#I reach inside the pocket and pull whatever it was weighing it down out and it was a god damn lime

[loveofmylouis]

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[latenightdaydreams]

Can I request something? So I pitched this idea to someone else but honestly you're one of my favorite könig writers and would love to see your take on this.

So könig and his team are sitting around drinking on their off time and they start sharing pictures and videos of their girlfriends and wives or just women they've been with, and they eventually all look to their colonel like "we know you have a wife/gf/whatever, show us your girl!!" he says no first but these guys are drunk and annoying so eventually he gives in and is like. "Fine. One. And then shut up." And he shows them this absolutely *mean* video of cute little petite reader who can barely take his cock without breaking inhalf, his hand around their throat and slapping their faceand the guys are just like 👁👁💦 while könig is low key like "liebling, shatzi, Sonnenschein" heart eyes at the video. Just... könig who is an absolute bully in bed but so sweet and in love otherwise and the way that intersects is so delicious to me

Yes🩷🩷 I think his team would be absolutely speechless 🤭

Show and Tell (fem)

MDNI🔞

Master List ✍🏽

>cw: fem/afab, showing off, p in v, hitting, choking

📱

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König was in the common area, drinking with the men in his squad. A beer in one hand as he sits quietly, observing everyone around him. Once the liquor flowed, the conversation turned sexual. Just a group of men that haven’t seen their partners in months, everyone is pent up.

Being the private person he is, this isn’t exactly his favorite topic of conversation. He looks back and forth as each man speaks, not really paying attention to any of the photos or videos as he begins to zone out. The sound of his name being called snaps him out of it, his eyes looking over to the man.

“Colonel, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Show us your girlfriend.”

“Fiancé.” He corrects him as he takes a swig and sits up.

“Okay, fiancé, my bad.” The man says sarcastically. “Show us.”

König waves him off with his hand, but soon the group all chimes in and pesters him. It’s one voice talking over the other, only getting louder. He lets out a deep sigh and finishes the bottle in his hand before setting it down.

“Fine. One. Then I want everyone to shut up.”

The group begins to cheer as König shakes his head, laughing under his breath at their drunken stupidness. He reaches into his pocket to pull out his cellphone. As he scrolls, the men impatiently pester him to hurry up. That’s when he decides on the most recent video the two of you made together.

When König turns his phone to them, they were all expecting to see a tall woman who was probably insanely buff like he is. What they see instead causes their jaws to drop. You’re tiny. König’s cock looks to be the length of your abdomen, yet it disappears into your small cunt; painfully stretching you out.

König’s massive hand wraps around your neck like a necklace, your moans coming out strained from how tight he’s squeezing. His hips slam into your body at a merciless pace as he verbally degrades you in German. Once he releases your neck to give you a moment to breathe, he slaps you harshly across the face, grabbing your jaw right after.

“What are you?” König growls.

“I’m your slut.” Your voice is raspy from being choked.

The moans leaving your lips are more like screams as he continues to bully himself deep inside of you. He focuses the camera on your pretty pussy, pulling out to slap your swollen, sensitive clit. Your body tenses and jerks forward as you plead with König for him to give you his cock again. He continues to make you beg as he slaps your pussy sore before finally shoving his cock back inside of you.

Your gummy walls squeezing around König’s massive cock pulling a deep groan to drip from his lips. He sits the camera down on the nightstand, making the massive size difference between the two of you even more obvious. As if you weigh nothing, König lifts you off the bed and holds you in his arms, bouncing you up and down on his cock as if you were nothing more than a sex toy.

The room is completely quiet, no one even taking drinks as they focus on the video. Seeing the brutality with which König uses your petite body is absolutely insane. Each man rocking an insane hard on, as König basically shows them hardcore porn. A few of the men are even slightly worried about you. When they look at König, they can see the sides of his eyes crinkled up as he smiles, a look of tender love in his eyes.

“Th- that’s your fiancé?” One man finally speaks up.

“Hm?” König snaps out of it and looks at him. “Ja, that’s mein Schatz.” His voice sounding oddly soft.

“She’s so small though.”

“Mhm, she’s precious, isn’t she? My whole world.”

The men look at each other slightly confused with his tender tone. That all goes away when their eyes drift back to the video, wanting to see more. König pulls his cock out, showing how gapped your little pussy is after taking him. Thick globs of his cum dripping from you as you hold your legs up. Your body is visibly trembling from the extreme sex you just had with König.

König takes a while to let his eyes linger on the beautiful sight of your spent body on his phone screen before putting his phone away. He lets out a little sigh as he looks at everyone. It was clear they were still in shock after seeing what he does to you and how you just take it. A few men have to adjust themselves as they replay what they just saw in their minds.

“Damn, Colonel…”

“I know, I’m a lucky man.”

[wolveria]

The Raven's Hymn - Ch 46

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: “I know it’s a lot to take in, but really, I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

AO3

You bolted, your body acting before your mind could catch up.

SCP-035 was free. You hadn’t quite thought through the implication of releasing all the SCPs and how they might react to said freedom. You’d thought at most you’d have to worry about running into 173, not 035. Especially when all the cells had just opened, which led to one conclusion: 035 had escaped before 079 had opened the doors.

These thoughts flashed through your mind, the implications trailing behind your body’s visceral reaction to his appearance. But 035 anticipated the move and snatched you around the middle, forcing you round to face him. He held you in a mocking parody of an embrace.

“No, no, none of that,” he tsked. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but really, I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

“Let go!”

You tried prying yourself from his grasp, unsuccessful with your panicked attempts, and 035’s face immediately flickered into a frown.

“Brrr. Cold reception.”

A groan came from your left. 035’s frown flipped into a grin in the blink of an eye. He released you, sauntered to the veteran guard who was trying to reach for his gun despite being in a pool of his own blood, and pulled the trigger. A single bullet ripped through the man’s neck, assuring his death but not granting it swiftly.

The white mask turned upward to face you with a grin.

“Stay put, little bird. If you take flight, I’ll have to clip your wings.”

He tapped his rifle in case you didn’t get his meaning.

You looked away as 035 began to pick things off the bodies, specifically the keycards and whatever else was in their pockets. You could try to run, but you didn’t trust him not to shoot you for the inconvenience.

Instead, you picked up the laptop where it spilled from the bag, placing it back inside after checking it over to make sure it was intact. Luck was on your side as none of the bullets had punctured it.

After placing it inside and looping the strap around your neck—an awkward affair with your hands still tied—you held the device to your chest when you caught sight of 035 eyeing it.

“How sweet,” he cooed, “you really do have a soft spot for the strays, don’t you?”

He held one of the keycards, twirling it between his fingers like a cheap magic trick.

“You shouldn’t trust him, you know,” the mask continued, the card dancing across his gloved knuckles. “079 might know how to open some cages, but he doesn’t know the way out.”

“And you do?”

035 snapped his fingers and pointed the magically appeared keycard at you.

“Bingo.”

You weighed your options, but really, you both knew your choices were limited and he was the one with the guns and the keys. You held out your arms, offering up your bound wrists.

“Can you let me out of these? Please?”

He perked up at the plea and rubbed his porcelain chin with a thoughtful hum.

“I’m sorely tempted, especially when you ask so sweetly. But… no.”

He grabbed you by the arm, happily dragging you along despite you trying to plant your feet, the smooth soles of your slippers not adding much traction. Somehow, you’d found yourself in an even worse situation than with the guards.

“035, listen to me,” you tried. “You don’t need me, you can clearly handle yourself and navigate the facility. Let me go—”

“Hush,” he bit out, his face now hidden as he flipped down the ballistics visor. “Stop complaining. And stop dragging your feet. I’m helping you.”

His version of “help” was probably as useful as a hole in the head, but when he gave you a forceful yank, you picked up your feet. He was strong, much stronger than his host body should be. It must have been one of his anomalous properties, but that gave you a chance. If you could only touch his skin or the mask itself, you might be able to pry him away from his host.

“With all the skybridges retracted, we’re stuck in Heavy Containment,” he commented, his pace solid and even, as if he had a destination in mind. “But there’s a way out through the archival section. I know it, and so does your man.”

“…My man?”

He snorted.

“Well, less a man, more a beaky pain in the ass.”

After being caught by the guards and then 035 showing up, you’d almost forgotten about your original rescue mission. Shame heated the back of your neck.

“If he knows a way out, then… we should go to him.”

035 barked out a laugh.

“Yeah, no. You can get your beau after I get the hell out of here.”

You growled and tugged at his hold, but he simply gave another chuckle and continued to drag you along.

“I’ll let you go once I’m free and clear. I’ve gotta look after number one. You understand, don’t you, Reid? You’d throw me under the bus to save your own skin, seeing as you’ve done it before.”

He shoved you inside an opened room, and you struggled to stay on your feet. You caught a glimpse of a bank of surveillance screens before 035 pushed you against a computer console, the grin of his covered mask hovering inches from your face, barely glimpsed past the darkened shield.

“Stay put, sweetheart.”

Your silent glare followed him to where he stood before the wall of screens. 035 began to flip through them, and you realized they were various facility cameras, showing the corridors and mezzanines. None of the cameras had access to the interior of containment cells, as they had their own dedicated observation rooms, especially for SCPs labeled as cognitohazards.

What 035 was looking for, you didn’t know. There was the occasional security guard, and on one screen the actual MTF team, most likely the one that had been stationed underground near 682’s chamber. It was the only explanation for how they’d gotten on site so quickly.

You eyed 035’s uniform, about to ask him how he’d gotten out of containment before 079 had opened the cells, but his full attention was on the screens, working the controls that moved the cameras.

You inched toward the door.

“Do you understand what you are?”

You went still and looked over your shoulder. 035’s back was to you, his focus on the monitors, but you still sensed the uncanny weight of his attention.

“SCP-001.”

“But do you know what that means?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He turned around to face you, bracing his hands back against the console as he eyed you with a tilt of his head. You almost wished you could see the mask. That blank slate of a shield was somehow more disturbing than his frozen grin.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

You pressed your lips together and stared back.

When enough time had passed to indicate you weren’t going to answer, he pushed himself away from the computers, his steps slow and mocking.

“Would you like to know? I’ll tell you right now. All you need to do is ask.”

“No.”

You shrank against the wall, the solid surface against your back as he crowded your space, towering over you. Of course, he couldn’t pick a host body that was smaller than yours. Showmanship and intimidation were just as important to him as a functioning body.

“I’ll tell you anyway, little bird.” 035 raised a hand to your face, rubbing a gloved finger against the side of your cheek. “You… are the answer.”

You turned your face away from his touch, unease crawling over your skin, though you frowned at his cryptic words.

“But the answer to what question?” he mused. “Now, there’s the mystery.”

You scoffed. 035 was either stalling for some reason you couldn’t see, or he was simply so arrogant as to think the breach would operate on his schedule. Either way, you didn’t have time for this.

Your attempt to push him off was met with an amused chuckle.

“Who do you think locked you in that cell with 049?”

You froze. Your body was locked in place, air trapped in your lungs. 035 tilted his head and gazed off to the side, as if trying to recall a particularly elusive piece of information.

“Who influenced poor… oh, what’s his name. Kevin? Kelly? Kenneth, yes, that’s it. Who pushed the unfortunate boy into sealing the door, cutting off your escape from our good doctor?”

Kenneth, who had been acting less and less like himself as time went on. Kenneth, with his nosebleeds, his unusual fear of 035, and his apparent infection with Pestilence.

Why hadn’t you seen it? Or sensed it? You still didn’t fully understand the extent of your abilities, but wouldn’t you have known if something was wrong with him?

A worse thought occurred to you. What if you had sensed it but had been so focused on 049, you’d simply ignored it?

“That was you?” The words were a wheeze in your throat. “Why?”

035’s tilted head drifted back to you, the shadow of the mask barely glimpsed beneath.

“Maybe I was curious. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I just wanted to see what would happen when 049 dug in his claws. If you would fall prey to his cure and blow this whole fucking circus sky-high, or if you would fizzle out his deadly touch.”

Another sinister chuckle.

“I certainly didn’t expect you to become an adverse amplifier. You’re only supposed to neutralize us. Make us harmless, inert. Not reverse our abilities. It’s all dreadfully fascinating. 049 never spoke of it, did he? There’s a name for what you are, and we all know it.”

Your attempts to shake him off were as successful as the first time, and you bared your teeth at him.

“I don’t care. I don’t care about any of that shit. I’m going to find 049, so either help me, or get out of my goddamn way.”

035’s head moved away as if he was genuinely taken aback, but his words were light.

“Bossy for someone in zip tie bracelets.”

He moved closer, a sinister undercurrent to his words.

“Now, come along, sweet girl. It’s time for you to make yourself useful. You owe me for that lie you told the Site Director. He stuffed me in an airtight, lead-lined box, and I did not care for it.”

He flipped up the shield, the grin spread wide in contrast to his angered words.

“But… I’m a generous man, and you’ve caught me in a good mood. If you give me what I want, I’ll point you in the direction of your precious doctor. Deal?”

You swallowed compulsively, eyeing the smooth porcelain. There was no glimpse of the MTF soldier underneath, nothing but black holes for eyes and a mouth.

“And what is it you want?”

It was dangerous to even let him entertain the possibility of a deal, like trying to barter with the Devil and come out ahead, but if there was a chance he knew where 049 had been taken…

He perked up, previous chipper attitude bubbling to the surface.

“For you to be my meat shield, as it were. Lots of nasties in this place, and I’d rather not have to burn through bodies. You’re the perfect cover for me to slip by.”

Oh. Well, that didn’t seem too bad. Which, of course, immediately raised your suspicions.

“Tell me where 049 is first, and I’ll do it.”

035 clicked his tongue with a playful head-tilt.

“That’s not how this works, little bird.”

“Stop calling me that.”

The grin seemed to spread wider even though it didn’t actually move.

“Well, I can’t call you big bird. That name’s already been taken by our tall, feathered friend. You do know he has feathers, don’t you?”

You said nothing beyond your silent glare. 035’s glee seemed to grow.

“Did you not get him naked enough for that? I had no idea you were both that repressed.”

Bile and rage burned in your throat, equally choking.

“Fuck you.”

“No, thank you. I’d rather not have big bird’s sloppy seconds.”

An angry noise ripped out of you as you launched forward. But 035 was quicker than the Site Director, jerking back before your forehead could collide with his.

He shoved you against the wall without care, a cackle erupting from the mask despite the tragic face that appeared within the blink of an eye.

“For being the one who introduced you two, you’re awfully uncooperative with me.”

“You locked me in!” you screamed. “You tried to kill me!”

“You were already dying,” he hissed, the humor dropped from his voice. “Because of me, the good doctor healed you. Because of me, Kenny-boy let you out so you could go stick 079 in a socket. You’re here, able to whine about how unfair your life is, because of me. You should be grateful.”

Rage burst from your rib cage like dragon fire. You kicked as hard as you could, colliding with his knee and pulling out a surprised grunt. You shoved him off-balance with the force of your full weight behind it, and then you were free, running out the door and down the hall, your rage curdling into biting fear.

035’s voice followed, echoing off the walls as if he surrounded you on all sides.

“Not very sporting of you, sweetheart.”

You didn’t stop. Your breath burned in your chest after months of inactivity, but you pushed your legs, feet pounding against the tile. The corridors were cleared out, empty of personnel, guards, or even SCPs. If you’d been thinking clearly, it might have given pause.

You recognized the double set of doors ahead of you: the entrance to the Heavy Containment cafeteria. Bursting through the unlocked doors, you ignored the stairs to your right that led down into the dining tables and kitchen, instead running across the raised walkway that spanned the spacious room.

A hand clamped around your wrist just as you made the halfway point. 035 yanked you backwards, back to him, and you didn’t resist.

No, you didn’t resist. You ran straight at him, using your momentum and his pull to carry you forward. He realized what you were doing too late.

The walkway lacked any sort of traditional railing, but what it did possess was a glass wall barricade, blocking it off from the cafeteria below. Not acrylic, not polycarbonate, but real glass.

Your shoulder collided with 035’s chest, and he crashed back through the glass, carrying you both over the edge into the open air.

Next Chapter

[undertale-writing-times]

Marry me uf sans

- genie 🧞

Of course! Thank you for waiting so long to get your fic. I hope you like it :D

You've realized today that your partner, Red, had been acting strange. How? You weren't too sure, but you knew that he was acting weird. He wasn't paying as much time with you as he normally would, and he was much more jumpy. Sometimes he wouldn't even come to sleep with you in the bed!

If you asked him about it, he would tell you to stop bugging him about it. Nothing was going on, and then he would sometimes even leave. You two argued about it for a little until he does a short cut away. You even asked Edge! He said that he had no idea what his stupid brother was doing.

And…

You were worried.

What if he was like… I dunno, cheating on you? He wouldn't do that, would he? You two had been together for a long time! You even learned about soul bonding… well, when you asked him about it, he seemed to get kinda mad so-?

Was he unhappy in the relationship?

You paced in your room, biting your nails lost in thought a frown on your face. You loved Red, you trusted him, there had to be a reason for this! There had to be a reason for him acting like this, right?

It's been weighing on your mind, and you even thought about messaging him about it, but you were nervous to get him mad at you. You sigh, pulling your fingers through your hair, tugging on it lightly mumbling to yourself "Oh Y/n, what did you get yourself into?" You fall back onto the bed, covering your face with your hands.

When you fell back something tumbled out from under Red's pillow, hitting your head. You flinch a little, then open your eyes, and reach up to pick up what it was. You look at it, frowning slightly. Was that… a box? A ring box.

