#I thrive off making minor changes and then pointing and laughing at them and I am so scared of being obnoxious

[bobthedragon2]

@1ore and @beatcroc

I’m very flattered but also I regret to inform you both that I am Not Cool, in fact, and instead have written “peenus” on my cute whale game while trying to block in text :,,)

[bonny-kookoo]

Backstage: Privacy 🔞

A concert ticket lost and found, a sweater ending up in your hands, a misunderstanding with security backstage - happy little accidents, as they turn out to be.

Tags/Warnings: Black Leopard Hybrid!Jungkook, Rockstar!Jungkook, Rusty Spotted Cat Hybrid!Reader, minor angst, major fluff, strangers to lovers, did I mention fluff, reader gets injured but only a bit, fainting, big cat kook, Dom!Kook, future smut

Additional Chapter Warnings: VERY spicy cuddling, they're so cute, it's not full on smut but VERY suggestive, yes she cums in the end if you're wondering I'm not sorry

Length: ~3k.

-> Masterlist

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His apartment is slowly becoming familiar for you.

Or maybe his presence is just becoming so reassuring to you, that it doesn't actually matter where you are at this point- only if he's with you. It leads to you opening his fridge without asking, feeling awfully snackish while he's busy finishing up in the shower. You're changed into comfortable clothes now as well, having taken off any makeup you had on, fully calming down now as you move things here and there to try and uncover what he could be offering in terms of food. You're normally never this bold. But something about him makes you feel just awfully relaxed around his home.

Until someone cheekily pulls on your fluffy tail, Jungkook's body right behind you as he leans over your shoulder, chin on the crook of your neck. "Stealing things now, are we?" He chuckles, and you yelp up in surprise, turning your face almost enough to see him- lips yet again awfully close. It's happened earlier at the gym already, and in a way, you just want him to kiss you. You want to know what it feels like. How he does it.

But instead you simply duck out of his grasp, running over to climb over the back of his couch like he does, though with a bit more difficulty, hiding behind it. He clearly takes the hint, eyes narrowing as he visibly gets into a more challenging posture. His hair is still a little wet at the tips, curling them around wildly, fitting his overall persona you've gotten to know up until this point.

And over on his side, he's uncovering more and more things about you he already knows he loves.

You seem to grow comfortable with him now, considering you're openly inviting him to play around like this, no fear or waryness in your eyes whatsoever as you stare him down, ready to run if he does so as just make a step it seems. It's cute to him, how you're slowly blossoming right in front of his eyes, maybe even because of him in general. It fuels his ego, makes him proud, because considering he really likes you already, considers you a potential mate, he thrives off of your confidence in him not judging you for anything you do.

But at the end of the day, he's the big cat of the two of you. You're just a cheeky little cat, no match for him whatsoever.

He uses the moment of broken attention from you as your tail swipes the remote from the TV off of the coffee table behind you to jump over the back of the couch, arms quickly reaching for the cloth of your shirt, sucessfully sitting you back down on his lap, caught in a trap that you don't complain being in.

It seems like now could be the time to test his patience.

"Got'ya." He laughs, grins at you as your tail still swipes from left to right behind you. You're not breaking his gaze even once now though, making him curious as to what might be going on in your brain. He swipes his tongue over his bottom lip, noticing how your eyes stick to that simple action. "You're awfully bold today." He notices, and you shrug.

"You're.. a lot less bold than I thought you'd be." You notice quietly, and he leans his head to the side at that, curious look on his features.

"Am I?" He asks, feigning innocence. "Maybe I didn't want to scare the little cat off?" He wonders, and you growl playfully under your breath, causing him to laugh.

"I'm no scared of you." You tell him, and he continues to grin, smiling at you with full honesty.

"I'm glad." He offers, and for some reason, that makes you shy. "You know, I really do like you. A lot." He confesses, and you nod.

"I do too." You tell him.

"Means we've got nothing that's against us right now, no?" He asks, and you shrug.

"I mean.." You say, quietly. "…you're still, you know, famous. I'm not." You say, but he doesn't seem too concerned about it.

"My private life is private." He tells you. "There's a lot of things people don't know, because I don't want them to know. Privacy is important to me- just like you are." He explains, and you squirm a little on his lap at that.

"So.. this isn't some sort of.." You quietly mumble, looking down at where your hands are. "..you know. Do stuff and then that's it?" You ask, and he chuckles, hands on your cheeks as he lifts your face.

"No, I'm not that kind of guy." He offers. "I like you, and I would also really like to make this work. Long term- maybe even for forever." The black leopard hybrid tells you, and you nod at him.

"Jungkook…" You ask quietly, and he leans in, trying to hear you better.

"Hm?" He asks, wondering what's on your mind.

"Can we kiss?" You ask. "Maybe?" You hurry to add to it, unsure now- but he instantly takes the invitation to place his lips onto yours, silver piercing surprisingly warm against your skin as he kisses you. It's somehow just how you imagined to be, and also not. He doesn't hurry at all, seems to be completely easy with his pace, no rush in his actions whatsoever. It changes a little bit when you start to become more and more eager, having already decided that yes, Jungkook's kisses are the best, and probably will be the best you've ever received.

He knows he maybe should slow down. But he also knows you're not a little kid- you're very much capable of your own decisions. Still, he can't help himself but make sure you're not moving too fast. "Maybe we should slow down a little." he worries, and you nod at that, leaning away from him while horribly aware of the fact that something as simple as a little making out made you this.. well, excited. "Don't think I don't want you like that. I do." He reassures, noticing your shame as your tail moves to curl in between yours and his legs to cover yourself. "I just don't want you to do something you might not actually want."

"N-no, it's fine, you're right." You say. "I.. yeah. I don't know." You mumble.

"I mean, it doesn't have to go that way." He offers, making you look up at him now. "There's a lot of things we can do that don't involve going that far yet." The black leopard hybrid explains, hands on your sides comforting in their warmth. "We've got time, after all. We can just explore, see where it goes. I'm for sure not letting you go anytime soon." He playfully threatens, making you relax again a little, as you shrug. "Hm, come on how about this.." He offers, one of his hands carefully unraveling your tail, something you willingly let him do, before you lean into him. "There we go. I like this." He chuckles, referring to the way you almost instinctively cling onto him, head against his shoulder.

"But I'll get tired if I.. you know.." You shyly tell him, worrying- but he doesn't seem concerned about that at all.

"I don't mind. I actually get tired, too, after it." He chuckles, hand on your back, traveling down towards the base of your tail. "I'll take care of you. Don't worry about a thing." He offers, and with that, you actually do as he says.

You trust him.

If he wanted to use you, he could've done that already. People in the past have proven that.

"Is that okay? Can I touch you?" He asks to make sure, and you nod, almost eagerly so as your feet impatiently move around. "You're so sweet. So, so sweet." He praises, while his hands simply traveled around for a moment, not doing anything. "You think I can get another kiss?" He asks teasingly, and you nod, mind all fuzzy with nothing else but him.

He knows that. And this time, he won't pull you out of it.

The kisses you offer him are both shy and confident, a whirlwind of different emotions so raw in nature that it makes himself dizzy.

As soon as his hands travel beneath your shirt, you grow more and more restless. You're warm, your skin soft beneath his fingers. He feels the edge of your underwear covering up your chest- but tonight, that's not his goal. He'll go one step at a time, because the slow progression is worth it with you.

When his palm boldly cups your heat beneath your skirt, your reaction is instant. You're eager in your movements as your usual hindrances of your own shyness with him nonexistent as you'd given yourself to him in your new headspace. He's got you completely under his spell, and he enjoys every second of it.

He worries, deep down. He hopes you're not always this trusting with everyone you meet- though he reassures himself that now, he's there to protect you. He's going to be there to make sure you can't be taken advantage of.

He's watching you intently as you shamelessly rut into his hand, chasing your pleasure while he pretty much enjoys the show. He's strategically curling his fingers every now and then in ways that make your head spin- until your hips stutter, his thumb pressing and circling around, your fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt as you go through your orgasm right on his lap.

And he soaks up every second of it.

Just like you warned him, it's clear that you clearly grow fatigued after coming down from your high, afterglow making you purr against his chest as you cling onto him, softly scenting him in a moment of possessiveness.

You're just too cute.

He waits for a good moment, let's you simply exist in your little cloud for a while, before he makes sure to chase you to his bathroom to change. Surprisingly, you do exactly that; you wash up, change into pajamas, but you don't actually slip out of your headspace. In fact, you slide right back into it as you jump onto the couch where he's laying, crawling close as you wrap your arms and legs around him, essentially trapping him in your embrace.

He laughs at that, playfully biting after your neck as you roll around, simply existing in the moment for the time being.

And yeah- in this moment, he's sure.

He's really falling in love.

[a-whispering-echo]

For the Death's Row AU, any chance we could get a look at exactly what led Killer to ending up on the Row? We got a look at Dust and Horror's, and I can't deny I'm very curious how Killer's looks as well 👀

Your art is super cool and I'm thriving on the story for this au so far! Im glad I stumbled upon it :)

oh absolutely! ive been waiting for someone to ask, hehe!

So, Killer was raised in a a slum/house thing with 12 other people, maybe they were his family, maybe they weren't, who knows. Regardless, one of the other kids in the slum started to pick on him.

They were younger than him, and for a while, Killer just kinda ignored them, assuming it was a little kid just trying to make friends in a shitty way, but, as the years went on, this kid started outright ABUSING him, in horrible, HORRIBLE ways - any way you can think of someone being abused? Yeah, this kid did it. They outright tortured him, for their entire childhood.

Killer went to the police, and tried to report what was happening to him, so many times, and each time, he was laughed at and told to stop wasting their time; a kids picking on you? yeah right, piss off kid.

It gets to the point where this kid forced Killer to watch as they beat someone to a pulp, before they drag Killer over, and tells him to kill them, its in his name, after all! and, they threaten, if they don't, they'll kill him.

anyway, Killer does it. That's his first kill, and miraculously, he doesn't get caught for it.

The abuse goes on an on and on, years and years of gaslighting into believing himself a weapon, and 'peer pressure' on max, until, he snaps and kills his abuser.

he ends up just fucking loosing it after that, with a 'fuck it' attitude, hes gonna get caught anyway, and kills a bunch of people that he believes were complacent in the abuse. he ends up killing 4 people, including the kid, before hes caught.

In court, Killer tries to defend himself, explaining the abuse he suffered for YEARS, and the help he was denied. but the courts found him guilty of murder, after all, his 'abuser' was a minor; he must be lying, and, even if he wasn't, that doesn't change anything.

So, onto death row he goes.

He can be sassy and unserious most of the time, but there's an aura of wrongness to him.

He uses that uses his 'personality' to hide what hes feeling but also when hes snooping for information. His only really motivation is to avoid boredom; hes very much trying to avoid being left alone with himself and his thought, cus that's when he starts to spiral:

He doesn't care that he murdered, and doesn't regret it; in fact he found it thrilling. He REALLY struggles with emotions, finds it hard to feel things deeply, and to recognise WHAT hes feeling, but he doesn't regret it! He doesn't feel... bad about what he did to... to those innocent people... NO! he really doesn't!

He also very much wants power, after so long without any, and being told that he was *supposed* to kill, that was all he was - hes named 'Killer' for god sake!

He just wants to feel alive. Even if, just for.. a little while...

He know to cause physical fights all the time with other inmates, doing to as an outlet for those emotions he definitely doesn't feel, but also as a way to climb to the top. He RUNS the Row! HES the one in charge - hes not, that's Nightmare but shh, let him believe that.

He meets Dust and Horror when they're friends, and, always looking for new prey, decides to pick on them.

hes had a few fights with Dust before now, hes partially the reason Dust is in a straightjacket, and Dust is partly the reason hes in handcuff/chains, but he hasn't seen him about for a little while, and, when he sees him again, his little punching back has attached himself to the biggest motherfucker the joint, little shit. Well, Killer decides he should take them down a peg. Horror is a threat to his dominance here, anyway!

(Horror has no clue who this dude is, other than *trouble*. Hes seen the fights this guy get into, and they're not GOOD)

it starts off with Killer picking on them, teasing in that was that's common in his character, and it looks like Horror is gonna defend Dust, as he is wont to do, except, no one was expecting little Dust, who's top of head only reaches Killers EYES, in his straightjacket, restricting him movement, to fucking roundhouse kick Killer in the neck. His arms may be restrained, but his legs sure aren't!

And Killer... runs off to lick his wounds.

Except, he comes back to ick on them. again, and again and again.

Killer is picking on them the way young boys try and 'flirt' with girls they like; pulling on their pigtails. he thinks they're kinda cool, and is envious of their friendship, and wants IN, thing is, he ain't gonna just TELL them that! hes not gonna sit down and ask 'hey can we be friends?' cus that would make him WEAK, so, he pushes them about as an excuse to get close to them.

About a month after the roundhouse kick incident, Killer comes to pick on them again, with a bandage around his throat despite it DENIFETLY being healed by now, and starts boasting about his kill count; four whole people in a single day! and hes expecting them to look up at him, scared or maybe admiring.

Hes not expecting Dust to look at Horror, make that little smile people make when they're making fun of someone - that 'oh my god this guy' face - and...laughs? Hes giggling like a madman, and even Horror looks amused, when Dust says "Four?!" and Killers like '??? yeah, four whole people, dead cus of me!' which just makes Dust laugh harder.

Dust has recently been made aware of his accidental kill count, and while he still cant get his head around most of it and forgets a lot of it, he knows he killed a dozen in a matter of like, a couple hours, and he knows Horror killed 5 people, cut them up and COOKED them, and FED THEM to starving people!

Four murders is PATHETIC.

Killer tries to reclaim his pride, and is sort of going like 'well, yeah, but uh like-' and Dust just keeps laughing at him, and at that point Killer flushed bright red and.. leaves.

Im gonna stop here, cus ive written A LOT! But, they find Killer int the bathroom :)

(im very gladyou like my art and works! it means the world that i can entertain someone at least for a little while with my stuff, and that fact you take time out of your day to appreciate them and compliment me is just... auugh <3 <3!)

[norremire]

for the writer ask game

💥✨👻

Just got off work and am answering these now! Thanks for the ask. I'm probably gonna ramble a little so I'm putting this under a read more.

💥What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

I was thinking about this question all day while at work and I certainly thought of a lot of things. I'll stick to just stuff about MTMTE and LL though, and things about my faves specifically.

First thing! This is purely self indulgent, I don't think Trepan's character was handled badly or anything, considering he is more an explanation of various plot-points rather than a character. But I would give him more screen time. Not saying his death had to be changed, though some information as to who actually killed him would have been fun, since Overlord only vaguely says that Megatron had him killed. But I think there are ways he could have been squeezed in more, for example, I think he would have been thriving in the Functionist universe. I would have liked to see him there, even if only for a page.

And speaking of the Functionist universe, I think it is also a shame that we never saw the Damus from that universe again. He was there for a second, in the crowd listening to the newly stranded Megatron, but then he is never seen again. It just feels like such a waste. It could have been part of Megatron's "second chance" to treat this Damus better, to help him grow into a better person this time. It could have been a way to show that Damus was capable of being a normal and well adjusted person, if only he hadn't been twisted by Megatron. Plus, having him show up at the end, a perfectly normal guy, would have made for a good laugh, with the Lost Light crew staring at him with apprehension since they know who their version of him became, all while Megatron tries to reassure them that he is totally chill this time.

These are both mostly minor gripes, and I'm obviously just biased and starved for more content of my faves, but not having Trepan and Damus show up more just feels like missed opportunities. I could go on, but this had gotten kinda long already 😅

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

Oooh this is a hard one, I have received a lot of really nice comments on my fics, and I appreciate every single one I get. Icy your comment on Silver Hollow Sliver definitely comes to mind first though! After such a large effort on that fic it felt incredibly nice to receive your comment! c: Definitely made all the work feel worth it.

Users Nariin and Malcoholic have both left a lot of really nice comments too, and a recent-ish comment by S-Lotus on my Tarnma sparkling fic really made my day as well <3

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

Another hard one. I can't think of any headcanons I have that I would consider too "out there" or bizarre. I guess first thing that comes to mind (only because someone criticized me for this one time :p) is that despite how awful and abhorrent Tarn is, I think he would make a decent parent. It is just very easy for me to see that obsessive nature of his being twisted towards protectiveness of his kin. Of course, he wouldn't be without flaws, and his temper is always going to be an issue, but I think he would love a sparkling if he had one.

Thanks again for the questions! c:

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Person clogging the tags: "I need more people to see this ..."

The This: "I'm WORRIED about Hazbin Hotel!"

Me: *laughs in 'I Survived The Star vs. The Forces of Evil Fandom' and shames the self admitted "click baity" commentator for being yet another grown adult male bullshit artist with a youtube partner checkmark who loves mixing their viviziepop commentary with clips of unrelated kids shows and Marvel and comparing Hazbin to Steven Universe, while he whines about the voice actors changing and Millie, because I know the REAL problem with this fandom is that much like Star vs. , it's essentially already been bronified and taken over by gamer incels who talk about cartoons too much and to the point where they're the only ones talking about Medrano's work, aside from like, one actually queer male Disney Adult who's honestly equally boring to listen to and distractingly just looks like Gay!Rob Walker, so like, any other video trying to talk about the *actual external issues* this fandom is facing, like the minors invading what is supposed to be ideally an adult space, harassment, death threats, and sui bait and bullying, gets boggled down by the fact that the majority of these videos that try to broach these subjects are being made by these disconcertingly right leaning creepy men who use all these random shooting games modded to have Hazbin and Helluva characters killing each other as a backdrop to these videos at worst, and at best they have a bunch of Disney Cars and Marvel clips at the beginning of their video while they sit there, surrounded by a bunch of Star Wars or some shit, and maybe some of us are just Adult Queer Femmes, trying to make Adult Spaces for ourselves outside what is ultimately a failed attempt at having what was supposed to be an "Adult Fandom"... But we still want to share our joys about Hazbin and Helluva with our adult queer/femme friends outside the fandom but we can't do that because any space to share any information about Hazbin and Helluva as projects or explain the controversy surrounding them, are just overrun with a bunch of chuddy click bait geeks who don't know what they're talking about and don't even know well enough not to use the dollar sign when they' try to trash Kesha for being a supposedly shitty voice actress because they have no personality outside of "critiquing' children's cartoons on their shitty YouTube channels and blogs and mixing all that in with Medrano's work like it's the same, to the point where some of you can't even handle swearing or being called pet names like "honey" even when you're a girl and it's by another girl, and so maybe some other adult queer femmes are just embarrassed to be around y'all and are just here for Medrano's art that y'all steal for your shitty blogs and monetized youtube channels instead of just making or using your own every time some new "content" comes out, and maybe some of us don't wanna be sharing your shitty "vivziepop drama explained" youtube videos with your shitty gamer shooter backdrop around in an 18+ adult space full of hot queer people who actually fuck, because maybe some of us are embarrassed about your cringe arses being the loudest voices "representing" the fandom and the environment you've created and vibe you've created in it, and for anyone on the outside looking in, for that matter, and maybe the problem isn't actually Medrano, but the "fandom" that thrives and makes money and gets notes off of feeding off of her "dramas" and nothing else, and maybe, this is the only REAL PROBLEM we have here that just wouldn't exist if we had more ADULT Queer and Femme people honestly covering Medrano's history and her work, instead of, whatever the fuck it is we have now... And maybe some of you need a motherfucking woman to tell you that.*

[emergent62]

How to Recognize High-Functioning Depression

Recognize High-Functioning Depression

Depression doesn’t always look like what you see in the movies. Sometimes, it’s not about staying in bed all day or crying uncontrollably. Sometimes, it’s about pushing through each day with a smile on your face while feeling empty inside. That’s high-functioning depression, and it’s a reality I’ve lived with for years. I’m here to share my story and help you recognize the signs of high-functioning depression, whether in yourself or someone you care about. Because trust me, I know how easy it is to miss.

