#Generator gave me some GOOD pairs man. Sheesh
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shima-draws · 4 days ago
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YIPPEE I’m doing more Pokemon fusion gijinka adopts!! I’ve put a list together of some of the neatest combinations I got from using a random generator. If you guys wouldn’t mind voting who you’d like to see most, we can narrow the list down a bit <3
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privayuna · 3 years ago
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Cock Whore
Pairing: Niragi x Fem Reader
Genre: Smut, fluff in the end
Summary: Niragi has been ignoring you for a few days, you decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. And so you decided to hang out with Chishiya, only to find your pussy aching because of your boyfriend who’s been distant with you.
Warnings: ya’ll already know what you’re getting into when its niragi i dont even have to warn you
Note: gaahhhhh its my first time posting smut on tumblr- hope you liked it! Also sorry for my bad grammar- english aint my first language. ALSO!!!! Niragi has  DICK PIERCING here so uh- enjoy~
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You missed your boyfriend. A lot. He’s been gone for 3 days cause millitant business. You missed his warm hugs, his piercings, his face, his playful attitude and how good he touched you.
He came back from his 3-day mission with the millitants, whatever they did, you opened your arms for your boyfriend only to be found hugging the air. You turned around to find him walking by passed you whilst ignoring your presence. You tried calling out his name, but he only ignored you. You’ve had enough, you were touch starved. If he was being an ass then you’ll have to find yourself some other dick.
You went back to your room and changed outfits, you wore the black two-piece swimsuit Niragi got you. You opened your door only to be faced with Chishiya. “come with me, i wanna hang out with you, its been a while” he eyed you head to toe and gave you a smirk. (sheesh ok hoe) 
Both of you reached the pool where it was crowded by peasents, “you look great in that two piece y/n, what’s the occasion?” “oh its nothing, just wanted to try something new~” you teased, “well you look hot” Chishiya licked his lips, you felt something wet down there as a light blush spread threw your face. “you know you should reconsider dating that fool, you deserve someone better. More clever, and better at eating you out” he stared at you with a smirk visible, not until you noticed the music stopping and so were the peasents chatting. He’s here. Niragi wasn’t with Aguni this time, but he was with the rest of the militant buddies 
“awwww you get me Chishiya! Niragi hasn’t been generous and i’m kinda disappointed” you pouted “want me to change that?~” he grabbed your thigh. ohoho, little do you know someone was watching. you bit your lip as Chishiya’s hands moved slowly to your dripping wet core. All thoughts were disturbed when a rough hand grabbed your arm. “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Niragi pushed you back and pointed his hun to Chishiya’s head “calm the fuck down moron, i wish just pleasing your girlfriend, you know, something you should be doing?” he sent death glares to the mischivious man, and scoffed. The grabbed your hand tightly and dragged you to his bedroom.
“what the fuck was that y/n?!” he yelled at you whilst throwing you on his bed. you sat back up “oh idk niragi, maybe the fact that you weren’t with me for 3 whole fucking days?! and maybe the fact that your ignoring me when you arrived at the beach while i called your name?!” you slapped him hard “or maybe it was becauseyou tried flirting with another woman knowing i was waiting for you?” 
He was hurt, at the thought of you, thiking about him cheating, he could ever do that, he loved you so much. And it made him agree just thinking of you cheating on him, with Chsihiya. he pushed you on the wall and kissed you roughly,while he gripped your face quite tightly, he slipped his tongue inside of your mouth, you felt his tongue piercing roam around your mouth as you did the same for his. He wasted no time and ripped both your clothes off. he pushed you down the bed and continued to make out with you roughly, while his hands travelled down thru your sex. he shoved two of his long fingers and moved them roughly, making you choke onto the kiss. you mewled and moaned as his fingers made magic, you felt so close to your limit, only to find him stopping and pulled out his fingers. 
“did i tell you to cum? i didn’t now did i?” “p-please niragi-” “shut up you slut and hold it in” he licked his fingers and swallowed all of your juices coming from his fingers. he grabbed your thighs and pulled you closer, he rubbed his pierced dick up and down, then in he goes. he went fast, god speed, and you weren’t shy at all, you moaned as loud as you could. his piercing hitting your spot makes it even better. he grabbed your face harshly ad kissed you whilst moving fastly. he pulled his face away as a string of saliva connected from your mouths. he went down to your neck and left multiple marks, marks so that everyone knows who you belong to. you drooled all over the feeling of his dick ramming in and out of you and how hard he thrusts. his piercing hittting the right spots makes you wanna cum right there, he felt you tighten up, letting him know you were close he gave you a smirk. you came, you couldn’t hold it in any longer, and creamed all over his cock “does that feel good? does it feel good cumming all over my dick you fucking whore?” you nodded continuously. you felt him twitch and bulge inside of you, his moans and grunts becooming more vocal. he starts to hit deeper than usual, he starts to go rough as he picked up his pace. he gave you one ahrd hit and came inside of you. 
he dropped out of exhaustion, you too, panted, he slowly went beside you and hugged you. “im sorry i haven’t given you much attention.... i promise ill be better” he gave you a sly smile only to find you fast asleep. he sighed and gave you a kiss on your forehead.
 -------------------------------------------
hope you guys liked the lemon!!!! jfc its even more embarassing knowing your old classmate will most likely see the smut- anyways if you guys have any request, JUST FUCKING TELL ME. thank you!!! love ya’ll
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xpeachesncream · 4 years ago
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bands | five
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[ series masterlist ]
summary: jeon jungkook has it all: the looks, the fame, the money, the women. being considered the sexiest man in the industry, he finds no complaints about the way his life is going nor does he find any reason to apologize for the way he approaches it. he is a force to be reckoned with - until he meets you.
pairing: stripper!reader x idol!jjk
genre: (18+) strip club/nightlife au, post grad au | fluff, angst, smut
words: 3.2k
warnings: cussing, mature language/implied sexual content, implied nudity/nudity (at the nightclub), teasing, sprinkle of breast touching, alcohol consumption, pole dancing, straddling/lap dances, slight degradation/implied degradation, rough handling, flashback scene
note: took a stab at this jungkook one shot + wips are updated!
tags: @brightcolorsoffendme @min-nicoleee @eggbutnotyolk @ra-mun-e @miinoongi@ephemeralkookie @ppeachyttae @thebeebi @bluesharksandfish @kooafraid @liriaus​ @thisartemisnevermisses​ @ggukkieland​ @preciouschimine​ @sunniejinnie​ (please message me if you would like to be added to the taglist!)
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'Do better' is exactly what Jungkook does, because he wants you, and he wants you bad. He thought he had you wrapped around his finger, when in fact, you had him wrapped around yours and he was crumbling by the minute. It's a little entertaining to you, seeing his name pop on your phone throughout the day with texts like:
[jungkook]: have a good day today, pretty lady.
[jungkook]: :)
[jungkook]: can't stop thinking about you and how good you looked last night.
[jungkook]: hope you aren't overworking yourself.
[jungkook]: can i call you tonight?
You would chuckle every single time, seeing him weak for you. You weren't gonna lie - you were fucking weak for him too, cause lord, who wouldn't be with Jungkook? The only difference is that you were just the stronger one between the both of you.
Ha, ain't shit but a hairflip. You for sure got this from your mama.
"To the club for Yoongi hyung's birthday!" Taehyung yells after they finish rehearsals for the next set of performances scheduled to happen in the next week and filming some content for Youtube.
"To the club-club!" Namjoon responds, throwing his hat back on.
"Excited to see some pretty girls shaking their ass and titties in my face." Yoongi lets out a cocky laugh.
"No private show?"
"No, hell no. I want 'em all." Yoongi smirks. "Jungkookie is the only one who loves his private shows."
"Yeah, yeah." Jungkook brushes it off with a chuckle.
"Are we finally gonna figure out who she is tonight?"
"Nope. She's not working tonight. Good try." He feels relieved saying that because to be honest, he's feeling completely and utterly selfish with you. He didn't wanna share, not with the guys. Hell no.
Except he's gonna have to tonight and he has yet to learn that.
» FLASHBACK
Jimin had just solidified the plans with Yoongi a couple of hours ago, learning that he wanted to head to the strip club for his birthday. And yeah, everyone has their own favorites. Everyone has their own agenda coming to the club. But, Yoongi says he wants to shut down the club for the evening so all 7 of them can enjoy the general floor together.
So, Jimin makes it a goal to grant Yoongi's wishes, but he also has another thing on his mind.
He had been picking up on Jungkook's little habits lately, even though he was notorious for always being on his phone and for barely paying attention to the environment around him. Jimin just knew he had it bad for you, miss new girl, simply by how his mood would change whenever he looked at his phone. How he was always at the club. How he always got shy and beat around the bush whenever you were brought up.
He just knew.
And to be honest, he was concerned. Moreso for Jungkook and his safety. Jungkook and his feelings. Things didn't sit right for him, and he worried that you were only out for his money. For his fame. For the attention. For all the wrong things. And he didn't like that shit one bit. He wasn't gonna let anyone take advantage of his little brother like that, he wouldn't give anybody the chance.
He wants to figure out who exactly you were. He wants to find out what you're all about. He wants to finally meet you face to face.
"Mr. Park Jimin!" Mr. Bigs says with a loud laugh. Jimin gives him a small smile as he tugs the brim of his hat down and approaches him. "How can I help you?"
"Yoongi's birthday is coming up at the end of the week, is it possible to shut the club down so the rest of the guys can enjoy the general stage together?" He pulls out an envelope and hands it to Mr.Bigs, his smile getting bigger the more he counts all the dollar bills inside.
"Whatever works for my boys." He laughs.
"Thanks." Jimin chuckles. "Uh, one more thing - if it's not too much of a bother, could I request a specific dancer to be out on the floor that night?"
"Yeah, of course you can. Who's the lady we're thinking of?"
"Whoever Jungkook's lady is." Mr. Bigs laughs so more and nods.
"Ah, I'm assuming he wants her there, huh? He really loves watching that young lady, but hey, whatever works and makes ya'll happy right?"
"Yeah, I suppose he does. I'd like to keep the request between us though." Jimin lies.
"Don't you worry about it. I'll make sure Phoenix is there that night. I'll have all of this covered so Mr. Min Yoongi has a fantastic birthday." He winks.
"Thanks, sir. We'll see you then." Jimin nods his head before heading out. Mr. Bigs waits until Jimin is out the door before pulling out his phone to give you a call.
"Hello?"
"You need to be here Friday, special request."
"From who? Can't I just take the—"
"Stop questioning me little girl, you hear me? Your ass better be here on Friday or else I'm taking a chunk out of your fucking tips and check." He abruptly ends the call.
» END FLASHBACK
And so the infamous Bangtan Sonyeondan boys are dressed, whipping out their cleanest, black attires from their closets. They take a couple of shots back to back before they're loading into their cars to be driven to the strip club. The club is empty, except for a few body guards, bar staff and the dancers.
"Oh shit, we get our own private show? Like actually?" Yoongi says, stepping into the empty club that was more than ready for the boys' arrival. There were topless dancers waiting alongside the stage with trays filled with different drinks and shots.
"Happy birthday, hyung." Jimin says, playfully massaging his shoulder.
"God, this is such a good way to end the day." Namjoon takes a shot from one of the beautiful ladies near the general stage. He smirks at her as he eyes her up and down, licking his lips when he realizes how fucking skimpy the bikini bottom she has on actually is. "Sheesh."
"Boys!" Mr. Bigs' deep voice comes from the other end of the club as he approaches them. "Please, enjoy and help yourself to whatever you like. Happy Birthday, Mr. Min Yoongi." He winks.
"Thank you, sir!" Yoongi yells as he grabs another shot from the tray. The rest of the boys follow suit, taking more drinks and eyeing the ladies around them, but Jungkook helps himself to a seat in the front of the general stage.
"Someone misses his private lady." Hobi jokes, causing him to shake his head.
"Whatever, as long as I don't have to share her with you guys." He spits out. "What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine." Jungkook finishes jokingly with his infamous line. It seems like a full house of dancers tonight, either on the sidelines or now entering the general stage. Jungkook rests his foot on his knee, ready to get the night started so he can enjoy, but also hurry on home afterwards to try and hear your voice.
But you were in the back room of the club.
No one really knew what was going on outside unless you had been outside already. Mr. Bigs gave you all a pep talk saying each and every single one of you needed to be on your best behavior, especially out on the floor. Bigs and his men refused to name the special guests just so none of you would psych yourselves out and mess up. You didn't know you were soon going to be catering to the BTS boys together, and Jungkook didn't know you were going to be one of the main dancers on stage either. His eyes were glazing over the rest of the girls on stage because they weren't you, to be honest. I mean, hell. It's always nice to be around topless, beautiful women. But he had gotten so used to seeing you. Your face. Your body. Touching you. Smelling your strawberry scent.
Jimin situates himself next to Jungkook, the rest of the group aligning themselves along the seats in front of the stage. He eyes Jungkook, taking note of how uninterested and bored he was - so bored that he even caught him trying to hide his yawn. Maybe he was just tired, as with everyone else, but that just meant his special lady friend wasn't out yet.
"You three, up. Now." Bigs says, coming into the backroom from the floor, pointing his finger towards the curtains. "Phoenix, remember. Don't throw no stupid ass attitude out there, playing hard to get like you're some kind of queen." He scoffs in disgust before dismissing the three of you. You roll your eyes, already highly irritated being there since it was originally your day off and no one wanted to give you answers as to why you needed to be there. Mr. Bigs had almost all the dancers out here to tonight, why the fuck would he need you?
The lights are off for a quick second before they dimly shine onto the stage, the music playing loudly in the background. You step onto the stage, your eyes instantly landing on the man front and center.
Jungkook.
You swallow the lump in your throat seeing the rest of the boy band around him, already smirking and licking their lips at the sight of you and the two other dancers on the stage. Jungkook adjusts himself in his seat, fixing his jacket as he sits upright to lean forward onto his knees. His eyes are glued onto you, almost like he's confused as to why you're here right now.
Why you're giving him and his boys a show.
Jimin catches Jungkook's slight uneasiness, his gaze following Jungkook's onto the stage. His eyes were set on you, the pretty lady swirling her body around the silver pole in the middle of the stage.
"She's fucking beautiful." Yoongi says, immediately getting up and reaching into the inner breast pocket of his jacket to pull out some bills. He stands in the front, almost blocking Jungkook's view of you. He catches Yoongi placing a couple of hundreds under the bottom portion of your fishnet bodysuit. The bodysuit that captured your curves so perfectly - thighs thick and full, ass cheeks popping out of the thong portion, your titties and pussy very visible through the fishnet material. God, you were a fucking beauty. Jungkook watches as you squat in front of Yoongi, bouncing up and down before you get up scandalously and shake your ass in front of his eyes. "Ohhhh shit." Yoongi bites onto his bottom lip as he laughs and tucks more bills near your thigh.
"It's his birthday!" Hobi yells, causing you to smirk at Yoongi and grab his hand to let him feel up on your breast. Jungkook shifts in his seat, a little envious of how Yoongi was able to touch you in that way before he was able to. Like fuck? Could it be my birthday too? Could it be my birthday everyday? He was never gonna let this one go. He continues to watch as you push Yoongi back onto his chair and give him a birthday lapdance.
"Happy birthday." You say softly in his ear before getting back up on the stage to do some tricks on the pole.
One, two: Turn upside down.
Three, four: Wrap them legs around.
Five, six: Treat the pole like a slip and slide.
Seven, eight: Flip back up and slide back down.
"Damn, it's my birthday over here too." Jin says tapping his lap and tossing a roll of bills near you before looking over at Taehyung. He's also throwing bills onto the stage, but he's focused on the other main lady off to the side. Still doesn't mean he isn't throwing bills your way either, cause he is every chance he gets to look over at you.
"Like what you see?" Jimin jokes with Jungkook.
"Yeah." Is all he says as he's approaching you. He gives you this look, which you don't understand what it means, but you didn't have the time to decipher it right at this moment. You watch Jungkook closely, his mouth pressed tightly together as his eyes are still scanning your entire body before he brings them back up to meet your eyes. You crawl towards him seductively, your fingers lightly brushing down his neck before you gently tug on his jacket. He doesn't say anything as he tucks bills near your titties, giving you one last look before sitting back down in his seat.
The main show comes to an end pretty quickly afterwards, other dancers making their way to the poles if they wanted or kept serving the boys whatever they needed. You hop off the stage, collecting your bills and folding them tightly together, tucking it deep on the side of your breast to keep it hidden. You head outside to get some air because what the fuck just even happened? You weren't expecting that whatsoever, even though you knew better than that. You should have always thought there would be a chance you'd have to do what you just did. You should have always been prepared.
"Lil mama, you looked good dancing up there in that tiny ass suit you got on." One of the men in Bigs' crew said as they lingered outside the backroom door, smoking cigarettes. "What do you say? Wanna come home with me so I can help get that off?" He smirks, approaching you.
"I'm only out here to get some air, please don't come up to me with all that bullshit." You spit out, causing the guy to furrow his brows at you.
"This one's got a little fire in her." He laughs, coming closer to you. "Whatchu gonna do if I don't take no for an answer, miss thang?" He grips your wrist tightly. You try to break free, but after tonight, you were too fucking tired to even deal with his stupid shit. "Oh, she's weak now?" He grips tighter, making you wince as you try to pry him off. He brings you closer, his face inches away from yours - so close you can smell the smoke and alcohol mixed together, coming off of his breath. Suddenly, you hear someone clear their throat behind them, their attention going from you to the individual. "Oh shit, it's Jeon Jungkook." You watch as the man lets you go, Jungkook standing there with his hands in his pockets and jaw clenched. He doesn't say anything besides nod to acknowledge them. "Big fan, dude."
"The fuck? I had my private show scheduled with Phoenix almost 10 minutes ago. You guys have been holding her up?" Jungkook is obviously throwing on an angry act because you didn't have any private shows booked tonight.
"Shit, my bad. I didn't know—"
"You didn't know cause you were too busy being a jackass?"
"Mr. Jeon, no disrespect here. I'm sorry I took time away from your show. Please, take whatever time you need with her - on me." He says, his friends silently standing by as they throw their cigarettes and go back inside.
"Yeah, it should be on you for fucking wasting my time." Jungkook doesn't say anything else, but he does glare at him until he's almost tripping over himself making his way back inside the club. "You okay?" Jungkook asks, coming closer.
"Yeah. Thanks." You rub your hand up and down your arm, the cold air nipping at your skin.
"I thought you said you weren't working tonight."
"I wasn't supposed to. Bigs just told me I was requested to be here tonight." You raise your eyebrow. "Wait, how did you not know? I thought it was—"
"You thought it was me that requested for you?" He chuckles. "Funny that you think I'd share you with the guys."
"Sooo?"
"I don't know." He shrugs. "Maybe he just wanted his best dancers to be here."
"Hm." You slightly smirk at the compliment. "Best dancers, huh?" He rolls his eyes and playfully sighs.
"Yeah, don't milk it." A small smile tugs at the corner of his lips.
"You gonna be here all night?"