You open the box and perk up when you saw what was inside it. "Holy shit," you mumble. It was a really pretty nice ring. You study the ring for a second then put your hand over your mouth, your eyes widening.

It all made sense now… You grin and put the box back under his pillow, then hide your face into your pillow laughing. He was going to ask you to marry him! You were so happy that it was just this and he wasn't cheating. Oh god, your boyfriend was an idiot.

It had been a few days since that, Red came back and was still acting strange, but you didn't question him too much on it. It wasn't until he reached out to grab your sleeve when you went to do the dishes "Hey, uh let… let me do that for ya. I gotta tell ya a few things" you look over at him, tilting your head, but nod a little.

"Okay?" You respond, smiling a little.

He takes the dishes from you, going over to the kitchen and starts to do the dishes after tugging his sleeves up so they wouldn't get wet. "We've been together for a while, right? Yeah, ugh, fuck why am I askin' stupid questions" he mutters at himself, annoyed, before shaking his head. "And I guess I want you to know that I care about you and… whatever"

You laugh a little at his reaction and walk over, putting your arms around his waist nuzzling into his back. "Yeah, I know you do… I love you too Red" It was a little strange at first to hug and cuddle a skeleton, but you got used to it after a bit of time. You wanted to do it, what could you say?

He jolts at the touch, letting out a soft groan then huffs and leans back giving you a little nuzzle, "Ya mind reachin' into my pocket? Take out the thing in there"

You nod a little and reach around, feeling in his pocket then pull out the box. He looks down at it, then at you, and he looks away his cheeks flushed dark with bright red colored magic. You open the box and see the ring again.

He was now looking at you, waiting for you to respond. He looked embarrassed and nervous.

[qiangweirosa]

meetings and beginnings

"A story of Vyn's first day in Stellis."

relationships: vyn & giann & ailine, giann/ailine tws: none! wc: 2021 extra: this was supposed to be a multichapter fic with ailiannovyn buttt i got lazy + vyn 5th bday is supposed to be about his name change so im posting this anyway

read on ao3!

Vyn jolted awake. He felt the plane shake, and a voice sounded over the speakers, the words only half-reaching his brain as he struggled to situate himself.

He looked out the window. Right. Stellis City. He must have arrived. 

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, internally wincing as he saw his transparent reflection in the glass, his appearance anything but presentable. A sigh left him and he tried his best to fix whatever he could.

Once that was done and his glasses were once more on his face, Vyn took a look at his belongings and made sure he had everything. The plane had landed by now, and everyone was already starting to stand up and gather their bags, but Vyn stayed seated for now. He pulled out his phone, turning it on and switching the airplane mode off. Notifications soon started appearing on his screen, the last one showing a message sent only a few minutes ago.

“ You should be landing soon, correct? ”

Right as he clicked on the message and opened it, the other person started typing again.

“ I knew it. ”

“ Take your time, we’re almost there. ”

Vyn sent a simple response, acknowledging the words before putting his phone in his pocket again. The door was finally open, and people were starting to get off. Vyn didn’t have to wait too long to leave the plane – not many people traveled from Svart to Stellis, if he was being honest –, and soon enough he was walking through the foreign airport, going through the final checks before being free.

The fatigue was starting to weigh on him, despite having dozed off for almost half of the flight, and he was looking forward to just settling down already. It was early afternoon in Stellis by now, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wouldn’t be against a meal at the moment.

Just as he thought of pulling out his phone to check if he had gotten any new messages, a voice called out to him – though it did take him a second to realize he was being talked to. He’d need to get used to being called by his new name.

“Dr. Richter!”

He turned his head to see two figures approaching him: Giann Von Hagen, he recognized from their previous exchanges, though the woman beside him was unfamiliar. He still greeted them with a polite smile and nod, walking to meet them halfway.

“Mr. Von Hagen. I was just about to message you.”

The said Mr. Von Hagen waved a dismissive hand at him.

“Please, no need to be so formal. Just call me Giann. Oh,” he gestured to the woman beside him, “this is my fiancée, Ailine. I hope you don’t mind her tagging along with us.”

Vyn shook his head and watched as Ailine bowed before doing the same.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Richter. I’m Ailine Weiss. Giann told me a lot about you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Miss Weiss.”

Giann insisted on carrying Vyn’s belongings for him, despite the man’s protests — and they soon arrived to the car that was meant to drive him to his new house. Once all of the baggage was settled inside the vehicle, the three of them sat in the back of the car as the driver started it up. Ailine spoke up first, most likely in an attempt to eradicate any chance of an awkward silence settling, Vyn noted. 

“I hope your journey here wasn’t too rough? Svart is quite a ways away from Stellis.”

Vyn was sitting next to the left car door, leaning slightly against it. He straightened up and leant slightly forward in order to look at Ailine while responding — Giann sitting in between the two was hiding her almost entirely.

“Ah, it wasn’t too bad, thankfully. I will just need to adjust to the time difference, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ailine gave him a smile accompanied by a polite giggle — despite their efforts, Vyn could see their reservations towards him. They were clearly keeping up their professional fronts — not that he could blame them, though. They were practically strangers still, and Vyn was doing the same anyway. He didn’t think about it much longer though, as Giann cleared his throat and spoke up in turn. 

“We’ve been taking care of your house, so it should be all ready for you to settle in. All necessary appliances are present, and the water and electricity should be on already, but if you have any problems just give me a call and I’ll have someone fix it.”

Ailine added right afterwards, leaning forward the same way Vyn had earlier. 

“That reminds me, I’ve looked into some stores that sell furniture and decorations of great quality. I’ll have Giann send you their addresses later, if you’d like.”

Vyn hummed, a small smile dancing at his lips. 

“That would be lovely. Thank you for all the help you’ve given me, I appreciate it.”

The two reacted in tandem, chuckling in response and shooting each other a glance upon noticing that.

“It’s only natural. We hope to welcome you into Stellis as well as possible.”

Ailine expressed her agreement, and the small talk came to a stop. Vyn fell into thought, slumping ever so slightly against the car door again. He had looked into the neighborhood his new house would be in — Hemingway Heights, Giann had told him. The neighborhood was nice, from what he had seen. Well taken care of, and the area surrounding his street had quite a few stores, so he would have places to go at least. On top of that, it was the district made to promote higher education, which meant many universities and research institutions would be close to his living place. Giann had also sent him pictures of the house he had found him — it was more than enough, he thought. A definite downgrade from the Duke’s palace in Svart, but Vyn didn’t need such unnecessary space anyway. 

He was just glad to have a garden, and enough room to properly arrange everything he wanted. 

Images of Stellis’ streets flashed through the window as they drove, the quiet chatter between the two fiancés next to him serving as background noise to his thoughts. Soon enough though, they were stopping, and the door he was sitting next to was opened. He stepped out to finally take in his new house in person for the first time, taking note of every detail he could see. It was exactly as Giann had described it — he silently appreciated the man’s attention to detail and all the care put in meeting Vyn’s criteria. 

“You seem to like it, correct?”

The voice of the very man he was thinking about sounded next to Vyn, and he turned his head to meet a smiling face — quite smug-looking, if Vyn were to look closer — as Giann inquired. A chuckle left him and he pushed his glasses back up on his nose, looking back at the front before answering. 

“Yes. It’s exactly as you described. I must thank you again for all your efforts.”

“Please, it’s my pleasure. I’m glad to have met your expectations.”

The driver had already placed all of Vyn’s baggage on the front porch, and soon enough he was being welcomed inside, Giann and Ailine both following behind him. The house smelled nice, and looked clean — Giann wasn’t lying when he mentioned he had been taking care of it until now. He had asked Vyn thoroughly about his opinion on the arrangement, and while Vyn could see a few things he would move eventually, it was overall perfect. 

Once they had toured the house and garden, the group found itself once again in front of it and talked. Ailine checked the time and looked up at Vyn right as they were about to share their goodbyes. 

“Dr. Richter, I don’t suppose you’ve eaten since your flight, have you?”

After a hum of thought, Vyn replied. 

“I have not, no.”

Before he had the time to add anything, Giann cut in. 

“Well it’s already dinner time, so why not join us for it? My treat.”

Ailine gave a protest at the last part, to which Giann responded with a bashful laugh, and Vyn gave a smile. Who was he to refuse an invitation, after all? Besides, he had to admit he was really hungry, and wasn’t sure he wanted to make dinner himself. 

“Of course, I would love to.”

The smiles the couple sent him lifted his spirits, and they were soon on their way once more after they had decided on a restaurant to take him to, for his first meal in Stellis. 

Giann and Ailine had chosen a restaurant owned by the Weiss family, Vyn had been told on the way there, to guarantee him a great first experience, Giann said. The restaurant was clearly luxurious: and they were led to a private table, secluded from the other guests in the restaurant. Since Giann had already offered to pay — not without another complaint from Ailine —, he ushered Vyn to order whatever he wished for and not hold back. Silence fell among the three of them as they looked over the menu, and Vyn carefully weighed the different options in his mind. Finally they placed their orders, and engaged in more idle chatter — though Vyn found himself curious about his hosts.

“So, Miss Weiss, your family owns this restaurant?”

Ailine glanced towards him and nodded. 

“We do, yes. The Weiss family is known for its hotels and restaurants. It’s why we are Pax’s partners, actually.”

Vyn gave a hum of acknowledgement, chuckling to himself before looking towards Giann instead. 

“Seems like Pax invests in just about anything, doesn’t it?”

Giann laughed in return, the corners of his eyes crinkling with a wider smile than he had given Vyn before. 

“Well, it is a good idea to invest in several areas. It allows Pax to help development and to build relationships. I mean,” he gestured towards Ailine and their rings, “Ailine and I would have never known each other, nor gotten engaged, if our families weren’t business partners.”

“That’s true.” agreed the mentioned fiancée. 

Their dishes arrived not long after, Vyn enjoying his light — and free — dinner with the company of his two new acquaintances. 

It was already late into the evening when the group finished their dinner. Fatigue was catching up with Vyn — and he wanted nothing more than to lay down into his bed and get a good night’s rest. Giann and Ailine offered to drive him back, and at the risk of relying on them too much for a day, he accepted. He didn't have much of a choice anyway, really, what with still being unfamiliar with the city and having relatively no way to get to his house on his own — and there was no way he would risk trying out public transport this late into his first day in Stellis. 

Finally, he was back in front of his house, saying his goodbyes to the couple for the day. Giann looked at him through the window of the car, giving a final list to welcome Vyn properly. 

“You can get in touch with Stellis University from 8am to 7pm, weekends might be trickier though. As for myself and Ailine, well, just text me anytime and I’ll get to you as soon as possible!”

Vyn thanked him once more, nodding as Giann went on about everything he might need to know — despite Vyn already being aware of most of those anyway. It was a kind gesture, so he didn’t say anything. Finally, Giann was done, and he grinned.

“At the risk of repeating myself: welcome to Stellis, Dr. Richter. It was a pleasure finally meeting you in person.”

And Vyn smiled in response.

“It was a pleasure as well, Mr. Von Hagen, Miss Weiss. I will see you next time.”

The two drove off, and Vyn finally settled into his new bed, in his new house, in this brand new city, ready for his first night. 

[hero-of-the-wolf]

Chapter 2: A Land in Ruins

Despite the boy, that other Link, there wasn’t a soul to be found in the ruins of Castletown. Well, any living souls, anyways. Link glumly kicked at a rock. He’d found remains here, too. He tried not to think too hard about who they once were.

What was that kid doing here, anyways? Everyone else had the good sense to stay away. And why was he so nervous? Was he hiding something? He….

Link froze mid-stride, staring at the remains of a house that he could never forget. He exhaled slowly and strode towards it.

He had to shoulder the door open to step inside. The roof had caved in, leaving rubble strewn all over inside, but other than that the main room was mostly intact. Link looked without seeing, picking through the remains, unsure what he was searching for. Then something caught his eye.

He knelt down to pick up a scrappy little doll.

His sister’s.

Without a word he tucked it into his bag, too.

He didn’t linger long after that, leaving the ruins behind and making his way towards the castle. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting exactly, considering the state everything else was in, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found.

Castletown lay in ruins, but the castle… the castle was just gone.

Only the fragmented outline of the foundation was left of the once great building. This couldn’t have been the work of neglect and the slow reclamation of nature. It had been intentional.

The work of Ganon, perhaps?

Link breathed in deeply, held it a moment, and let it out in a great rush. Whatever this Ganon was, Link swore that he wouldn’t let it get away with this. If it was in his power, he’d put a stop to these horrid deeds and avenge his fallen land.

He took the time to straighten out a couple stones in a rather pathetic attempt at a memorial before finally moving on. He’d already wasted too much time.

Zelda couldn't be at the castle, and there was no one there that could aid in his quest. There was no more reason to stay. So he set up camp in the forest nearby, his thoughts weighing heavy on his mind.

He wished his princess was here with him. She would know what to do. She would know what had happened to them. Link felt completely out of his depth here, all alone.

Where could she be? She never would have just left like this. Something must have happened to her. This must have been the work of Ganon, too.

No, that other Link had said that Ganon had destroyed Hyrule ages ago. Whatever it was, it couldn’t still be around now.

Could it?

He suddenly stiffened, hand instinctively reaching out to grasp the hilt of his sword. “I know you’re there.”

A beat.

“Alright, alright, you got me.” The other Link stepped out of the shadows, sheepishly approaching the other man, his hands shoved into his pockets.

Link let go of his sword and leaned back to eye him suspiciously. “You’re following me?”

“Well… yeah.” He shrugged awkwardly. “You looked upset earlier. And you seem… different, somehow? Like you’re not supposed to be here?”

“Yeah. You could say that.”

“So… what’s your story?” The kid slowly sat down across from him, still taut and ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. Link distantly wondered why he seemed so jumpy. “Why are you… here?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” Link answered gruffly.

“... yeah alright, that’s fair.”

They stared at each other a moment, neither willing to talk, nor wanting to be the first to look away.

Finally Link sighed, breaking eye contact to reach into his bag and pull out Zelda’s book. He started to flip through it. Maybe there was something in here that could give him a hint on what he was supposed to be doing.

The other Link scooted closer, interest piqued. “What’s that?”

“It’s a book,” Link answered dryly. At the kid’s unamused look he continued on. “It belongs to my friend, Zelda.”

“Can I see it?”

Link hesitated.

It couldn’t hurt, right?

He held up the book for the boy to see. The kid’s eyes lit up, scanning over the page it was open to with an eager sort of hunger.

“What is it?”

“I… don’t know, really. She was always the one who was good at this sort of stuff.”

He pulled the book back to look over the page himself.

Agaricus inferenus

Sources agree that this particular agaricus must have had some sort of cultural importance in the past, though it has now fallen out of use. Uncommonly found within the cave systems around the fissure now known as Death Mountain. Mycologists have also concluded that it indeed has special properties, including potential fire resistance, but tests are still being conducted. Potentially edible.

“It’s uh… it’s a type of mushroom. It says it might have been important once, and it might be able to give you fire resistance, too. They’re found around Death Mountain apparently, though I’ve never seen one there.”

“Oh, really?” The other Link frowned thoughtfully. “Huh.”

He looked like he knew more than he was letting on. Link studied him, searching for the answers to at least *some* of the questions that were threatening to split his skull apart.

Nothing.

He decided on a different tactic.

“Huh?” He echoed carefully.

The other Link stared at him unknowingly. “What?”

“You seem like you might be familiar with this.”

“Oh?” He glanced down at the page again, his face betraying nothing. “Nope. Can’t say I have. Why do you ask?”

“... forget it.”

This kid was harder to pin down than a chuchu. It’d take more than a slip of the tongue to get him to speak.

Well, fine.

Link snapped the book closed and tucked it back into his bag. “It’s late. I’m turning in. You… you can do whatever you want, I guess.”

Link felt the stranger’s eyes on him as he turned away, setting out his bedroll and laying down. He ignored him, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed until finally, sleep took him.

Link.

The air around him was thick with smoke. He wrapped his arm around his face, lungs already burning, blinking hard through the tears blurring his vision.

Link!

Ahead of him stood Zelda.

He tried to call out to her, choking on ash, but his voice failed him. He stumbled after her as she fled, dizzy from the fumes. She was in danger here. He had to help her.

His foot caught on something and he hit the ground hard. He groaned, rolling over to see that strange cube from before.

The cube.

It must have been what caused this whole mess. But how?

Maybe that cube was their ticket back home.

He reached for it, but his fingers only grasped at nothing.

Huh?

Suddenly Zelda was standing in front of him again. She reached down and picked up the cube, then held out a hand to him with a smile.

He reached for it, but before he could grab hold of it a scream rang out, piercing his very heart.

He woke up with a gasp, shooting to his feet. By the fire the other Link startled, his hand grabbing for his sword. They stared at each other a moment, until the kid finally let go of his sword and held his hands up placatingly.

“You alright?”

Link blinked hard a few times before finally nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

It was still dark. He had no idea how much time had passed. But he got the feeling that he wasn’t getting much more sleep anytime soon.

He’d known that scream….

“You, uhh… you can go to sleep, if you want to. I’ll take over watch.”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. I don’t mind staying up.”

Link sat down by the fire again and shot the kid a pointed look. “*One* of us might as well get some rest here.”

“... fine.”

He walked off with a huff, settling down a ways from the fire onto the ground and curling up. He held perfectly still, even as the minutes dragged on. Link wasn’t sure if he was really asleep or not, but at least he was resting.

That was certainly more than Link could say for himself.

He pulled out Zelda’s book again. There had to be answers in here. Some clue to lead him in the right direction.

The last few pages had once been blank, but Zelda had been steadily filling them out with her own notes.