The Mask of “I’m Fine”

For years, I prided myself on being the reliable one – the friend who always showed up, the colleague who never missed a deadline, the family member who had it all together. But beneath that carefully crafted exterior, I was struggling. Every morning, I’d wake up feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Getting out of bed felt like climbing Mount Everest. But I did it. I showered, put on my work clothes, and plastered a smile on my face before heading out the door.

At work, I was productive. I met deadlines, attended meetings, and even cracked jokes with colleagues. To the outside world, I was thriving. But inside, I felt numb, going through the motions without any real joy or satisfaction. Sound familiar? This is what high-functioning depression can look like. It’s not about being unable to function; it’s about functioning while carrying an invisible burden.

The Subtle Signs I Missed (And You Might Be Missing Too)

Looking back, there were signs that something wasn’t right. But they were subtle, easy to brush off or attribute to other things. I didn’t realize I was experiencing high-functioning depression until I started noticing the cracks in my facade.

Here are some of the signs I now recognize as red flags for high-functioning depression:

Persistent Fatigue: I was always tired, no matter how much sleep I got. I chalked it up to my busy schedule, but now I realize it was my depression draining my energy.

Difficulty Concentrating: Despite getting the work done, I found it increasingly hard to focus. Simple tasks took longer than they should have.

Irritability: I found myself getting annoyed at small things more often. Friends and family started walking on eggshells around me.

Loss of Interest: Hobbies and even time with loved ones became chores. I still did them, but the joy was gone.

Perfectionism and Self-Criticism: I held myself to impossibly high standards and beat myself up over minor mistakes. No matter how much I accomplished, it never felt like enough. I constantly compared myself to others and felt like I was falling short.

Changes in Appetite: Some days I’d barely eat, other days I’d overeat. My relationship with food became complicated.

Faking Happiness: I became an expert at putting on a happy face for others while feeling empty inside.

If you’re nodding along to these, know that you’re not alone. These can all be signs of high-functioning depression.

The Danger of Being “Too Functional”

One of the trickiest things about high-functioning depression is that it can go unnoticed for a long time. I didn’t seek help for years because I didn’t think I “qualified” as depressed. After all, I was still going to work, maintaining relationships, and taking care of my responsibilities. But here’s the thing: being able to function doesn’t mean you’re not suffering.

High-functioning depression is still depression, and it still deserves attention and treatment. In fact, the high-functioning aspect can make it even more dangerous. Because we’re able to push through and meet our obligations, we might ignore our symptoms until we reach a breaking point. That’s what happened to me.

My Breaking Point (And Why You Shouldn’t Wait for Yours)

For me, the facade finally cracked during a casual night out with friends. We were all at a restaurant, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. I had been pretending everything was fine, keeping up with the jokes and conversations. But as the evening went on, I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness despite being surrounded by people I cared about. When one of my friends asked me a simple question about how I was doing, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I broke down in tears right there at the table.

That moment was both terrifying and liberating. It forced me to admit that I needed help, that despite my ability to function, I wasn’t okay. Don’t wait for your breaking point. If you recognize these signs in yourself, reach out for help now. You don’t have to wait until you can’t function to deserve support and treatment.

Taking the First Steps Towards Healing

Admitting I needed help was the first step in my journey towards managing my high-functioning depression. Here are some steps that helped me, and might help you too:

Talk to a Professional: A therapist or counselor can provide support and strategies for coping with depression and techniques helped me recognize and reframe negative thought patterns.

Open Up to Loved Ones: Letting my close friends and family know what I was going through lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.

Practice Self-Compassion: I had to learn to be kinder to myself, and give myself grace in order to acknowledge that it’s okay not to be okay sometimes.

Prioritize Self-Care: This meant actually taking time for myself, not just squeezing in self-care when I could.

Exercise: Regular physical activity, even something as simple as a daily walk, has improved my mood and energy levels. Exercise releases endorphins, which can help alleviate symptoms of depression

You ‘re Not Alone in This

Living with high-functioning depression can feel incredibly lonely. You might feel like you’re the only one struggling while everyone else has it together. But I promise you, you’re not alone. Many people are fighting similar battles behind their own masks of “I’m fine.” By sharing our stories and recognizing the signs, we can break the stigma around high-functioning depression and encourage more people to seek the help they deserve.

Remember, your pain is valid, even if you’re still able to function. You deserve support and happiness, not just the ability to get through each day. If you recognize yourself in this post, please reach out for help. Your future self will thank you for it.

Take care of yourself, and remember: it’s okay not to be okay, even if you look like you have it all together on the outside.

[realcube]

their team reacts to seeing them with hickeys/back scratches 💫

characters: kageyama, akaashi & kita

tw// fem! reader, sexual references, swearing, blood 

kita tw// mentions of daddy kink, punishment, overstimulation - MINORS DNI 

KITA’S IS AGED UP!!

thank you anon for the request 💗

Tobio Kageyama

he was on tanaka’s team for game amongst karasuno and he watched his senpai take off his shirt and wave it around after they scored another point

but instead of putting the shirt back on, he kept it off bc he was too lazy to go get it since he threw it to the other side of the gym

then noya took his shirt off too bc he was sweating buckets 

but kageyama wasn’t really sure why they had their shirts off so he felt the need to ask

‘why aren’t you putting your shirt back on?’

noya was just kinda like ‘who are you, my mom?’ but tanaka gave him a straight answer which was ‘it helps with ✨ aerodynamics✨’

kageyama isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed so he doesn’t even know what aerodynamics are

but then he watched tanaka make a killer spike and he was sold 

shirt = off

aerodynamics = thriving (?)

sets = awesome

back scratches = exposed 😳

hotel = trivago 

tsukishima was the first one to notice ofc as he was positioned right behind kageyama 

he didn’t say anything tho bc yamaguchi was on the opposite team so he just had to snicker to himself

hinata was like ‘what’s so funny, stinkyshima?!’ bc he automatically assumed that tsukishima was laughing at him lol

but then he followed tsukki’s gaze and leaned back to look at kageyama’s back too

‘yeesh, man. you should probably put some aloe vera on that or something, it could get infected.’

AIUWRAFHBE ok ok hinata isn’t completely oblivious to the connotations of back scratches but he’d never think in a million years that kageyama would get laid so he kinda subconsciously ruled that possibilty out-

kageyama quirked a brow, ‘what?’

‘your back! it’s all mangled.’ 

then noya and tanaka ran over and fkn BURST OUT LAUGHING 

at this point, all of kageyama’s team was surrounding him while the other team waited patiently for them to serve

but after a while, it was clear that they weren’t gonna do that so suga - who was on the opposing team - strolled over to see what they were all laughing about

and when he saw it- bitch- he went red 

a cool mom so he probably made a suggestive remark as he walks away

it eventually got to the point where everyone in the gym was crowded around kageyama and for ease, i’ll categorize their reactions:

laughing their ass off  ➵ tsukishima, tanaka, nishinoya, coach ukai & yamaguchi

concerned and confused  ➵ yachi, takeda, hinata & narita 

a blushing mess  ➵ asahi, kinoshita & sugawara

unfazed 😐  ➵ kiyoko & daichi 

LIVID  ➵ kageyama

‘WHY DO YOU ALL CARE SO MUCH ABOUT MY BACK?!’

kageyama could literally break his neck and walk into practise with a neck brace and no one would bat an eye but now that he has scratches on his back, suddenly everyone is so concerned about his wellbeing? where with this energy that time he said that hinata gave him a concussion?

to be fair, he didn’t have a concussion- also, he forgot the word so he told suga that hinata gave him a ‘conclusion’

daichi agreed, trying to usher everyone back to their spot on the court, ‘yeah, it’s no big deal, guys. let’s get back to practise.’

everyone slowly made their way back to where they were previously but since tanaka and noya were still on kageyama’s team, they continued to pry 

tanaka flung his arm around kageyama’s shoulders, ‘so how’d you get those scratches, big boy?’ 

an ungodly laugh left noya’s mouth

kageyama shrugged, ‘(y/n), i think.’

the whole gym room went silent before erupting in choruses of laughter once again

‘WELL YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND NEED TO CALM DOWN THEN!’ tanaka wheezed

kageyama was truly the idiot that didn’t understand the implications of the back scratches - so you can imagine that he was frustrated when everyone started laughing again

‘what’s so funny?’ but then, he recalled the events which he was pretty certain were the reason for the marks on his back......it was pretty funny

you insisted on giving kageyama a back massage after a long day of practise so he took his shirt off and let you go for it 

for the record, he really loved it :)) he was just so happy sitting there between your thighs as you sat on the couch and rubbed his back, loosening all the knots he didn’t even know he had

but then he got a lil’ inch on his back and was like ‘can you get that for me?’ since your hands were already on his shoulders/back

ofc you said yes and started lightly scratching the spot he desired, but being extra careful bc you just got you nails done in the stiletto shape and the last thing you wanted to do was puncture his back lol

‘harder..’ kageyama muttered so low that you almost didn’t hear him

you obliged, pressing a bit harder 

‘harder.’ he insisted once more

again, you served by digging your nails in a bit deeper

‘harder.’

‘no, kags. i’ll literally pierce your skin if i press any harde--’ 

‘harder!’ he barked (for a joke) and you jumped from fright, instinctively pushing in more and increasing the pace of your hand

at this point, you were rigorously clawing at his back, on the verge of drawing blood which you could tell by his skin’s newfound crimson pigment 

kageyama took it upon himself to lean backwards onto your nails to force you to go rougher as you had yet to ease his itch 

then you let out a high-pitched scream so naturally, kageyama jerked away then peered over his shoulder to make sure you hadn’t like..died

‘what?!’ he asked, eyes filled with worry

‘blood!’ you yelled, pointing at his back before sprinting to the kitchen to get a tissue 

kageyama’s gaze followed you until you were out of sight, then he lightly touched his back around the parts you were scratching and once he pulled his hand away, he noticed the blood which was now on his fingers

‘oh.’

the concerning part was that he didn’t even feel it tbh 🤔

anyway tanaka and noya probably coo ‘oooh~ lovebirds~’ when you come pick him up from practise

Keiji Akaashi

bokuto heard some ppl whispering about akaashi & (y/n) in the changing room so he turned around to take a look at his friend then he noticed the scratch marks on his poor friends’ back

‘AKAASHI!! DID YOU GET MAULED BY A BEAR?!?!’ he screamed, grabbing the attention of everyone in the changing room and those who weren’t whispering about akaashi before, were definitely doing so now

akaashi smiled softly and shook his head, hastily throwing on his shirt and buttoning it up as he spoke, ‘no, bokuto-san.’

bokuto quirked a brow, wondering what could’ve possibly happened before his jaw dropped to the ground

‘is it ‘cause i patted your back a bit hard earlier?!?!?’

akaashi didn’t even bother to question how bokuto could think that a slap on the spine could lead to scratch marks and instead just replied normally, ‘no.’

bokuto was stumped once again- why else would his buddy have marks on his back? and why was (y/n) such a prominent name floating around in this changing room? doesn’t everyone know that she is taken by bokuto’s best-bro akaashi?

....

WAIT

bokuto’s jaw hung open once again as his soul left his body through an overdramatic gasp, before leaning in and whispering in akaashi’s ear, ‘wait- don’t tell me- you and (y/n)-’

akaashi’s cheeks tinted red slightly so he turned his head away while he pulled on his blazer, ‘no.’

bokuto let out a light sigh of relief, gently patting his pal’s back, ‘ah, good. but then, where did those marks come from?’

before akaashi even got the opportunity to open his mouth to respond, komi and konoha passed the pair, konoha patting akaashi’s shoulder and komi shot him a toothy grin accompanied by a thumbs-up, ‘get some, akaashi.’

then they walked off, konoha mubbling something about his chances with (y/n) being ruined 

this left both bokuto and akaashi extremely confused

once all traces of komi and konoha were gone, akaashi proceeded to explain himself

‘backne is a horrible thing.’ he murmured, grabbing his satchel, slinging it over his shoulder before strolling out the changing room. ‘i’ll wait for you outside.’

and bokuto just stood there like (。_。) ‘what’s backne?’

Shinsuke Kita

atsumu had invited the whole squad back to inarizaki for one last game before coach kurosu’s retirement 

after ages of arrangement, the whole team were able to make an appearance at the game - whether that be for 10 minutes or the whole thing

kita was able to stay for the whole thing

he was currently warming-up while chatting with aran before he was approached by atsumu, who was as lively as ever

‘mister rice farmer! it’s good to see you again!’ he sung, tossing his arm around kita’s shoulder and patting it in a friendly manner, ‘how’s life been treating ya?’

kita and atsumu somehow managed to make small-talk as if they hadn’t been apart for the last 6 years

‘me and my girlfriend have only been together for 6 months but i think i’m ready to settle down.’ atsumu mused, tapping his elbow before realising that he had been talking about himself for a while, ‘but anyway, i see that you and (y/n) are still going strong. haven’t y’all been together since the first year of highschool? that’s impressive! when are you gonna wife her up?’ 

kita perked up upon hearing that, ‘uh, yes. but how do you know that?’

atsumu couldn’t help but smirk, casually running a hand through his hair before motioning to the hickey on kita’s neck which was on semi-display, ‘right there, bud.’

kita looked down but unfortunately, his neck didn’t bend enough to see what atsumu was referring to 

‘also,’ atsumu chuckled, slightly embarrassed about what he was going to admit ‘i saw the pic of her you put on your facebook.’

‘ah, okay.’ that one kita could understand

atsumu was about to open this mouth to say something but then the shrieking noise of the coach kurosu’s whistle rang through the gym room, indicating the start of the match

the game went surprisingly smooth tbh 

minimal fights :o

but kita did get teased quite a lot smh 

anyway, after everything was all said and done and everyone started to filter out the gym, kita rushed to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror and see what atsumu was referring to on his neck

once he took a look at himself, he frowned

just as he thought, a hickey - that’s embarrassing

it was clear you made an effort to place hickeys in areas that would be hidden though as the bruise was barely peeking out from under the collar of his jersey, atsumu just has a rather keen eye 

however, that wasn’t going to stop kita from pounding you dry when he gets home - as a punishment ofc 

kita was about to leave but he couldn’t help but stay and stare at himself in the mirror for a bit longer, recalling last night as he wondered at what point you bit those onto his neck

was it during the 2nd round? or the foreplay? or perhaps the 4th round? wait- no- definitely during aftercare cuddles!..or actually, maybe the 1st round?

in all honesty, he couldn’t remember 

to him the whole night was a blur of pounding into you relentlessly, overstimulation, pleads for mercy, tears, passionate kisses and praise

with a sprinkle of daddy kink but let’s not talk about that

oh, and not to forget the way you’d call out his name just as you were about to reach your orgasm 

or your sweet, lewd whines that echoed through the room when he thrashes against your sensitive spot 

and don’t get him started on the cute little nicknames you have for him that squeal out through moans, like ‘daddy’, ‘master’, ‘sir’ etc 

kita snapped out of his fantasies, letting out a sigh and about to exit the bathroom- until he noticed himself in the mirror out of the corner of his eye

he was hard

smh smh smh 

now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place

(literally 🤠)

he could either potentially embarrass himself or cause an accident by walking to his car and driving home with a throbbing boner

or he could call you to help him jerk off in a bathroom stall

so he took a seat in one of the stalls - for the sake of the ppl he might run over if he did otherwise  

he rung you up and thankfully, you picked up and you weren’t feeling bratty enough to deny him the help he needed so badly

although it wasn’t a very pleasurable experience since he was constantly on hyper-alert just in case the janitor walked in, at least he got a lot of nostalgia from it :))

[aspiringharlot]

y/n takes takes care of bratty, sub, shiggy.

Ok! Eeeee! I did it! First y/n and first BNHA story done! This one is about a bratty sub Shiggy! There are some points where it’s clear I wasn’t sure what a bratty sub Shigaraki would say but hopefully overtime as I become more familiar with the characters that will change! I think I did this one pretty quickly so, forgive me, there are probably a few mistakes in terms of tense and grammar that I didn’t catch. Another little thing, this story ended up a lot fluffier/mild than I thought I was capable of and I even ended up dropping an L-bomb!

(Story Includes, mention of injury and bullet wounds, bondage elements, brat elements, l-bomb, sneak peek of little spoon Shiggy and of course, sex )

(minors please do not interact)

(tagging @palbabor-writes and @kugutsuu cause they seemed interested, p.s. don’t worry @palbabor-writes public sex and degradation Hawks is up next!)

EDIT: adding @tod0oki to the tags, happy to have you!

Enjoy!

It was hard work, keeping Tomura Shigaraki in line. Sure, you allowed him control on most days, heaven knows he needed to feel some sense of control in his life, but really there was no doubt, at the end of the day, you made the decisions in the relationship. That never stopped your Shiggy from being a brat though.

Today was just as bad as any other day wrangling your lover, only this time with the added difficulty of having to literally prevent Shigaraki from moving as he pleased. Hesitant as you were to admit it, you did not possess the brute strength required for the task. Instead you relied on a sly trick. Tying him up in bondage gear which was typically used on you.

When he was finally secured, Shigaraki whined, pulling at the restraints. Around his narrow wrists were sturdy leather straps, fitted tightly and anchored to the metal bed posts in order to restrict his movements. Your lover was red faced, lying down on his bed, dirty sheets bunched around his sweating form.

‘I should change those out soon,’ you thought before returning your attention to Tomura.