"Possibly since it's Yoongi's birthday." You nod. He stays silent as he looks at you for a bit, his head slightly cocked to the side.
"So does he get a pass for tonight?" Jungkook chuckles and shakes his head.
"Only cause it's his birthday."
"Mm, not even because he's your senior or anything of the sort?"
"Nah." He smiles a bit. "Not at all. I hope you know I'll never forget it."
"Please, I didn't know Jeon Jungkook was a drama actor, too. What can't he do?" You sarcastically say.
"Okay, say whatever you want." He kicks the dust below his shoes as he lightly chuckles with you. It's silent again, but it's a calming silence. There's no awkward vibes or anything of that matter. You begin to rub your arms again, the cold nipping at your skin harshly. "You should get back inside, it's freezing." He watches you shiver in front of him. He isn't sure if he should hand you his jacket, even if he does want to help you out in the slightest bit, but he figures he shouldn't since you still needed to finish your shift.
"Okay." Your expression softens. "See you in there?" He silently nods, watching your hips sway back and forth until you're deeper in the club. The night doesn't end for everyone until a little bit past 2, close to 3am. You're hauling your tired ass back home, Kai struggling and barely making it alive as soon as you walk through your front door.
"Jesus fuck, thank god." He shuts the TV off and covers his entire body with the blankets.
"Kai, I told you that you didn't have to wait."
"Well until you're out of the club, this is my life now." Why was everyone so dramatic tonight? You chuckle to yourself.
"Okay, if you say so. Night bubba."
"Night." He yawns. In about 2 seconds, he's back to snoring loudly, causing you to laugh to yourself as you get ready for bed.
[jungkook] 3:14am: home?
[y/n] 3:17am: yes. you?
Maybe Kai didn't have to stay up for you after all.
[jungkook] 3:23am: yeah.
[jungkook] 3:24am: i'm assuming you had a really long day today so sleep well, Y/N. can i call you tomorow?
[y/n] 3:20am: you can, i don't know if i'll answer though. :) goodnight jungkook.
And so Jungkook smiles to himself before grabbing a water and heading back to his dorm room. He was slowly getting used to your sarcasm and attitude, being that he has never had to deal with someone being this way towards him. It was fun, and new.
"So was your lady actually there tonight?" Taehyung asks with Jimin sitting next to him.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jungkook scrunches his nose before turning on his heel to walk away.
"Wow, Jungkookie is being selfish. Namjoon hyung go scold him." Namjoon laughs.
"Jungkookie don't be selfish." Joon says nonchalantly just to keep Taehyung happy.
"Yeah, yeah." He shuts himself in his room to get ready for bed. Jimin silently sits next to Taehyung as they relive the night's events before going to bed. He had seen you and Jungkook talking outside, which only solidifies his assumption.
And he was onto you.
youtube
i'm good on that pussy shit; i don't want what i can get, i want someone with secrets that nobody, nobody, nobody knows
track six: gangsta - kehlani
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ladydorian05 · 4 years ago
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A Christmas with you~
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Oh god...where do I begin, okay as of today Dec/24/2020, the movie We can be heroes isn’t out yet, so everything is just from my imagination, interactions, personalities and everything else that may sound slightly canon, it’s most certainly NOT canon. I hate using ‘Y/n’ on reader inserts but this time I had to. Thank you @din-damn-djarin​ for being my beta for this fic, I really, really appreciate it. Go check out her fics, I adore her Neigbor Marcus Pike series, it’s SO good. 
This is a monster of a fic, where did so many words come from?
Hope you guys like it.
Thoughts are in italics 
A Christmas with you~
Pairing: Marcus Moreno x f!reader
Summary: You’ve been in love with your best friend for years, what you don’t know is that he’s also in love with you. Could a little push from one cunning young girl help you both get together during the most wonderful time of the year? (sorry, still suck at summaries)
Warnings: Reader’s superhero name is “Striker”, why? Because my brain thought it sounded cool, I jump from POV to POV, one plotting child, best friends to lovers, a pair of pinning idiots and implicit spiciness.
Words: 7K something
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It was no secret to any of the members of the Heroics that you had no family to spend the holidays with.
In a way they were all your family, you were all a close-knitted team, but sometimes, it just wasn’t the same.
Then, there was Marcus and his daughter. He had been there from the moment you joined the team he became a very close friend, your best friend. Most of the time you got partnered with him, especially when it came to reconnaissance missions, you worked well together, you trusted each other and always had each other’s back.
Eventually, you began to feel differently towards him. You were no fool, you knew what you felt for him was definitely more than simple fondness, attachment or admiration. Your heart rate increased when he was close, his smile makes you smile, you would do anything for him, anything to keep him and his loved ones from harm’s way.
He’s always been so charming and handsome and a total gentleman. There had been times where you had wanted to take the first step, confess your feelings to him and see where that would take you, but you couldn’t; at first because he had been a married man about to become a father when you met him and then when his wife stopped being a part of the picture, well you just wanted to be there for him as a friend, he had enough on his plate raising Missy on his own, he didn’t need you to dump all of your feelings on him.
He was doing amazing on his own, but you wanted him. No, you wanted both of them, Marcus and Missy, to know that you would be there for them whenever they needed you. Besides, you were just friends, he’ll never see you as anything more.
“That will be all for today, everyone’s dismissed. I wish you all a happy Christmas eve and remember to keep your locators close, we all know how crime rates increase during this season. I'll see you again here until the 26th” Ms. Granada said, taking you out of your thoughts and officially ending the debrief meeting.
Every year, during the holidays, most of the team got a leave from duty, beginning early on Christmas eve, until the 26th; that was if no major crisis happened that required the whole team, otherwise only a handful of volunteers were left on patrol duty during those days.
Seeing as you’ve never celebrated the festivity, you always volunteered to be a part of the patrolling team. Not that your teammates had never invited you to spend Christmas with them and their families, they had done it on multiple occasions, not wanting you to be alone, time and time again you had reassured them that it was alright you didn't mind spending the night patrolling.
In truth, you always declined because you didn’t want to intrude, the celebration was all about family and spending time with loved ones, you knew your friends had good intentions but you just didn’t want to feel like you didn’t belong there, like you were invited to tag along out of pity.
Eventually, the invitations stopped coming your way, and while it hurt a bit that they gave up on you, you were also relieved for not being put on the spot again and again having to decline their generous offers.
But this year, unbeknownst to you, a scheme was beginning to brew inside the head of one young girl, to make you change your plans for the night.
~~~~~~~~~~
Missy wasn’t blind, she knew there was something between her father and Striker, even before she learned that her father was a superhero.
When she was younger, she had shipped his dad’s alter ego and Striker. They always looked so in-sync on the tv, like the perfect duo, but now that she gets to watch them both in real life? She had no doubts, they liked each other.
And it wasn’t just when they were in costume, Striker had always been around ever since she could remember, all of her birthday parties, her school festivals, even helping her dad every time some mom came up with the idea to have bake sales at school over and over again; what’s wrong with that woman?
She had noticed all the constant glances, the here and there ‘accidental’ brush of hands, even the full-on staring; just like right now, during the debrief, her father’s eyes kept straying from Ms. Granada to Striker and every single time he turned his attention back to the meeting before he could notice how Striker had been doing the same thing. Oh yeah, they were both pining for each other.
The problem was that they were SO stubborn, she’s been trying to bring it up to her dad, but he would immediately change the topic of the conversation with some question about school or any upcoming mission, it was frustrating!
She wanted him to be happy, she wanted both of them to be happy, and being superheroes was dangerous business, she wasn’t about to wait until something happened to either of them, as dramatic as that would be, for things to move forward. Like always, it was up to her to give them a push.
“You know, if you keep staring at her like that she’ll burst into flames.” One good thing that came with the pair of pinning adults was that the whole thing made them so easy to tease, and she loved to tease her father.
“I think you're mistaken, that would be something Lavagirl could probably do, not me sweetheart.” With a chuckle, Marcus puts a hand on her head to ruffle her hair. “Ready to go?” Changing the topic, again. This time she wasn’t about to let it go.
“Not yet. Actually, there’s something you haven’t done.” Missy crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Oh, really?” Marcus smiled as he mimicked his daughter’s stance. “And what is that thing I haven’t done?” he said with amusement.
Missy smirked. “You haven’t asked Y/n if she wants to come home and celebrate with us. “The smile on Marcus' face disappeared, a stunned expression replacing it.
“What!?”
“Yeah, you should invite her, we can all have dinner together and maybe she can stay and open presents with us.”
“Uh…Missy, sweetheart I don’t think that’s a good-“
“Oh, come on, dad! It’ll be great! It’s not as if we’re doing something REALLY special tonight. Please?”
“Sweetheart, she’ll probably say no, you know she never comes to Christmas parties.” His hands moved from his chest to rest on his waist as he spoke.
“Which is why you should invite her over. We’re not throwing a party; it’ll be just the three of us. And even if she says no, you won't lose anything just by asking.”
He wouldn’t know what to do if she rejected him. How cliché of him to fall in love with his best friend.
He had slowly fallen for you, so much so that by the time he realized what was going on, he was already a goner.
He had always known how beautiful you were, your smile, the way it illuminated your whole face; your eyes, your nose, your lips. He noticed how you were always helping people, inside and outside your Heroic persona, he also noticed how you tried to dismiss your own worries, not wanting to ‘burden’ others with them.
If only you would let him do for you the same things you do for him. He would love nothing more than to share whatever problems weighted down on you. He also knew you never accepted invitations to any Christmas celebration, at first, he had thought maybe you were being shy, being the new member of the team and all that, but year after year you always declined every single invitation from your teammates, he had always hated the thought of you spending the holidays on your own, patrolling the city.
He had never tried to invite you himself, back when his wife was around, they had always traveled to her parent’s house so it was useless to ask you to tag along, and then, after she left, it had been difficult to even try to celebrate.
If he asked you to come to Christmas and you said no, if you rejected him…well what hope could he have that maybe, just maybe he could find the courage to confess his feelings. But the probability of them being unrequired scared him so much. Should he risk it all?
Missy didn’t need to be a telepath to know what her dad was thinking, he was thinking too much and that normally resulted in him chickening out, well this time she wouldn’t let him.
“Or do you actually like the idea of her spending Christmas patrolling the city in a cold night most likely on her own?” This time she copied her father’s stance, silently challenging him to a staring contest, she had this in the bag, her dad had never won a staring contest in his life.
“You can be so stubborn when you want to, little lady.” Marcus said after a few seconds, breaking eye contact.
“Who do you think I got it from?” She said with a self-satisfied smile on her face.
“Come here.” Marcus pulled her in a hug. “I love you; you know that?” he said, leaving a kiss on top of her hair.
“I know, I love you too. Now stop stalling and go ask her.”
“Okay, okay. Sheesh, you’re also bossy.” He squeezed her a little before letting go and walking towards y/n.
“It’s called leadership!” He shook his head laughing, well, at least he was doing something right, god knows raising Missy almost on his own hadn’t been easy.
~~~~~~~~~~
You had been waiting to see which teammates would be staying with you this year to agree upon a schedule, when you noticed Marcus approaching you, he stood in front of you with a wide smile making his adorable dimple appear.
“Hi there.” He greeted while rubbing his hands together, one of his nervous ticks.
“Hi there yourself, everything okay?” It was weird, you could see how tense he was and he kept shifting from foot to foot.
His eyes widened and his head kept moving as he nodded. “Yeah, yes, everything’s alright.”
“Okay.” Now this was a Marcus you didn’t get to see often. Normally he was so self-assured, he always carried himself with confidence, even in the face of danger. “Are you excited to go home and spend a whole day with Missy?”
“Of course, it’s been some time since we’ve had the chance to spend a whole day together.”
“I’m glad you got the chance, she’s been working so hard, you both have, you deserve some time off.”
And so do you. He thought.
“You know, you’re right, you should also take a break.” He frowned. Marcus could see the bags under your eyes. You had also been working harder, pulling more time than the others. You did this every year during this season and it always pained him, while everyone else went home to their families you didn’t even hang your suit and equipment for a night and a day off, no, you made sure to keep everyone safe.
“I don’t know, not many of us volunteer for patrol as it is, and I don’t have any plans for the night or tomorrow so, why not?” You looked down at your feet. It was the truth, why bother taking a break, only to go to a cold empty apartment? You could find a better use of your time like this.
Marcus, swallowed, steeling what little resolve he had, it was now or never.
“You know, we- Missy and I that is. We were wondering if…maybe, if you don’t have any other plans; and of course you can say no, but it’ll be great if you said yes, and it’s nothing formal-” You watched him with amusement as he kept rambling, “It would be just the three of us and well, pizza and movies and junk food, staying up until midnight and opening some presents. Don’t worry, you don’t have to actually bring anything, it’ll be fine with jus-“
Shit, why was he talking so much, and why wouldn’t his hands stop moving!? Something like this hadn’t happened to him in a freaking long while, since he first invited a girl he liked on a date, like twenty or so years ago!
Leave it to you to have this kind of effect on him, only you could reduce him to a babbling idiot, if this kept going on, he wouldn’t be able to actually ask you the question.
~~~~ 
Oh my god! What is he doing!? Missy stared at her dad as he kept talking and moving his hands around while you just looked at him with mirth and confusion.
She had to do everything in this family, didn’t she?
“Would you like to join us tonight and maybe even tomorrow?” Missy interrupted her dad before he could keep on talking.
 Marcus hadn't been so grateful to his little girl than in that moment. “Umm, yeah, would you like to join us?” Marcus looked at you with a smile and hopeful eyes.
“Oh…OH!” You were speechless, you weren’t expecting an invitation this year, least of all an invitation from him. While it wasn’t weird for him to invite you to special occasions, he’s never once tried to invite you to spend Christmas with him. You always thought this time of year was special for him and that he preferred to spend it alone with Missy. “I-I…”
“Please say yes! It’d be fun, we just sit in front of the tv and watch movies while eating junk food!” Missy jumped in hugging you. She wasn’t scared to use her resources, every single one of them, if that meant that y/n agreed to the invite; she’d even use the puppy eyes if she had to, she had to exploit that one before it stopped working.
“I don’t know, we can’t leave the city defenseless…” Puppy eyes it was.
“Pretty please! I’m sure it’ll be fine, you always stay on duty, they can manage one year without you!”
Oh no, not the puppy eyes! You stared at Missy’s brown eyes, they looked so much like her father’s. You shifted your gaze from Missy to look at Marcus only to find him doing almost the same expression. God damn it! Not him too, he’s too old for that face to work, why is it working!?
What the hell, it’s not like you didn’t want to.
“Okay, I’ll join you guys”
“Yes! You’re the best, see ya later!!!” Missy gave your middle a squeeze before running out of the room, leaving you and Marcus staring after her.
“You mister are way too old to be pulling the puppy-eyed look, you should be ashamed.” You turned to see his smug face.
“I’ll keep using it for as long as it keeps working.”
“What a disgrace.”
“So umm, does six work for you?”
“Yeah, I’m just going to let the others know I won’t be a volunteer this year. See you then.” With a smile you gave Marcus a quick hug before approaching one of the members of the Heroics that, much like you, always volunteered and was the one in charge of making the schedule for patrol rounds.
“Yeah, see you.” Marcus said shaking his head, long after you had left his side. He needed to get a grip of himself, if not, he would have a long night waiting for him.
~~~~~~~~~~
Even if Marcus said not to bring anything, you hated arriving at a friend’s house empty handed, even if it was Marcus, especially if it was Marcus; so you made sure to grab a couple of things on the way to your apartment. Some bags of everyone’s favorite chip flavor and enough ingredients to make some cinnamon rolls.
You took a quick shower once the glaze was done and the cinnamon rolls were in the oven. With one towel around your body and another one around your hair; you stood in front of your dresser debating on what to wear.
It’s not like this was a date; as if. So why worry so much?  Still, you kept on throwing clothes on your bed, you told yourself enough by the time you were seriously contemplating putting on a dress.
You put away the mess you made, leaving out a nice button up shirt and a pair of comfortable dress pants, the ones that had actual pockets, you finished your look with some comfortable boots, you were probably going to end up taking them off at some point so you also put on some cute Christmas themed fuzzy socks.
Satisfied with your choice, you decided to put on a baggy T-shirt to take the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and to prevent the glaze from dirtying your clothes when you poured it on the buns once they were cool enough.
You were fifteen minutes late by the time you got dressed, packed everything up, and grabbed the presents for Marcus and Missy that you had wrapped up a week ago. You send Marcus a message saying that you were on your way.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marcus went into full panic mode when they got home an hour and a half away from the time he told you to arrive, they lost too much time lining up to pay at the supermarket, he insisted on going once he remembered he was out of your favorite candy, he also got a bag of chocolates and some sodas.
For a moment he contemplated getting some beers, but soon dismissed the idea, he wasn’t that much of a drinker and he didn’t like to drink in front of his daughter. Besides this wasn’t a date, of any kind, just his daughter and best friend; who he had been in love with for a long time now, spending some quality time together.
Shit, he forgot about the pizza!
“Missy, go take a shower and change into something more comfortable but nice and then come give me a hand, we need to set everything up in the living room” He said as he dialed the number from the pizza place the three of you loved.
Missy took the grocery bags to the kitchen before doing what her father asked her to do, but in reverse, that way there was a chance that you would arrive while she was still getting ready leaving the two of you alone for a few minutes.
She opened the chocolate and candy bags dumping the contents into two different small bowls, she listened as her father finished ordering the pizza on her way to the living room where they had a slightly bigger tv than the one in front of the breakfast table, she left the bowls on the coffee table in the middle.
“Missy, I thought I asked you to do something else before setting everything up.”
“I know, but we’ll finish faster this way, you need to take a shower too. Can you get the glasses from the cupboard?”
He sighed but went to the kitchen to get the aforementioned glasses.
“Hey, did you order the potato wedges?” Missy asked, taking one of the soda bottles and putting it inside the fridge.
“Yup.” Marcus answered, passing her the second bottle. “Give me a hand with the plates please.” He bumped her with his hip as he passed her.
They inspected their work for a moment before going to their respective rooms to get ready, Missy decided to take her time choosing her clothes, she even contemplated whether it’d be too much to take a bath instead of a shower.
 ~~~~~~~~~~
Never before, in his whole life, had he gotten ready for ANYTHING as fast as today. He almost pulled out a suit from his closet before doing a double-take and grabbing a nice shirt, some black denim pants, and his favorite sneakers.
He decided to forgo any kind of hair product and only dabbled a little bit of cologne on his wrist and neck. On his way to the living room, he stopped by Missy’s room to knock on her door.
“Are you ready darling?”
“Not yet!” Was her muffled response.
“Okay, I’ll be in the living room, take your time but remember we’ll have a special guest over.” A special guest? Come on Marcus, she’s been here multiple times before, she’s like part of the family, maybe not in the way he wished her to be but still.
~
“Okay, dad!” A special guest!? Really!? He was hopeless, did he even notice how obvious he was? Why hadn’t he done something about it yet? Y/n could easily slip through his fingers by the time he decided to actually make a move. She needed to up her game.
