gave you and the shell of who he once was were a living and painful reminder of what you lost because of the Baron and Princess Irulan. And because of your own fear.

"I'm bored." You tell Feyd as you sit next to each other in the feast hall.

Your parents, his brother, and his uncle are celebrating with the other great families the birth of the Emperor's (another) daughter, and you and the rest of the children are forced to attend the event until your maids take you away.

And this has been going on for you for ages.

"Act like a lady and don't whine." Feyd responds to you, rolling his eyes at you slightly. You punch his arm, causing him to gasp and look at you indignantly.

"Act like a child and don't talk to me like you're my mother."

"What do you want to do?" He sighs, shaking his head at you.

If he had to list his weaknesses, you would definitely be the first of them on his list. He was always waiting for the moment where he could free himself from Giedi Prime and his uncle's gaze to spend a few minutes with you. You gave him... a sense of freedom. With you, he didn't have to worry about how he acted—whether he was too soft or too lenient.

He could have just been a child for a while—a boy from Lankiveil he had almost forgotten about. A boy you seemed to like quite a lot. And he tried his hardest to show you that he was still able to find in himself nooks and crannies that weren't polluted by the Baron. Mentally and physically.

"To sleep. But I don't have my teddy bear and blanket." Feyd tries his best not to laugh, but he allows his mouth to open slightly, making sure to keep it closed.

He didn't want to scare you with his black teeth—an addition recently introduced on Baron's orders. Feyd couldn't quite get used to them yet. He remembered breaking all the mirrors in his chambers the first day he saw his new row of black teeth. Over time, however, he got used to them, like everything else on Giedi Prime.

"What?" You ask as he stares at you for a few too many seconds or minutes. Feyd clears his throat and manages to lower the corner of his mouth.

"Nothing. I may be not as soft as your precious teddy bear and blanket, but I can keep you warm. And my cloak is... possibly the coziest thing I have." He answers awkwardly, already taking off his coat. He wraps it around you without waiting for your response, remaining in his black military armor.

He knows that the next day he will have scrapes and bruises from too tight armor. He should have gotten a bigger one a long time ago, but the Baron seemed to insist that Feyd keep his old clothes for as long as he could.

"You allow me to nuzzle up to you?" You ask, surprised, as he wraps his arm around you.

Feyd didn't particularly like physical contact; sometimes he flinched when someone's skin touched his—a reaction he tried to hide. However, apart from you, there was one other person who also noticed it. And while Feyd should have hated the Atreides, he would remain forever grateful to Letto Atreides, who had invited him to spend the summer with his son, you, and Princess Irulan shortly after Rabban and he had moved to Giedi Prime. It was the best summer of his life since leaving Lankivieil. A moment of respite.

However, with you, sometimes he could afford to feel your body a little closer to him. Most of all, he WANTED to feel your body press against his. Which, over the years spent on Giedi Prime, was a very rare, even unheard of feeling for him.

"I allow you to rest on me and take a nap. My mother... my mother did this a lot with my father when she was pregnant and had to sit in on these meetings." Feyd says he has vague memories of his mother being pregnant with her third child and how his father acted towards her—before all hell broke loose on Lankiveil, when he could still be... normal.

"But I am not pregnant. And we are not married." You point it out maliciously, but your head is already falling onto his shoulder. You wrap your hand around his waist and snuggle into him. Feyd suppresses a blush as you unconsciously nuzzle his neck and inhale his scent. You were too innocent to know what it did, and he was too tainted for his body not to react to it. Despite everything, he controls himself and holds you, making sure you don't fall out of your chair.

"But you are tired, aren't you?" He hums against your ear, fully aware that you're about to drift off into his arms. And that he would rather kill himself than let anyone take you away from him.

"I am. And I also never miss a chance to hug you, my grumpy Na-Baron." He furrows his hairless eyebrows, unconsciously tracing patterns on your arm with his finger. He relaxes, seeing that his uncle has left the party. So did the young servant who served him. A shiver runs through him, but he ignores it. His focus is on you. On your slow breathing, on your smell, on your warmth, on how perfect you feel next to him, as if you were his missing half. And Feyd allows himself to believe for a moment that this may be the case—that you are truly written in the stars for him.

"I am not grumpy." He says, rolling his eyes at your taunt and completely ignoring Princess Irulan's glare from across the room.

"You are. Like those funny green creature from Paul's book. You know, the old one with weird pictures."

If Feyd could, he would forbid you from meeting Atreides. Unfortunately, your parents seemed to insist on this special closeness to this family. And you loved reading. Same as Paul. Feyd's only consolation was that when Atreides didn't have a book in his hand, he lost any interest in you. Unlike him. He had your attention, regardless of what he was doing or what he might be giving you at that moment.

"Sleep." He mumbles and presses a kiss to your tample.

"Don't tell me what to do. I am not your wife." You mumble, half asleep, but you give in to him anyway and fall asleep on him. You press your cheek against his shoulder, and he begins to worry that his hard armour might accidentally leave a scratch on your cheek. He gently lifts your head and places his hand under your cheek to make sure you don't feel any sharp, protruding metal decorations.

"You are not... but you will be." He promises, fully convinced that you're already asleep and don't hear his little promise. He tightens his hand around you and listens to your calm breathing and heartbeat, wishing that he could listen to this beautiful music every day. Not only during boring balls that you both hate.

You sigh, wiping the sweat from your forehead. Your maid gives you a horrified look as you lunge at the mannequin in the training room. Stabbing the puppet several times with your blade, taking out your frustration and energy on him.

When you feel the air moving behind you and the added presence, you don't hesitate. You turn around, your blade colliding with Feyd's, and glare at him in response to his cocky smirk.

"I see that old habits die hard. Why don't you accept a real challenge instead of taking out your anger at this motionless pile of threads?"

"Why don't you do it instead of tormenting Atreides' drugged soldiers? At least I don't get dirty while playing with my motionless pile. Not like you." You say, stepping away from him. You let the hand with your dagger fall as you walk over to the table for a drink of water. You freeze, feeling the cool tip of his steel against your throat.

"How many times have I told you not to turn your back on your opponent? Besides..." He steps closer, his chest pressing against your back as he leans in to whisper in your ear. "Did you have the same fun with my harpies? Didn't you want to get dirty, and that's why you chose poison to kill them? And you accuse me of being a bloodthirsty, jealous beast... I guess we're more alike than you want to admit, my little, beautiful, dangerous, jealous swan."

"I… I have no idea what you're talking about." You whisper, tensing in his arms. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that you're alone in the room. He must have gotten your maid out of there somehow. You suddenly feel very vulnerable.

"You do not have? And that's funny. So why did I find a poison in your things the day after they died and just before your departure?" You frown and push his hand with the blade away from you. You turn to look him in the eye, too surprised by his accusation to do anything but say the truth.

"I have no idea. Whatever happened to them, it wasn't me. You know very well that I wouldn't kill anyone." This clearly catches him off guard, and you feel offended that he could be so sure that you took someone's life just because they had the opportunity to fuck him. You roll your eyes at him in annoyance and raise your blade in challenge. You might as well exercise a little while he does his investigation.

"Well… after all, swans don't like getting their beautiful feathers dirty with blood… but who else could do it?" He responds, dodging and blocking all your attacks.

You work harder, jumping away from him and trying to break through his protective shield. You sigh as you manage to get the blade close to his skin, but no telltale shield appears around him. The son of a bitch didn't even put his shield on when fighting you. No one could piss you off and humiliate you at the same time more than him.

"I don't know. I don't care." You growl, pushing against him and trying to draw his black blood at all costs.

You manage to kick him in the stomach, but when he falls, he drags you with him. You land on top of him, but he quickly changes your positions and pins you to the floor beneath him, keeping your wrists in a tight grip as he presses his blade to your neck.

"Do you? Doesn't it make you jealous just thinking that someone could be madly in love with me enough to get rid of the women who give me pleasure? What if you're next on my secret, deadly admirer's little list?" He whispers in your ear, and you shiver as he bites his lobe. He throws his blade aside, his other hand lazily exploring your body, abusing your breast as he squeezes it tightly and digs his fingers into it.

"We have no connections." You moan as his lips move to your jawline. He sucks gently, leaving no trace except a trail of his black saliva as it moves to your exposed neck.

"Not in public. But in the quiet of the night, in your gardens, of my corridors, of the halls of this palace—all these places remember many of our connections."

Unfortunately, he is just as stubborn, maybe even more stubborn than you, and he will do anything to prove that he is right. You gasp, biting your lip, as his hand goes under the fabric of your pants. Your traitorous pussy welcomes his fingers like a permanent resident. You tighten around him, and he chuckles lightly, feeling you already wet. You dig your knee into his stomach, trying to fight back, but he just positions himself between your legs, casually pushing your leg away as if it were just an intrusive, insignificant obstacle to getting what he wants.

"And yet you run from one man to another… but it's my fingers that fill you while you wait for someone to put a ring on your pretty feathers, my little swan." He mumbles against your neck.

You shiver as he pushes his fingers deeper into you, his cold metal Na-Baron signet teasing your warm, wet walls, only making you clench tighter around him.

His hips grind against you madly, his hard length pressing into your thigh as you moan softly, trying miserably to keep from making any grinding sound when all you want to do is feel him deep inside you, splitting you open for him.

"And you… you're pathetic for always looking for me and coming back." You respond, feeling your pleasure building within you. You grind away from him, angling his fingers just right, deciding that since you were already in this position, you might as well show him that you were using him and not him using you. After all, you were always the one who came, not him.

"I am." Surprisingly, he nods, caressing your clit with his thumb as the rest of his fingers penetrate you mercilessly. "And you come pathetically beautiful with my name on your swollen lips. We are both humiliating each other. And we both love it." And that's exactly when he pushes you over the edge. You lift up and connect your lips in a kiss to stop yourself from screaming his name, knowing full well that the guards are outside and could… really guess what happened between you behind closed doors.

You admit to yourself that you loved his plush, soft, full lips on yours, the way he caressed yours, the way his tongue slipped in unnoticed, you loved kissing him. His kisses made you more addicted to him than the orgasms he gave you. That's why you made sure you had them very rarely. Because no one else's mouth has ever given you as much pleasure as his.

In the frenzy of the kiss, he releases your wrist and cups his hand around your cheek. You sigh, biting his lower lip. This is the only warning you give him before you plunge your dagger into his back.

He screams as your blade pierces his skin. Your fingertips are sticky with his thick, black blood, but you don't care. You look him straight in the eyes and rip the dagger from his body, giving him another wave of pain.

"How many times have I told you to never let your guard down?" You ask, using the exact same tone he used as soon as he held the knife to your neck.

You push him away from you and stand up, straightening your clothes a little. He laughs hoarsely and shakes his head in disbelief, still looking at you and ignoring the burning pain in his back. He had wounds worse than a swan's bite.

He comes to you on his knees and takes your fingers into his mouth, sucking his black blood from them and never taking his eyes off you. You dig your fingers into the skin of his pale scalp and tilt his head back, breathing quickly as you melt into the gaze of his cold, oceanic irises and dilated pupils. You can't fucking believe he got so turned on by your stabbing. And that you, too, felt hot again.

"You are sick." You whisper as he lets your fingers pull out with a loud pop. His now gray saliva had replaced his black blood.

"Just like you."

Before you can deny it, the door to the training room creaks loudly. You pull Feyd up, forcing him to stand up, and you wipe his saliva off your fingers on your shirt.

"Michael. You always know when to come. Na-Baron and I were training and unfortunately he got injured."

"Yhm... very unfortunately." Feyd mumbles sarcastically. When you go to Michael, you step on Feyd's foot. You pretend it never happened and join the man's side. He smiles at you, his two-toned eyes hypnotising you for a moment, and a huge smile appears on your lips. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Feyd frowning. There is no better feeling than rubbing salt into someone's wound.

"Always here for you, my love." He says and places a kiss on your forehead. "You should go to the healers, Na-Baron. We wouldn't want such a small wound to do a serious harm to your health. After all, soon we will be celebrating... important events." Michael says this and wraps his arms around my waist, pressing me against him.

"Of course." Feyd growls and nods. He walks away, leaving the two of us alone in the training room, and closes the door loudly behind him.

"He insisted that I train with him. Believe me, I would never…"

"When you will be my wife I won't allow you to do such things." He interrupts your attempt to explain himself and takes your dagger, which is covered in Feyd's blood, from you. He throws it into a box of various weapons and turns back to you.

"Excuse me?" You ask, both surprised and annoyed by his condescending behavior.

"No worry, sweetheart. You are still learning." You feel like he slapped you. He treats you so condescendingly, as if you meant absolutely nothing, as if your opinion was not important to him at all. This sudden change surprises you and makes you even more nervous. However, you cannot understand the reason for his sudden rude behavior. Was it jealousy?

"You know usually women after such a... blunt statment doesn't marry the man who said it."

"Oh, you think you will have a choice?" He asks mockingly and plays with your hair, fixing your hairstyle to his liking. You push his hands away from you and glare at him furiously.

"Won't I?" You ask defiantly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"After my people attack your home planet? I don't think so."

"I beg you pardon?" You ask, completely shocked. He lazily, casually reaches for your chin and lifts it to look at you closely.

Your brain races like crazy, trying to ignore the fatigue in your muscles from fighting the Na-Baron as you wonder if he's just joking with you or if he really means what he said. A shiver passes through you when his fingertip brushes against your cheek.

"I told you. I want to achieve something. To prove myself in the eyes of the emperor. As we speak, my troops are boarding the ships on my home planet. Tomorrow morning, your father will receive notice of the start of war with my country. And you, darling, you will be a beautiful spoil of war. The proof of my greatness."

"You... all those meetings with me on my home planet... you didn't want to marry me; you wanted to explore and review our fortifications and the training of our soldiers. Test the ground before sending your men on my land."

"Your father's lands. You may be smart, honey, but you're only a woman. All you have is a title and a royal pussy. Although your mind and beauty are a dangerous combination. Maybe I should make you my wife instead of a concubine?"

"You… you can't… you won't." You shake your head, trying to deny what he just said. He couldn't just take everything from you, your whole life.

You try to control your emotions and not give him the satisfaction of completely destroying your world. He makes you feel so guilty; after all, you were actually the one who let him onto your planet and showed him around all the places he wanted. How could you be so stupid and naive? How could you not sense that he was more interested in your military and the weak points of your planet than in you?

"Oh, honey... don't insult your own intelligence now. You know very well that I can. You have nothing. No allies, no strong friend. I am your only serious admirer since Atreides. You're lucky I'm a gentleman. I will not touch you until your land, crown, and title are officially mine. And I will give you a good future. You could always end up in a brothel. Don't be a brat and appreciate it, my beautiful war booty."

His touch burns you in an unpleasant way. You want to bite off his hand, but you need to get more information from him to prepare some kind of action plan. You need to lower his guard just as he lowered yours.

"Why are you doing this? If you had married me, you would have had it anyway. Without any war."

"I told you. I want to prove my worth. To achieve something. In small steps. First, I will conquer one planet, then another. You have the honour of being my first conquest. And who knows? Maybe you'll even become empress by my side. Now smile nicely, darling. Your depressed face is ruining my mood."

So you smile. You put on a good face for a bad game and try to control your anger and despair. Because what can you do with them now? Nothing at all. You needed a different approach. Better. Smarter. You couldn't just give up your future without a fight; let him take over your country and do what he wanted to you. If you were going to be someone's property, wife, trophy, or whatever, you wanted to decide who it would be.

Michael was wrong. You had one secret ally who was much stronger than him. But you know very well that asking him for help will cost you a lot. Unfortunately, you were not in a good situation. You were in a hopeless position. So it required you to take desperate, risky, and embarrassing measures. This required making a pact with the devil himself.

" I need to talk with you." You say this as soon as the door opens for you, before you change your mind and run away. You tug at the sleeve of your silk robe and stare pleadingly into the ocean irises before you.

"At this time? What do I owe this pleasure to?" He mocks you, crossing his arms over his bare chest. You swallow, looking away from his muscles and back into his eyes.