“oh, Tomura, come on… if you refuse to rest Kurogiri and I are just going to keep you tied up longer.” You lowered yourself to sit beside him on the full-sized bed, moving your hand to his head and smoothing his hair down.

Shigaraki grunted, shaking his head out of your hand in defiance. You scowled down at him.

“You know, for a man who’s been shot four times you have far too much energy.” Swiftly you stood up, dusting crumbs of food from your jeans. You really should change those sheets out… If you wait much longer there’ll be an ecosystem thriving in the cotton threads. Meh, you’ll work on it later when Shigaraki is asleep and infinitely more manageable.

Come to think of it, you should change his bandages soon. Kurogiri or the others weren’t around to do it this time, meaning you’d have to tame the beast all by yourself.

“ts.” You clicked your tongue. “I’ll be back,”

You exited the room without giving Shigaraki the chance to retort, heading straight for the kitchen cabinet responsible for holding the everyday vitamin and mineral supplements you’d feed Shigaraki. Now, however, you rummaged past the gummy vitamins, searching for a bottle of Nyquil. Upon its acquisition you turned back on your heel making your way to the bedroom your lover was restrained in. You stopped in the bathroom on your way back, collecting a pair of cosmetic scissors and gauze amongst other wound supplies. As you balanced all the items in your arms you could hear a distinct clanking noise. The noise of the restrains being tested and fought against.

You came back into the room with a sigh, looking at Tomura with dead and unamused eyes. He was fruitlessly trying to decay the leather wrapped around him, his own wrist disallowing the angle to make such a thing possible.

“Could you just, I don’t know… cooperate? Maybe, allow yourself some time to heal so you get better faster?” The eye contact you made with Shigaraki was aggressive. Testy. He smiled, curling his upper lip into a sneer.

“Make me.” He taunted.

You could see the thoughts behind his eyes. His exact line of thinking. ‘What’s y/n gonna do? Put me in time out? Make me stay in here an extra hour so I think about what I’ve done?’

In frustration you made a low noise in the back of your throat- the past two days have been utter hell. First the League’s failure at that dumb hero thing and more importantly, the four bullet wounds permeating your lover. Then there was the 12 hours you spent waiting for an underground doctor to come and dig the lead out of Shigaraki’s skin. That was 12 hours of relentless worry you had to deal with! And now, for the past day and a half you’ve had to deal with Tomura’s mood swings.

Now, it wasn’t that you didn’t understand. You were aware of the crushing feeling of personal failure which came with a train wreck you conducted. Still, you were willing to wait on Shiggy hand and foot, your only request that he allow you to take control and make him better.

But he just had to keep fighting you. Making you take drastic measures.

Your attention is caught up by the straps holding Shigaraki down, reminding you of the nights he would fuck you hard and rough, making you gasp in unrelenting pleasure. When he was done, you’d always be like putty in his hands, laying there blissfully exhausted and compliant. You curl your lips into a grinch-like smile. Of course. There was your ticket to Shigaraki’s submission.

You just have to fuck the fight out of him.

“Okay.” You finally said, nodding your head nonchalantly. “Okay. I’ll make you.” Calmly you set the supplies you gathered on the dresser top across from the bed, keeping only the scissors in your hand.

Coming up to the side of the bed you gave the scissors a few experimental snips, the metal making a distinct phip sound.

Shigaraki pressed himself back into the mattress, raising a scarred eyebrow up when you traced the scissor across the gray cotton t shirt. That single eyebrow multiplied into two as you took the scissors to begin cutting through his shirt.

Shigaraki started to squirm as he felt the cool, stale air of his room settle on his skin.

“What are you-“ you paused your delicate snipping to roughly grab the bottom half of his face in your hand, squeezing him to make his mouth fall open and halt his speaking.

“I’m making you cooperate…” You roughly released his face.

Ignoring his continued struggling, you went back to cutting his shirt open, until you were able to peel it off his body- the sweatpants he wore were next though you were hesitant to cut them. They were a grey pair which hung deliciously low on his hips and slid down lower and lower throughout the day. You decided against cutting them, instead shimmying them down to sit close to his shins. His underwear though, that was fair game. You took it off eagerly and drank in the sight of Shigaraki naked before you.

He was pale, still recovering from the blood loss he’d endured only two days prior, and his skin seemed especially swallow- giving off the appearance of fragility. You knew better however- Shigaraki, as weak as he may seem by appearance alone, was a force of nature.

Today you were making your way to the eye of the storm.

“Is getting me naked supposed to make me listen to you?” Tomura asked, his eyes narrowed to cynical slits.

“No… hah.” You let out a breathless laugh. “But this will.”

You were down between his knees in an instant, breathing hot breath over Shiggy’s cock. Before Shigaraki could fully process what you were doing, he’s hard, not that that was unusual, your lover was an easy guy to excite. Still, despite his nudity, he was not expecting this kind of attention, especially after being such a brat.

You were gentle at first, getting his cock used to the stimulation, stroking it languidly, licking at the slit of his cock a few times. You shuddered in satisfaction when you made your way down to his balls and heard him sigh in pleasure at the sensation of your warm tongue lapping at each testicle. Still, you knew better than to think a simple blow job would tame Tomura Shigaraki, successor of All For One.

For now, as you pleased him, he’d act all bashful but, as soon as you exert full control over the pacing of this intimate encounter, he’d start bratting again. When that happens, you’ll just have to take things to eleven.

“Ohh… fuck…” with a jolt, Shiggy thrust his hips up into your soft hand. To him, the pleasure was a most welcome distraction to the sharp aches of the bullet wounds scattered across his body. He’d been playing stoic about the pain for the past two days, but the wounds felt like hot agony for most of the day. He needed this pleasure.

“Your uh, your mouth.” He said, pinching his eyes up in pleasure. “y/n use your mouth on my cock.”

Immediately you ceased all contact with him. His eyes flew open.

“No.” you said with a shrug.  

Shigaraki scrunched up his eyebrows and wiggled his hips childishly, making his cock swing like a metronome. “Yes!”

You firmly locked your hands on his hips, stilling the movement, “No.”

“W- Why? “ he whined. “Why aren’t you rubbing my cock anymore?” his voice pitched up, revealing how badly he wanted to feel your touch.

“Well,” You start. “You haven’t been very cooperative with me. I mean, why should you make all the decisions? Why do you get to dictate both what you do and what I do, Hmm? That doesn’t seem very fair.” Your own voice took on a condescending lilt and you tilted his head up with your finger so you could properly look into his eyes. His pupils were blown wide with lust and along his temple you could faintly see a pulse point pumping blood in time with the throbbing of his erection.

He wanted it. Bad.

“Let me take care of you, just leave everything to me…” you brought yourself down to his level to softly mutter in his ear. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

You didn’t have to wait for his response to know what he was going to say.

“Suck my cock, now.” He growled.

You took a deep breath and pulled your own shirt off over your head, not as you normally would, but as women do in tv and movies, all in one fluid motion. Your jeans were next, as you slid them off your bare legs, your panties joining them on the floor moments later.

With the grace of a swan you climbed over Shigaraki, positioning yourself on your hands and knees as you backed yourself up to his face.

“Oh so now y/n’s gonna be a big, strong, woman and make me- mhfmfmfm!” You grinded your pussy against his face, enjoying the psychological pleasure more than the physical. Grinding your labia against any ole thing wouldn’t really do it for you- but knowing that Tomura could barely breathe around your pussy as it sat right on his face gave you butterflies and made your hole start to gush.

“There you go… Good Boy…” You panted. Finally you pulled yourself away from Tomura’s mouth and flipped around, now straddling him cowgirl. In seconds, your hand wrapped around his member and positioned it to slide right in your hole. You sat down and took in the shocked, but pleasure-ridden face of Tomura.

You started to grind your hips down and bounce experimentally. In the past, the two of you have refrained from cowgirl, Shigaraki always wanting to hold full control over the action of fucking your pussy. As he laid back and felt his toes start to curl and twitch in pleasure he wondered if he was an idiot.

“See, Tomura~” you cooed as you leaned down, dangling your clothed breasts in his face. “Wasn’t my course of action so much better? Now you get to feel my wet pussy against your cock, isn’t that so much better?”

At a loss for words Shigaraki nodded his head frantically. He was already close. You smiled.

“So does that mean you’re gonna listen to me? Cooperate and do what I say?” that particular phrasing removed him from his headspace of ecstatic compliance.

“Nuh- No!” he choked out as you bounce faster and harder. Shigaraki started gasping and clenching his eyes shut, trying to block out the pleasure to last longer.

“Yes~ you’re gonna give in to me, Tomu-”

“Nu- oh fuck!”  he shook his head before tensing up, his whole body becoming stiff underneath you as you felt three hot spurts of cum fill your pussy. You chuckled, you didn’t even have to clench down on his cock to make him come, just the sensation of you bouncing on his cock was enough.

You stilled yourself as he laid under you, gauging his reaction to the orgasm.

He was flushed, and still panting heavily, meaning he came pretty hard. You clench down as his sensitive cock remains in your pussy and giggled when he let out a high pitched keen.

“So, are you gonna be good now? Are you gonna stay in bed for me?” Shigaraki blinked heavily, coming back to himself.

“You’re never…hah… going to get me to…hah… cooperate… hah…” His eyes fluttered shut despite themselves. You bit your lip. It couldn’t be helped. You were gonna have to keep riding him.

Just as Shigaraki’s breath started to even out you rose off of him, only to sink back down at full force. Shigaraki was taken out of his cool down by both the pain coming from the irritation of his bullet wounds and the pleasure of his cock being stimulated.

“Whuu? No, no it’s too sensitive!” he cried out. You said nothing, grinding down into him, fucking him like an animal.

As you continued fucking him Shigaraki trembled beneath you, whimpering in unrestrained pleasure, pulling against the leather cuffs which restricted his free reign. The noises he made were downright sinful, varieties of “ah, ah, ah”’s  and “oh fuck, fuck, fuck!”’s being commonly repeated noises.

You gazed down at his face- his eyes rolling around in his skull, frequently fluttering shut only to shoot open when you switched up the rhythm you used. His skin was flushed to hell and back- making him look obscenely cute as he whined out in pleasure, mouth open, drool dripping from the corners of his lips. As you continued looking, you had an epiphany. You loved Tomura. You loved, loved Tomura. You want him to get better and you want to see him let go like this every day.

In the moment you say it.

“I love you.”

Shigaraki flooded your pussy with more cum- gasping loudly as he rode out his orgasm. There’s no way he heard your little confession. And you were okay with that. It’d probably be better to reveal that when he’s not confined to his bed.

You pulled yourself off his cock and felt cum drip down from your thighs. You yourself haven’t cum, but you have accomplished your goal. One look at Shiggy told you that he was too blissed out to fight against your care. Your hand went to rest on his cheek.

“You’re going to be good, yeah? Let me do what I need to do?” you stroked the patch of dry skin under your fingertips.

Shiggy sleepily nodded. Looks like you wouldn’t be need the Nyquil.

Shigaraki laid still as you moved to tend to his wounds- tenderly cleaning them and re bandaging the sore holes. His joints would be sore as well. You decided to uncuff Shigaraki and maneuver his funky gloves on his hands.

When you’re done you pulled your lover’s sweatpants back up and crawl into bed behind him, For tonight you decided against changing the sheets. Instead you got comfortable in the well-used sheets, repositioning Shiggy so he could be your little spoon. You took a deep breath and smelled his hair. It was a little ew, but you didn’t mind. Just as you thought about your revelation, you heard a soft sigh.  

You smiled and cuddled closer, whispering those three words.

“I love you.”

And though you couldn’t see it, Tomura Shigaraki’s eyes widened from their slitted state for just a moment before a soft yet excited smile graced his features.  Slowly, his eyes slid shut again as he relaxed into your arms.

[costellos]

a/n: I’ve been reminiscing on a lot of cheesy romcoms and one of my favorite tropes are “dates that aren’t officially dates but basically are dates.” we love a good yearning. that said, here are some #unofficialofficialdates that the boys use to spend time with you!

tw: mentions of drugs

❥ ┋ ❝ bucci gang & what excuses they use to get closer to you!

bruno bucciarati.

Bucciarati gets closer to you by having you assist him at “fundraisers.” 

Passione holds a handful of events throughout the year. elaborate parties with expensive champagne, mindless chatter, and some very high-profile attendees. people will join to officialize deals, buy drugs, and of course, donate to keep Passione thriving.

Bucciarati usually goes alone, acting as a representative for his escort team. this isn’t the type of scene you’d see the others at. but up until your joining, you’ve found yourself as his sole companion.

it began as a way to familiarize yourself with mobster life. his idea, of course. although he didn’t push the idea, he’d be lying if he said he hoped you would accept. ↳ “it’s not required, but the company would be nice.”

it’s an odd affair. celebrities and politicians join and no one blinks an eye. it’s not where you’d usually find yourself on a Saturday night, with you and your partner dressed to the nines (okay, maybe not a usual scene for you; Bucciarati always had something beautiful draped onto his figure).

the hors d'oeuvres and cocktails are nice, at least. but you find yourself drawn to your conversations with Bucciarati the most.

he makes you feel welcome at every event, that you deserve to be here as much as the starlet making her grand appearance. you’re unsure that you can handle business with new clients, but the way he talks to you is so reassuring and supportive that you quickly help the gang obtain new patrons.

you can’t help but notice that his speech became more casual after the first outing. he’s a fan of crude jokes and local gossip, you find. but you also notice the hand at your hip as he guides you to every following fundraiser. if you look at him while he he does so, he’d send a the kindest grin. ↳ “see? you’re a natural. we need to work on your eye contact, though. clients respond better when they see those pretty eyes look back at them.”

that shameless flirtation came out after your fifth fundraiser. by that point, Bucciarati made less of an effort to hide his attraction toward you. all the other patrons thought you to be a couple. why not play the part? besides, he finds your embarrassment endearing. cute, even. he’s already planning ways to make this night last longer.

leone abbacchio.

Abbacchio gets closer to you by helping you get ready for your missions.

you’re typically the first choice for espionage missions. the way you slip into parties, meetings, anything without anyone noticing is impressive, to say the least. but only part of that is thanks to your own abilities. Abbacchio does a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

it started when he noticed your god awful attempt at masquerade makeup. your contouring left much to be desired. ↳ “...please don’t tell me you’re actually going out like that.”

and so began a tradition of sorts. you usually meet him at his apartment, considering that’s where all his tools are. it was awkward at first; Abbacchio isn’t the best conversationalist, but he did try to seem somewhat engaged in whatever you had to say.

with time, however, it became easier. less awkward. Abbacchio shares whatever wine (and gossip) he has at his disposal that week. you find that his humor can be quite dry once you melt through that icy exterior. and with more time, you start to notice the tiniest smiles when you pop by.

he’s also less fussy when you ask him to do your makeup. before he would roll his eyes and ask when you were next available, but now... he just says to come by that Friday night. not without some minor teasing, though you found that to be a part of his charm. (plus, the fact you were breaking through to him was exciting in itself.)

he’s incredibly gentle when he does your makeup. he always holds your chin as he dabs liquid foundation onto your face, his hand moving your head for those hard-to-reach areas. when he does your eyeshadow, you can feel that same hand cup your cheek to keep you steady. though intimate, it’s not uncomfortable.

whenever he caught you staring at him, Abbacchio would ask what you were looking at. recently, however, you’ve noticed he merely purses his lips, swallows, and looks away. ↳ “huh. would’ve never known you could look so stunning. you’re welcome.”

his rude teasing made its appearance after eight visits. it’s an awful attempt to deny his feelings. maybe you’ll back off if he’s mean enough. but the way you smile at him after every session, how you shamelessly compliment him... he can’t help himself. he has to get closer to you in any way that he can.

giorno giovanna.

Giorno gets closer to you by asking you to help him with his hair.

you’d often watch girls fawn over Giorno whenever you went on patrols with him. and it’s warranted: his chiseled cheekbones, long lashes, and defined physique had him rival the Roman statues that lined Naples. everything about him is a piece of art. including his hair. 

you caught him struggling to braid his hair shortly before your next patrol. strands would be thicker than others, and in one case, you watched as his hair tie snapped between his fingers. he obviously needed help. ↳ “well, if you’re offering. be my guest.”

so you got to work. it wasn’t a big deal; part of the issue was that Giorno couldn’t see the back of his head. you separated his hair into three strands, weaved them between each other, and tied the ends of his hair into a loop. just as you’d always seen him do it.

but once you finished, Giorno was hooked. the way your fingernails dragged along his scalp, how you were so careful to not pull his hair... it was wonderful. such a small action that felt so personal to him.

he asks you to help him with his hair whenever he can. not too frequently that you’d catch on, though. and he knows you well enough to know you wouldn’t deny his request. you’re far too kind. it’s a little manipulative on his end, but he’s also aware that you wouldn’t mind.

it never feels awkward. he asks you about your day while you work. sometimes he gives you a briefing about what’s on the agenda. though it seems casual on your end, as mentioned, Giorno finds the experience quite intimate. ↳ “I don’t know what it is, but something about your touch is enough to make me feel so relaxed. ...ah, excuse me. was that too forward?”

that statement comes out after you’ve braided Giorno’s hair ten times. by that point, you’ve started to think that he doesn’t really need help with his hair. the fact that he’s started producing flowers to put in your own hair was a dead giveaway. but can you blame him? he loves seeing you blush as he tucks daisies behind your ear.

guido mista.

Mista gets closer to you by showing you his favorite quick eats.

as a long-standing resident of Naples, the gunslinger is aware of all the best restaurants in the city. from hole-in-the walls to elegant restaurants, he knows ‘em all. he has a particular soft spot for the former.

you’re the opposite of him: new to Naples and unaware of what foods await you. Mista takes it upon himself to change that. ↳ “you’ve never heard of Sorbillo and you’ve been living here for how long? ...alright, well. we’re gonna change that. you and me, Sorbillo, this Saturday.”

and thus a new tradition began. whenever you and Mista had a free Saturday night, you’d meet at whatever restaurant he recommended that week. sometimes it was seafood, other nights it was pizza, but it was always something extremely delicious (and extremely unforgettable).

he caters his choices to what you’re in the mood for. Mista’s not a picky eater by any means (so long as it’s not in fours), so he’s down for whatever you want. plus, it lets him get to know your tastes a little better.

he’s a great conversationalist. he can keep you distracted from long lines and longer food prep times. you never get the impression that he’s just making small talk, because honestly, he’s not. he genuinely wants to get to know you better. he usually asks about your life before Passione. 

your weekly outings originally started as a fun hangout between two friends. but during one chilly night, Mista was quick to notice your shivering. he wasted no time in giving you his coat and hat. ↳ “hey, you don’t ever get... I dunno... bored of this, do you? I know we’ve been doing this for a while and... if you ever wanna stop, you can let me know.”

that question came up after your seventh outing. you’d never seen the gunslinger get embarrassed like this. it only comes up because Mista’s realizing how much he loves being around you. he loves when your eyes widen as you take that first bite, he loves when muse how good the food is. he needs to know where you stand before he gets too invested because honestly, he’s starting to love you as well.

narancia ghirga.