 Marcus kept staring at the clock as it read five minutes past six, leg bouncing. Maybe his clock was wrong, maybe he didn’t put the right hour, maybe it was forward by a few minutes.
God, he was a mess, he needed to calm down, it was just Y/n, his best friend; she’s hung out with them before, on multiple occasions, except…well she wasn’t JUST Y/n, she never was and never would be.
She was everything, she became everything to him in such a short time that sometimes it scared him. If he had to be truly honest with himself, he needed to admit that he began to fall for her the moment they met, he fought against it for years, he was married with a baby on the way for god’s sake.
He had loved his wife and he would’ve never cheated on her, but he also couldn’t deny the connection he felt with you from day one, he had never felt something even remotely close to it with anyone else.
If things had been different, he would have told you about his feeling’s way sooner, he had been selfish, he knew he couldn’t afford to lose you, he lost his wife, Missy lost her mother, he couldn’t lose you too if you didn’t feel the same, that would’ve destroyed him when Missy needed him more than ever.
So, instead he kept it silent, holding on to the hope that maybe, someday, he’d be able to act upon his feelings for you.
He was startled by his phone chiming in his pocket, the first thing he noticed was the hour, quarter past six; and the second, your message. ‘I’m on my way.’
He sighed, you would be there soon, could he maybe try to hint at something tonight? Well, if he didn’t, maybe he could bring ‘that’ out.
~~~~~
Fifteen more minutes later you were finally ringing Marcus’ house doorbell, not for the first time, you were happy with the proximity of your apartment complex to his house.
“Hey! Why didn’t you use your key?” Marcus' smiling face greeted you. “Oh, I see why.” You were holding a container in one hand, balancing two gift boxes on top and the cloth bag with the chips in the other.
“I kind of couldn’t even if I wanted to.” You laughed.
“I told you, you didn’t have to bring anything but yourself; here, let me help you.” He took the container with the cinnamon rolls from your hands. “Come on in.”
“As if you didn’t know me Marcus, I never come here with empty hands.” You followed Marcus to the kitchen after closing the door behind you.
“This thing is warm, what’s inside?” he had left the bag and the container on the counter, he also put the boxes aside.
“Well, you have two options, you can try to guess or you can open it.” You said with a smile, taking the bags of chips out to fold the bag they were in.
“I know it’s warm, is it something sweet?” so guessing it was, you loved to play this kind of game with him every time you brought baked goods.
“Yes.”
“Can I smell it? Am I allowed to do that?” he asked, eyebrows raised and a big smile on his face.
You faked a thoughtful look before nodding. Marcus lifted the container close to his face and took a deep breath.
“Cinnamon?” His eyes opened wide in delight. “No way, don’t tell me! Are these, you brought cinnamon rolls!? Holy sheesh!”
You laughed at him, you knew he loved cinnamon rolls so you made them as often as you could, you even gave him the recipe but he claimed that they just didn’t taste the same when he made them himself. You thought he was just too impatient to make them and preferred to just eat them.
He opened the container to keep the bread from getting soggy because of the condensation inside it.
“My god! They look delicious, I swear could kiss you right now!” What!?
 FUUUUCK!!! YOU IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!!!! he froze up, there was a moment of silence between the two of you before it was thankfully interrupted by the doorbell.
“The pizza is here! Just in time.” He said with maybe too much enthusiasm. The delivery guy deserved a big tip, he just unknowingly saved his ass.
 Did you hear correctly? Did he say kiss? That’s what he said, right?
No, well yes, he did say it, but he probably didn’t mean it like, well...THAT. It was just an expression, he was overjoyed you brought him food and you were just thinking too much into things. Yeah, that was it, you were thinking too much.
“I heard the pizza arrived! Don’t start without me!” You shook your head, clearing your thoughts as Missy appeared around the corner. “Hi y/n!”
“Hi Missy.” You opened your arms towards her for a hug that she walked right into.
“You got chips, nice. Wait do I smell cinnamon rolls!?” Like father, like daughter.
“Ah-ah-ah! Don’t touch those, little lady. Those are for later.” Marcus said stepping into the kitchen. “Now, come on, I left the pizza on the coffee table.”
“But dad, they’re WARM.” Missy argued, stressing out the last word.
“Don’t you think it also hurts me to leave them there? We can reheat them later in the oven.” Marcus said with his hands on his hips. Missy looked like she wanted to say something more, so you decided to cut in.
“Mis, why don’t you take the gifts I brought and put them under the tree? We’ll be there in a minute.” You said handing her the boxes.
“Okay, but I get to pick the first movie!” Both of you watched as she walked out.
“I swear this girl.” Marcus huffed running a hand through his hair.
“Don’t you dare finish that thought Moreno, you’re just as bad as her when it comes to your precious buns.” You said shaking your head.
You hear him gasp as you walk to the fridge, knowing he probably stashed the drinks there. “You wound me!”
“Uh huh, let’s go before she decides to start eating without us.” You grabbed one of the cold bottles of soda inside the fridge and made your way towards the living room. “Don’t forget to bring the chips.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Together you made your way to the living room.
~~~~~~~~~~
Missy decided to sit on the carpeted floor right in front of the coffee table, that way her dear pining love birds would be forced to share the loveseat.
“What took you so long? I hope the big box is for me, also I already picked a movie.”
“Don’t be impatient, you’ll find out soon.” You said as you ruffled her hair a little, leaving the bottle of soda on the table close to the glasses.
“Oh no. Sweetheart, we forgot to move the couch.”
“It’s okay dad, you two can have the loveseat, besides this way I’ll be closer to the snacks.” Don’t be suspicious Missy, you don’t want to ruin this perfect chance. Phase one, getting them to sit together: complete, phase two is on hold.
“You sure you don’t mind darling?”
“Nope, can I start the movie?”
~~
Oh god, they were going to be really close to one another.
Calm down, Moreno. You’re fine, this is fine. It’s your best friend. He reminded himself for the millionth time that day.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him, maybe it was because this was your first Christmas with them and all the domestic stuff was getting to him.
He turned to look at you “After you.” He said gesturing towards the loveseat with his hands.
“Thank you. What are we watching Missy?”
“First Home alone, The Santa Clause, Arthur Christmas; you know, the classics with a touch of new stuff.”
“Let’s begin then.” Everyone sat in their respective places with a plate and a slice of pizza.
As the evening progressed, he found himself using the ‘stretching move’ to put his arm around you, when he noticed you weren’t bothered by it, he willed his body to relax and enjoy the company of his favorite people in the world.
 As the movies kept playing on the screen and the snacks disappeared little by little. You felt yourself get more comfortable.
For a moment you let your imagination run wild; for a moment you let yourself believe this was a normal occurrence, family movie nights, cuddling with Marcus on the loveseat, going to sleep beside him afterward, waking up beside him, help him raise Missy…
You needed to stop this, as wonderful as everything sounded inside your head you knew none of that would become a reality.
“Okay, it’s getting late,” You got startled by Marcus nudging you softly with his shoulder before pausing the movie, you hadn’t even realized you leaned into him “don’t think that I’ll forget about your bedtime just because Y/n is here.”
“But dad!”
“No, come on, let’s open some presents and then I want you to go get ready for bed. I can see your head nodding from here, you’re tired, go on choose one.”
Phase two: Leave the love birds alone, has officially begun. Missy thought, wishing for her dad to finally take the opportunity to climb that last step. Phase three of her plan, officially having you as a mom, depended on it.
“Okay,” Missy said pretending to be disappointed “Y/n, which one is mine? The big one?”
“Sorry Mis, It’s actually the small one.”
“Oh.”
“’Oh’? What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t you have faith in me?”
“I do, but what cool stuff could possibly be wrapped in such a small box?”
“You’ll see once you open it, sweetheart.” Marcus left the remote control on the table and returned to his previous position on the loveseat, arm around you and all.
Both of you watched as Missy broke the wrapping paper and opened the wooden box taking out what looked like a smart watch from inside it.
“Oh! It’s one of those cool watches!” Missy exclaimed with surprise.
“Yes and no.” you said, leaning in towards her.
“what do you mean?”
“This one’s special, see I got Tech-no to make it especially for you. It does work like any other smart watch, but you’ll be able to use this one even if you don’t have a Wifi connection or aren’t close to any phone tower.”
“What!? How!?”
“It’s linked into one of the Heroics main recon satellites, it has a GPS function that’ll show you the map and your location no matter where you are, it also has the emergency button. It’ll alert your dad, me, or the Heroics mission control station. It has many more functions, I think, but that’s all I remember. Tech-no included a manual, you’ll get it once you turn it on. Oh yeah! Almost forgot, aside from being able to use conventional charging cables, I don’t know how but he also included solar panels.”
“OMG! I can’t believe it!! It’s the best gift ever!! Thank you!!!” Missy jumped from her place on the floor to tackle you in a hug.
“You’re welcome, I thought it could come in handy now that you’re in the saving the world business with us.” You said with a laugh.
“Hey, Missy, you still want the big box? We can exchange.” Marcus said with raised eyebrows.
“No way! This is mine, I’m gonna go charge it. Thankyousomuch, goodnight, bye.” With that Missy took off running towards her room.
“Hey, don’t forget to brush your teeth!” He reminded her.
“I won’t!”
You both heard the door to her room slam close.
“Wow Y/n, you didn’t have to.”
“It’s no big deal Marcus, you know how much I love her, and I worry. She’s too much like you.” You said staring at him.
“Wha-what’s that supposed to mean?” He said feigning offense.
“I mean it in a good way! She’s kind and selfless, headstrong, brave, and so intelligent. What we do is dangerous, and now that she's exposed to it, well, knowing her she won’t stay behind anymore. All we can do is give her the tools to keep herself and her team as safe as possible.”
Could you be any more perfect? He knew you loved his daughter, it’s always been clear to him, but could she love him just as much?
“You know now I have to try and top that gift next year, right? There’s no way anything I got her this one is going to top yours.” He said with the most serious face he could muster.
“That was the point.” You answered with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“Mala.” he said, squinting his eyes at you.
“You think I’m bad!?” you gasped, “I’ll show you bad mister.” You stand up from your seat, you walk in your Christmas themed socks; boots long forgotten in favor of comfort; towards the tree to take the gift you brought for him. “No present for you, I’m going to keep it.” You said smugly .
“Now that’s not fair.”
“Oh, I think it is.”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He apologized.
“What? What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”
“I said I’m sorry, oh benevolent woman! Goddess of the amazing Christmas presents! I kneel before you.”
“You’re ridiculous.” You laughed at him.
“The things I have to do for a present.”
“You didn’t really kneel.”
“You serious?” he asked flabbergasted.
“No. Now open your gift before I change my mind.”
Marcus eagerly tore the paper apart, revealing a thinner wooden box than the one Missy received. Inside, Marcus found an old throwing knife.
You stared at him, holding your breath as he opened the gift, it wasn’t some cutting edge piece of tech, but you knew how much that knife meant to him.
He was speechless, he instantly recognized it the moment his eyes laid on the engravings of the blade, this had been one of his father’s throwing knives. While not exactly a superhero, his father had served in the army as part of a special secret division. He had preferred knives instead of guns. And he taught Marcus everything he knew about them, that was the reason he had chosen to fight with swords, in memory of his father.
But how, how could you have gotten hold of one of his knives, they had been lost during his last mission.
“I-I, how-” He swallowed hard “How did you find it?”
“Well, I remembered what you told me, about your dad, what he did and a-about your dad’s last mission and well, remember last time I took some days off a few months ago? I did some research and found the town he had gone to. I asked around and I found this old lady, she treated your father’s wounds at some point during his mission and he tried to pay her by giving her one of his knives, she never sold it. I told her about you and well, she insisted on returning the blade to you.” You finished your tale a little bit breathless, he became really quiet when he opened the box.
He couldn’t believe you remembered that, it’s been so long since he told you about his father.
Had it been a mistake to search for the blade? Did you overstep? Maybe you should have told him before going on that trip.
“Marcus, I’m sorr-” One moment you were trying to apologize to him and the next you were being enveloped in a pair of strong arms.
“Thank you.” He said breathless, leaving a kiss on top of your head. “This means so much to me.” You just smiled and hugged him back.
You stayed like that, relishing in the feeling of his arms around you, holding you tight to his chest.
This woman, this wonderful, amazing, beautiful woman… fuck it, he knew what he had to do.
You felt a pang of sadness and longing as Marcus’ arms began to retreat from around you.
“Wait here. I-I need to go get something.” You watched as he left the box with his gift on the table, stood from his seat and disappeared around a corner.
 Calm down, calm down, it was just a hug. You told yourself.
Marcus came back to sit beside you a minute or so later holding a small baby blue box with a white ribbon on top in his hands.
“I-I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give you this. It’s nothing like what you gave us but…I hope you like it.” He reached for your hands and left the box in your palms.
Upon a closer look, you noticed the box came from a jewelry store, an expensive one at that. You opened it carefully, not wanting to damage the little box. Inside the box, lying on a silky looking piece of fabric, you saw a beautiful heart shaped golden locket, there was a flowery design with some vines on the surface giving it some texture.
“Marcus!” You gasped. “You didn’t have to; this must’ve been really expensive.”
“Go ahead, open it.” You did as he said not lifting the heart from its silky bed. Inside, you found a small picture of Marcus, Missy and you.
You remembered that one was taken during Missy’s birthday last year, in the picture the three of you were laughing, your faces dirty with cake frosting from the small war that took place moments before his mother had taken the picture without them noticing.
“Marcus! This is beautiful, thank you so much!” You were about to hug him when he raised a hand to stop you.
“There’s more.” You were confused, he was acting a bit strange, you noticed he was tense as you looked from him and back to the necklace. “Turn it around.”
Once more you did what he said, closing the locket you took it in your palm noticing something engraved into it. On the back you found that it was indeed engraved. It read:
‘For the holder of my heart~’
It’s now or never. He held his breath as he watched you read the words. He began to worry when you didn’t show any kind of reaction.
“What?” you whispered, it can’t be, could this mean, did he, what?
“I-I was going to wait to give it to you, I had this elaborate plan, I wanted to ask you out, take you to a nice restaurant, then maybe we’d go to a park or something. I also thought of giving it to you on your birthday, but then we got kidnapped by aliens and I lost the courage, because what if I ruined everything? What if I ruined our friendship just because I fell in love and you didn’t feel the same? Then things would’ve become awkward and we’d stop hanging out and eventually we would’ve become strangers and I never want that to happen, I want you, I want you in my life, in our lives and I can’t imagi-”
“Marcus.” You interrupted him. “You love me?”
“More than anything.”
“How long?”
“Long time now.” You nodded slowly. Your brain still trying to process everything he just said, but mainly repeating ‘he loves me!’ over and over again.
“Can you... help me put it on?” you gesture to the necklace still in your hands.
He nodded, taking it in his hands as you turned around for him. He didn’t understand what was happening, you were still here, you asked him for his help to put his gift on, so that was something good, right?
“Done.” He said stunned as you turned around to face him with the biggest most beautiful smile he’s ever seen.
“You love me?” You asked again. Your voice, now full of emotion, a stark contrast from the flat one you used a moment ago.
“Yes.”
“You really, really love me?” now he was getting confused.
“Yes Y/n, I love you, you and only you.”
“Good. Because I love you too.” He barely had time to react before your lips were on his and just like that, time stopped, right there, in that moment, there was only you, the feeling of your lips on his, the pounding of his heart, the feeling of your hands, your fingers as they carded through his hair.  
He couldn’t get enough of you. He pulled you closer to him until you ended up straddling his lap, his hands on your hips, your lips moving in perfect sync with his as if it wasn’t the first time you kissed. His senses overwhelmed by you and how you made him feel.
Suddenly, you leaned back, ending the kiss with a smack; much too soon for his liking; leaving you both a panting mess.
“You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamt of you saying that, of you feeling the same way.” You said breathless, giving him a small peck when you finished talking. 
“Oh, honey-is, is it okay if I call you that?”
“It’s more than ‘okay’ Marcus.” You said laughing.
“I’m glad, because I’ve been dying to call you all kinds of beautiful names. And me too, honey; I’ve imagined countless times telling you how I feel about you. I’m so sorry it took me this long to tell you.” He pulled you in, claiming your mouth again, in a kiss more intense than the first one making you moan. You felt his tongue lick your lips, silently asking for entrance, letting go of your inhibitions you let him explore the insides of your mouth, your own tongue tangling with his.
This time he ended the kiss, making you whine from the loss of contact.
“I want you, but tell me to stop, and I will.” He whispered in your ear, “Tell me if it’s too soon and I’ll stop.” he sucked on your earlobe before leaving a trail of kisses down your neck, alternating between kissing and sucking on the sensitive skin there.
“Don’t you dare stop Marcus.” you gasped, “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?” you asked as you ground your hips against his earning a groan in response.
He returned to your lips for one more hungry kiss before outright growling “Hold on tight, honey. Let’s take this somewhere more comfortable.” His hands slid from your hips to your ass, supporting you as he stood from the cushions making you squeal in surprise. Your arms went around his neck as you tried not to fall backward.
“Marcus! Warn me next time.” You admonished him “What about Missy? What if she hears us?” You ask as he begins to walk towards the part of the house you knew led to the bedrooms.
“That’s why we’re going to my room, so we don’t have to worry, it’s soundproofed. Now like you said, we’ve waited long enough.” He squeezed your ass before latching his lips on your neck again.
~~~~~~~~~~~
He stirred awake, with the feeling of your hand drawing mindless patterns on his naked chest. With a smile, he remembered what happened last night when he finally confessed to you, and what happened after as well.
He let his eyes open, slowly, letting them adjust to the little morning light that managed to seep through the curtains. He turned his head to look at you, your head resting on the hand that wasn’t drawing shapes on his chest.
He smiled at you, lifting one of his hands to hold yours, lifting it from his chest to place a kiss on your knuckles.
“Hey. Merry Christmas.” You greeted him with a smile.
“Merry Christmas indeed. Did you sleep well, honey?” he asked, lowering your hand in his and resting it on his chest right over his heart.
“Better than ever.” You gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment before leaning in at the same time to share a sweet, slow kiss.
“I wish we could stay like this forever.” He mumbled against your lips.
“Who would save the world if we did?” You managed to ask between little pecks to his lips.
“I bet the others can do it just fine.”
“Okay, well, who would keep Missy out of trouble?”
“Yeah, I don’t think either of us can keep her from that.” he stared at you, before saying your name. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Marcus.”
You stayed in bed, in each other’s arms, until one of you remembered that neither of you turned off the tv last night, and he remembered the cinnamon rolls had been left on the counter in the kitchen.
Once dressed, Marcus in his pajamas and you in one of his shirts (that almost made the both of you stay in bed longer) and a pair of pants that he let you borrow to keep you comfortable, you set out to clean the living room.
When that was done, you set to work together inside the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone, reheating the cinnamon rolls and making fresh coffee.
The two of you were soon joined by Missy, whose only reaction to the two of you being now together-together was a very happy, very exasperated ‘Finally!’.