Today Link and I found a cavern halfway up Death Mountain. It was partially collapsed, but with some quick thinking we were able to create an opening stable enough to get in. Inside was some sort of old weapons cache. I’ve never even seen some of these types of weapons before! Link was unfamiliar with them as well. Perhaps the Gorons would know more? Nothing is really usable anymore, nature has certainly taken it’s toll here, but the knowledge we could relearn is so exciting! I can’t wait to learn more!

Link’s nearly finished with his training now. Soon he’ll be an official knight of Hyrule! I’m so proud of him. I’ve always—

Link tore his gaze away, snapping the book back shut once again. It wasn’t his place to read this. It was personal.

The other Link shifted, sitting up and gazing at him curiously. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.

Link hated to admit it, but he needed help. And as suspicious as this kid seemed, he was his best chance at finding Zelda before anything more could happen to her.

He sighed.

“I'm looking for my friend.”

[guideoftime]

[ palm ] sender places a hand on receiver to stop them from doing something

🐝  *  ―  𝑵𝑶𝑵-𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑩𝑨𝑳 𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑺𝑻 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺. [ palm ] sender places a hand on receiver to stop them from doing something @devotedsheikah

   Sheik loves the library. To him, it’s a safe place full of knowledge and history, something the Sheikah have safeguarded for years. Keepers of records, of legends, of the world around them–they cherish this knowledge and pass it down to the later generations. To Sheik, working in the library was one of the ways to honor his ancestors and through that, maybe find some answers to the strange dreams he gets. He hasn’t yet, but he hasn’t stopped trying either. 

   The others had been working hard to fight back against the monsters that started crawling across the land. Aided by the Champions, Impa had been sent out to assist them, her friendship with Princess Zelda and the Hylian Champion fueling her desire to give every bit of the Sheikah Tribe once more to assist them. Sheik had not offered his combative help, though he had considered it. With her out there, he had figured staying back to help from here would be just as beneficial. 

   Sheik was good at making potions and with the harp he was learning to play the Song of Healing. He’d found it in an old book in the back of the library, beaten and worn yet still readable at the very least. It was written in their own language, surprisingly, and it took Sheik a while to translate the written description of the song into actual sheet music. He had hoped, with time, the song would work. Truthfully, at this point, all he needed to do was test it but there was a warning that came with it. The song, apparently, was very draining to the performer and when played for long durations could magically deplete them. 

   So he stuck to making potions rather than worrying about testing that song yet till he had a more decent understanding of it. 

   He had just finished another round of red potion in the pot when the library door was thrown open and one of the soldiers from the most recent battle came tumbling inside. He was injured, clearly, but standing and coherent so he wasn’t that badly hurt. Sheik stuck the red potions in a basket, picked up one of them and made his way over toward them. “Master Sheik–Lady Impa–she–” he took the potion with trembling hands and Sheik dropped his hand back to his side. 

   “What happened to Impa?” 

  The guard downed the potion and gripped the bottle tightly as he breathed. “She got hurt, I had to leave her in a cave.” 

   He left Impa behind and ran all the way to the Castle to get her help? He’s lucky Sheik doesn’t cut him right here with one of his daggers. Making his way back to the table he shoves two red potions in his pockets, grabs his harp from the table and rushes out of the room. There’s only a few caves near the Castle, and given where the fighting was coming from he can guess where the soldier had left Impa. He throws himself at the enemies littering Hyrule field, shoving his daggers into their bodies and picking at the strings of the harp. 

   Sheik pushed whatever he had into the enemies, twisting out of the way out of their weapons and narrowly avoiding taking deadly hits himself and getting cut deeply in a few places. He shoves the daggers into their heads, slides beneath some Moblins legs and finally sees the cave entrance start coming into view. He shoves himself forward, stumbles into the cave and twists around to face the entrance again. His hair dangles against his back, bouncing against his spine where it was weighed down by the accessory at the end of his hair. 

   Reaching into his suit he pulls out a few strips of talisman paper and throws it at the entrance, blocking it from the monsters that had followed him for the time being. It wouldn’t last forever, it would last long enough. When he spins back around he easily spots the white haired woman against the rock wall. 

   “Έχετε εμπιστοσύνη στους Hylians.” (You’re too trusting of the Hylians). The words are bitten out, the anger at the guard that left her there still pushing through his blood. Her friendship to the Princess he can understand to some extent, history always pointed to the leader of the Sheikah having some sort of relationship with the Royal Family. But to this extent? 

   At what point does their tribe stop suffering for them? 

   This is not the place for that argument, much less when Impa is hurt. He doesn’t want to upset her, and he certainly doesn’t want to hurt her more. To be left behind, even if they did go to get help, there has to be a sting there. Undoubtedly she only got hurt trying to keep those people alive, and this is the payment she gets for it. 

   Calming his temper he makes his way over toward Impa’s side and kneels down beside her. Fetching one of the red potions out from his suit he pulls the cork off and shoves it in her hand. “Drink it.” When she has a grip on the bottle he pulls his harp back out from behind his back and settles it in his arms. “You remember that book I found? The one of music written by someone from the tribe. I translated a song from it.” He’s always cautious about using the harp, he doesn’t quite know all the inner workings of it. But for her he would gladly play till his fingers bled. 

   “It’s called the Song of Healing. I can play it and see if it works.” It’s not an offer, he will play it for her to heal her. It should do more than what a simple red potion could do. So he shifts and settles himself beside her, close enough that his knees brush against her and he can reach her if she faints. The talismans would last for at least half an hour, at that point they would need to fight their way back out of the cave. 

   Sheik settled his fingers against the strings but before the first note fell from the harp, he felt her fingers wrap around his wrist and stop him. Huffing a breath he snapped his red gaze up to her face. “Impa, perhaps you didn’t notice the bleeding gash in your abdomen. That a Hylian soldier left you here to bleed out with. Let me play for you. Worst case it doesn’t work, best case I drain myself trying to keep your organs inside your body. The red potion will take too long to heal you.” 

   His lips thin slightly and his gaze fills with worry. “Let me help.”

[reallydumbdannyphantomaus]

Reset

the call apocalypse is coming from inside the house school OR danny, paulina, and valerie get a list of suspects. they... aren't wild about it. (ao3)

Chapter 4

Loop 4

“Heeeey, Vlad, how’s it hanging?” Danny leaned his elbow on the library desk, knocking down a stack of books. “Oops.”

“How is it ‘hanging’, you say?” Vlad took three steps forward so he could loom over Danny. “Rather precariously! I’ve found three teenage rascals in my home, sneaking in to my private library. I certainly hope you have a good reason for this!”

Danny chewed on the inside of his mouth and weighed his options. On the one hand, Vlad had information on the key and the Crown that Danny needed. On the other, the urge to sass Vlad was, as ever, unrelenting. He’d always have another try next loop if necessary, after all.

His eyes flicked over to Paulina and Valerie. Paulina stared at the floor, looking more uncomfortable than chastened or scared. Valerie, though—Valerie was frozen in place, face ashen. Danny wasn’t sure she was breathing. He frowned; he thought Valerie loved Vlad? Why would she be scared of him? Did she… know about him?

“I’m waiting, little badger.”

Danny shook his head. Right: the fate of the world was at stake. He didn’t have time to waste on his usual nonsense.

“I’m gonna be straight with you, Vlad,” he said. “I need your help. We need your help.”

“Oh?” Vlad took another step. He was nearly on top of Danny. “Help? From little old me?”

“Yes,” Danny hissed through gritted teeth. Beside him, he heard a sharp intake of breath from Valerie. “The key to the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep and the Crown of Fire. Where are they?”

Vlad straightened, blinking. “What?”

“The key and the Crown. I need to know where they are.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because the world is ending, bobo,” Paulina said, examining her nails.

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Paulina, let me handle this.”

“You’re taking too long! Look, Mr. Mayor, for whatever reason, Fenton said you were the last person to have these key and Crown thingies. Someone let a scary ghost guy out with them, apparently, so if it wasn’t you, just tell us who it was so we can leave.”

Vlad stared at Paulina, open-mouthed. “Pariah Dark is out?”

Danny cringed. “Yes?”

“That’s impossible. I still have the Crown and the key and I’m not stupid enough to let the King of All Ghosts out of his sarcophagus.”

Danny coughed into his fist and raised an eyebrow at Vlad, who had very much let Pariah Dark out once before. Vlad ignored him.

“And why would you show up here with these two instead of your usual toadies?”

“Sam and Tucker are my friends, not toadies, you weirdo. Oh wait, you don’t actually have any friends. I imagine you forgot what it’s like to have people around who actually like you.”

“You’re avoiding the question, little badger.”

“So are you! We have way more important concerns than my choice of company, fruitloop.”

“I told you, it’s impossible! I’ve kept both the Crown and the key in my vault, which is utterly impenetrable to ghosts, for nearly two years now.”

“What about humans?” Paulina said. “Did you forget to make it impenetrable to humans?”

For moment, Vlad’s eyes flashed red. Danny winced. Hopefully, Paulina and Valerie would pass it off as nothing but a trick of the light, if they saw it in the first place.

“Listen here, little girl, I will not be talked down to—”

“Look, if Tucker Foley can hack into your surveillance system, I’m just saying—”

“You little—my vault is a separate matter entirely!”

Danny cut them off before the conversation could devolve further. “Just check it out, okay! Just look. If the key and the Crown are still there, then you can lord it over me for the rest of forever. If they’re gone, though… then you’ll know I’m right.”

Vlad rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He reached into his pocket and pressed something on a remote. “If you leave this room, the mansion security system will activate and obliterate you. If you’re just pulling my leg… well, maybe it would activate then as well.”

-----

Valerie felt like she might puke. Or die. Puke and then die. Why did Danny and Paulina have to keep antagonizing Masters? They had no idea how dangerous he was. He could (and would) kill them all without blinking, she was sure.

But Paulina was tapping something on her phone, a bored expression like Vlad’s threat to destroy them if they so much as moved was just a joke. She might have thought that herself not too long ago, to be fair, but she knew better now.

“Hey, so I’m in the mayor’s mansion,” Paulina said, holding her phone up to show the library. “Turns out he’s a total weirdo who—”

Valerie smacked the phone out of Paulina’s hand. “Are you crazy?” she said. “Do you think he was joking about obliterating us?” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Danny’s face scrunched up in confusion. Of course, he wouldn’t know why she was so scared of the mayor.

“Mierda, Valerie, what’s wrong with you?” Paulina shook her hand out. “It’s just going to reset anyway. it’s not like it matters.”

“We don’t know how this works! Maybe this is the last one!”

Paulina rolled her eyes. “I doubt that. Haven’t you ever watched Groundhog Day? It doesn’t end until he bangs the girl, or whatever.”

“You—you’re basing your actions off a Bill Murray movie?”

“This isn’t the time,” Danny hissed through clenched teeth. “Can’t you two just fight later?”

“She started it!” Valerie and Paulina said at the same time.

“Why do I feel like a babysitter?”

Valerie narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to yell at Danny when she heard footsteps coming back from the weird secret passageway (how did Danny know about that, anyway?). She whipped around to face the hole in the wall just in time to see Vlad Masters reenter, ashen.

“Where is it?” he said, voice dangerous.

“I told you,” Danny said, “someone let Pariah Dark out.” Mr. Masters glared for a long moment. “You know it wasn’t me. C’mon, even I wouldn’t be that stupid.”

Mr. Masters collapsed into his desk chair, face in his hands. “They took the Crown, too. And you—the exoskeleton is out of commission. No one living or ghost could hope—”

Paulina, who had retrieved her phone and was typing on it again, interrupted, “Yeah, so we just need to know who took it.” Valerie barely restrained herself from slapping her again. Now wasn’t the time, she told herself, fingers digging into her arms and teeth grinding.

“What good would that do you, idiot girl? Someone to take your anger out on before the world ends?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“What Paulina means,” Danny said, “is Pariah Dark doesn’t have the Crown yet. For whatever reason, the person who let Pariah out didn’t give him the Crown. So we—”

“—we still have a chance, however miniscule.” Mr. Masters sat back, frowning in thought. His eyes flicked over to Valerie. “Anything to add, Ms. Gray?”

Valerie cleared her throat and straightened. “No—no, sir. Just that—that anything you could tell us would be… appreciated.”

“Of course, my dear,” he said, silky smooth. Valerie clenched to hide the shudder that ran down her back.

Mr. Masters pulled out a phone, tapped it a couple times, then held it to his ear. “Yes. Send me all visitor logs for the past week.” He brought the phone down and tapped to end the call.

“How do you know they’ll be in the log?” Danny said.

“The same way I knew you were here despite you having Mr. Foley hack my cameras. Again. I have more security than you can see. If someone came into the manor, I would have a record of it.” A notification dinged on his phone. “Here we are.”

Valerie worried at her lip. Couldn’t he do this any faster? Even if this did all reset and they had another chance, she couldn’t stand to be near this man, knowing what she knew now. He’d used her to hurt Danielle. He’d been using her for years.

What else had she done in his name?

She shook her head. Not the time. Right.

“Okay,” Mr. Masters said. “According to this, the door to the vault was last opened four days ago, this past Friday. On that same day, there was a field trip from Casper High’s AP Government classes. The cameras don’t show anything suspicious, but I don’t have them in every room. A student could have snuck away, I suppose, though how they got into the vault…”

“Hang on,” Danny said, “you’re saying a Casper High student did this? Why?”

“Well, I’m sure I don’t know Daniel. I believe that part of it is your job now. I’ve done my bit, and I will be heading to Cancun to wait out this storm.”

“You’re not even going to try to help?”

“How would he be helpful?” Paulina said.

“Haven’t I already been?” Mr. Masters stood and walked out from behind the desk. “Is this not enough for you? I don’t know anything about your classmates. I’m just a feeble old man. The ball’s in your court, Little Badger.”

Feeble. Ha. Mr. Masters could kill each of them right now and Valerie would be the only one with a hope of survival. He was probably their best option to fight the King of All Ghosts. Danny was probably smart to try to get him to help more. Still, Valerie would rather not fight with someone she couldn’t trust the way she couldn’t trust Vlad Masters.

Wait.

Why did Danny want Mr. Masters’s help? Did Danny know about him? No, if he knew there’s no way he’d be so glib with the man.

Right?

-----

Paulina should’ve just gone on the picnic.

Instead, she was stuck in this tacky mansion with two people who hated her and a creepy mayor who apparently had a vault where he kept ghost artifacts of great power. Why did a small town mayor have these things in the first place?

Ugh, she didn’t even care. She just wanted life to go back to normal.

She unlocked her phone again, opening up the notes app. Her most recent note read: cameras in the hallways, not in individual rooms. secret passage opened by pushing bust on library desk. secondary security system: unknown? She frowned. Knowing more about this secondary security system might help them figure out which of their classmates snuck in, but most likely Masters would have said something if there was something to find. At the very least, he did seem to want Pariah Dark stopped as much as the rest of them.

She made a new line and added: masters: creepy, not to be trusted. val clearly freaked out by him. fenton: hiding something.

How had Fenton known about all of this? Maybe it wasn’t important, but she had a bad feeling about it. Though, that might be the impending apocalypse.

She finished typing out her notes, then put her phone in her pocket. Ahead, Masters’s creepy butler was leading them back through the labyrinthine mansion with the sort of stiff formality she associated with dinner with her papi’s work connections. From the corner of her eye, she saw Valerie glare at her. Turning to her former friend, she returned the glare, flipping her off. 

What was Valerie even mad about now? Valerie was the one who shoved Paulina off the window earlier. She was the one who smacked Paulina’s phone out of her hand. Was she still mad about what Paulina said about her dad? It had been days.

Well, not actual days, but you know. It felt like it.

Finally, they got to the end of the hallway and the creepy butler dude opened the door. “Don’t come back,” he said, and the door closed with a resounding thud.

“What now?” Valerie said.

Paulina scoffed. “Isn’t it obvious? We have to find Phantom and let him know.”

“Oh my god, do you have any other songs, or are you one track only?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you have a better idea?”

“I was asking the question, you’re the one who half-assed the answer.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Fenton said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can you two not wait until the world isn’t ending to rip each other’s throats out?”

Paulina crossed her arms. “Tell her to stop coming at me all the time, then.”

Valerie mirrored her position. “Tell her to take this seriously!”

“What makes you think I’m not—”

“Enough! Let’s just go to school and figure out who’s in AP Government this year. That—that’ll narrow down the list, at least.”

“That’s easy,” Paulina said. “Kwan’s in that class; I’ll just ask him who else is in there. There’s only one AP Gov class this year.” She tapped out a text and sent it. “Just give him a sec.”

“How do you know this?” Fenton said, raising an eyebrow.

Paulina flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “I know everything about the school, bobo. Give me a couple minutes, and I could tell you how many people skipped yesterday.”

“Well, that’s creepy.” Valerie looked away pointedly.

“Seriously? I can’t do anything without you jumping down my throat, huh?”

“Paulina,” Fenton said. “Please.”

Paulina sighed. “I’m so ready for this whole thing to be over.” 

The three of them waited in silence for a long moment before her phone buzzed. “Here we go.”

From: Kwan

Kwan Huang (me!)

Jeremiah Anders (really quiet stoner kid)

Mikey (he still won’t accept my apology :( i even baked him cupcakes)

Ben (forgot his last name but he’s that dude who keeps dying his hair blue)

Jazz Fenton (she’s taking this class because she forgot to take it last year, apparently)

Nathan Fulson (he likes peanut butter cookies :D)

Sam Manson (she yelled a lot about the supreme court during class this week)

Mads (she also won’t accept my apology b/c i still talk to dash some :()

Pippi Hudson (wears really short socks)

Shaniqua Brown (i think she has four cats!!!!)