Narancia gets closer to you by asking you to help him read. 

Fugo’s not the best tutor. bless him, he tries, but Narancia isn’t the best student either. the latter often spaces out while working. and when he doesn’t, he tries to distract Fugo with some meaningless chatter to end the session sooner. Fugo was quick to catch onto this.

as a result, he turned to you to tutor Narancia. it started as a joke. “if [Name] can’t do it, no one can,” he laughed. the pupil, however, was more than happy to switch tutors. ↳ “fine! [Name]’ll be a better teacher than you ever were!!”

and like that, you were Narancia’s new tutor. not that you minded. it would benefit the whole team if he could read above a primary school level. every Tuesday and Thursday, an hour before the gang’s meetings at Libeccio, you and Narancia would grab a table and go over his reading material. sometimes Fugo joins to watch Narancia’s progress, sometimes Mista to hang out and enjoy a slice of cake, but it’s normally a one-on-one lesson.

Narancia quickly realizes that he likes those lessons best. it’s much easier when the others aren’t teasing him for his inability to read words like “signorile.” plus, he likes his time alone with you. you don’t laugh. you never judge him. if he has a question, he doesn’t feel stupid to come to you about it, even outside of tutoring sessions.

he’s still distracted when he’s with you, but half the time it’s intentional, half the time it’s not. he just wants to learn more about you. he’ll take breaks between questions to ask you about yourself. Narancia usually sticks to questions regarding your hobbies and interests. lord help you if you share the same music taste because he’ll want to share all his favorite tunes with you.

lately he’s been quite diligent with his work. he’ll go a chapter ahead of what you’ve scheduled and... oh my, are those annotations? you’d never seen him smile brighter than when you praised him for his hard work. ↳ “what are we gonna do once my reading is like... really good? we’re not just gonna stop, are we?”

he asks you this after your fourth session. the question came up rather early, honestly. but Narancia was already having a lot of fun after working with you. he knew that this was going to be something worth his time. and when he saw your own smile, he knew that you were worth everything, too. 

pannacotta fugo.

Fugo gets closer to you by requesting your help planning missions.

most of the gang’s missions are planned by Fugo himself. while he is a college dropout, he still spent hundreds of hours studying Italian history and law. he can be trusted to help the escort team avoid law enforcement.

but there was one job he couldn’t wrap his head around. it was a breaking-and-entering mission meant for Bucciarati and Narancia. they were supposed to cross through an Armani outlet, yet... the security was fool proof. there was no way to cleanly get through it, even with Bucciarati’s Sticky Fingers. that was when you came in and proved him wrong. ↳ “[Name], would you mind helping me with this next mission? it’s a reconnaissance job for Abbacchio.”

he started coming to you whenever he felt stuck. you’re one of the few people he trusts with a task as important as this one. besides, you’d already proved that you were more than capable to untangle tough situations.

working with you is a mixed bag, though. sure, you help Fugo resolve his questions, but you make him feel so... small. it’s not that you do it on purpose. it’s just that being smart is all that he has. it’s all he’s ever known. and here you come, making these problems seem like they were nothing.

yet he can’t get enough of you. you don’t make it seem like these things are a big deal. he loves when you place your hand on his arm and praise him when he figures it out himself. god, he hates that he can’t look you in the eye; he can only imagine how lovely you look when you’re glowing.

there’s one moment that will stick with you forever. it was an infiltration mission meant for the whole team, the eleventh job you’d worked on with him. it took hours of back-and-forth bantering, Fugo having to leave the room to go scream outside, and one of Narancia’s awful energy drinks until Fugo figured it out. and when he did, you’ll never forget how he was beaming, his fingers laced with yours as he thanked you for your help. it’s too bad it didn’t last that long, for he quickly became embarrassed and turned away. ↳ “[Name]! I have another mission to work on with you! when are you free?”

Fugo saw you as his planning partner after that occurrence. he came to you with every mission he received; after all, he needs you to make sure that there aren’t any holes. he wants to chase every high he can with you. hell, every low if you’ll let him. he wants to do everything and more with you.

[dailydnp]

YouTube stars and LGBT+ influencers Dan Howell and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard on how they and their queer fans have helped each other through “radical bravery”.

Dan Howell, a comedian and one of world’s most popular YouTubers, and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, lesbian YouTube star and disability advocate, have had vastly different experiences as queer content creators.

The two LGBT+ YouTubers spoke to PinkNews to mark the launch of The Rise, a YouTube campaign that celebrates diverse UK creative talent on the platform.

Having already made YouTube videos for 10 years, Dan came out publicly in June 2019, in a 45-minute video titled “Basically I’m gay”.

He described his coming out story as “very strange”, and told PinkNews: “Me already being this kind of obnoxiously, omnipresent public figure, I had to kind of go on this process.

“I’ve known how gay I was since forever, but had to go on the whole journey of not just working out how I would communicate that to the world, but truly reaching a point of self-acceptance.

“Because on some level throughout all of my life, I’ve accepted it but not really acknowledged it. I said: ‘I’m not ready yet, now’s not the time, I don’t know how.'”

Jessica, on the other hand, explained that she has “never struggled” with her sexuality, having always known she would be accepted.

“I have a very different coming out story to most LGBT+ people in that I was raised in a Quaker family, and there was never the expectation that I was going to grow up and get a husband and that this was the way things happened… So I’ve never struggled with my sexuality in that way,” she said.

While Jessica uses her online platform to discuss her life as an LGBT+ person as well as queer history, much of her audience comes to her channel for her disabilities advocacy.

She has two rare genetic conditions, HNPP and EDS, which affect her nerves and connective tissues. She is deaf, visually impaired and her conditions can affect her mobility with varying severity.

“Being a disabled and chronically ill teenager, I had this big thing in my life that was really difficult, and a real struggle, and being gay just paled in comparison,” she said.

“There was obviously the drama, the girls that I liked didn’t liked me, they always turned out to be straight. But that was the biggest drama.

“When I started YouTube, I was already married, it was already very much like, this is who I am. I’m gay, this is my wife. There’s no question. There’s no worrying about it.”

She added: “I like to think that that does, in a way, represent what our future is going to be –  that we don’t have to have these coming out stories where people worry about how they’re going to be accepted, and worried about the response they’re going to get.”

Dan Howell wishes he’d had queer role models like Jessica Kellgren-Fozard when he was growing up.

Dan Howell said that YouTubers like Jessica Kellgren-Fozard could have helped him immensely when he was discovering his LGBT+ identity.

“If there was someone like Jessica when I was a young person watching YouTube, I just know I would have had a profoundly different journey through life and coming to accept my sexuality,” he said.

“I would have been represented, I would have learned about queer history, I would have been seeing different relationships, seeing different personalities.”

From LGBT+ issues to disabilities and mental health, both Dan and Jessica have used their platforms to share their experiences in areas that are vastly underrepresented in mainstream media, showing their viewers many facets of their identities.

In 2017, Dan used his YouTube channel to discuss his struggle with his mental health, in a video titled “Daniel and Depression”.

“There’s many aspects to a human,” he said. “I’ve always come from a place of just talking about whatever’s on my mind, or whatever is important to me.

“It was quite a jump for me to make that first video about mental health, opening up about depression out of nowhere was quite scary. Because even three or four years ago, it was still more of a taboo topic.

“I tried to do it in my own way, which is to kind of inappropriately joke about it at my own expense, and try to make it a storytelling experience. That’s just the same as everything else I do.”

Jessica said that from her point of view, “the best representation is always ‘happens to be'”.

“It’s the idea that you have a character who’s going on an adventure, you have someone who’s talking to you about makeup, and they just happen to be gay. Because otherwise we’re not really going to be reaching outside of our own echo chamber.”

She explained that some viewers end up watching 10 of her videos without ever realising that she’s married to a woman, which she thinks is “the best way to kind of have any change and effect on the culture and and people in the world”.

“Because if we’re always trying to preach to the choir, we’re not really going to get anywhere,” she said.

“But if people are thinking so-and-so on TV is absolutely amazing and then later find out that they’re gay, maybe they’ll be changing some preconceived notions.”

“It’s this kind of sneaky, insidious way that the gay agenda will thrive and inevitably take over the world,” laughed Dan. “Winning hearts and minds.”

One particularly heartwarming example, Jessica said, was when a fan used her videos to come out to their parents.

“She was raised in a very religious household and her parents were not at all open to the idea of homosexuality. In fact, if they were watching television, and something came up relating to the subject, they would immediately turn it off, change the channel, perhaps say something wasn’t particularly lovely.

“She was sat there feeling like, ‘Oh, am I ever going to come out my parents?'”

The fan decided to curate a playlist of Jessica’s videos to show her mother.

“It started with videos that I made about my religion,” she said, “and then transitioned to fashion and videos about history. And just slowly, each video was a slightly gayer video.”

“Her mother became a fan within the first 20 videos. She was like: ‘This seems like a good role model for my child.’

“Eventually [she realised] this role model has a wife and is gay, and is OK with this. And her parents are religious and OK with her being gay… I was able to provide a tool for someone to do that to come out in quite a safe way to their parents.”

The “radical bravery” of his queer fans helped Dan Howell come out.

Dan Howell, on the other hand, said that his fans were the ones who helped him feel safe to come out.

While still in the closet, he said he found it “difficult” that he viewers saw him as someone who was always “open and honest” with them, especially after sharing his experience with depression.

“I went on a world tour in 2018… I was doing these meet and greets, and people would genuinely pour their hearts out to me, and they would talk about everything they were going through in their life,” he said.

“They would talk about illness, they would talk about mental health. And so many people talked about sexuality, just because the community that had been created had this attitude of acceptance and growth and coming together and wholesomeness.”

While he understands that there was “no presumption [he] was a homophobe”, he found it confusing when people would tell him that he had inspired them to come out.

“It was difficult, because I stood there feeling like I was a sham. People were saying: ‘I feel strong enough to say this to you, because you’ve been so open and vulnerable to me.’ And I was just stood there like: ‘Well, actually, I feel like there’s the biggest part of me that I haven’t even yet gone on the journey to acknowledge myself.’

“I mean, I’ve had people that came out to me in front of their parents, because they felt like they were in a safe environment, and that’s crazy.

“The radical bravery of some of these people is what made me think if I was feeling like a little scared dog in my apartment, looking in the mirror like a chihuahua, thinking: ‘How am I ever going to come out publicly at this stage of my life?’ I would think well, actually, look at the younger generation.”

In the ‘chaos’ of the internet, queer YouTubers like Dan Howell and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard building valuable communities.

While the internet can be a scary place for queer folk, Dan Howell and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard are determined to use it to build community and acceptance.

“I think that we don’t talk enough about the wonderful sides of the internet,” said Jessica.

“How it allows people to come together and create a community, how it gives us access to education that might before been blocked to us, how we’re able to actually learn from people who come before us.

“I really like talk about queer history, because we’re one of the only communities and minorities that can’t pass down out knowledge through the generations. Because you know, gay people don’t necessarily have gay kids.

“We often miss out on learning from our elders and learning what’s come before us. And I think it’s really important and lovely that we talk about and validate and really cherish these communities that are available to us on the internet.”

Dan added: “When you look at the chaos of the internet and various online communities, I think it is good to see when people are creating content that can make people feel better.

“For all of the terrifying chaos of the freedom of the internet and creating on YouTube, it also lets people emerge that may not have been represented, you can create the content that you wish someone was making for you.

“And I think that’s one of the best things.”

[domesticblisss]

Nahër

Walter x Female Reader (Nicknamed ‘Hase’) Mob AU! Rating: Mature (Minors DNI) Word Count: 2517 Warnings: Smut. Choking, PiV, fingering, cum play, mild degradation, alcohol mention, drugs mention. A/N: Sooo, this happened. There’ll be a part 2. Might make it a series if I have enough attention span for it (and if you guys like it too!)

Honestly, I don’t know how I got here. Actually, I do. I met Axel a few weeks ago while buying groceries at the supermarket near my new apartment when we ran into each other. He was accompanied by four other men, all dressed similar in dark jeans and polo shirts. A very menacing look on their faces, they looked dangerous too, not the type that would hurt you for no reason, but the type that you respect just for their existence, the type that would give you a warning. Their presence was their warning.

Funny thing is that you don’t expect this whole vibe from good looking men, which, I’m going to be honest with you, is their case. Let me see if I can describe them properly. First is Axel, we met on the first year of high school, he was a tall, lanky, shy kid. Beautiful green eyes, blonde hair, the highest cheekbones I’ve ever seen with a permanent tinge of red in them. He looked like a Cherub. It was so funny but also a pain to watch all the girls throw themselves at him to be met with pure silence. He didn’t have any friends, the only person he would interact was me during all of our last school years. We had some sort of silent agreement: we would eat lunch together, I would get the girls out of his away and he would beat up anyone that annoyed me (even though I never asked him to). 

Back to present day, Axel looks the same, just a bit taller and way, way more muscles on his body. Next to him was a bald guy, the shortest of the group but still tall enough to tower over me, he was also the one that looked much more friendly than the others, with sparkling blue eyes and a distant smile on his lips. Beside him was a tall man with nice chocolate eyes, thick brown hair and beard, muscular, but super lean, a nice tan and a cute ass too, if I must say. Next to him was another blonde guy, his hair lighter than Axel’s, blue eyes that said he was about to reach breaking point, but something in him screamed ‘loyal’. Now, the last guy... where do I begin... He’s tall, the tallest of the group. He’s not muscular as the others, he’s thick, strong. Black hair in a military cut, steel eyes that I’m sure could stare deep into my soul. All the other guys had readable faces, his... his was blank, impassive. There’s something about the way he looked at me, it was chilling, but I liked it.

“Hase! God, we haven’t seen each other for so long.” Axel exclaim as we pass by each on the cereal aisle. “Ugh, I can’t believe you still remember that nickname.” I answered as we hugged each other. “You haven’t changed a bit, huh, the same angel face. Well, you look... buffer now, but the face is the same!” We talked a little bit about life, how we’re now and what we did after we left high school, his answers were a bit vague, but I brushed it off. Wanting to catch up and see me again, he offered “Look, me and my friends here, we own a little nightclub on St Pauli and we are having a special night tomorrow. If you’re still into the same stuff we were in high school, I’m sure you’ll have a blast. C’mon, what do you say? For the old times.” He gave me a look that I knew I couldn’t refuse. “Okay, for the old times.” I could feel those steel eyes staring at me and when I looked at him, he had the faintest smile on his lips. We exchanged contacts, said our goodbyes, and went on our ways.

Something tells me that our little run in wasn’t by chance.

Axel texts me to ask if I’m going and where I am, by that time I’m already in line to get in and he asks me to wait for him. A few minutes passes by and he shows up. “Why are you waiting in line? You know the owner of this place, you have a free pass here, everything you want, you got it.” “Wow, I’m feeling really important right now.” I answer him a in a sarcastic tone he’s used to. “Oh Kleiner Hase, you’re still the same sarcastic little shit, huh?” he laughs as we enter the building. The inside of the club is mesmerising. The decor is very minimalistic but still attention grabbing. We made our through the crowd. Flashing lights, industrial music is playing, sweaty bodies grinding to the beat of the music, couples are making out, friends are drinking and I’m sure I’ve seen an illegal substance here and there. Fuck, I’ve missed being this free so much. Once you start adulting, you don’t have that much free time and you’re constantly tired. It fucking sucks, I know.

It takes us a while to get through everyone, and Axel gushes on about how the club is thriving “Every night is like this, we’re packed and there’re lines of people to get in.” We climb a stair that takes us to a secluded room. Two security guards waits by the door and they let Axel and I in without any trouble. It’s a large room, with the same minimalistic decor from the club, a custom leather couch sits in the middle of the room, accompanied by two matching leather chairs and a slick centre table. On the far back, there are two beverage refrigerators, packed with all sorts of drinks and two doors, one of which I assume it’s the bathroom. The main wall is covered with a one-way mirror, where they can overlook the whole club. When we get inside the room, we’re greeted by his friends. The bald guy is speaking in italian on his phone, the brunette with kind brown eyes reads a book that I can’t figure out what it’s about and the other blonde one and the one I assume it’s their “leader” are quietly talking to each other.

“Herren, look who is here! Hase, this is Fabian. Bookworm over here is Timothy, you can call him Tim. This lovely person is Alex, and finally, but not the least important, this is Walter. He’s the head that hold us together.” Axel introduces us, I quickly shake their hands and Walter stands up to greet me, his imposing figure towering over mine. His handshake is the strongest of all, very powerful, and he holds my hand a bit longer. “It’s very nice to properly meet you, Hase. Junior always told great things about you.” Walter tells me in a quiet but very polite tone. There’s something about him that is making me lose my mind. He has this energy that glues you to him and makes you want more. All he did was shake my hand and call me by my stupid childhood nickname. Pathetic.

The night goes smooth, whatever I wanted to drink, they made sure I got it, Axel, Fabian and I even went downstairs to dance for a while, I haven’t had that much fun in such a long time. 

We kept talking for some time before everyone, one by one, left, leaving me alone with Walter. Fabian had to pick up his parents from a late flight on the airport, Alex went home to his wife and kids, Tim wanted to train, and Marcel had the “hottest chick” waiting for him downstairs. I felt a thick tension in the air, almost making it hard to breath. It was probably all in my head though, as I looked at him by my left side on one of the chairs, going through his phone. He caught me staring at him and apologised for being a horrible host. “I’ve got some last-minute business to attend to but it’s all done. Come over here.” He said standing up, waiting for me. When I got up, he immediately placed his left hand on the small of my back, leading us to the one-way mirror. “Look, it’s beautiful isn’t it?” All I could do is nod back, his hand was rubbing small circles on my back. “Are you nervous, my dear? I know I look a certain way, but I promise I won’t do anything to you, anything you don’t want to.” “I’m sorry. You do have this... imposing aura that, you know...” my words failed me. “I should be the one apologising,” he said as he positioned himself by my right side, facing my profile as I faced the one-way mirror. He gently put a loose hair stand behind my ear, leaned closer to the same ear, as if he was going to tell me a secret and continued “but look at it. All these people dancing, having fun. Friends, one night lovers… isn’t it all beautiful, Hase?” “Yes.” I answered as I turned around to look at his eyes. “Very beautiful.”