"Feyd. Please." You say this seriously, looking around to make sure no one sees you at his door. He tenses a little, hearing the desperation in your voice. Wordlessly, he moves to the side, allowing you to step inside.

He closes the door behind you, and you shudder as you realise there's no going back. You close your eyes, taking a few deep breaths and trying to calm down. Feyd furrows his hairless eyebrows at your condition. He walks over to you and tentatively places a hand on your shoulder, not used to comforting... anyone. Not since the two of you were kids.

"Y/N. What happened?"

"I need your help." You reply and move away from him. Feyd sees you trying your hardest to control your emotions. The same way that even though he's happy about your late-night visit and the sight of you in that skimpy robe, you look terrified and disgusted that you have to be here.

"Y/N..."

"Michael wants to attack my home planet and dethrone my father. In the process, make me his whore or wife. He's not sure yet." You interrupt him and blurt it out before he says anything else.

This stuns Feyd for a moment as he takes in this new information. He would have smiled at the mockery and anger in your voice if his blood hadn't boiled at the thought that you could belong to anyone other than him. That anyone else would have the right to touch you like he did and has long dreamed of doing even more.

"Your duke that you've been parading around with and admiring for the last few months? The same one you hug and cling to at every recent party?"

"Yes."

"The one you gave the right to hold you and kiss you?"

"Yes."

"The one..."

"YES! This one!" You interrupt him, annoyed and embarrassed. You sigh, rubbing your eyes, and realise that screaming at him and venting your anger isn't the best idea right now if you want to ask for his favour. "Please, help me."

"And what I can do? You chose your fiancé. Or a lover. Whatever. What do you want me to do? Fight with him for your hand? And then get rejected by you? Thrown away when you don't need me anymore?" He mocks you, turning his back on you. He pours himself a glass of wine and sips it leisurely, making no move to turn towards you.

"Feyd. Please. I beg you. I... my people can't die just because of the whim of some man." You say, your voice cracking. Your throat burns from the dryness, and tears suddenly appear in your eyes. This is a very strange phenomenon considering that you have been crying for the last three hours in your chambers.

Your sniffling makes Feyd involuntarily turn back to you. This is a bad move. His heart clenches uncomfortably at the sight of your watery eyes and red nose. He wants to take you in his arms, run his hand through your hair tenderly, and sink into your touch.

"You know very well, little swan, that this is how most wars start. By the whim of one man." Feyd says, crossing his arms over his chest to somehow keep from touching you, from taking you in his arms and burying his face in your hair, whispering comforting words in your ear. He had to play this... unique opportunity well. If he won't have you willingly, he might as well have you by trick.

"I will do everything." He does everything not to smile, not to immediately make his demands. He has been waiting so long to have you that a few minutes more won't do a big difference to him.

"So get ready for the husband of your own choosing." He says icily, acting unfazed, as if the mere thought of someone else having you didn't make him want to murder every man who ever had the chance to touch you.

As if he didn't dream at night of having you by his side, of arguing with you every day, of having you with him forever on Giedi Prime, sitting on the throne next to him and being as terrifying as he is.

"Feyd..." You mumble and walk over to him. Feyd tenses, controlling all his muscles, stopping them from making the slightest movement towards you.

He watches your every move carefully as you approach him. The air between you is thick and full of tension. He swallows when you come within his reach and tries his best not to even touch you with his fingertip. However, all his control is put to the test when you stand directly in front of him and lean towards him.

Feyd clenches his fists tightly, so tightly that he feels the blood slowly seeping from where his nails dig into his abalaster skin. The familiar scent of you and your favourite perfume reaches his nostrils, and Feyd does the stupidest thing he can do at that moment. He closes his eyes and inhales deeply into your sweet, seductive scent.

"You can have me. Right now. Wherever you want. However you want. Wouldn't you like to? All you have to do is order some troops to my home planet and scare off Michael's army." You whisper into his ear, brushing your lips against his lobe. Feyd holds his breath as your lips trace his jawline and up to his neck, where you begin to kiss and suck his skin.

Feyd stands frozen, unable to move, allowing you to do whatever you want with him. He sighs as your two long, delicate hands slip under his black robe and caress his chest. His heart is racing as you play with his nipples, pinching them and twisting them in your fingers as you work tirelessly to leave as many marks on his neck as possible. He grunts, trying to stifle a groan as he feels his manhood respond to your caresses and begin to harden painfully.

He reaches for your hips and pulls you closer to him, and Feyd would probably give in to his desires if he didn't feel you tense up under his touch. He sighs and musters all his willpower to grab your arms and pull you away from him.

"You can't just... kiss me, come into my chambers dressed like that at this hour, and demand such things from me when all you show me is hatred and loathing. Don't act like a whore. I won't fall for it. I… not when I know you don't mean anything that you are doing right now." He says this without meeting your eyes, somehow unable to see your reaction. He lets go of you, as if touching you hurts him, and walks to the other side of his chamber, escaping to the balcony.

A cold breeze hits his skin. He sighs, gripping the railings tightly and holding on to them with all his might, as if crushing the marble in his hands would bring his full self-control back.

It doesn't take a minute for your scent to hit his nostrils again.

"And how I should act?! What do you think I can do?!" You shout after him, walking towards him. Feyd tenses, sensing your presence behind him, but makes no move to turn towards you. You sigh in defeat, and Feyd thinks you've given up when suddenly he hears your shaky voice and your pure panic as you try to convince him to help you one last time. "My people will die tomorrow morning, I… I'm begging you. Please, I will do anything, Feyd. Whatever you want."

"Then marry me." He replies, his back still turned to you as he stares into the distance at the Kaitain hills in front of him.

Even though he can't see your face, he can clearly hear the gasp of shock you let out. He imagines your beautiful, full lips falling open, your eyes widening, and you holding your breath as you process his words. He knew that this was the only way for now to ensure his right to you—to make a claim. He had too little time to try to change your opinion of him.

When you're finally "safely his", then Feyd can try to fight for your affections and prove that he is not the monster you think he is. For now, your anger will have to be enough for him. But he would eventually melt it. You loved him once; when you were kids, he might try to make you feel this way about him again.

"What?" You ask, shocked. Feyd slowly turns towards you, and this time he takes a step closer to you, making you both breathe the same air again.

"You have two options. You can agree to... your Michael's terms, marry him and be his property for the rest of your life... or you will marry me and I will protect you, your parents and your people from anyone's invasion." He replies calmly and unfazed, keeping his hands behind his back.

"And be yours property for the rest of my life?" You ask mockingly, almost furiously, with that gleam of mischief in your eyes that Feyd loved so much. This was his little swan. Finally.

It might have been nice to have your mouth and hands on him, but in your case, he didn't want forced submission. He wanted just that blazing fire that captivated him, where he could burn himself if he made one wrong move. He wanted it all... even if he had to gently steer you down the right path—down the altar to him and only him.

"Don't pretend to be so disgusted. We both know how you love some... aspects of being my property. A moment ago you were begging me, saying you would do whatever I wanted. Marry me then. What would you say?"

"I... you know I have no other optiom... neither time to assure I will have any other option. But we also know that I don't trust you and never will." He nods, knowing full well that trust will be the last thing he gets from you. But if Feyd valued anything in life, it was his honor.

"You have my word. I will protect your people as mine. Even better. My uncle or brother or I will never order to attack your home planet. You would became one of our closest ally and thus ensure your country the safety against anyone's invasion. It's a win win situation."

"And how you will win?"

"I will get you." He replies with a shrug, as if it were an obvious reward.

He sees the gears in your head turning as you silently consider all the consequences and benefits of marrying him. He knew clearly that this wasn't what you wanted, that your search for a husband was supposed to be completely different, that he was probably the last man you wanted as a husband, from whom you wanted a nice ring, whose planet you wanted to move to, but Feyd had been waiting for you for so long; he did so much to have you that the circumstances of your marriage didn't really matter to him anymore.

"You will get bored of me. You can't love or trust, not trully or neither can be loved or trusted by anyone else. You know that what's going on between us won't be sexy anymore when it will be no longer forbidden." Your words somehow hurt him more than the worst wound he received. He grunts, clenching his fists behind him, waiting for the unexpected, unpleasant lump in his throat to subside so he can somehow respond to your blasphemous words.

"That's how you see your future husband?" He finally asks, glad that he managed to keep his voice from shaking.

"I didn't say yes to anything yet."

"But we both know you will. You have tied hands. And we both know that you can't dance with them for a long, before you fall." His comment makes you even more furious. Feyd does his best not to smirk at your flushed cheeks and pursed lips. Oh, how he wanted to kiss those lips so much…

"Yes... but you can put chains on them instead of ropes and I will be even worse tied." You respond calmly, carefully analysing his words, looking for a trap—a hidden intention behind his actions beyond his obvious desire to marry you.

"I guess you have to take a risk." He replies calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm. Such a convinient situation for you." You mutter, crossing your arms. His eyes automatically fall on the valley of your breasts, but he quickly tries to return his attention to your eyes. If everything goes his way, he'll soon be able to caress every inch of your body he wants.

"Very much. I got to call you my wife and all I have to do is to scare away some lord's family who shouldn't even touch you in the first place."

"I decide who touch me." You say, angry that he hasn't even put a ring on your finger yet, and he's already forbidding you from doing something.

"Not for long I guess."

He sees you biting your lip in anger. You take a step towards him, and Feyd thinks you're going to slap him, but you do something completely different. You cup his cheek in your hand and lean in to whisper in his ear:

"I hate you so much. With whole my heart. If you think this will somehow change my opinion of you, you are wrong. I feel exactly the same about you, and maybe even worse things than what I told you on Giedi Prime. You are the baron's spoiled nephew who only has to snap his fingers to get something. I hate you and I will hate you forever, no matter what you do, no matter how well you fuck me, how good or bad of a husband you are, my feelings towards you will remain the same as they are now." And with that, you press your lips to his, sealing your promise with a sudden, unexpected kiss.

Feyd moans into your mouth, feeling himself start to get hard again, which should be absurd in this situation, but he remembers times when he was aroused by… worse things.

"Is that a yes?" He asks, swallowing thickly as your lips leave his—too quickly for Feyd to enjoy the taste and softness of them.

"What the fuck do you think I can do in this situation?" You growl at him angrily, at which he smiles, unable to stop himself, showing you his row of black teeth. Surprisingly, you don't tremble in fear or disgust.

"I want to hear it."

"And I want a decent proposal." You reply in return, forever trying to argue with him.

You're surprised when he walks past you and goes back to his room. You stand alone on the balcony for a moment, taking a shaky breath and staring at the stars in the sky, wondering how the hell you ended up in this situation. Just a week ago, the idea of marrying Feyd would have seemed completely absurd to you.

You freeze in shock when he comes back with a small black box and actually kneels down in front of you.

"Y/N Y/L/N. The darkness of my life, the bane of my existence, the ghostly apparition that haunts my dreams, the heartless witch, the murderous siren, the deceptive nymph leading me to my death, will you do me an honour of beeing my wife and let me fuck our heirs into you?"

You would have smiled at this if his icy blue eyes weren't piercing through yours and carefully analysing your every little reaction. You don't even look at the ring he's offering you—a ring he clearly must be wearing somewhere close to himself. Your heart is racing, despite the fact that this isn't exactly the proposal you wanted. Despite everything, it is... in a strange and twisted way, a nice feeling.

"You could try better." You finally reply in a hoarse voice, suddenly aware of how dry your throat is.

"I am waiting for an answer." He growls, really waiting for your response.

If it weren't for the nature of the whole situation, you'd actually think it was cute. The way the most dangerous man in the world kneels before you, asking for your hand. You sigh, mentally preparing yourself before signing a pact with the devil.

"With great disgust and reluctance: yes."

"Yes what?"

"Haven't you already had your fun?" You ask, frowning furiously. He bites his tongue to keep from giggling, absolutely loving to tease you.

"I didn't even start, my little swan." You roll your eyes at him and look at him expectantly, sticking out your hand. But he makes no move to put the ring on it. You decide not to fight him on this one matter.

"Yes. I will marry you, Feyd-Rautha."

You can see from his face that he is remembering these words and that he is taking a mental picture of this moment. He takes the ring out of the box and, with unusual gentleness for him, takes your hand in his and slides the metal onto your finger.

The ring is nice. Made of white gold, its eyelet is a black onyx stone, which is held by engraved flowers on a metal ring. It was… astonishingly beautiful and thoughtful. And not as big as you assumed it would be. Y/F/N got a ring with a gemstone on half of her finger. You're surprised Feyd didn't give you something similar.

"There. Was that so hard?"

It's a tricky question. Because, as much as that ring weighed on your finger, you couldn't admit that you hated the whole idea of marrying him with all your heart. After all, you could do worse than him... right?

Taglist for Feyd: @avidreader73

Taglist for DWTD: @iloved1lfs0 @heartarianagran @hueanhdang @barnes70stark @forgedfromthestars

[kugimeloon]

lovesick!megumi x fem reader

Megumi was never into romantic stuff, he thought it was a distraction to his studies and a waste of time, No one really got close to him other than his best friends Yuji and Nobara which were the quite opposite of him (literally) 

Some may say he was cold, lifeless, and some might even go as far to say he has no heart, but none of these rumors are true. In fact when he gets close to someone he is the clingest baby ever, Just like a bat only being comfortable when the sun has set. 

A new school year was starting and Megumi thought that he wouldn't get close to anyone just like these past few years, but oh how wrong the urchin head is. Being intelligent meant him being in an advanced class, separated from his friends so he barely had time to see the two troublemakers. 

First day of school, he still had his old teachers from last year, same faces from last year blah blah blah.. But then oh you caught his eye. A new student, But you were different from the others..probably because he taught how beautiful you were, and how you were making his tummy roll..?? of course megumi being megumi, he brushed it off thinking he ate something weird, 

The school year goes by he notices how you smart you were and how you have a kind heart, Always helping people whenever you have the chance to do so, and not to mention you act kind to stray animals as well! He always saw you after class feeding stray cats and dogs.. Oh how that was making his heart swell…in a good way of course! But again megumi brushed off the feeling,

As the school years pass by he gets drawn more to you, he wants to know more about this feeling despite what his mind says. His heart says he wants to get close to you. He knew he couldn't keep this feeling to himself any longer and asked his friends for his advice, of course they were happy that their “heartless friend” has finally gotten himself a c̶r̶u̶s̶h̶  person who he's highly interested in and would like to know better. 

When the day finally came about him talking to you his friends of course had to spy on the two of you mouthing the words “go fushiguro!” and secretly taking pictures of the two of you interacting. 

The day he finally came to talk to you was his happiness day, Without his act in that day he wouldn't have become this close to you from small interactions, going home together to finally spending weekends together 

As you and megumi become closer to each other he gets drawn by your laughter and smile. He never thought someone could shine so brightly as the sun. 

He never thought he’d be consulting his father about this little attraction of his to a person. His father was very shocked but still gave him the best advice even though some were sarcastic. 

“My my, my son has grown up” satoru said with a grin knowing he’d tease his son about this for as long he can “Just ask her to be her boyfri-” Satoru continues but megumi shuts him up the second he said that last word with a slightly red face knowing he can't do directly do that.

“Aww, poor guys flustered now, is he?” satoru said with a smirk full remark, “But you should man up before some other guy steals her from you ya know” satoru continued, Oh how that hurt the poor orchin head and how it motivated him to confess his feelings for you 

.

.

.

Megumi then talked to you about meeting up a park in shibuya, you never mentioned this park to him but he somehow knew you liked it from hearing you talk with your friends, 

Oh how megumi was so nervous the morning the afternoon he was preparing for your “hangout” which satoru called it a date but megumi shook his head in disapprovement, 

Late afternoon arrives and his heart cannot take it on how adorable you were, even if you were just wearing a simple outfit it was too adorable for his fragile heart to take in

“You look..nice..” Megumi complimented though he taught more than just nice 

“Thank you gumi!!” you said happily, no matter how many times you call him that he’ll never stop getting flustered about the small nickname,

 After you say that nickname it always follows with megumi saying “stop calling me that..” followed with a deep red face, some might even say he's sick everytime you say that! It just shows how much the small nickname affects him but he didnt say anything today. He just smiled..? You didnt know if you were imagining things but megumi smiled for a brief second. 