Star (she’s cute ;) haha)

Liam Prince (kinda rude)

Billie Prince (liam’s twin, she’s just as rude)

and Vince (he wants to be president. good for him. can’t relate)

Paulina presented the list to Fenton and Valerie. “I take my apologies in the form of expensive shoes.”

“I’m not apologizing.”

“Thanks, Paulina,” Fenton said. “This is great. A lot faster than my idea, too.”

Paulina blinked. She hadn’t actually expected Fenton to be grateful, much less genuine. “What was your idea?”

“Go to school and try to track them all down?”

Paulina snorted, then chuckled, then laughed. It was a high clear sound, so unlike her usual laughter that Paulina almost couldn’t believe it came out of her mouth. “That—just wander around school asking everyone if they took AP Gov?”

Fenton laughed, too. “Yeah, so it wasn’t my brightest idea.”

“No kidding,” Valerie said, frosty. “Lucky Kwan has an encyclopedic knowledge of everyone in his class. Kinda weird, though.”

Just as quickly as it began, Paulina’s laughter choked off. “What the hell are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Kwan’s always been a bully, just like you, Polly. Maybe he’s the one who let out Pariah as some sick prank.”

This time, Paulina’s laughter was low and dark. More like normal, for her. “Kwan? He cried the week we did frog dissections in class because he didn’t want to hurt the froggies. They were already dead!”

“Yeah, well he used to beat people up on the regular, too, so clearly that concern didn’t spread to humans.”

Paulina’s nostrils flared. “I seem to remember you egging him on more than once, even when he didn’t want to.”

Valerie flinched back, flushing. “Yeah, well I changed!”

“So did Kwan! I know he came by and apologized to everyone, including you. Just because you can’t let go of a grudge doesn’t mean that Kwan isn’t a good person now!”

“He could be putting up a front. Lord knows he could’ve learned that so easily from you.”

“Out of everyone in school, why’d I have to be stuck in a time loop with the two of you!” Fenton yelled. “Seriously, every five minutes you’re fighting! Valerie, Kwan apologized a year and a half ago to me and Sam and Tucker. He goes with Sam to poetry nights sometimes. He really is nice to us. Him paying attention to his classmates isn’t a reason to suspect him of plotting to destroy the world. And Paulina, everyone in that class has to be a suspect. We have to look into Kwan just like everybody else.”

Paulina narrowed her eyes. “Oh? So your sister and the little goth freak are suspects too?”

“No!” Fenton recoiled. “I—I mean, there’s no way. Jazz and Sam would never. Too smart for that.”

“Or maybe they’re just smart enough to get past Masters’s security.”

“Of course they are, but they wouldn’t. They don’t want to end the world.”

“I thought goths were all about that.”

“You don’t even know—”

“Shit,” Valerie said. “Is this what we’ve sounded like to you all day, Danny? Because it’s fucking annoying.”

Fenton blushed.

“Look, clearly we’re not going to agree on who our suspects are. Let’s just take the list and start going through it one by one. Don’t rule anyone out until we’ve checked them.”

“I call Kwan,” Paulina said. Fenton and Valerie both stared at her. “What? It’s not like I’d trust either of you two bozos with him. Plus, he’ll talk to me more than either of you.”

“Why should we trust you not to cover for him?” Valerie said.

“Do you honestly think I’d just let him end the world?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh. My. God. Fine, I will talk with him in seventh period, since we’re all in the same class then, and you little creeps can listen. Happy?”

“Thrilled,” Fenton said. “Let’s get going.”

Paulina opened her messages.

To: Kwan

thank u so much for the list

seriously its a big help

and hey you’ll be there for 7th period, right?

smthn i wanna ask you about

From: Kwan

hell yeah, dude!

i’ve got a little surprise planned, actually

but shhh dont tell anyone

Paulina’s fingers froze over the keyboard. A surprise? No. No, it couldn’t be. She glanced up at Fenton and Valerie, who had begun the walk to school. If she told them… they’d assume the worst.

She put her phone in her pocket. Kwan, she thought, please don’t let it be you.

[kurna-kovite]

Curicó - a fic, I guess

Obligatory "warning, yaoi content included!!!!! dont like don't read!!!!! " except there's no smut

Kaoru felt a yawn well up in his chest, a signal, a sign from his body telling him that he needed to close his eyes and go to sleep. Which was funny, because he'd been trying to do exactly that for hours now. 

He huffed in annoyance, and propped himself up on his elbows so he could glare at nothing in particular. He usually fell asleep within minutes. He's heard of people who struggle to fall asleep every night, and he considered himself lucky to not be one of those people, because this sucked. 

He blinked away the tiredness from his eyes, and with a defeated groan, he rolled over, and pulled his phone from off of his nightstand. He opened it, and squinted at the screen to check through his notifications. 

Something, something, blue light makes it harder to sleep, something, whatever. Kaoru didn't care, and hoped that a little extra stimulation would then push his brain into finally shutting itself down so he could sleep. So he scrolled through some various messages, swiping away the things he didn't particularly feel like responding to, until all that was left were videos and memes that Hikaru had sent him. 

Kaoru rested his chin down on his pillow, and opened one of the apps to scroll through what his brother had sent him. And, after a couple of quiet chuckles, he sent back a heart emoji, a way of acknowledging what Hikaru had sent him without actually trying to type out a response. After all, it's hard to find the right words to say "I really enjoyed that meme, especially the part where Walter White showed up in a completely unrelated universe". A heart emoji would do fine. 

Kaoru closed that app, thinking that that was all, but he glanced up when he saw another notification pop up from his brother. 

why r u up? 

Kaoru sighed. It's not like he chose to be. 

I could ask you the same thing

He watched as the "Hikaru is typing… " message popped up, and waited to see what the message would be, despite his fingers screaming at him to check another social media app while he waited for the few seconds it would take for his brother to answer him. 

can't sleep. u too? 

nope.  im gonna kms

noooo ur so sexy :(

Kaoru chuckled softly to himself, and buried his head into his pillow for a moment to let out a loud groan. He could feel the tiredness in his head, but he knew that as soon as he closed his eyes, he'd just want to open them right back up again. 

The entire night, he'd been debating on just biting the bullet, and going to sleep in Hikaru's room. It had been his room just yesterday. This was the first night they were sleeping in separate rooms. 

And it had been Kaoru's idea. Even when they talked after his hasty decision, he'd opted to take a separate room to help them start their journey of becoming less dependent on each other. To be honest, he was stubborn, and didn't want to face the embarrassment of being the one to go and wake Hikaru up because he couldn't sleep without him. 

But Hikaru couldn't sleep either. Kaoru chewed on his lip as he weighed his options. He could at least say that they tried to sleep separately. Maybe the solution was to slowly wean themselves off of each other instead of going cold turkey. And there was no sense torturing themselves the rest of the night when they'd sincerely done their best to go without each other. 

Maybe Kaoru was just making excuses. 

With a determined sigh, Kaoru lifted himself up from his bed, taking his phone and slipping it into the pocket of his pajama pants, before marching towards the door. 

He tiptoed out into the hallway, and quietly closed the door behind him. Carefully, he made his way down the dark hall until he reached his brothers room. Their room. 

Kaoru slowly opened the door, and looked inside just in time to see his brother turn his head over towards him. He couldn't help but smile when he saw how Hikaru seemed to perk up as soon as they made eye contact. 

"Kaoru!" Hikaru greeted excitedly, and he pushed himself up so he was sitting on the bed. His excitement eventually wavered, and he brought a hand behind his neck to rub it sheepishly as if he felt that he'd gotten overexcited at the sight of his brother. "Er… Hey."

"Hey," Kaoru chuckled in response. "Mind if I come in?"

"You'll never need to ask," Hikaru answered in a more serious tone. Kaoru furrowed his eyebrows a little when he said that. Instead of moving right away, he stayed in the doorway for a few moments, like he was absorbing Hikaru's words and deciding whether or not they were unreal, or just dangerous. In the end, he decided that neither of those things were the case, and Kaoru nodded before stepping inside and closing the door behind him. 

They had already moved Kaoru's bed out of this room, by his request, but Hikaru's bed was plenty big enough for the both of them. Hikaru shifted his position over, and pulled the covers a little ways back, giving Kaoru access. Kaoru sat down in the empty spot that Hikaru had provided, but he didn't lay down just yet, and twisted his body so that he could look at his twin. 

They stared at each other for a few moments without saying anything. They were so used to always knowing exactly what the other was thinking, and they still do for the most part. But with how things were changing, it took… A little longer, for them to get on the same page. 

"Really couldn't sleep, huh?" Kaoru broke the silence, and started to fiddle with the sheets while waiting for an answer. 

Hikaru sighed, "Yeah. It's harder than I thought, trying to sleep…. " he trailed off with a frown, staring off at something that wasn't Kaoru. 

".... Alone?" Kaoru offered, prompting his brother to turn his head back over to him. 

"Yeah," Hikaru cracked a smile. "Maybe I should get a body pillow, or something."

Kaoru snorted at his joke, and rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking to you if you do that."

The two of them shared a snicker together, and Kaoru reached a hand over to clasp into Hikaru's. As their laughter subsided, Kaoru pulled his legs up onto the bed, and shifted underneath the covers while Hikaru moved himself around so that his brother would fit more snugly next to him. Kaoru relaxed his body, and leaned up against Hikaru, but neither of them laid down to sleep just yet. 

"Maybe I… " Kaoru mumbled, "... Jumped the gun a little bit on this whole individuality thing."

"You're telling me," Hikaru scoffed light-heartedly, and wrapped his arm around Kaoru so he could squeeze him. "I love you, Kaoru. But god, you're really stupid sometimes."

"Thanks," Kaoru rolled his eyes, and did his best to jab his brother in the ribs with his elbow. "You suck."

"Just sayin'," Hikaru laughed, and squeezed his twin tighter to make it harder for Kaoru to maneuver himself around. "Was your only plan really to try and hurt me so that I'd distance myself from you?"

Kaoru didn't answer. The twins weren't looking at each other, and Hikaru wouldn't have been able to see him very well in the dark anyway, but his silence told him everything. He sighed, and rested his head up against Kaoru's, and the two of them shared the silence for a while. 

"I'm sorry, Hikaru," Kaoru mumbled eventually. "I didn't know what else to do."

It was Hikaru's turn to lapse into silence this time, but they only squeezed together closer. Kaoru was the one to gently turn and move his head so that their cheeks were rubbing together like cats, and Hikaru reciprocated the movements. 

"I know you didn't," he murmured. "But we don't… We don't have to jump right into this, y'know?"

"Mhm."

"I know we're not usually ones to take things slow, but… Just this once?"

"Mhm."

"... Are you even listening, Kaoru?"

"Mhm."

Hikaru could feel his twin smile at that, and he couldn't help but smile too. He knew Kaoru was going to answer with that again, whether it was because he was actually listening or because he was just a smartass. He felt Kaoru lift his head off of his, and he turned to face him just in time for Kaoru to gently rest his forehead against Hikaru's. He watched his brother with what he could only describe as affection, as his other half closed his eyes with content. 

"I want you to be happy, Hikaru," he said quietly. 

"I'm happy with you." Hikaru answered quickly. Kaoru opened his eyes to meet his gaze, and Hikaru smiled as he did. "I'm serious."

"I know you are," Kaoru chuckled softly. "But you need other people in your life to be your happiest."

Hikaru opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again quickly, and looked to the side, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Okay- Yeah. But that doesn't mean I don't need you, too."

"Hikaru-"

"Kaoru." He cut him off, and met his eyes again, but he didn't say anything else. Kaoru pursed his lips and gave him a long look, before he continued. 

"Hikaru, you need to become someone. Someone who isn't just 'the twin that isn't Kaoru'," he explained gently. 

"I know that," Hikaru's voice was a little strained, as if he were trying to contain his frustration. "But Jesus Christ, what if- What if these differences push us apart? What if they make us weaker?"

Hikaru pulled his head away from Kaoru to give him an apprehensive look. "I mean, if someone hurts one of us, they hurt both of us. And we can be there for each other, but if we're different, if we're not the same, then we might end up hurting each other! We already-"

Hikaru didn't finish his sentence. He clenched his jaw shut, and he looked down with furrowed eyebrows. The room filled with silence once more, and Hikaru swallowed when he felt a hand on his cheek. 

"I think," Kaoru began slowly. "That those differences are only going to bring us closer together."

He noticed the skeptical look on Hikaru's face, and took that as a sign that he needed to continue, "I mean… We're like… Mirrors of each other. We're both… " he looked away with a nervous cough. "Uh… Emotionally difficult. Just, in different ways.

"Like, I usually notice how you're feeling way before you do. I understand what and why you have those emotions before you even realize what they are. If all we had done was try to be the same person like always, when would you have realized how much Haruhi meant to you had I not said anything?"

Hikaru didn't answer. But Kaoru knew he was listening. 

"You're more emotionally reactive than me. That's just how we're different already," Kaoru explained gently, and watched his brother intently until he saw the other nod slowly. 

"Right. And if we were both just like me, it would be disastrous, huh?" Hikaru quipped, and a small smile finally returned to his face. Kaoru laughed at that. 

"Sure. But it'd be equally disastrous if we were both me."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, watching as his twin took a deep breath. If there were a bit more lighting in the room, he might've seen the way Kaoru's cheeks were turning slightly red. 

"I uh… I get my head stuck in the clouds. A lot. I'm always looking down on everyone else, and trying to look too far ahead, that I forget that I'm also here."

Kaoru found Hikaru's hand with his own, and entwined their fingers together with a soft chuckle. "You uh… You're the one who usually grounds me. Brings me back to Earth. Remind me that I need to be living in the moment as much as, if not more, than thinking about the future."

Hikaru let out a long sigh through his nose, and pursed his lips as he thought about his brother's words. He squeezed Kaoru's hand tightly, and let his head fall back forward against his twins. "You are up in your own head a lot. I guess that's where you get all your bad ideas from, huh?"

Kaoru laughed, and closed his eyes with a smile. "I suppose, yeah. The point is, you were right about us having a special bond. We compliment each other. The fact that we're different is only going to let us know each other more thoroughly."

 "... I think… I think I can work with that. You're lucky you're so convincing."

“There are a lot of ways I can convince you, Hikaru, and you know it.”

“I bet you couldn’t prove it,”

Hikaru smirked at his brother in a way that was almost challenging, and Kaoru lifted his eyebrows in amusement. They held each other's gaze for a few moments, until Kaoru took Hikaru's chin in his hand, and brought his face closer to his so he could start a kiss. Hikaru reacted like he was totally expecting it, and parted his lips to waste no time in deepening the kiss. 

If there was one thing they knew, it was that this, this part of their relationship, would never change. Their affections, the familiarity, the comfort, would always be there when they came home. 

Kaoru moved his hand through Hikaru's hair as they kissed. The road they'd just started on was a terrifying one. A road with a fork in the middle, where each of them would have to find themselves… Alone. To travel to some places alone. To meet other people alone. 

Hikaru pulled away from the kiss to catch a breath, and they both panted in the darkness. Their vision had adjusted to the darkness, and they could see each other, and the way they looked at each other. Even if the road ahead was frightening, it would always lead to the same place; with each other. 

Kaoru smiled as those comforting thoughts -which had mostly come from him- came to a conclusion, and Hikaru smiled back at him. And, Hikaru smiling caused Kaoru to smile wider, and vice versa, until they couldn't smile any wider, and instead just went back in for another kiss. 

Both of them were too tired to put anything more than a little tongue into the kiss, but it was passionate enough. They could feel each other's affection through their body language, and the emotion that was in it. When they broke off the kiss once again, they rested their foreheads back against each other, and stayed there for a moment, letting the silence envelop them. 

"I've always loved you, Hikaru," Kaoru said eventually. "I love you now. And… I look forward to falling in love with who you become."

Hikaru raised his head to look at him with a faint blush tinting his cheeks, and he giggled like a schoolgirl with a crush. "When'd you get so poetic?"

Kaoru chuckled, and shrugged. "Dunno. Guess that's one of our differences."

"You sayin I'm not poetic?" Hikaru scoffed, and poked Kaoru in the ribs. Kaoru gasped, and swatted at his hand. 

"I'm saying that it doesn't suit you."

"Poetry suits me just fine!"

"Sure, if you're the subject."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"See? You have no idea what you're talking about."

Hikaru pouted at their squabble, and Kaoru rolled his eyes at his dramatism. "I'm tired. Can we sleep now?"

"I guess," Hikaru mumbled, and dramatically jerked his body underneath the covers like a kid throwing a tantrum. Just to annoy him, he pulled the blanket as much as he could away from Kaoru, who let out a soft 'hey' before trying to take it back. 

The two couldn't help but break out into laughter as they tussled over the blanket, and before long, they both gave up, and settled down underneath it. 

As they adjusted themselves until they were comfortable, Kaoru let out a content sigh. With his arms wrapping around his brother, he squeezed him gently, and rested his head down on the pillow. Hikaru did the same, and Kaoru started to close his eyes to sleep. 

"I'll always love you too, Kaoru," Hikaru said softly. Kaoru opened his eyes again for just a moment, to look at him. 

".... I know that now. Goodnight, Hikaru."

"Goodnight, Kaoru."

[kinglyisms-archived]

♚ — @prerodinu ;; Hiroki & Rarlith.