We stayed like this and stared at each other for a while, and in a moment of courage, I closed the little space we had between us and kissed him. He wasn’t surprised, responding almost immediately to it. He deepened the kiss, holding me by my hair. The kiss was rough, desperate but his lips were surprisingly soft. He broke the kiss when he felt me moaning, biting my bottom lip and positioning himself behind my back.

He trapped me between his thick body and the mirror, his hard erection poking my back. His left hand held me by my throat, squeezing it softly, while his right one slid up my right thigh, lifting the hem of my black dress on its way up. He kissed his way up my neck, stopping by my ear to whisper, “Tell me to stop.” “Please don’t stop.” I whispered back to him, pressing my ass to his hard length. He lets out a little laugh, bites my shoulder and slides one thick finger between my slick folds. “Little Hase is a little hure, isn’t she?” he says as he rubs lazy circles on my clit. I just nod a let out a small yes. He keeps going like this for a few seconds, later holding my face to the glass one more time, telling me to look at everyone while he starts fingering me. His fingering starts slow, increasing to the beat of Nine Inch Nails’ Closer as it starts to get louder. I come right after the song ends. He keeps his body pressed to mine, knowing that if he let me go, I’d probably buckle down.

I started laughing as I came down from my high, the hand on my throat turning my head up to look at him. “What’s so fun, Hase?” “This is the best orgasm I had in ages... fuck.” “You’re not being properly fucked, are you?” “Nope.” “Come here.” He kisses my lips and lets go of my throat, guiding me to one of the doors I saw when I first got in the room.

Behind that door there is an office. The decor is completely different from the club and the watch room. It’s rustic, a lot of dark wood, one of the walls is completely full of books, there’s an old record player and several vinyls, leather couches and chairs that looks like to be a signature piece for him, the light is dimly lit, with a yellowish tone. There’s a big wooden desk, stacks of money on top of it, one unlit cigar near the lamp, some papers and pens too but it’s tidy. I look around and turn to him, saying “I feel like I’m at the Corleone’s house. This looks like some mob shit.” “Come here.” he says and grabs me by my chin, kissing me roughly “Shut up.” he commands as he takes my dress off. I finish taking my bra and panties off, as he takes care of his own clothes.

He’s on me again, sucking one of my nipples and the plays with the other. Gently, he backs us down to his table and I prop myself up on my elbows. His cock is not that long, but it is thicker than usual, he positions himself between my legs and enters my heat in one swift move.

He lifts my right leg up and positions it on his shoulder, turning his head to kiss and bite my calf. His ministrations are hard and all we can hear is the sound of our skins slapping on one another. He tells me to touch myself and increases his speed making my orgasm hit me before I can even feel it coming. He keeps his thrusts hard even while I’m spasming around him. I can feel him twitch inside me and he pulls out immediately, emptying himself on my stomach.

He stares at me with that same mysterious face from the day we first saw each other on the grocery store. I make sure to put on a show as I collect his cum from my stomach and lick it off my fingers. The faint smile is back on his face.

I put my elbows down for a bit and lay down the table. He grabs a couple of bottles of water for the both of us, and I use mine to cool down my skin for a bit. We stay in silence all the time.

I feel something heavy being thrown on my stomach and when I prop myself up once again to look what it was, it’s one of the stacks of money that were on Walter’s table.

“Are you fucking serious? Do I look like some fucking prostitute to you?” I asked him, incredulous.

“I’m not saying you’re a prostitute. I’m offering you power.”

“You fucked me like you wanted and threw money at me. That doesn’t look like a power offering to me! Again, I’m not a fucking prostitute.”

I keep my position, looking up at him, waiting for an answer. He exhales, looks down at me, at my body and shakes his head. One of his hands are at my waist, the other is at his shaft making himself hard again.

“Are you serious?” I ask him.

“Am I?” and in one sharp move he’s back inside me. He moves slow this time, torturing me. The hand on my waist leaves and grabs another stack of money. And another, another, and another. A total of five. Layered out all over my body.

He grabs my throat again, pulls me up and closer to him, all that money spilling over on the floor. He slaps my face twice, softer than I imagined he would and kisses me. We come together.

He holds me close to him, but still leaving a bit of space between us, enough for his other hand find it’s way to my pussy, inserting two thick fingers to play with his own cum inside of me.

“I’ll ask you again, do you want power, little hure?”

---

Translations Hase: Bunny Kleiner Hase: Little Bunny Herren: Gentlemen Hure: Whore

→

[blueluneacy]

Familiar Shore

Hey, so this is a commission for the lovey @lliminall! Thank you so much for commissioning me, it means a lot! This is a continuation of Black Ocean, so go check that out if you haven’t! It’s Bruno bucciarati x reader timeeee

Word Count: 2.8k Warnings: kidnapping, suicide, transformations, just general angst and comfort vibes

The ocean no longer had any color. It was like the moment you woke up on this terrible island, most everything lost color, the strange world you now found yourself in feeling small compared to the extent of the Labyrinth you once knew. You tended to sit by the ocean nowadays, watching the fish that swam up to the shores to see the strange being that liked to sit and watch them. When Bruno first dropped you in his little lair, some minor beasts that inhabited the ocean and the island, but it seemed that in the days that Bruno was gone, he quickly straightened them out. This place was strange in the sense that everyone seemed a lot more docile. You supposed that most people would have considered that ocean uncrossable and that the local wildlife wasn’t used to humans like yourself, leaving to strange circumstances, like finding that the many tailed foxes seemed to like your company, or that after giving some of the gray birds some of your dinner, they perched near you and cawed at the beasts that came towards you.

Of course, that’s not to say things were sunshine and roses. For example, Bruno was actually terrible. A few times you had tried to pull together a raft and get back to shore, only from Bruno to simply tear it apart and carry you back to your little island. A paradise, he called it. Yeah, what a paradise. And you had gone to Jurassic measures. You remembered waking up in that cave after doing something terrible, stepping out to find Bruno sobbing over your lifeless body. You actually felt bad enough to sigh, only for Bruno’s new keen ears to pick up on it and lunge back to you, thanking whatever Gods there were looking out for the two of you that they set your spawn to here, that you would be with him, that he wouldn’t lose you. You cursed those same gods.

But for now, Bruno seemed to leave you alone. Whether it was because he understood that you needed space and time to process this, or just because he was busy with who knows what, you weren’t sure. Maybe he needed a steady supply of torture to sustain him. It would make sense, the way beasts seem to just thrive on destroying any human being that they came into contact with. But, there was also another problem, one that plagued you. It had to be a lie, right? Bruno couldn’t have possibly actually… Turned into a beast, right? No, he had to be one beforehand. There’s no way that a human being could turn into a beast, and even so… Why would he? Bruno was kind and caring… Unless he wasn’t. Until he was completely deranged, dragging you under the depths until you passed out. You didn’t like to think about it, didn’t like to think about those eyes. You just closed your eyes, telling yourself in just another minute, you’d walk the fifty feet back to the cave you had now found as your home, finding the stone becoming increasingly more smooth, the terrible thing that was keeping here making it more homey day by day. What started off as a simple cave with furs on the ground now had furniture, actual walls, even a bed. You still preferred to sleep on the floor if it meant it kept Bruno from holding you. It didn’t.

After a few moments and a lot of convincing yourself to get up, solely just to eat and get some rest as you plotted your way out of this mess, you made your way over to the cave only to stop when you heard voices. One of them you recognized, Bruno, but there was someone actually responding to him. You swallowed, unable to help yourself from hiding at the edge of the cave to listen in to what they were saying.

“I just don’t know if I can make it work, is all. I mean, you’ve seen them. They’re horrified of… This.” Bruno spoke out, leaving the other beast just to scoff.

“They’re horrified that you’re no longer human. Something that you can’t change. Do you honestly believe that you can make them separate this idea of who you once were versus who you are now?” The other beast, for what other creature would be able to speak out with such calm in front of Bruno in the state that he was in now, replied, sounding simply skeptical.

“But you don’t understand, it’s not like I’ve changed. I’m still the same person, I just-”

“Happened to have turned into an eldritch horror beyond basic human comprehension now trapped in a liminal space shaped like a labyrinth. Good pitch.” He sounded so curt, leaving Bruno just to huff.

“I don’t know why I even bothered to ask you.”

“Because you knew I would be honest with you. It would be easiest if you just gave up on the human, Buccellati. Humans are odd, fragile, and emotional. You could easily find a nice beast girl to settle down if you really wanted.” He replied, leaving you just to… ponder. You never really thought of beasts actually speaking to each other, much less loving each other.

“You act as though we’re not humans.” Bruno replied sharply, leaving the other beast to sigh.

“You’re not. We’re not. Sure, maybe at one time, but there’s no way back. Who knows, maybe you and Dio can laugh over this one day.”

“He’s on the other side of the Labyrinth. Speaking of which, how are there other Beasts in this territory? I thought it was supposed to be mine.”

“Oh, only stronger beasts deal with things like territory. Pathetic ones like me, we don’t have that luxury. It’s easier to say you’re with the biggest guy in the room than to try and stake out your own claim in the world. Plenty of territories are filled with beasts that simply stick around for protection or just because they feel like it. I’m surprised you don’t have a line out the door with Beasts asking for your blessing to move in, this is prime real estate.”

“They’re too dangerous for my beloved to be around. I’m particular about the things that might feel too comfortable to try and hurt them.”

“If you’re choosey, then you really made a bad choice in letting me stay.”

“You don’t like humans. I figured you didn’t have the spine to break theirs.” You gasped at that, Bruno’s fine tuned ears finally picking up on your listening in to their conversation and standing up.

“Cara, you can come in. It’s rude to listen in.” He called out to you, leaving you to swallow as you stepped out into the low candlelight of the cave, making your way inside. You just stared at the ground, not wanting to respond for fear of… You weren’t really sure. Bruno didn’t tend to get mad at you, but you didn’t know anything about this other beast. When you caught a glimpse of him, you were a bit skeptical. While Bruno tended to hide his more… Er, Inhuman qualities, this other beast had no qualms about being comfortable. You saw how his silvery hair fell over his shoulders, his painted lips barely concealing rows of sharp teeth and neatly done nails actually claws.

“Tesoro, this is Leone Abbacchio. He’ll be staying near the Shore, so you may see him often.” Bruno told you, leaving you just to roll your eyes.

“Oh boy, another terrifying monster I get to live near! I’ll make sure to bake cookies for the house party.” You replied, leaving Bruno’s face just to set into a grimace while Abbacchio just smiled and rolled his eyes.

“I have no interest in humans, and much less one this scrappy.” He replied, standing up. It took a moment for his insult to click, but once it did, you were ready to fucking fight. Would you lose? Probably. But your honor. But, before you could get a word out, Abbacchio just brushed himself off of bits of sand that seemed to stick at his body, and turned to Bruno.

“I’ll let you two have your lovers quarrel in peace.” And with that, Abbacchio quickly was out of there, leaving you alone with Bruno, who just shook his head as he sat down, motioning for you to sit with him. You did not obey.

“Don’t just stand there, tesoro. Perhaps we should talk. I hate the idea that there’s something wrong with our relationship.” Bruno told you, leaving you just to scoff as you crossed your arms.

“It’s fundamentally wrong, because it’s based on a lie. Me being here isn’t because of love! It’s because of… Because you… I’m your prisoner, Bruno!” You didn’t know why tears were welling up in your eyes, why the pain hit your heart as you spoke the truth, but it did. Your dreams of escaping with Bruno to the outside world, outside of this hell, were crushed entirely. Everything was just a wreck, Bruno had lost it, and beyond it all, he still gave you a pang in your heart. Bruno just shook his head, standing up and you released how much taller than you he was. Was he always this much taller than you? Still, it didn’t matter, you didn’t have the chance to step away before Bruno wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight. It was possessive, but his hand came behind your head, pressing your face into his chest. You gasped as you released he still smelled the same as before, of coastal air and cypress.

“I… I don’t care about that, (Y/n). I can’t lose you, not like everyone else. Please, just stay with me. If I lose you, I know… I know I’ll become like the rest of them. Please, I really do love you. Don’t you love me back?” Bruno’s voice was shaking, as if he were about to cry. You had the instinct to try and comfort him, holding yourself back the best you could.

“I… I don’t know anymore. It feels like… I’m haunted by you at this point. This person you once were and the… Thing you are now.” You replied, leaving Bruno just to sigh and let you go.

“I… But I haven’t changed. I haven’t hurt a single human. If anything, I’m safest out here. No one could possibly come out here, it’ll just be you and me. We can make the life you spoke about here, we can get married and have a family-”

“Bruno, no! We can never have that! You know that! Deep down in your heart, you know that just as well as I do, that this will never work! Even before... “ You looked away, hoping to find some sense of reality in a pace that seems to lack it. God, this was terrible. “We were just chasing after affection, weren’t we? Did we really love each other, or were we just so lonely that we didn’t know what to do and threw ourselves at the idea of human contact?” You replied, leaving Bruno to sigh.

“(Y/n), do you remember how you entered into the Labyrinth?”

“I…. What?” That was out of nowhere. You wondered if maybe he was trying to change the subject, but nonetheless, you shrugged and decided to answer.

“I don’t remember. I was walking through the woods one day, and it was like I got lost… Well, lost forever. I don’t really… Know what I did to deserve all of this.” You replied, leaving Bruno to sigh.

“Is there something back in your old life so pressing that you have to return to it? Is the world outside better than something we could build?” Bruno asked. You wanted to argue so bad, but he was right in a way. There really was nothing that you had going for you back at home. You would go back to work, live your boring, mundane life, but…

“You’re holding me hostage here, Bruno.”

“I’m protecting you. (Y/n), there’s no way out of the Labyrinth unless you have someone from the outside to pull you out. There’s no exit. That is the main secret of the Labyrinth.” He told you, his voice serious, and you knew he was telling the truth.

“I-I… T-Then, what were we searching for all that time?! Why were we… What kind of torture is all this?!” You replied, shaking a bit. You didn’t notice the way your hands were starting to fade and distort, but you didn’t care. “What kind of being would create such a terrible place?!”

“I… I don’t know, tesoro. I really don’t know. But… If there’s no one outside looking for you, you have to understand. Travelling back to the main portion of the Labyrinth is…” He didn’t have to say it. It was a death sentence, a world of torture waiting to happen. You just collapsed, feeling yourself collapse into a pile as you sobbed, trying to find some way, some reason for your entire existence here. You wanted to believe this was a lie, you really did, but something about Bruno’s tone.... How did he even learn this? Did that other beast tell him? Maybe it was just a lie that that beasts told, and Abbacchio knew that Bruno would try to be a sap with you. Torture by proxy. But still… Bruno’s hand hit your back, rubbing it gently as he sat down next to you.

“I… I know. Apparently… Every Beast that is in the Labyrinth was once a human being. One that was never saved.” He told you, leaving you just to go silent. You looked at your hands, the twisting of your own flesh and the accenting of claws that you had been telling yourself was just your nails growing jagged from lack of care. You turned to Bruno, lip quivering.

“I’m just haunted by the ghost of the person I thought I loved, and I don’t know if that person truly is you, or if he was killed in the fire.” You whispered, almost hoping that Bruno wouldn’t hear it. He just pulled you closer, wiping away your tears.

“I… I honestly don’t know. I feel like I am the same person, but who knows. I don’t know what has changed about me, and what hasn’t. All I know is… (Y/n), you keep me whole. You keep me… Good. I can’t explain it. I know you loved that person before, but… Could you ever be able to love me too?” He asked, leaving you just to look at the ground.

“I… I think so. I…” Your eyes just welled up with tears again as you grabbed onto Bruno, sobbing. You mourned for him, for yourself, for the hell that dozens were put through.

“What’s going to happen to me, Bru? Am I going to become a monster?” You asked, leaving the man to just pet your hair, hushing you.

“No matter what you become, you’re still going to be mia cara. And I’ll always love you, no matter what. I promise.” He told you. You looked up, letting your hand run along his cheek as you pressed your lips against his for the first time in forever. And he wasn’t warm the way he once was, but the kiss was still real, and his lips were still soft. When he pulled away, Bruno just held you in his arms, the two of you sharing a soft moment as you both tried to process the new reality that had come upon you. This was now the world you lived in, a world of Beasts and humans who would someday become beasts. If there were gods, they were only malevolent.

“I… I really do love you, (Y/n). I want a life with you. Even if it has to be in this hell, I really do mean what I meant. I think we could create a paradise here. A place just for us, forever.” He told you, and in your week state, you just nodded, letting Bruno hold you as you closed your eyes.

“I… I love you too. I’ve always loved you.” You told him, feeling your eyes get heavy as you cuddled up with Bruno. You looked into his eyes again, seeing that blue you had fallen in love with in the beginning, the Fisherman’s son who was determined to get home, with that serious look on his face, but full of hope. His eyes still had hope, though. For some reason, that seemed to comfort you, seemed to make you feel like things… Might be okay. Maybe not now, but someday.

For the last time that night, you dreamed of that idyllic life you once wanted with Bruno, in the old world on the ocean, a family and kids and peace. When you awakened in the arms of the beast, you were finally ready to throw it away.

[jujujitsu]

X. Check Mate

Word Count: 4519

Previous chapter here. Next chapter here.

Warnings: AoT Spoilers likely, SFW but Minors DNI, cussing, Characters are appropriately aged up for NSFW situations.

Genre: AoT x High Fantasy, AoT x OC, romance.

Synopsis: Adelaide socializes with some of the 104th Cadets after the Pre-Test. Eren Yeager's failure is the topic of discussion while Marco and Jean play chess. Adelaide decides to give Eren, Mikasa, and Armin a pep talk when they eventually come in. Reiner is salty because he didn't notice Adelaide enter the Common Hall and he realized she didn't actually have any plans. After Adelaide's heart to heart with Eren, she decides to help improve his mood by causing a distraction so people talk about something else. Jean loses to Marco and Adelaide stirs the pot. It's fight night in the Common Hall! Jean and Adelaide square off. Reiner wants to interject, but Bertholdt isn't having it. The victor is decided and Jean and Adelaide become better friends. Reiner feels left out and pouts some more.

The Common Hall was thriving with people when she entered. The hum of conversation was equivalent to the Mess Hall on the first night. The Pre-Test was a very hot topic. She also noticed folks were grouping up instead of standing alone or forcing themselves into the corner. "Adelaide, hey!" Jean Kirstein called when he noticed her. "Come sit over here with us. We’d love to have your company."

Jean, Marco, Daz, Thomas and Mina were off to the right side of the entry way. Marco and Jean were playing a game of chess while carrying on with casual conversation.

"Can you believe Eren?" Jean asked with a smirk when Adelaide joined them. "Do you think he’ll change his tune considering how he screwed up the aptitude pretest today?"