He looked at his little family with a smile on his face as he sat down on the table. He could finally say that this Christmas he finally received what he’s always wished for, what he’s been yearning to have for years.
Your heart.
Tag list: @mindless--ramblings​ @oloreaa​ @16boyfriends-and-me​ If anyone wants to be added or removed from the taglist, or wants to only be tagged for certain characters, please let me know.
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iwantitiwriteit · 5 years ago
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Slow Burn: Act I - Part 1
The Meet Cute - Part 1
Pairing: Chris Evans x Famous!Reader
Summary: You meet Chris Evans at a rooftop, industry party in New York, but will your awkwardness ruin the night?
Warnings: Profanity, Sexual connotations, but overall fluff
Notes: Please check out the moodboard + music specially curated to go with this part!
Expensive, rooftop kickback. Ice-cold beer in hand. Film industry tastemakers and Top 40 hits to soundtrack it all. It should be an ideal way to end one of the last few days of summer. And yet, Chris couldn’t help but feel out of sorts. He is a, rather THE, fun-loving party guy. But tonight, he just wasn’t feeling it. He was in a funk, and didn’t know the reason for it.
Could it be the fact he turned another year older a little over a month ago? No, I’m grateful for the blessing of aging.
Could it be that he didn’t care to be around the people in this party? That’s not it. Yeah it’s a bunch of industry schmucks, but Mackie and Scott are here; those are my boys! We always have a great time.
It could very well be a case of “the breakup blues”, as Scott puts it. Hardly, we didn’t even exchange ‘I love you’s’. It’s hardly a breakup if it wasn’t even love… right?
Chris shrugged to himself as he tuned back into the conversation around him. But as he got himself up to speed, he wished he hadn’t.
“So I have this friend I think you should meet, Chris. real cool girl. I’m not saying she’s the “perfect match” or that you should even go on a date, but you never know… y’all should just meet,” Anthony says in as neutral a tone he can muster. Aw shit, here we go again.
When Chris doesn’t give him a reaction, Scott too, tries to maintain some neutrality when asking, “Oh, really?? Tell us about her, why don’t you?” Jeez, these two.
“Well, she’s hella artsy, a creative type, if you will.”
Chris decides to patronize them, asking, “Yeah? What’s she do?”
“She’s a… uh… musician!” Scott answers, clearly excited by his brother’s minute show of interest, but realizes he’s shown their hand.
Chris raises an eyebrow to his younger brother. “So you know her too?”
“Yeah… I mean I don’t know her super well, but I met her recently… through Mackie.” Not a complete lie.
That’s… actually different. They’re always trying to set me up entrepreneurs who want me to throw money at their lip gloss business after the second date. Or worse, influencers, who are overly concerned with their “brand” and make me wait to eat while she takes pictures of the food so her “feed can also be fed”. Sheesh. But a musician, a fellow artist, could be different… “That’s cool, what kind of music?”
“It’s like alternative pop,” Scott answers, hoping to keep his brother’s attention in the subject.
“And that is …”
“…like, mostly pop, but it’s got a little bit of everything.”
“Right… what ever happened to ‘keeping shit simple’?” Chris states more than asks, as he takes a swig of his beer.
“You sound like an old man,” Scott quips, to which Chris playfully flips him off.
“ANYWAYS,” Anthony attempts to get the conversation back on track, “she’s also very intelligent, funny, youthful…”
“Youthful, huh? How old is she?”
“She’s… ya’know… young at heart… and on paper…”
“Bro, how old is she??”
“Twenty-- ”
“Let me stop you right there, ��cos wow! I see how it is!” Outwardly, Chris feigns offense, but inwardly he’s just planning an escape from this conversation.
“You see me: a damn-near middle-age man; no wife, no kids, no GIRLFRIEND, and think I’m looking to “just meet” someone 10+ years younger than me? You think I’m looking to start my mid-life crisis or something? Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I’m out this bitch!” Chris over-dramatically scoffs, throws his hands up and rolls his eyes. As he wanders inside away from them, he laughs to himself at their antics.
“C’mon man! We’re just looking out for you!” Anthony shouts after him.
And it’s true: He knows they mean well, but the constant hovering over and hand holding of his love life is getting to be… suffocating. Chris wants to meet someone without pressure or pretense. He wants someone real, someTHING real. But more than anything right now, he wants to be left alone about it. Huh, guess I found the reason for my funk.
——————————————————————————
Having just come from an incredible writing session, you’d somewhat forgotten you’d been invited to “schmooze” some Hollywood types. You arrive to the party well into the evening, around 10:30 pm or so. Enough time to ‘schmooze’ and get the hell out. God, I HATE ass kissing… If it were up to you, you wouldn’t be here tonight, but Anthony and Scott were persistent on getting you out.
You hadn’t bothered changing your outfit cos it was comfortable + cute + completely party ready, in your humble opinion, but the disapproving looks from a couple of bougie Bettys by the in-door bar didn’t go unnoticed. I really couldn’t care less. I just collaborated with one of my most faviorite writers EVER for Mackie’s movie!
Your name sounds off in the near distance. It’s a couple of your co-stars, Ansel and Jaden. You’d met them previously at a Vanity Fair party about a year ago. They’d each been publicly supportive of your work and you’d been *platonically* in each of their DMs, but they’re both no more than acquaintances.
Chatting to them for a bit, there’s introductions to the preexisting group, some of whom seem a little star struck, or maybe taken aback by your attire? It’s getting harder for me to read people nowadays. 
You ask them where Scott and Mackie are, seeing as the former invited you here and the latter is a good friend of yours. Ansel points you in a general direction, and you thank him before you head that way.
The indoor dining and lounge area open up to a large, open-air, rooftop patio. It’s packed with film industry folk; A-list to up-and-coming, like yourself. You’re not exactly sure what the celebration is, just that Scott & Mackie insisted that you show your face, rub eblows, but most importantly, let loose for once; seeing as you are making your break into acting this year. A much needed change of pace from your usual work.
‘Japan’ by Famous Dex is playing as you sneak up behind an unexpecting Scott. Taking him by the hips from behind, you sway to the beat with your pelvis to his backside. To your amusement, he’s visibly startled and turns around, his face changing from “WTF?!” to “OMG!!” when he sees you. You don’t stop dancing, but instead get a little more raunchy as Scott joins in with you. You share a laugh, hug and air kiss.
“Let me stop. I’m not using all my moves on you tonight!”
“That’s too bad, but maybe we can find someone for you to use them on,” he replies with a wink. You playfully roll your eyes and swat at his arm. Yeah, highly doubt it. Not what I’m here for, anyways.
"How ya doing Kid? How was the writing sesh?” Mackie asked while being a little distracted with texting. You assumed it was for work because usually Anthony was a very present individual. Not only was he in the movie, but he was a producer, and you figured he hadn’t turned that part of himself off even though he was at a party.
You started to gush about the session, the collaboration, how that one part “just came together” when… oh my fucking gawd.
“Hey Kid, I want you to meet my good friend—“
“He was my brother before he was your friend!”
“Wow, really you guys?”
Mackie finishes introducing you to Chris Evans. Chris motherfucking Evans. You wonder if he’d always been standing there or if he just walked over, because you didn’t notice him before. You shake hands, and get a little shy now, hoping it wasn’t noticeable. Chris plasters on a polite, but fake smile. Shit. He can see the fangirl in my eyes!! Get a grip sis!
“So... how do you know these two?” Chris motions left then right, from Scott to Anthony.
“Uh... um... movie.” You nod as if you’re trying to convince not only Chris, but yourself, that you just gave an adequate answer.
“What she means is that she’s a part of the movie Mackie and I are doing.”
“Oh, alright cool, cool. What do you do?”
“Well, I’m a sing--”
“SINGle actress! She’s very single, and very much an actress,” Anthony looks at you with widened eyes as he nods his head slowly, like you bumped your head and forgot what you do. What’s up with him?
“Um, yeah, I have a supporting role, which is more than enough for my intro to the silver screen.”
“Your first movie? Congrats! You’re in good hands with these guys on set with you. Just remember--”
“Stay away from bananas?” The words tumbled out of your mouth before you could stop them. Wow. No one makes a move in the awkward air you set. You just made a reference to his somewhat embarrassing-- yet very comical-- film debut. You dummy!
“I’m so sor—”
“No. No, no don’t. It’s, uh... fine,” he says, half laughing. You all return to awkward silence, with Chris looking off into the distance, pretending to wave at someone so he can plan an escape for the second time tonight. You’re too busy studying the ground and mentally kicking yourself for your stupidity to notice Scott and Anthony, panicked looks on their faces and gesturing to the other to “do something” to save this train wreck of a conversation. Anthony decides to break the silence.
“Yo Kid, Lemme see your hand.”
“My hand? Why?”
“Just let me see it!” 
Your hand is guided to Chris’ clothed, taut pec by Anthony.
“Feel that? Good stuff, right? Soft to the touch, yet strong and dependable. But most importantly, makes ya feel real good in bed.” No he didn’t just say that!!
Chris mouths a ‘wow’ with raised brows, and you cautiously take back your hand, slightly bewildered *but not really* by Anthony’s boldness. Anthony still holds on to your hand lightly.
“What man? It’s Egyptian cotton! I don’t mean to embarrass ya!”
“Somehow, I think you do,” Chris chuckles while he takes a swig of his beer, eyeing you tentatively. You can’t bring yourself to make eye contact with him, and just fix your eyes straight ahead. I’m literally staring at a wall... of muscle.
“Look, let me see your hand.”
“Hey, hey! He ain’t stroking my chest; it is NOT that kind of party… gotta at least take me to dinner first.” You whisper the last part, but Chris still catches it and laughs at your quip. The tension in your shoulders eases up some, but only a little, not trusting yourself to get too comfortable.
“Just trust me!” Anthony whines at you.
“Last time I “just trusted you” Mackie, I ended up fleeing a pack of angry ducks… I still have the scar!”
“Wait, wha—“
Mackie brought yours and Chris’ hands together for his large hand to hold your smaller one, and there was… electricity?
“Isn’t that the softest hand you ever felt? What do you use?”
“Uh… Shea butter.”
“Yeah, that’ll do it! Oh won’t you look at that. Her ring finger is naked, hm… and look at how good she looks in white!” Nope, just more awkwardness.
You share an embarrassed smile and glance away from each other while each of your hands gently fall back to your sides.
“Leave it to Mackie to be subtle…” Scott intervenes, “Well! Now that all the cool kids are here, why don’t you, Chris, take our lovely friend here over to the bar to get a drink so we can get this party started!”
——————————————————————————
Silence settles over you and Chris at the busy bar as you wait for the bartender to service you. It’s not necessarily awkward, but definitely not comfortable. You take this moment to breathe in the New York air to soothe your nerves, while also starkly avoiding eye contact with the handsome devil to your left. But after a while, you decide to take the lead with small talk.
“Hey... I am SUPER sorry about my ‘banana’ joke earlier. I didn’t mean to--”
“Stop. It’s fine, really. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” You exhale a little at his words, relieved you didn't offend him. “I’m the one who should say ‘sorry’... I normally laugh at jokes about myself.”
“Then why didn’t you? You left me hanging out there!” He chuckles a bit as he sips his beer. Now it’s his turn to exhale.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“Ok, that’s, uh�� cool.” Chris side glances at you, finding your nervous energy amusing... and endearing. He decides to mess with you a little.
“So, how long have you been acting?”
“Oh, uh... not that long. I’ve done a few things here and there, but this is my first serious role.”
“Ok. And how long have you been single?” Realizing how that might’ve sounded suggestive, he attempts to backtrack. “I didn’t mean like-- just Mackie made mention-- I wasn’t like-- ‘s just trying to mess with you a little...” Well THAT backfired.
You couldn’t help but giggle at seeing him flustered. “I guess it’s my turn to say, ‘It’s fine’?” to this, Chris is visably relieved. “Yeah, I would also apologize for Mackie’s behavior, but you’ve known him longer than I have, so I’ll let you claim him when he acts like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like a meddling… muffdiver…?” you couldn’t think of anything good, but Chris laughs heartily at this. You can’t help but admire his strong, manly features as they melt into something reminiscent of a child. Head thrown back, clutching his chest, boisterous laughter booming from him. You can’t help but join him in laughing at your lame joke.
“So does this mean I owe you an apology?” He leans on the bar, looking every bit the yacht daddy and gives you a sly smirk. Is he… flirting?
“I guess so. I’m waiting…” you say, tapping your imaginary watch and a sly smirk of your own. Am I flirting??
“Well, tough luck… ‘Kid’. You’ll be waiting forever. I’m not apologizing for shit Mackie does cos he’s my amazing friend who I’ll always ‘claim’ and love unconditionally… even if he acts like a ‘meddling muffdiver’.”
“First of all: aww! That was very bromantic of you.” Chris chuckles at your unique term, making a mental note to use it sometime. It’s cute. Like her smile…
“And Secondly?”
“Secondly… I’ve only begrudgingly given Mackie permission to call me ‘Kid’.”
“Why’s that?”
“I guess… Cos he’s like an uncle to me, and you gotta let him have some things,” you laugh to yourself thinking of your relationship with Anthony.
“But don’t let the nickname fool ya!” You continued, “I’m a grown ass woman, at a grown ass party, ready to have some fun, and shake my grown ass… “
“Ass?” You both pause for a moment before bursting into laughter. It’s great to laugh with someone like this…
“I’ll admit: I didn’t think about where that line of ranting would land.” You both take a brief moment to take each other in. Looking at him while he’s looking at you starts to make your face feel hot, so you break the silence.
“So… what are we celebrating tonight? I’m kinda new to this scene,”
“You know what, I don’t even know what. I was invited by a few different people, each with their own reasons for coming. So, anything really. ”
You’re finally served your drinks and make the short walk back over to Anthony and Scott. When you reached them you raised your glass to signal you were making a toast.
“Well, here’s to good health, good company, endless creativity, and, and…”
“Grown-ass asses!” Chris finishes for you.
“Amen! Salud!” You all clinked drinks, but Mackie and Scott were confused by the last bit.
“You had to be there,” Chris answered with a wink in your direction when they inquired. You blushed slightly, never more thankful for your melanin to cover it up.
Mackie and Scott looked between you and Chris, confusion etched on their faces, as you’d only been alone for all of 5 minutes. They resolved into knowing, satisfied looks between each other.
This goes unnoticed by you and Chris. The pair of you start talking about the movie that you’re starting next month with his brother and friend.
This turns into talking about how you met them, more laughter, some refilled drinks, more conversation, then light touches to arms and hands. The touches were unintentional, but welcomed by both of you, leading to lots of coy smiles and lingering looks. Tonight might not be so bad after all…
Part 2
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olderthannetfic · 4 years ago
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Escapade Vid - The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Here’s my writeup of my vid, crossposted from DW.
This is one of my two vid premieres for Escapade Con 2021. It spoils all of The Sleuth of The Ming Dynasty, specifically anything involving Wang Zhi. The discussion below is similarly spoilery.
I fell hard for The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, harder than for The Untamed or anything else for ages. (Okay, that's a lie, I fell that hard for Kingdom, but I don't ship anything there.) I knew I wanted to vid it for the con because it's so beautiful and because I knew a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with my favorite character via osmosis.
Sleuth is a historical mystery series (no magic/fantasy) based on a danmei novel. It has three leads: the two halves of the book ship and my fave. Facepalm.
I got into the series by knowing it was new-ish, some kind of buddy mystery series, and that fans liked it. That's it. I glanced at a poster, but I hadn't properly osmosed that there were three leads, not just two, so when Wang Zhi showed up, I naturally assumed he'd turn out to be a villain. His introduction is him driving a man to suicide. Practically the first thing we find out about him is that he's a palace eunuch with a high political position whom the politicians fear, look down on, and hate.
Could there be a more stereotypical villain for a historical drama?
So I went through a rapid progression from thinking he'd be the smiling pseudo-ally they have to defeat later to loving him and being like "They'd better not make him a villain!" to realizing I'd completely misosmosed this series.
I had a lot of feelings.
Picking a song / How I got into BTS:
Finding a vidsong for Sleuth was tricky. I had other vid ideas I could have made. I was tempted to make three vids, one for each lead (though not all for Escapade). I was tempted to make an OT3 pimping vid. My problem was that I also have had a lot of feelings about BTS this past year, and I knew I wanted to use them for an Escapade vid, but that presented a problem.
BTS… man… How to explain…
I grew up not really listening to music. My mom was a music teacher and only listened to Classical. When I eventually got into popular music, it was Enya and Alice Cooper. (Yes, syrupy Celtic crooning in various languages + shock rock is a pretty good summary of teenage me, why do you ask?) Also Cat Stevens, who was even more of the wrong generation for anyone else to care. The first time I really gave a shit about music was when I was living in NYC in my 20s absorbing the taste of someone with strong and specific music interests. I would by no means call myself knowledgeable about music.
A year ago, I tried to learn a little about BTS before Escapade so I could pick some shippy vid and stick it in the dance party. I want people to be able to go to the party and feel like they've got their finger on the pulse of fanfic-adjacent fandom even if they aren't into all of those fandoms themselves. I've never been into idol music, and it's not for lack of exposure: many successive waves of jpop and kpop idol-loving friends have tried, and I've been immune. It's the soppy ballads. I cannot. Some of the bouncy stuff is fun, but it wasn't enough.
Unfortunately for me, BTS is fucking confusing, so there was no easy 101. The only way to know anything about the fandom dynamics and which ships are popular was to know a lot. And once I'd bought in that far, I was up for some fic reading because huge RPF fandoms always have tons of AUs that are practically original fic, and hey, that sounded fun… I tried their reality shows a little bit, but my allergy to idol music is second only to my allergy to reality shows. I'm bad at getting things done if I don't sit down and commit properly, so I made myself a spreadsheet of all of their albums, guest appearances, and side projects and sat down to listen to the lot via Youtube…
They blew me away.
I didn't know. No one told me! I would never have predicted what they actually sounded like. It's not that they're good. Lots of idol groups are good. It's that they can rap. Korea has plenty of good rappers, but they're not in idol groups! I cannot properly convey the level of shock I experienced or even how and why BTS are so good. I like hip hop, but I don't know enough to describe anything properly.
When I made it to Hip Hop Lover, it all made sense. Imagine my reaction as a much more confused and incoherent version of this youtube video. Of course RM is into Talib Kweli and everyone else like that. Of course he's into conscious hip hop, a lot of it from NYC. Everything about their dense lyrics and their choice of subject matter made perfect sense after looking at their self-described list of influences. But in a way that Monq can articulate and I cannot.
I love shit that requires buy-in. All nerds do. I swear, hip hop is the nerdiest damn music there is because it's so into referencing its influences and responding very directly to other artists and to current culture, assuming the audience will keep up if it cares to. BTS know far more than I do about hip hop from here, plus they're Korean and like puns in a language I don't speak, so understanding what the actual fuck is going on in some of their songs is an adventure involving multiple youtube explainers. But they also have enough goofy dance music and rap that just sounds awesome to keep me interested even when I don't get it.