Rarlith knows he shouldn't be in here. He knows that the moment Artem finds out he did this, this is not going to be good. Though he can't find it in himself to care. His fingers moving over books and things as he waits for the other to appear. He could lounge in a seat like he normally does, but that might be in poor taste actually. Instead, he simply looks about the room touching and picking up things. Looking at the papers strewn about. He's not reading anything he's just curious about the other. The moment the door opens, he doesn't turn, instead he picks up the book that was there flipping through its pages like he hasn't had a care in the world. He really doesn't. "Hello, King Hiroki." Rarlith smiles, now turning himself around and leaning against the edge of the Kings desk. He was wearing pants thankfully, Artem made him change before coming here, but his shirt, that was a different story, buttons undone all the way to the one or two lowly buttons on the bottom that held the shirt together from being completely undressed. He really didn't like these shirts on this world. He prefered his robes. "Price Consort, Rarlith Nax Xukvi Luri II. Though my friends call me Rarlith and my family calls me Nax so whatever you prefer is fine with me. Though my loves do scream out all my names." He tosses a wink at the other before setting the book down. "I wanted to meet another King of this place, My home world we don't call our men King mostly because Queens do tend to do better so I don't find many Kings in my travels, and the ones who I do meet aren't as-" He purses his lips leaning his head to the side. "Gorgeous as you are. They are actually really old." He stands up offering his hand to the other. Though he would much rather enjoy a kiss or something else this would have to do.

   “Oh. Really? How very nice for you.” His voice is very calm, irrationally calm and quiet. Hiroki blinks as he watches the–stranger move around his office, poking at things and messing them over. He moves his hands together, tugs the gloves on off and slips them into his pockets. “Goodbye.” 

    BOOM. 

   With a single wave of his hands he had exploded the desk in the middle of the office, blasting it to absolute pieces and sending various parts of them through the windows and walls. The doors to the office are thrown open aggressively, the soldiers rushing inside and filling the room entirely. Elijah reached for Hiroki first, grasping at him and yanking the King aggressively behind him. Once he had secured the crown's safety, he lifted his gaze up to look around the room for the reason for the explosion. 

   And the weird thing that had introduced itself was still standing. Hiroki tried to force himself out from behind Elijah, his hands ready to fly to go for another try this time intending to aim for the actual target rather than just an indirect explosion. Elijah keeps a firm grip on him though, holding the angry King in place with a careful hold. “Your Majesty, hang on, please.” He tried and Hiroki had absolutely no interest in this. 

   He finally breaks free from the Werewolf’s hold and launches for the weirdo–only to be picked right up and thrown over Elijah’s shoulder like he weighed nothing. 

   “He’s pack.” 

   The fight instantly leaves him.

   An awkward silence fills the room, the soldiers looking around nervously. Then, at a nod from Elijah they start to filter out of the room one by one. Elijah gently sets Hiroki back down on his feet and the King begins tugging his clothes back into place, pulling the gloves back out from his pocket. He doesn’t turn to face the weirdo in his office. “Breaking and entering is still a crime. Pack to who because I’ve never seen him in Abarith before.” 

   “He smells like Artem’s Pack. He did say more members would be showing up as they got to work on the new Pack Houses.” 

   This does not make him happy. But, considering the new alliance, he has to be gentle. A strongly worded letter would be sent to Artem though to express his upset. Spinning around he tucked his hands behind his back. “King Hiroki Nakamura, the Twenty-Third King of Abarith. What is a Prince Consort?”

[littlemissnoname13]

Hello can I request where draco in fourth year having a crush on a hufflepuff reader but acts as arsehole cuz he doesn’t know how to show affection , leading it to her avoiding him which makes him depressed about what did he do wrong ?

Hi love. Thanks for the request.💕

I love writing Draco x hufflepuff!reader stories! I am a sucker for a slytherin x hufflepuff pairing.

I added a few extra details here and here. Hope you like it. X

Hopeful (Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader)

Word count: 2100 sorry got a bit carried away. 😅

Warnings: None. Soft!Draco being an absolute blubbering idiot.

Draco’s thoughts are written in green

Spring had arrived. 

It could be felt in the cool and gentle zephyr that made the shiny new leaves on top of the once barren and dead trees rustle. 

Daisies were in full bloom and the wind had managed to carry some of the petals away—making them fall to the ground, acting like a harbinger of the fast approaching summer. 

Draco couldn’t be bothered if it was spring, or autumn or winter. 

In that particular moment, all he wanted to do was get away from the Slytherin common room and Pansy Parkinson. 

He had taken her to the Yule ball and things had sort of fizzled out afterwards. He couldn’t get himself to see her as anything other than a friend. 

Having ran all the way to a far and secluded area of the Hogwarts grounds, Draco leaned against a tree trunk and panted heavily in an attempt to catch his breath. 

“Are you—are you alright?” 

Your voice startled him and he quickly stood up straight to look around. 

You were sitting criss-crossed on the grass with your transfigurations textbook opened on your lap. Your shirt sleeves were rolled up and your yellow and black tie hugged very loosely around your neck. 

“Fine.” He muttered as he slowly sat down noticing a single daisy tucked behind your ears. 

After sitting there in complete silence for the next few minutes, he finally spoke up. 

“What are you even doing here anyway?” 

“Just wanted some peace and quiet to be honest.” You said, shrugging your shoulders. “It’s a beautiful day.” 

Draco just hummed in response and kept staring at the daisy in your hair that swayed lightly with the breeze. 

“What?” You asked when you noticed. 

“You have—you have a twig stuck in your hair.” 

“A daisy.” You corrected him as you closed your book and moved a bit closer to where he was sitting. “It’s a daisy.” 

“Yeah I know that. I’m not stupid.” He said quickly. “But why?” 

"Well, Daisies are essentially two flowers blended together in complete harmony." You said pulling the daisy out of your free falling hair before putting your hand forward to hand it to him. 

“And?” Draco reluctantly took the flower from you and blinked his eyes in confusion. 

“They are said to resemble innocence—true love even.”  You explained getting comfortable next to him.

“You believe in all that?” Draco scoffed, twirling the flower between his index finger and thumb. He couldn’t tell if the floral fragrance was coming from you or the air but it made him slightly queasy nonetheless. 

“Merlin. No.” You scrunched up your nose. “It just gives me hope I guess.” 

Draco gave you another hum in response. For someone who came up with snarky and sometimes witty comments on the spot, he found himself weirdly tongue tied. 

“I know you were hiding from Pansy by the way.” You remarked, making a small smile pull at his lips. 

“How come?”

“What do you mean how come?” You rolled your eyes. “Everyone can see that she is obsessed with you for some reason that I personally can't seem to comprehend.” 

~~~~~

The next day during potions class, Draco slowly opened his book and started to absently doodle on it with his quill while Snape talked about the upcoming potions essay that had to be done in pairs. 

Draco knew he should be paying attention but he just couldn’t get the interaction between you two out of his head. 

And just when he took a deep breath and decided to focus, a familiar scent started to fill his lungs up. 

Fruity, almost spicy notes of strawberry and pink grapefruit mixed with gardenias, vanilla and musk. It felt like someone had tossed a huge bouquet into the room. 

He knew it was you without even bothering to look up from my book. 

"Ah, Miss y/l/n. Late again." Snape muttered. “Five points from Hufflepuff house.” 

You quietly sat down next to your friend with your head hung low and Draco fought an unexplainable urge to give you a hug. 

"The essay must be done in pairs.." Snape said.

Great. 

"Ronald Weasley and Gregory Goyle." 

This is exactly what I needed right now. Thanks Snape. 

"Blaise Zabini and Hannah Abott." 

The last thing I need is someone weighing my essay down. 

"Draco Malfoy and y/n y/l/n." 

What? 

You turned back to look at Draco and gave him  an apologetic smile and he didn't understand why you kept smiling at him. It's not like the both of you had suddenly formed an unlikely bond with each other. 

Draco scowled at you in return and quickly raised his hand. "May I work on my essay alone?" 

"No. You may not Mr. Malfoy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You and Draco had been studying in the library for almost an hour. Because you were quietly sitting next to him, his elbows and knees slightly brushed yours every few seconds and as much as he hated to admit it, He secretly enjoyed it. 

Contrary to yesterday, Draco was trying very hard to make a conversation with you. You seemed somewhat offended that he had asked Snape to work on the essay alone. 

“I am happy to do most of the writing if you can look up all the ingredients.” You offered.

You don’t have to do all of that yourself. I am happy to help with the writing too. Is what he should have said. 

“Fine whatever.” He said instead as he reached for a copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. 

That night, Draco stayed up tossing and turning in his bed before giving up on getting any sleep for the night. 

He lethargically walked towards his dresser and put his hands in his blazer pocket pulling out the now dried and pressed daisy from the other day. 

Taking a deep breath, he put the flower in between the pages of his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. 

You were drawing him in, undoing him, unraveling him even. 

He knew that. 

But did you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Draco! Open up." 

His head jolted towards the door and He quickly walked over to open it. 

You stood on the other end with books tucked in your arms, wearing your denim shorts and a plain white tank top—looking like summer personified. 

The more time he spent with you, the more he started to notice your quirks. Like that the way your skin glowed as the days got warmer. 

Compliment her. Do it. It’s not Difficult. 

“Did you do something different to your hair?” 

“Uh—no why are you asking.�� 

“It just looks a bit strange.” He commented wanting to slap himself. 

"Okay, well are you going to let me in?" You questioned, wondering why he was blocking the way and asking you about your hair. 

Why did you have to wear that God damned tank top-

"Sorry?" You asked stepping inside making his cheeks burn when he realized he wasn’t meaning to say that out loud. 

"Just shut up and get back to working in the essay or whatever it is that you were doing." Draco grumbled feeling embarrassed as he grabbed some fresh parchment. 

Okay. Focus. The Strengthening solution requires...

You stretched a little and pushed your hair away from your face. 

several days to mature...

"Staring is rude Draco." You suddenly interrupted his thoughts as you set your eyes on his—peering right into his soul.

Draco felt like he was giving you some sort of power over him and the possibility of you using that power and leaving him heartbroken made him feel so very vulnerable.

He couldn't take the vulnerability a second longer.

 "I don't think we should study together anymore." He blurted quickly standing up. “It's for the best.”

"Huh?" You stood up contorting your face in total confusion—wondering just what you had done to piss him off. "What's wrong Draco? Did I do something wrong?" 

"Leave. Now." He muttered with his teeth clenched. 

Please don’t go.

"Just go—leave please."

You couldn’t help but feel a sharp sting burning your insides as you gathered all the books that were on the floor and ran made your way towards hufflepuff dormitories with tears threatening to flood your eyes. 

As soon as you ran off, he punched his wall and muttered out the plethora of angry curses when the impact bruised his knuckles.

~~~~~~~~~~~

During the following week, Draco failed to show up to any of your shared classes after you had refused to talk to him after what happened. 

Even if you did manage to see him walking down the halls or walking with Crabbe and Goyle, you noticed that he looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept in days. 

On a Tuesday, Draco looked at the Hufflepuff table during breakfast and when you caught his eye, all you did was look away. 

Everyone at school had their opinions about him—most of them weren’t good opinions. 

But when you were with him under that tree, he seemed different. His smirk was more playful than condescending. It managed to charm you in a way. 

You took a final bite of your toast and gathered all your books, walking to your Potions class. 

His seat still remained empty and you shook your head, trying to snap away from the thoughts of him as you flipped open your book. 

Only it wasn’t your book. 

You didn’t remember writing on the margins and making annotations on your book. 

Running your fingertips along the pages, you flipped to the very first page of the book. 

D. Malfoy was written in ridiculously neat handwriting and you shook your head when you realized that you had grabbed his book with you that day by mistake. 

And just when you were about to put his book away, something fell from in between the pages and fell onto your desk. 

It was the daisy you had woven into your hair the other day. Even in its dried state, the petals remained intact like her had done something to keep them that way.

When class was finally over, you made a quick beeline towards the slytherin dungeons, bumping into people along the way. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Some hufflepuff girl is standing outside the dungeons asking to see you.” Theo shrugged when he saw Draco at the common room sofa. “Says it's urgent.” 

He felt terrified yet so elated as he quickly stood up and made his way outside. 

“Here’s your book.” You said taking a step towards him. “You never told me what’s wrong by the way.” 

“Thank you.” Draco quickly took his book from you and stared at the ground. 

“Why did you stop talking to me y/n?”

“You told me to go away—If I remember correctly.” You said shaking your head at him. “Tell me Draco, what’s wrong?”

“Everything.” He said quietly, meeting your gaze. 

"What do you mean?" 

"You make me feel all weak.....and smiley...and I hate it." He looked at you with agitation.

"Weak?" You ran your  fingers through your hair in confusion. 

"And your ridiculous white tank top." Draco half yelled. 

"What's wrong with my top?" You asked, raising your voice slightly as if you had had enough of this. 

"Nothing is wrong except for the fact that you look stunning in it.” He blurted involuntarily. "It is absolutely distracting when one is trying to study!." 

He watched you open your mouth in shock and close it. Before he could spend another minute trying to solve the riddle that was your expression, you grabbed him by his tie and placed your lips on his. 

His brows furrowed as he kissed you back tenderly. Tasting the sweetness of your lips—pouring out every bit of suppressed passion and adoration he felt for you with his lips.

There was something so strange and euphoric about finally kissing someone he had been longing to kiss for so long. 

Something so magical about holding the person that fits perfectly into his arms. 

Freaking Finally. 

He was slightly disappointed when you slowly backed away, but the glow on your skin and the glossy ness in your eyes made him smile. 

"I guess I'll leave before I realize the consequences of what I have just done." You said softly as you held his face and placed a small peck on his lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, you found a tiny box and an envelope on your desk when you woke up. Your roommate let you know that Draco Malfoy had stopped by late last night when you were asleep and half begged and half threatened her to leave the box on your desk. 

You slowly opened the box and found a bedazzled and whimsical looking daisy necklace, encrusted with gems.  

A Daisy for my daisy. 

You give me hope.

- D.M

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco Taglist: @dracomalfoyisindahouse @dracomalfoys-wh0re @maybesandohnos @justfangirlthingies @desiredmalfoy @dlmmdl @trainintersection @fa-me @dracoswhore007 @paulina1998 @wh0re4blaise @marrymetheonott @quacksonsssandtea @letoof @rvaldez7569 @loloo22 @emma67 @berriemalfoy @thegaudess @itchywitch33 @louweasleymalfoy @lunar0se10 @savagelysarcasticslytherin @fleursbabe @teawineaddict @thebitchybeatle @malfoyxxdraco23 @fantasyfairysworld @trashyvicks @h0ggyw0ggyh0gwarts @l0vely-lupin @linasylveon @amwitherspoon @the-bisexual-bitch

Love you all sm. (if i was unable to tag you, please look into your privacy settings)

Fell free to send me reuests. My other stories can be found here.

Join my taglist here.

- violet-Anne

[harcove]

hiiiii! <33 i dont know if you are taking any requests but can you write a leon x reader in which the reader gets bitten? (i love drama lmaoo)

love uuuuuu<3333

Okay so I do have like a bunch of other stuff to finish in my inbox, but I tend to not do things in order of when I get them, I do them in the order of whatever I get done first (since I start them all whenever I get them and work on them over time) and whatever I'm getting the most inspiration for at the moment, and this baby right here: chefs kiss right now. I LOVE angst so much, it is my favourite thing to write.

Also I'm always open for requests! It's just a matter of when they get done, since like I said above, and also my final year of uni just started so oof. ALSO: Decided to do RE2 Leon oop... I hope that's okay!

I LOVE YOU TOO! Here you go bb,

Warnings: angst, blood/gore, injury, character death

Length: 2.8k (I- oop.)

Request: in the ask!

RE2 Leon Kennedy x Reader - Not you.

Your hand squeezed your thigh with as much strength as you could muster. It wasn't that it was hurting too much yet, you were still running off the shock and adrenaline from the events moments before that the pain hadn't yet settled. Dark blood oozed between your shaking fingers and coated your hand like you had just decided to dip your hand into a bucket of red paint. It was hardly sanitary considering the situation you were in, dirty and sweaty, having been going through the sewers earlier.

The undead man who had done the deed lay a few feet away with your survival knife Leon had given you stuck in his temple. You could see your own blood and flesh on his face, in his mouth. It was unnerving, and you usually wouldn't have noticed such a detail, except that it was your skin. Your blood. Your body.

You inched yourself towards the corpse and used the tip of your foot to make sure it wasn't still going to get back up. When it did nothing after a few pushes, you deemed it safe enough to take your knife back. With a few hard tugs, it dislodged itself with a squelch and you fell back against the wall behind you, exhausted.

The sudden sharp pain that run up your leg into your spine and made you arch your back for a moment as you stopped breathing forced you to pay attention to the wound on your leg. Hesitantly, you moved your shaking fingers away from the bite on your leg to take a peak.

There wasn't really a point to looking at it, you realized moments after you laid eyes on it. It wasn't going to fix anything, and there was nothing for you to assess. A bite was a bite, and you knew what it meant. Leon and you had seen what happened to Marvin. You yourself had seen a friend turn after being bit before you had gone to the RPD. So you knew.

The skin near the bite was incredibly hot to the touch, and even without touching it, you could feel the heat coming off your skin. Your jeans sported a hole where the bite was and you wondered if there was anything in your bag to cover it with. It was ugly to look at, and scary.

You let out of deep sigh as you closed your eyes. There wasn't much you could do but sit there. Leon was somewhere inside the NEST, and you were at the entrance. You weren't sure if you wanted Leon to find you dead or alive, but all you knew was that this was not something you nor him could fix.