"Oh, come on Jean, " Marco scolded as if he was tired of hearing about Eren’s setback. "Don't be so smug. You could end up in a bad way next."

"Honestly, serves him right," Jean argued while ignoring Marco's additional comment. "He was the one spouting off in the barracks about folks needing to leave if they can't hang. Ironic. He is the one who literally cannot hang."

"Eren needs to be humbled just a little," Adelaide agreed as she took a seat on the ground. “And I’m sure today did a number on him.”

"Adelaide, here," Thomas motioned as he got up from his chair.

"Oi, Thomas, no. I'm perfectly fine sitting on the ground."

"Wow, Thomas, you didn't get up for me," Mina complained as she folded her arms and pouted.

"S-sorry Mina!" Thomas stuttered as he took a step back. "You can take it, honestly."

"Hmph, I think I will," Mina giggled as she hurried to the chair opposite of where Adelaide sat. She happily flopped down and all was suddenly right in her little world.

"I don't think Eren is the only one who needs to be humbled," Marco mentioned as he glanced up at Jean.

"Eh, what are you on about?" Jean defensively grumbled while tossing his friend a nasty glare.

Marco gently smiled as he moved one of his pieces. "You could be a little humbler yourself, Jean. That’s all I am saying."

"The hell? I may not be humble, but I am honest to a fault at least," Jean pointed out.

"Kirstein, that's an understatement," Adelaide chimed in, catching a nod of approval from everyone around her except Jean.

"Oh hey, everyone's here!" Connie exclaimed as he and Sasha joined the group. “We were kinda lost in the crowd of people. Glad to find you all.”

"Did you two do alright?" Marco asked as he waited for Jean to make his move.

"Of course, I did," Connie proudly said as he placed his hands on his hips and tilted his chin up. "I'm a damn genius after all!"

Adelaide raised her brow as she and Marco exchanged glances. "Well, might want to add that one to your list too, eh Marco?"

He grinned at her while stifling a laugh. "Connie, it's good that you made it. Would have been a shame to see a genius like you falter so early on.”

"Can't say the same for Eren Yeager," Connie sneered with a smirk about as wide as Jean’s. "He was still at it when we finished up."

"How many times did his face hit the ground?" Jean giddily asked, almost knocking the chess board off. “Tell me! Tell me please!”

"Come on guys, give him a break, for real," Marco scolded once more as he steadied the table. "Adelaide help me out here."

"Marco is right guys, knock it off. Despite his bluntness, we do need to be supportive of one another. He will be humbled now. I guarantee you; he will be a better person after today. Just give him a chance."

Jean shook his head defiantly. "Don't think I care to be supportive of that one." He and a few others glanced up for a moment and paused as the doors to the Common Hall opened again. Hush immediately fell over everyone, and all eyes were locked on the front "Speak of the devil."

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin quietly walked in. Armin avoided all glances while Mikasa seemed tense under everyone’s scrutinizing gazes. Adelaide noted the defeated expression on Eren’s face in particular and frowned. She hated to see him so broken and down. The hum of whispers began slowly from one corner of the room to the other.

"I almost feel sorry for him," Thomas admitted with a chuckle.

Adelaide sighed and stood up while her group murmured between one another.

"Huh, Skyshatter, what are you doing?" Jean asked while twirling the only piece of Marco's he'd gotten between his fingers.

"Pep talk time," Adelaide explained with a nod and dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ll return shortly.”

"Save it Adelaide, seriously," Connie advised while laughing. "He isn't worth it. Plus you'll miss Jean get his shit pushed in by Marco!"

"Excuse me!?" Jean growled. "You're lucky I'm preoccupied, dumbass."

"Gah, I can't believe she's going to talk to him," Connie groaned, ignoring Jean's remark.

“Mhmm, and that mindset right there is why she’s a good leader,” Marco pointed out while Jean made his move finally. Marco was anticipating this one. He kept a poker face even though he was internally grinning.

Reiner observed with a furrowed brow as Adelaide stood up from the right side of the room and made her way to Eren and his friends. He didn’t see her come in because he was in the middle of a conversation with Bertholdt and Annie. Not to mention, there were so many groups of people and she was a short little shit. Silently, he cursed them and everyone else for distracting him. He could have invited her over to them the moment she entered. Instead, he missed that opportunity. His irritation grew when he realized she lied about having plans too.

Despite his souring mood, he was thankful that Eren and the others sat at a table near them. Maybe she would glance his way and see him there with his less than amused expression. Maybe she would apologize and sit with him after she dealt with Eren’s mopey ass. However, Reiner noted that Adelaide was completely oblivious to him, or she knew he was there, and she chose to ignore him. Either way, Reiner was full on pouting. Annie and Bertholdt were focused on what was transpiring between Adelaide and Eren to notice.

"Come to mock me too, Skyshatter?" Eren questioned as he averted his gaze when she approached.

"Eren...don't be that way," Armin scolded. He looked apologetically to Adelaide and motioned for her to come closer. “Sit with us if you want, Skyshatter. Don’t mind Eren. It’s just been a rough day.”

"Adelaide wouldn't mock you, Eren," Mikasa stated confidently.

Adelaide sat in front of Eren and raised her brow while she studied his defensive posture. He shrunk beneath her gaze. Despite their attempts to reassure him, she was going to hit him with some real talk.

"I mean, if you'd prefer that I did mock you, I will grant your wish. I should say prior to that, I came to offer you a word of encouragement because you look like you need it."

"What could you possibly say to me that would help?" Eren asked angrily with a dagger-eyed glare. "You and Mikasa are on an entirely different level than-."

"So, first off, you need to stop comparing yourself to others, especially me. I'm on an entirely different level than most people, not just you. Swords were put into my hands the moment I was able to walk, Eren. Trust me when I say that I am practically unrivaled."

"Second, you need to toss your emotional bullshit aside and seek some logical understanding to your setbacks. You cannot transform into the soldier you so desperately desire to be if something like today's failure has you beaten and broken. To be frank, if you cannot overcome this simple hurdle, then you have no place on the battlefield fighting beside the likes of me or anyone else.”

Silence settled over the table for a moment. Adelaide's intense gaze sent a shiver down Reiner's spine as he quietly gasped at her bluntness. “Shit, Skyshatter. Can you be more straightforward?” he murmured to himself. “You’re going to make him cry or something, jeez.”

"I want to fight, damn it!" Eren growled as he slammed his fists down on the table, causing Armin and everyone else in the vicinity to jump. "It has been a dream of mine to become a Scout before Shiganshina fell. I want to see the outside of these damn walls! I'm tired of being caged!"

"Honestly, it may be time to give up on that dream," Mikasa suggested with a sigh. "You don't get to choose to be a soldier, Eren. It'll be better if you stayed out of harm’s way."

Adelaide cut her gaze to Mikasa and considered her words for a moment. "Better for whom? You, Mikasa? Certainly not Eren."

"Stop trying to shelter me, Mikasa!" Eren snapped. "I can do this! I can succeed and be useful to you and Adelaide, along with the other strong fighters. I can, and I will!"

"That's the spirit," Adelaide grinned as she slapped the flat of her hand on the table, causing Armin to jump once more. She offered an apologetic glance before continuing. "Instead of wallowing in self-pity, you have to change direction and figure out what the fuck went wrong. Approach it all from a different angle. That's tenacity, friend. That’s what will make you a soldier!"

"As for you, Mikasa. You aren’t going to stop or persuade him to do something different. You realize that, right? If not, you damn well better recognize and figure out your real role in this journey of his."

Mikasa tensed up as she regarded Adelaide. "I just want to protect him."

Adelaide took a deep breath and stood up. "I understand you; Mikasa I truly do. However, you need to realize he is his own man. You can worry about him. It's perfectly fine but fighting his battles and sheltering him will only harm you both. Consequently, it will harm the rest of us too and I'm not about letting folks die because of stupid shit that can be easily hammered out right now." She tapped her index finger on the table as she spoke to emphasize the last two words.

"I'm perfectly capable of handling everything," Mikasa adamantly argued. "So Eren doesn't have to. You saw my strength this morning."

"Mikasa, that's not what Eren wants. It's what you want." Adelaide heatedly countered. "Instead of supporting him and helping him get stronger, you are holding him back. You are also holding yourself back in the process. That's two weak links in the goddamn chain mail armor, not counting the other obvious ones." She paused and looked over towards the group surrounding Marco and Jean. "Surely you understand where I'm going with that analogy."

"She's right Mikasa," Armin reluctantly revealed. "I know you mean well...but, you could have finished alongside Adelaide in the foot race today. You held back because of us."

"Armin and I can make it in our own time." Eren stated. "Give your all, Mikasa. I'll give mine too. We can do this. We can become strong!"

"Like it or not, Mikasa, Eren is your strength and your weakness," Adelaide specified further. "And, as harsh as this is, I do not tolerate weakness by my side. You have the potential to be a phenomenal fighter. Hell, based on the precision of your strike this morning, I’m confident you could be a duelist if you so desired.”

“A duelist?” Eren questioned.

“That’s what I am. Dual wielding warriors with insane agility and speed. We can move without sound if we want. Our footing is just as precise as our strikes and our core strength is fucking ridiculous. It must be. Our fighting style is a dance like no other.”

“We will all be train in two handed combat, though,” Eren pointed out. “What makes you so special?”

Adelaide set her jaw as she fought back her anger. Reiner saw it flash in her eyes for a moment and he held his breath. “Eren, you dumbass, you’re digging your fucking grave,” he muttered under his breath. He inhaled slowly and waited to see how she would respond.

“One day, you will witness my abilities firsthand and then you will have the answer to your question,” Adelaide told him sternly. “Telling you is a waste of my time and breath. However, I will say this; you and everyone else in our training squad are just starting out in melee combat. I started when I was a small child. I trained for many years under my mentor before setting out on my own. In that time, I mastered every class of weaponry imaginable to such a degree that it scared the hell out of my village and my mentor.”

“Why?” Armin breathed. “Why would you start training that young?”

“Tradition,” Adelaide answered. “And, because it was expected of me. Trust me when I say…I would love to have had a simple childhood. But the gods decided otherwise for me. Honestly, they’ve dealt us all a real fucking lovely hand. Now, we just have to keep going forward and make it our bitch. That’s my plan anyway.”

“You don’t like to speak about your past,” Armin pointed out. “I can tell by your body language. Can I ask why?”

“You can ask, but you won’t get a straight answer,” Adelaide replied.

“At least you're upfront about it,” Eren reasoned.

“Aye, I try to be,” Adelaide replied. “I don’t like speaking about my past because I’m not proud of it. Some parts, yes, but most of it…I was a shitty fucking person, to be blunt. Now, I try to live honorably and put my talents to use defending and protect others when they ask. That’s how I ended up here.”

“You were asked to enlist?” Eren inquired in awe.

“Yep, my resume with my guild caught the attention of the commander of the Scouts. Imagine my surprise when he personally visits me while I’m working at the antique shop one day. He told me his goal. I thought it was noble enough and it aligned with my own, so, here I am.”

"Adelaide, can I train with you?" Armin asked suddenly. "I feel like you could guide me to a level where I can be strong. So, if it's not too much to ask..."

"Of course," Adelaide agreed without hesitation. “I’ll put you through hell though. It’ll make Shadis’s drills look like a dream. Are you sure? You can back out at any time too. I won’t be disappointed. A few of my guild mates had to back out of my idea of training and they are seasoned champions.”

“If you’re trying to scare me it won’t work,” Armin confidently told her. “I’m set on this.”

“You know what? Me too.” Eren chimed in.

“No,” Adelaide bluntly replied. The table fell silent again and Eren seemed hurt by her sudden response. “Eren, you don’t get to train with me until you get your shit together with the Aptitude Test. To accept you under my wing is to reward you. And right now, you don’t deserve a reward.”

Eren set his jaw for a moment as he processed her response and then he relaxed and nodded once. “Right. I will. I’ll do my best. and then, we will train together.”

"Adelaide how will you get any sleep if you do all this extra training?" Mikasa asked quickly.

Adelaide shrugged and casually replied. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"That's not funny Adelaide," Eren scolded. All she offered him was a softer version of her mischievous smile.

Mikasa inhaled and looked between Eren and Armin. "I'll be better...and Adelaide, thanks. You made me realize what I need to do to be stronger. If you help Armin, I can focus on Eren…in a healthier, more encouraging way."

"I’m glad you thought over what I had to say. As a group, we’ll be so much stronger because of the decisions made today at this table. Remember this moment. Now, Eren, as I stated, think about what went wrong today. Think about everything that could play into how and why you failed. Try again tomorrow. You've got this. All these folks here think this is the end of the line for you. Fuck'em. Prove that your perseverance is something extraordinary. Besides, I can't be the only one who willingly goes into the Scouts. You've gotta come too."

"Thank you so much, Adelaide," Eren breathed sincerely with brilliant shining eyes. "I'm sorry I was so defensive at the start. We'll make it together. I promise. I’ll prove to you that I’m worthy enough to train with you. Just you wait and see."

"What the hell, Marco!" Jean suddenly yelled as he swiped the chess board to the floor like a child. Adelaide turned her attention to the main group behind her. A knowing grin spread across her face.

"Ah, I knew that was coming. He was fucking up fierce on the board. Took Marco long enough, though. He was holding back on purpose to put Jean in false state of confidence. Clever lad, that one. Deceptively soft but mighty in the mind. Just like you Armin."

"You play Adelaide?" Armin asked as his eyes went wide and he blushed. "C-can we have a match?"

"Sure, just don't cry if I beat you. Strategy is my second calling, after all. Want to know what my third calling is? Watch. I'm an S Class Shit Starter. This is for you Eren."

"A-Adelaide, is it truly necessary?" Armin asked as she turned away.

"Probably not," Adelaide chuckled as she waved at him dismissively. "Don't worry, Armin. It'll be entertaining. I’m good about putting on a show. It's the distraction you all need."

Armin shook his head and sighed. “Just…don’t get hurt.”

"She's not for you," Eren bluntly told him when Adelaide was not within earshot. "Trust me."

"W-what do you mean? Armin asked as he blushed.

"Don't even think about it, is all I'm saying," Eren warned. "She'll chew you up and spit you out, Armin."

"It's not like that, I swear," Armin whined. "She's a natural leader...surely you see that."

"I do, and after our conversation, I don't want to disappoint her or any of you," Eren sighed as he turned his gaze to watch Adelaide while she confidently strolled toward Jean.

"Adelaide, you missed everything!" Connie laughed as he avoided a pillow being thrown in his direction. "Marco destroyed him!"

"Sucks to suck, Kirstein," Adelaide loudly said as she rejoined the group. "How the hell does someone with such a big head lose a simple game of chess in thirty minutes?"

Everyone howled with laughter while Adelaide grinned like a crocodile. She savored the heated expression Jean gave her when he snapped his head around to regard her.

"Shut the hell up, Skyshatter!" Jean yelled while he violently pointed in Marco’s direction. "He cheated!"

"Now, now, that's really unsportsmanlike of you to tarnish Marco's character after losing because of your own shortcomings. At least lose with some dignity, Kirstein."

"You want to go, Skyshatter?" Jean growled as he puffed up further and started toward her.

"Sure, Kirstein, where to?" Adelaide smoothly asked as she stared up at him, daring him to fight her.

Jean paused and shook his head. He recalled her speed when she threatened Reiner and her display of strength today made him severely apprehensive. "Nope, not going there with you."

Adelaide grinned again. "A wise decision. It's too bad, really. If you made judgment calls like this during your match, you probably would have won...or at least lasted longer."

"You know what, to hell with it!" Jean yelled as he charged in her direction. “You don’t have an axe this time! I'm kicking your ass!”

“Let’s go Kirstein, I’ve been itching for a fight!”

Reiner stood up instantly and clenched his fists. Bertholdt gasped the moment he took a step forward. "Reiner, no!" he cried as he grasped his sleeve to hold him back. Annie watched with amusement as the others all sprang up in either shock or excitement. Some discouraged the brawl, others, like Connie and Sasha whooped and hollered to encourage it. A good few circled around to get a closer look at the action.

“Adelaide!” Armin shouted as he sprang forward to get to them. “Jean! Stop!” He was blocked out of the way, almost pushed down by the crowd.

“Let go of me, Bertholdt!” Armin heard Reiner snap as he dragged the youth with him through the crowd. “I just want to watch! I'm not getting involved...unless I need to.” Armin scurried back to Eren and Mikasa before he got stepped on.

The whole area was in a chaotic frenzy. Annie huffed and stood up on the table to get a better look while Reiner and Bertholdt argued over Reiner's behavior. Adelaide bought her fists up and Annie noted her stance. It reminded her of her own, however it wasn’t as defensive. “So, you know hand to hand too…”

Jean closed the distance between them quickly, but Adelaide wasn’t fazed. The moment his fist tried to connect with her gut, she dodged casually to the side. Jean swung a few times, striking only air as Adelaide bobbed and weaved between his attempts. She vaulted back just a bit, laughing as he pursued her. He was getting nowhere, and Adelaide was toying with him. The crowd backed up to allow more space. Reiner dragged Bertholdt to the front, almost causing his shirt to rip in the process.

“Reiner seriously!” Bertholdt gasped. But he wasn’t listening. He was watching all of this unfold with extreme amusement now. His defensive, protective nature was quieted.

“Kick his ass Skyshatter!” he yelled with a raised fist, cheering her on.

“Right in the nuts!” Ymir sounded from across the way. “If he has any!”

“Ymir!” Krista whined. “Reiner! None of you should be encouraging this!”

“Ah, shit, she’s right,” Reiner muttered as he rubbed his chin in contemplation. “Okay, just kick his ass a little then Skyshatter!”

"Stand still damn it!" Jean yelled, ignoring all the side comments. “So, I can knock that smirk off your face, you silver-haired witch!”

"Hee, alright," Adelaide replied playfully. And she did as he asked. Jean went to strike. Her foot came out of nowhere and landed in his stomach, sending him flying into one of the chairs behind him. He landed roughly in a seated position. There was a squeal from the chairs legs as it skidded across the floor from the momentum. Everyone fell silent.

Adelaide regarded him for a moment. She didn't use much of her strength in the attack. He would feel a little sore, but it wasn't going to keep him down for a few days. If she didn’t hold herself back, poor Kirstein would have been in a world of hurt.

“Nice,” Reiner stated as he folded his arms in approval. Bertholdt shot him an angry glare and huffed as he went back to Annie, leaving Reiner there by himself. Of course, Reiner didn't care, he was wide eyed in awe at Adelaide and she turned the moment she heard him speak to give him a sly smile. He returned it, wanting nothing more than to step forward and become the focus of her attention. However her gaze went to Jean when he finally tried to move.