While strolling down the park the air got a bit humid and you got a little craving for ice cream

when you asked megumi about getting ice cream, he simply said “No.” he despises sweet stuff, let alone ice cream. But he just couldn't resist your puppy eyes and your plea which made him say yes, You both decided to buy ice cream with megumi having a simple vanilla flavor and you got your favorite flavor! 

While eating, you bought decided to sit down at a bench for a while since your feet were hurting a bit, Your hair was kind of getting in your face so he tucked of a strand of your hair to your ear to not get disturbed, Megumi didnt even notice he did that action until you faced him with a kind of red face, he quickly turned away, with him now being the blushing mess. 

After you finished your ice cream megumi decides to ask you the thing he’d been waiting for all this time.. 

“H-hey..D-do you have a boyfriend..?” Megumi asks getting straight to the point still being a blushing mess.

“Haah? Noo why do you ask?” You reply to him with curiosity 

“I..wanted to ask if….” Megumi stops hesitating for a second if he should really confess right there and now, 

“If..?” you continued his words still wondering what he really wanted to tell you. 

Oh how megumi was thinking if he should continue his words, but he already started, he has to end what he started.

“If i could be your b..boyfriend” He says as quickly as he could, good thing is you could understand what he said even if the word was in a millisecond. But you just couldn't say anything in shock of his proposal of his love to you. The girl he had loved for months now, the girl that was the only one who could make his heart beat so fast that it could reach his ears, the girl who made him the happiest he has been.

He continues with his confession “You were my light ever since you entered my life, i always thought no one could ever teach me how to love…but then you came in..i love you so..much..i cant even explain it..” Megumi proposes to you with his face being velvet red. 

You simply smiled and said “Yes you can gumi, You can be my boyfriend” You said with a bright smile 

Ever since that day megumi was showered with love and care and he thanks his father for manning him up 

[sexhaver]

me n bailey marathoned the first season of this show over the last few days. some thoughts:

Alan Cumming, specifically his accent and wardrobe, are by far the highlights of this show. i sincerely hope someone has made an edit compiling all of his outfits without any of the actual gameplay, because he is consistently serving cunt

like just look at this

that being said i did keep seeing him as Fegan Floop from Spy Kids

oh right there's an actual game/competition component to this

im just gonna get this out of the way: the entire premise of the show is fundamentally flawed. they keep trying to make it sound like the three Traitors in the group are "backstabbing" and "working against" the Faithful (non-Traitors), but, like, everyone on the show (Traitor or Faithful) is competing for the exact same prize pool. it's not like The Mole (or any other social deduction game), where the secret evil team actually has different goals diametrically opposed to those of the good team and has to complete them without having anyone notice. here, the evil team just... votes on someone to "murder" every night. that's it.

to emphasize this point: the literal only thing that can ever give you away as a Traitor is being bad at lying/concealing guilt. there are ZERO gameplay differences between the goals of a Traitor and the goals of a Faithful, which means the arguments over who to vote for banishing are based entirely on "gut feelings"

nobody on the show has ever played a social deduction game before. late into the season, there's a day where all 3 Traitors are alive and it's down to 6 people total (so 3v3). anyone who has played Mafia/Werewolf/ToS/etc knows what this means: barring bullshit last-minute rules from the producers, it is quite literally impossible for the Traitors to lose, because none of them can be voted up. it takes 4 out of 6 votes to exile someone, and there are only 3 Faithful left. if no Traitor votes for another Traitor, then it is, again, literally impossible for a Traitor to be exiled. furthermore, if they all coordinate their votes on one Faithful, all they have to do is convince one of the remaining two Faithfuls to vote with them, and they instantly win $180k (split three ways). and hey, wouldn't you know it, one of the Faithfuls (Kate) was already really suspicious, and another one of the Faithfuls (Quentin) said out loud multiple times that he was voting for her!

so what do you think the Traitors did?

god this part pissed me off so much im having to pause for breathe while typing this. okay. so.

two of the Traitors voted for the third Traitor, who got voted off.

after being voted off, youre supposed to walk up to the Circle of Truth and reveal if you were a Traitor or not. the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was entirely too nice and gracious about it. me n bailey discussed this and came to the conclusion that we would either a) out the other Traitors on the stand and explain, using game theory and math, exactly how fucking stupid they are, completely ruining the game for them, or b) pretend to cry a little while walking up to the Circle of Truth but as soon as you walk behind the first other Traitor's chair you flip it over backwards and elbow drop their nose into their face while screaming "YOU STOLE $60K FROM ME YOU SON OF A BITCH"

also the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was very clearly autistic and Every Single Reason the other traitors gave for not liking him was like straight out of the DSM V diagnostic criteria ("he talks too loud and laughs weird", "he's got way too much energy all the time", "his emotional responses don't make sense")

apparently there's a season 2 but i cannot bring myself to watch it after seeing Christian thrown to the lions (ayyy Sunday school reference)

also at one point a Faithful has to leave because of COVID (this was filmed in 2020) so the producers don't let the Traitors murder anyone that night for balance reasons, but to compensate, they tell them they can like. write down three names that will be publicly revealed to everyone the next morning, and then one of those people dies the next night. so obviously this is mostly a nerf for the Traitors because they miss a night of killing someone, but the intention was clearly to give the Traitors an opportunity to sow confusion by putting one or two of their OWN names onto the list to make them seem like Faithfuls. and they even had an extra objective during that day's game where one of the three people could earn a "shield" to protect them that night, so if a Traitor was on the list, they could basically "steal" the shield from the other 2 (since they obviously weren't getting killed no matter what). but i think the Traitors heard "write down three names" and "kill" and had all the blood rush to their respective dicks because they just wrote three Faithfuls lmao. deeply unserious show

[danieyells]

I have a memory span of a goldfish so I probably forget if someone has written about something related to this topic or not... but excluding Taiga who directly mentioned the topic to us, why does it seem that only Tohma and Alan are the only ones shown so far to know/talk about the existence of the spy and actively searching for them? I can only theorize that they were only being made aware of the spy's existence because something happened in Vagastrom that was caused by an unknown party and it probably directly/indirectly worsen the situation during The Clash... but it still made me curious why they were never seen communicating with ghouls from other houses about the spy even in subtle/discreet manner (either because they don't want to alert the spy or still aren't sure where the spy came from...?) and why none of the other ghouls seem to notice the oddity/draw their own conclusion and do their own investigation? (unless it is just... never being shown yet to us on-screen so we're left to believe that only Tohma and Alan and Taiga are the ones who know about the spy hjhdjdjdjdjdjfkl)

There's also this question about what makes Tohma and Alan trust each other/believe that neither of them are the spy himself... but I'm not ready to (over)think about this question so I will just believe that being a Vagastrom and (probably) forging their friendship through fistfights has created unbreakable bonds between them that can't easily be destroyed by mere existence of an unknown enemy 💪

So far we haven't seen anybody else talking about the spy, no! To be fair we haven't really found out who they would be spying for. . .they're trying to defame the ghouls as a whole but they're one of the ghouls themselves. . .to be fair we've only seen so many conversations between the ghouls without the PC present--and most of them seem concerned about their personal lives and missions more than any sort of greater plans.

It makes sense for Tohma--he has big plans that involve changing the Institute. Of course he's aware of the spy. And Alan is someone he probably trusts more than anyone. Alan is blunt and honest and straightforward--he couldn't run an operation intended to damage the reputations of the ghouls or be a spy or anything, he's just not built for it as a person--which also means he's vulnerable, I think. So he needs him to be aware for his own safety. And like you said, for characters like them I think a bond forged with bare fists is a bond that can't be broken lmao. He can trust Alan not to talk, even if he can't trust him not to let on that he knows something. But also Alan's reputation is already a mess. The likelihood that the spy would get too close to him feels slim to none to me. Just. Too big and obvious of a guy overall.

Taiga has his possibly stigma related Awareness--so if he just. . .knows, that also makes sense. He even says "do you wanna know who it is or keep letting them fool you" which tells me that he already knows and he's just not telling. He doesn't have to look for the spy, he's waiting to see what happens. He's looking out for himself and Romeo. Maybe the pc and Ritsu now too.

Also I feel like Tohma's interactions with Haku and Rui are supposed to be implicit of the spy situation, especially when Leo says someone(most likely Alan and Tohma?) are meeting near the "gross forest"(Obscuary, probably.) and there's Rui who can obscure himself in the shadows and admits to keeping an eye on people. . . .

But I assume that Tohma doesn't trust others with it at the moment, not until he knows for sure who the spy is. And everyone else is far too busy running their houses and living their lives to notice whatever Tohma and Alan noticed(or they simply don't question it or they accept it because 'whatever, our reputations sre bad anyway, how much more damage could someone else do?' or 'we're graduating soon anyway' for the third years, and they're probably not nearly as reliable in Tohma's eyes? I mean think about who all the other second and third years and captains and vice captains are. Not really the most trustworthy bunch with a delicate situation, especially if it's possible that they could be connected to the spy.

I imagine we'll learn more whenever we get back to Vagastrom or Frostheim!! But I think the spy situation is gonna have to be addressed closer to learning about the Clash. And I feel like we haven't quite gotten there with everyone yet, so we're a ways off.

On the other hand, Ed has a home screen line to the effect of "the ghouls are rioting again? They're so energetic. Anyway i was watching a youtube video." and next chapter is Obscuary so. . . . . . . . . . .

[agaypanic]

Can you do a Benny weir fic where the reader is like a cupid or something and she had transferred to the gangs school to help people find their soulmates. Obviously the gang gets suspicious of her just like they pretty much do to everyone and spy on her. One day the gang sees her about to shoot a love arrow at someone and Benny tackles her but because of that he ends up falling in love with her. The gang and reader can't seem to figure out how to get him to leave her alone he's constantly clinging to her and kissing her cheek and resting his head on top of hers. In the end the gang figured out a solution but it didn't matter because they fell in love with each other anyways.

A Nudge (Benny Weir X Cupid!Reader)

Masterlist

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Summary: As a descendant of Cupid, Y/n moved to Whitechapel to help people find and connect with their soulmates. The supernatural gang gets suspicious of the new girl. What happens when they catch her about to shoot a love arrow and Benny gets hit?

***

When the gang heard that there was a new girl in town, they immediately became suspicious. Whenever new people came to Whitechapel, it usually ended in the group finding out that they were some kind of supernatural villain and an exhausting fight. It was honestly getting old.

However, Y/n L/n, the new girl in town, didn’t know any of this. This is why she was so confused whenever she’d catch a group of teens hanging around her from a distance, borderline glaring at her with curiosity and suspicion. It made her even more aware of her surroundings. But sometimes, you get lost in the moment.

Y/n was currently at the park, leaning against a tree as she stared at a pair of friends. The two were interacting with a smile but, at the same time, seemed very bashful. Y/n knew why perfectly well. Being a descendant of Cupid, she knew all about romance and love. Her specialty is being able to spot soulmates.

That had been why she moved to Whitechapel in the first place. Being a descendant of a god came with some responsibilities. Hers was to go around giving people the little nudge they needed to be with the person their soul was connected to. Which was what Y/n was about to do.

She could see Jenny and Matt’s connection from miles away. They seemed to be at that stage of “we’re friends who both know we want each other, but we’re still too scared to act on it.” This is where Y/n came in, ready to shoot an arrow to give the two the boost of confidence they needed.

Unbeknownst to Y/n, who was drawing an arrow, a certain group of teenagers watched her from a small distance. They were surprised as she pulled back the arrow, none of them knowing what to do. Benny was the first to act. Not really thinking, he just started running.

One moment, Y/n was ready to help two lovebirds. The next, she was on the ground, bow and arrow knocked out of her grip with a body lying on her. She looked up to see dark green eyes and an expression that slowly went from panicked to lovey-dovey.

Shit.

Looking around, she saw that the tip of her arrow had hit the strange boy on their way down. While gently pushing him up and off of her, she saw his friend group run over to them.

“What did you do to him?” A small dark-haired boy asked somewhat venomously, pulling the lovestruck boy away from her, despite his light protest. Y/n went from worried to angry.

“What did I do to him? He tackled me!” She said, picking up her bow and arrow.

“Why do you even have that?” The boy asked, gesturing to her equipment. 

“I… like archery.” Y/n tried to lie. A blonde girl started getting closer to her, baring her teeth. Y/n noticed that her canines were more like fangs, realizing that she wasn’t the only non-human person in Whitechapel.

“Wanna try that again?” The blonde asked. A blonde boy and the other girl came behind her, also showing sharp teeth. Y/n took a deep breath, looking around to ensure no one was nearby. She noticed that Jenny and Matt had left, which pissed her off. But at the least, the group was now alone.

“Okay, the only reason I’m not dusting you with memory dust right now is because I know you’re not exactly human. At least most of you.” She glanced at the two dark-haired boys, one inching closer to her with a grin while the other tried holding him back. “I’m basically a however-many-great’s grandchild of Cupid. Hence, the bow and arrow. I was about to give two soulmates a nudge towards each other, which is my job, by the way, but someone tackled me and got hit instead.”

“So you hit Benny with a love arrow?” Y/n was somewhat surprised that her being a descendant of a god didn’t seem to phase them.

“It wasn’t intentional!” Y/n whined. She had no idea how to solve this problem.

“I wouldn’t even need a love arrow,” Benny said, grinning at the girl while finally breaking out of his friend’s grasp. “One look at her, and I was hooked.” He moved to stand next to her.

Y/n was a love professional of sorts. But she had never experienced it personally, being too busy with others’ relationships and moving around too much to ever really connect with someone. So Benny’s words quickly brought heat to her cheeks, which she tried to ignore.

“Is he gonna be like this forever?” The blonde boy asked, staring at Benny in confusion. Y/n sighed, frustrated at the situation.

“I don’t know!” She sensed Benny moving even closer to her, which she reluctantly allowed because of the circumstances. “I’ve never struck anyone I wasn’t supposed to hit before! My magic wears off when soulmates get to the stage of their connection that I was supposed to help them get to. I have no clue how long your friend’s gonna be like this.”

The group, besides Benny, looked stumped, having no idea how to proceed.

“Oh, it’s okay, Lovebug. It wasn’t your fault.” Benny put a comforting hand on Y/n’s shoulder. “You’ll figure something out. Or I can stay like this! I don’t mind.”

“We mind.” Benny’s friend group interjected.

“Come on, B.” The dark-haired boy held his hands out, trying to coax Benny towards him. “Let’s get you to my place.” Benny gasped, feeling giddy.

“Can Y/n come?” This confused the girl. She never remembered telling him her name. But she was brought out of her thoughts when Benny put his hands on her shoulders to pull her closer. “Please, E?”

Everyone contemplated the idea. She was still a stranger, but they don’t know what Benny would do if he was separated from the one he “loved.” The dark-haired vampire girl spoke.

“We might as well let her come with us, Ethan. She might be able to help us break whatever spell he’s under, and we can ask her more questions about why she’s here in the first place.” Y/n rolled her eyes. She was willing to try to help the group fix their friend, but being subjected to their interrogations on top of it seemed draining. But everyone looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Please, come, Y/n.” Benny pouted, giving her puppy dog eyes. Y/n couldn’t help but soften a little at the sight. 

“Fine.”

***

Y/n felt weird, to say the least. She was sitting on Ethan’s couch with Benny cuddled up to her, surrounded by the rest of their friends. They looked between the two, waiting for something to happen.

“Well? Any ideas?” Ethan asked.

“No, this has never happened before.” Y/n groaned in frustration. Benny kissed her cheek, something he’d done regularly since they left the park, to try to comfort her. Y/n had weirdly grown fond of his affection, not really knowing why.