It felt like hours had passed when Leon had shown up. But in reality, it had only been about half of an hour. Whatever was in the bite, whatever the virus really was, had done a number on you as you felt sweat bead at your forehead and slowly trickle down the side of your face. The furrow in your brow from the pain almost felt like it was permanent.

"Y/N!" He called out when he spotted you. He looked worse for wear, that was for sure. The way his shirt had been ripped on the sleeves, and the bandage you could see just beneath his shirt and RPD vest. He was caked in blood, sweat, and dirt too.

And yet he was a welcome sight for your tired eyes.

He quickly slid onto his knees and if you weren't in so much pain yourself, you would've winced at how harshly he landed on the hard floor, but it didn't seem like he was affected by it.

"I'm so glad I found you," he said breathily; he reminded you of a little puppy, and it made you want to squeeze him close to you, "what happened, what-"

Your hand squeezed your leg unconsciously and he looked down when you did so, his beautiful blue eyes resting on your bloodied hand and whatever you were covering up. His eyes looked back up to you almost hesitantly, asking to look. When a half-smile was your only response, he looked back down and focused on your leg.

His hands gently pried your fingers off your leg and he carefully let your hand go on your lap, giving them a squeeze.

"I'm..." he seemed at a loss for words, you would've been too, "I have to... Cut this away to see it better, okay? It's..."

Carefully he used his own survival knife to cut away at the pieces of your jeans, which were dyed deep red around the wound, so he could see it better. Your hand came up to his shoulder as he did so, peeling the bloody fabric away from it as much as he could without hurting you, and you squeezed his shoulder so tightly, fighting the urge to scream in pain. But he didn't seem to notice, or care, about the harsh grip you had on his shoulder.

"Oh. God..." it was said softly, almost as if he had no air left inside him to breathe, let alone speak.

"It's really ugly, I know," you tried to make the situation less dire, but it didn't seem to work, because Leon just looked at you with his big eyes, full of so many negative emotions.

"It's not..." even Leon didn't know what he was doing to say as he trailed off. He began searching through his pockets till he came up with a bottle of antiseptic that looked half empty.

"It's gonna be okay," he finally spoke again as he started to open the bottle, but your hand reached up and seized his own holding the open bottle above your leg.

"Don't use that," you pushed it closer to him and further from your leg, "you can't afford to waste that."

"I'm not wasting it."

You hadn't heard him sound so sure of his words, so... Angry. You hadn't known the boy long, but that was the first time you'd seen him react that way to anything. It made your push your lips together in a thin line, but you kept your hand on him, stopping him from using the antiseptic.

"I'm pretty sure we both know how this ends," you prompted slowly, "I don't think an antiseptic is going to fix it."

"The vaccine is here somewhere, it has to be," he stated firmly, "we just need to find it. It's going to be okay."

It wasn't that you didn't trust him, or that you didn't believe him. But how long was it going to take to find a vaccine? And how did you truly know you were going to find one? You didn't even know if it would work.

You didn't have much say when Leon moved to put your arm over his shoulder, and looked at you, counting to three before he helped you off the ground.

It worked initially: you had managed to stand up with the help of the rookie cop beside you, who kicked the zombie that had done the deed further from you two when you had gotten up. But it didn't last long, as pain shot through your leg and seemed to spread through your entire body. You could barely keep yourself upright even with his help, your body felt too weak to even function.

"Leon, I can't," you cried, falling back against the wall, "I can't."

"Damnit," Leon cursed under his breath, looking around him urgently before he left you against the wall to open a door across from the two of you.

He was missing for less than a minute when he came back out from the room and quickly came back to you. One of his arms reached under your legs while the other went to your back.

"I'm going to pick you up, okay?"

Ever the gentleman, even when you were definitely dying.

"My hero," you smiled softly but it came out as more of a grimace as he lifted you up like you weighed nothing.

You supposed training to be a police officer meant he wouldn't have trouble carrying fully grown human beings.

The room was dimly lit by a single lamp. There was a bed right across from the door, and a desk close to the door. Someone must've used this room as not just a study but a place to sleep. Like a bedroom.

Leon gently placed you on the bed in the room, being careful on how he placed you, and never taking his focus away from your leg.

"Okay," he breathed out pulling back, "I'm going to go find the vaccine. And then we're going to get out of here. Together."

It was a wonderful thought. It was the dream, right? For everything to be okay, for you to be fine, and for the two of you to get out of Raccoon city and away from this mess. Together.

And yet you knew it wasn't going to happen, you knew you weren't getting out of there. You knew you were dead. And it was a scary thought to have to face alone because you wanted so badly to live. To live with him.

He would've been out that door had you not reached your hand out and grabbed his hand as best you could, squeezing it as hard as you could.

"Don't," your voice cracked as you swallowed hard, the ache in your chest only growing when his pained expression met yours, "don't leave me. Leon..."

"But I need to..."

It was blatantly obvious to not only yourself but also to him that there wasn't anything he could do. Not anything he could do in time for you. He didn't even know what he'd be looking for exactly, but he'd go find it if he could. He'd do anything to help you. To save you, and keep you near, but there wasn't anything he could do. It was a cold hard truth, and one he so desperately wanted to avoid.

But he couldn't.

Not when he looked at you, and really looked. Not just second glances over your form and your leg that lasted seconds as his blue eyes frantically moved like they were trying to find something they couldn't. No, when he really stopped and stared at you, he couldn't avoid it.

Your skin was ashen and you were covered in a thin layer of sweat. Your eyes somehow looked like they had sunken in a bit, and looked dull compared to what they usually looked like. The way you breathed was alarming, it was shallow and sounded tiring, and then some moments it would speed up only to slow down moments later. You were in pain, and you were hardly there anymore.

"Y/N..." Leon's voice cracked, and you never thought you were going to see him cry. He held your hand back tightly and noted your fingertips felt cooler, "This isn't happening. Not to you."

"I should've paid more attention..." you said softly, "I don't... I don't want to die."

"I should've been here, I should've..." he exhaled through his nose, "damnit!"

"I'm not letting you blame yourself," you sternly interrupted him and squeezed his hand as best as you could, "not now. Not ever. None of this is your fault..."

Leon said nothing as he took to the ground beside the bed, kneeling right beside you. His face was close to your own as he leaned forward, his hand still holding your own tightly, which he brought up to your chest where your intertwined hands sat.

"Just..." you knew what you wanted to say but you didn't want to make the hurt worse, "just... promise you won't forget about me? And promise... Promise you're going to get out of here. Alive."

"I could never forget you," he said hurriedly as if he was offended you would have even thought he could forget you, "even if I wanted to, I could never..."

There was something there, between the two of you, that was trying to lay itself bare, but something was stopping it. There was something unsaid, simple words that were hard to say and had so much meaning, so much weight. But neither of you could say it.

If you did, not only would it be the first time, but also, the last time.

With your remaining strength you slipped a ring off your finger; it was an old thing, something that you had for a while and you didn't even remember why you got it or where you got it, but you always wore it just because. It had no sentimental meaning, but now it did as you pushed it into his hands. The look of confusion on his pained face made you smile slightly.

"So you always have a piece of me," you said, "and if you ever try to pawn that off I will come back and find you, Kennedy..."

His eyes trained themselves of the silver ring in his hands, it was so plain, just a band. But it was yours. It was you. It was all he could keep of you, he realized because this wasn't going to end with your life. Pocketing the ring, he took your hand again.

"I might just sell it then if you show up," he tried to make you smile, which it worked, but he also felt the need to reassure you, "I won't get rid of it. Ever."

"Good to know," you let go of his hand again and pulled out the gun in the holster that he had found for you in the station, inside was a round of ammo that you wouldn't need. Pulling out the ammo, save for one of the bullets, you gave him the rounds.

"What? What are you-"

"I'm not... Going to need this," you said, slightly out of breath from the pain you were in, "and I know they fit Matilda. But I'm keeping the gun, and one of the bullets."

It seemed to dawn on him what you meant by your final sentence and he frantically began to protest.

"Hey, wait, no," he shook his head, "no. I can... You don't have to... Let me."

It was the idea that you would have to shoot yourself that made him uncomfortable. The idea that you would need to take your own life upset him. But if you didn't want to turn into one of them, he would do it for you. He would... He...

"We both know you can't," you justified, "and I don't want you to. I could never ask you to. So, you go. You leave Leon, and you find that virus. You get out of here, and you live. You don't do anything stupid or reckless, and you make these bastards pay."

You were adamant, and you left absolutely no room for argument. Even if he wanted to argue, he couldn't. And he wanted to argue. But denial would get him killed, and you wanted him to live. And some part of him wanted to live for you.

"Alright," his voice didn't waver this time as he spoke, "Alright."

He placed his head against yours for a moment when he stood up and squeezed your hand a little tighter in his own when he grabbed it again. Softly, you placed a small kiss on the corner of his mouth and ushered him to leave. It felt like he was walking on hot coals the whole time as he walked out the door, he regretted it when he looked back at you at the door, like he was waiting for you to get up and go with him. It just made closing the door behind him a lot harder.

He hadn't really been keeping watch of the time since he arrived in the RPD. He didn't really realize how fast or how slow time was going. But at that moment, outside that door, he really felt the way time flowed. It was impossibly slow, agonizingly so, and it was deadly quiet. Something that happened in only moments felt like it had taken an eternity.

He was used to the sound of a gun by now. It didn't make him flinch anymore. But this time it did. It made his stomach clench and his jaw tighten, his body stiffens. He hated how it sounded more than he ever had before.

The piece of metal in his pocket weighed heavy as he ghosted his hand over it.

Leon was going to find who did this. He was going to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. But most of all, he was going to make them pay.

[sunflowershouto]

if they thought you liked the other twin (osamu, atsumu)

𝐚/𝐧: i was suddenly struck by inspo for the miya twins so here's this -leo

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: pining fluff, friends to lovers, light angst with a happy ending

my haikyuu masterlist

𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐔

✰ Atsumu is so whipped for you.

✰ He enjoys the attention he gets for being a star player, and even the fangirls help to feed his ego sometimes, but he didn't care about any of them. Not like he cares about you.

✰ They don't really know him, so what's the point?

✰ You're different to him, though. You didn't care about the fans or the TV interviews, or any of the usual things that people noticed about him.

✰ You got to know him, and it made him want to get to know you back, and somewhere along the way, Atsumu fell in love.

✰ The only problem was Osamu.

✰ Well, maybe that wasn't the best way to put it. It wasn't like Osamu was doing anything wrong, but it was hard for Tsumu not to notice how much time you'd been spending with his brother.

✰ You'd come up to Osamu after practices and whisper something to him, and he'd nod, and Atsumu would have to watch as the two of you disappeared off somewhere that he wasn't invited.

✰ It killed him inside a little, since he'd always thought that he was closer to you than Samu was; if you had feelings for Osamu, then why hadn't you told him?

✰ He tried not to be a dick about it; he would whine a little whenever you and Osamu would disappear after practices, but what he was showing was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to how deeply he was hurting at the thought of you falling in love with his brother.

✰ It was after another practice, and there you were on the sidelines with that stupid freakin' beautiful smile that he loved so much. He was standing by Osamu as they packed their duffel bags back up, and he tried to ignore the pang in his chest as you jogged up, surely going to drag Samu away again.

"Atsumu!" you called. "Could we- Uh... Could we talk?"

That was a surprise.

He glanced to Osamu, who gave him a small nod before shouldering his bag and walking off the court without another glance. He couldn't even be nervous about whatever it was you wanted to talk about; he was just glad that he was finally the one that you were speaking to. "Sure thing, darlin'," he replied, picking up his bag and following you to a more private area.

"Okay, uh- Here goes: There's something I've been needing to tell you for a while, and-"

"Ah see..." Atsumu sighed, all of that hurt hitting him again like a ton of bricks. This was where you finally did it right? This was where you'd tell him that you and Osamu were together, this was where you'd finally rip his heart out.

"You... do?"

"Yeah." He tried not to sound bitter, but he found it seeping through anyway, a harshness weighing down on his inflection. "You and 'Samu are goin' out, right? Figured that out for m'self a while ago, darlin'. Ya don't gotta tell me."

"Wha-" You stared at him in bewilderment as the pieces click into place, and you realized what he'd been thinking all this time. You couldn't help it, and burst out into laughter, bringing a hand up to cover your mouth.

"What's so funny?" he asked, puffing his chest out slightly and crossing his arms. He'd spent so much effort trying his best not to lose his shit over the idea of you in love with Osamu, the least you could do was not laugh in his face.

"Atsumu, I am not dating your brother. In any way. I've never even thought about it. I asked you to talk because, well..."

"Oh. Oh m' God." And finally he got it.

"I really like you, y'know? And I was wondering if you'd want to go out sometime? Like, on a date? Osamu actually helped me make all the plans." You were far less nervous now, in part because of Atsumu's misunderstanding, but mostly because of the huge, goofy smile that spread across his face.

"So... I'm guessing you're on board?"

"Oh, sweetheart, you've got no idea," he chuckles, pulling you into a tight hug and kissing the top of your head. "Ya scared the hell outta me, y'know."

𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐔

✰ Osamu's feelings for you snuck up on him.

✰ He'd always been drawn to you, but he didn't think it was any different than anyone else. You were a cool person, and he liked that you saw him for him, and not as part of a matched set.

✰ He loves his brother, but can he be blamed for wanting some things to himself?

✰ He's not annoyed per-se when you start getting close with Atsumu—what he feels isn't harsh. It's more like a balloon deflating through a tiny outlet as he feels his importance to you slowly being overtaken by your friendship with Atsumu.

✰ He can't figure out why it bothers him so damn much when he sees you joking around with his twin, or even just cheering for him at matches.

✰ He doesn't place the feeling as jealousy until he's stuck at home, flicking through channels on TV until he lands on some crappy romance movie. He watches the two main characters play off of each other, and he can't help but realize that one of the leads reminds him of you.

✰ And then he pictures Atsumu across from you, and that awful feeling comes back to him, burning a hole in his chest.

✰ Strangely, it's not so bad once he knows what it is that he's feeling, because at least he can start to deal with it.

✰ Nonetheless, he's a little worried about you. Osamu can read his brother pretty well—well enough to know whether or not he has feelings for someone. Honestly, he'd never thought that Tsumu seemed interested in you.

✰ Valentine's day was tomorrow and Samu had been unfortunate enough to overhear a conversation between you and a friend.

"You're going to bring him chocolates?" Yua whispered to you, her eyes shining.

"Mhm! I think he'll really like them too! I'm gonna go home tonight and work on decorations for the box." You had no idea Osamu was listening, and if you did, you would have probably died on the spot.

"I think he'll say yes," she replied thoughtfully. "Some of the girls have been upset lately; they say that Miya-san really likes you."

Osamu wished in that moment that the earth beneath his feet would open up and swallow him whole. Had he been wrong? Did Atsumu feel the same way that you did? And worse, had a selfish part of him been hoping that you'd be rejected?

His jaw tightened and he turned away, careful not to draw your attention as he slipped off in the other direction.

He considered faking a cold the next day, but that was childish, wasn't it? He dragged himself out of bed and got to school, dreading lunch period, when he knew everything would finally come crashing down around him.

The bell rang for lunch, and he packed his things quickly, not wanting to be there to watch you confess to his brother.

Imagine his surprise when he felt a tug on his sleeve just as he reached the doorway, and turned to see you standing there in front of him.

"'Samu? Could we go somewhere a little more private?" you asked, tensing up slightly the way that you always did when you were nervous.

"Er... Yeah."

What? This wasn't at all what he'd thought would happen, and his head was swimming as he followed you to the library, staring at the brown paper bag that you clutched to your chest.

You ended up behind one of the taller shelves in the back, and Osamu's hands were twitching in his pockets as he stared down at you.

Time was moving agonizingly slowly as you opened the paper bag and withdrew a brightly colored, heart-shaped box.

OSAMU was written across the front in careful lettering, and the world stopped around him.

"Samu, I-"

"I'm in love with you," he breathed out, hands moving from his pockets as he stepped forward to place his hands on the sides of your face, closing the distance between the two of you in one fell swoop.

Before you could answer, his lips were on yours, and your heart was bursting.

He was grinning when he pulled away, eyes gleaming with adoration as he took in your smile.

"I love you too, you big dork. I... was not expecting this to go so smoothly," you admitted, reaching up a hand to brush back a lock of his hair.

He's beaming when he says, "Honey, you've got no clue just how long Ah've been wantin' to do that."

[yengyangyo]

berry | k.s.w

pairings: kim sunwoo x female reader

genre: college au, friends to lovers

summary: you are in denial that you have a crush on your own friend, kim sunwoo until he made you confess your feelings.

word count: 1.9k

note: i wrote this on sunwoo's birthday. its quite late to post it cs i kept on postponing it sksksk but yea this was inspired by sunwoo's berry. enjoy reading! xo

-

you had sunwoo on your mind for days that you are lacking of sleep. it doesnt sit quite right for you to have this 'romantic' feelings for your bestfriend. meanwhile, sunwoo is not helping you to clear up your mind at all. he's just always there beside you no matter what.

he'd wait at the bus stop just to go to class together with you in the morning even when you're running late. lunch time together is a must unless one of you had other plans. both of you are just stuck together anywhere you go.

so for once, you thought it'd be a good plan to avoid him today. you woke up early that morning to get to class and you texted sunwoo that you had a discussion with your groupmates. this went on for a few days, you were making excuses everyday but sunwoo believed you.

until he couldnt take it anymore.

you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket and you saw sunwoo on the caller id. you were hesitating to pick it up until you felt someone grabbing your wrist from the back, turning you around.