Daechwita dropped in May 2020, and holy shit, can we have a fandom just for that video? Historical architecture, hot dudes with swords, be still my beating heart. This is totally why I ended up watching Kingdom. I was dying to start learning some Korean, but then I got distracted by more Chinese media. Damnit. How do I choose?
So Escapade 2021 was rolling around, and I knew I wanted to make my Untamed vidbunny from last March, but I also wanted to vid Sleuth, and I wanted to vid it to BTS. I was now presented with my problem:
BTS is a 7-member group, and most songs prominently highlight 3-5 of them if not all 7. One might be able to do this as aspects of one character's personality, but it's very hard to make it work for a two- or three-person ship. I started looking at the rap line's songs, which have just the three of them, but even then, you're stuck saying that Character A is singer X and so on. How do I divide up the Sleuth leads? Do I make the angry one the angry one and the sunshine one the sunshine one? But the sunshine one is not the bookworm in BTS, unlike in Sleuth, and that just feels wrong!
That was when I decided to do a character vid rather than a ship one, to pick Wang Zhi, and to choose something off of one of the rap line's solo side projects. And what combination could be more obvious than tiny, angry, beautiful Yoongi paired with tiny, angry, beautiful Wang Zhi?
In the end, I did not pick Daechwita because, much as I love it, it has that kind of monotonous, hypnotic flow, and I feared I'd end up making a boring vid. I went back to Agust D's first mixtape, which is much angrier, and picked a song I felt had more obvious internal structure. I picked it mostly based on sound, as I always do. I needed vocals that I felt conveyed Wang Zhi's personality. Once I had a song in mind, I looked up the lyrics… And kept looking.
This would probably have been helped by not making the vid in like 3 days, mostly after the deadline because my other premiere dragged on way longer than I expected. Doh. Someone said that the vids were great this year because everyone had been stuck indoors with nothing else to do. I can assure you that I was my usual disaster self and was still trying to pick songs like a week before the deadline. There's always next year. Sigh.
So while vidding, I had a couple of okay but not great translations of the lyrics and at least one line I straight up did not understand. My process for all vids is to make a spreadsheet and put the lyrics down one side with clip ideas in another column. If the song isn't in English or isn't straightforward, I have other columns on the lyrics: original writing system, transliteration, translation, notes. I often have a column for song structure (verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus version A, chorus version B, etc.), or I might do that part by color coding chunks of the lyrics/translation. In this case, I had a lot of different columns of translation bits that moved around, and I also color coded column A based on whether there was a significant English language lyric. Here's a screencap of part of my planning spreadsheet with colors changing to show song section breaks and some clip concepts I was considering written in. (I usually end up abandoning most of my content notes once I get into actually editing a section.)
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I finally found a good translation of it the morning after the vidshow. Sheesh. It wouldn't have radically affected how I vidded that part because the lyrics are so fast that you can't hit every little thing with a relevant clip and still have your audience visually parse anything at all. I still wish I'd had a better translation beforehand.
I foolishly thought it wouldn't be a problem vidding something in Korean, but it turns out I have such a hard time understanding Korean phonology that it's very hard for me to tell which bit is which even with a phonetic transcription. On top of that, most of the translations swap clause order for no good reason--"Your mother will be sad when you lose your last asset, health" instead of "When you lose your last asset, health, your mother will be sad"--despite both working perfectly well in English.
For the purposes of making the vid, I only needed to understand well enough to know how I was matching the lyrics or not, but for posting, I had to come up with something a little more polished. In the end, half before vidding and half after (oops), I have gone through with like 4 different translations, google translate, and an online Korean dictionary to cobble together something that I think is a fairly accurate translation, with clauses in the order they fall in the song, and some attempt at idiomaticness and correct tone and level of informality in English.
Lyrics translation:
The best of the translations I found in terms of being annotated and fairly easy to understand in English is this one by Muish.
Here's my version:
They call me new thang The new recruit is here: take my bags Whole world, concert Not bad, Asiana Asia You could be my new thang Different from the guys who neglect their duties Insubordination from a celebrity Damn, only the strong can fuck with me Some say I made it too easy Fuck you, I'm a thorn in the side of those guys So far from success Honestly, "SSaihanuwar" is embarrassing1 Now, we sell half a million copies a year The k-pop category Ain't big enough to hold me, whoo! Right, go ahead Try booking first class My seat is business You're economy, forever behind me kissing my ass Next goal is Billboard Brazil to New York My passport gets no rest A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with2 My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology I hunt down those who copy the copiers. Get 'em down no matter who the fuck they are. Doesn't matter if I'm a jerk or if I'm wack or fake, I'm the one who carves history across the field. Among boring rappers, I get the lion's share. I'm about to take your bread. Bros' jealousy making all this noise. Hey ho I don't give a fuck Keep shoveling shit I'll bury you alive in the grave You dug yourself Hey ho you can't handle me You wasted rappers should be grateful I'm an idol Cause I'm busy, I'm busy, 24/7, what rest? Latecomers, go play amongst yourselves. Jealous and childish you wail, Yet you don't know shit.3 Paris to New York, damn My non-stop schedule A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology I’m sorry. Honestly, I am. I'm sorry I took your daily bread, boy. I'm sorry. Don't be mad. When you lose your only asset, health, Your mom's going to be upset. I'm sorry. Change careers. Amazing how you keep digging, So change, boy. I’m sorry. Honestly, I am. That your rapping sucks compared to mine. A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology
1. I straight up had no idea what the "SSaihanuwar" line is supposed to mean when I was making this vid. People said it was a pre-debut song, so I assumed he meant his skills had improved. What it actually refers to is that song bragging that they'd sold 30,000 copies, while as of this song, they were selling 500,000, so that childish bragging about a tiny past achievement is embarrassing now. Of course, as I type this, BTS sells like four million albums a year…
2. This is referencing a movie title, The Wailing, and then a famous line from the movie, which is said in dialect. I haven't seen the movie and nothing online explains the context in which "Important? You don't know what's important!" is used. If anybody's seen it, feel free to drop me a comment. Hopefully, it won't be something I'd radically change in the vid.
3. Literally 'take you to Hong Kong', which can be used like "blow your mind" in the regular sense, but is also used to mean "give you an orgasm", hence the italics on 'blow' above. Yes, it's an oral sex joke. Yes, he means it like that.
What the song means and what I did with it:
Okay, so now that we know the main lyric of this song is apparently "STD", what's it actually about?
Overall, this is a diss track. Like most BTS dis songs, the concept is: I may be an idol, but I'm still twice the man and twice the rapper you are.
I'm not the only one who was surprised to hear good rappers show up in an idol group: the underground rap scene that Suga comes out of thinks of idols as both inauthentic sellouts and as embarrassingly girly. They wear makeup and sparkly outfits. Laaaaaame.
This felt like an excellent parallel to the social position of eunuchs in The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty: Wang Zhi is one of the most competent and ruthless, yet loyal and honorable administrators we see in the entire series. If he were running the government, all of them would be better off. He's like that version of Lex Luthor or Emhyr var Emreis that astolat likes to write.
Throughout the series, politicians and generals see Wang Zhi as less than a man and thus not a worthy enemy or not worthy of his high position, but he's twice as worthy as any of them. He's not only better at being a ruthless badass, but he's better at keeping the body count low. Sure, he's introduced forcing a guy to commit suicide… But Wang Zhi promises him his family will be spared the same fate, where normally a traitor's entire family would be wiped out. The only reason things go poorly later is that the guy's son is too stupid to realize what a favor WZ did them.
Even Tang Fan is a complete asshole to him repeatedly. In this case, he doesn't treat WZ as lesser, but he's so naive and fixated on fluffy feelings that he assumes WZ is cold and cruel when he's pragmatic or that he has no feelings when he's clearly devastated but trying to fix the situation instead of breaking down about it. TF is the worst sort of idiot who values superficial virtue over practical results. It's a good thing he's so endearing!
There's this heartwarming bit at the end of the series about how WZ learned humanity from TF and SZ or something, but it's complete nonsense: him adopting child orphans and pretty much all of the rest of his behavior for the whole series was already merciful within the bounds of their society and the demands of his position.
On to my vidding process: I laid the song out on the timeline and put markers for the sections, color coded by what type of section they were and also made the spreadsheet seen above. That helped me see the structure of the vid. One of the first parts I tackled was the opening, which is long and slow and samples another song. It feels like it should have establishing shots, and it's long enough they could get boring. I realized it was an excellent opportunity to have some text on screen. I love typography, but I normally don't do it because there's no space in the song I've chosen, and I'm making the vid on the day of the deadline and have no time to think about fonts. Poking through all the confusingly-named Chinese fonts I have installed took as long as all the editing in this section.
I then had to figure out what to do with the chorus.
Yoongi's normal rapper name as part of BTS is 'Suga'. He's from Daegu and proud of it. So his solo rapper name is 'Agust D', which is 'DT Suga' backwards. A to the G to the U to the STD is just him repeating his own name. Aside from saying Agust D = Wang Zhi, I didn't have a lot of specific ideas here. Wang Zhi has a really hot mouth, but there isn't that much in canon that's an obvious oral sex joke.
I knew I didn't want to make the vid strictly a linear retelling of canon since the point was more conceptual. I also love the emotional impact of the Yang Fu stuff, both the times it's funny and the times it's upsetting for characters, but it's hard to communicate it in a vid without spending some time, so I decided to use the choruses entirely for Yang Fu. At the very end of the vid I had more story that needed to go somewhere and no more Yang Fu (and I wouldn't have ended on Yang Fu anyway), so I had to vary that pattern.
The final verse is a 2-part one that is slow and even more sneering than the rest of the song, so I picked WZ's most idiotic enemy for that. WZ literally took away his job by killing his father, which caused him to come home from the military and his brother to be fired from his job as an official. His mother is ill because of grief, and everyone keeps telling him to go look after his family instead of chasing WZ around and trying to start shit, so the lyrics are quite apt. This guy is just not up to WZ's weight class, and that's what this verse is about.
The first two verses required more thought. They have a 3-part structure and are fast. I looked for individual Wang Zhi plotlines that matched the specific lyrics of each section thematically. There are shittons of speed effects all over this vid for obvious reasons, but I still needed to pick footage that was naturally more dynamic. The show has a fair amount of talking heads, slow scenes, and cute and fluffy stuff that didn't fit the tone here, not to mention WZ being the least important of the three leads, so selecting the correct bits of WZ plot was essential.
I originally planned to use verse 1 for the horse market case, but there just isn't enough great footage to do the whole thing, so I did the first two thirds. Section 1 has military-sounding lyrics about a new recruit taking over from "hyungs" (older guys) who neglect their duties. This idol (a celebrity) is going to show the underground rappers how it's done. I had wanted to use the 'new thang' lyric with flashbacks to WZ first getting his position at the emperor's side, but that footage makes him look too meek and doesn't connect well to anything. 'You could be my new thang' I wanted for Jia Kui, but again, there isn't good footage that communicates their relationship visually.
The general from this arc has a similar thematic role: He's a ~real man~ who cares only about duty and is rude to the effete, useless official from the capital, while the other local powers fawn on him… Except Wang Zhi responds to this by being amused, showing up the others, and approving of General Chen. (By the end of the arc, Chen is all offended on his behalf that other dudes think he's merely a eunuch instead of a total hottie capable and honorable servant of the empire.) The first section is WZ on 'new thang' and Chen on 'my new thang'. This third ends with 'only the strong can fuck with me' as Chen joins the welcome feast. Out of all of the people in charge of border security, he's the only one who's strong.
The next third of the verse is about people thinking Suga got to his position too easily, which is also something basically every official feels about powerful eunuchs in Sleuth (and also in every single other historical drama with eunuchs because holy shit is this a common trope, and also in actual history, which is why). In this plotline, WZ is there to deal with the incompetent border guards and sort things out in ways they haven't been able to. He is certainly a thorn in their sides. For this part, I showed one of the obsequious officials smiling, WZ toasting them, and Chen being unamused.
This section finishes up with Suga saying his past bragging is embarrassing because he's so much more badass now, and k-pop isn't big enough for him (which I think is less about wanting to break out of kpop and more about definitions having to be readjusted to accommodate his awesomeness). The scenes from Sleuth are WZ suddenly revealing he speaks the local languages flawlessly--something no normal official from the capital does and that he's been hiding up till now as people insult him--and then WZ resolving the case with murder and smart political maneuvering that puts one of the local chieftains in his debt. The category of eunuch is certainly not enough to encompass Wang Zhi's political ambitions or abilities.
The final section of verse 1 is using a plane/flying metaphor to talk about Suga being ahead of everyone. It also has a particularly awesome lyric in English that I wanted to emphasize. This was the last part of the timeline I filled in, and I used a scene that is not one of the major enemies WZ cares about but where he is wonderfully bossy and in charge. The guy tries to pull rank on him, and he throws away his supposed police informant badge, being like I am the police.
The second verse has the really fast part in this song, so I wanted to show a lot of different cool shit WZ does. Section one is about Suga hunting down poseurs, whether they're new or long-established and powerful. Suga says he's going to take the other rappers' "rice bowl" (livelihood).  WZ similarly goes after all kinds of people, including very highly-placed politicians. The serial killer duke was supposedly untouchable, but WZ tells him he's an insect. He'll do the low-level dirty work (running around at night in ninja outfits) and the high level supervision (commanding men at the depot). The line ends by talking about other rappers' jealousy making noise. For this, I used Wang Zhi's trial where all of the politicians team up to wrongly accuse him of a laundry list of crimes.
The next line is about how Suga will bury other rappers alive in the grave they dug themselves, and they should be grateful he's an idol (because if he were a fellow underground rapper, they'd be shown up even worse). There's a suggestion in Suga's lyrics that part of the "wasting time" (digging/shoveling used as a metaphor) these other rappers have done is talking shit about him. They hurt their own reputations by doing it, and he had no desire to take them on until they forced the issue. I used WZ's introduction. That politician doomed himself by talking shit about the emperor's consort. Before he goes to meet with WZ, he talks shit about how eunuchs aren't actually powerful or scary to his drinking buddies. WZ spends the whole scene outlining how his downfall is his own damn fault.
The last section of the verse is about how busy Suga is. Losers should go bother each other, not him, because he has real shit to do. They have no idea what's important, unlike him. I opened with a quick shot of WZ's trial and then the silver case. WZ continually waves off concerns about the trial, even while he's in prison for a few days, because he's concerned about the actual problems occurring at the same time, namely that the entire government is about to go bankrupt and collapse. He's fending off assassins and getting people executed. Wan Tong's embarrassing attempt to mindfuck him in prison is laughable. They're just not on WZ's level.
I capped it off by showing the end of the plot and WZ winning. The three shots of his enemies looking upset are all from times he fucked with them earlier in the series. The final shot of him looking smug is from very early on when he'd just informed his chief rival, Shang Ming, about the suicide he caused in his intro. At the end of the vid, we're back at the beginning of the plot: Wang Zhi was always better. He would have worked with his rivals, but they just had to make it a contest. From the very beginning, they should have known they couldn't win.
The vid I’ve already posted to tumblr, but here’s the AO3 link again:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/29573175
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madamslayyy · 5 years ago
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Log Cabin And A Brewing Fire VIII
Pairing: Nebraska Williams (Trevante Rhodes) x Reader
Warnings: This is a SLOW BURN FIC. I’m going at what I believe is a realistic place via my perception. I know y’all want some steam but this is SLOW BURN. Please checkout my Masterlist for other works if you’re looking for a little raunchiness.
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A/N: To everyone I trolled yesterday, April Fools! (Except it’s not April) I’m definitely finishing this series, just had to make y’all sweat a little bit 😂😘 If you haven’t caught up on the previous chapters, check them out here via MY MASTERLIST.
Also I usually put this at the bottom of the Chapter but I don’t think people actually read that so I’m putting it here, if you want to be tagged, THIS POST will tell you how. Please don’t come to my inbox asking or leaving it on the chapters because I always forget to check and I feel so guilty leaving people out when they ask or accidentally ignoring them.
Anyway I’ve rambled long enough, love y’all and hope y’all enjoy this.
~*~
“Training Day again, Mr. Williams?” Nebraska’s students whined.
“It’s either that or run laps.” He grinned.
“It’s too cold to run laps. And it’s snowing outside. Aren’t there like... child labor laws or something?” One of his students asked.
“Could always make you guys run laps inside until 12:00. You all prefer that?” Nebraska grinned at the chorus of “No’s” coming from his class.
“Alright, Training Day it is,” Nebraska put on the film and retreated to his office. Today was the last day of school before Thanksgivings break. It was the Tuesday before the holiday and the students were only required to attend a “Half” day before being dismissed at noon.
You actually had the entire week off for the holiday and were planning on going to see your Aunt and Uncle this week. Nebraska has insisted you go on alone and enjoy your time with your family but you had refused.
“I’ll only go if you’re going. No one should be alone during the holidays.”
In these last couple of weeks Nebraska thought he’d been doing a pretty good job distancing himself from you. The two of you no longer slept in the same bed together, he was careful not to get too close to you when the two of you had to be around each other and even then he kept that to a minimal. The two of you rarely ever saw eachother and he was trying to keep it that way.
You, on the other hand, had a different idea. It seemed like the more he retreated, the more you would seek him out. You were determined not to let things get weird between the two of you. Nebraska wasn’t sure if it was out of pity that you were still being so nice to him after his screw up but he knew it only served to further his guilt.
Nebraska used the hour or so he had left to grade papers and before he knew it, the bell rang at noon and his students began filing out the classroom. He walked out his office to stop the movie and put up the equipment. That was one thing he actually did love about teaching the JROTC students, they were typically pretty well behaved. Nebraska was also sure it was because the other coach, Colonel McNeal, even in his old age, had put the fear of god in these kids.
Nebraska was almost through with his stack of papers he’d been grading and decided to finish it out before leaving so that was one less thing to grade during the break.
“Knock Knock,” Tonya peeped her head in through the door before coming in fully and taking a seat.
“Ah I thought you’d be halfway to St. Mary’s by now,” Nebraska chuckled. St. Mary’s was the elementary school her sons attended.
“Well the boys’ father have them today and tomorrow but Mama gets Thanksgiving,” she grinned, showing all thirty two of her nearly perfect teeth.
“Always good to get a little peace and quiet before the holidays,” Nebraska nodded.
“Amen to that. Which actually brings me to my next point. I know you’re new in town and single and I would hate for a nice guy such as yourself to be alone for Thanksgiving. What do you say to coming to my house for Thanksgiving? You could even stop by the night before, help me do a little Pre-dinner Turkey stuffing,” Tonya offered cheekily and Nebraska knew exactly where she was going with this. Again.
“Thanks for the... um... generous offer T, but I won’t be alone for the holidays, I have Y/N,” Nebraska said trying to let her down as gently as possible.
“Y/N? I didn’t know you two were so.... close,” Tonya said, her smile faltering.
“Yeah we’re driving down to see her Uncle. He was... actually still is... my Lieutenant. Anyway we’re just gonna stay with them for the holiday,” Nebraska smiled but the atmosphere was awkward. It was awkward every time he had to reject her but she was persistent to say the least.