“Well, what usually happens when you shoot people?” Rory asked. Y/n cringed at his wording.

“That’s just gruesome, man.”

“Well, what do you call it then?”

“...I don’t really call it anything. I try to keep the whole cupid thing under wraps, so I don’t exactly have names for stuff.” Y/n smiled awkwardly before going back to Rory’s first question. “When I hit someone with an arrow, I’m giving them a little push toward their soulmate. If they don’t know each other yet, the nudge helps them meet. If they’re both too scared to make a move, what I do helps one of them make one.”

“So why is Benny all over you?”

“I dunno. Maybe his soulmate is too far, so my magic made him latch onto the first person he saw.”

“You don’t know who his soulmate is?” Erica asked. “I thought you were like a love god or something.”

“I’m not a love god; I’m in one’s lineage. I have powers, but they’re a bit limited. So no, I don’t know who Benny’s soulmate is. They have to be near each other for me to sense it.”

“I already know who my soulmate is.” All attention turned to Benny at his comment.

“Who, Benny?” Ethan asked adamantly.

“Y/n.” The girl could feel the lovey-dovey energy radiating off the boy as the group groaned at his answer. He cuddled further into her, and she allowed it by putting an arm around his shoulders. “Y/n is my soulmate. Y/n is my soulmate.” He goofily sang, smushing his cheek into her shoulder.

“If I knew how to undo this, I would. Believe me.” Y/n whispered, fighting the smile that tried to make its way to her face.

***

A week had passed, and they still had no idea how to reverse the effects of Y/n’s arrow. The girl spent more time with the supernatural group. For Benny’s sake, she would say. She didn’t want to admit it because of how often she would move around, but she grew a bit fond of the group and the antics they would get up to when they weren’t trying to solve their current problem.

Plus, it was amusing for her to watch Sarah and Ethan interact. Y/n could sense their feelings before she’d see them.

“Hey, N/n!” Benny’s cheerful voice sounded, coming closer to her. She lit up, especially when Benny kissed her cheek as a greeting.

“Hey, Bens.” Benny and Y/n had been spending a lot of time together because Benny just couldn’t seem to get enough of her. She was developing her own little crush but chose to keep it a secret. They still had no idea if Benny would stop feeling this way toward Y/n if they figured out a way to stop the effects of her magic.

“You okay?” He asked, analyzing her somewhat blank expression as she went off in thought. She shook them away, closing her locker.

“Yeah. Walk me to class?” Benny answered by taking her hand, enthusiastically swinging them back and forth as they walked to her English class. They talked about the hangout that the group had planned for tomorrow night, deciding they could walk to Ethan’s house by the time they reached Y/n’s class. They said goodbye to each other, and she went in to sit in her spot next to Ethan.

“How’s it going with Benny?” He asked, taking things out of his backpack. Y/n shrugged, doing the same.

“Fine. The effects are wearing off a bit, but not too much. I don’t really mind, though; I’ve gotten used to it.” Ethan nodded.

“What will happen if we can’t fix him?” The words stung a little, despite Y/n knowing what he meant. It sounded like he was saying that Benny liking her was a problem. “I mean, you move around a lot. How will that affect him?”

“I don’t know,” Y/n whispered, partially because the teacher was about to begin the lesson and partly because she felt she no longer wanted to talk.

***

The short conversation Y/n had with Ethan was stuck in her mind the next day. What if she had to leave and the magic hadn’t worn off? What if she stayed, and it did wear off? What if the time they’ve spent together would soon mean nothing?

There was a knock on Y/n’s front door, so she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Slipping her shoes on, she opened the door to see the guy who seemed to constantly be on her mind.

“Ready?” Benny asked. Y/n nodded, and they left, making their way to Ethan’s house. The walk was peaceful, the air crisp and the leaves turning different shades of red and yellow.

“Are you okay?” Benny asked, squeezing Y/n’s hand to get her attention. “You’re being really quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Y/n quickly nodded, but it didn’t convince Benny. “Just thinking about things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Just… things.”

“Are you thinking about how to make me stop liking you?” Y/n abruptly stopped from his question, making Benny stumble a little. He looked a little sad but kept a smile as he waited for her response.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not dumb, N/n. I know you guys are trying to figure out how to wear off your magic.” Benny’s eyes darted to the ground, kicking around stray pebbles and leaves. “Honestly, I don’t even think this is all because of the arrow. I remember that I still thought of you before it. I’d wonder about who you were and all the different ways I could try to become friends with you.”

Y/n didn’t say anything, so Benny continued.

“I mean, what if I’m acting like this because we’re actually soulmates like I think we are? You’ve only nudged people who you knew were soulmates. Is it really so hard to believe that we could be soulmates, and you just can’t see it because you’ve only seen other people with their soulmates? You literally have love powers; please don’t tell me that you’ve never thought there was even a possibility that you would have a soulmate like everyone else.”

Y/n sighed. A small part of her had always wondered if she had a soulmate of her own. It only amplified when she accidentally struck Benny, but she pushed the thoughts away, thinking it was because of the magic.

But honestly, what Benny said was making sense. As far as she knew, her magic gave people a nudge toward who they were meant to be with. They had never fully considered that her magic was just doing the same for her and Benny. They had never interacted before her arrow accidentally hit him. Possibly, the magic was amplified because his soulmate had love powers of sorts.

“Please, say something, Y/n,” Benny whispered, squeezing her hand again.

“Can I kiss you?” Benny hadn’t expected her to say that. But nonetheless, he nodded and moved closer to her, waiting for her to make the move. Y/n’s hand that wasn’t held in Benny’s moved up to cup his face. She took a deep breath before pressing her lips to his.

Benny’s breath hitched as he pulled her closer with his free hand. Y/n had never kissed anyone before, but she knew that if she had, this kiss would’ve felt entirely different than any she would’ve experienced. It was like new knowledge had flooded her brain, taking over all her senses.

He was her soulmate. And she was his.

The two broke apart, leaning their foreheads against each other. They were both deep in thought. Y/n realized she couldn’t leave town like she’d done in the past. Benny was here, and so were her new friends.

“I knew it.” Benny grinned. Y/n laughed, pecking him on the cheeks.

“You really did.”

They started to continue their adventure to Ethan’s house, closer than when they started. When they reached the house, Benny opened the door, and they walked in. They heard a commotion in the living room and curiously made their way through the hallway.

“Thank god you guys are here!” Ethan exclaimed, quieting everyone else down. “We finally figured it out. We just have to find out who Benny’s soulmate actually is. I bet there’s a spell in his book that could- Wait, what’s up with you guys?” He pointed at his two friends, who were very close together. Seeing it coming from Benny was normal now, but everyone was surprised that Y/n reciprocated the affection more than she usually would. The new couple smiled at each other before looking at their friends.

“We figured it out ourselves.” Y/n smiled. Benny grinned at her expression.

“It just took a little nudge.”

[orchideous-nox]

Talk more about Peter please!!!!

Okay I've let this sit here for a hot minute while I think.

I think Peter is not only underutilised by the fandom, but also a victim of his own future. So many headcanons about Peter come from what he does years down the lines as if his past is a consequence of his later betrayal. I hate this because it means he's never truly made his own character.

I'm going to try my best to yap about him in my own way and not just whatever I ingest from conversations with @futurequibblerjournalist about him.

Yes, Peter is fat. I don't want to talk about that though, but we're getting it out of the way because I won't stand for an Dane DeHaan fancasts when I feel like we're better than making fat characters skinny.

I love that idea that Peter and Marlene were friends before Hogwarts, his limited muggle knowledge comes from her family. They know each other through their parents and Marlene is just glad to have someone her age to play with and Peter is used to being around girls because of his older sisters.

When they got to Hogwarts and found other friends, they weren't necessarily as close anymore. Peter shared a dorm with the boys and they all became friends. With Sirius and James being so loud and energetic, Peter felt drawn to the quieter Remus and they became friends, and he ultimately was the reason Peter became part of the Marauders.

Peter is an observer, he notices so much because people either ignore him or don't think much of him. He sits in corners and listens and this is his contributing factor to the pranks. While they're planning them, he'll notice weak spots like "well this won't work because X said that they were going to the library at that time so won't be in the dorm". When they realise how good he is at spying for them, they start sending him off to scout information in the lead up to pranks.

I think there's so much emphasis on the other Marauders and music, but I like to think Pete was really into music too. He would have loved Madness, Ralph McTell and he gained a love of Fairport Convention from his dad who had discovered muggle music, they were hiting up Cropredy Festival every year. I think he would deny his love of folk music to his friends though, that was something he kept to himself.

Okay and now for the fun part that's been brewing for a little bit. Peter and Sybill were an unexpected couple, I think the Marauders noticed that he was sneaking off sometimes and would go missing in Hogsmeade and started placing bets on who it was but none of them had said Sybill Trelawney. They hadn't crossed paths very much, she's a Ravenclaw and he's a Gryffindor, but she'd noticed him in the library struggling to find a charms book. Sybill was known to have been able to produce a non-corporeal Patronus at some point so was gifted in charms and helped Peter to become more confident in his own capability.

I think there was a gentle quietness to their relationship, they weren't loud like Rosekiller or as affectionate as Wolfstar or as tragic as Jegulus. They would sit together at meals or in the library, they'd talk walks by the lake. Peter would love sitting with Sybill while she yaps enthusiastically about divination and prophecies because he loved seeing her light up. He shows a lot of interest when she talks about Cassandra Trelawney who she is proud to be a descended of, which is new for her.

We know that Sybill ends up (briefly) married to another man after Hogwarts but I don't see these two having a big eventful break up, they have different priorities for their futures and decide that after school ends they will go their seperate ways fairly amicably. I think Sybill doesn't particularly like the Marauders and thinks they make Peter reckless, and Peter doesn't like her cat (for obvious reasons) but she won't part with it. There's no drama, they still love each other but they don't want to sacrifice a part of themself for their relationship to work. We know Sybill ends up divorced in canon because she won't change her surname, she knows what she wants, she's stubborn and I love that for her.

After Hogwarts, Peter dates but never really settles down and does feel a bit of regret about Sybill, especially all those years later returning to the school and seeing her there.

[layla4567]

Imagine with Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff

Summary: You are a mutant with the power to grow plants, flowers or roots. Basically you manipulate nature at will. You always seemed to be on your own and didn't hang out with many people, but a certain boy with silver hair caught your eye. Too much

Warning: None, just cheesy love :)

I was in the school yard trying to find a good place to study quietly. It was supposed to be free time but I took the opportunity to review some notes in my notebook, so with my books in my arms hugging them I went downstairs and headed somewhere under the trees, but unfortunately my favorite place was taken by Jean and Scott. It was a hundred-year-old cherry tree with beautiful pink flowers that fell to the ground in a showy carpet of petals. I didn't want to bother them even though they were my friends, so I tried to look for other empty trees that are far from people, I can't concentrate if I have people around me talking loudly. Sick of not finding a good spot and inwardly cursing my bad luck, I leaned my back against the outer wall on the west side of the school and sat like a Buddha.

I was quite hidden from the other students thanks to the massive walls of the mansion. In front of me there were more trees that expanded in a forest and nobody near me. Perfect I thought, I enjoyed my solitude even though not many understood it. It's not that I don't like to be with someone, but from time to time I needed some alone time with myself.

I was reading my history notes when in the distance I heard Peter's shrill laugh. He was a few meters away from me but I had good acute hearing. Of course he couldn't see me since I was hidden behind the wall, but I could see him. Slowly I got up and stuck my head out a bit to spy on him. His back was to me and he was talking to a blonde girl, I don't know what they were talking about but it must have been something very funny because they were both laughing heartily.

I felt my cheeks burn and frowned, Peter was on his hips while that blonde played with her hair and looked at him smiling. It's been a while since I had mixed feelings with Maximoff, was it love? no, no, impossible. I pushed that silly idea out of my head. How could I like Peter? He was a hyperactive idiot who likes to run fast and can't sit still, as well as playing practical jokes. Oh but when he smiles.. It's like the day is brighter or the sun shines brighter with diamond intensity, and those cute dimples on the side of his cheeks make him look adorable...! No! Stop __! I can't fall for his charms, not now!

While trying to get those thoughts out of my head, I noticed how the girl was getting closer and closer to him. Alarmed, I slightly extended my hand towards where the two of them were and concentrated on the vibrations of the earth to extract roots from it. I slowly raised them until they reached Peter's wrist which now rested on the side of his hip. I mentally ordered them to hold on to his hand firmly but without hurting him and with a downward yank with my clenched fist I sent Maximoff sprawling to the ground.

The boy was so focused on talking and everything happened so fast that he didn't feel anything and when he wanted to realize it he was already lying on the ground with his hands resting on the grass so as not to break his jaw

"What the fu-" -He exclaimed in surprise as he looked everywhere trying to figure out what happened.

All he saw was people cracking up, including the blonde girl he was talking to, except for a brown head poking out of the corner of the school walls.

Annoyed, he jumped to his feet and said addressing Laura, the girl he was talking to

"Excuse me for a second, I have unfinished business"- He said smiling and then with a buzz he ran away and disappeared from where he was.

¡Oh no he saw me I'm sure he saw me damn! I thought. I was wondering fearfully where he had gone when I turned around and the notebooks I still had in my arms fell from fright.

"AHH PETER!! ¡Don't do that!"- I yelled closing my eyes and covering my face

The sprinter had stopped right in front of me looking at me funny and with crossed arms

"I could tell you the same. Since when do you humiliate handsome guys in front of everyone?"

I rolled my eyes in frustration, now I would have to put up with his sermons camouflaged as immature flirtations.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about"- I bent down to pick up my books but he was faster

"Don't play dumb __, I don't know any other student who can do what you do, which by the way is a very nice superpower"- He handed me the books with a sly smile, the one I knew so well and that made me blush.

"T-thank you.."

The only thing I could do was mumble a thank you, trying to hide my face with my hair so that my blushing would not show.

"Also, I know you're dying for me, or do you think I don't realize how you look at me sometimes in class? But don't worry, your secret is safe with me"- He winked

I opened my eyes in surprise and sighed annoyed to turn around, but as soon as I took a step forward, Peter came back in front of me at the speed of light, making my hair fly a little because of the speed and the wind.

I was startled a little and closed my eyes angrily

"Stop it Maximoff, you stress me out"- When I opened my eyes, he was still standing with that stupid smile that I loved and hated at the same time, it seemed that he liked to make me angry.

´"Ugh don't call me Maximoff, you sound like my mom"- then he made a disgusted face that made me laugh

"Aww see? You really love me"- and he pointed a finger towards my face touching my cheek while pouting

I quickly removed his finger while I kept smiling sideways

"Ok, enough of the talk, I need to study, so if you don't have anything else to say, go away."

"Whoa whoa ok the cat is sticking out its claws, well I won't bother you anymore if that's what you want"

"Thanks"- I slid back down the wall to sit down again while my eyes were focused on my handwriting.

Peter was already turning to leave when he quickly turns to me and yells at me.

"Jealousy!"- And he disappeared as if he had teleported away before I could hit him.

"Peter Maximoff!!"- I yelled but it was useless, I yelled into the air because he had already left

I went back to concentrating on reading as best I could but I was still upset, he always seemed to get his way. Jealous, me? yes of course.. I laughed ironically

but not even 30 seconds had passed when suddenly I felt something warm on my cheek, it was a quick soft touch as if someone had kissed me..

..Peter...

I couldn't help but smile tenderly at that display of affection. Damn dumbass and adorable Pet, I couldn't get mad at him. Even with a smile on my lips, I continued reading in silence.

"Hey did you see that?"

"See what? oh wait I know don't tell me let me guess, Peter and __ bothering again, right?"

"Bingo! I don't know when they're going to take the first step, it's obvious that they like each other"- Said Jean biting into an apple

"Leave them, they love each other in their own way"- Scott said as he played with a stone, throwing it into the air to catch it again.

"Oh you mean Peter talking to girls and __ getting jealous while hitting him with her magical roots?"