"Oof," Jean groaned as he shook his head. "Didn't even see it coming. You are fast as hell."

"Thanks, Kirstein," Adelaide laughed as she placed her hands on her hips. "I've been in enough bar fights to have some decent hand to hand fun. It isn't my strong point by any means, though. Feel a little more level now?"

"Yeah, but my pride though, not so much," Jean sighed as he placed his head in his hand. “Look at me, getting my ass kicked in chess and by a girl no taller than 5’3”. What a day.”

“Told you that you’d end up in a bad way next,” Marco stated as he stepped up next to Adelaide. “Nice moves Skyshatter. I’m impressed every time I see you do something.”

"Wow, Jean, can't believe you lasted that long," Reiner stated as interjected himself into the conversation next. "Guess you aren't as inexperienced as you look." Reiner looked to Adelaide again. “Then again, Adelaide didn’t make it easy for you. But that’s to be expected from her.”

“Didn’t think you gave out complements like that, Reiner,” Jean replied flatly. "To me, not her."

Reiner didn’t respond because he really didn’t care what Jean had to say. All he wanted was Adelaide’s attention. He was lost in Adelaide’s eyes the moment their gazes met a second time.

“I heard you cheering for me,” she said. “You probably shouldn’t be condoning such degeneracy. However, it was nice to hear.”

His expression immediately softened, and he forgot that he was mad at her. Especially when he noticed her cheeks faintly flush. A small half smile turned on the right corner of his mouth. He went to speak, but the bell rang signaling for dinner. His words would have been drowned out by the sound of everyone leaving and commenting on what just happened. He decided to save them for when he got her alone.

"Alright, chow time!" Connie announced as he rubbed his stomach. "Let's get going everyone! Five star gruel coming up!" Sasha groaned and slumped forward.

"Where's the meat?"

Adelaide turned from Reiner and offered her hand to Jean. Kirstein regarded it for a moment and then he firmly took it. "Easy does it, Kirstein," she said as she eased him from the chair. “You alright? Nothing broken?”

"I’m good as far as I can tell. You know Skyshatter, I was kinda weary of you at first, but I think I’m starting to warm up to you. I'm kinda glad you're here.”

“It only took me kicking your ass to do it, huh?” Adelaide laughed.

“Not gonna let that happen again,” Jean promised. “You can count on it. It’ll be your ass in the chair next time.”

“Now, if only you and Eren could come to the same understanding,” Marco mused.

“FUCK, that suicidal maniac!” Jean growled. Marco frantically tried shushing him. Luckily it was too loud for Eren to overhear. Adelaide placed her hand over her mouth to fight back her laughter.

Reiner huffed as Adelaide and Jean continued their conversation while they started off to the door with Marco in tow. Adelaide and him clasped their hands together like bros and gave each other one of those shit-talking pep talks. Adelaide ruffled Marco’s hair and said something about their chess match. Marco elbowed Jean in the ribs playfully causing him to snort some sort of comment. They were having one heck of a time together while Reiner remained in place, wishing that was all him. All of their interaction was just energy left over from their scuffle. Still, it left him feeling envious. It left him feeling hurt because she easily forgot about him.

For a second, he thought she paused and went to look back for him, but Mina and Thomas bombarded her immediately. They demanded her attention and whatever thought of his presence she may have had, was snuffed out. She was absorbed into the crowd of cadets, leaving him behind like he didn’t matter. He sighed, wishing more than anything he could just get her alone for a moment again. Their interaction on the field wasn’t the most pleasant and he desperately wanted to make up for it.

"Come on Reiner,” Annie called as she and Bertholdt went to the door. "Brood over it later. We don't have long to eat."

He nodded and then his eyes fell to a lone knapsack on the floor. He raised his brow as he walked over to it and noted Adelaide’s name.

"Guess fate is on my side today after all," he muttered as he went to pick it up. “Go on ahead you two. I’ll be with you in a bit. Skyshatter left something and I want to make sure she gets it.”

“Whatever,” Annie sighed as she left with Bertholdt.

When the main group got outside, Adelaide suddenly gasped when she realized she didn’t have her knapsack. "Shit, forgot something, I'll meet you there. Save me a spot."

[ibijau]

Deathbed Wedding pt3

Nie Huaisang meets with his friends, and gets to ask about certain rumours he's heard

Also on AO3

Even though he had probably left earlier than anyone else, Nie Huaisang was still late to reach the meeting point, and the last one to arrive. That, of course, was not exactly unusual. Wen Chao looked as annoyed as ever about it.

"You didn't bring anyone?" Wen Chao snapped at him in lieu of greeting. "What's even the point of inviting you if you don't also bring some competent people with you?" 

"Some other business came up," Nie Huaisang lied. "The others had to stay behind to take care of it, but I asked to still come here. I didn't want to disrespect you." 

"I wouldn't even have noticed your absence," Wen Chao retorted. 

Nie Huaisang only smiled politely. They both knew that was a lie. 

Wen Chao liked to organise grand Night Hunts for the young masters of other sects to join. With an older brother as talented as Wen Xu, it was an easy way for him to distinguish himself and make sure he didn’t fade into obscurity, which his personality wouldn’t have borne. Sadly, that same personality made it difficult for anyone to put up with him. To make it worse, there were a number of grudges on-going between the young masters of their generation, and while Wen Chao liked to boast he had the heirs of all the Great Sects coming to his Night Hunts, he lacked the diplomacy to make everyone really work together.

Meanwhile Nie Huaisang was desperately in need of joining every Night Hunt he could, and he had the skill of getting along with anyone, no matter how much he disliked them. Besides, living in an environment like Qinghe Nie had taught him early on how to deal with personal conflicts, and he was pretty good at stopping fights before they could start (or at making them worse if it suited him).

Unless Wen Chao wanted to deal with Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan's constant arguing, or with Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji's silent feud, or with everyone’s dislike of him, then he needed Nie Huaisang at his damn Night Hunts. 

And since Nie Huaisang was there at last, they could finally head out toward the location of the actual Night Hunt. Although he had many questions for Lan Wangji, and a few for Jiang Cheng as well, Nie Huaisang decided to fly next to Jin Zixuan. The conversations he needed to have with his other friends would likely have been too intense, and he wasn’t sure he could have mustered enough focus to continue flying his sabre at the same time, not when he was already a little tired. Jin Zixuan, thankfully, always appreciated a little silent companionship, and did not mind that Nie Huaisang barely said ten words to him the entire time.

It took them a good half day of flying to get where Wen Chao swore the monster they’re going to hunt has made its den. He refused to give them any details about the creature in question of course, because Wen Chao thrived on surprising people with his Night Hunts, even if it sometimes got a little dangerous as a result… but that was part of why they all came back. Wen Chao was a prick, but he always organised such good Night Hunts.

This one wasn’t off to a great start though, with Wen Chao telling them they needed to start looking for a cave somewhere in the mountain they’d just reached. It was unlike him to not know more precisely where the creature they were after had made its den, but he hyped it so well that nobody really minded. Nie Huaisang personally would have loved to rest a little first, but since nobody else seemed tired, he simply couldn’t start complaining. It was a good way to work on his endurance, he decided. 

As everyone divided in small groups to look for that cave, Nie Huaisang dumped Jin Zixuan who he’d been flying with, and went to join Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng.

“Can I search with you?” he asked innocently, trying to match their fast walking pace. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of you, so I thought we could catch up.”

“You saw us not two months ago,” Wei Wuxian retorted with a grin. “How are your ribs, by the way?”

Nie Huaisang pouted as he fell in step with them, and patted the right side of his body.

“They healed quite nicely, and da-ge never realised they were cracked instead of just bruised.”

Of course, Nie Mingjue had still scolded him a lot, even for what he’d thought to be only a minor injury. Which was very unfair, even Jiang Cheng had said it had been bad luck that day, and Jiang Cheng never said anything nice if he didn’t mean it.

Lan Wangji, who in some respects was a lot like Nie Mingjue, slowed down and frowned upon hearing of that injury.

“Nie gongzi was hurt?” he asked. The ‘again’ was left out, but so heavily implied that Nie Huaisang still heard it.

“Just a little, nothing to worry about,” Nie Huaisang replied with a bright smile. “I’m doing better and better on those Night Hunts, and everyone gets a little bruised here and there, especially at first. It’s all very normal.”

Lan Wangji’s frown deepened, and Nie Huaisang thought it better to quickly breach the subject that actually interested him before he had to deal with a lecture on safety. He hadn’t left his brother’s home just to be bothered by his friends as well.

“So, Wangji-xiong, how is your brother these days?”

Immediately, the atmosphere changed. Lan Wangji’s expression hardened, while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian exchanged a nervous glance. Nie Huaisang noticed it, and forced himself to continue smiling as if he couldn’t see it.

“I do hope he’s well,” he said lightly. “And your uncle too. Your father as well, I suppose,” he added with a small laugh. “I haven’t had much news from Gusu lately, how sad. Won’t you tell me what’s happening in the Cloud Recesses?”

The other three boys tense further, avoiding his eyes. Nie Huaisang felt his cheeks start to hurt from the effort of keeping his smile on, but he refused to break. He refused to ask if the rumours were really true.

He didn’t need to ask when their faces said it all. 

He didn’t want to ask, but he wanted to hear the answer anyway.

“Nie-xiong, don’t play that game,” Wei Wuxian snapped, poking him in the side, eliciting a slight grimace. His ribs were almost fully healed, but still a little sensitive. “You know it’s annoying when you pretend not to know things. You’ve heard already, haven’t you?”

“Only fools listen to gossip, Wei-xiong,” Nie Huaisang, fighting the impulse to take out a fan to comfort himself. “What am I supposed to know?”

Wei Wuxian, in a rare moment of good sense, bit his lip to stay silent. He looked at Jiang Cheng, even more uneasy than himself, then at Lan Wangji, who was visibly uncomfortable as well.

It was Lan Wangji who broke first. Gusu Lan’s rules demanded honesty, after all.

“Father has been going to Lotus Piers recently,” he announced. “There is discussion of an engagement between xiongzhang and Jiang guniang.”

Nie Huaisang stumbled against a tree root and would have fallen face first if Jiang Cheng hadn't caught him.

Even if rumours had reached him, to hear it said so plainly from Lan Wangji was more than he truly felt really to handle. It shouldn’t have surprised him though.

Back then, Qingheng-Jun had made it clear that he wasn’t willing to let his sons marry just anyone. Ideally he preferred for them to have a spouse who would bear them children (which almost had made Nie Huaisang laugh when he’d heard it: Lan Xichen might agree out of duty, but good luck getting Lan Wangji to obey). He was not entirely opposed to a sterile union though, as long as that spouse agreed to the presence of concubines to continue the line (Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen, who had already discussed the issue before even asking for that engagement, had already figured it would be required). 

The real problem though, the issue that had been a deal-breaker for Qingheng-Jun when Nie Mingjue had approached him on behalf of his half-brother, was that he believed his sons should only marry someone of great cultivation skill, as he was convinced that an unbalanced match could only lead to trouble down the line.

Nie Mingjue had argued that it would be a good political alliance, that Nie Huaisang brought other skills to the table, that the two young people had been deeply in love for close to two years at that point, but none of it had mattered. Qingheng-Jun had rejected the engagement, because Nie Huaisang just wasn’t good enough.

For months now Nie Huaisang, furious and humiliated that the qualities he did have were overlooked, had worked hard to improve himself and show Qingheng-Jun that he was worthy of Lan Xichen. He was getting there, he knew he was getting there, if only he could get a little more time, a few more Night Hunts, another couple of chances to prove that he could be a real cultivator when he just bothered...

“It’s nothing certain yet,” Jiang Cheng remarked when Nie Huaisang remained silent for too long. “My mother is interested, but my father is saying he didn’t break off the engagement with Jin Zixuan just to push my sister in the arms of another boy who wouldn’t favour her.”

“Xiongzhang is unwilling,” Lan Wangji agreed. “There have been arguments. Xiongzhang raised his voice against father.”

Nie Huaisang managed a weak smile. Lan Xichen wasn’t the sort to stand up against his elders, least of all against a father who rarely meddled in his sons’ lives but expected total obedience when he did. This situation was less than ideal, but Nie Huaisang felt a twisted sort of joy upon hearing that in his own way, Lan Xichen too was fighting for their future.

Still, even if negotiations with the Jiangs didn’t work out in the end, it was clear now that Qingheng-Jun was looking to marry his son, and there would be plenty of candidates. Nie Huaisang really needed to step up and do something extraordinary, and he needed to do it soon.

“Let's keep looking for that cave,” he said, a new spring in his step. “I don't want Wen Chao to find it first, you know he's just going to be insufferable if he does!”

The other three agreed, and redoubled their efforts, though they also all kept an eye on Nie Huaisang who, for once, didn't notice it. He had bigger things to worry about.

That monster Wen Chao had promised them had better be something truly legendary, because Nie Huaisang had a father-in-law to convince.

[randomoranges]

part 2

goes after bleu comme le st-laurent and before rouge comme le sang qui nous passe à travers

Blanc comme l’hiver

July 4th 2021

 Edward lets out a content little sigh and twines his legs with Étienne’s. He’s forgotten how much he enjoys mornings like these where they lounge in bed, without a care in the world, and where lazy kisses turn to slow morning sex. He wishes, not for the first time, that the distances between Montréal and Edmonton wouldn’t be as big, if only to see his boyfriend more often. Still, he supposes that it’s gotten easier over the years, but he still would like to have more of these mornings in his life.

 “Hey,” He starts, a thought coming up to the surface of his happy daze to nag at him, “D’you think it’s cliché?” He asks, knowing full well that his question has come from nowhere and that Étienne will have no clue as to what he’s asking. His boyfriend gives him a questioning look and Edward smiles softly, before making himself comfortable against Étienne’s chest, ghosting his fingers over shamrocks and thistles alike. He’d reach for a rose or a lily, but they’re out of reach from this position.

 “Whenever we visit each other, it seems as though more often than not, the first thing we do is get into bed together.” He’d noticed it before and he’s noticed it now. It seemed that regardless of destination, after polite greetings, they’d end up naked in bed – and sometimes they’d get each other off elsewhere. It isn’t that he minds, far from it, but –

 He feels Étienne’s chest rumble with his quiet chuckle and looks up in time to see him grin down at him.

 “Nah, I don’t think so.” He replies, easy as that and starts tracing imaginary patterns on Edward’s back. It works, in a way, and soothes him for a moment. “The way I see it is – we haven’t seen each other in a long while when it happens. I missed you. You missed me. We both seem to be people who enjoy sex and we enjoy it with each other so it makes sense to go for it. We both want to – so, I don’t think there’s anything wrong or cliché about it.”

 He settles back against Étienne and ponders his words. He supposes his boyfriend has a point. He had missed Étienne. He just – doesn’t want Étienne to find him – predictable. Or find him boring. Old insecurities that keep resurfacing – nothing new there.

 “Promise I’d tell you if I didn’t want to and I’m hoping you’d do the same with me?”

 He nods, quick to assure him. They’re in a better place now – one where they use actual words to convey thoughts and emotions. It’s still a work in progress, but – they’re getting there, one trip at a time.

 “There, you see – not cliché. If it makes you feel better, I very much enjoyed what we did yesterday and this morning.” He presses a scraggly kiss to his cheek and Edward leans in afterwards to rub his face against Étienne’s beard. It feels good. Foreign yet familiar.

 Étienne chuckles at his antics, and just because he can, kisses him again.

 “What d’you want to do today?”

 There’s no game today, so they can spend the day whichever way they want and Edward would like to spend it here, in Étienne’s room, with Étienne holding him close. Yet, he knows his boyfriend will get restless, and quite frankly, so will he. Still, it’s a nice fantasy and he doesn’t mind indulging in it for a little longer.

 “What’s the weather supposed to be like?”

 “Hot and humidity will kick in.”

 Edward grimaces at that, but thankfully, Étienne has the means to deal with the extreme heat and humidity.

 “In that case, I want to get acquainted with your pool. Yesterday’s weather was inappropriate for that and we were otherwise busy.” They share a knowing laugh at that, but Edward makes no move to get out of bed just yet. “But, it doesn’t have to be right now either – perfectly fine where I am – cliché or not.”

 Étienne grinns and pulls him closer for a proper kiss.

 --

 It’s later, much later – perhaps hours and days and weeks later, when Edward finally steps out to the backyard. (But it couldn’t have been days and weeks later. The playoffs are still happening. This is just a minor break between maelstroms.)

 He gasps when he gets a proper look at the backyard and marvels at how different it looks from his last visit here.

 “Everything okay?” Étienne asks as he joins him, towels in one hand (one Habs, the other not), and a pitcher filled with ice and reusable water bottles in the other.

 “You weren’t kidding when you said you were fixing up the backyard!” It looks – completely different from any iteration of it he had ever seen. The only benchmark that reminds him that this was Étienne’s backyard is the giant maple tree in the far back, proving part of the yard with shade, the fence, the shed and the overall layout of the yard. Other than that, Edward could have passed it off as someone else’s place.

 “Ah, yeah, well, I figured I might as well invest in this place. I mean – it’s nice to have a decent place where you can unwind – or something?” He sounds a little unsure of himself, almost as if he’s embarrassed, as he puts the water and the towels down.

 There hadn’t been much to this space, back when Edward had visited it often. The shed, a rickety old white plastic table, two mismatched chairs, and an ashtray. The grass and whatever other greenery had been left at the mercy of Mother Nature and had suffered through heat waves and droughts alike. However, now, it’s lush, verdant and well maintained. Even the old tree looks in better shape than it ever did.

 There’s a small garden, by the looks of it, where once there’d been a half dead shrub, alongside the fence. It seems as though a small fruit tree has been added at the end of it, but it’s still too soon and he’s still too far to be able to tell what fruit it will bear. Even the shed, despite being the same as it was twenty years ago, seems to have gotten a second life, but it may just be the roof shingles that have been changed. There’s been laborious work put into this yard and it doesn’t stop there.

 The pool, on the other side, is obviously the biggest novelty to the place. An idea, much like many other people, born from last year’s lockdown that Étienne had decided to splurge on. He’d picked a semi-in ground pool and even though it isn’t the biggest of pools, it certainly would do the trick during the hot summer days. And of course, because it’s Étienne, he’d gone for a unique shape that fits perfectly with his backyard. There’d been more than one video call made from the comforts of his new pool and Edward had dreamed of being able to jump in it, while he’d suffered through the heat wave just last week.