“I see. Well I’ll get out of your hair. Gotta get going to the store before all of the good Turkeys are gone,” she laughed dryly before exiting his office.
“Enjoy your break, T,” he called as she made her hasty getaway.
~*~
Nebraska awoke with a start. He glanced over from his position in the passengers seat to see you, your eyes in deep concentration of the road ahead. He yawned and your face relaxed a bit from its focused contortion as you were made aware of his wakefulness.
“Morning sleeping beauty,” you chuckled. Nebraska glanced at the clock in the car and it read 12:34.
“That late huh?” He said sitting up.
“Yeah but the plus side is we’ll be there in half an hour.”
“I was out for that long? Sheesh,” Nebraska scoffed.
“Well you had been at work all day. I was snoozing the whole time.” You said in that melodic voice of yours. How were you this chipper even in the dead of night?
~*~
The two of you continued on the road until finally making it to your Uncle and Aunt’s home. It was well after 1 a.m. so you and Nebraska did your best to sneak in quietly. You were grateful they still kept a spare key in a potted plant just in case someone ever got locked out.
You and Nebraska creeped upstairs and made it to your room, it seemed, without being detected.
“Sheesh, I’m exhausted,” you said stretching out on your bed. Nebraska came in afterwards, carrying your luggage and his because he was still ever the gentleman.
“There’s a-“ Nebraska’s sentence was cut off by your bedroom door swinging open to reveal your Uncle carrying a steel baseball bat, eyes alert.
“Uncle RayRay!!!” You squealed jumping up to hug the man.
“Do you all have any idea what time it is? We weren’t expecting you to get here until Wednesday,” he croaked. He had clearly just woken up.
“It is Wednesday. And we wanted to get ahead of the traffic,” you pointed out.
“Well you nearly gave Mabel a heart attack. Williams, good to see you, boy. Let me show you to your room,” He said indicating for Nebraska to follow him.
“You as well, sir” Nebraska said, following your Uncle, his luggage in hand.
You had never really thought about it but you’d always just assumed Nebraska would stay in the same room as you, just like at home. Then it dawned on you, your Uncle had no idea how bad Nebraska’s sleeping patterns were. You thought maybe you should mention it but there was no way he’d willingly allow you and Nebraska in the same bed without a marriage certificate between you two. He was old fashioned that way.
So you reluctantly just resigned to your bed alone, the exhaustion from driving sending you immediately into slumber before you even had a chance to unpack.
~*~
The next morning you came downstairs to none other than your Aunt’s amazing home cooked breakfast. She was hovering over the stove still making Breakfast while Nebraska and your Uncle were seated at the table, already eating.
“So nobody was gonna wake me up?” You yawned, taking your seat next to Nebraska.
“Figured you’d be out til dinner the way you sleep,” your Aunt said putting down your breakfast in front of you. French toast, sunny side up eggs and her special fried hash browns. Your mouth began to salivate just looking at it.
“Thank you MaeMae,” you said, digging in. Breakfast carried on peacibly but you kept glancing over at Nebraska. He seemed tired, and quiet. Well he was always quiet but a little more than usual. Maybe he was a little uncomfortable here. The last time he saw his General, he had put a bullet through his brain. He never told you the reason why because you two never talked about it but you’d bet Raynard knew. And that’s probably what made it so awkward.
“Alright now Y/N I got a list here for you of things I need done today. I need you to run by the store and pick up some...” Your Aunt Mabel began naming off the various ingredients she still needed for Thanksgiving tomorrow and the other chores she’d assigned you for today. Even though you were an adult, she still believed in putting you to work.
“There. That shouldn’t be too tough,” she said finishing the list of tasks and handing it to you, “Maybe you could take that quiet fella with you, he’s pretty big, he can help you carry some of that stuff.”
“Oh Nebraska probably doesn’t wanna be bothered running errands with me,” you said shrugging off the notion.
“Sure I do,” Nebraska was on the other side of the kitchen leaning against the counter. Both you and your Aunt jumped in surprise, neither of you having heard him even enter the room.
“Good lord boy, anybody ever told you about sneaking up on an old woman! About to give me a heart attack,” Mae said clutching her chest.
~*~
“Why do we need so many flowers, again?” Nebraska asked as he watched the florist load bundle after bundle of fresh cut flowers into your car.
“Mae takes any holiday when family comes over serious. One time she ordered over 20 preplanted trees for Arbor Day. Ended up giving them away as party favors as everyone left.” You said smiling at the memory.
“So it’ll be pretty packed tomorrow, huh?” Tre said watching the florist load the last bundle into the car.
“You have no idea.”
~*~
You couldn’t sleep. You’d tried everything from drinking tea to counting sheep but your body just couldn’t seem to fall into restful bliss without a certain burly figure wrapped around you.
You’d thought about going to see what he was doing, if he was still up but you refrained, not wanting to bother him.
He’d been... weird about things since the camping trip, even tried sleeping in his own bed again but you’d eventually broke him down by acting as if nothing had changed. That was a lie though, everything had changed. Where you merely acknowledged his attractiveness before, you now ached at the sight of him. The mere thought of his lips, so soft and inviting, was enough to send you into a frenzy. When his hand was on your stomach you could practically feel the strength beneath his fingers. You often thought of his strength and stamina. Fantasized about it actually. Fantasized about him getting rough with you, throwing you around before returning to his default sweet nature, making up for it in every possible way.
You were interrupted mid-daydream (or night dream since it was a little past 11p.m.) by a round of small knocks at the door followed by Nebraska peeking his head in.
“You still up?” He asked. You nodded and he came all the way in, closing the door behind him and leaning against it.
“Mind if I join you?” He asked and you felt that familiar shimmer in your stomach as your insides intertwined.
“Of course,” you said a bit breathlessly. He crawled in next you and it was actually a bit... awkward.
“I missed you,” you quipped, interrupting the silence. A goofy grin instantly broke out across Nebraska’s face, which he tried to hide via scratching the back of his head and looking away.
“I, uh, gotta admit I feel the same,” now it was your turn to be bashful.
“Why are we acting like we never see each? Like we didn’t just spend the last two whole days together?” You giggled and Nebraska smirked.
“I guess this is..... different, you know.... more... physical....” he was staring at your lips and you unconsciously bit your lip in response. That seemed to break his trance and he glanced up, a look of guilt marring his perfect features.
“I should probably-,” he said shifting away from you to stand up.
“Nebraska please, don’t...go,” your arm was now wrapped around his chest in an attempt to keep him from leaving. He was so warm, the curls of his chest hair tickling your fingers. His muscles were tense, you could feel them flex beneath you.
“I need you...” you whispered and that’s when the dam broke between the two of you. Nebraska pivoted in your arms, crashing his lips to your own. This wasn’t the same kind of kiss as in the woods. This was something completely different; something hungry and desperate. You could feel him still holding back so you decided to go all in, returning the smooch tenfold, both hands leaving their position at his torso to cup his face.
“Y/N...” he moaned, you felt like you might pass out. His hands latched themselves to your hips, pulling you into his lap. Your hands shifted from his jaw to his shoulders in order to steady yourself, pulling him even closer, meeting his eagerness with your own.
“Take thi- shit,” he moaned as you perched your full weight onto his lap, his already awakened member there to greet you.
“Too much? Am I too heavy?” You asked, beginning to rise from his lap only to have him pull you back down.
“No, you’re perfect babygirl. More than perfect,” he began kissing down your neck, his teeth grazing against the base of your neck hard enough to bruise.
You were melting beneath his touch. He was so quiet and reserved in his daily life so to be succumbed to his passion in such a raw and unfiltered way made your head swim. You never thought a man of his beauty, candor, and strength would look twice at someone like you yet here he was, your touch alone powerful enough to leave him a moaning, whimpering figure of lust beneath you. It gave you a surge of confidence you’d never quite experienced in the bedroom before.
“Take this off,” Nebraska said tugging at your night shirt. That’s when you remembered you weren’t wearing a bra. Meaning you’d be completely exposed to him, pooch, rolls and all.
“Hey, it’s just us here, okay?” He said pecking your lips when he sensed your hesitation.
“O-okay. Can you get the light?” You nodded towards the lamp on you side desk next to your bed.
“As long as I’ve been dreaming about this moment? No way, I gotta see you,” Nebraska said biting his lips, his eyes gazing over you with pure karnal lust. Your stomach fluttered.
You took your shirt off and he was immediately in awe. He gently took one soft mound in his hand, plopping your already hardened nipple into his mouth. Your nails dug into his shoulders as his tongue swirled around the sensitive flesh. Nebraska smirked at your obvious arousal, the vision of his pristine white teeth against your brown areola was almost a work of art.
When he began to go for the other nipple you pushed him back gently, crawling off his lap but he swiftly pulled you back on.
“Where are you going?
“Shhh... just relax,” you said and he finally let you go, allowing you to maneuver yourself between his legs, pulling his boxers down. His swollen member sprang free of the fabric and for a second you thought you might be hallucinating. He was certainly bigger than any man you’d ever been with, and his girth definitely looked more delectable, the pigment from his shaft to his head all one even color that matched the ebony complexion of his skin.
“You were hiding... all this... this whole time?” Your eyes were fixated on his throbbing length.
“Didn’t think you would care either way,” Nebraska said in a breathy voice. You gazed into his brown eyes in utter disbelief before returning to the task at hand.
You kissed your way up his thighs slowly to tease him, dragging your nails lightly along the sensitive area. His dick jumped in excitement.
He was already leaking precum, the head glistening with his essence. You gripped his base and feathered kisses up his shaft, teasing his head with your tongue. The second you took his tip fully into your mouth, he shuddered, gripping the bedsheets for dear life.
“Relax, Braska, let me take care of you,” you said in what you hoped was a ‘sultry’ voice. It had been a while since you’d gave a man head and you were racking your brain, trying to make sure there wasn’t anything you forgot with the inexperience of time.
You slurped him from base to tip, taking your time to get it extremely wet so your hand could pump him easily. You made sure to spit on it just for extra measure and you swore you saw Nebraska’s eyes roll into the back of his head.
You took him into your mouth and immediately hollowed your cheeks, sucking his over sensitive tip while pumping his base. You alternated between this motions and deep throating him as far as you could take him, making quite the show of gagging on his incredible length. You traveled down further, making sure to not to forget his scrotum, sucking one half and then the other while your hands handled the main attraction.
Where Nebraska was tembling before, he was a blubbering mess now, moaning your name along with a string of curse words as he chased his own pleasure. He took one hand and brought it to the back of your head, guiding you back to his swollen tip. You knew he couldn’t keep his orgasm at bay for much longer so you switched into full concentration mode, paying close attention to what would get him over that edge. His hand on the back of your head was gripping you so tight, you thought he might snatch your headscarf off.
“Shit, Y/N, don’t stop. Please, baby, right there, right there,” he begged and you made sure to adhere to him. Right as he was about to explode in your mouth, he grabbed himself and took it out, opting instead to nut on your face. You graciously accepted his release , the warm essence coating your face. You couldn’t help but giggle as he smeared some of it across your lips with his head, tapping the semi-firm member against them.
“Where’d you learn how to do that?” Nebraska asked out of breath. You shrugged as you got up to go wash your face.
You’d were in the middle of wiping off his ‘gift’ when he followed right after you, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind and nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck.
“Nebraska, I gotta wash my face and brush my teeth,” you cooed, grabbing a clean face towel and your night routine face wash. Nebraska turned your head to the side, capturing your lips in one of the slowest, sloppiest kisses you’d ever experienced, emphasizing his tongues presence in your mouth as a ‘Thank You’. When Nebraska finally let your lips go he continued clinging to you, only unwrapping himself once so that he could clean off his own member.
Once the two of you were clean, you took to bed. Nebraska, in a position much similar to earlier, engulfed you in himself, peppering you with kisses until he fell asleep. You fell asleep soon after, still not a hundred percent sure if what had just transpired was real or a dream.
~*~
You woke up noticeably cold. And alone. You glanced over to the other side of the bed to find it empty. That wouldn’t be that unusual any other morning but then the events of last night came flooding back to you. You couldn’t believe how brazen you’d been with him last night and the embarrassment immediately came crushing in.
Also why wasn’t he here? There wasn’t a single sign he’d ever been here. Even back home it was unusual for Nebraska to just silently wake up and creep out like a thief in the night. He probably came to his senses about you last night, which is why he’d ran for the hills.
What more could he possibly want anyway? You’ve already sucked him off. He doesn’t need to entertain you anymore. He got what he came for.
You tried to shake the negative thoughts from your head as you hopped in the shower but they were incessant.
What if he was in a relationship with Tonya. You were so desperate for him last night, you hadn’t even thought to ask. What if you made him a cheater because you couldn’t control yourself around him and just had to jump at the chance to show him you could be a slut. What would he want with one of those anyway when he has a woman like Tonya waiting for him back home.
As you walked down stairs you saw Nebraska moving tables with your Aunt supervising. You couldn’t bare to make eye contact with either of them. It didn’t matter because Mabel heard you anyway
“Y/N! About time you woke up girl, I need you to run down to Annie Sinclair’s- you remember Miss Sinclair don’t you? I need you to runs down to her place and pick up the four Pecan Pies she was supposed to have delivered yesterday,” Mabel said scribbling down the address. You nodded and grabbed your keys, leaving without a word. You didn’t notice Nebraska’s intense eyes longingly look after you as you left.
~*~
By the time you returned back home with your Aunt’s pies, there were cars filling up the driveway and parked on the street out front.
You carried them in but the kitchen was full of different dishes, along with her cooking and you had no where to put them. You sat them down on the dining table and hoped that would suffice for now.
You wandered around looking for her, speaking to various extended family members. Almost everyone here was from her side of the family but they didn’t treat you any different.
“So how’s that museum going baby? What is it you do there again?” You great Aunt Lettie asked.
“Well actually I-“
“Y/N! Girl I been looking for you everywhere! Come on in here and help ya Auntie in the kitchen,” Mabel said thundering down the stairs. You said your condolences to Lettie then followed your Aunt into the kitchen.
You looked around as she began stirring something in a pot, “So what exactly was it that you needed help with?”
“Oh child, nothing. I just know how Lettie gets and she’ll talk your head off all day if you let her,” she chuckled, throwing on her Apron. You sighed in relief, sinking down in a chair for the first time in what felt like hours.
“Tired?” Mabel quipped.
“You have no idea,” you rubbed the side of your temples trying to alleviate a potential headache in its tracks.
“Maybe you wouldn’t be if you actually slept at night,” you felt your heart drop as your eyes flew open.
“Save it. I went to fetch that boy this morning so he could move some furniture around for me. Imagine my surprise to see not only his room empty but that he’d some how stumbled into yours. Better be glad it was me who drug him out of there and not your uncle.” She turned her attention away from stirring the pot to... well... stir the pot.
“There’s nothing going on between us... we just sleep next to each other. But we’re not... like that,” you averted your eyes. Wait, did she say she drug him out of your room this morning?
“Sell that tale to some other simpleton, I’ve seen the way you been eyeing that man. And more importantly, how he looks at you. That’s love, honey, clear as day,” Was it that obvious that your heart ached for him every time you were in a five feet radius of the man?
“I... I.... I didn’t mean for this to happen...”
“For what to happen? To fall for him harder than a piano with a paper parachute?” She didn’t need an answer, your face said it all. “Look, I don’t know exactly what you two got going on rattling around in those big, pretty heads of yours but what I do know is if there were ever two people who needed a little love, deserved a little love in their life, I’m looking at them.”
You felt like you could cry. You’d been so in denial about everything you felt for this man for so long that now faced with your own feelings, they almost threatened to overpower you.
“I- if he doesn’t feel the same, if this is one sided- I- I’ve never really felt this way about anyone before. If he rejects me, it’ll tear me apart. I can’t risk the heartache,”
“Child the world is full of heartache the same way it’s full of rejection. That’s just the nature of life. But one things for sure, nothing will ever come of the two of you skirting around each other like a pair of mice. You need to clear things up even if it doesn’t go according to your plan, which knowing you, you probably don’t even have one. Go talk to the man.” And that was that on her lecture. She turned around and resumed stirring whatever she was cooking on the stoveto, only glancing over her shoulder when she noticed you hadn’t moved.
“I meant now.”
~*~
“And that’s when I told him, ‘look, I don’t care if the god damn Marshal himself rides up on a golden chariot and declares the sanction with feathers flying straight out his ass, I’m not moving my platoon for nobody!’” The table Nebraska was currently sitting at burst into laughter and he cracked a smile to be polite but he didn’t have the slightest clue what the conversation was about. Didn’t really care to be honest. His mind was on one thing and one thing only, that thing of course being you.
It all still felt like a dream to him, he’d almost believe it was if he hadn’t woke up in your bed. Correction, somebody woke him up and it wasn’t you. One look at your Aunt’s face and he knew the jig was up.
“Come help me move some tables, big fella,” she said closing your door behind her. He pulled on his sweatpants which had still been discarded on the floor and followed behind her. He stopped quickly in his own room to grab a shirt. Thank god you’d had the mind to cover up after last night’s escapade. That would only make the situation look worse.
Nebraska was sure he was in for a lecture but the older woman continued on as if she’d seen nothing out of the ordinary, giving out various orders to get ready for the day. Preparation that was much needed by the way. In only a matter of hours the house was filled to the brim with more people than Nebraska could have possibly anticipated. But that was hardly a problem because that gave him ample opportunity to avoid you.
He didn’t know what was going through his mind last night but he had embarrassed himself beyond belief. Looking back, he wished he’d done so many things differently. He wished he had been man enough not to ejaculate so early. He wished he had took care of your pleasure first before obtaining his own. He wished he had thrown all the foreplay out the window and been inside you. When you came downstairs this morning and wouldn’t even look at him, he knew you regretted it. Of course you’d expected more out of him. He had expected more out of himself, but he promised himself if he ever got the opportunity for such intimacies with you again, he’d ravish you the way you deserved.
And oh did you deserve it and then some. The way your mouth had worked Nebraska last night, he could have died a happy man right then, right there. You sucked him off in a way he’d never been before, leaving him completely putty on your well-versed hands. You obviously must have had quite the experience in this area because you knew exactly what to do at every turn, getting him to his release faster than he could himself. Just the thought alone made him crave you, want to seek you out. It had been easier for him to deny his sexual urges for you when he had no point of reference but last night had only served to intensify his need to bed you. A need he’d probably never satisfy after his embrassing performance last night.
Nebraska realized he was completely lost to the conversation with the oldhead army men around him, friends of the Lieutenant no doubt, so he respectfully excused himself then went to head upstairs. He needed a moment to himself to collect his thoughts and stop obsessing over you. But it looked as if luck wasn’t on his side today.
As he began his ascension up the stairs you were coming down and suddenly, your eyes locked. You looked just as beautiful as ever, your mauve skirt and Jean button down accentuating your tempting chubby figure. His mind immediately went to the feel of your curves molding against his own physique, the memory of your delicious weight on his lap igniting a fire in him. He really needed to calm down.