They both burst out laughing imagining the scene.

"Yep, so romantic"- He laughed

And so they both stayed laughing under the cherry tree and looking at the two almost lovebirds, each one in a corner of the yard.

_ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _

i know, i know i said I wouldn't do this again but guess what? I have a lot of free time and wattpad one shots tempt me

[eriquin]

The Trolley Problem, Part 64

The group has started coming together and figuring out their final move

(master post)(also posting to ao3)

Hopper wasn’t sure why they were listening to these kids so much, but the teenagers weren’t listening to him and he didn’t want to argue with Joyce, so he sat down and let the little curly-haired kid lay out all the details. 

“Okay, so Steve, El, and Wayne are all in Hopper’s cabin. El looked for Will and said that he and Eddie are together, so we know that they’re both still alive.”

“Or were last night,” Hopper said. Joyce shot him a pained look, and he shrugged. “Hey, we need to be accurate about this, right?”

Dustin gulped. “Right. They were alive and together in the Upside Down, but El didn’t know where. The second thing we know is that there’s a stable gate in the basement of Hawkins Lab.” 

“But only El has seen it,” Lucas said.

“I’ve been in the lab, though,” Hopper said. “I got a whole tour through there. I know which way to go to get down to the basement.”

“All right. So we’ll mark that down as one way to get them back.” Dustin scribbled something on the notes he was keeping. “The other thing that we know is that the lab has been spying on us, and knows who we are.”

“Who’s we?” Joyce asked. 

Mike pointed at himself and the other kids. “Us. They came to the school looking for us.”

“Because you little dipshits went out to try to fight the monster by yourselves,” Carol snapped. She put her hands on her hips and glared at them. “What the hell were you thinking?” 

The three boys winced and cringed. “We weren’t trying to fight it,” Lucas said. “We were trying to set a trap, so we could get supplies to Eddie through the gate it opens up.” 

“And whose bright idea was that?” Carol continued to glare at them.

The boys all looked at each other, unwilling to admit anything. Hopper had already heard the story from Steve and El, and knew that it had been Will’s idea. It looked like none of them wanted to admit that to Carol, or say it in front of Joyce. He held up his hand to intervene. “What’s done is done,” he said. “Let’s focus on doing what we can now.” 

“We’re at a bit of a loss there,” Dustin said. “Steve’s notes are woefully sparse when it comes to the details of how we got Will back the first time. He didn’t get involved until afterwards.”

“Well, he’s involved now,” Hopper said. “First things first, we need to find somewhere to go, somewhere that they won’t look. And we can’t all fit in my granddad’s cabin.”

“I don’t think there’s any one place we can go,” Joyce said. “There’s too many of us. Someone will notice if we all gather somewhere.”

“Not to mention how many cars we need to get around. I heard over the wire that they’ve got choppers out over town. Callahan said that the lab volunteered them to search for the missing people, but I think we know better, don’t we?” He scoffed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they didn’t catch these kids, but it’s getting dicey.” 

“They’re still sticking to their story, though,” Robin said. “About missing children and stuff. They’re not just doing a manhunt or anything.”

“Only in name,” Hopper said. “We should assume that they’ll still be on us in a second if they figure out where we are.”

“We need to send somebody to your cabin so that we can tell Steve and Eddie’s uncle what’s going on,” Carol said. “Also, we need to make sure that El is still safe.”

Joyce nodded. “We need to split up. I don’t know where we can go, but we can’t stay here. If they were looking for the kids, then they could come here next.”

Tommy held up his hand. “I know where we can go,” he said. “I mean, I have some ideas.”

They turned to listen to him, and he explained how there were a couple of places around town where people went to have parties, because they were so isolated. Hopper scoffed a little at this. “You don’t think they’re gonna check McKay’s field or Lover’s Lake? They’re hardly a secret, kid, and they’ve got helicopters. They’ll spot us there.”

“Yeah, but the Dennisons’ barn is basically abandoned at this time of year,” Tommy said. “And there’s also the abandoned steelworks plant. Both of them are big enough to hide cars in. I mean. So I’ve heard.”

Joyce smirked. “He’s got a point, Hop.”

Hopper crossed his arms. “Yeah, he does. All right, we should get moving and reconvene at one of those places. I can go fetch Wayne and the other two from my cabin. Just tell me where we’re landing and I’ll meet you there.”

Most of the younger kids had no idea what Tommy was talking about. Robin didn’t, either. “I don’t really get invited to those kinds of parties,” she said. Carol and Tommy started debating with each other which one was better based on the size of the buildings and the smell of them when Joyce waved her hands to interrupt them. 

She pulled out a map of Hawkins and found the two places on them. “The Dennison’s barn is out in a field off of Campfire road. It’s isolated, but from the air, someone might see the tire tracks from a lot of cars. Brimborn is right off of Cherry Oak Drive, and it’s surrounded by trees. There’s lots of places nearby to hide cars in even if we don’t get them all into the building. We’ll send Tommy on ahead to get the doors open and we can sneak in from there. Sound good?” 

They all agreed to the plan. Dustin pulled a walkie from this backpack and gestured at Hopper. “I switched frequencies since Lucas and Mike’s parents confiscated their walkies. You have one in your car, right?”

Hopper nodded. “Yeah. What channel are you on?”

“14.158. We’ll radio you if we run into trouble, okay?” 

“Good call, kid,” he said. He looked at the rest of them. “Be sure to go in shifts. Take different routes there. Don’t follow each other. If it looks like anyone is following you, even if it doesn’t look like one of those lab trucks, drive around until you shake them.” He eyed the younger kids. “Maybe make them ride on the floor, so no one who’s out looking for them sees them in your car.” 

“We got it, Hop,” Joyce said. “You be careful, too.” 

He nodded at her. “I’ll do my best.”

---

Hopper managed to remember their secret knock and not get his head bashed in by Steve when he went to the cabin this time. They were ready to get going, and Wayne said that if Hopper hadn’t stopped by, he probably would’ve gotten them moving before the afternoon was out, since they hadn’t brought enough supplies to stay in the cabin much longer. 

“We’re heading to Brimborn Steelworks to hide out as a group,” Hopper said. El was still hiding behind Steve whenever he spoke, only peeking her head out to stare at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. “We should probably bring Wayne’s truck, just in case they’re out looking for it. No need to call out this location. We might need it later.” 

“Any idea where my car ended up?” Steve asked. 

“No clue.”

They debated splitting the kids up between his and Wayne’s truck, but Steve didn’t want to let El out of his sight. Hopper explained the situation a little more clearly as they left the cabin.

“Both of you go with Wayne, but stay down and out of sight. Curl up on the floor if you have to. Make sure people think you’re driving alone.” 

“What, me too?” Steve asked. “Why?”

“Your parents came into the station this morning to fill out a missing person report for you. That got your name put down on the same list as Will’s and Eddie’s, which means there are people out there who think you’re lost in the woods, too. They’re actively looking for you, just like the lab is looking for El.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I need to head back to the station first and check in on what’s going on. We need more info. I know where you’ll be, so maybe I can keep the search parties out of your neck of the woods. I’ll meet back up with you when it gets dark.”

Steve kept frowning, but he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “We’ll see you there.” They finally all piled into Wayne’s truck. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Steve crouch down on the floor in front of the passenger’s seat. El managed to curl up small enough that he couldn’t see her head in the window, too. At least they were smart enough to listen to reason. 

Hopper went back to his Jeep and switched his radio over to the frequency that Dustin had told him. He checked in and got some nonsense back asking if ‘the package’ was on its way. He rolled his eyes and confirmed this, said he was going to be late, and switched channels right away. The whole situation was making him antsy, but he’d check back in before he got to the station.

Taglist: @neonfruitbowl

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Ok anon

A lot of the time my posts are injected with a lot of sarcasm for the purposes of Tumblr entertainment value, however today I'm going to take a moment to just.....be myself

I'm going to be very honest about my opinion so I hope you can appreciate my point of view and the candor with which I present it

From my point of view, and looking back at his personal history in Hollywood circles, I wouldn't blame him for being truly nervous around women and not being able to find someone he could trust given the clout chasers in his close circles spying on the fans and whose information he was relying on skewing his viewpoint as well as influencing his more personal choices, as well as thirsty people that use their association as a reason to call the Paparazzi or the tabloids simply for the attention value, much like we have seen with this latest PR campaign attempt (complete failure however has been the overall result)

His team and agency have taken advantage of him and tried to use him as a vehicle for someone they already KNEW was the polar opposite to his personal values and when he didn't co-operate, they punished him further for it

No offence intended anon, but none of the fans believe he chose THAT person in any capacity, and for the most part "Team Real" is using it to troll people because whether they will admit it or not, a part of them is also disappointed in the association and have been taking their anger out on him instead of the people that caused it, his team and hers

I will offer a short explanation of how I view relationships

I have noticed in my time that a lot of women seem to love glossing over things when it simply just isn't the right fit when it comes to dating, and rather than acknowledge when it just isn't gelling properly, they convince themselves that something must be wrong with the other person....

IMO friendship comes first

It's the basis of everything, I think there have been far too many women who he may have "dated" who treated him as either an object, or a means to an end, and he simply lost interest or saw them for who they really were and why they were there

Over time that can make it incredibly difficult to open up to someone new, (I'm not even famous and I have a hard time with it) and can be especially common if he was stuck with being restricted to certain circles for socialising, the bright light of the Hollywood jungle attracts a particular type of competitive attention seeking blood sucking parasitic personality type....

I think some of THOSE people you mentioned need to learn the difference between who they think he is, and his real character, and perhaps admit to themselves they were so swept up in the attention thinking him just trying to be nice meant more than it actually did

We've all been there, so I'm going to grant him that grace, I know what it's like getting burned that way

In a genuine friendship or relationship it's not something that needs to be forced, or faked.....

......or mysteriously dropped on fan forums......

....much like we've seen with all of these scheduled drops of "random pics" that can always be dated to another period of time.....

His fandom knows him better than most, (with maybe the exception of his Mama) and clearly much better than whomever it was that took over after Jim left and he had to go with new and unfamiliar people who apparently don't have his best interests at heart, otherwise they would have protected him better like we have been doing because unlike his team, his fans are well aware of his anxiety and what it can do to him

Mental illness is not a weapon his team should be using against him

"If it's not already apparent to them, it's time to admit defeat before it costs them more than they can afford" is something I would say to them if it already wasn't too late to do so

They have been outed not just to the fandom but even now the circles are back talking openly now the strike is over instead of just watching the fandom with fascination

We could literally just sit here for months and regardless of what comes out or gets dropped, nothing is going to give them the result they were hoping for, the money boat has sunk

So I will say this instead

Don't fuck with Cevanstans ✌️

Quote me

🤍🪽✨

[nekoannie-chan]

Secrets Chapter 22: She is not for you

Pairing: Steve Rogers X OFC, Brock Rumlow X OFC.

Word count: 1597 words.

Summary: Sometimes keeping secrets can be dangerous or a heavy burden, which is what Kathleen has been doing for years. She will also be in charge of guiding Steve Rogers into this century; meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be looking for a way to kick-start the Avengers Initiative by integrating her as one of the superheroes, but that won't be the only danger they face.

Warnings: Jealousy.

A/N: After long time working on this longfic, I finally post it. If you wanna be added to the taglist, let me know.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

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Secrets masterlist.

Previous chapter.

Next chapter.

Kathleen was walking down the corridor, she had had that horrible dream again, although more than a dream, it was a memory, one of the worst she had, although sometimes she saw the spirit of her best friend... It was simply awful what had happened to her, she didn't even notice that someone was walking behind her.

“Anzai," a woman called out to Kath. Kathleen Anzai! “she grabbed Kath’s shoulder, who turned around when she felt the movement. But if you're in love little Kath, you're in love with Steve, aren't you? “Nat questioned when he saw Kath’s expression.

“ W-what? No... I'm not in love or anything," stammered Kathleen, with a quick movement the spy took her personal phone from Kath.

“Then how do you explain this? “Natasha unlocked the phone to show the photo Kath had as wallpaper. I bet you have hundreds of pictures of him..." she mocked while the other tried to take the phone from her until Natasha realized that the picture was not of Steve, but of Kath, probably in her teens with a group of guys she didn't know or at least didn't work at S.H.I.E.L.D.

“It's none of your business, Romanoff," Kath felt her cheeks burning, she was probably completely red, she didn't want anyone to know what had happened to her friends, to any of them. At least I don't look for silly excuses to go to the Stark Tower to see a certain doctor “she smiled when she saw that she had hit the right spot, so she managed to get her phone back.

“ How do you know that? “Natasha had been careful about it, the only one who knew was Clint.

“Your mind screams "Bruce Banner" as if it were a bright billboard in the middle of the night," Kath replied, however, that was true, whenever Nat was around that thought popped up. What's wrong, why are you making that face? “It was notorious for the sad face of the spy, maybe she missed her hand, although the other one was the one who started to bother.

“I don't think he corresponds to me, he's too busy with his investigations and he's afraid of hurting someone with the other guy “confessed Romanoff with a sad voice leaving the mutant surprised, it was known that Natasha never opened her heart to any other person that wasn't her best friend.

“I think you have a chance, just find a way to control the other guy and with that, you will have earned it “he advised”, on the other hand, I... “Kath kept quiet, she couldn't say more, they were not friends, nor did she have the confidence to tell her absolutely everything that happened.

“Agent Anzai, the Director wants to see you," said Maria, appearing behind Kath.

Kath entered Fury's office, nervous, as she had a bad feeling seeing the director upset.

“ Where were you the other day? “And tell me the truth, you know you can't hide anything from me.

“I went to see someone who might be of use to us," he answered dryly.

“ Who did you go to see? “he asked.

“Doctor Pym; wanted to see me, I know what you are thinking and no, obviously he is not going to give us his particle, but he is looking for someone to take his place to wear a suit and you know that we will probably need in the future," she anticipated before any other question so Fury did not continue asking, she was right, maybe in the future they would need him, if she could talk and convince with all those who had some ability there was the possibility of avoiding future tragedies.

“Speaking of the future, I already got the council to approve Project Insight, so now you will have more work to do," he said as he handed her the files for her to review.

Taking advantage of the fact that Steve was in an interview with the rest of the team; an interview to which she obviously had not been invited, she would catch up with the review of the files until someone knocked on the door of Kath’s office, she put the documents away before opening the door, she knew that this project had a certain degree of confidentiality and she also knew who was not included. When she opened the door she met Rumlow.

“Kitty, you owe me a date, remember? “Brock said entering the office.

“I know, I know, but Fury really left me a lot of work and I haven't finished, you know his crazy ideas," he lifted his shoulders while making a tender face in apology.

“I can help you with some of your work, while you buy me a drink and I'll consider the debt paid," proposed the commander.

“It was a deal," agreed Kath as she poured him a cup of tea.

They began to arrange the documents in the files to have everything in order while they chatted trivially, everything was in disorder, and many missions were mixed up with others.

“ Aren't they in the archives department supposed to do this? “Kath asked.

“Supposedly," the other replied, his gaze lingering on the picture of Kath and him and them under a cherry tree that had been taken shortly after she had joined the organization and then flicking to one of Kath and Steve at Disneyland. And that miracle your friend isn't here bothering you? “He tried to sound casual rather than jealous.

“Interview with the others for I don't know what magazine, you know the news and you two have to get along or else Fury will force you to go on a mission all alone or something crazy," he replied lightly.

“You don't want that," Brock suddenly blurted out without taking his eyes off the pictures.

“ What? “He wasn't paying attention to what his friend was doing.

“Rogers," he said coldly, she looked at him without understanding, "You like it," her voice was very annoyed.

“ And what's the problem with that? Anyway, I'm not reciprocated, it doesn't matter who I have feelings for or not, I just don't have time for it," she didn't want to have that conversation.

“He's going to hurt you and he's too old for you," Brock warned her. Kitty, I don't want anyone to hurt you," he turned to look at her.

“Brockie, I really don't want to talk about it," her voice sounded sad, "You know people still hate mutants, even though it's been a long time since...that massacre," her voice cracked.