 Back on the patio section, Étienne had finally retired his old table and chairs and had invested in something nicer that could accommodate a bigger crowd. The table and chairs seem sturdier and even more comfortable. The entire patio section, which is shaded off thanks to Étienne’s upstairs tenant own patio, has an air of coziness and comfort. He could easily picture his boyfriend lounging on his outdoor couch and start a small fire at night in his outdoor fireplace, or pull out the hammock in the sunnier section to lay in it, or maybe even sit in those impossible positions he often takes in his egg shaped hanging chair.

 “Life’s too short to have a shitty backyard,” He jokes and Edward looks back to his boyfriend and smiles softly at him. He sees beyond only this investment, but also sees how Étienne’s been slowly reinvesting in his own city in his own way. It’s still a work in progress, but Edward knows how careful Étienne has been in reinventing his own city. He’s proud – of him and of the progress he’s made and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever find the right words to express just how proud he is of Étienne.

 “Are those wild roses?” He asks to deflect from his own thoughts and emotions, as he makes his way closer to the plants and greenery that Étienne has planted, “And – marigolds?” He turns to face his boyfriend, disbelief evident as he takes in stock of what it is that’s been planted and that is growing. Once more, it seems, Étienne has managed to surprise him in his own way, with these quiet skills he’s kept to himself after all these years.

 “Maybe,” Étienne teases and joins his side. If his cheeks are a little pink, neither comment on it for now, “If it makes you feel better, I have the obligatory irises growing as well – their blooming season is over though.”

 They laugh, at the ridiculousness of the statement and stand side by side to watch the leaves sway gently in the breeze.

 “I realised,” Étienne starts again softly, playing with the string of his bathing suit, “That I enjoy puttering in the backyard. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and it gives me something to focus on that isn’t one of the millions of problems running free in my head. It – grounds me, pardon the pun.” He puffs, self-amused and Edward takes his hand and laces their fingers together.

 “If you enjoy it, then I say, go for it.”

 Étienne gives him a brilliant smile in exchange and Edward’s insides go soft at the sight.

 He gets it though, the sometimes-mindless work of tending a garden that somehow takes you out of your own head. It’s why he’s always liked it. Gets him to think about what he’s doing and watching the garden grow and take shape is rewarding in its own way. Even if there are some issues he cannot fix in the world, he can still tend to his garden and watch it thrive and grow – problem solve when needed and see it flourish. He gets it, really.

 “So, how about that swim?” He asks, before the moment can grow heavy and change into something else entirely different. Étienne tugs on his hand gently and leads him back to where the pool eagerly awaits for them.

 FIN

[stars-are-just-ghosts]

A World Full of Bullies, and the Four Kids Who Never Stop Fighting Them

This is a story about my four children and the small town they live in, a story about bullies and the people who stand up to them. Let me start by introducing the four of them. We’ll refer to them as the Sibling Mafia (this will be important later.) Each of them is as unique as the different parts of a harmony. They grew up closer than close. Best friends, siblings, confidants. They have their moments of disagreement, sibling rivalry, chaos. But there doesn’t go a day without them seeking out one another’s opinions and comfort. Theirs is a bond that can’t be replicated, or completely understood. The 17 year old, we’ll call her ‘Red,’ is the only girl in the bunch. She’s an artistic bisexual disaster (her words, not mine,) she’s riddled with equal parts anxiety and hope, and she holds her own like you wouldn’t believe (she’s surrounded by guys in her work, and out does them at every turn.) She’s five-foot-zero inches of kickass and love. And there isn’t a single person who can hold her back when she wants something. She’s had a rough several years, found herself beaten down to her most fractured level. But she fought back with every ounce of strength available to her and clawed her way back to the surface. She’s thriving. She’s scared. She’s dreaming of her future. (Her brothers have so often looked up to her, I think Red often feels like she’s surrounded by puppy dogs who would willingly battle-rush the world if it ever failed her.)  The 18 year old boy, we’ll call him ‘Blue,’ has high functioning autism and social communications disorder. The world is full of lines he’s steadily trying to figure out how to cross without changing the flow he relies on. From working in the adult world, to trying to hold on to the childhood he isn’t quite ready to let go of, Blue still manages to find the space and time to be the big brother he’s always been. It’s the most important thing to him. More important than his love for just about anything else. That has always been his choice. There isn’t a single one of his siblings that he doesn’t love ferociously. And though his emotions are sometimes tumultuous, he always finds a way to make what he really feels known to those closest to him. 

The 14 year old, we’ll call him ‘Purple,’ is a trans (female to male), bisexual, magnetic ray of absolute fricken sunshine. It’s impossible not to want to know more about him, to laugh with him, to share in his infectious well of joy. There isn’t a mean bone in his body, not a single inch of hatred in his DNA. From the moment he was born, he had a smile on his face. The world was his to make happy. And even though these last few years have been one hell of a confusing ride for him, he’s never stopped looking at the world around him like it’s something he wants to change for the better. The  almost-11 year old, we’ll call him ‘Green,’ is a pint sized sarcastic ball of genius who doesn’t see just how important he is to the people around him. His comedy is endless, a shield to protect himself and others from the nastier things life tries to throw. He’s smarter than the average 11 year old, but refuses to jump ahead a grade or two because he ‘just wants to enjoy school.’ And though he likes to pretend that he can handle everything that comes his way, there are times when it’s easy to see how young he truly is. It’s those moments that his siblings are his anchor to an uncertain universe, the chains that keep his gravity from failing him. And they are the epitome of his best friends, his comfort, his home. Red, Blue, Purple and Green have a lot in common. From Red and Purple loving art and music, to Green and Blue loving video games, to all four loving DnD night. They love to adventure together, to share inside jokes, to create beautiful mayhem on a daily basis. They love to learn together, to forget to do their chores together, to ask the world to ‘listen, dammit’ -together.  They also have trauma in common. Losses of those they loved, pains they’ve all had to feel, things a parent can’t protect them from... And there is so goddamn much I wish I could have protected them from. When Blue was in middle school, there was a boy, we’ll call him ‘Misunderstood.’ To him, Blue’s autism made him a prime target in the bullying arena. Like some other kids, Misunderstood would say mean things, call Blue names, make him momentarily feel like he would never fit into the world he so desperately wanted to be a part of. But what Misunderstood didn’t know was that Blue had a better world around him already, one that would come to save him when it counted most.  One day in gym class, Blue was playing basketball with his friends. He tossed the basketball, and it didn’t quite go where Blue was expecting. It sailed at Misunderstood and hit him in the head. It didn’t matter to Misunderstood that it was an accident. All that mattered was this could be a perfect excuse for retaliation. He closed the distance on Blue and punched him in the head. He knocked him out. But in that same moment, Blue’s friends and sister ran to the rescue. They rallied around him, chased Misunderstood away. Protected their friend and brother, because they knew that was exactly what Blue would have done for them. Because Blue is the sort of person to give a stranger the shirt off his back if they really needed it. Something of which Misunderstood couldn’t see. Imagine my terror when I got a phone call from the police. It was a sobering sight to see police cars and an ambulance when I squealed into the school parking lot. There is no way to explain the feelings of helplessness and fury I was inundated with. You know, logically, that your children will break bones and get stitches and have broken hearts and nightmares and a myriad of other pains that are simply a part of life. And you also know, unfortunately, that bullies exist. You never think that anything like this can happen, until it does, however. That’s not naivete. It’s not denial. It’s the hope that the world might not just be as awful as you think it is. Knowing that world proved that hope wrong, even for a moment, makes you want to wrap your children up in your arms and never let go. But that’s not how life works. There isn’t an excuse for what Misunderstood did. But there are things to understand. I can raise my children to be good, caring, kind people. But I have no say in what happens in other children’s lives. Was Misunderstood being cared for? Did he have parents who gave a shit about him? Or was he neglected? Was he lacking the resources to explain and feel his emotions properly? Was his life hell, and he just needed someone to see? I asked myself those things, trying to understand. I even asked the other adults in charge of the situation. But because Misunderstood was a minor, I had no legal right to know. It turned out, in the end, that Misunderstood was expelled. His parents moved him to a different school district. And Blue was left with the question he always seemed to ask when another child chose him to target: ‘Why me, Mom?’

There is no why. Because, like I said, nothing excuses what happened. What I wanted him to focus on was what happened inside the event. And what happened was loyalty, love, friendship and the coming together of individuals to stand up to a bully. Now, at 18 years old and nearly six feet, Blue still has those friends. And he has the lesson they taught him, not the one that Misunderstood wanted to teach. And he doesn’t ask ‘Why me, Mom?’ anymore. He asks, ‘Why not me?’ as he now steps in when someone needs protection. Most recently, Purple, my 14 year old, has had to face bullying of his own. Purple didn’t come out till a year and a half ago, and the daily progress to being the person he wants to be has been beautiful and brilliant. But there is another boy, who we’ll call ‘Unwarranted,’ who has pulled out all the stops to make Purple feel panic, anxiety, terror.  Back when covid was nearly past its first upsweep and all the schools were still closed down, Purple was desperately missing his friends. It was agreed, after a fair deal of hashing out the precautions, that he could see one of his best friends at the park. Purple hadn’t come out yet at that point, still struggling with what it would mean for all the relationships in his life. But the idea of seeing someone who he literally grew up with after being so long apart was too good for him to pass up. They met at the local park, a couple of other friends catching up with them there, and they hung out.  It was supposed to be an innocent, happy time for a kid who only ever tried to make people happy. It ended in police involvement and kids being physically hurt. Unwarranted had shown up with two much older kids. But the part he played was entirely his choice as all three terrorized the younger kids, with words and with physical threats that ended with large rocks being thrown. One child was hit in the head. My child was hit in the side. Both of them ended up hurt. All while they were running to Purple’s friend’s house for safety.  Unfortunately, there was so little we could do. It didn’t happen on school grounds, so the schools couldn’t be involved. The police couldn’t tell me much more other than they knew who the three bullies were, having been in trouble with the police before. And I couldn’t know anything else because they were minors. To protect my child, I couldn’t let him go to the park alone anymore. I drove him everywhere. I tried to help him forget. And over time, he did. Until the beginning of this school year. Purple started his Freshman year looking for new beginnings. He’d already firmly cemented himself in coming out, was totally authentic in who he is and who he wants to be. His friends are still his friends, completely accepting and loving him. And he tackled his first week of school with intensity and excitement.  In the back of my mind, however, I had never forgotten what happened at the park. The mother in me held on to it, because I couldn’t take the risk that something worse could happen. I hadn’t been able to protect or avoid what happened to Blue. But maybe I could protect Purple. I got in contact with the new principal at the high school, explaining the situation and that I did not want Purple to be in any classes with Unwarranted. He vehemently agreed. Purple doesn’t have a single class with him. It’s worked out well. Or it did, until they passed each other in the hall. In that brief moment, when classes were changing and kids were hurrying through the halls, Unwarranted took it upon himself to pick right up where he left off. Except now, Unwarranted isn’t the same size as Purple. He’s over six feet, athletic, and knows how intimidated Purple already was by him. The result was Purple incoherent with fear. There’s a reason I have referred to all four kids together as the Sibling Mafia. Because if you hurt one of them, you hurt all of them. And there’s hell to pay. Red and Blue, who are both Seniors at the high school, heard about the incident almost immediately. (It’s a small town, so small school, and word travels fast.) They didn’t go to their next classes. They took Purple to the office instead, and demanded something be done. They wanted answers and a resolution, and they wanted it fast. I received a phone call about it all from the guidance counselor who was just gushing over the bond they all shared, and the way they’d rallied around Purple. But it wasn’t just Red and Blue who rallied. It was their friends.  You see, if you’re friends with one of them, you’re friends with all of them. And in a place like this, it grows exponentially. So many people love Purple, and Red, and Blue, and Green. And it shows. The principal and counselor and school resource officer worked on a plan to keep Purple and Unwarranted from ever crossing paths. It was good. It was a start. Unfortunately, it did nothing for when the kids were walking home from school. Because Unwarranted decided to make prodding and inappropriate comments while walking behind him. Only, this time Blue and his best friend, we’ll call him ‘Orange,’ and two of Purple’s friends were there to do something about it. Because Unwarranted had a lot to say when he knew Purple was too scared to retaliate. (Red was with a friend, but was furious when she found out.) But being faced with the reality of a whole group who were more than capable of protecting Purple made him back right off. No fists were thrown. No one got hurt. And everyone made it home safely. 

And Purple came to me, despite his fear and wariness, to ask... ‘What if something is wrong with Unwarranted? What if something happened at home to make him act this way? Maybe we can help...’ My response was to breathe. To stare at this kid of mine, because the compassion in those words made my heart hurt. Here was this boy who was obviously being terrorized by someone else, and all he could think about was making sure that bully was okay? I told Purple, ‘You have no idea how amazing your heart is.’ I told him, ‘I don’t know what might be going on with Unwarranted. And it’s wonderful of you to want to help. But you also have the right to be safe, whether you’re in school or walking on the streets. You have the right to have a happy learning experience without fear of being cornered in the hallways. For now, as much as I know you want to figure it all out, my priority is making sure that you are safe.’ He nodded, hugged me, and went about his day.

I read somewhere once that bullies are predators. They will go after what appears to them to be the weakest prey. Trying to stop a bully by teaching a child to stand up to them is like teaching the weakest gazelle to be stronger. The predator will not stop going after the weakest prey, it will only stop going after that target. But what if that target was never weak to begin with? Purple may not have the physical attributes of a football player or a wrestler. But he’s got something even better. He’s a wolf with a pack who would be lesser without his knowledge and love. And there’s nothing that pack wouldn’t do to protect him, just like there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make their lives better. The Sibling Mafia extends beyond blood, it seems.  Now you might be wondering, where’s the almost-11 year old Green in all this? Green came into the first three’s lives when Purple was a little under three years old. At that point, they were already bonded and closer than I could have ever imagined. But the second Green’s little wiggly self came home, the change was immediate and overwhelming. Not in a bad way, not even remotely. You see, that bond transformed. It grew, it solidified, it settled into a whole new identity. It somehow made them far more whole than any of us realized they could be. Because all three older kids had lessons to teach and love to give, and with Green they could do all that together. Without any encouragement from me, because kids don’t need to be raising other kids, Green grew up being the literal center of their world. And they all loved each other more because of it. Green is just a little guy. He’s small and skinny and scrappy, full of wit and genius that often leaves the rest of us wondering where he got it from. He looks at his siblings like he wants to give them the universe. And he goes through life like he might just give it a reason to wise up to the possibility of goodness if it tries hard enough. Nothing holds him down for long. Events, losses, physical injury. He bounces back so fast that the rest of us get whiplash. 

But what happens when an event causes loss and physical injury at the same time?

Just this past week, the kids were walking home from school. Red has Senior release, which allows her to get out of school early most days. So it was just Blue, Purple and Green, walking with their friend Orange.  In the past, there have been bullies. Two of which I have mentioned. But some never made it to the ‘something we really have to worry about’ stage. One of these bullies, particular to Blue, decided it was time to graduate to that stage in a very dangerous way. We’ll call him, ‘Mistake.’ Because what he chose to do was a big mistake on his part. The kids had made it to just before the opening of our neighborhood. They were on the sidewalk. They’d been carefree, joking, laughing, talking, when a vehicle suddenly sped its way toward them on the road. The vehicle had a passenger and a driver: Mistake. And as Mistake accelerated, one of them threw a full bottle of Powerade out the window as hard as he could. We’re fairly certain he was aiming for Blue. 

It hit Green instead.  At that speed, with that much force, something as innocuous as a bottle of liquid can do real damage. It was only sheer luck that it hit Green in the leg. If it had hit him in the head, we’d all be sitting in a hospital room right now keeping vigil. That being said, Green is small. He’s skinny. The impact to his leg was enough to damage the muscles in his thigh. You can see the impact point, a literal imprint of the bottle on his skin. The bruising is very clear. The recovery will be slow. The first thing Green did was cling to Purple. Orange and Blue yelled after the car, but it had sped quickly away. The boys managed to get Green home right away. I had been working at my computer. And the next thing I knew, Green is in my arms, incoherent and in pain, crying so hard his whole body was shaking. Calling the police was an easy decision. Trying to hide my instant and unbridled rage was so much harder. The police are treating this as assault on a minor. The bottle was collected as evidence. Green was evaluated by physicians and will thankfully make a full physical recovery. But the emotional damage seems to be much worse. Green is not himself. He’s clingy, he’s worried, he’s having nightmares. He doesn’t want to walk home anymore, even knowing his brothers and Orange are there to protect him. His birthday is barely a week away, and he is trying so hard to be enthusiastic about it. But the bruise and pain in his leg keep offering reminders. The idea of leaving school grounds without one of his siblings or me makes him panic. And the light of innocence in his eyes is that much duller.

It was a senseless, useless act. One that’s rattled us all. 

Blue and Purple are blaming themselves, as though they should have been able to see it coming and protect Green. Red is angry that she didn’t just wait to walk with them, as though her being there would have stopped it altogether. Their grandparents, friends, teachers, counselors, and even random people I have never heard of are all up in arms. They want someone to pay. I think Green just wants to pretend it never happened at all. 

To be honest, I want Mistake to pay, too. Because it doesn’t matter who he was aiming at, this was clearly assault. Clearly intended to do harm. And I’m tired of feeling like I can’t protect my children.  When did the world become so cruel? When did parents stop teaching their children that kindness is not a weakness? When will I ever feel okay with sending my children out into such an unforgiving world? I know I’m angry. In fact, I’m enraged. But... I also still have hope. Green’s birthday is steadily approaching. The kids are doing everything they can think of to make him smile again, make him laugh, prove he’s loved and, most of all, safe. They’re using their hard earned money to get him gifts, to surprise him with a puppy they’re buying themselves, to give him his normalcy back. And I’m watching them hold on to each other through it all. Like they always have. Like, I hope, that they always will. The future is coming at them quickly. Red, Blue and Orange want to get an apartment together after high school. Purple and Green have decided they want to live together forever. And they’ve all decided that they have to make time, once a week or more, to be back under one roof.  We live in a small town, but they’re going to move on outside of it. Because the world outside of it is big, and they are well aware of that fact. They want to tackle it in their own way, individually and together. They want to see where this life takes them, no matter what tries to stop them. And they want to share that journey with each other, and with anyone who wants to be a part of it. I never could have predicted how close those four amazing kids would become, or how much they’ve already changed the world just by being who they are. They’re my hope, you see. In a world where anyone can be cruel, they choose to be kind. They choose to be the example by which everyone around them learns what kindness is. Misunderstood, Unwarranted, and Mistake are learning about kindness, too. Whether they realize it or not. Because in their misunderstood existence, in their unwarranted actions, in their irreversible mistakes, the kindness of the Sibling Mafia seems to be far more powerful.  This is a story about a world full of bullies and the four kids who never stop fighting them. One act of love, kindness, and hope at a time...