“Hey...” you said in a voice he almost couldn’t hear.
“Hey,”
“Can, um, can we talk?” You asked tugging at the bottom of your skirt.
“Course,” Shit, Nebraska knew where this was going.
“Okay, um..... in here,” she tugged his arm and pulled him into the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind her.
“We need to talk about last night,” Nebraska’s blood went cold.
“I’m listening...”
“I didn’t mean to- That wasn’t my intention to- if you- I wasn’t trying to-“
“Save it, Y/N. Just forget it ever happened.” Nebraska couldn’t listen to this. He couldn’t hear how much you regret being with him. What easily was a night of utter perfection for him was nothing more than an impulsive mistake for you and that realization hurt too much to hear verbalized.
“Nebraska please just... let me talk. Even if you don’t care about what I have to say, at least let me say it. Please...,” your voice cracked and he could hear the tears you were fighting back in your voice. He thought about storming out to save himself from having to watch this breakdown but he knew him leaving would only cause you to burst into tears and he just couldn’t do that to you. So Nebraska resigned to leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, indicating to you that you had his full attention.
“Ok look. I- I don’t know the full nature of you and Tonya’s relationship but I’m not an idiot. I knew something was going on with you two but I still went after you anyway and I just want to apologize profusely for impeding on your relationship with her,” you took a breath, “but I feel I owe it to you, and to myself, to be honest about my... feelings the last few months. I- I’m not the most experienced with men. I often read into things way too much. I’m anxious to a fault. But either way, I somehow deluded myself into seeing your kindness and gentleman-like ways for something they weren’t. I- I began developing feeling for you when I shouldn’t have. And for that I apologize.... again.” You took another breath, swallowing this time.
“You’re a great guy. One of the best men I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Last night... I don’t know what came over me. I’m usually not so aggressive, especially sexually, and I’m sorry for coming at you like some sort of deranged animal in heat. It wasn’t right and I promise you it’ll never happen again. I know all hope for the two of us being as close as we were is out the window. And I don’t blame you for that, by the way. It’s my fault and I take full responsibility. I just hope, that maybe, in time you’ll be able to forgive me and I can move on from feeling like this. I promise you I’ll get over it, I just need a little time but until then I was hoping we could at least remain friends. I know that’s a lot to ask but I don’t really think I could handle if things continued like this with you ignoring me completely. I know I’m probably being overly sensitive right now but it just... hurts....” you trailed off. Nebraska hadn’t said a word, his body frozen in that spot while his mind raced to process everything you’d just told him.
“Are you finished?” His voice was low, rugged.
“.... yeah, I guess I am,” he could hear the disappointment.
Nebraska walked up to you, cupping your jaw with hand as he captured your lips in his own. You eyes bulged out of your head in shock and for a second he though you were going to push him away.
“N-n-Nebraska I-“
“Shhhh. You got your chance to speak, now it’s my turn,” he returned to your lips, deepening the kiss. You moaned into his mouth as he lifted you onto the bathroom counter. His hands traveled under your skirt, gripping your thighs, undoubtedly his new favorite part of you. You let out a squeak of surprise when he suddenly pulled you flush against him.
“I’ve been agonizing over you since I met you. You think any man could be in proximity to all of this-“ he smacked your ass “and not want to break you in half? If you’re delusional then I’m in this fantasy right with you because I’ve been enamored with you for months. But you just seemed so disinterested I.... I couldn’t... I didn’t know...”
“Hey, it’s alright.” You cooed, cupping his face. He rest his forehead against your own, grateful for the intimacy.
“I just need you to know this isn’t one sided. You have nothing to apologize to me for, not now, not ever.” Nebraska wished he could say more. Wished he could articulate more coherently exactly how deep his feelings went for you. Wished he could express how you made him feel like he wasn’t such a monster, like he was worthy of his own personhood, even if he doubted it himself most times.
Nebraska opened his eyes to see you staring at his lips, the wanton look in your eyes making his cock throb. Yes he wanted to proclaim his undying love and affection for you but he also wanted to fuck you so good your pussy would need crutches the next day.
“C’mere,” he growled lowly and you almost bounced off the counter wrapping your arms around his neck to kiss him. He could appreciate his position of standing between your thighs however he knew realistically he couldn’t fuck you right here in the bathroom. Not with the house damn near filled to capacity. No, he’d have to show a little more restraint for your sake and his own.
“And, Y/N, about last night...,” Nebraska said breaking the kiss. You hummed in reply as you began trailing kisses down his neck.
“How did you expect to give head like that and not have a man fall in love with you?”
~*~
A/N: What y’all think? Told y’all I was gonna give y’all some action if you stuck with me 😘😘 I hope y’all liked this chapter because I actually worked harder on this one than any other chapter so far. As always please let me know what y’all think, it really helps me get ideas for the next chapter. 💕💕🥰
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comicgeekscomicgeek · 5 years ago
Text
Their Hero Academia -- Interlude 2 - Part 2: Villains
And here is the raw and unedited next installment of my next gen, My hero Academia fic! 
All prior chapters and a side-series are  available on A03 here
Their Hero Academia – Interlude 2 Part 2: Villains
It was only when she was face to face with the brick wall at the end of the dead end alley that she stopped running and turned to face her pursuers.  There were three of them, all of them carrying guns.  One of them had a head like a cat, the other appeared normal, and the third, the only woman, had bright green hair.  There was no way around this.  She was going to have to fight.
“Got you now,” the cat-headed man said.  “Guess you weren’t so smart after all.”
“Make this easy on yourself,” the woman said.  “Don’t resist.”
“Or do,” the normal man said.  “After what you did…”
She took a deep breath. She wasn’t an intimidating woman, of average height and an athletic build.  Granted, she was a flashy dresser, though her style could also be called eccentric, with thick black boots, fishnets, black booty shorts, a white crop top, and leather jacket the color of blood.  The only truly notable thing about her was her hair, which was white as snow and done up in a pair of girlish pigtails.
Oh, and of course, there were the two very large knives she was carrying, especially considering they were still wet with blood.
“Drop the knives!” the woman ordered.  
She didn’t feel like doing that.  Instead, she tossed the knives into air above their heads.  Then, as their eyes followed the knives, the jumped against the wall, pushing off and into the air.  As she sailed over their heads, she grabbed her knives, slashing as she came down. She got two of them, the normal man and the cat-headed man, causing both to cry out and curse.  She landed behind them and rolled, quickly getting to her feet.
There was blood in the air now.  She could smell it.   It was practically intoxicating.   “Well,” she said, “I do hate to cut and run…but I guess I’ve got time to burn.”
At that last word, she activated her Quirk.  Instantly, flames erupted where she had cut them, as the oxygenated blood began to ignite.   The cut to the cat-headed man was deeper and his fires burned hotter and brighter, almost instantly engulfing the rest of his arm.  The flames spread less quickly on the normal man, but burned hot at all the same. Both fell to the ground, trying to extinguish their burning extremities.  Bloodburn was such a useful Quirk!
She gave the knife in her left hand a little spin, fixing the woman with her stare.  People always did say there was something about her eyes. “Crazy eyes,” they usually called them. She never understood why.
“How about you?” she asked. “You wanna go?”
The woman was shaking now, but fired off a shot from her gun, even as she charged her, knives flashing.   One slash across her arm, forcing the woman to drop the gun, the other burying itself in her gut.  She let the woman fall to the ground with a wet sound. There was so much blood; it smelled so sweet…
She gave the normal looking one a good kick and he grunted in pain.  His flames hadn’t spread as fast.  He might live.  But the other two probably wouldn’t, not unless someone found them quickly.  She didn’t especially care one way or the other. The alley was filled with the smell of blood and burnt hair and flesh, and they probably had radioed for back-up or, worse, Heroes.  She needed to get out of here.
She spun the knife in her right hand a few times, absently whistling as she walked back to the street. As she did, a car materialized out of nowhere, as though decelerating from a tremendous speed.  The passenger door opened and she stepped inside.   Her ride had finally gotten here.
Good.  Rei Toga had places to be.
***
It was a location known only to a select few.  The police and Heroes of the world would have given anything to know it.  As it was, Rei herself did not actually know where it was. Maximum Overdrive, her ride, acted as transport and courier for the New League of Villains, using her Quirk to drive any vehicle through some kind of super-liminal warp zone to bring them there when meetings were called.
She couldn’t read Overdrive at all, hidden as she was, in head-to-toe black leather, her face obscured by a race car driver’s helmet with a mirror vision.  If she could talk, Rei had never heard her.
This particular meeting was being held in what seemed to be a particularly well furnished office.  If it belonged to their illustrious leader, or if they were simply using it after-hours, she didn’t know.  And she didn’t particularly care.
Both took a seat at the long conference table, where the other members of the League were already waiting for them.
“Sorry it took so long,” she said.  “Someone was late in picking me up.  You run into too much traffic, Drivey?”
Overdrive didn’t respond, other than to turn her head slightly to look at her.  Rei settled for making faces in her reflective faceplate. She considered it a win when Overdrive turned away.
“Indulging your tastes for violence, Toga?” the large bear seated across from them asked.  
“Not on purpose, Ursa,” she replied.  “But apparently when you’re a wanted criminal, you just can’t go out and buy the newest K-Pop CD’s without somebody calling the cops.  You go to a store and they all just start screaming and it’s “Villain” this and “please don’t kill me” that. Sheesh.  Like I don’t get a day off every now and then?”
The League’s science expert peered at her over his tiny glasses.  “Quite understandable,” he said, after a moment.  “And it’s Doctor Ursa.  We’ve talked about this.”
“Whatever you say, Ursa!”
He just shook his head and sighed.
The others around the table—the beetle-like Kabuto, Miss Compress, Metallix in his armor, and the green-haired Amp—reacted with a mixture of boredom and laughter.  Pretty typical, really.
“Is our leader planning on showing up, dahlings?” Compress asked.  She was dressed much like her mentor, the master criminal called Mister Compress.  Her mask rested on the table, exposing her pointed features and purple-black hair.  “Because some of us do have other places to be.”
It was simply the nature of the League.  They were left to their own devices, free to pursue their own agendas, until their leader called upon them for their mutual goal in the destruction of Hero society. Society that had produced scum like her grandfather, who had abused her father and grandmother to the breaking point. The Heroes of that generation may have been done and retired, with a new crop having arisen to take their place, but the flawed society still remained.
The original League, the one her parents had been a part of, had had vision and goals, to break the back of Hero society and show the world how flawed it was.  It had ultimately failed, defeated by Izuku Midoriya and his friends.  And though society had evolved and more Quirks were in the open than ever before… it was still a society that uplifted its Heroes far too much, still relied upon them to solve all its problems.
The second League, from ten years ago, hadn’t been worthy of the name.  They’d taken it for shock value and were only interested in money and other material goods.  Sure, they’d hurt a few heroes, but they were nothing but pretenders.
Rei was the newest member of this League.  She’d been on the run when they’d approached her, in-between killing a few people who had definitely deserved it.  Probably deserved it, anyway.  Either way, Mom would have been proud.
This League was going to finish what the old one started.
As if in response to Compress’s question, the television on the wall clicked on.  “Good,” their leader said, his voice a slow, painful hiss. “You’re all here.”
Cruel, dark eyes settled on Doctor Ursa.  “Your Quirk Virus isn’t doing its job, Ursa!  People aren’t afraid of it!  They’re still using their Quirks!  The Hero schools are still open!  They’re still planning the damn Sports Festival!  Why aren’t you infecting any Heroes?! Why aren’t things worse?”
Doctor Ursa remained unflappable in the face of their leader’s rage.  He pushed his glasses up slightly on his snout.  “As I have explained, I am working under the parameters you gave me.  Combining the Trigger drug you supplied with the blood extracted from our “guest” has been enough to cause one-time flare-ups of Quirks… but neither is strong enough nor long lasting enough to cause the chaos you’re looking for, especially in a person as healthy as a Hero. With our distribution method being rather limited, we’re simply doing the best we can.  We’re still seeing global spikes, even if science is rapidly marching against us.”
Their leader glowered, his scarred face looking even more intimidating with the expression.  But Ursa did not flinch under it.
“Fine,” he said. “Your explanation is… acceptable. But I want the potency and time table sped up.”
“As you wish.  I may need a new test subject.”
“When you find who you need, the League will retrieve them,” their leader said.  He steepled his fingers.  “As for the rest of you…  I have a mission.”
***
Miss Compress pulled the binoculars away from her eyes.  “Our target will be here in two minutes, dahlings.  Let’s make a show of it.  Just because there aren’t any cameras doesn’t mean we can’t be fabulous!”
“You talk too much, Compress,” Metallix said.  He was a big man, tall and broad.  He wore heavy metal gauntlets, a metallic breastplate and shoulder guards, tall metal boots, and a metal, bullet-shaped helmet over a black bodysuit.  “And stop doin’ that sing-song thing.  It’s makin’ my head hurt.”
He stepped into the road, right in the path of the semi-truck that had rounded the curve of the road.  Bringing up both hands, the metal of his gauntlets began to shift and flow, like liquid, until a spear of solid metal extended from both, slamming into the semi’s engine.  The driver hit the brakes hard and the vehicle skidded to a stop.
Amp, her green hair done up in a mohawk and clad in black leather was next.  She Quirk let her amplify the emotions of others, and she turned it on the driver of the semi.  Already afraid, his fear was amplified a hundred fold.  He bolted from the cab and turned to run.  She rolled her eyes.  “Oh, wow.  Running. How original.”
Which was when Rei clotheslined him.  People always underestimated just how much of a punch she could throw.  Not that the guy was coherent enough to have been expecting it or have formed an opinion on her punching abilities.  But people often did.  What was she going on about again?
He hit the ground hard, smacking his head on the road.  “Ooooh,” Rei said.  “He’s gonna be sore in the morning.  No, no, wait, he’s bleeding an awful lot.  He’s probably gonna be dead.”
“Kabuto,” Miss Compress said, walking around the truck with the others.  “Open it, if you please?”
“On it,” Kabuto said. His entire body was covered with a hard beetle-shell and a massive horn extended from his head.   He jammed that into the door of the trailer then jerked his neck, tearing it off.  “Gimme a hard one next time!”
Inside the trailer was what looked like a metal coffin, a shiny tube with a glass top.  But if what their leader had said was true (and he had yet to lead them astray), then what was inside it was extremely important to their goals.
“…I thought it’d be bigger,” Rei said after a moment.  “Guess it’s true what they say about size not mattering, eh?  Eh?”  She nudged Amp with her elbow.
Amp gave her a disgusted look.  “You really don’t have an off switch, do you?”
“Nope!”
Kabuto flared his wings once and hopped into the trailer, retrieving the tube and bringing it outside. “Heavy enough,” he said.  He looked through the glass at what was inside. “Ugly son of a gun, though.”
Compress nodded. “Well, let’s dispose of the evidence then, dahlings” she said.   She pointed at the truck and the air around it seemed to shimmer as she applied her Quick: Compaction.  In an instant, the semi and its trailer was crushed into a tiny cube, no more than about eight centimeters a side.  She picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of her coat.   Rei didn’t pretend to understand how that all worked, but she was pretty sure it violated several of the laws of physics.
Of course, she never studied law.
“Not much we can do about the body,” Compress said, “but we’ll manage.  No cameras, no GPS, just a dead body on a back road.  They’ll connect it eventually… but we’ll be long gone by then.  Let’s get the hell out of here.  A shame they thought this so secret so as to not assign any Heroes to guard it.  I’d have enjoyed a good scuffle.”
As if on cue, their ride, an all-black semi being driven by Overdrive, snapped onto the road.  They loaded up.  They got the hell of out there, one frozen Nomu corpse richer.
***
Rei put her feet up on the table as she slurped soba noodles from a bowl.  
“I see you managed to get in again, Rei,” a voice from behind her said.  “How do you manage to keep getting past the security system?”
Rei looked over her shoulder at the older white haired woman in the doorway.  It was late and she honestly hadn’t meant to wake her.  She’d just meant to stop by, make sure she was all right, and raid the fridge.  “I gots mad skills, Grandma.”
It actually hadn’t been that hard.  For all the vaunted high tech security systems the rich and famous employed, there were plenty of ways around them if you knew what you were doing.  And Rei definitely knew what she was doing.
Her grandma—Rei Todoroki—just shook her head.  “You can’t keep doing this.  Sooner or later, Shoto or Momo is going to catch you…  I shouldn’t even be talking to you.  You… you’re a murderer… up to who knows what…”
Some small pang of guilt stabbed its way through Rei’s heart.  She didn’t want to cause her grandma any pain, but how else was she supposed to see her?  She knew her namesake had had a hard life and suffered greatly at the hands of her grandfather.  But she now lived a peaceful life with Rei’s Uncle Shoto and Aunt Momo, on their sprawling estate.  
“Missed you, Grandma.”
Rei liked to drop in when she could.  Her dad would have wanted that.  And as far as she knew, her grandma never did tell anyone when she was here.  She appreciated that, even though she knew it must have cost her something fierce.
Her grandma came around and joined her on the couch.  “You look so much like him, you know,” she said, gently touching Rei’s face.  
“You say that every time,” Rei said.  
“It’s true,” her grandma said.  “You’ve got a lot of Toya in you in other ways too, of course.  Not the least of which is your stubbornness.  Or how we all failed you.”
“Grandma…”
“You know your father turned on his League allies.  He did that for you, Rei.  He wanted you to have a normal life.  Fuyumi and Tensei were going to adopt you.  No one expected your mother to recover from giving birth so quickly… let alone manage to escape from prison with you.  We should have looked harder, but that woman was tricky like a snake.”
Rei gave her grandma a smile. She’d been told by many, many people that her smile was not reassuring, but she did it anyway. “Aw, Grandma.  It all worked out!  I’m living my best life, big plans and everything!”
She slurped more of her noodles.  “Mom says hi, by the way.”
Her grandma’s lips pressed into a thin line.  “I’m sure she does,” she said.  “By all means, tell her hello from me.”
Rei had always suspected Grandma didn’t particularly care for Mom.  She couldn’t figure out why.  Mom was such a happy person!  Sure, there was the whole “unwed mother” thing, but she did her best!  Why, even now, she was probably out murdering some poor schmuck who deserved it, all while rocking her heels and pearls!
Rei slurped up the last of her noodles, sat up, and set her bowl on the table.  “Well, this has been fun, Grandma, but I gotta get going.   Big plans, gonna change the world, blah blah blah, you know how it is.”
She gave Grandma a little peck on the cheek.
“No chance of you turning yourself in?” Grandma asked.  “I’m certain, given your upbringing, we could argue for leniency.”
“What about my upbringing? The most awesomest childhood ever?” Rei said.  “You’re funny, Grandma!”  She stood. “Don’t worry.  I’ll go out the back way.  They’ll never even know I was here!”
“I suppose they won’t,” Grandma said.
Rei pouted as she headed for the door.  “You’re not gonna tell on me, are you, Grandma?”
Grandma shook her head. “I won’t.   Your father visited me from time to time too, when I was in the hospital.  Maybe I shouldn’t have kept his secret… maybe I shouldn’t keep yours.  I suppose I just want all my family to be safe.”
“Don’t worry!” Rei assured her.  “I ain’t been caught yet!”
“I know, dear. That’s what worries me.”
She just gave Grandma a little wave as she headed out the door.  It was so nice to catch up with family!  Maybe she ought to drop in on Mom soon, see how she was getting on…  Or she could check up on her cousins, even her little zippy cousins-in-law!  It really had been too long since she’d seen Izzy and she never had actually spoken to any of them…
So long as she could fit it in around the League’s plans.  There were plenty of things afoot, after all…
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eye-of-apollo · 7 years ago
Text
The Path of Magic
Part Three
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Just as the gray of dawn kissed the horizon, uneven steps made their way to the tiny dwelling near the canal. The sound roused Luc from the dozing he'd been doing behind some crates. Peering over one that hid him from the pool of light that descended the window he saw what he'd been waiting for all night. Staggering, the tall man put a finger to his lips for no one and then smiled to himself, a bit tanked. A couple minutes passed with fumbled keys, then nearly as long with scratches on the door before it unlocked. As he went to turn the handle and go in, he looked around, feeling eyes on him. Glancing over, a familiar pair of silvery ones regarded him silently.
“You came back,” Julian murmured. “I didn't think you would.”
He ducked into the house, holding the door for Luc before closing it. Fingers reached for a cupboard, then set a pair of glasses and a bottle of off-brand shine on the table. Pouring a couple fingers into each, he beckoned gently. “Come...sit. I have a feeling you want to talk to me. Call me a coward, but I'm not going to face you any kind of sober.”
That snark drew a small smile. Its wearer sat across from Julian, politely taking the proffered glass. Downing it, Luc made a face and then sighed.
“I wanted to apologize for running off like I did. And...” his gaze wandered to the bruise that still adorned the other's wan countenance. “For hitting you like that. I know you asked me to, but...” his eyes found the wood grain beneath the bottle and hid in it, words ceasing.
“Anyone ever tell you that you have a mean left hook?” Swirling his glass around, Julian chuckled, watching the liquid move. “I was an idiot, asking you to do that. There's no way we could have known you'd have that reaction. But I knew about your amnesia. It should have been a simple extrapolation from there that you might have...buried issues?” Shaking his head, Julian's expression was sweetly rueful. “It was selfish...I'm sorry.” This last was spoken more softly, the final syllables nearly whispered.
Luc was visibly surprised. Misery flashed in his face before he looked away. “I know there's something wrong with me. Every time something strange happens. Every time I act or feel a certain way about something, when it's obviously the wrong response.” Reaching for the bottle, he poured himself more and drank half. “Asra won't tell me what it is. I know he knows something. Yet...” he paused, finishing off his glass. “He says nothing.”
Bitterness pulled at one corner of Julian’s mouth before he quickly banished it. “That man has far too many secrets...” he mumbled, brooding. “As frustrating as it may be, there's a very good chance it's to protect you. If nothing else, he's not one to do something without reason, you know?” He leaned a little closer across the table, glass in one hand, chin resting on the back of the other. Lamplight illuminated gold and carnelian in his hair, adding warm contrast to his skin and fatigue-darkened eyes. The shift in position caught Luc's attention, and he found himself staring at the curves in his lips. Even now it struck him as odd that his mind seemed to find the smallest of places to take refuge. It took a moment for him to realize that Julian's words had ceased, and he watched him in turn.
“I don't know what I'm going to do,” he replied at last. There was unsteadiness in his voice, and it betrayed the weight of what he carried. It hadn't just been strange incidents happening, more and more. He'd begun to have nightmares, endless parades of slaughter with screams rising in his ears like siren song. Luc knew it had everything to do with what he couldn't remember. The agony that cheating the amnesia caused barred his way, however, even more so than the silence of his master. “Things just seem to be getting worse.” He looked at Julian, now openly unhappy. “What if something really bad happens? I feel like something...something's coming. And it's not good.”
While he'd been sitting there, the shadows of the room seemed to deepen and the temperature dropped. At the points where Luc's fingers held glass, myriad patterns of frost began to curl and spread outward. 
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His gaze grew far away, and empty. Julian continued to watch him, and once he could see his breath he knew he had to do something. “Hey...come back. You need to come back to me...Luc. Please...” Reaching across the table, he took hold of his free hand. It was incredibly cold to the touch.
In his mind, Luc returned to the very first nightmare he'd had. A man on horseback waited at a ridge near a castle. Snow fell, lightly dusting plow furrows in vacant fields. The sky was a steel gray that only comes with winter weather. Stillness largely reigned - the soft snuffling of the horse, the distant clash of battle and the occasional creak of ballistae were the only consistent sounds.
Tack jingled gently when he adjusted his reins, flexing stiff fingers in gauntlets against bitter cold. His armor, elegantly functional and dark like gunmetal, lay beneath a bearskin cloak that spilled down his back between sword hilts. The scent of black powder from spent cannon hung acrid in the air. Though an antlered deer-skull helm obscured his face, there was something familiar about the trinkets that swayed from its forking points.
Seeing something this detailed couldn't merely be the product of an imaginative mind, and Luc knew it. This was a fragment of memory from somewhere, some...when. The thought chilled him to his core. He knew this man. For months he'd been pushing the amnesia in his sleep, in the only way he knew wouldn't cause him pain. Every time he had this dream, it always progressed exactly this far. Until now.
This time it continued, and the man slid to his feet. A soldier led his mount away, leaving him to stand alone at a distance. Arms raised, he turned his palms toward the besieged citadel. A low chant flowed from bone-hidden lips, the words indecipherable. Gradually, clouds churned and swirled into a violent storm. Snow flew on whipping winds, and lightning struck the castle in blinding arcs. The sounds of screams joined wailing weather and the chaos of battle, and it wasn't long before fire spread. With one precise hit, the wall holding the gate suddenly blasted apart in a shower of broken stone. Any forces left that weren't caught up with the enemy ran headlong toward the gap, howling with murderous, visceral delight.
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The chanting ceased, and the arms lowered. As quickly as the storm appeared it left, and with a flick of his hand, a fresh flood of infantry and cavalry pounded through the snow to fill the valley. In twenty minutes it was over. Climbing astride his horse when brought, he made to join them before a courier stopped him.
“General. Message from the commander. They've caught the baron. He tried to flee through tunnels.”
With a nod the antlered man turned his mount. “Our work here is done. Tell the men they can keep what they find. Send the baron to the capital. The Count wishes to deal with him personally.” Without looking at the courier again he set off at a canter.
A voice and a blinding pain in his head cut through Luc's reverie like a knife. He gasped, leaning forward from a wave of dizziness. Retching, a shiver ran the length of his body and he blinked as Julian's worried face came into focus.
“I've been trying to wake you for ten minutes! I...oh dear.” The room had started to spin, and all Luc could do was shift and throw up on the floor before fainting. There was a crash, and drops of blood splattered onto his arm from the other direction. Several obscenities were strung together as Julian went to find his doctor's bag. Setting it nearby, he picked Luc up and moved him to the bed. As it turned out, the glass he'd held had frozen to his hand. It had broken when his arm left the table, shattering against the chair.
Crimson spots on the sheets appeared and multiplied while Julian deftly tweezed jagged shards from Luc's fingers. Even exhausted and reeking of liquor, there was no disputing his devotion as a physician. Carefully cleaning the cuts and putting in a few stitches, he was nearly done bandaging when Luc opened his eyes. What sounded like an apology struggled to come from the honey-haired man. Giving him a look like he had two heads, Julian sighed. “You scared the hell out of me, just now. Don't say you're sorry. Just tell me you're alright.”
Still somewhat green around the gills, Luc gave him a sad smile. “I'll be fine...give it time...”
“What the rat fuck happened? And don't you dare get cryptic on me like someone else we know.”
“You...fixed my hand. Thank you -”
“You're hedging,” Julian cut him off. “Don't test me, I won't have it. Not after what you just did to my floor.”
A smile turned into a soft laugh.
Growling to himself in frustration, Julian glared at Luc. It all went out the window though when a grin spread on his face, laughter bubbling out despite every effort. Soon, they were both cackling.
“You should...really...clean that up...it smells awful...”
“Fuck you. Rotten bastard. Nearly giving me a heart attack and then making a huge mess of yourself and my house. Sheesh.”
His mirth quieting, Luc looked at his hand. Julian sat on the edge of the bed next to him, pressing a cup of water into his good one. A spoonful of something nasty got pushed past his lips. He wrinkled his nose, now grateful for the aforementioned cup and drinking readily. “Go easy. We don't need a repeat of whatever came out of you that's probably going to stain my rug.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Luc hissed, putting the wrapped hand against his head. Julian's hackles went up, worry glittering in his gaze like fevered starlight. After a few measured breaths the pain seemed to pass, tension leaving Luc's frame along with it. “This happens whenever I get close to having a complete memory,” he told him. “The amnesia...seems to have a way of preventing me from getting past it.
“This isn't the first time it's happened. The last time...was worse...” A deep anguish appeared in his features. That memory, of course - of reaching for what was forbidden, and Asra's resulting suffering – that he could recall quite freely. Luc made no attempt to hide the ache the memory caused him. He didn't think there was any point in it, now that Julian had seen him at his most vulnerable. What he hadn't expected however, was Julian's reaction.
There were no words. All he did was stare at Luc for a long span of moments. A wet glint appeared at the edges of his eyes and he swallowed hard, tucking stray vermilion hair behind his ear. Frailty seemed to invade his posture. He looked...broken. As though his own heart had been ripped from his chest. Somehow, through everything, through all the bluster and sweeping gestures and arrogance, it appeared that Julian was actually a man who felt everything quite deeply. Far more deeply than he ever wanted anyone to know. The misery of others ripped through him the way a hurricane tore a sail, and he never mentioned any of it.
Luc opened his eyes, and they looked at one another for a while, neither feeling a need to speak. More than enough was said in that silence, and when Julian couldn't sit up any longer, he curled into Luc's waiting arms.
Early daylight began its usual prowl through the window and the cracks around the door, and their little world seemed to settle and calm at last. Just before he fell asleep, one last thought passed through Luc's mind. Drifting up from the depths of his consciousness, it paralyzed him.
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The man on the horse was called the Snow General. His name was Ralakar.
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bigboobshaunt · 8 years ago
Text
Be There
Ike/Ranulf comfort
Gift for @pervywithasideofcake, for being a cool person in general and an artist I admire.
Ao3 link 
Commission info
Ike was a leader. Not one who was born in the role, but one who stumbled, matured and grew into his position.
Ike the leader was a concise, determined man. Ike the person had these qualities, too, but he was also only human.
When the leader of the Greil Mercenaries faltered, after long days of hard work, Ranulf noticed.
When Ike was unsure of how to proceed, when he was shaken by self-doubt and conflicted feelings, Ranulf noticed.
Ike didn't want to show this flawed side of him to others, especially the people he cared about the most, but Ranulf still noticed, and Ranulf loved him all the same.
"Did you miss me?" Ranulf asked with a purr, after nuzzling Ike's neck and face.
Ike let out a sigh, which Ranulf understood as him trying to chuckle, but being too tired to actually do it. "You always ask that, even when we've just seen each other."
"Maybe I do..." Ranulf pondered, throwing his arms around the other man, who sat in silence in his tent. "But DID you miss me?"
"Yes, I did. I always do," Ike stated, leaning back and pecking Ranulf's cheek. "I've just been busy. I'm glad you came to see me, because I couldn't do it the other way around."
Ranulf did not reply right away. Instead, he held Ike's hands, intertwining their fingers together. "I know you try to tackle a lot of things alone. It comes with your position, after all, but you shouldn't forget you have others to rely on."
"Titania and Soren have been helping me, though," Ike answered, in a clear, knee-jerk reaction as he eyed the papers he'd been reading before Ranulf walked in. "Mist, as well."
"I'm sure they have," Ranulf said, before planting a small kiss on Ike's neck. "But you do also have me. I'm not about to abandon you, no matter your duties."
Ike couldn't summon up an answer, but he simply let Ranulf hold him in silence for a bit, reciprocating the tight grasp that the laguz gave to his hands. The warmth in them was comforting enough, even before being paired with Ranulf's words.
Letting go of Ranulf, Ike stood up from his chair, turning around to face his boyfriend and then quickly embracing him again in a very tight hug.
"Wow... I like this, but I think you may be crushing something," Ranulf smiled, returning the embrace and burying his face in Ike's neck, covering it in his ticklish kisses.
Ike's hug might have been wordless, but to Ranulf, it spoke loudly and clearly. Pent-up emotions rushed free and tried desperately to thank Ranulf for being there.
"Easy there, big guy..." Ranulf japed, slowly patting Ike's back and nuzzling him thoroughly. "I must admit this isn't coming out of nowhere. I've missed you too, but then I figured the best I could do was to be there for you."
"It looks like you always know what to do and say," Ike whispered under his breath, having visible difficulty uttering the words.
"Nah... I've had quite the few stumbles and mistakes in my life. You know that I have," Ranulf answered, pressing Ike against him as he said it. "I just try and think of what I can do, instead of what I should be doing."
"Well, that's a good plan, but you shouldn't forget I'm here for you, too, when you need me," Ike responded, loosening his hold on Ranulf and staring his lover in the eyes.
"Sheesh, can't even comfort you without getting some of it myself, huh?" Ranulf shook his head, in faked indignation. "We should just agree to always be there for each other, right?"
"Agreed," Ike let out, allowing himself to smile for the first time in that day, before inching closer to kiss Ranulf.
“I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think I have the energy to go further than this with you, tonight,” Ike admitted, scratching at his back as they separated.
“Oh my... I must admit I was wondering just that, but don’t worry, I’ll settle for cuddling you when you finally join me on our cot,” Ranulf teased, before giving Ike’s cheek another kiss.
“Can you really wait?” Ike questioned, giving his beloved a faint smile.
“For you? Always. I know it’s worth it,” Ranulf replied, before climbing onto their cot, propping himself up in his elbows to watch Ike worth. He would wait for his love, as long as it took. 
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fableofthesixfarmers · 8 years ago
Text
SDVFSF Marien Chapter 2
Marien and Marnie (try saying those names together five times fast) headed south towards Marnie’s ranch. “So, you’re going to be the future owner of Stardew Farm?” ‘I’m starting to think Grandpa gave up with naming mine…’ Marien thought to herself before nodding. “Y-Yes, I’m the owner of the deed for the farm… why?” Marnie bit her lip, unsure how to explain it to the young lady without making her disappointed. “Well, you see… Stardew Farm isn’t… exactly a farm.” “I beg your pardon?” Marien snapped immediately. She had studied agriculture for like eight hours on the bus here- what did she mean it wasn’t exactly a farm?! “C-Calm down, it’s nothing major… Just… Stardew Farm is… flooded.” “… It’s flooded?” Marien questioned, a brow raised in suspicion. “Yeah” Marnie sighed. “A few years back, there was this flood and… seeing as Stardew Farm was right in its path… most of the farmland is gone, rivers being in their place.” Marien was silent. Great, just great! She might as well delete agriculture from her brain entirely! Just her luck! “However!” Marnie quickly pipped in, noticing Marien’s growing red face. “One, fish have begun to move in so it should bring some good money if you utilize it. And two, me and my nephew, Shane, have been hard at work making bridges so you don’t have to walk in the rivers!” Marien let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear… I was worried I’d have to borrow rubber boots.” Marnie laughed, patting Marien on the back. “Oh, you might have to still!” Marien’s face paled as she saw the state of Stardew Farm… More like Stardew Marsh! The ground was soaked, the entire field muddy and thick. It wasn’t as large as her sisters’ farms, but it was livable… At least the shack was in tact- Never mind. Upon closer inspection, Marien noticed her abode was recently made, meaning the flood washed the old one away. Shame, she admired olden day country architecture. “Sorry about all this…” Marnie apologized, seeing how upset Marien was. “We didn’t know your grandfather would even give out the deed to this place, so we kind of… forgot about it. But we did our best- me, and the rest of the townsfolks- to fix it up!” Marien cringed, not wanting to be rude. “It…. Looks habitable…” She commented before lifting her pants to slowly make her way towards the deck of the house. At least it was out of the mud… And, in all honesty, it was well done for something so last minute… If Marien had shelter from the elements, she’d be fine. She turned back one she got on the deck to look at Marnie, who was safely out of the mud. “Could you, perhaps, lend me a pair of rubber boots?” Marien knew that the mud would be her biggest issue- luckily, some crops preferred soaked ground, like reeds. So, she could make a profit, besides fish. “Oh, of course!” Marnie smiled. “I’ll head back to my ranch to fetch some for you, what size?” Marien had to think for a bit- she had been wearing high heels for a long time and never even considered boots. “Um… size 5?” “Sheesh, you have some small feet!” Marnie laughed, making Marien blush from embarrassment. “Sorry… I’ll see if I have a pair that size, don’t you worry.” Marnie then headed back to her ranch, leaving Marien on the deck to ponder her possibilities. Firstly, rename this place. ‘Stardew Farm’… Was Grandpa drunk when he came up with it? The others had farms that made sense; Magnolia, Pine, Crystal… Why was she stuck with the blandest? Secondly- she had to adapt. Quickly. She needed rainy weather clothing and tools to deal with the mud. A hoe would be worthless, as would an axe… All she needed were seeds, maybe a watering can and a fishing pole… But where would she get seeds? A man at the bus stop did say he ran a general store but… They might be basic seeds… She sighed, standing up and slowly opening the door to the shack, wanting to know just what awaited her inside… Nothing. The place was barren, floor boards not even being installed… Great, just great. All she wanted was a bed, at least, to rest. This day was stressing her out, making even the smallest sound evoke anger from the usually calm sister… Now, now, Marien… Can’t lose your cool. The others might think you’re going nuts… Yeah, maybe visiting the other sextuplets could brighten her mood… She remembered seeing Nina leave with Jodi, just past the bus stop. Maybe Magnolia farm wasn’t too far away! It seemed like the best thing to do at the time, rushing through the muddy swamp as she headed towards Magnolia farm, hoping her older sister would be adapting nicely. Plus, she was still worried about her flu- was it allergies? Upon reaching the farm house, after ten minutes of navigating and cutting through weeds, Marien made it to the door. However, she found it odd that it was opened. “Nina?” She called out, peeking into the house. Maybe she was just airing it out- after all, it seemed rather old… Dust clouded Marien’s vision, making her cough and fan the air. “Nina?” She called out, slightly louder this time. She scanned the room, noticing a worn-out bed, a fireplace, a table… And Nina laying unconscious on the ground. “Nina!!” Marien cried, running to her sister’s side. She checked for a pulse, trying to stay calm before she lifted her sister into her arms. Thankfully, she was strong enough to lift someone of Nina’s size, carefully taking her outside. Nina was still asleep, but something knocked her unconscious. Was it her sickness? Exhaustion? Either way, she headed towards town, hoping someone, anyone could help her sister regain consciousness.
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