“You look exhausted, you haven't slept well, have you? “Brock asked with concern.

“More or less “Kath answered, if she felt tired, the nightmares were recurring again and the guilt was still there, deep down she thought that maybe she could have saved her friends.

“ Are you having nightmares again? “He stroked her hair and she nodded.

Brock hugged her and they stayed like that for a while, if he could erase all those bad memories she had, if there was any way to make her notice him...he would make her very happy, they could run away, start a new life far away from all that.

“ What about you, are you seeing anyone? “asked Kath suddenly, he shook his head, "You really haven't dated anyone since Suni*? “she looked at him.

“Just a few dates, nothing important, I have to take care of you," Brock clarified, he didn't dare to confess his feelings to her either, although after what had happened in a certain mission he thought that everything would be different... until Rogers appeared.

“Again with that," Kath rolled her eyes, "I'm a big boy and you can't stay alone forever, at least buy yourself another dog or a cat or something, stop being so bitter Brockie," joked Kath.

“You're the one who should change your code name," she replied mockingly.

“ Why, what's wrong with mine? “She didn't know that the STRIKE team had given her some nicknames.

“Agh...no nothing forget it “mentally it hit her, she didn't know anything.

“Now you tell me, I'm giving you the chance or I'm going to get mad at you “she threatened him.

“The guys don't think you can fall in love and they refer to you in different ways because of how mmmmm cold you can be “Rumlow explained, he didn't want to tell her too many details so he wouldn't hurt her.

“Ugh it was probably your little friend Rollins, wasn't it? That's why I dislike him so much, anyway they don't care what he does or doesn't do," she said.

Steve appeared in the Triskelion's gym, he was looking for Brock, they had to finish planning the strategy for the next mission, and the only one he found was Jack.

“Rollins, have you seen Rumlow? “he asked urgently.

“Oh yes, he's in Anzai's office, just the two of them," the agent pointed out mischievously.

He immediately ran to Kath’s office, thousands of thoughts of all kinds went through his mind, he could not trust her to be alone with the Commander, when he arrived at the place, he opened the door with a bang.

“ Steve? “she exclaimed astonished to see him there, "Didn't you have an interview?

“It ended early, what are you two doing? “she hissed.

“Brock was helping me arrange some documents and I hope you didn't damage my door or else I'll have to file a complaint," the mutant pointed out a bit annoyed, Steve sighed in relief.

Ꭲꭺꮐꮮꮖꮪꭲ:

@saiyanprincessswanie  @sinceimetyou @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad

@navybrat817 @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @charmed-asylum @pandaxnienke  @real-fbi @smokeandnailz @white-wolf1940  @tenaciousperfectionunknown @xoxonotme  @bluemusickid @leyannrae  @harrysthiccthighss @marvelatthisone @caplanbuckybarnes  @sapphire-rogers @lizzieolseniskinda @notyourtypicalrose @hallecarey1  @nana1000night @talia-rumlow @mylifeispainandiloveit​  @writingshae​  @alexxavicry @azulatodoryuga​ @daemonslittlebitch  @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​  @jtargaryen18​ @chaoticcollectivenightmare​ @endlesstwanted​  @chemtrails-club​  @marigoldreamer​  @whiskeytangofoxtrot555​ @here4thefanfics​ @theestorm​ @patzammit​

[tf2-oneshots]

hii !! may i please request some writing abt everyone being really afraid of medic (imagine that this takes place when everyone is still kinda getting to know each other, and left medic out because of his Reputation) but someone eventually bites the bullet to talk to him/give him a chance and they find out that he’s actually decent company (and very, very lonely)?

preferably that Someone is sniper or demo ! whoever you feel more compelled to write. thank you so so much in advance !! adore your writing :]

I think Demo needs some love on this acc!

Warnings: none!

Rating: General

“Alright, now that I have your contracts, you’re free to look around and introduce yourselves. I have to go file these.” Miss Pauling stands from the meeting room chair, walking off with her bundle of papers, agreements, and a handful of amendments a few of the men proposed. Knowing the Administrator, they’ll be lucky if even one of them is processed.

With the door shutting, the nine mercenaries stand to do exactly as instructed: roam about and introduce themselves. They were each given a vague file of their coworkers, nothing more than a work photo and a brief introduction to their class. Anything personal was kept to the discretion of the men.

Medic remains seated, looking around the room. It seems that everyone has gone into their own cliques already. As he stands, he flattens his coat and decides to approach the Scout. He walks up to the young man who was showing Pyro a comic issue.

“Hallo! Scout and Pyro, ja? I’m Medic.” The doctor waves, smiling at the two. Pyro gives him a glance only to hide their face in the pages of the comic. Scout steps back, looking the elder up and down. He rubs his neck, hat shifting slightly from the motion.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Scout.” He turns to his side, trying to avoid the doctor’s gaze. Something about him is…off. Scout can’t tell what it is, but the man isn’t right. His smile is too sharp and evil looking for a supposed doctor.

“Well, you seem like a healthy young man. I imagine your lungs are an excellent shade of pink.” A runner should have the perfect lungs after all! Scout must take care of himself to have this sort of job. Its a strange way of complimenting the man that falls short on Scout.

“Uh…that’s kinda weird.” He shuffles back, trying not to think about what that implies. The runner hopes to wake up with his lungs, and the rest of his organs, in his body by tomorrow. He looks to Pyro who peeks from behind the comic.

“Aheh, I was calling you healthy…” Medic takes his leave. Perhaps not the best way to compliment someone, but he was being honest! A runner needs strong lungs, so Scout must live a healthy lifestyle!

“Look, dude, I read the file. I wanna keep my organs.” Medic had mentioned his joy of experiments and various medical tests. All of which successful despite their frightening nature. Scout just can’t trust a guy who puts hands in guts for a living.

Medic peers around to room, noticing how everyone looks away from him. Well, it is the first day. Surely someone will warm up to him as time goes on. He steps out of the meeting room for the time being. He has birds to unpack.

By the end of the first month, most of the team has found a close friend. Spy and Heavy have afternoon book clubs with coffee, Scout goes rollerskating with Pyro, and Soldier tests sentry durability with Engineer. Everyone has found a companion except Medic.

People only visit when medically necessary. A broken arm, severe burns, and such. Just getting Scout to sit down for his vaccinations was a two day fight. Medic reaches over to stroke Archimedes on his tiny head. The mischievous pigeon has his siblings who flutter along the rafters above.

Even on the battlefield, Medic noticed the distance. He was called on, yes, but once he finished healing a teammate, they scurried away. He watched as his coworkers ran in duos, trios even, across the landscape to destroy the enemy teams. Never with Medic unless he was handing out ubercharges.

He eats alone in his office, coming into the kitchen only to grab his portion. Funny how Medic never gets a turn cooking for the team. The German stares at his lukewarm dinner, picking through it while Archimedes naps on his perch. He really shouldn’t complain; Medic has endless funding for his wild experiments. He just wants company is all.

A creak interrupts his solitude. Someone entered the medbay just now. Medic sighs, grabbing his coat and clipboard. Another injury to take care of. At least it gives him some form of human interaction no matter how brief.

“Hello, Demoman. What seems to be the problem?” Medic says when he sees who entered. He takes a pen, filling in a few sections before looking up to the Scotsman. Probably a blown off hand or a chemical burn in need of treatment.

“I’m fine, lad. Soldier’s too busy, so I figured you and I could see a movie.” Demo holds out two tickets. Soldier had every intention of going if not for a sudden flea crisis with the raccoons. Nothing a kiddie pool of water and flea shampoo can’t fix. Besides, when was the last time anyone actually hung out with the German?

“You want me to go with you?” Medic lowers his clipboard as Demo nods. Is…is this really happening? Finally, a chance at an actual friend from work! The doctor sets down his equipment and straightens his vest.

“Let me feed my doves, then we can leave.” He hurries back into the office quick to dump a scoop of feed into a communal bowl. The birds flock to their dinner, wings flapping loudly in their descent. Medic follows Demo out of the room, excited as ever.

“Don’t you want to know what we’re seeing?” Demo raises a brow. Anyone else would have at least wanted the title let alone ask about the plot. Medic chuckles, shaking his head.

“Oh, I don’t care. I’m happy to get out of my office for once.” Locked behind the wooden door, the doctor spent his days toiling away at paperwork. Most of which unnecessary for some time. Papers detailing orders for supplies, health updates, and such.

Demo couldn’t have asked for a better movie companion. Medic paid for their popcorn and was completely silent throughout the film. Unlike the last person Demo went to the movies with, meaning Scout, Medic didn’t speak out once. He even cleans up after himself!

“Gotta say, lad, this was a pleasure. Don’t suppose you’d like to test a few bombs with me tomorrow? Need to see what damage my new mix can do.” Medic beams. This is it! If he can get on Demo’s good side, then everyone else will want to befriend him. No more lonely nights with the birds for company.

“I would be happy to.” Medic drives them to the base, excited as ever. Demo can see it written all over his face. Maybe everyone was wrong about the doctor, he’s actually a decent man.

Besties -H

[xylert]

Okay so, I know I don’t post that often- or well- ever, but there is one thing that I don’t think I’ll forget in a hurry and i wanted to share with you.

Explaining what TF2 is real quick for those who don’t know

I play a game called team fortress 2 (TF2 for short) and I am a medic main there

For those who don’t know

TF2 is a combat game with multiple classes you can choose from such as heavy weapons guy, engineer, sniper, etc.

And well the thing about medics in particular that makes them the most important- and stressful- class of them all, and because of this, are the ones who receive the most hate and criticism

Is that none of the other teams can heal

Medic is the only one that can bring their health back up, unless they find a medkit or eat a sandvich or something, however in the midst of a battlefield those options aren’t always available since medkits are hidden and such, medics are the only ones who can keep you alive during battle if your health drops low- which is fairly often, and since you can’t heal yourself you have to call the medic over to heal you

Now in the game, there are 2 specific classes that I swear to god always target the medics, and when a medic die it’s almost always due to one of them. Spy and sniper.

The spy has an ability to turn invisible and use disguises to pretend to be your teammates and there’s really no way to tell it’s a spy unless you try to damage them. Whenever the spy is disguised as one of your teammates and shouts for medic however, you will get alerted, no the spy’s own medic. So you (as the medic) go over to the enemy spy in disguise and heal them, only to die just seconds after as they plunge a knife into your back

Now- here comes the part where I really wanted to talk about.

Like I said, I am a medic main, I ALWAYS play as medic. And there was this one spy who constantly used that trick on me. This was a pretty intense match so I usually didn’t have enough time to spy check him as there were others who also needed healing and I needed to be quick

Now what made this spy different from all the rest was, whenever I healed him, he would always thank me in the chat before killing me

And I know that seems silly but, I actually really appreciated it and it lightened up my day, because even though it means I healed an enemy spy AND got killed by said spy right afterwards, I knew I was appreciated anyways, and that I was at least doing a good job as medic, and someone noticed and took the time to actually thank me.

It’s hard being the medic- the only class who can heal, people constantly shouting and spamming your name- having to prioritise others due to health being lower- and having multiple people at once calling your name- having to keep yourself alive because out of them all your the most important to be alive, and keeping yourself alive is always the hardest, having to know where enemies are, looking behind you ever few seconds to make sure there’s no spy, staying out is sniper lines, staying out of enemy fire, and healing your teammates who are in the territory your trying to avoid in order to stay alive in order to keep them alive, it’s all very complicated and that’s only some of it.

It can be draining, especially if your receiving hate from your teammates on top of all of that.

I’m not sure who this spy was- but just know that you were really appreciated, you taking the time to thank me- even if you were an enemy, it really lightened up my day and let me know I was doing a good job. So thank you, and I hope more people- spies in specific, can be like that. Because that was the only spy I ever got killed by who actually bothered to thank me for healing him.

And he did this every single time too

[aoibhinnslater04]

SOC x ACOTAR

Chapter 3: One mistake too many

Chapter 4 will be out on the 15th Jan!

Word count: 1745

Trigger warnings: kidnapping, mind control

Kaz glared at his phone, willing it to light up with a text from Inej. He would even have settled for Jesper at this point, but all was quiet. Something had gone wrong, he was sure of it. Whether they had been caught by Vassa’s guards, or…. No. He shoved his unease down at the thought that the mysterious Rhysand had managed to intercept his Wraith or Sharpshooter. But then… when Kaz was attacked by the shadow, it sounded like he moved on wings, and even after knowing someone was there, it seemed invisible. But no Grisha could fly, or turn invisible. Only the Darkling could control shadows, and he was dead. Kaz had watched his body burn. He had heard rumours of other kinds of powered people, but none around Ketterdam, and no support to back up the outlandish theories, but-

BZZZZZZ

Kaz grabbed his phone and answered it without looking- “Inej?”

He heard a sultry, smooth laugh.

“Kaz, I know you’re still not used to phones, but most people check the name of the caller before picking up, you know that, right?”

Nina.

Kaz almost hung up on her there and then, but took a deep breath and refrained. Nina was with Queen Zoya in Ravkian on a secret mission, but she was supposed to be on her way back. About time, considering Matthias had been sulking for the last week without her. He supposed even the most honourable people got sexually frustrated sometimes after all.

“What can I do for you, Heartrender?”

“Well, I was looking to speak with Inej, but apparently you’re also waiting on a call from her. She texted me last night to let me know about a job, but she assured me she would be able to talk around now, and that it wouldn’t take that long.”

Her tone changed to one more of concern.

“Wait, is Inej still not back?”

Kaz’s face tightened. “I don’t suppose you’ll be stopping at the markets on the way back, will you, Zenik?”

“Why?”