"found ya!"

sunwoo appeared in front of you with the brightest smile. you couldn't help but to feel happy and welcomed by him that you started smiling unknowingly. you get back to your senses seconds later and avoided his eyes.

sunwoo knew something was wrong when he saw your expression fell. he glanced at your phone that kept ringing. he ended the call and your phone went off too.

"why arent you answering my calls? are you still busy?"

you couldnt stand seeing sunwoo looking all gloomy and upset. you felt bad for ignoring him so you tried making up excuses again.

"oh yea i was about to pick it up. sorry,"

sunwoo pouted and wrapped his arm around your shoulders. he's using his favourite perfume again today, you noticed. that scent happened to be your fav of him too. you felt weak and wanting to crawl into a hole or something.

"im craving chicken today. how about chicken and beer for dinner tonight?"

sunwoo turned his head at you, waiting for an answer. you looked up at him and his face was only inches away from you. you looked away, flustered. he had always been this way but only now you noticed how you felt about him which made it more awkward to be this close to him.

"i dont know, sunwoo. i'll have to check with my groupmates," you said, pretending to check your phone for your nonexistent messages.

"its friday come on. i havent hang out with you for days already," sunwoo whined and that made you laugh.

"alright but i get to choose where to eat,"

-

you chose the chicken restaurant near your neighbourhood where you both are regular customers there. the place was crowded with youngsters like the both of you, drunken with beer and chicken.

you were also getting tipsy from drinking. the first 30 minutes of the dinner went normal. asking how each other had been doing with the college life.

sunwoo sighed and rested his chin on his right palm. his eyes falters on you, searching for something. you looked away, feeling a bit burdened and transparent, because sunwoo knew you werent acting yourself these days.

"hey," he called you but you didnt answer and still avoiding the eye contact.

"hey look at me,"

you were startled at the warmth on both of your cheeks. sunwoo was cupping your cheeks to make you look at him straight in the eyes. you didnt know if this warmth was from his hand or from you blushing.

"what's wrong?" he asked. now his hand moved to yours, holding it tight. "you're avoiding me these days. do you think i didnt notice?"

silence fell between you two, just staring at each other. the guilt creeping up inside you and you didn't know where to start.

its the smallest gesture from him that create butterflies in your stomach.

that one time he opened the water bottle for you when he saw you struggling and saying that you're such a baby. his laughter filled the room when you frowned at the remark. you know how much he loves annoying you and in the end he always made you laugh too.

on rainy days, he'd always share the umbrella with you and keeping you close to him so you wouldnt get drenched. sometimes he'd gently rub your arm so you wouldn't get too cold.

sometimes he'd call you names like how boyfriend and girlfriend do, jokingly. though, you somewhat enjoyed it and played along. pretending to cringe but actually was flattered by him.

at this moment, your hand in his, eyes boring into each other, you just want to scream at him how much you love him.

you smiled in defeat and pulled back your hand.

"there were just so many thoughts going on my mind lately, sunwoo. im so sorry,"

he didn't question you any further and he nodded his head.

"whatever it is youre thinking, i just want you to know i'm always here for you,"

you smiled, this time sincerely at him.

"you always are sunwoo. i appreciate that,"

he smirked, "after all, i am the best that you got,"

you rolled your eyes and gave him your disgusted face.

"so are you gonna tell me what's bugging you?"

"i think i like someone. he's just always running round in my mind these days,"

you didnt know where the courage came from to blurt out that out of your mouth. sunwoo who was halfway shoving a piece of chicken in his mouth, stopped. he put it down and looked at you, doubting himself if he heard that right.

"i couldnt stop thinking about him. that pretty much explains that i like him right? or is it just my mind playing games with me?"

you swore you saw his face fell for a second but he went back to the usual sunwoo after that.

"does he know about your feelings?"

you shrugged, "nah. im still trying to find out what i really feel about him. should i tell him?"

sunwoo didnt say anything and chugged down his beer until its empty.

"yea why not," he answered simply. "he must be really lucky to have you,"

you laughed, "i havent done anything yet. there's a possibility that he'd reject me too anyway,"

its funny how you talk about this like its some stranger to sunwoo when you are talking about him. you felt light hearted a bit after letting that out.

"who'd reject you?" sunwoo said while playing with that piece of chicken, not looking at you anymore. "you're pretty and fun,"

you raised an eyebrow, wondering if you heard that right. he was still poking the chicken with his fork, eyes hazy and lips pouting.

"so you're not gonna tell me who is this guy you have a crush on?"

"you'll find out soon,"

-

sunwoo offered to walk you home though you kindly told him he didn't have to. he insisted and now you are walking beside him. he was suddenly quiet after the conversation you had with him.

"is that why you're avoiding me? because you have a crush on this guy?"

he asked, hands in his pockets, eyes looking forward. you looked at him, feeling a bit weirded out by his cold tone.

"no... okay maybe? i dont know. i just needed some time to myself,"

sunwoo fell quiet again for the rest of the walk home. when you reached the front gate of your house, you looked back at sunwoo. he looked like he was upset. you walked up to him and pat his side.

"hey thanks for walking me home. i'll tell you everything when i'm ready okay?"

sunwoo didnt say anything and you turned around to get out of that awkward moment.

"no i'll tell you everything right now okay? hear me out,"

you stopped in your tracks and facing him in confusion. he was pacing around, his hands are restless in his pockets.

"before you confess to him i guess i have to make a move on you first," sunwoo said, this time he raised his voice. "this is why people are saying we should always tell what we feel before we regret it and i dont want to regret it but i think im too late,"

you are worried at him. he looked like he was about to break down right in front of you. you wanted to comfort him but you didnt get what he's trying to say.

"sunwoo, i dont understand. what is it?"

sunwoo stopped pacing around and stopped directly in front of you. you swore you saw his eyes tearing up and you wanted to cry too. you thought, the alcohol has made both of you emotional.

"i like you,"

you both felt like the world is weighing down. it was as if the time has stopped for you two. you were staring at each other in disbelief.

"i know you like someone else and i shouldve told you sooner. i kept on putting back my feelings behind," sunwoo halted, gasping for air. "im too late now but i have to tell you this,"

"sunwoo-"

"i dont care who he is. but i want you to know that you deserve of love. you kept on telling yourself you dont deserve anyone. you know how badly i want to tell you that im here? i want to love you," sunwoo was practically shouting at this point. he sighed, "shit im already am in love with you,"

at those words, your tears came streaming down like crazy. you've never seen him cry but tonight he looked beautiful even when he's crying. you lurched forward and wrapped your arms around him. he buried his face in your neck and you felt his warm tears on your skin.

"im sorry. i just wanted to let that out after keeping it for so long. this is the worst timing huh?" he murmured under his breath.

you shook your head and laughed. you let go of the hug first and cupped his face in your hands. teary eyes staring at each other.

"sunwoo its you,"

"what?"

"i love you too,"

you closed the distance between the two of you, kissing him for the first time. that caught him off guard but then smiled in the kiss. it was sloppy but sunwoo is for sure leading you well at this. you both craved for this for a long time already. you were still crying of relief and touched by his confession.

"you should've told me before i start crying like an idiot," sunwoo looked down at you, smiling with his swollen eyes.

you laughed at him and you snuggled more into his embrace not wanting to let go too soon. you realized how much you miss him after those dreading days of ignoring him. he rested his chin on your head while gently patting you.

"im sorry ive been ignoring and denying my feelings for you,"

"its okay. thank god we actually like each other though," you both laughed at the same time and you havent felt this happy and giddy before.

"so i can actually call you my baby now?" sunwoo asked smirking at you playfully, knowing how much you hated it before.

"that's still cringy but sure, babe,"

[dreamerstreamer]

Burnout

Pairing: Dream / Clay x gn!reader

Summary: Working nonstop leaves Clay officially exhausted. Too bad he doesn’t know when to call it quits. Luckily for him, you do.

Warnings: depictions of anxiety + exhaustion + burnout

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: this was inspired by some of my own personal experiences. please get some rest if you need it. i hope you enjoy!

Clay awoke to the sound of meowing in his ear and a paw prodding at his cheek.

Letting out a small groan, he shifted, vaguely aware that his cheek was pressed against something cold. He reached up in front of his face, his fingertips meeting soft fur. He blinked an eye open, his hand rubbing at his bleary vision. Little by little, the fogginess slowly parted to reveal Patches’ olive green eyes peering back at him. The moment his gaze met hers, she meowed, swiping at his face again.

“Stop,” he croaked, surprising himself by how dry his mouth was. Almost immediately, Patches took a step back, meowing once more at him before hopping off the table and vanishing from his line of sight.

He raised a hand to his throat, swallowing uncomfortably. Slowly, he lifted his head from the desk, taking in the sight of his desk set-up. While his monitor was dark, it was his laptop that was lighting up the cluttered mess that had become his studio. Off to his right sat his green water bottle.

Right. His water bottle had been empty for—

His eyes darted to the clock, squinting. The numbers 1:47 AM flashed back at him.

—six hours.

When did I knock out? he wondered to himself, rubbing at his temples. Two hours ago? He shook his head. Well, doesn’t matter, now. Gotta finish the new plug-in.

He reached over, nudging his mouse with his elbow. The moment his cursor moved, his monitor came to life, light flooding the dimness of his room. He squinted, shielding his eyes from the glaring brightness of the screen with the back of his hand.

His code was still open, the line having cut off in the middle, the open bracket hanging wide, waiting to be completed and closed.

He grimaced, the gears already whirring in his head as he stared at the ticking clock on his screen. He needed to have the plug-in coded by tomorrow—or, well, today—so he could send it off to George for their scheduled test run. Not to mention the video he was only halfway finished editing he wanted to upload in two days’ time.

He dragged a hand over his face, a low groan rumbling in his chest. Just then, there was another low growl, this time coming from his stomach. He glanced downward at his hoodie pocket, something sharp digging at his insides.

Well, first, it seemed like he would need some food.

He pushed back his chair and pushed himself onto his feet, wincing at the way his muscles ached. They were definitely sore from not having been used in god knows how long, now. With another sigh, he turned, pushing the door open to his studio before climbing the stairs.

It only took a few moments for him to find the kitchen. He fumbled with the light switch for a second before the room was suddenly flooded with light. He winced, slapping a hand over his eyes. “Oh god,” he muttered, his throat feeling raw, “it’s so bright.”

A few seconds later, he peeked through his fingers and lowered his hand, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. As soon as he could see clearly once more, he dragged himself over to the cabinet, pulling the door open to peer inside. Empty space stared back at him, and he frowned. We forgot to go grocery shopping.

A snack-size bag of chips and two cups of instant ramen stared back at him, almost tauntingly. After staring for another moment, he found himself pulling out one of the two cups, eyeing it dubiously before shrugging. It’ll do. Flipping open the kettle, he quickly filled it with some water before setting it to boil. As he waited, he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and tore open the cup cover, fishing out the flavour packet and tearing it open with his teeth. Just as he was pouring the flavour powder in, he heard a voice behind him.

“Clay?”

He froze, then felt something in his chest soften. He turned, mustering what energy he had to send you a smile. “Hi, [Y/N].” At the sight of your bleary eyes, his smile drooped. “You’re still awake?”

You yawned, holding a hand over your mouth. “Mhm. Hungry. I’m just grabbing a snack, that’s all.”

Behind him, the kettle whistled. He quickly removed the top, then turned back to send you a knowing look. “Me too.”

You strolled over to the cabinet he had looked through earlier, frowning as you let out a sigh. “I’ll go grocery shopping this weekend,” you murmured, reaching for the chips. “Anything you want?”

He cast a glance at the chips in your hand. “More chips?” he offered softly. “I dunno. I haven’t really thought about it.”

You bobbed your head and pulled the bag open, immediately sticking a chip in your mouth. Clay let the sound of chips crunching fill the air as he poured the boiling water into his noodle cup, stirring absentmindedly as you quickly finished the bag. After a few moments, he eagerly raised his chopsticks to his lips, a whirlwind of flavour filling his mouth. The noodles didn’t particularly help with the dryness of his mouth or his tiredness, but at least he wasn’t hungry anymore.

The two of you ate in silence for a while. At one point, you finished the chips and threw out the bag, but he wasn’t quite paying attention. He felt his toes curl beneath him as he shifted in an effort to keep himself awake, but he could still feel the exhaustion pulling at his ankles. He wished he was asleep, he really did.

Just then, you spoke up. “Are you okay?”

He blinked, snapping out of his tired daze. “Yeah,” he mumbled in between chews. “I’m just a bit tired.”

You pursed your lips, leaning back against the counter as you eyed him up and down. “You look more than just ‘a bit tired’, Clay.”

He swallowed, averting his gaze from yours as he focused on shoveling more noodles in his mouth. His eyelids burned, weighed down by bricks made of exhaustion. “You think so?”

You didn’t answer, only staring at him for a few moments longer as he finished the cup of ramen. He didn’t even have the strength to think about the tension pervading the air. As soon as he was finished, he set the cup down, ignoring how heavy his arm felt. He felt your eyes on his as he rinsed out the empty container before tossing it in the recycling bin. He turned, your gaze locking onto his. Irritation prickled up his spine at your expression.

“What?” he said, his tone coming out harsher than he intended. A flicker of guilt ran through him, but it quickly dissolved into weariness once more. Whatever. He was tired. It didn’t matter. Right?

To his surprise, you didn’t flinch like he thought you would. Instead, you took a small step toward him, your hand reaching up and forward tentatively. Your fingers brushed against his cheekbone, and the moment your palm met his skin, he nearly melted into your touch. How long had it been since his shoulders felt so loose? He couldn’t recall.

“Clay,” you murmured, your thumb brushing over his cheek, “will you come to bed with me?”

His breath hitched. Sleeping? Now? He couldn’t afford it—even a single lick of sleep would throw him off entirely. He needed to finish his code and finish editing that video for the day after. He couldn’t just sleep, now.

He sent you a smile, hoping it didn’t look as sad as it felt. “Sorry, love, but I have a bit more work I have left to do.”

You blinked, your lips curling downward. Your frown bit into him harder than he would have liked. Slowly, you pulled your hand back from his cheek, something disappointing flashing in your gaze. “Okay,” you said quietly, turning to walk out of the kitchen. “Please go to sleep soon, though, alright?”

He nodded, but the action didn’t fully register in his head as he watched you disappear from his line of sight. Already, he missed your warmth against his face, and he had half the mind to change his mind and go to bed with you right then and there.

But the deadline hanging over his head wrapped a fraction tighter around his throat, whispering into his ear like a menace. “You don’t have time.”

Indeed, he didn’t.

Shutting the kitchen lights off, he slipped back down the stairs once more, striding back into his studio. He collapsed into his chair with a grunt, shaking his mouse as his monitor came back to life. He cracked his knuckles once before settling his hands back on the keyboard, focusing his attention back on the open bracket once more.

He wasn’t sure how much time he spent typing, opening and closing Google as he ran into bug after bug. The longer he stared at the screen, the more his brain felt like it was slowly getting the life sucked out of it. He had only completed another dozen lines of code or two when something tore him out of his focus.

“Clay.”

His thoughts came to a jarring halt in his head. He turned, spotting you leaning against the doorframe with your arms crossed over your chest. A concerned expression was plastered to your face, and he nearly fell out of his chair. “[Y/N]? Why are you still up?” His eyebrows knit together. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I sent George a text,” you said abruptly, your eyes scanning his face with a wary look, “and he said he doesn’t mind doing the test run another day.”

Clay’s mouth fell open, a wave of shock rolling over him. You... what? Swallowing, he closed it, shaking his head slightly. Just because he didn’t need to finish the code didn’t mean he still didn’t have any work to do. “I still have to finish the video—”

“You can finish that another day, too,” you suddenly said, your eyes not leaving his. He saw your fingers curl into your pyjamas. “You know your fans will love it no matter when it comes out.”

Something welled up inside of him, something hard and cold that dug straight through his bones. “B-But...”

You simply tilted your head at him, a weary look crossing your face. “But what, Clay? Is there anything else?”

He paused for a moment, a pebble of shame dropping into his stomach as he shook his head. “No,” he admitted quietly. His heart burned uncomfortably between his lungs. “But I could always get a head start on—“

“Clay,” you said sharply, not missing the way he jumped, “don’t you see what you’re doing to yourself?” You lowered your arms and your voice grew quiet, something pained flitting across your features. “This is killing you.”

He stared at you, the light of his monitor making your face glow in the dimness of his studio. As much as he tried, he couldn’t think of another rational justification for staying up. He had no other immediate tasks, no other projects he needed to work on in this moment. He had no reason to stay awake any longer.

And yet, deep down, something anxious and angry thrashed in his gut. Sleeping now just felt wrong. It was almost as though it was a crime, as though he would somehow fail if he didn’t keep working. After all, if he didn’t keep working, then what kind of creator was he?

But the longer he stared at you, taking in the sight of your pleading eyes and worried frown, he felt something else overtake him entirely. A different kind of sinking feeling settled over his shoulders, and he swallowed.

“[Y/N],” he said honestly, suddenly feeling vulnerable and very, very sad, “I’m tired.”

Your gaze softened, and he almost wanted to cry. “I know,” you said, soft and sincere.

With quiet steps, you made your way over to him, stopping just in front of him. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against your stomach as he let out a shaky breath. You didn’t move, simply raising a hand to pat his head. For a few moments, he simply leaned against you, feeling his eyes sting and burn with a mixture of fatigue and sadness. Was he really that tired?

“You put too much responsibility on your own shoulders, Clay,” you murmured, your hand leaving his head. “You’re allowed to be your own person. You’re allowed to spend time to yourself. You’re allowed to take care of yourself—you need to.”

You pulled back slightly, and he raised his head. His lungs felt like they had tied themselves into a knot in his chest, but the moment his eyes met yours, he could suddenly breathe clearly again.

“Please,” you said, “come to bed with me.”

He blinked. Then, he nodded. “Okay.”

He didn’t miss the smile that stretched across your face as you reached over to save his code, turning off his monitor. As soon as the studio filled with darkness, you slipped your hand into his, tugging him out of his chair and up the stairs. He didn’t remember walking into the bathroom, but you were suddenly shoving his toothbrush in his hand.

“I’ll wait for you in our room,” you said, “okay?”

He nodded again, still too dazed to fully comprehend anything. He only half remembered brushing his teeth, spitting out the toothpaste as he rinsed out his mouth in the sink. Before he knew it, he was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, his eyelids already drooping. You were sitting on the bed, your legs curled beneath you and the blankets pulled back for him.

The moment he stepped inside, you lifted your chin, tilting your head at him. “You done?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but cut himself off with a yawn. Wiping at his blurring vision, he nodded. “Mhm.”

The pleased grin you sent him made his heart swell with affection. “Perfect.” You patted the space in front of you. “C’mere.”

Without an ounce of hesitation, he walked forward and climbed onto the bed, settling his head back against the pillow as you pulled the sheets up over him. After a few seconds of shifting, he finally settled down, his shoulders sagging as he let the tightness seep out of his body and into the bed.

“Comfy?” you asked softly, your voice washing over him like a soothing melody.

He shifted his head slightly, his legs curling further into the warm blankets. “Very.”

He could only imagine the soft smile on your face, a fond look filling your eyes. “When’s the last time you slept before four o’clock?”

He thought for a moment. If he had the energy, he would have shrugged. “Can’t remember. Must have been a month ago, or something.”

He could hear the frown in your voice. “That’s not healthy, Clay.”

He exhaled sharply through his nose, feeling his lips curl slightly. “Probably.”

There was a slight pause, then he felt your hand in his hair. In an instant, he had melted into putty on the mattress, tilting his head slightly toward you. “You can only run on sheer passion for so long,” you murmured, dragging your fingers through his hair. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this relaxed. “People need rest. And good food. And warm hugs. And love.”

He blinked, slow and lazy. “Love?” he repeated.

You hummed. “Yeah.” Dipping your head, you pressed a kiss beside his ear, whispering, “Lots and lots of love.”

He nodded ever so subtly, his head sinking further and further into his pillow. “Love,” he whispered back, caught in a dreamlike haze.

Your fingers scratched against his scalp, and he let out a tiny sigh. “You still with me?”

“Mm,” he mumbled, “not really.”

Your hand stilled for a moment, then carried on. “Good. Go to sleep, Clay.” He could hear the soft smile in your voice. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He said something back, or at least he thought he did, but he had drifted too far to care at that point.

This was nice. He missed this.

That night, Clay fell asleep with your hands in his hair and a smile on his face—feeling warm, safe, and oh-so loved.

[aenaxes]

omg!! congrats on 200!!!! 🥰🥰 ur my fav crosshair writer so: crosshair + trust, with a gender neutral reader? nsfw or not, it's up to u!! congrats again 🎉🎆🎉

kinesthesia

[crosshair x gn!reader] with precision, there is control, and with control, there is tension, not easily soothed. you take it into your own hands to prove that wrong.

warnings: nsfw, fellatio, (kind of) sub!cross

w/c: 3.0k

a/n: prince my he a r t 🥺💕 ily bb ! this was also a super fun prompt to write hehe, and look i openly accept that i’m a pillow princess bottom, but i think i would enjoy making crosshair squirm. uno reverse card on his oral fixation—mine now.

“I’m still not entirely sold on this,” Crosshair admits as he takes a seat at the edge of your bunk. His toothpick bobs anxiously between his lips, chewed down flat where his lips brush up against the bleached wood. It’s not often that this breed of restlessness finds hold: stiff shoulders and hands folded tight over his lap.

Nerves.

“That’s why we have the safeword,” you quip from across your quarters, voice rising as you struggle to twist out of your heavy uniform jacket.

(Un)surprisingly, Crosshair makes for a quick study. Beneath the stony, oftentimes sullen disposition, he’s a simple man. Of course, that simplicity didn’t necessarily limit himself from branching out into an actual person, but you could boil him down to one thing and one thing alone: control. Whether it was his genetic acuity that shaped him into the sniper persona or vice versa, control centered him, grounded him, tied him so close to his sense of duty and personhood that sometimes it was hard to tell the two apart.

So when you had offered two rotations prior to take the reins—offered both as something new and the hypothetical of release from, well, everything that kept him in a perpetually alert state of coiled tension—you honestly hadn’t expected for Crosshair to pause, rolling his toothpick thoughtfully between his teeth, and accept.

There’s certainly a part of you that hopes the manufactured brevity to your tone is enough to soothe the anxiety radiating from where Crosshair makes himself prim and small on your bed, smaller still without the bulk of his dark armor weighed over his shoulders. But, against your better judgement, a low-lying anticipation simmers at the base of your lungs when you finally shuck the day’s sweat and blaster smoke to the side.

He’s seen you undone under him time and time again, beads of sweat following the smug lines of his expression as he bent you to his—and, to be entirely fair, your own—pleasure. And as satisfying as that arrangement has proven itself to be, curiosity has always been that single, nagging vice at the back of your head.

Who can blame you for wanting a taste?

“You remember it, right?”

“Yeah,” he says, and you catch the heavy dregs of uncertainty (perhaps even bashfulness, ha) dragging at his voice.

“Then say it,” you prod. You gently nudge the point of your knee up against Crosshair’s calf and offer him a mirthful glance. And when that doesn’t seem to banish his withering hesitance, you drop down onto the bunk beside him, grasping his hand in yours and squeezing snug.

“I—” he clears his throat with a soft wince: embarrassment. “I don’t think I’ll need it.”

“Cross,” you warn. Because if you were going to do this, you were going to do this right.

“Fucking hell,” he mutters under his breath, scrubbing his palm over the highest points of his cheeks. You wonder if the warmth over his cheeks is the same as your own, desirous and shy as you venture into those dark, uncertain places hand in hand. “Tooka, happy?”

“Very happy,” you grin, and you lean close to press a quick peck to the corner of his mouth.

Crosshair leans towards you, lips parted to chase your touch, more, more. But he’ll have his fill, and you’re quick to dart away, leaving him even more disoriented than he already is, all wide eyes that seek you like fading light.

You’re tempted to indulge him because it’s not often that he looks like a kicked loth cat (and he does a damn good impression when he does). But you manage to stuff down the creeping sympathy, opting instead to reach into the pocket of your trousers and produce a well-worn headband.

“Please tell me that’s not Hunter’s.” The rosy edge of desire vanishes from Crosshair’s voice as he catches sight of the broad black swatch of fabric in your palm. In its place, the testing edge of judgement so often home in Crosshair’s snide play.

“Ew, no—what? That’d be weird. And gross. Who do you think I am?”

That seems to do what your previous efforts could not, and your heart jumps when Crosshair responds with a soft snort and shrugs. He’s not resentful, not in the slightest. It’s just trepidation, jumping into uncharted waters with nothing but the trust that your hand, snug over his, would hold fast.

But the laughter settles, drawing back to reveal something that hums quiet between the small eternity between you. Even with your thigh pressed close against Crosshair’s own, you feel him drawing away, hesitant and wanting all at once. You gently pull his hand between you, squeezing once.

“Trust me?” you murmur.

Crosshair offers you a tremulous look, more nervous than apprehensive. You suppose it’s only fitting of him that relinquishing his steady grip over control might be more appealing in concept than on the eve of practice. Nonetheless, when you meet his gaze, you find the kind of uncertainty that heralds excitement, careful but enamored all the same. He nods.

“Then let me take care of you.”

Finally, as you raise your hands to his temples, pressing the dark fabric over his eyes, the tension pulls away from his coiled muscles, dropping his shoulders and bowing his head as you reach around him and tie a knot over the back of his silvery hair. He exhales long and slow as the knot settles snug over his scalp, warmed by the creases left behind by your fingertips and the sudden comfort yet complete unpredictability that shrouds his senses.

Testing the waters, you bring one hand to his cheek, just barely ghosting your fingertips over the lean lines of his jaw, and you are rewarded with a full-bodied shudder that shocks through Crosshair’s form as his lips gently part around his toothpick. Without that precious ability to see, he sits in your palm at your every whim.

You lean forward, gently biting your teeth around the tapered free end of his toothpick, and you feel him swallow hard when you free it from his mouth and drop it to the floor.

“Trust me.”

Chest heaving, he nods again.

“Safeword?”

This time, there is no snark to accompany a begrudging response. “Tooka.” Instead, his voice dips breathy and low between the long breadths between his soft exhales, his beating heart.

“Good boy.”

You surprise yourself at how natural the praise feels, rolling from your tongue and rising over the ambient hum of the ship around you. It fills your chest with something like affection, bordered pride that only swells as you watch him shudder, his lips parting just a little wider to pass that barely-there whimper riding on his exhale.

The hard planes of his body, that star map you’ve committed to the deepest parts of your heart, are familiar terrain under your skin as you flatten your palms over the sharp jut of his collar and travel lower. You pause the heels of your palms over the base of his ribs, pressing softly against the quickening rise and fall of his chest. Satisfaction curls sweet and rich over the tip of your tongue as his stuttering inhale shifts the air around you.

With slow, firm force, you push him backwards onto the bunk, Crosshair’s elbows catching his slow descent over the dark grey sheets until finally drops his head back onto the firm mattress. His chest heaves.

Your fingertips pass over the sinew and soft scar of his abdomen, chasing how his breathing expands from his chest and leaches tension over the length of his torso. You’re certain this isn’t new, not when your intimacy has you stealing the other’s breaths between stuttering gasps. But to feel it under your palms, thrumming and deep—it sets your nerves on fire.

Control. It’s wholly and entirely yours.

You still as the pads of your fingers catch the faint ridge of his waistband. And a part of you is smug with the power of reversal, that it wasn’t Crosshair offering you a knowing smirk as he parted your thighs and pressed close, that it was you, privy to only the deepest intimacy Crosshair could offer.

But it’s exactly that which keeps the power from rushing to your head, stymying the teasing mischief for something warm in your stomach when you trail lower and gently cup over the straining bulge in his blacks. And it grows fonder when Crosshair’s legs jerk with a labored puff of breath, the same one he breathes into your ear when he finally pushes up deep inside you and presses his skin close against yours. He whines, a straining, soft noise through his bitten lips, and you’ve teased long enough.

Crosshair makes a soft noise, somewhere between a gasp and a whining moan, when you finally hook your fingers over the hem of the dark fabric and expose the curved strain of his cock. He’s so open, you think as you reach forwards (though, you suppose being deprived of the one sense that reigned king would do that to you).

You don’t need to be able to see the half of his face rising above the bridge of his nose to envision the soft knit of his dark brows, eyes squeezed shut and lashes fluttering with every soft noise that passes his lips. You don’t need to see the half of his face bound under that broad swath of fabric to envision how his expression breaks from restraint to unbridled euphoria when you trace the edge of your nail down the underside of his cock.

“Please,” you think you hear him whisper past a breathy moan.

Whatever he might have had prepared, the whole gamut of biting, bratty demand to wide-eyed pleas, tumbles back into his throat when you finally climb onto the bunk by his hips, lick the flat of your tongue over your palm, and wrap it snug around the middle of Crosshair’s cock. Instead, you watch with a satisfied awe as he jerks up into your touch, spit-slick lips parted in a silent cry.

“You want my hand or my mouth?” you croon, pumping slowly from the thick base of his erection to the ruddy tip. You want him to feel every quiver of your touch as you run your thumb over the pearly drop of precome beaded at the crown of his cock, reveling in his shudder beneath you. You want to be the only thing he feels.

“Mouth,” he chokes out. “Please.”

“You’re so polite today,” you muse, reaching up with your free hand to rub your thumb over the plush bitten skin of his bottom lip. Emboldened, you slip your finger past his lips, grazing over his teeth as you push the pad of your thumb over his tongue, all the while slowly working your hand over his cock. “The good boy gets what he wants, then. Right?”

For a brief moment, something like disbelief occupies the warm air between you—you, amazed at how easy it is to hold the reins tight; him, stunned that somehow, you in control was as good, if not better, than being the commandeering weight to push your face into the pillows.

Crosshair nods, trembling as you squeeze softly over the base of his cock.

“I need to hear it, mesh’la.”

The last line of his restraint crumbles at the sound: one only ever given from him to you, yet suddenly brought back to him with the full brunt of lust, affection, the secret words you’ve come to call your own. Crosshair bucks up into your hand with a low groan, gasping soft and breathy when you slip your thumb from his mouth and hold him down to the mattress.

“Yes, please.”

You smile and dip low.

Unlike the slow deliberation of your earlier touch, you seal your lips over his ruddy cockhead with one smooth motion, pressing your tongue flat against the underside and hollowing your cheeks. And the heady taste of salt, of trembling anticipation, of him, only sweetens when you flick your eyes up to catch Crosshair tip up his chin, dig his heels into the mattress, and sob.

You sink his cock deeper into your mouth, achingly slow while you continue to work your fist around the base of his cock, and close in a way that coaxes soft, whimpering noises from his lips as he turns his head and clenches his jaw.

Flicking your eyes upwards, a pang of regret shocks through your chest that you aren’t able to see Crosshair come undone from the slightest of touches, tame in comparison to some of your particularly energetic nights. But you do away with the thought as quickly as it comes as his blunt cockhead brushes over the back of your tongue.

His pleasure has always been yours, yours his, you think as you pull back, just until your lips part around the tip of his cock while he shifts and gasps beneath you. You’ll have your turn soon enough.

Before you can sink back down, swallow him as deep as you can, the air by your cheek shifts, and expecting the worst, you lift your chin. But where you expected some stifled yellow light, Crosshair’s fingers feel blindly around you until they find purchase over your cheek. His relief is palpable as his stuttering touch curls over your skin and holds you close.

You smile.

“Trust me?” you ask again, your lips mouthing softly over his cock, catching thick smears of precome over your skin.

“I trust you,” he whispers.

Crosshair cries out, hoarse and as loud as he’s been all night, as you drop your mouth near-midway down the straining length of his cock in one motion, lavishing your tongue under his pulse. His hand tenses over your jaw, blunt nails digging light into your skin as his fingers curl with that bone-deep shock of pleasure. And if the breathy, desperate noises he whimpers into the alcove of the bunk are of any indication, you have a good feeling he’ll want to do this again.

You moan around him in answer. It doesn’t matter to you that his brothers might hear, only a few panels of durasteel away and connected by the reverb of a narrow ship corridor. They probably do hear, but all that matters now is Crosshair, coming impossibly more undone under your tongue as he runs his trembling thumb over the skin of your cheek.

His hips buck up towards you, catching the back of your throat with a soft sting that reaches your nose. If you weren’t so desperate, you might have pinned him down harder or pulled away entirely to let him think about what he had done. But as much as you want to chase this power play, hearing him lose himself to you has you desperate for his touch.

You follow him with every uneven jerk and thrust up into the wet heat of your mouth, letting him take his fill. You simply stroke firmer as his skin warms over your tongue. It’s all so hot, the air heady and thick as you breathe in sharp through your nose and lean into his palm, and you wonder what it feels like, anchored to nothing but you, his sole light in a world gone dark.

His motions fall uneven, his hips twisting against your touch, his breaths becoming deeper, louder as they bounce over the steel ceiling overhead. He’s close.

You twist your fist over his cock, redoubling your efforts. You sink down so far over his cock that your eyes water as you crush the head up against the back of your throat. Heavy and thick, it muffles down a soft gag for you—it’s the deepest you’ve ever taken him. Crosshair notices, and he nearly wails.

He’s been good, you decide as you all but choke around him. He can take that coveted control back. You gently rub his hand, unspoken assent, and his hand slides up your jaw to finds purchase at the back of your head to fuck you down onto him in earnest.

And you take it, eyes blurring with tears and shallow inhales through your nose, holding still and letting him fuck over your tongue until he’s taken his fill. It doesn’t take long for him to spill down your throat, a low, hoarse groan passed between his lips as you struggle to breathe between every dutiful swallow of his thick come down your throat.

“Good boy,” you rasp as you pull the blindfold from over his head.

Crosshair meets you with unfocused eyes, full of wonder and a shaky haze that finds focus on you alone in the low light. Over the ache in your knees, you crawl up to meet him, collapsing down beside him with a soft sigh. He meets you with habit, practiced and true as he tips down his chin and presses his lips to yours, tasting himself on your skin when he swipes his tongue over your lip.

“How was that?” you whisper, breathing soft over his lips.

You tilt your head up enough to catch your nose over Crosshair’s. He still meets you with that same stupor, but you see it begin to mellow into something other than the shock of enjoyment in submission in a man who has only ever known control to be his. It’s quiet and raw, splitting open your chest with that rare kind of warmth that the broad expanse of space and war leave little space to grow.

Yours, whispered and cradled close between your beating hearts, yours alone.

“I’ll remember the safeword,” Crosshair says finally, his voice distant and soft as he still rises out of the aftershocks of his orgasm. But in that weary daze, you catch the rosy relaxation, vulnerable and yet increasingly less rare in your palms. Relief, pride, joy, honeyed goodness rises to the apples of your cheeks at the sound.

“I still think I won’t need it, though.” And you both laugh, curling close.