“Because Wylan is going to send you a list. I have a feeling you won’t get a break after your last job before this next one.”

~~~~~

Cassian glanced down at the Wraith’s phone before powering it down. It seemed like her absence was affecting quite a few people, which only made him feel even worse about this situation. The girl in one of the beds he was guarding didn’t seem like a bad person, and clearly she inspired plenty of loyalty from those around her. He saw how Jesper had ran in when he thought she was in trouble. This was a girl who was cared for.

He glanced at the other bed in the room, where Jesper lay, and felt like the worst person to ever exist. When they were drinking together he seemed like a good person, cheerful and humorous, comfortable in himself. Cauldron, he was leaving the spying and infiltration to Az from now on. It affected him way too much.

He heard a gentle rustle of sheets and looked quickly back towards Jesper’s bed, where the boy was lifting his head and glancing around drowsily. He started moving a lot quicker when he noticed his arms and legs were tied down, and began thrashing when he saw the Wraith in the bed beside him. When he lifted his eyes to meet Cassian’s, the ice in his glare made him take a step back, before feeling foolish and crossing his arms to glare right back. 

“What did you do to her?” Jesper rasped.

“The Wraith is fine, Jesper, she just got a bit of a bigger dose than you did, and she’s a lot smaller, it’s to be expected.”

“Inej.”

“What?”

“You’re calling her the Wraith. Her name is Inej so don’t act like she’s just some nameless soldier!”

Cassian held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, but it only seemed to make Jesper angrier.

“And what the hell is with these beds? You trying to butter us up so we turn on Kaz? What could two Barrel rats like us want more than a soft bed, right?! Or…” his face paled with a dark thought that he didn’t seem inclined to share.

Kaz,  Cassian noticed. It seemed that not only had they caught two of Brekker’s crew, but two members that were comfortable enough to call him by his first name, despite his cruel, ruthless reputation. Brekker’s Inner Circle. The thought made him weirdly uncomfortable, like he was looking at himself in a different font.

A voice from behind him made Cassian look up, but didn’t make him jump the way it made Jesper, like he had seen a ghost. Az stepped out from the shadows, where he had been waiting for the pair to wake up, allowing Cass the joy of being the one who got the anger directed at him. How lovely.

“Don’t be so suspicious, Jesper Fahey. The only reason that you’re both in beds is because we haven’t got cells yet.”

“Budgets, you know, especially after moving to a new place,” Cassian cut in, ignoring the ghost of a smile on the shadowsinger’s face as he shook his head towards his brother. 

“Now brothers, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten my warnings about young Ms Ghafa here,” Rhys’s voice caused both Cassian and Azriel to look up in surprise. Neither had heard him enter, but they saw him crouched by the Wraith’s- Inej’s- side, pinning her gently back to the bed, where apparently, in the minute where Jesper had been speaking to them, she had managed to untie her bonds and slide off the bed unnoticed.

Cassian softened at the scene in front of him. Inej had tears in her eyes, he could feel the fear rolling off of her, her breath quickening and getting heavier, as though Rhys’s light touch was cutting off her oxygen supply. He had no doubt it was real, especially with Jesper tensing on the bed next to her, as though he was going to try to reach over and comfort her. Rhys had mentioned memories he had seen in her head, but he hadn’t told them specifics yet. Clearly though, the memories held a great deal of power over her, as Rhys leaned in and gazed into her eyes, he saw her twist her head away, but obviously that wasn’t going to help against Rhys’s daemati powers. Cassian saw her breathing slow as she turned her head back to look towards Rhys, her body going limp once more, as he touched her forehead, as though checking for a temperature.

Jesper was staring at her, flickering between Rhys, who’s concentration hadn’t wavered from Inej, and her face, with her glazed dark eyes making her look like she was hypnotised. Which she kind of was, he supposed.

“What did you do to her?!” he cried, his voice half full of anger, half of fear. “Let her go!”

Rhys shifted his gaze towards Jesper, who didn’t seem to have the sense to back down from the threat in front of him. But Rhys just smiled, keeping a hold on Inej as he stared down the Zemini boy. “She’s safe,” he reassured him. “Just…sleeping.”

“I know what sleeping looks like, and that isn’t it. Let her go, you asshole!”

“Fine,” Rhys shrugged, and a second later, Inej’s eyes cleared. She seemed to take in everything at once, before bolting from the bed, quicker than Rhysand expected, as he lunged to catch her before she reached the open door. Luckily, Cassian and Azriel were in her way, and they both grabbed her around the waist before pulling her back, struggling and kicking.

“Enough!” Cassian heard from the door, as another figure- no wait, figure and a half- entered the already crowded room. He smiled widely as Feyre walked in with his nephew, passing the giggling babe into Rhysand’s waiting arms.

“How about you diplomats let me do the talking for a bit, hm?”

~~~~~

Feyre looked down at the two prisoners, her face sad. They were so young, younger than she was when she became Fae. She briefly wondered about their parents, but decided to leave that conversation for a while. Inej had relaxed slightly, with the mug of hot cocoa Feyre had given her, warming her hands, although they were still shaking a bit. Jesper was sitting slightly in front of her,as a protective older brother would. They were currently sitting in her new office, which she was planning on converting into an art studio, but the dull walls definitely added to the whole ‘prisoner’ effect. 

She had been talking for a while, explaining their need for ‘hostages’, to convince Dirtyhands that they were not the gang to be messed with, and to see if they could come to some kind of agreement where they left each other alone. The Dregs were one of the most feared gangs, especially after what they did to the Dime Lions’ leader, Pekka Rollins. She had no doubt that if they were seen avoiding her Inner Circle, that they would mostly be avoided by the other gangs too. It wasn’t exactly a foolproof plan, but what was?

Inej and Jesper weren’t budging, their faces set in stone. She knew they wouldn't ever agree with her, but she had accepted that. It didn’t matter either way, as they were still stuck. It would be near impossible for them to escape unless her or Rhys wanted them to. She sighed and got up, wanting to go back to her mate and spend some time with him before her beautiful boy woke up from his nap. There was nothing left for her to say, and besides, what could they do while locked in a room surrounded by Fae? 

~~~~~

Rhys sighed as his mate went to wake up their child after an unusually long nap. It was fair enough, he supposed, as the entire Inner Circle was exhausted after all their planning and action. It was only fair that Nyx felt tired too, especially if it gave them a chance to rest. But then he heard his mate screaming, a sharp, tortured sound. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they had made a mistake moving, the only thought in his head as he raced towards his love, who was on her knees, clutching the empty blanket that was still warm from Nyx’s small body.

[a-chuffed-floating-panda]

A love in the eye of the hurricane ch 21 (unedited)

(Originally posted 19 September 2022. Should be better edited)

Jamyang, eight winters.

Jamyang observed the training with burning curiosity, wondering if she could replicate some of their moves later, on her own. It would be preferable to have someone observe her while she trained, but she was more comfortable training on her own currently.

“You can join them, you know.” Her shoulders twitched, and she squeaked. She didn’t notice them. Jamyang turned to look at the person. Sage Bhuti stood there looking amused. The familiar feeling of her hair flickering in the wind returned. She reminded herself that it wasn’t real. A light breeze, like it was currently, wasn’t strong enough to make her hair flicker.

Gawa theorised it was his presence alone that made that happen. Jamyang thought it could be a mix of spiritual energy and something else.

“They don’t mind.” He told her and sat down beside her. Jamyang knew that. They’ve invited her multiple times, and she declined four times and accepted six other times they asked her. It was more comfortable that way.

“I know. I’m just more comfortable doing some of it on my own currently.” It was more difficult to come to terms that she was learning to fight than she’d expected. Baby lemur steps. She made up by reading about battle strategies and action filled stories about protagonists that use weapons the times she didn’t train.

Some of her classmates even had interests in this, Jaya too. Jamyang was one of possibly three that took it further than a simple ‘interest.’ Ema was interested in the surfing common at Yonggungsa, which was often used to meet battles at sea. Norbu was interested in the style of flying at Tanah lot, which was used to spy and observe one’s enemy; Opame spoke about a loop trick that’s commonly used in assassinations. Norbu came running to her all excited when the letter arrived via a black ringed lemur.

And then there was her. “I’m trying to stop feeling guilty about learning to fight, I guess.” Ama fought with medicine and poisons with a jian and senbon as back up; she giggled and smiled really broadly when Jamyang asked her point-blank if she was the masked bounty hunter from ‘the stories of a shinobi.’ 

Ama never confirmed or denied her question, which was frustrating.

“Fighting isn’t bad.” He said, voice soft. It didn’t sound like Sage Bhuti’s voice. While it had a gentleness, it also had something else. She couldn’t place her finger on it. Elder Sonam, Abbot Dorji and Zopa had it too. Jamyang characterised it as something old people had. Life experience, maybe?

This voice was also younger. Sage Bhuti was close to a century old.

“Fighting brings violence and that brings on more violence.” She said, thinking of the words the nuns would say. The stories they would tell were all about compassion and peacefully solving conflicts. None of them included fighting.

“Then don’t meet violence with violence then.” What? She turned to him and… someone else was sitting there.

A young water tribe woman with eyes so strikingly blue that she thought Palden was sitting beside her at first glance. Her dark hair styled in hair loopies and a single braid, Jamyang stared, tattoos decorated her chin, cheeks and forehead. She was pretty. Who was this woman?

“What do you mean?” The woman hummed, a glint shining in her eyes. “‘Meet them with buoyancy or, hmm, probably not the right word…’” She puffed out her cheeks while she thought. “Let it ricochet off of you in the same way an object is dropped and bounces away.” Jamyang frowned. She guessed that made sense. Violence was the object and what it landed on was the person?

“And to let it bounce off of you, you need to be strong and flexible, just like water.” She said and pulled small amounts of water from the surrounding grass, her hand moving in a circle like movement she didn’t understand; she froze a water sized pebble and formed the rest into a straight line in the air.

Jamyang observed her. This woman was doing this with one hand. She’d read that it took a lot of control to manage that. The frozen pebble shot towards the water line and the line bent to accommodate the pebble and shot it straight back when it straightened.

“See what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.” She was supposed to be the water and let the violence bounce off of her and let the violence shoot right back at the assailant.

“And to be like this, you have to be strong like a gardening samurai, or so they say.” That was a proverb, a familiar one. Prince Gonryu would say it to Shaohao when he didn’t want to train.

“And to be like this blob of water, you need to be strong. Not insanely strong, just strong, and stubborn. There are styles based on this taught at Karbandi and Karchu.” Jamyang wasn’t familiar with those temples. She only knew that Sister Pema’s brother came from Karbandi. “There are more styles, but the styles taught there are the most famous ones.”

“… why?” she asked, feeling intrigued.

The woman grinned, the fronts of her cheek tattoos shifting slightly at the change of movement, and rubbed the back of her head. 

“I have no idea!”

Jamyang blanched while the woman laughed so much that her shoulders shook.

“I fell asleep during that lesson, but I think the styles are called Aikdo? Aikido? Yeah, aikido and Hapkado? Hipdo? Hapkido? Yeah! Hapkido, they’re….”

Jamyang visited Karchu, irikaji no iri, the western temple in the west in Okin, on her next visit to the Druk’s nest.

She still got lost in between the languages spoken there: there was the air nomad language, then Dzongkha, and then Okin, the main three on the island. Everybody could speak those languages. She just couldn’t with Okin. When she thought she’d made progress, someone threw another dialect her way, and she was lost again; She couldn not for the life of her figure out Amanthi’s dialect. The Miyako dialect sounded like a drunk person speaking. Jamyang was at a loss for words when she observed Amanthi speaking with a friend and they understood each other???

The ‘shinshii’ was an older man who she stumbled upon while exploring the area around the temple; she’d startled him so badly that he almost hit her with an arrow.

On the walls within the temples, she came across a statue of that water tribe woman she’d met. It was a well-taken care of statue. A monk she’d met said it was close to 400 years old. Her name was Ahnah, meaning wise woman.

Was that woman a previous life of Sage Bhuti?

Sage Bhuti entered her train of thoughts while she stared at Jampo, who was getting increasingly impatient. He would know how to deal with her conflicting feelings from the aftermath of the missions.

She could steal a chick while visiting Aika while on her way to visit him. Animals were always fond of him.

“‘Wed panda.” Chi said and reached out with a hand, brushing against his bushy tail. “Yes,” she said and opened the letter tube. “Red panda, his name is Jampo.”

“Champo?” Gawa giggled beside her and Jamyang turned her head to him and patted his head. “Good enough.” He reached out to pet him again, gasping in delight as her panda leaned into her touch.

Unraveling the letter, she’s greeted with the familiar writing of Sister Tsering. Which… she didn’t expect, but the letter held an unexpected surprise. Her eyes widened the more she read.

“… I’ve spoken to the elders. You’re allowed to go ahead with your ceremony. Choose two elders of your liking as Elder Yeshe and Elder Garma have chosen not to take part. The only thing missing is the date…”

Jamyang stared at the letter for a couple of seconds, unmoving. What magic did Sister Tsering pull off now? Whatever it was, she’d like to learn it. Reading the letter one more time, she rolled it back up and put it back into the letter tube on Jampo’s back, picked up a momo and continued eating.

Gawa looked up. “What did it say?” Jamyang was not dealing with that now. She’d do that later. She chewed on her momo quietly. Jampo’s trills and the soft clack of utensils were the only sound around them.

“I’m not dealing with it now.” Gawa pouted at her out of the corner of her eye. She picked up a momo and gave it to Chi, who perked up when he saw it. “This is a momo. Remember how I said it was my favourite food?”

“Yeah, I do.” He grabbed it, gave it a tentative squeeze, and took a bite.

“‘S good.” He said, smiling while he chewed. He even tore off a piece and shared it with Jampo.

“I know. They’re really good.”

She didn’t chide Gawa when she stole a momo off of her plate. They were good, after all.

Gawa gave her hell when she found out the continents of the letter.

“That’s your reaction to being allowed to have your master ceremony?!”

“… Yeah?” she answered hesitantly. “I never expected to be allowed to have a ceremony after I found out that I needed a firebender and so I put it off for as long as I could just to spite them.” Gawa laughed, because what? Jamyang did something out of spite? And she quickly followed up with. “And I’m attached to my hair. I don’t know what to do in the months after when it grows back.”

She gave her a look. “You’re that attached to your hair?”

“I am.” She was not ashamed to admit that. “Yara is like me, but to a lesser degree. Ama said she experienced the same thing when she got her arrows.” The day started by braiding her hair. She’d done it since she’d learn how to braid. She couldn’t just not do it. Ama said she religiously cleaned the hallways and rooms in the temple until her hair grew out so she could start braiding it again.

Sister Tsering said the walls and floor and each statue were spotless, literally shining for months until ama’s hair grew out again.

“That’s the thing holding you back? Losing your hair?”

“Yes.” She answered. “At least until I find something else to start my day with in the months it grows back.”

Gawa was quiet, opened her mouth and closed it, and then she smiled at her with a slight head tilt. “You’re very peculiar.” She’s said that to her a lot. It had never been an insult any of those times.

“Thank you?” Her eyes glinted in a way she couldn’t tell what they meant.

“You’re welcome. You know which elders you want to choose, right?”

“I do…”

Aika’s nest laid in the crooks of Paro valley. It was an unusual spot for such an enormous bird, but Aika made up for it by having a huge nest down to the nooks and crannies so that her chicks could have some independence. At least that’s what it seemed like. The animal caretakers said that Aika was a little unusual for a suzaku.

They greeted her with croons and happy squawks when she landed. 

“Hello.” She picked up a green chick who patted towards her. A blue chick floated towards her from its nest and Jamyang caught that one too and held them close. It was comforting. They were at the stage where they were learning how to use their fire. It felt like she was holding on to two puff balls of warmth. 

Aika dipped her head and nudged her beak at her when she got close enough, a light ‘grrm?’ left her. That was a question. She didn’t know what she asked, though. “I wanted to see you.” She said and Aika blinked her beady eyes at her. “I’m going to visit Sage Bhuti, but I thought I’d visit you first.” Her eyes creased and Aika crooned, a light sound. The animals on the island knew Sage Bhuti, they were fond of him.

Xie knew a previous life of his. She said she didn’t expect any less from ‘Chizu.’

Jamyang sank into Aika’s soft feathers with the blue chick and green chick nuzzling into her sides. She closed her eyes and relaxed.

Jamyang, nine winters:

Red pandas swarmed her in the bamboo forests near Taktsang. Jamyang giggled at their licks of affection and tried to hold all of them.

There were a lot of pandas. All of them were happy to see her. She didn’t know if they had any names.

“Okay, okay.” She sat down and hugged the pile of pandas in her lap. “There, happy?” They squealed and wriggled around on her lap and Jamyang laughed, scratching behind the ear of the nearest panda; its fur was a wooly bright red and raspy voice that rose in pitch the more she scratched behind its ear.

The panda looked at her hand and leaned away from her scratches. It looked at her and then down at her hand again. “Chir chir squee.” It nosed at her hand, a soft sound, almost as if it sounded concerned. Jamyang followed the movement and startled at how her veins glowed a bright blue. It was still weird. She wasn’t used to it happening.

Apa said it was a good thing and nothing to fear; Yara immediately thought that something was wrong when it happened to her and cried. Apa said it showed how connected she was to the spiritual energy in her body and the energy in nature. It was a good thing, even if it looked a little weird.

If your veins glowed, you had the potential to become a powerful spirit guide.

Jamyang pulled her hand back, and the panda looked at her, blinking slowly. “I’m okay.” She covered her hand with the other, rubbing it until the glowing subsided.

“Do you want more pets?” The panda looked hesitant, but leaned into her hand for more when she showed that she truly was okay.

Jamyang was startled out of her sleep when Aika screeched out a plume of colourful fire.

The blue chick and green chick were still sound asleep against her sides. She looked up to see a part of a tree. It looked like a branch, burnt and almost about to fall. In her sleepy state, she rolled out of the way and out of the nest.

It’s not that late. Afternoon maybe? Agni was still in the sky. She should make her way over to Sage Bhuti before it’s too late.

Aika looked very upset at that tree. Jamyang didn’t know why or what happened while she slept. “Um…?” The shift from upset to curious was abrupt. Aika lowered her head so that they were on an equal level. “Squ-crrn?”

“I’m going to visit Sage Bhuti.” Her eyes lit up with familiarity. “And I was wondering if I could take these two with me?” Aika went from sitting on her lap to being able to carry her on her back overnight. She was a little scary now that she was so big. 

Warm air hit her face and, like she was aware of her size, she nudged her neck against the side of her head. A hug; Jamyang would be crushed if Aika attempted to wrap her neck around her shoulders like she used when she was a chick.

“Okay, I’ll be back with them later.”

“Squ-raawk.”

Sage Bhuti lived at a smaller temple that was carved into the mountain walls. It was a 30-minute walk from Paro valley and a 45-minute walk from Taktsang.

The chicks patted on the trail beside her when they woke up, chirping and making high-pitched squeaks as the wind lifted them in the air and let them float down.

The wind did the same with her, too, messed with her hair and robes. “Stop it.” She scolded. The wind whistled, a playful sound that reminded her of the children giggling back home.

She never actually named the wind, nor had she asked if it had one. A complete lapse in judgement on her part.

Jamyang paused when she reached the base of the mountain. Looking up, she saw the temple entrance decorated in streaks of amber and green. It wasn’t that high up, she could make that jump. 

“Squawk.” She pursed her lips, looking down at the two adorable chicks who looked back up at her. Could they make the jump? They were still very young.

There was a staircase built into the wall.

Jamyang spent the next 20 minutes coaxing blue chick and green chick to jump onto each of the steps so that they could make their way up to the temple on their own.

She stepped in once. The green chick almost missed a step, but other than that, they did just fine.

Did they have names?… Could she name them?

Jamyang found Sage Bhuti in the meditation room furthest back in the temple; the orange flickers of the lanterns cast a warm glow in the room.

“I had a feeling you’d come.” He met her gaze as she slid the door closed. His eyes lit up when he saw the two chicks. “And you bought guests with you.” They patted towards him, their bodies wiggling side to side as they ran, and he cooed and petted them with a weary hand.

Jamyang sat down across from him. “I envy that skill.” Sage Bhuti’s smile dropped a little, and he continued to pet the birds. “I can see the use for it in some situations, but I’ve wanted to turn it off for a majority of my life. So have many others I know.”

“Why?”

“I’ve predicted the deaths of some of those I hold dear to me and not been able to do anything to prevent it.” He answered and looked up at her. “But you’re not here to talk about foresight, are you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Is it my wisdom, perhaps?”

“… yes, it is.”

He grinned. “Heh, I could tell.” That was a line she’d heard often throughout the years. From Gawa and Koko-chan to be really specific, she didn’t spend enough time around Tora, but he said it from what people told her.

Jamyang always felt left out when those situations occurred. Her instinct made up for some of it, yes, but still. She did feel a little left out; knowing if the person in front of you was fake and knowing the probable outcome of an event wasn’t the same.

“You’ve killed people before, right?” Remembering the statue of Ahnah from 400 years ago, he must have lived countless lives after her. 

“I have.” He answered with zero hesitation, the complete opposite of Jamyang, who hesitated. “Many times. In anger, revenge, justice, or as a small sacrifice for peace. I’ve lost my honour and I’ve lost my faith time and time after again for my choices, rarely regaining any of them back.”

“Did you kill someone?” The question was light. She didn’t hear any judgement. It almost appeared… innocent. She braced herself, hyping herself up to say, yes, I did kill someone, but the words didn’t come immediately. Working through the drought in her mouth and ignoring how hard her heartbeat, which took a couple of seconds, she managed a croaked response.

“I, uh, um, y-yeah, uh, I did.” The admission was heavy, and the words felt wrong. An admission like that wasn’t supposed to be in an air nomad’s vocabulary.

“How many?”

“Ten or more, b-but ten was my count.”

“How many could you send off in the spirit guide way?”

“Three, but I substituted the masks for ones drawn onto the face in blood.” He was quiet, continuing to pet the two chicks.

“Were you angry or hateful when you did it?”

“N-no, just…” she thought back to the moments she stood behind their shoulders; a shaky hand holding a shiny tanto, the sweat beading at her brow and how quick her heart beat. “Scared.” She’d been terrified to mess up and when she willingly put herself into the situation where she went into the siheyuan to look for Gawa and Chi and broke the one rule the nuns taught, it amplified.

“And there were times were I didn’t think, just acted.” Sage Bhuti nodded along, humming.

“I see your reactions are normal and to be expected when something traumatic like that happens. If a next time happens, never swing or shoot with anger or hate, only do so with the utmost calm mind or compassion and pray for them to have a good rebirth.” There wouldn’t be- no, she didn’t control that much of the universe. She’d like for this time to be the last time she’d go through something like that.

She might not have luck like that, but she knows what to expect now and some questions to ask before someone, in a hypothetical scenario, asked her to join another mission; They highly sought after her skill in stealth. Jamyang had already rejected a few mission invites before she went with Gawa. “Something else is bothering you. What is it?”

“They’ve allowed me to have a master ceremony.” Was that worded correctly? 

“Ahh, okay. You’re conflicted on how to feel about having killed someone close to your ceremony?” That summed up most of it. “I am.” It felt wrong.

“You’ll be reborn during your ceremony. Technically, something like this is going to be forgiven. It’s something that you can leave behind.” She knew that. “I still feel guilty.”

“That’s normal. If it interferes with your day, postpone it until you’ve worked through those feelings.” She’d thought about doing that, but wasn’t sure of how they’d react when she got back home. Now that another person said to do that, then she will.

She’d be one of the last out of her classmates to get her arrows, despite being the one who qualified for them before anyone. She could handle that.

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll-I’ll have it sometime next year then.” During the late summer, early autumn. It’ll give her a year or so to work through this.

“First kills are difficult, but they’re manageable when dealt with in the right way. Then it’s a valuable learning lesson.” Jamyang didn’t see how a kill could be a lesson in anything, but just like Sage Bhuti’s other wisdom, she’d figure it out later.

Green chick was asleep against his legs, blue chick was still awake.

“Is there something else you wanted to ask me?” Jamyang mulled over her thoughts- there was- but it was off topic.

“Do you remember your first life?” Purely for her own curiosity’s sake. She’d always wanted to ask someone that question. His eyes softened, and he smiled in a way she hadn’t seen before. “I was a healer.” Jamyang could tell it wasn’t him who responded. The features on his face shifted into someone else, soft features. A woman? “I played many instruments because I enjoyed seeing people happy, and I painted for someone.” She/they (?) closed their eyes as if they relived the memory. 

“They liked my paintings, so I tried to paint one every day for them. I held the hand of someone I loved. I took care of them and cherished them until the day I couldn’t anymore.”

Jamyang returned the blue chick and green chick back to their nest and gave Aika a big hug. 

When she got back to Taktsang, she’d write a letter to Yara to ask for help when looking for the spirits of the people she couldn’t send off properly.

She could go on that adventure alone, but it always felt better when she joined her.

Yara was the least judgmental person to exist in the world so, it’ll be okay. She wouldn’t hate her when Jamyang eventually told her why they were going on this adventure.

But she’d bring extra comfort pandas, just in case.

Three pandas and a bullfinch stumbled through her open window. The bullfinches around Agari had an orange hue to their red feathers, but other than that, they were the same as Assam and his family back in the Chenrezig forest.

The bullfinch perched itself in her palm while the visiting pandas climbed up her robes.

“Hello.” It chirped and leaned into her touch as she stroked its head, the act reminding her of Assam. He’d made his presence scarce around the temple. She didn’t know if it was because he was old or if it was spirit stuff. She’s never confirmed if he was part spirit or not, but she’ll get it confirmed within the next three years; Assam was nine years old, an old bird. Bullfinches could, in some cases, live until they were thirteen years old.

If he died within the next years, he was a bird with longevity and if he lived, then he’s part spirit.

Jamyang hoped he was part spirit. She treasured his visits more after Matcha and Oolong passed; she took care of and befriended the children they left behind. 

She looked over her shoulder when her door slid open and Gawa with Jampo perched on top of her head peeked in, holding two plates of food. “I bought food.”

“Thanks.” Gawa made her way in and placed the plates on the desk- every room had one- and grabbed a nearby stool to sit.

A kind monk gifted it to her in her early teens and she kept it here because she enjoyed Gawa’s company. They spent a lot of time around each other and it would be stupid to not accommodate.

“Where were you today?” Jampo jumped off of her head, mindful to not step on the plates of food.

She picked up the utensils, the fried noodles smelled amazing. “I befriend two of Aika’s chicks, had an unplanned nap in her nest and woke up to her being angry at a tree branch-,”

“What?” Gawa laughed.

“I know, don’t know what it did to her, but I got out of her nest in my sleepy state and asked for permission if I could bring them with me as I visited Sage Bhuti. I coaxed green chick and blue chick- yes, that’s what I’ve been calling them because I couldn’t come up with names- up the stairs and they did it all by themselves.”

“Wow, really?”

“Almost, the green chick mis-stepped and I had to step in. And I got some wisdom from Sage Bhuti. The green chick fell asleep and the blue chick almost did. I returned them back to their nest, gave Aika a big hug, and now I’m here. Visited by pandas, a bird, and an overbearing master.”

Gawa scoffed and punched her shoulder.

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” She laughed. It was nice to be brought meals. She should do the same if she had the chance. “A caring master.”

“That’s better.” Her laugh subsided into giggles as Gawa gave her the side eye while eating the noodles.

A silence wrapped around them while they ate, only disrupted by the pandas’ purrs.

“I think you’re pretty too, just so you know.” Gawa’s utensils slipped from her fingers and her head turned so fast she fast Jamyang feared it would snap off. “W-what?!” She reached up with a finger and poked her cheek, her flush intensifying.

She bit back a smile. That’s cute.

“After I extracted the poison, you said you think I’m pretty. It’d be wrong of me not to say it back.” Gawa ducked her head, embarrassed, and Jamyang wrapped her arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. 

In all the years they’d been friends, she’d never done that. It felt nice, stupid that she didn’t do it sooner.

“I didn’t say anything more embarrassing, did I?”

“No, you didn’t.”

Gawa also said that she drew her when she had artblock, but she didn’t need to bring that up. Sketchbooks were a private matter to artists. She wouldn’t repeat it. Jamyang could keep a secret. 

Notes:

Whoo, hey, I am going to take a break, I need a breather. Next update will be next weekend. I might update my other work in the mean time because I'm already half way through and almost done, but we'll see. So, Jamyang is going to have her master ceremony, Yara will, hopefully, help her deal with the spirits of the people she killed and they called each other pretty! Yay progress! And next chapter is going to be even more progress! Oh, how cool isn't that. Jamyang's glow veins and moment with the pandas in the bamboo forest is inspired by those three gifs. (Ohmygawd! I learned how to use gifs!) I love that game, the rots are the cutest! If there was a notification earlier, then it was a misstep on my part as I was trying to figure out the gifs.  words: Shinshii: dialect for sensei. Aikido: Japanese martial arts Hapkido: korean martial arts Miyako: a dialect in japan

[sweetbabyrayray]

This is such a great post, and I agree with everything you said. There’s only one thing that does somewhat contradict canon and it’s that you mentioned he has never shown interest in anybody sexually, even in small scenes.

Unfortunately there is one scene in the summer omake where Reigen has this exchange with Mob, Ritsu, and Teru:

However, I’m not going to argue towards this scene proving Reigen is not asexual. Quite the opposite!

First, I’m going to point out that none of the kids even attempted to fulfill this request. We know they didn’t because at every other “exorcism” Reigen takes them to in this omake, they attempt to do as he asks.

But for this “exorcism,” we only see scenes of them spending the time quietly contemplating on the sand or having fun together. This could imply a few different things.

1. All the kids collectively decided Reigen’s request was stupid and not worth the effort. This is a likely scenario as they are all pretty respectful children and Reigen’s request is pretty obviously disgusting. Even if someone tried to argue Mob would believe the exorcism ruse (which would be a disservice to his character, Mob is not a fool), Ritsu and Teru definitely wouldn’t.

2. The kids recognized Reigen was not being serious and disregarded the “request.”

From the beginning, it was clear Reigen’s motivations for this omake were to entertain Teru, who was lonely for the summer without his family, and he was doing this by pretending to take all the kids on exorcism jobs.

Reigen has difficulty being honest about his intentions, even when they are well-meaning (like this one). This is something we know from just reading the actual story. He likes to use coverups, often the excuse of an "exorcism," when he's helping people. This is obviously another one of those times.

And of course, Teru knows that.

Everyone knows.

Reigen's "find me a big titty ghost i can 'exorcise'" was a distasteful joke-slash-excuse to get the kids to relax on the beach.

Plus, look at his face when he says it.

To me, this is not the face of a man who wants his kids to find him a woman to grope. This is the face of a haunted individual who is disgusted at what he's saying but couldn't think of any better excuse. He pulled this shit out of his ass because he feels like this is something he SHOULD say. Reigen has only ever shown decency and respect towards women up until this point. Remember the time he wrestled a man to the ground for using astral projection to spy on his female neighbor? Or the time he taught Mob that men who hit women are huge losers? Or the many times he gave women (and men) massages to help them feel youthful again and never once made any sexual comments? Low bar, but I feel like if he were a huge pervert, the narrative would have used one of those scenes to show it.

Anyway, take what you will from this, but I just wanted to address this scene since it could technically be used to prove Reigen has shown sexual interest. And like, as an asexual person myself, I understand as well that asexuality is a spectrum and sometimes ace people feel horny and/or enjoy sex, and so this one scene really doesn't prove much of anything, given that. However, I am of the express opinion that this scene has much more nuance than one could notice at first glance, and I like talking about Mob Psycho lol so here you all go

Why I see Reigen as asexual

This is a very self-indulgent post, but it's his birthday today and I wanted to compile all the things about Reigen that make me see him as a fellow ace.

Please don't take this list too seriously! None of these are This Is Canon signs and some of them are just jokes. Also, it's pretty hard to find evidence of asexuality barring a character explicitly saying "hey i never feel sexual attraction" so bear with ne here.

1. That Scene With Dimple

Yeah, we all know the scene.

"But does love always have to come with sexual desires?" -Reigen Arataka

This is what almost asexual person asks at some point. It's just such an asexual quote. Society often conflates the two things as inherently hand-in-hand, but that's not true for everyone!

2. He never shows attraction to anyone

Now of course, the story is not primarily focused on him, and he's usually with Mob so he probably wouldn't be flirting in front of him. But there aren't even MOMENTS of him showing a smidge of attraction to other people, even when we see his life without Mob's presence. It really stands out in comparison to other goofy mentor figures in manga/anime who are commonly portrayed as hopeless flirts.

3. He's never been in a relationship before

When asked about his past romantic experiences in the official fanbook, he pretends he's had plenty of passionate romances and then describes a scene from Titanic before saying "Marriage is one of the countless types of lifestyles you can choose. It's best if everyone does whatever they want." So basically, despite being 29 years old at the time of the fanbook, he has had no significant romantic experiences and doesn't see himself getting married. (Even if he might be interested, as I'll explain in the next point.)

This is not exclusive to asexuality of course but it's a very common sentiment for ace people imo

4. He doesn't think he can be in a relationship

In Confession Arc, he has no idea how to ask someone out and has to cheat while giving advice to Mob. He also tells Serizawa afterward that if anyone saw him for who he really was, they'd turn him down right away.

But then, at least in the manga, he says that he hopes he can be in a relationship where he and his partner "can exist without distorting each other". So I think he does want to be in a relationship, he's just way too insecure about himself for many, many reasons.

I like to think one of these reasons is because he is asexual. It's a struggle for allo aces to find someone whose sexual preferences are compatible with ours, and yet it remains important to maintain our boundaries (aka not distort ourselves).

5. His anime outfit has ace flag colors

I mean. Gray, white, pink purple...

6. His reaction to a porn virus

Look at the face of this poor asexual man who spent an entire night trying and failing to get rid of a porn virus...

7. He is asexual

He is just asexual hope this helps (: