#I wanted to try to watch ch 2 today but I don’t think I can cuz then I’ll actually start bawling RAGGGGHH

[bizarrescribblez]

I got hit with the Stan feelings today after going to the Halloween store and I had to stop going through my ship tag cuz I was FR about to 🥲 IM SUCH A SENSITIVE PERSON I SWEAR I just missed it sm but I like miss that era/time frame when it came out and just RAHHGH idk I’m just being emotional over it is all..

[suosgirl]

Keeping It Cute (& Dangerous) - Hayato Suo x Reader | Ch. 5

Word Count: 6197

୨ৎ Read me before interacting!

୨ৎ Pairing: Hayato Suo x Reader feat. Haruka Sakura, Akihiko Nirei, Taiga Tsugeura, Mitsuki Kiryu, Hajime Umemiya, Kotoha Tachibana

୨ৎ Warnings: mdni, smut, f!reader, manga spoilers (?), ooc (?), fighting, slowburn, penetrative sex, use of f!bodied language, teasing, creampie, squirting, oral (fem!receiving) praising, pet names, filth, 2 stubborn idiots falling for each other – if I’ve missed one, I apologize + please let me know!

୨ৎ Note: Long ass chapter. There's smut in here. I'm delirious - but happy. Hugs and kisses for all who waited hehe! ♡♡♡

୨ৎ Keeping it Cute (& Dangerous) Masterlist

“You don’t have to be so careful Hayato – I won’t break ~” He hums thoughtfully, before bending down to whisper in your ear. “And if I do? Break you, that is.” That catches you off guard. You laugh, loud and boisterous – “Then I expect you to fix what you break, pretty boy.”

Every couple of months, Bofurin holds a sparring match within their ranks.

It’s meant to be fun, friendly, and maybe just a little competitive. But, the main intention? To see where everyone is strength-wise. No one’s meant to get roughed up so badly that they’re out of commission.

At least, that's what you’d thought when Umemiya had extended the invitation to you. Still, as you stand in the sweltering, stuffy gymnasium room surrounded by the grunts and groans of the skirmishes going around you, you’re not so sure.

Granted, no one’s fighting with malicious intent, but you can feel how serious everyone is, and you’re starting to wonder now if your presence is really as needed as Umemiya made it sound.

“I think it’d be good for you to be there. It’ll be a nice change of pace for everyone!”

And it’s not because you don’t want to fight. Quite the opposite, actually.

You were itching for it – willing, ready, and eager to pounce. You couldn’t even remember the last time you’d been able to let loose and enjoy the thrill of a well-matched scrimmage.

No… it’s because you were fully convinced that you’d absolutely obliterate most of them. 

Within just a few minutes of observation, you’d assessed the fighting styles, expertise, and strength levels of almost all of the matches happening throughout the gym.

This wasn’t to say that anyone in the gym was weak. No, they were all incredibly strong – some intimidatingly so. But, you knew how to use their strength against them, how to parry, how to defend – which was so much more dangerous. 

And now, you’re starting to get it – why Umemiya invited you.

Sparring against the same opponents year after year could only permit so much growth, but you, a wild card, could prove to be difficult.

You let out a small smile.

Alright, you were game. 

You were so game.

“Heyyyy! Didn’t know you were coming – I call dibs on your first match!”

Tseguera’s calling for you from where he’s sparring with Kiryu, and you chuckle at the sour look on Kiryu’s face.

“Tsuge-chan, I’m fighting you right now – shouldn’t you be focused on me?”

“Oh! Ha, sorry Kiryu-kun, you’re right! Okay, I’m ready, hit me again!”

Kiryu, exasperated, sends a weary but good-natured smile your way, and you send him your condolences.

“Sure, sure — let me warm up first!”

You nod to everyone who you pass as you make your way to where Nirei’s got a table set up with refreshments and disposable cups. He’s got his notebook in his hand, furiously taking notes as he watches all the fighting unfold.

“Hi Ni,” you greet him with an affectionate pat on his head, and he leans into your touch.

God, just like a puppy. 

“Hi! Happy you’re here! You don’t work today?”

You drop your bag on the floor behind him and gather your hair into a tight ponytail. 

You can feel Suo’s eye on you, but you’re not sure from where – and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction of watching you try to find out.

Besides… what would be the fun in that?

“Nah, Kotoha said she’d cover my shift today so that I could come. What’s in the jugs?”

You stretch out your arms and roll back your shoulders before tilting your head from side to side.

Your little game with Suo was still in full swing, but you had to admit, you were starting to crack just a bit. Every touch lasting a little too long, every whisper cutting a little too short – but you knew, Suo was losing his composure too (if the way he was finding it harder and harder to not follow you into your apartment at the end of every shift was anything to go by).

You were starting to grow restless, but your pride stopped you every time – because you were set on him giving in first, not you. 

“Oh! I’ve got sports drinks and barley tea for optimal hydration! Want some?”

“Ah… I’m okay Ni, thank you though! Have you just been watching everyone?”

Nirei turns to you in excitement, ready to prattle off about all the learning he’s been doing and all the notes he’s been taking, but the words die out as soon as he lays his eyes on you.

Because – you’d taken your sweatpants and jacket off. 

You’d taken your sweatpants and jacket off, and all you had underneath those two bulky layers was a tight long sleeve and even tighter shorts. 

And Nirei is just – well, he’s just caught off guard is all. 

… and you looked very pretty, very cool, very strong.

His (surprising) lack of response has you looking up from where you’re seated on the floor, but you continue stretching out your legs.

“Ni, did you hear me? I asked if you’ve just been watching everyone?”

All Nirei can offer back is a strangled uh-huh, and now you’re starting to get a bit worried. 

Standing up, you repeat his name once more as you press the back of your hand to his forehead.

“Oh… is it too hot in here? Do you have a fever? You feel so warm –”

Adept, familiar fingers are wrapped around your wrist before you can diagnose any further.

“Sorry bunny, it seems like Nire-kun’s a bit overheated right now. How about we let him cool down?”

You turn to Suo with your lips parted in surprise at his sudden appearance, but you let him pull your arm away from Nirei before enveloping your hand in his. 

You peek down at your conjoined hands.

He was totally breaking.

(You are too, but the longer you can deny it, the better.)

“Hayato, did you come over to help me stretch?”

There’s a playful sparkle in your eyes that Suo knows is only reserved for him, and it makes him smile.

He hums in thought while his thumb softly strokes over yours, but you can see it – the hint of mischief on his lips.

“Depends bunny – what part of you needs stretching?”

You bite your lip with a coy flutter of your lashes, even though you and Suo both know that you’re anything but demure.

“All of it – every inch.”

He blinks at your words, but there’s a weight to them – it’s slow, drawn out, and ravenous.

You feel lightheaded just maintaining eye contact with him.

Thankfully (or not, you’re not quite sure yet), Tseguera’s calling out your name before Suo can further double down with an equally suggestive response.

You give him an apologetic smile before balancing on your tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

“Aw – I was really looking forward to you stretching me out Hayato, but I guess there’s always next time ~” 

Just because he couldn’t double down doesn’t mean you couldn’t. 

All is fair in love and war, you suppose. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

As you make your way to Tseguera, you don’t miss the trailing of eyes that follow you in your wake. 

Eyes full of curiosity with a hint of skepticism. 

Granted, you didn’t know everyone in the gym, but you knew a handful – at least, enough to be invited here. 

The stares don’t phase you – in fact, they add more fuel to the fire. You were going to show them that you were someone to remember. 

Fighting was your bread and butter, and you’d be damned if you let anyone else think differently – because you were your brother’s sister, and you kicked fucking ass.

You bow to Tseguera to show your respect, before assuming your position. 

And then – 

Everything changes. 

You hear the comforting voice of your brother in your ear, and it eases any hints of anxiety that you might’ve had leading up to your first match of the day. 

You breathe in – slow, controlled, and relaxed.

You breathe out – observing, calculating, and strategizing. 

You blink slowly – a menacing glint in your eyes.

And then, you smile. 

Tseguera briefly wonders if he’d bitten off more than he could chew, but he can’t deny the way he’s psyched to fight this version of you.

The real you that he’s heard so much about. 

He’d watched you fight before, sure, but that was against someone who couldn’t even hold a candle to your raw strength. Tseguera on the other hand? Call him optimistic, but he liked to think that he had better odds than the average run-of-the-mill fighter.

So he rushes in, and you’re ready. 

Suo watches, sharp-eyed as ever. He notes the assertiveness in your body language, the fluidity of your moves, and the intensity of your power.

All of Bofurin could see it now – why you were called tiger.

You were patient, cunning, and precise. Never exerting more energy than necessary. Never wasting time on flashy moves. Never giving more than what you’re opponent's worth.

You took your time with your prey until they were in a position that benefitted you – and then you’d strike. 

And, within minutes, Tseguera’s flat on his back, every little bit of air being pushed out of his lungs.

It’s gone quiet, everyone turning their heads just to try and catch a glimpse of what’s just happened, but all they can see is you.

You’re standing over Tseguera’s body, with a hand on your hip and a smirk on your lips.

And they see him shiver under the weight of your stare.

“Come on, Tsuge – don’t tell me you’re tapped out already~”

You give him your hand to help him up (no one could ever say you’re a bad sport), but with the way your hips swish from side to side as you head back to your starting position and the wicked gleam in your eye, Tseguera’s just the tiniest bit distraught.

Umemiya smiles – he was right. 

You were a great change of pace.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

It’s meant to be fun, friendly, and maybe just a little competitive – but with you as an opponent, well… 

You amped up the competitive aspect to a whopping 100% – and you were loving it.

Objectively, you could say that everyone else was too, based on how they were lining up to squabble with you. 

And – it’s not like you won every single fight. But, you had even Hiragi huffing and puffing just trying to keep up with you – and that? That felt good. 

Because fighting was so much more than just winning. To you, it was about learning, communicating, understanding, and most importantly – evolving. 

That was something your brother had taught you. 

You can’t strive towards your fullest potential without the guidance, support, and help of others – and fighting was an extension of that. Every person and every fight was a wonderful new experience to learn from, and you were so happy. 

Suo, on the other hand …

Well, he was happy for you, but he, himself?

Absolutely, tragically vexed.

Because you really had no idea how much of a tease you can be when you’re not even trying. 

Between every fight, you’d stretch out your body in those sinful shorts and that thin little long sleeve – and he wishes he was stronger, really. 

Wishes he was strong enough to look away when you use the bottom hem of your top to wipe away the sweat from your forehead.

Instead, he drinks in the exposed skin of your stomach and lower back. It’s got a sheen to it, no doubt from the exertion that your body has been going through, but vaguely, Suo wonders if it would look similar to a different type of exertion.

One that involves him and only him.

He focuses on his breathing – no need to get worked over this… really. 

He could remain calm and composed, just like how he’s always been.

But when he finds himself next in line to spar with you, well – 

What can he say? He just really wanted to get stronger. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

You should’ve known. You should’ve fucking known.

But, feigning ignorance can only go so far.

And with Suo standing in front of you, his hands held loosely behind his back and an amiable grin on his face, you fear that maybe you pushed your luck a little too much. 

Because, in all honesty, Suo’s the first person today to actually make you nervous. 

And it’s not that you don’t think you can put up a good fight. No, it’s not that at all. 

What you’re afraid of is more … personal. 

Because when you’re in a fight, well, your hands will go wherever they need to. 

And with how pumped you are with endorphins right now, you’re not sure if you’d be able to handle Suo’s hands anywhere on your body.

Even his hand on your thigh had you crumbling, but you held up the good fight as long as you could before excusing yourself under the guise of using the restroom.

But now? Here? You couldn’t simply call for a time-out because you’re getting bashful about his hands touching you.

Fighting, to you, could be intimate with the right person – and lo and behold, the right person just happened to be standing right in front of you. 

“Oh? Don’t tell me you’re running out of steam, bunny.”

You purse your lips at his words.

Leave it to Suo to be so insufferable that it brings you back to reality. 

You quickly bow towards him before rolling your shoulders back and raising your fists.

“Hmm, then why don’t you fill me back up, Hayato?”

He smirks at your response, and you feel the air thicken just the tiniest amount. His aura is overwhelming, and the hairs on the back of your neck prickle from the eye contact alone.

You take a deep breath in, before steeling your nerves.

Now was not the time to get shy.

You were on your playground, in your element.

You breathe out, feeling the sparks of your competitive spirit quickly fan out into flames.

And then – 

Nothing happens, at least, not for a couple of seconds.

“Are ya gonna fight or what?”

You flush at Sakura’s words. 

You were slow to realize this, but just like you, Suo (ever the gentleman) was also someone who practiced patience in a fight and let their opponents make the first move – and, you had a sinking feeling that this match was about more than just … fighting.

You shake your head in an attempt to garner back your focus, and once it’s there, you strategize.

Regretfully, you’d only ever seen him in a handful of skirmishes, so you weren’t certain about the exact moves he used, but there was at least one thing that you could go off of – 

Suo was pretty damn strong.

You pause, gathering your thoughts as best you can in the little amount of time that you have. 

You decide, then, that going on the offense is your best bet. If anything, it would allow you to witness firsthand the type of training he’s received. 

So, you move. 

You rush him, aiming for a kick to his midsection, but he grabs your ankle – and pulls you towards him. 

Off balance and unsteady, you grab onto the first thing you can – his shoulders.

Belatedly, you realize his hands slid under your leg to grip the underside of your thigh, holding you flush to his body. 

This … you’d never fought like this before.

As he holds you there, you can’t help the furrow of your brows nor the pout on your lips.

You’d actually wanted to fight, but he …

He was toying with you. 

“... why aren’t you going full out?”

He’s looking down at you, and for the first time today, his face is unreadable.

“Would you like me to use my full strength?”

You sputter at his words, “Hayato, yes? Isn’t that the whole point of this?”

He laughs, and it makes you swoon just the tiniest bit – as if the way he’s holding you right now isn’t already making you feel that way.

“You’re right, I’m sorry bunny. It seems I got ahead of myself.”

He lets you go, and you only let yourself mourn the grip of his hand on your thigh for a second, you swear.

Once you’re properly standing on your own, you look up at him with a playful smile, and he can’t help the endearing furrow of his eyebrows as he awaits whatever amusing remark will fall from your lips next.

“You don’t have to be so careful Hayato – I won’t break ~”

He hums thoughtfully, before bending down to whisper in your ear.

“And if I do? Break you, that is.”

That catches you off guard.

You laugh, loud and boisterous –

“Then I expect you to fix what you break, pretty boy.”

All Suo does in response is smile at you, but you’re much too focused on the sight of him taking his jacket off and expertly folding his sleeves up to his biceps.

Because oh – oh. 

That… that shouldn’t have been stupidly attractive but it was. 

You take in his forearms, his fingers, his swiftness with it all – and you gulp.

And now you’re doing everything you can to desperately grasp onto that flame of competitiveness that you had just a second ago because – 

He stared into your eyes the whole time.

“In that case, I’ll make sure to fix you right up when I’m done, pretty girl.”

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

Watching the fight between you and Suo was almost like watching a tiger and a panther in the heat of battle – and it was mesmerizing. 

In fact, it didn’t even look like fighting – it looked like the two of you were dancing.

It was a flurry of neverending moves, from flying kicks to evasive dodging, and it had everyone enraptured at the sight – because they’d never thought that Suo would be able to fight someone who matched his tempo so well. 

But the best part? You both just couldn’t land a single hit on each other.

And that’s not to say that you both weren’t trying your absolute hardest, but more so, it was a testament to how adaptive you both were.

However, in all honesty, you were getting worn out.

It was easy to ignore it and push through at first, but you could feel the cloud of fatigue starting to infringe on your battle sense. It was showing in your moves and your muscles – that slight delay between your body and your mind. 

And, you didn’t want to admit this, but the forced proximity of it all was starting to make you just the tiniest bit lightheaded – because Suo, despite having been in multiple matches, still managed to smell so good.

Every time you invaded his space, you’d catch a small whiff – and it was intoxicating.

So, when you try to step back from yet another attempt at a palm strike, only to sway just a bit from your lack of balance, well – you don’t blame him for honing in on your error.

What you do blame him for, though, is the position you’re in now. 

He’s got you trapped underneath him, your body pressed against the gymnasium floor, and – 

Whether it was the exhaustion getting to you, or the fact that Suo’s got both your wrists held in one hand above your head and the other latched onto your hip, you’re not sure – but a whimper slips out of you. 

Good news, it’s low enough for only you and Suo to be made aware of it, but the bad news – Suo’s aware of it.

And if his mouth dropping in surprise isn’t a big enough tell, maybe the way his fingers dig deeper into your hips is. 

For a second, one split second, you almost give in. 

You almost wrap your legs around his waist.

You almost break his hold on your wrists.

You almost pull him in for a kiss.

Instead, you do the most sensible thing that you can think of given the circumstances.

You forfeit.

Did it feel good? Absolutely fucking not. Were you ashamed? Partially.

But the only thing that kept you standing on two feet, the only thing that kept you from running away in utter embarrassment and shame?

… the outline of something thick and hard just barely noticeable through his loose black pants when he sat back on his knees to let you go.

Safe to say … you were out of commission for the rest of the sparring event.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

When Suo offers to escort you home afterward, you don’t say no.

When he offers to hold your bag, you don’t say no. 

And, when he drops you off at your door with a lingering look of want in his eye that compels you to invite him inside, Suo doesn’t say no.

You lead him to the living room and offer a seat on the couch to him, but he simply shakes his head, preferring to stand instead. 

“Are you hungry?” you ask over your shoulder as you try to still the incessant beating of your heart. 

You knew he wasn’t ever one to indulge in a meal, but it would … be rude, right? To just part ways after … all of that? That’s what you tell yourself, anyway. Plus, eating is casual. It’s friendly. It’s safe. You could sit across from him and maintain your distance, and there’d be no reason at all for his hands to be on your body. 

And, there’d be no way for him to pull such an embarrassing noise from your mouth again. 

You blush as you recall the chain of events that lead up to right now, and suddenly, you’re restless. To busy yourself, you go to get him a glass of water in your kitchen.

He follows you.

“... Starving,” he rasps out, and your body breaks into goosebumps because he’s right behind you.

Your breath is shaky now, his presence much too overwhelming in the cramped space of your kitchen, but you persist. 

“Oh… w-what would you like to eat? I’ve got noodles and sp–”

“You, only you – bunny.”

You’re so so glad that you’ve got your back to him because you can’t help the way you bite down on your lip at his words to stifle a whine.

It wouldn’t hurt to get one more jab in, you convince yourself. Serves him right for pulling such an embarrassing noise from your mouth earlier.

“Maybe –” your voice breaks, and you let out a small cough to clear out any residual qualms that might’ve been stuck in your throat.

Screw it – the man could suffer in the same way he’d been making you suffer for the past couple of months with his heated touches and lingering words and his stupid little smile.

“Maybe I’ll consider it, Hayato, if you ask nicely on your knees –”

A soft thud cuts you off, and – oh.

Oh.

You’re turned around before you can stop yourself, needing to confirm with your own eyes – 

He’s on the floor, his chest moving rapidly with his breathing, and an absolute disheveled look on his face.

Your lips part and your eyes flutter under his heady stare, and you desperately look away in an attempt to maintain some sort of self-control.

You think – no, you’re sure that you look just as disheveled as he does. 

Because how the fuck did you manage to get Suo, the Hayato Suo, to fall to his knees on his own accord on the floor of your kitchen?

You felt dizzy and needy and powerful – and that was so so dangerous.

“Remember when you did this? The first time we met?”

There’s a smile on his lips as he stares up at you, and your knees buckle at his words. He’s chipping away at your resolve and he knows it – if the mirth in his eye is anything to go off of.

All you can manage is a shaky inhale and a small, pitiful nod in response – and he chuckles. 

“I helped you up off the floor, remember that?”

You nod again, though he can see the slight glimmer of tears in your waterline from just his verbal overstimulation, and he takes pity on you – just a tiny bit, though.

Because although he was on his knees, he wanted you to be the one to finally break first.

Isn’t that how the phrase goes, anyway? Ladies first? And Suo really was a gentleman to the core. 

“So, shouldn’t you return the favor? Don’t you want to help me out, pretty girl?”

You don’t even try to hide it anymore. You don’t hide the shifting of your thighs at his words nor the twitch of your fingers seeking his touch.

You were aching and Suo could see it – and all you wanted, all you needed was right in front of you. 

But he doesn’t touch you. He wants to – no, he needs to know that you want it as bad as he does. 

That the incessant teasing and flirting is affecting you just as badly as it's affecting him. That he’s not the only one filled with desire and desperation and greed.

He knows what to say, knows what to do to make you finally give in and release your inhibitions.

And all it takes, all it takes are 3 words.

Just 3 simple words, dripping with adoration and filth and yearning.

“My pretty bunny.”

You whimper, needy and desperate, and then, you’re on him – and it’s everything you’ve wanted for so long and not enough all at once.

You’re straddling his lap, and his hands feel so good running up and down your body. They’re mapping out every curve – squeezing, pinching, fondling – and you’re grinding down onto him with abandon.

His tongue is hot and heavy on yours, and the noises coming from your mouth are so obscene that you briefly wonder if the walls of your apartment are thick enough to block them out.

You bury your face into his neck as he grabs your hips to grind your body even harder against his, and he revels in the way that you twitch and moan in his ear.

“Please,” you whisper, so softly that you wonder if he even heard you.

He did. Of course, he did, but he wanted more. He wants you to keep begging so pretty for him with your sinful tongue and sweet words and soft body.

“Oh, bunny – I can’t hear you when you’re hiding from me.”

His words make you whine high in your throat – and oh god you might actually cry now.

You still your hips as you look him in the eye, and he’s kind enough to let you try and form some semblance of control with your words.

“Hayato, please – I’m asking you nicely and I don’t know what else you want but –”

Suo holds back a depraved laugh, because rambling out of frustration, and at a time like this? Because you’re just so desperate? He didn’t think you could get even more cute but you keep proving him wrong time and time again.

So, he concedes – you really had no idea how perfect you were, did you?

You lead him to your bed (“Sorry Hayato, but I am not fucking you in my kitchen after the day I’ve had.”), and once every article of clothing has been discarded haphazardly on the floor, does Suo finally eat. 

“Might be a bit rough with you pretty girl, is that alright?”

“Oh my bunny, you’re dripping! Is this all for me?”

He dives in with long, broad strokes of his tongue as he laps up the heat of your cunt, and you writhe so pretty under his tongue. If he every so often dips down to push his tongue past the tight opening of your pussy, well – he was just really hungry. 

“Wider bunny, can you spread your legs wider for me?” 

“So noisy…” 

And god were you the best meal he’d ever had in years. Your pussy was the gift that just kept giving, and he was savoring every little intoxicating drop that it pushed out.

“You’re making all sorts of sounds for me, aren’t you?”

“Won’t you make that sound for me again, bunny?”

But, even after you squirted on his skillful fingers with his tongue lavishly flicking and suckling at your spoiled clit, he still wasn’t full.

No, he needed more – he needed to be inside you.

When he finally slides his throbbing, neglected member into your warm fluttering hole, it takes everything in his willpower and a harsh bite to his bottom lip not to rock his hips into you with wanton – he was so so glad you were on birth control so that he could enjoy this to the rawest extent.

“Wow – ha –- you’re taking me so well –”

And it feels so so good to be stretched out over Suo’s cock. There’s a delicious drag against your walls with every thrust, and he’s so damn big that when he pulls back with just the tip inside, you actually feel empty. 

You’re in such a delirious daze that you aren’t even comprehending the noises he’s pulling from your pretty plump lips, but Suo is. He’s greedily eating up every moan, every gasp, every whine – and it’s insatiable the way that he’s craving more. 

He’s pushing your legs up into a mating press until your knees are pressed right up next to your head, and he’s so so grateful that you’re flexible enough to allow him to do this because now he can thrust into you even deeper, and hit that spot just right.

And now it’s Suo’s turn to feel powerful because you — who could easily break his hold, who had mercilessly crushed a man’s hand — were letting him cage you in his arms like a domesticated house pet.

“You’re being such a good little bunny, aren’t you? My good girl ~ ”

But Suo … he should’ve known better, really. 

Should’ve known based on how long and drawn out this silly little game lasted between the two of you that you were just as filthy as he was.

And, before Suo can react, you’re swatting away his hands and using all your strength to roll him onto his back. It only takes a second for him to adjust to the new position, but the sight of you settled on top of him has his dick twitching and his mouth agape.

“Hayato… don’t you want your pretty little bunny to ride you?”

Your words bring him to ruin, and all he can do is manage a breathless, airy laugh before you plant your feet on both sides of his hips – and when you lift yourself he swears he knows what heaven feels like and it’s nestled right between your perfect plush thighs.

You’ve got just the tip in you now, and he really should take back control now.

He should, but he can’t – you don’t even give him time to think before you’re dragging back down achingly slow and all he can focus on is the agonizing tightness of your wet cunt and the drawn-out squelch of your conjoined bodies.

You’re no better – the feeling of him filling up every inch of you has you reeling from the pleasure and you let out a soft sigh once you’re finally sat and all of his cock is nestled inside you.

And then – you wait.

Because it was unfair, wasn’t it? Letting him be in control for this long, for still maintaining his composure.

You stare down at him with heavily lidded eyes and a coy smile on your face but Suo’s getting, dare he say, desperate. It was all fun and games earlier, sure, but now? He was simply claiming his prize that he’d worked so hard and so long to win and you weren’t letting him. 

He grits out a curt “please”, but you’re not satisfied. 

Instead, you trace a manicured nail all over him, from his tassel earrings to the sharp jut of his jaw to his collarbones to his chest – all the way to where his cock is currently entrapped in the warmth of your pussy.

“Oh, Hayato – I can’t hear you when you’re –”

You’re cut off by a change in gravity, and suddenly, you’re on your back again, with Suo peering down at you with thinly veiled annoyance and a strained smile on his face.

“On your hands and knees, please.”

Your breath hitches at his tone – because he was losing it. He was losing his composure, and that’s all you wanted, really.

And, with one of his hands pressing your head into the mattress and the other holding your hips in place, well, you get what you wanted real quick. 

Because Suo’s thrusting into you hard, fast, and rough – and you love it. Your cunt is squelching with every rock of his hips, and your body’s shaking and twitching with pure pleasure.

“You want me to break you? Is that it? You – ha – need a handler, little bunny?”

When you fail to answer him, he chuckles, before snaking a hand underneath you to rub small, precise circles on your aching clit.

“O-oh my god –”

You’re keening high in your throat, your hands fisting at the sheets underneath you, and all you can do is take it. You press down harder onto his adept fingers and you feel it washing over you – your sweet release.

“Don’t stop don’t stop don’t stop,” you whine out, your thighs quivering from the stimulation of it all, and you’re so fucking close.

Suo tuts his tongue at your words, but you can feel his fingers and his hips speed up at your pleas.

“That’s funny, I didn’t hear a please.”

You feel tears start to escape your eyes, all your inhibitions out the window as you try to appease the only person who can grant you the overwhelming satisfaction of coming undone.

“Please please please – Hayato please let me cum on your cock. I’ve been so good for you please –”

Suo doesn’t think he’ll ever grow tired of your desperate rambling. It’s just too damn hot.

“Then cum, bunny. It’s yours, it’s all yours.”

You scream into your sheets, your body spasming underneath his as you finally, finally allow for the crashing wave of bliss to run all over your body.

Suo coos at the sight, fucking you through it as you clamp down on him with everything in your body, and he’s not very far behind you. 

He’s close, so close, but he wants to see what you look like unraveled and raw and vulnerable.

What he plans on doing is maybe lasting a little bit longer, fending off that incessant urge to let his cum paint your walls as he fucks into you nice and slow and deliberate.

But, despite your euphoric state and the puddle of drool collecting around your mouth and dampening your sheets, you manage to shakily reach your hands back to press your fingers into the lips of your cunt and you spread.

You feel his hips stutter as you present yourself to him, and his lips part open at the sight.

He can see the ring of cream coating the base of his cock, as well as the glistening dots of your juices decorating your lips, and he’s entranced by the sight. 

A soft, obscene groan leaves his mouth as he looks down with his dark-lidded eye – and with the way that your body was still twitching with aftershocks, he couldn’t help but think that you really did look like a bunny right now.

A thoroughly fucked, thoroughly ruined bunny.

And when you open your mouth, well – it’d be rude, right? Not to indulge in your request when you’ve managed to ask it in such a polite and sinful manner?

“I’ve been such a good girl for you, Hayato…. Won’t you cum in your sweet little bunny’s pussy?”

He denies that he came from just your words alone, but you know better. 

You feel his cock twitch, his fingertips dig harder into your lower back, and the jolt of his hips as he tries to bury himself inside of you.

And, when he does come, he lets out the prettiest string of gasps you’ve ever heard, and it makes your body slump with satisfaction.

Because, in your mind, you’d won. Sure, maybe you were the first to break, but as Suo carries you into the bathroom with a towel wrapped around your exhausted body and wipes you down with sweet kisses to your temple, you can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

And when he settles in behind you on your bed as he strokes your head and leaves a trail of kisses down your neck and across your shoulders as he lulls you to sleep, there’s no denying that sense of triumph.

… and when you ask him if he’ll be spending the night and he replies with, “Of course bunny, why wouldn’t I? You’re mine now, right?” – well, you can’t help the drowsy smile you send his way before you’re pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of his lips. 

You’d won – fair and fucking square.

And true to his words, he’d fixed you right up.

୨ৎ Chapter 6 (in progress)

[ythankucaptainmccoy]

The Cowgirl and The Aviator Ch.2

Hope you all enjoy this next chapter. Third chapter will be out as soon as possible. This may be a slow burn fic it may not be I haven't decided yet (INSERT EVIL LAUGH HERE).

Jake couldn’t stop thinking about you even after a great night's sleep. He had even turned down the hot woman who asked to show him a good time last night at the bar. Here he stood at his kitchen counter waiting for his coffee to be finished when there was a knock at his door. He walked over trying to think who could be knocking on his apartment door this early. What he isn’t expecting is for you to be standing there in basketball shorts and a baggy band shirt. “(Y/N)?”he asks, confused. 

Then it hits him like a train. Rooster is his neighbor and you had said you were staying with him. You stood there frozen looking at his shirtless body and his shorts that were way too low to be considered decent, but you weren’t complaining. He chuckled, bringing you out of your thoughts to realize you were totally eyefucking him. “I swear I had no clue you were Bradleys neighbor, but I was wondering if I could borrow some eggs. I went to make breakfast, but he’s out of eggs”, you say. 

“Yeah come on in”, he says, turning towards the kitchen. His apartment has the same layout just backwards to Bradleys and a huge window that looks out over the beach. You watch his muscles ripple as he reaches in his fridge for the eggs. You're caught watching again when he turns toward you with the container. “Here you can take them. I have to go shopping today after work anyway”. 

“Um, thanks I swear I’ll pay you back”, you tell him. “It’s alright don’t worry about it there are only four eggs left anyway”, he responds. His smile is so genuine you can’t help but smile back at him. “Thanks”, you say as he walks you back to his front door. “Don’t hesitate to knock on my door if you ever need anything”, he says as you wave walking back to Roosters apartment.

He replays the events that had just happened, and how amazing you looked even in your sleep clothes. He imagined you standing at the stove cooking breakfast as you listened to soft music. He shook his head as he realized he has been thinking about you since last night at the bar. He needed to get his head straight as he would be training with Maverick and Rooster today. 

You had just made it back to Bradleys apartment as you heard the shower down the small hall running. You quickly cooked breakfast and had everything set when Bradley came into the kitchen. “You made breakfast?”, he questioned. “Yeah I figured it was the least I could do since you're letting me stay here”, you replied. “Well I’ll take it. Hey I have training today, but the beach is private up until the flags down at each end of the complex if you want to swim”, he explained.

“I was actually thinking about searching for a job”, you replied. “You know you don’t have to search right away”, he responds. “It’s alright besides it would be wrong of me not to help pay rent”, you state. Bradley watches you carefully as he decides on his next words. “Alright but make sure you take a job you like and that pays you. No low cut rate because I know how hard you work”, he said.

You nod along as he shovels food into his mouth saying something about how good it is. Once he finishes eating he says goodbye and heads out. You go take a quick shower and get ready to go job hunting. All day is spent trying to find a job, but none of them pan out or pay enough. By the time you get back to the apartment you decide to go for a swim in the ocean. You quickly get into your one piece bathing suit and head for the beach. 

You're so upset that by the time you reach the beach the waves are calming. You make your way and lay out a small beach chair and head towards the water. You go out and swim until you start getting pruney so you head towards the sand. Flopping down into the beach chair you lay out in the sun to tan. Your phone alerts that you had a message from Rooster asking how the job search went. 

You quickly typed a reply that you didn’t want to talk about it and that's when another text came through asking about the Hard Deck. Replying with “sure” you got up and made your way to the apartment with your towel and chair. As you headed up the stairs you dropped the chair as it clattered down the stairs. You turned to go get it when you heard someone call out that they would get it. 

It was Jake and butter you up and call you a biscuit. He was in his khaki uniform that fit him so well and when his biceps flexed to pick up the chair you swear you felt heat lick up your spine. “Thank you”, you finally respond. “You are very welcome”, he replied cockily. “I’m guessing training went well”, you said. “Of course it did”, he replied. “If you call Mav shooting you down each time then yeah it went perfect”, Bradley grouched coming from the apartment parking lot.

“Hey I saved your ass a couple times”, Jake huffed. “Look guys, no fighting alright. It sounds like we all had a shitty day and could use a break at the Hard Deck”, you interjected. “Sounds like a plan”, Jake said as he took in your bathing suit. Rooster knew Jake was undressing you with his eyes as you turned to walk towards his apartment. “Look man don’t even think about it”, Rooster hissed. Jake just smirked and handed Rooster the chair you had dropped.

You made it into the apartment and straight to the shower where you quickly got ready. This time pulling on your jeans and shirt walking towards the parking lot to wait on Bradley who was taking his sweet time. “You want a ride?” Jake asks, walking towards his truck. You looked at the apartment then back at Jake. He technically wasn’t a stranger and Bradley was still in the shower. “Yeah sure”, you reply. 

You quickly shot a text to Bradley that you were riding to the Hard Deck with Jake and you would see him there. When you got in the truck you noticed two things. The cowboy hat sitting in the back seat and the cowboy boots on the back floorboard. “Well definitely a cowboy”, you replied. “Well I am from Texas”, he laughed. He turned the truck on and turned the radio on to a country radio station. You sang along as you both made your way to the Hard Deck and Jake swore you were making it harder not to ask you out on a date. 

When you both arrived he held the door open for you as you made your way over to the others around the pool table. Nat looked at you then raised an eyebrow when she noticed you came with Hangman. “So where’s Rooster?”, she questions. “He was taking too long to get ready and Jake asked if I wanted a ride”, you explained. “Well that was very nice of him”, she tells you. You agreed as you went to the bar to grab a drink. 

Penny was surprised when you asked what the strongest drink she had was. “What happened today that made you want something that strong?”, she asked. “I went job hunting and it was a bust”, you informed her. “Well I know that there is a position here at the bar for waitressing”, she said. That being said you agreed and she took you back for you to fill out all the forms. Once all the terms were agreed upon she said she would text you your schedule and to enjoy the rest of your week.

You almost skipped to the pool table smiling happily, noticing Rooster had made it to the bar. “You seem happy. What happened? Get a guy's number?”, Nat asked. That sent Jake snapping to attention to look at you as Coyote looked between you and Jake when realization dawned on him. “Holy shit your crushin’ on Rooster’s friend”, Coyote says. Jake rolls his eyes and denies it as he continues to wait for your answer. 

“No, I got a job here as a waitress”, you gushed. Nat was happy for you as Jake relaxed and Coyote started laughing. “What's so funny?”, Rooster asked. “Oh nothing, just thinking about something that happened earlier”, Coyote responded. Jake was watching as you were now smiling and sipping your drink. When you smiled at him he couldn’t help it and smiled right back. “Oh man you got it so bad”, Coyote whispered. 

“No you're just seeing what you want to see”, Jake responded. You made your way over to the jukebox and looked through seeing the song you were looking for and pressed the numbers. “American Pie” by Don McLean played through the speakers as you sang walking back to the pool table. As the chorus hit Nat and some of the others sang along with you. Jake was watching as the squad accepted you so quickly. 

The rest of the night went great as you played a couple rounds of pool with the guys. Nat teamed up with you a couple times where you ended up beating the guys who took it with a grain of salt. When you all decided to leave you went to Bradleys bronco. “You don’t want to get a ride with Hangman?”, he asked haughtily. “I wouldn’t have gone with him if you had hurried up”, you replied angrily. 

The ride back was tense but you had to know. “Why do you hate him so much?”, you asked. “I don’t hate him, it's just that he sleeps around a lot. I don’t want you getting too close with him. We call him bagman because he always leaves us out to dry. I haven’t ever seen him have a steady relationship. He isn’t the type you take home to meet your parents”, he tells you. “I get what you’re trying to say but I can handle myself”, you reply. 

When Bradley parked the car you made your way to the apartment letting yourself in,and made your way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. “Look I’m sorry for being an ass”, Bradley stated. “I accept your apology, but I am my own person. If I make mistakes they are mine to make”, you say. He nods as you get ready for bed. Once your head hits the pillow you realize that while you were out today job searching you were going to get eggs to repay Jake. Oh well it was going to have to wait until you could get them another time.

The next morning before the sun rises you wake up in a cold sweat as you try to relax. The nightmare had felt so real, but you were miles away from home. Checking the clock you get up and put a bra on and another shirt keeping your baggy shorts on. You make your way down to the beach and walk to the edge of the water letting it lap over your feet. The water is cool and refreshing as you relax even more.

The sun starts to peek up on the horizon painting the sky such beautiful colors. That's when you spot Jake, shirtless, making his way down to the beach. He doesn’t seem to notice you as he scrolls on his ipod then starts bobbing his head to the beat coming through his earbuds. He takes off down the beach at a jog and you watch him go until you become unbalanced from your feet sinking into the sand. 

You walk a little more into the water up to mid shin letting the sounds of the ocean soothe your frayed nerves even more. You walk through the water along the beach and you don’t know how much time has passed, but you can see Jake making his way back to where he started. You caught yourself staring and you weren’t watching the water when pain wrapped itself around your ankle. You cry out in pain and kick as you realize a jellyfish has gotten wrapped around your leg.

Your thrashing must have caught Jake’s attention because as you get out of the water he is making his way to you.  “What’s going on?”, he asked. “I got stung by a jellyfish”, you inform. “Here let me help”, he says, kneeling down. He then proceeds to pick you up bridal style and walks towards the apartments. “I think I can walk”, you huff. “Best not to aggravate the site of the sting”, he says. 

He carries you as if you weigh nothing even as he climbs the stairs. He lets you open Roosters apartment then takes you straight to the bathroom. He sits you down on the counter and asks if you have any tweezers. You told him where to find them and then he helped get the remaining tentacles off and threw them away. Then he picked you up again and sat you on the side of the tub. “Now we get some hot water running to help take away the sting”, he explains as he turns on the tap.

You put your leg under the water and true to his words the sting alleviated until it was completely gone. “Thank you”, you say. “You’re welcome”, he replies with a wide smile. “So what were you doing out there so early?”, he questions. “Bad dream decided the ocean would help me relax, but seems to have only made it worse”, you laughed. He laughed with you and you had to admit his smile was so contagious.

“Now for the last part some hydrocortisone cream”, he states. He rummages around for a few minutes until he finds the cream. He bends back down patting his thigh for you to put your foot there. He applies the cream when you hear Bradley ask, “What the hells going on here”. “I got stung by a jellyfish and Jake was helping me”, you explain. He doesn’t seem to buy it until you show him the area that you got stung. Bradley shook his head then walked to the kitchen. “How about I take you out for lunch?”, Jake suddenly asked.

“I don’t know”, you said, looking back towards the door. “Just lunch, it's not a date or anything”, he explains. “Alright fine what do you have in mind?”, you ask. “There’s this place on the beach that has great burgers. I’ll drive and pick you up in an hour”, he tells you. Once you agree he sees himself out as Bradley stands in the kitchen. When you turn to him he just shakes his head and starts making a sandwich. 

You get dressed in some jeans and a tank top since the weather was calling for a warm day. You're pulling on your boots when there’s a knock on the door and no surprise Jake is on the other side. He’s in jeans, white shirt and the cowboy boots and cowboy hat you had seen in his truck. He looks like a cowgirls wet dream and you mentally kick yourself for agreeing to going to lunch. 

He opens the door to his truck and you get in smiling when he closes the door for you. The way that you have heard some of the Daggers talk about him and Rooster, this doesn’t seem like the Hangman you were told about. “Thanks for helping me with the jellyfish sting. How did you know what to do?”, you inquired. “You're welcome. I got stung a couple days after being stationed here, and an elderly woman in the apartment across the way told me what to do”, he explained.

“Well thank goodness she told you the jellyfish sting treatment secret”, you said. “Treatment secret?”, he chuckled. “Don’t make fun of me”, you joked. After a fifteen minute drive he was pulling into a parking space. It wasn’t very large, but it was very busy as Jake waved to the owner. “This is the best spot in the house”, he tells you. He pulls out a chair for you as you thank him. “It’s very cozy”, you say. 

A woman comes over to take your drink orders and from the look on her face she doesn’t seem happy to see you. “Can I take your drink order?”, she asks, more to Jake than to you. You both order sweet tea and look at the menu. “The BBQ burger is the best burger they have here”, he told you. “I’ll take your word for it”, you say. The waitress comes back with the teas and places them on the table. “Are you ready to order?”, she questions. “I know what I want”, you tell Jake and he agrees ordering the BBQ burger. 

“And what will you be having?”, she sighs. “I’ll have the same”, you reply, trying to be polite even though this woman has been nothing but rude since she asked your drink order. She walks off to put your orders in as Jake takes a sip of tea. “How did you find this place?”, you questioned. “Had a day to burn after training one day and I was driving around when I saw it. Decided to try it and been coming here ever since”, he explains. 

“I heard that Penny gave you a waitressing job at the Hard Deck”, he says. “Yeah I was hoping for a farm job, but they didn’t want to pay very well and the Hard Deck is closer to the apartment”, you explained. “Well at least I’ll be able to see you more often”, he smiles. “Yeah I bet you get tired of me within a week”, you joke. “Nah, don't think that’ll happen”, he replies. You feel your face heat up at his words.

You both continue your conversation until your food arrives. When you bite into the burger you moan at how good it tastes. Jake is shifting in his seat slightly as you tell him he was right about how good the burger was. He would never admit it and even though he hasn’t known you that long he enjoys watching you try new things. The way your face lights up with that crooked little grin and how your eyes twinkle. 

The waitress comes by with the checks and puts them down on the table. You go to grab your receipt when Jake's hand shoots out and snags it. “The check wasn’t supposed to be separate”, Jake said to the waitress. “Well it is today”, she huffs. “What's your problem”, you say before you can stop yourself. “Excuse me?”, she asks. “Ever since you came to take our drink orders you have been rude. You act like I don’t even exist at this table and you didn’t even come to ask if it was one check or two”, you explain.

Jake seemed to be getting uncomfortable as you explained. She turned to Jake, “You never paid for my food when you took me out”. Now it all made sense as the dots connected. “We only went out that one time and I told you it wasn’t going to work out”, Jake said. “Whatever, I'll put it on one check so you can pay for your whore”, she snapped. Jake looked mortified as she turned and walked away with the checks. 

“I’m so sorry if I knew she was here I wouldn’t have brought you here. She got upset when I wouldn’t sleep with her after our date. I know you probably don’t trust a word I’m saying, but I really am sorry”, he explained. You didn’t say a word as the waitress brought the check back as Jake seemed to be deflating the longer the waitress stood there waiting for the money. She took the money and stormed off as you reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I believe you”, you told him.

When the waitress came back you looked her straight in the eye. “You know you call me a whore, but when you get upset that a man won’t sleep with ya on a first date that is a whore move. It’s probably a good thing he didn’t sleep with ya because I’m sure you probably would have given him some disease. You’re the type of girl that gives other women a bad name and yes I called you a girl because you obviously aren’t mature enough to be a woman. Stay away from Jake”, you tell her.

Jake’s jaw dropped a little at your words and when the waitress fled with tears in her eyes he couldn’t help but smile at you. “What?”, you asked. “That is the first time I have ever had a woman stand up for me like that”, he says. It breaks your heart a little to hear that, but you grab Jake's hand and walk back to the truck. When you arrive back at the apartments he walks you to the door as you thank him for lunch. “Maybe next time I can take you somewhere for lunch”, you tell him. 

“I might be available for something like that”, he replies. Once he says goodbye you go sit on the couch when two texts come in. One from Penny saying you can start Monday and another from an unknown number. The text from the unknown number just has a picture. When you open it, it's a picture of your brother's house with his kids playing out in the front yard and the caption on it reads ‘YOU MAY BE SAFE BUT THE REST OF YOUR FAMILY ISN’T’.

[nathanbatemanfucker]

In Plain Sight, Ch 2: A Hoard of Cupids

summary: nathan’s much more insightful about you than he used to be. it’s making you uneasy…and curious.

pairing: nathan bateman x f!reader

contents: 18+/NSFW/MINORS DNI, enemies to lovers (sorta), boss/employee dynamics, pining, nathan trying to be nice but he’s so abrasive lol, pining, mentions of caretaking/sick family members, mentions of emotionally abusive parents, masturbation (m), sub!nathan if you squint

wc: 2,745

AN: back at it with part twoooo. thank you all for the kind words and support on this fic, i didn’t expect it to get the response it did but i’m really excited to give y’all the rest. fair warning that these chapters seem to be getting longer as i write on. happy reading!

in plain sight masterlist | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Nathan gives you space— at first. When you return the next day at 7 a.m. sharp he’s nowhere to be found. Not in the living room or in the kitchen, not on his patio boxing. You assume he’s in his room, probably toying with one of his bots in a distasteful manner. The idea makes you shudder. But is it not easier to come to work with every task he could want you to do placed on his desk, no fuss?

You don’t like Nathan Bateman. He’s a pompous asshole, a know it all, a man who thinks only about his own desires. When he apologized— or rather attempted to— yesterday you thought that maybe you slipped and fallen down the stairs on your way out. By his standards, it was a top tier apology. You’d never once heard him apologize to anyone. On your drive home you had wondered if he had ever apologized in his life. The thought made you giggle, and then you’d turned up the music and forgotten about him until right now.

Sat at your desk, an ungodly stack of things to do. There’s a note sat on top. It’s simple and straightforward, lacking emotion but somehow still has your stomach flipping. It reads:

In meetings all day— let me know if you need anything. Go home early today.

Mr. Bateman

P.S. I’ll spruce up my apologizing skills.

You regard the note cautiously, raising your brow at it before you let yourself laugh a little. Was this a joke or had Nathan Bateman taken some criticism to heart (which is rumored to not exist). You fold the note up, and for some reason slip it into your bag.

The last thing that’s on your mind is that Nathan’s watching you. He sits in the dark at his monitors, leaning in closely. His eyes trace your figure on the screens intensely, watching as you read and read and read. He expects no reaction from you beside maybe throwing it in the trash. But then you laugh, and he watches you store it for safekeeping. A piece of him will go home with you. Nathan never thought he’d be jealous of a piece of paper, not when he seems to have the entire world at his fingertips.

—

He returns to his normal behavior after a week— partially because he thinks you settled in. And partially because…well he begrudgingly can admit to himself, in the comfort of his own mind, that he misses you. When you get to work the next Monday he’s sat on an observation table, examining what looks like a deconstructed robot brain.

You aren’t even able to open your mouth and say good morning before he’s talking to you.

“Are you sleeping okay?” He asks, his eyes appraising you intensely.

You stop in your tracks, regarding him as always, your expression pieced into that calm expression. So you’re back to normal, none of that fire. He expected it but that doesn’t keep him from feeling disappointed.

“Sir?”

“You look really fucking tired. Exhausted,” He tacts on for good measure.

Your spine goes completely rigid, your grip on your bag tightening. You are tired. So very tired. You work shitty hours for incredible money and then go home to take care of your younger sisters and mother. Dealing with Nathan is for them. For your sisters’ schooling, so they won’t feel left out when the other kids have the newest gadget or shoes. For your mother’s ever piling medical bills. It’s important that you don’t jeopardize something so precious.

“Is it affecting my work? Have I done something wrong?” You ask him softly.

“No— that’s not why I’m—“ He stutters before closing his mouth and starting anew. You’ve never seen him like this. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was flustered. But knowing Nathan, he’s just never asked a single employee he’s ever had if they’re alright. “I’m your boss, I worry about your well being. That’s what good bosses do.”

“Are you sure?” You ask evenly, eyes still trained on him.

“Am I—“ He stops, eyes wide for a fraction of a second before he bites away his smile. “Are you fucking with me?”

If he was looking at you so intentionally he would miss the way your mouth twitches. “I’m fine, Mr. Bateman. I have a lot of responsibilities, not only here but out there as well.”

“Out there?”

“The real world. Thank you for the concern, sir.”

For the second time, you’ve rendered Nathan speechless. That night he lays in bed thinking of you, like many nights prior. He turns your words over in his head time and time again. The real world. Do you think he doesn’t know what it’s like out there? He wonders how much research you’d done for the job. Nathan used his brain to get here, climbing and climbing. He hadn’t been born into this but his personality lent itself to such a conclusion. Nathan knows what his real world used to look like, though one day he hopes that any of his contraptions can help him forget. He wonders what your real world looks like.

There’s no ring on your finger, but you could have a partner. Kids? Another job? He pays you well enough for that to not be necessary. Maybe you volunteer at a puppy shelter. He could picture it. You in something other than your stuffy work clothes, a smile on your face as you drown in puppy breath and slobber.

He groans, rolling over in bed to plant his face deeply in the pillow. Maybe he can smother himself out of this. Thinking about puppies? He might as well be one, he’s practically lovesick if you have him thinking like this. When would he get used to feeling this way? His usual cynical thoughts feel like they’re being pillaged by a hoard of cupids.

He doesn’t even know if you feel the same. Being better for you is one thing, but what if there’s no payoff? What if he changes for you and you leave him high and dry? Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He feels the back of his neck sweating and sits up.

Nathan’s been down this road before, it’s brought him his fortune and an insane work ethic. It’s all brought him sorrow he’ll never be able to escape. Being with his parents feels like a fever dream sometimes and other times he feels 6 again, like he’s drowning in their expectations and insults, trying to measure up. He’d given up eventually, once he realized that they would never love him the way parents should. Why try to do anything anyone wanted but himself when they could still treat him poorly for it?

He’s the way he is from his own indoctrination. He doesn’t know where he would be if he hadn’t convinced himself that he was the only person that truly matters.

But, now there’s you. You, who looks so soft, you that scratches an itch he didn’t even realize he had. You, that he wants to goad and prod and poke until you unleash all of yourself on him. He closes his eyes and lays back, envisioning you right here with him. He feels insane, his heart— his mind, his dick— are taking him through a whirlwind of emotions right now.

He palms himself through his boxers, eyes squeezing shut tighter than before as he tries to narrate. He pictures you in one of his white shirts, it’s fabric nearly see-through with the way it clings to your breasts. He grasps his length through his boxers letting out a heaving sigh. Fuck he wishes this was you.

If there’s anything that Nathan knows how to do its not only being smartest but the most imaginative. He’s been daydreaming for as long as he can remember. Universes with better outcomes— having worth, or loving parents or anyone for that matter. Anyone to be on his side. He imagined codes and synthetic body parts that live and breathe in front of him. He can surely imagine you, breathy and horny in his bed, jerking him off. He doesn’t care if it’s fucked up, or inappropriate. He wants you, and maybe this is the only way he can have you. He slides his boxers down, finally done teasing himself. Licking his palm, he grabs his cock, starts stroking and succumbs to the thought of you.

Another moan bubbles out of his throat. He can see your nipples through his shirt when you straddle him like this. Your thighs are soft against his own and he would reach for your free hand, thread his fingers through your own. Your hands are smaller than his, smooth and supple. And god, you’re stroking him just the way he likes it, the soft wet sound making pleasure shoot through his groin.

You’d overstimulate him wouldn’t you? With that clever mouth barely pulling up a grin, eyes full of fire as you stroke him past the point of pleasure. Would you make him watch? See the way your hands would grow slick and shiny with his cum as you kept pumping and pumping, pushing him to another release. Covering you both in him, until you’re too needy to keep toying with him. Nathan cums just as he’s imagining the feeling of you dragging your bare pussy against his sensitive cock. He whines and keens off the bed, the high singing in his veins. He swears he can almost imagine the way you would moan.

His eyes open, the spell broken. He’s alone, covered in his own spend, chest heaving like he just ran a 10k. He avoids his reflection when he walks into the bathroom to clean up. His loneliness spikes again and he heads to the kitchen, reaching for the first bottle he can find.

—

“You’re late,” He says stiffly, crossing his arms as he watches you cross the space to sit at your desk.

The day after he’d gotten off thinking of you he’d had the slightest difficulty looking at you. It quickly faded, he was too greedy. Too needy, if he’s being honest. He can’t get enough, he doesn’t know if he could ever say it but you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

You’re openly frazzled; your shirt isn’t tucked in, your hair is a little more frizzy than usual and you look as tired as ever. He regrets his biting tone immediately.

Even as you explain you’re moving, setting your to-go mug on the desk, fetching your calendar, booting up your computer. “I know, I’m sorry, Mr. Bateman. My sisters were less than cooperative this morning.”

Nathan turns completely away from the bins he’s been searching through, raising a brow at you in surprise, “Your sisters?”

“Yes— one is 7 the other is 14. The little made getting out of the house…difficult,” You murmur distractedly, eyes trained on your screen.

“Isn’t that your parents’ fucking job?”

His question snaps you back to the present— you hadn’t shared nearly as much as you could’ve. But you’d gone into this job wanting to be nameless and faceless. Memorable only for the quality of the work you do.

You shake your head, daring a quick glance in his direction that you immediately regret when your eyes meet his.“I realized that I’ve shared far too much about my personal life. I should work, Mr. Bateman.”

Nathan immediately understands your deflecting. How many times has he been asked by reporters and interviewers where his family is? Enough times that he’s had his publicist strike the topic from the acceptable lists. That was about all he was good for anyway, Nathan says what he wants when he wants.

He goes back to the task at hand— though now with you here he doesn’t quite remember what that was. A part…some sort of part that he needed. Wires? Screws? A metal plate? He sighs in frustration and leaves without another word.

Your gaze is on the door as soon as it shuts, making sure he’s gone. The tears that you’ve been biting back fall and you bury your face in your hands. Your youngest sister had begged and pleaded for you to stay warm in bed with her this morning. With your mother so sick, you’ve practically raised her yourself these last few years. It makes her needy, which you understand. But what she doesn’t understand is how delicate the balance you found in caring for your entire family is. Middle sister lacks just as much understanding, with heaps of attitude. She doesn’t want to snuggle with you or with younger sister. Mediating this entire situation is what made you late.

It feels like you’re cracking under the pressure but that isn’t an option, is it? As if the universe wants to make it clear, your computer chimes. It’s Nathan, asking you to come to his office.

—

He’d meant to go clear his head in his office and come back to get whatever part he was in need of. But, when he sat in his chair he was met with the sight of you hunched over your desk, presumably crying by the way your shoulders jerked every once and a while.

He’s pinging you before he can think better of it. He watches you read his message. You’re such an anomaly— you sit up immediately, reaching for some tissues and cleaning yourself up as if nothing happened. You even check yourself in the reflection of your computer, fidgeting with your hair, tucking in your shirt once you stand. As soon as you start out of the office he turns off his monitors, not one to be caught snooping around though it’s right and was clear in the contract. Maybe you’ve forgotten. Perhaps you don’t think your anything worth watching…Nathan would like to change that assumption.

“You pinged me, sir?”

How would he play this? He couldn’t admit that he just watched you cry.

“Trying my hand at this apologizing shit again. I— Nathan Bateman— am sorry for being insensitive. Like I said last time, I don’t know your life or you. Alright, how was that?”

“I would say a solid, 5/10, which is a 50% improvement.”

“Fuck me, you’re a tough crowd. What am I docked for? You know I’m all about perfection.”

“There was a lack of originality. And you omitted your middle name.”

It takes everything in Nathan not to giggle. The way the words come out of your mouth are so funny… or maybe he’s just obsessed. It could be both. “My middle name is classified information.”

“Does Wikipedia know that?” You ask, tilting your head in that uncanny way.

Nathan can’t hold in his laugh this time, running a hand over his beard, “You’re funnier than you look.”

Your mouth twitches, and you give him the smallest nod, “Thank you, sir. Is that all?”

He pretends to think about it. “This apology is feeling pretty one-sided to me.”

“I accept your apology, Mr. Bateman, thank you.”

“Accept something else,” He proposes, going out on a limb. Suddenly your stare is too intense, the room is too hot and small. What the fuck is he doing?

“What’s that?��� You ask, as soft and sweet as ever.

“Dinner. Tomorrow,” He says simply.

“With you?”

Nathan ignores the twinge in his heart— your tone barely changed. If he wasn’t with you every single day, studying you, he wouldn’t even have noticed.

“I can invite the droids if you want. They’ll just stare at us while we eat.”

Your hand tightens around your planner. Dinner with Nathan…choosing to be around him? It seemed like as of late he was trying to be…more palatable. This could be an act of good faith. But, you have your sisters and mother to think about. You’ve given her nurse enough overtime hours in the last few weeks.

“Without getting too personal, I don’t think I’ll be able to swing it sir, I have to get home to my sisters as soon as possible.”

Yes, your family, that you never talk about. He could accommodate, what’s he the fucking boss for if he can’t?

“We’ll do it early.”

You sway a little as you think about this— that’s new, he thinks to himself, filing that information away for later.

“You’ve already got me apologizing, I can’t add saying please to the list of acceptable behaviors. I’ll lose my fucking edge.”

“How early?”

“3:30.”

“Alright, then, sir.”

nathan taglist: @missdictatorme, @hon3yboy, @runa-falls, @campingwiththecharmings, @toracainz, @steven-grants-world, @clemdango04, @jdbxws, @crispysublimecupcake, @sub-aro, @faretheeoscar, @cupidysm, @whentheskyispinkandabitblue , @nova-ivy541, @sparkypantelones, @veritable-trash, @mangoslushcrush, @kotaropuppy

[otakubimbo]

The Rabbit and The Wolf

Feelings & Fireworks

It’s the day of the festival and you don’t know what to feel. Do you love him, do you love him not

MDNI. MATURE CONTENT.

Ch 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

master list

Your eyes are open before the sun, your body stilling as you remember the state you were in the last time you woke up. The warmth from the bed was missing, unfortunately even if you didn’t want to admit it to yourself. Last night was the best sleep you had in years, he had brought you so much comfort, so much relaxation. Sighing internally, not knowing exactly where to go from here, knowing that you would eventually have to face your own feelings. There was still one more night of having to share a bed with Kakashi, how were you going to do that with everything going on in your mind, in your heart.

With a groan, you rise out of the formerly shared bed. It was time for your comfort to be over and get ready for the day. The festival was today, and you were going to make sure all the kids had a fun time. It would be nice to see someone get to enjoy their youth for once. After casually dressing, you make your way to Team 7's room. It was still early so you hoped someone would be up, and by someone, you meant Sasuke so you could shove his head in the dirt. Luckily for you when you knocked on the door a sleepy Sasuke answered.

“Ah, just the knucklehead I wanted to see” you smile before grabbing him by the ear and dragging him out. His ‘ows’ repeated as you dragged him down the hall to take a walk outside.

“Stop dragging me” his complaints fall on deaf ears as you drag him outside.

“Listen up brat, don’t you ever do anything like that again.” You say flustered once outside.

“So did you finally ki- “Sasuke couldn’t finish before you knocked him on the head. He rubs the now-forming bump on top of his head. “What was that for?!”

“For meddling and talking too much.” You grumble, crossing your arms, a bit embarrassed. He was just like a little brother, a brat.

“I was just trying to help,” he says, still rubbing his head.

“No one asked for your help, Sasu,” you say resisting the urge to bop him again, jumping towards him as he flitches.

“I know but still.”

“Still nothing, stay out of grown folk business.”

“sorry” his muffled voice came.

You sigh at him, placing your hands on your hips before ruffling his hair. As always, he was incredibly embarrassed by that. Unfortunately, you couldn’t talk to your sister or your friend, so you had to get your thoughts out to someone.

“He did say he was in love with me,” you say as you lean on the wall behind you, avoiding his eyes.

“Is that why you disappeared?” Sasuke tries to gauge your reaction, hoping to not get another thump on the head.

“Possibly.” You reply, still avoiding the young man's gaze, “But like I said before, it’s complicated.” You sigh, before looking at him.

“Everything is complicated”

“Yeah, everything is complicated.” You are avoiding his gaze yet again, looking up to the sky.

“I think you may be making it complicated.” He remarks mainly to the air instead of directed at you.

You exhale deeply, “maybe.”

There was silence between the two of you until it was broken by Kakashi’s voice.

“You two the only ones up?” He asks walking up with a bag in hand, still with one of his perv books in the other.

“Yeah, last time I checked. Those idiots sleep like rocks.” Sasuke said casually, as if you two weren’t just talking about the man walking up now. There was a hesitation in looking at him from you, but you could feel him glancing at you while he talks to Sasuke about how the night went and the plans for the day. Every time your gaze falls on him, all you can think of is waking up entangled in him and your heart beating dangerously fast.

“I think I’m going to go back to the room.” You say before scurrying off, while they were in mid conversation about today’s plans. The two of them watched you quickly walk away from them, Sasuke looking up at Kakashi to see his expression.

“Don’t break her heart.” Sasuke says to the older man, turning his attention back to your fleeting form. Kakashi looks down at him, confused. “She feels the same if you couldn’t tell. I saw you two the other day, outside the hospital.”

Kakashi was a bit embarrassed that someone else also said his rejection and your disappearing act. He decides to stay silent, not trying to acknowledge his downfall.

“And she told me what you said.” Sasuke starts casually, looking at Kakashi, “She says things are complicated, I don’t really know what she meant by that but that’s not really for me to figure out I guess.”

“OH,” Kakashi says thoughtfully, now understanding your behavior more.

“Just don’t tell her I told you, she’d kill me. “The boy says before stuffing his hands in his pockets and starting to walk back to his own room. He left his sensei there to be with his thoughts, the bag of pastries in the bag he was holding getting cold. Kakashi was surprised that you confided in Sasuke about his feelings, but it seemed like your sister's words. To him, you may love him, you just were scared, which was fair so that meant he possibly had a chance to change your mind. He was a coward once; he wasn’t about to be one again.

Back in the room, you were in the shower, trying to calm your heart and mind. The things that man does to your head. You aggressively wash your body to distract yourself from your own thoughts. Hearts were such fickle things, and you had no clue what was going on with yours. If it wasn’t obvious, you didn’t know what to do with yours, it had already been damaged once by this man and you didn’t want it damaged again. But he said he loved you; he was in love with you, and you were…... well you weren’t sure what you were.

When you exit the bathroom, Kakashi is still not in the room. You exhaled a sigh of relief at that, you weren’t ready to face him yet. There did seem to be a note on the table that was there along with a coffee, which you picked up reading. The note read, ‘I took the team to do some festival preparations for tonight. The coffee is for you, I think it’s just as you like it.’ As you put it down, you picked up the coffee taking a small sip of it, and it was perfect just the way you loved it. It was sweet but just bitter enough that it kept that coffee taste, he remembered. That feeling made you smile a little to yourself, a sign of his love for you.

You spend the time without the team and Kakashi, relaxing and getting ready for the festival. After last night, you decided that you would confess that you feel the same way about the man you shared a room with last night. The preparation for the night included shaving, skincare, and making sure your kimono was perfect. Luckily for you, your hair was already in a protective style so that was one last thing on the ‘everything shower’ list. Since completing all your body tasks, you went to get yourself a little sake to calm your nerves for the night. You found a small store selling drinks and some other festival items.

“Welcome, how can I help you today?” the shopkeeper asks you as you enter the little shop.

“HI, yes, I was looking for some sake.” You answered with a shy smile, you were extremely nervous.

“Oh, is this for a special occasion besides the festival? You seem a little flustered. A mister caught your eye?” The woman behind the counter teases you.

“Something like that,” you say as you play with your fingers nervously and the older woman chuckles at you while shuffling to find you something that must have come to her mind. She pulls a bottle from the back of a shelf.

“Now this is incredibly smooth and a relaxing, calming drink.” She says without even telling you the price, wrapping it up for you. Before you could ask anything, she pulled out a smaller vial of something from under the counter, “And now this, this is a bit of liquid courage, which seems like you need. Am I right?”

“Yeah. Thanks” You mumble, feeling your whole body heat up at the thoughts. You reach into your pocket to pull out your wallet when the old lady stops you.

“Oh no, these are on the house, dear.” She states putting the items in a bag and pushing it towards you. You attempt to argue with her about needing to pay and she refuses. “I make more than enough to sustain during this season. Please just take it.” You sigh in defeat, taking the bag from the older woman, and bowing a thank you.

You put the smaller bottle of “liquid courage” in your personal bag, holding the other bottle in the bag as you make your way back to the inn. It was finally a good time to start getting ready, hopefully, Kakashi was already ready or at least not in the room. Unfortunately for you, not only was he there but he wasn’t even close to being dressed still in his casual outfit.

“Hi,” you say sheepishly entering the seemingly smaller room. He nods back at you, gesturing to the bag in your hand. “Oh, I just got some sake for tonight, the shopkeeper gave it to me for free. You wouldn’t even believe it.”

“Ha, you threaten her or something” He jokes and your cheeks puff at him.

“NO!” You huffed putting the bottle on the table on the wall. “She said she makes enough money during this time and that I looked like I needed it.”

“Are you nervous about something?” He questioned taking a tentative step towards you, which made you automatically turn from facing him.

“NO! she said I looked stressed, that’s all.” You fidget with the bottle in your hand, still not facing him yet, pouring two shots for the two of you. “Here” you shove the cup into his hand. He raises an eyebrow at you.

“We are not getting drunk, a few shots of sake never hurt anyone.” You comment, a small smile on your face that Kakashi couldn’t deny making him flustered.

“Fine” He relents, clinking his cup against yours. A bigger smile spreads on your face as you down the shot back without a second thought, as Kakashi does the same.

“See not that bad!” You could feel the warmth of the liquor in your body, licking the remnants of the shot from your lips. Kakashi stilled at the sight of you doing that, he could feel the blood rushing to a certain area of his body. You cocked your head to the side in confusion from his silence which just made him tense even more, his face starting to burn.

“Yeah, not bad” He coughs as if he might be choking. You just chuckle while putting your cup down.

“Well, I should probably start getting ready.” You are still chuckling at him while you make your way to the bathroom. The shopkeeper was right, you were going to need some liquid courage because you don’t even know how you get a clear head when talking to him just then. As you close the door behind you, you fish the special drink out of your bag, clutching the vial in your hand, and you pop the top of it. At no point did you even think about the consequences of drinking this vial, didn’t even check to see exactly what it was but you down it anyway. You doubted it would be able to kill you anyway, you’ve downed your fair share of poisons and right now you were going to do anything not to think about the possibilities of tonight.

After your shower, you felt a bit more refreshed, lightheaded even but in a good way even a bit giggly. Whatever was in that drink you took was putting you into a positive mood, you almost couldn’t stop giggling to yourself. Tonight was going to be fun; you were going to let yourself enjoy life for once. Your hair was done simply, half up, half down, a cute little bun in the back. You went with a basic makeup look also, it was going to be dark after all, no need to go all out. Your eyeshadow matched your yukata, a midnight blue color, placed below your water line and on your lash line, it made your eyes pop. You were almost finished, you just needed a little help getting your yukata tied, leaving the bathroom in a small fit of giggles.

Immediately Kakashi’s face moves to yours as he hears the lightness in your voice, which he hasn’t heard in years.

“Kashi” You start, walking out of the bathroom and trying your best to tie yourself up. “Can you help me? I just can’t get my fingers to work it seems.”

The man before you was frozen, the way you looked so cute yet disheveled in your yukata, the light finally returning to your eyes, you were glowing, magnificent to him. The sight was so domestic, a life that he craved, from you. Images of a possible life with you flooded his head and heart, hearing the giggle in your voice felt like a drug to him right then, the idea of being the reason your yukata was disheveled instead of your inability to tie it yourself. Your confused voice calling out his name, finally snapped him out of his daydream.

“Are you gonna help me?” You questioned, a cute tilt to your head as you still try to fumble with it yourself.

“Oh yeah,” He stutters getting up to come behind you, helping you tie yourself up. He inhaled your scent deeply, even more intoxicating than just the sight of you, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla filling his nostrils. The amount of willpower it took from him to not bury his face into the crook of your neck.

You spin facing him once he finishes his work, “Thanks.” You beam up at him, the mystery drink you had making you feel so warm and excited. “So…. How do I look?” You ask before giving him a simple twirl.

“Almost perfect,” He remarks before turning to grab something, while you look at him confused.

“Almost?”

“Almost.” He responds, pulling out a delicate silver flower pin. It was absolutely beautiful and intricate, with tiny flowers and vines scattered with small crystals.

“Oh my. Kashi, this is beautiful.” You say taking the fragile pin into your hands. “You got this for me?”’

“Yeah, no big deal.” He says casually, although it wasn’t casual at all. He was searching everywhere today for something for you and when he spotted the pin, he knew he had to get it for you. Intricate and beautiful, just like you. Gently, he takes the pin from your hands, reaching behind you to place it in your bun. You could feel his warm breath in your ear, and it sent an immediate shiver down your spine, having to force yourself not to let any noises escape your mouth.

He backed away after placing it in your hair, not too far but too close, dangerously close. “Now, perfect.”

“Thank you” you exhale not even realizing you were holding your breath. You looked up at him, starry-eyed, this was bad, bad. His face started falling towards yours, but to your surprise, you couldn’t move. You were going to let him kiss you, you wanted him to kiss you and your eyes started fluttering shut as you began to lean up to him. Before the gap could be closed, there was a bang at the door, Naruto of course.

“Y/N-sensei, Kakashi-sensei?! You ready to go?!” Naruto yells from outside the door, you take a huge step back while Kakashi sighs.

“Yeah, yeah, just give us a second” you yell back at him, going to get your shoes, avoiding the man's gaze on you slipping them on before grabbing another shot of sake. Luckily, you were still feeling light and airy from the mystery drink which calmed your nerves so easily. After your shot, you pour one for the man, handing it to him with a smile.

“Come on old man, let's live a little”

And who was he to ever deny you, especially with the way you were smiling at him now. The way you were going to let him have you just then, the thought of feeling your body under his again. Maybe he would have two more, taking the cup from your hand grazing your fingers gently before downing it and pouring him another.

“Okay okay, maybe you’re not that old after all.” You joke, grabbing his hand knowing Naruto didn’t have a patient bone in his body. Kakashi was taken aback by the gesture, but he wasn’t going to show it and just let you pull him out of the room.

“Wow, Y/N-sensei you look so pretty!” Naruto exclaims as you exit the room.

“Well thank you Naruto, I do clean up nice sometimes.” You ruffle his hair at his compliment.

“Definitely only sometimes.” Sasuke remarks under his breath and you elbow him in the ribs.

“Brat”

“How do I look Y/N-sensei?” Sakura asks shyly, getting your attention. She was dressed in an adorable yukata that resembled her name.

“Absolutely stunning” You comment, giving her a little boop on the nose. She glowed under your approval, hoping that it would do good to get Sasuke’s attention which you noticed. “Don’t you agree Sasu?”

“Hmph” He snorts, and you elbow him again. “Yeah, I guess.”

You could tell Sakura was doing her best to hold on to her composure at getting a compliment from Sasuke. And you could only stifle your giggles so much from the scene. Your little group left the inn to attend the festival activities held outside. It was completely beautiful outside. Lanterns hanging from all the shops along with different colored lights. The streets were bustling with people, almost overly crowded yet everyone was in light spirits. Food and game stalls were everywhere, there was no clue where to start first truly. You reach into your pocket pull out some money and hand it to Sakura.

“I can trust you with this right Sakura?” You ask, putting the bag of money in her hand.

“Yes ma’am” She nods putting it in your pocket.

“Great” you clap your hands together, “Yall have fun, we can meet before the fireworks.”

And with that, they go run off, well Naruto and Sakura run off while Sasuke walks behind them, to do whatever they want with the money you gave them. You giggle as you watch them.

“They’re good kids” you mention as you and Kakashi walk side by side.

“Yeah, nothing like us back then. We were hell.” He chuckles beside you.

“We?! Absolutely not, Kashi. I have always been a saint, I was perfect.” You giggle knowing damn well that wasn’t the truth, especially when you were with him. The two of you together were demons, too serious yet too reckless. Just two kids trying to figure shit out the wrong way. You with your smart mouth and Kakashi with his even worse attitude, young and powerful.

Kakashi snorts, “You literally cussed out the Hokage before, two of them!”

“I was just standing my ground, actually.”

“You told the 3rd to go to hell.” He reminds.

“And I stand on that, in the moment.” Crossing your arms defensively.

“Which is why he didn’t let you go on missions for a month.”

“WHICH is why I stood on that.” You shove him with your shoulder. “As if you were any better, you always had such a bad attitude and a scowl on your face. Some would find that off-putting.”

“You never felt that way.” He comments.

“And that’s not the point. Plus, they kept sticking us on missions together, so I just had to get used to you, ya know.”

“A force to be reckoned with.” He breathes out, reminiscing on your past adventures. You fall into a comfortable silence as you both take in the sights of the festival, your body heating up from the drinks you had earlier, finally starting to feel it. Unconsciously, your body leans more into Kakashi feeling his warmth against your skin. It wasn’t until you caught wind of something delicious and sweet in the air did you moved from his side, your eyes scanning to find the source of the smell. AH HA. You spot the dango stand, lacing your arm through Kakashi’s, and you pull him towards the stand. You hadn’t had dango in forever and it smelled delectable.

“Two please?” You request, about to go into your pocket to pay when Kakashi’s hand is already handing money over, waiting for you to take the sticks. You take the sticks, thanking the lady at the stand.

“What a good boyfriend you have.” She comments with a wink, you just laugh.

“He’s alright,” you say awkwardly, taking a dango into your mouth, as the older woman laughs at you while you allow Kakashi to pull you away. “Don’t say anything, it would have been rude to correct her.” You scold him before he could even say anything, even though you didn’t unlink your arms.

“I wasn’t even going to say anything” He jokes, feeling his chest tighten at the thought.

“Sure,” you say taking another bite. “I could have paid myself.”

“You could of,” he says casually as he pulls his arm closer to his body which pulls you closer to him, you don’t move back.

The two of you continued enjoying the rest of the festival with Kakashi buying you more snacks that you sniffed out, even winning you a prize at one of the stalls. A stuffed wolf. You were enjoying this, enjoying being with Kakashi like this. It wasn’t like when you were younger and would hang out like friends. This felt intimate, almost like a date but of course, it wasn’t. In the back of your mind, you remember how he said that he was in love with you but now he was just acting so casually as if nothing had changed. Yes, he did almost kiss you earlier today but still, a girl sometimes has her doubts.

Truthfully, you were more scared of your feelings than his, afraid that you were also in love with him, but you didn’t even know what that meant. All of this was a first for you because of course you’ve been in relationships and liked people, but you’ve never been in love. Especially being in love with your best friend, one of the few people you have left in your life that you just got back.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you hadn’t even noticed you and Kakashi stopped walking. He said your name quietly, gently turning your head to face him making you snap out of your thoughts.

“You okay?” He asked concern written all over your face at your sudden mindlessness. His fingers felt like they were burning under your chin. You squeeze the wolf closer to you, taking in the features of his face before you sigh nodding.

“Yeah, I’m fine” You attempt to laugh it off. “Just haven’t been to a festival in so long, ya know” He seems to believe your excuse, releasing your face and picking up two baskets you don’t even remember acquiring.

“Alright, well the team said they found the best spot to watch the fireworks.”

“Oh great” You smile up at him and the worried lines on his face soften. The two of you walk to a place that seems far away from the actual festival, a mostly abandoned hill that’s just outside the festival area. Your eyes scan around for the team, spotting them almost immediately Naruto waving frantically.

“y’all been having fun?” You ask as the two of you walk up to them, Kakashi handing them one of the baskets that Sasuke takes.

“Yes, but Naruto kept losing money on games” Sakura pouts, complaining as Naruto tries to defend himself. You could see that happening, which makes you giggle at their antics. Sasuke stays silent, looking at you and Kakashi in a strange way that you couldn’t figure out why when you met his eyes.

“What? You must not have had fun” You tease, jostling his hair which makes him smack your hand away scoffing. But he kept that same look on his face, it wasn’t a bad look, but you couldn’t figure out what was on his mind.

“Nothing.” He says, turning his back. “Come on before these fireworks start” he doesn’t even wait for a response as he starts walking away. The other two follow him as Naruto waves bye which again makes you giggle, so adorable.

“I think Sasuke had a better time than he wants to admit. Reminds me of someone at that age” You tease.

“I have no clue who you could be referring to.” He remarks pulling you to a bit higher spot on the hill behind where the team set their blanket and everything up. That’s what must be in the baskets. Kakashi takes out everything that was in your basket which includes a little more than just a blanket and snacks for you two, he also got some Sake, your favorite sake. He lets you sit down first on the blanket he just laid out, pouring you and himself some sake as he sits down. You sip on your cup as you gently lean into Kakashi again as you did while walking.

“I haven’t seen fireworks in years.” You break the silence between the two of you.

“Truthfully, I can’t remember the last time I had.” He comments back and you giggle at that taking another sip. You start fiddling with the cup in your hand, anxious about what you’re going to say next.

“I’ve had a really good time tonight.” You came out and just said it.

‘Really?”

“Really” you repeat taking a bigger sip this time.

He smiles gently down at you, “Good. I had hoped so.”

Before you could say anything else, the fireworks started grabbing your attention. It was the perfect spot to watch them. From your point of view, you could see everything without having to strain your neck up to see. It was beautiful.

“Beautiful.” You comment, staring at the fireworks in awe.

“Exceptionally so.” He replies, except he wasn’t looking at the fireworks. He was looking at you and you could feel his gaze, slowly turning your head towards him. His gaze was soft but there was a fire behind it that was making your heart pound into your chest. You didn’t know what was louder, the fireworks or your heart. A feeling of boldness came across you as your hand reached for his face, stroking his cheek, gently pulling on his mask as you leaned up. He follows your lead, leaning down towards you as you pull his mask down past his lips.

“Is this, okay?” He asked barely above a whisper, not even sure if you could hear him or not, even with your faces not even an inch apart. You nod against his face, pushing his nose with yours before his lips land directly onto yours. The arm he had resting behind you grabbed you by the waist pulling you more into him which made you gasp against his mouth. Your gasp allowed Kakashi to explore your mouth with his tongue, he almost moaned. You tasted like sugar and sake; this was going to be his new favorite flavor. You allowed him to dominate your mouth, enjoying the way he felt encompassing you. His grip on your waist getting harder, making you moan into his mouth which just encouraged him more to dominate over you, feeling small and delicate in his grasp. He had such a strong hold on you, kissing you so passionately, hungrily as if you would disappear at any moment if he let go. The kiss was making you dizzy, if Kakashi wasn’t holding onto you so aggressively you don’t even think you would be able to keep yourself upright. You gain some composure as you bite his lower lip, pulling away to take a moment, which he doesn’t give you before he’s attacking your neck a growl coming from deep in his throat as you moan into his ear.

“Fuck, Kashi. We are in public.” You whimper, trying to slow him down. He bit down hard before pulling away.

“You’re right.” He says but doesn’t let you go pulling you into another breathtaking kiss, which you pull away too soon for his liking. You place his mask back on his face with a giggle, fireworks still going off behind y’all as you remove his hand from around your waist entangling your fingers with his.

“I know I’m right.” You put your head on his shoulder, your interlocked fingers in your lap. Fuck, you were definitely head over heels for this man. And if that kiss proved anything, he was still in love with you, which you had no clue why you were worried about in the first place. Y'all enjoyed the rest of the fireworks with your head on his shoulder as his thumb drew circles on your hand, fingers still entwined. After the fireworks were over, Kakashi packed everything up back in the basket and promptly grabbed your hand back into his. He was very serious about hand holding it seemed which made you giggle.

“Alright team, fun’s over. We gotta head back tomorrow so let’s call it a night.” You state walking up to the team as they were getting their own basket back together. You can see Sasuke's eyes dart to where you and Kakashi were connected before going back to what he was doing previously. This almost made you want to let go, feeling self-conscious but Kakashi held your hand tightly. Luckily, neither Naruto nor Sakura paid the two of you any mind as they started walking back to the inn. After getting back to the inn, Sasuke gives you a knowing look, which makes you step right on his foot before taking your leave to your own room. Why he insisted on trying to embarrass you was beyond you, such little brother behavior. Once back in the room, you immediately take down your hair, gently playing the pin Kakashi got for you on the desk. You head to the bathroom, to get ready for the night but unfortunately, while you are in there it seems like you can’t get your yukata untied.

“Um, Kakashi” You call to him from the bathroom. “Can you help me again? You tied this kind of tight ya know.”

He makes his way into the bathroom to assist you, the mask having already been discarded, hands working diligently to untie the knot himself created. Once he assisted you, he didn’t make a move to leave from behind you, instead moving your hair to one side giving him access to your neck again placing his lips there softly as his hands move to the front of your yukata.

“Kakashi” you whisper as you feel him untying the front. His mouth doesn’t move from your neck as he caresses your body.

“We aren’t in public.” He smirked against your skin before continuing his attack on your neck making you grip the sink in front of you arching your back into him.

“No, we aren’t” you whimper as you throw your head back, moving on of your hands to grip the back of his head. His hands roam your body as he sucks and bites at all the weak points of your neck leaving you gasping and moaning. When he realizes he can’t get the thing untied from behind you, he turns you around, lifting you up on the sink and immediately colliding his mouth onto yours. He begins to finally untie the front of your yukata breaking away only to take in your form in just your bra and panties, matching black lace set. One thing you always had confidence in was your body but now you were feeling almost shy, wanting to close back up. Kakashi inhales sharply as his hands run up your thighs.

“Fuck, you're beautiful, even more than before.”

Your form was filled out a little more than most 3 years ago. There were more curves to your hips, your breasts a bit fuller, and your legs so much thicker, Kakashi was mesmerized by the changes to your body, and he needed you desperately. His hand goes to your throat as he pulls you into a kiss, gently squeezing which makes your body unconsciously grind into him, your legs wrapping around his waist to pull him closer. You moan his way as he makes his way down your jawline, licking around your ear lobe whispering in your ear how great your body feels against his as his free hand roams your body. He removes his hand from your throat, replacing it with his mouth. his mouth makes its way across your shoulder making your body feel like it's on fire from his touch. Your hands move to his waist to untie the sash to take off his garments, but your hands are fumbling as he makes his way to your breasts, unfastening your bra with ease to take your nipple into his mouth.

“Fuck, Kakashi” you moan, leaving his garment alone to hold yourself on the sink. He went between biting and sucking on your nipple, sending intense waves of pleasure straight to your core as your head is thrown back with a moan. You attempt to pull him closer with your legs, wanting to feel more of his body against you but his hand grabs your thigh to stop your movements. He makes his way back up to your face, kissing you before moving to your ear again.

“Be patient, let me have this” he breaths into your ear and you think you could cum right then, you knew your panties were flooded at this point. You release your legs from around him, allowing him to have his way with you.

“Thank you”

His mouth was everywhere on your torso right then, kissing, sucking, biting every single inch of your skin. You were going to be covered in marks by the time he was done with you, but you were growing needier and needier with each feel of his mouth. You ached for him. He was touching you everywhere but the one place that would relieve your pressure.

“Kashi, please” You begged, not knowing how much more you could take. He goes to his knees looking up at you.

“Of course, princess” his mouth connecting with your clothed pussy as his hands knead your thighs, he was trying to kill you, you just knew it. His tongue swipes across your clit, still clothed teasing you even more. Your hands move to slide your panties down, but his hands come to stop you. “Not yet”

You whine at his actions, needing more of him. The thin layer of your panties separates him from your flesh. You push your hips more into him, not knowing how much more you could take without feeling him.

“Please” you whine, looking down at him and making him darkly chuckle as he finally grants your request by slowly, painfully slowly, dragging your panties down and off. He started to devour you like a man starved. His hands gripping your thighs to keep your legs apart as he feasted on you, overwhelming you with pleasure. Your hands go to grip his hair as you through your head back moaning his name like a bitch in heat. One of the hands that was gripping your thighs moves to your drenched entrance, placing two fingers inside while his mouth moves to suck and swirl around your clit.

“Don’t stop” you moan, feeling everything building up inside of you as his fingers move through you hitting the spot that makes you clench. He moans at your reactions to him which pushes you closer to the edge. The grip on his hair strengthens as you push him further into your cunt crying out his name as an orgasm rips through you, squirting all over his face.

“Fuck fuck fuck” you curse, your back arched as he keeps up his actions as you’re still going through your peak. It was almost too much as his attack on you slowed, finally able to get your breathing under control. He grins at you deviously, face wet from your release as he moves his way to capture your mouth with us. The taste of yourself on his tongue sends a shiver down your spine as you moan into his mouth. Your hands go between your bodies as you grab him, stroking him slowly as you use your own slick to lubricate his length.

“Princess” He growls against your mouth, pressing his body more into your hand. “Put me in, princess” He wanted it to sound like a demand, but it came out more of a whimper, needing to be inside you badly. He needed it almost as much as he needed air. You lift your hips as you guide him into you. Kakashi almost collapses as he feels himself enter you, so tight, so wet, so warm. “Fuck”

His movements are slow at first as he composes himself trying to allow you to adjust to him being inside you, but you don’t need that as he feels you start to grind back against him causing a curse to leave his lips.

“You’re going to kill me, pretty” He grunts as your hands start to rake across his back and he picks up his pace slamming into you fiercely. You’re moaning his name like a prayer, hands leaving streaks across his back and it’s driving him to the brink of insanity. His movements falter for a second as your walls are attempting to pull his cum out directly from his balls. You take this moment to roll over, letting yourself be on top of him, your movements are flawless as you immediately begin riding him not missing a single moment. You really may be the death of him. Fuck. His hands grab onto your hips as you grind against him, the grip he has on you is surely to leave bruises, but you don’t mind you're in complete ecstasy.

“Fuck, Kakashi” you moan fondling your breasts as you grind against him. “I’m gonna cum,” your toes curling as you feel him twitching inside of you, seeing that he’s just as close as you. “cum with me”

Your request spurred something new in him as he started ramming you from underneath making your head spin. You scream his name as you cum, HARD, feeling him cum with you as you collapse on top of him. You both are breathing heavily as you both come down for your highs, his hands gently stroking your back. Your eyes are growing heavy, and you feel so content and at peace for once in so long.

“I love you” your voice comes out, barely as a whisper. Kakashi’s hand stops moving on your back, gripping you to his body.

“I love you,” he says back, and you sigh happily feeling your eyes grow heavy.

Everything finally felt right, you felt right in his arms, you felt right with this team, and everything was good for you finally. You couldn’t wait to tell your sister when you got back, she would be so happy. You were so happy.

Is this what pure happiness felt like?

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[tulip-room]

Crush Next Door - s. kiyoomi

syn. your childhood friend that you lose contact with moves next door

Ch. 6 || Intervention

warnings. None that I can think of <3

words. 1.3k

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-‘๑’- Present, 2 months later

One thing about Sakusa and Komori is that no matter how far apart they may move from each other there is one thing that is concrete. Monthly dinners. Of course it would be unfair to ask either of them to always show up in person so they made a deal that if they couldn’t actually be there then they would FaceTime. Sakusa for all his indifference when asked about his personal life loved the monthly dinners. He would never admit it out loud but he did miss his cousin sometimes.

Today was one of the lucky few months that they were able to meet in person. Volleyball games weren’t until later that month and they had much to talk about. “So, I had to hear from the troublesome trio about your new neighbor,” Komori teases as he takes a sip of his water.

“I wish you would stop calling them that. Instead of an insult they’re taking the name with pride.” Sakusa rolls his eyes as he takes a bite of his food. “And, what is it that you want to know?”

Komori leans forward, chin in the palm of his hand as his elbow rests on the table. “Just that we’ve had two months worth of dinners and you didn’t tell me Y/N was around.” He squints his eyes playfully at Sakusa. “I missed her too, you know,” he says as he takes a bite of his salad.

“It’s really not that big a deal. It just slipped my mind,” his phone buzzes on the table. Komori looks at the object with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, it slipped your mind that you happened to move next door to the girl you used to like.” He pulls his lips into a tight line as he remarks sarcastically. He points his fork at Sakusa after eating the bite on it. “Do you still like her?” 

“I never stopped,” Sakusa even surprises himself a bit at the answer. Komori’s chews slow to a stop as he analyzes his cousin’s face. A smile etched onto his face as he swallows his bite of food.

“You have to tell her.” 

“She probably doesn’t feel the same.”

“You’ve been harboring this crush since like middle school, come on.” Komori tries to urge him as Sakusa’s phone buzzes against the table again. “Do you not usually put that on do not disturb when we have dinner?” He questions as the device buzzes again. 

His eyes light up as he sees red take over Sakusa’s face. How he suddenly can’t look him in the eyes, the happy smile on his face turns into a smirk as he puts two and two together. “Oh? It is on do not disturb. She just goes through it huh?” 

“Stop.” Sakusa scrunches his face up a little bit at the teasing and covers his face with his hand. Komori lets out a laugh at the action.

“Go on, tell Y/N I said hi,” he goes back to eating but still watches as Sakusa picks up his phone. He watches as a smile takes over his features seemingly subconsciously as he texts you. After a few minutes of Sakusa smiling as he texts you he puts his phone down and returns to Komori.

“Y/N says she’s sorry for interrupting dinner but also says hi and that you should come by sometime.” He relays to Komori as he takes another bite of his food. 

“She always was so sweet, I’ll stop by soon.” He nods and the two sit in silence again as they finish their meals. When their waiter comes by again Sakusa asks for banana bread to go and Komori looks confused for a moment again.

“You don’t like sweet-“ he cuts himself off as realization takes over. “Oh my goodness. You are not,” he squeals a little bit and laughs. 

Sakusa sends a small glare his way. “Yes I am. It’s our joke now.” 

“You have to tell me how she reacts.” 

“She’ll probably laugh and reminisce on the past again.” 

“Sounds about right,” Komori nods his head and finishes off his drink. “You know the trio are still trying to figure out who she is to you besides just a childhood friend.” 

“Then they’re stupider than I thought if they haven’t figured it out by now.”

“Fair, you are quite smitten when it comes to her. You never told me about the rings though, even after all of these years you’ve kept it a secret.” Komori prods and questions.

“And it will stay like that. They’re something for me and her, suffer with the fact you may never find out.”

“Ugh,” he groans and throws his head back. “Come on, you gotta give me something to work with here.”

“It’s a reference to something.”

Komori deadpans at him, clearly not amused at the ‘hint’ as Sakusa gives him a knowing smile. “Alright, pack it up.” Komori throws his hands up in mock frustration. “Well, it can’t be the dance. You didn’t get them until the following year.” Komori tries to put the pieces together. “I genuinely have no clue.”

“When you figure it out you’re gonna be so mad.” Sakusa lets out a small chuckle and spins the ring on his finger, it’s become a habit of his when he’s bored or anxious. 

“Is it obvious?” 

“Extremely. Especially when you pay attention to what she says.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He quirks an eyebrow up and looks Sakusa up and down.

“Ask her if you want to know so bad. You know my lips are sealed.” Sakusa makes a gesture of pretending to zip his mouth closed and throw it away.

“Will you at least confess to her? Please, I’ve watched you two pine over each other for years,” he says pleadingly and pouts a little bit at Sakusa. 

Sakusa hums in thought for a moment. “I’m not sure she likes me. What if everything has just been platonic? I haven’t seen her in years, what if this is just how she is with everyone? I really like her. I think I would be okay just being her friend if it meant she wasn’t uncomfortable. If it means keeping her in my life.” He shrugs and continues to fidget with the ring. His in much worse condition than hers was. 

His ring is far more tarnished from years of being worn on his gym bag or hand. There’s scrapes on the metal and the red crystals don’t shine quite like they used to. The blue of her crystals still shine and her ring doesn’t have nearly as many scrapes. 

“Kiyoomi, I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this.” He jokingly puts his hand out on the table and Sakusa rolls his eyes and pushes it away. “That girl is head over heels for you. Has been for years. Please do something before you lose her again.”

Now that strikes a cord with him. Lose you? He didn’t want to think about that happening again. “Fine,” he can see the smile coming back to Komori’s face. “But I’ll need help.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I'm so gonna regret this.”

“Leave it to me, I’ll find help.” The two begin planning how he’ll confess. He decided not to go to a public place since that puts too much pressure on you. He needs it to be perfect, he’s spent this long loving you. He’s not going to mess it up because he didn’t think about what you would want. 

“As long as it isn’t those three,” Sakusa narrows his eyes as his cousin’s smile just grows wider. “I don’t know if I want the help anymore,” he jokes. They decide on a plan and leave the restaurant before the rain starts. Miles away you curse the skies as they downpour. The one day you didn’t have an umbrella. You have to walk home in the rain.

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[aquaticwolfkuri]

You HATE me, But I

Hate YOU More: ch.2

(Should I pot these to Archives of our own?)

I hope you guys like this chapter! Sorry they have been so short

Today during skool, Zim and Dib’s teacher Mr.Mathews introduces a new student to their class. Plotty Dev. A cute Ginger haired girl who seemed to be smiling at Dib in particular. Said paranormal investigator, blushes nervously, as he smiles back. 

“This is Plotty Dev. She’s just arrived here, so please welcome her kindly into our math class.” The teacher says. Plotty introduces herself and everyone welcomes her, immediately finding her to be super cute and super nice, except for Zim of course.

However, some of the students worn the new girl of Dib, calling him weird and crazy, but she just laughs their comments off before going over to Dib and smiling.

“Hi Dib, I’ll be sat next to you, I hope that’s okay,” She says. Dib stares at the small window the collar of her shirt left open before looking back up at her face, meeting her rosy pink eyes, breaking out into a sweat as he blushes, stammering for a response.

“I-I don’t mind at all!” He says, feeling the smell of her perfume tickle his nose.

Zim looks over, confused. He’s never seen Dib malfunction before, but it was clear he was becoming more grotesque the longer he spoke with the new girl. But the other students also seemed to be staring at her. Was she admitting some kind of magnetic waves of stupidity?? Zim quickly double checks himself, but he appeared to be fine, perhaps because he was Irken?

During science class, Dib and Plotty were paired up together. Zim on the other hand was paired up with Zita. Like usual, Zim and Dib were at the top of their class, completely outperforming everyone, but this time, Dib was not only acknowledged for it, but Plotty calls him amazing and “So super smart” causing him to blush.

“P-Plotty, do you live near here, m-maybe me and my sister Gaz can walk you home after skool??” Dib asks, sweating again.

“Really? You would do that?? Wow, your super smart and sweet” She says.

True to Dib’s word, he goes to find Gaz after school. “H-Hey Gaz, um, would you mind if we walked our new classmate P-Plotty home?” He asked nervously. Gaz raises a brow and stares at him for a moment.

Dib, wants to walk a GIRL home??? And she AGREED??? Gaz couldn't believe it...

“Sure, whatever…” Gaz says.

“Really??? Thanks Gaz!” Dib hugs his sister tightly before running off to find Plotty, but he panics when he sees her talking to Zim. Zim of all people!?

“Wow, so your bad kidneys caused you to be born green and earless??? That’s so crazy.”

“Yes yes, now be gone with you…!” Zim hisses.

“Plotty, get away from him!” Dib runs over, and grabs the girl by the arm, pulling her away from the green boy.

“He’s an alien! He’s trying to-….” Dib falls silent when he sees the way the girl stares at him, confused… 

“D-Did I say Alien? I-I meant he’s A-Clean guy! He’s uh…a-a super germafobe, having a weak kidney and all, y-you wouldn’t want to get him sick” Dib says, in hopes to make a smooth recovery, and thankfully it works.

“Really? Oh gosh! I’m so sorry Zim” Plotty says before stepping closer to Dib.

Zim stares at Dib curiously before glaring, not sure what exactly he’s planning.

“C-Come on Plotty, Gaz is waiting.” Dib then quickly takes the girl by the wrist, dragging her back to his sister.

“Dib! Don’t think you can run!!- ….Eh?” Before Zim could even finish, Dib was already off in the distance, introducing the ginger haired girl to his sister… He watches for a moment before glaring, furious that Dib would ignore HIM, his greatest enemy.

Zim returns to his base, slamming the door on his way in. Gir cheerfully welcomes him home like usual, Minimoose just floating over the couch.

"Gee master, why you soo mad??” Gir asks before slurping down a whole pizza, only chewing it a few times before swallowing it. Zim wrenches, disgusted by Gir’s eating.

“Gir! A new pathetic earth monkey has come to our Skool, and I HATE HER!! I thought perhaps I could use her hypnotic like frequency to make all the stupid humans even more stupid than they already are, but her FAUL stench sickens me! And what’s worse, is even the Dib-monkey seems to be affected by her…!!”

“Aww, he likes her!” Gir says, only angering his master further.

“WAIT!! Could it be…?? Could she be… Another invader looking to steal my mission??? Its true the tallest gave me a top secret mission.”

“No they didn’t!” Gir blurts out.

“Even Tak had tried to take my mission once before, so perhaps this *PLOTTY* is also an Irken invader?” Zim thinks outloud. He knows he’ll have to do some testing in order to find out if his theory is true or not.

[bangtaninborderland]

Risk It All (22) - Don’t lie, We aren’t friends.

Genre: Chishiya x F! Reader, smut, angst.

Warning: mentions of abuse starting from “you don’t so someone has to.” You can skip this by jumping to “you watch his face as tears flood your own.”

A/N: I’m sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger 😭 I’ll write the other chapter up today/tomorrow for y’all 😭

Ch.21| Masterlist| Ch.23

“I care about you too.” You whispered, your heart racketing against your chest. “I really do Chishiya.”

He pressed his forehead against yours for a moment longer, his breath heavy. “Let’s go.”

“Okay, where?” You asked, stepping back as he released your shoulders.

“There are a few stores a little further out, we could walk to the edge of the games, it’s likely the shooter won’t come that far out we will have to take back roads, we could stop in the house to gather whatever is there. Anything else we will get on the way.” You watch as he packs up the medical gear back into the small pouch of the backpack. “Are you okay to walk?”

“I’m yeah, fine.” You mumble, the pain slightly kicking in. “We can take the road behind the church a few minutes away, my dad took us a few times as kids.”

He looked at you almost as if analysing your opinion before nodding his head, slipping the straps over his shoulders. “You never talk about your dad.”

“You never ask. Besides what’s the reason for telling a story that holds no good.” You shrugged, regretting it instantly as your arm roared in a dull pain.

“Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that, don’t move too much and you shouldn’t have any pain.” He chuckles.

“You couldn’t have mentioned that before?” You hiss, cradling your arm.

His gaze is empty. “I could have I just didn’t, besides I didn’t realise I had to state the obvious. Stay here and let me check outside.”

“Whatever.” You groan, resting carefully against the wall.

You watch as he ducks his head outside the emergency exit, the electricity somehow disabling the noise of the alarm usually accompanied with the opening of the fire door. “It’s clear we can go just stay low and be quiet until we are a little further out.”

You watch the floor as you walk over to him, slipping out of the ajar door. “Do you think he is near?”

“I doubt it. There are no rules he can go whenever he wants, he is probably looking for the most populated area. The only way to stop him is to probably kill him but with all those guns it seems impossible.”

The faint sounds of gunshots linger in the air, the city smelling lightly of iron, of blood. “So what we head back to the house and then mountain climb? I think Usagi would be a better fit for that. Don’t you think we should find everyone else first?”

“That would be pointless. We would have to go back to the city and we would put ourselves and everyone else in danger to try and find them. Being in a group bigger than 2 is a risk, even us being together is a risk.” He explained, although his eyes were trained on the plainest of things such as the overgrown greenery or the rocks beneath his feet it was easy to see he was aware of everything. Anticipating the worst with every step.

“I guess you’re right, I just worry. Do you think they are okay?”

“How am I supposed to know, I couldn’t really care.” He shrugs, frowning.

“Seriously why are you such an asshole? I refuse to believe you were born like this.” You huff, kicking a stone at him. Regardless of the childishness of the action, you felt it was very much deserved.

“Because the world isn’t as good as you like to believe it is, you have misplaced hope.” He laughs lowly, shaking his head In bemusement. “It’s adorable actually.”

“I would take that as a compliment if It didn’t sound so condescending. The world has good you just have to know where to find it.”

“If the world is so good why isn’t your sister with you?”

You don’t know when you started crying but you felt the tears fall, the sentence enough to cause you more pain than a gunshot ever could. “Fuck you.”

“Oh come on don’t tell me THAT's what gets you upset.”

“You have no right to talk about her.”

“Well, you don’t so someone has to.”

“You fucking asshole. If you want to know so bad then it’s because she was different, she was blind and because of that, my father killed her. He hated her, hated that she was so independent despite her difference. My mother moved away when we were kids because she was tired of my dad hitting her, she couldn’t take us so she got another job in another country and left us behind. I tried to protect my sister but I couldn’t. One day he had too much to drink and within seconds he turned. He started hitting everything, there was glass everywhere. My sister was trying to protect me from him but he pulled her down the stairs. She slipped on a piece of glass and it killed her instantly. She didn’t have a moment of freedom from him. They ruled her death as an accident due to her blindness. He got away with a suspended year-long sentence for abuse. I left straight after and tried to live a good life, to honour her and to see the good in every moment of darkness just like she was for me. So yes I believe there is good in the world Chishiya because someone like my sister existed. Someone who despite facing the worst every single day came through it with a smile on her face.” You pulled out the necklace that had once belonged to her. “This is all I have of her, this is all that’s left of my family.”

You watch his face as tears flood your own. Maybe it was the blurry vision you had but for a second it almost seemed as if he was sad for you, upset. His eyebrows furrowed in shock. “That’s… quite the story.”

You realised then you’d given him exactly what he had wanted, you’d told him everything about the worst you’d been through. You knew he was smart but to trick you into talking about it was something else. “You did that on purpose.”

He laughed, nodding. “You are starting to understand me more.”

“I’ll never understand you.” You shook your head, tucking away your necklace with your good hand.

“I see why you believe in good now let me tell you why I believe in bad. I was a doctor before we all came here.”

“Your patients must have really hated you with your shitty bedside manner.” You rolled your eyes, he really wasn’t what you thought he would be.

“My patients were children and for the most part they actually liked me but regardless of what I did, I could only save the lives of those that had parents to bribe the hospital. Transplants weren’t given to those that needed it but to those that could afford it. I watched child after child die all because of corruption. That is why I believe there is no good. Because even when doing a job that is perceived to be good it is built on an ugly foundation.”

“That’s horrible Chish I’m so sorry. That doesn’t mean the world is bad, the place you were in was bad, the corruption was bad but the children were good.” You wanted to plead with him, to show him how good the world could be but even you knew he would have to see that for himself.

“You’ve got to let that nickname go.” He states bluntly. Checking around a corner as you continue your journey back to the small house.

“I couldn’t ever do that it annoys you too much. So did you become a doctor because you wanted to help people?”

“No. My parents.”

“Oh. Are they still alive?”

“Let’s not do that thing where we share life stories like we are best friends.”

“One second you worry about me the next you hate me, pick a side already. Are you SURE you’re not bipolar?” You laugh. Hoping to lighten the sudden tension between you.

“You confuse me and I don’t like that.” He huffs in irritation.

“Why?” You cock your head, your eyes were wide.

“Because caring in any situation is dangerous.”

You don’t press any more, leaving him to his thoughts as you consider your own. The walk is quiet, thankfully, with no close gunshots or dead bodies. The other games hadn’t seemed to have started yet. The indication lights on the other blimps are off rather than shining the red light as the King of Spades did.

You reach the new place you’d called home an hour or so later, the sun still bright in the sky. You turn to Chishiya. “Do you think everyone else is back home living normally? Having lunch? Playing sports?”

“I would like to think that this is some sort of mental thing, maybe our bodies are elsewhere. Maybe this is a drug trial gone wrong.” It secretly scares you just how little you all know, the world you are in is utterly different from the one you knew for the entirety of your previous life, the life that feels so long ago.

“Whatever it is let’s figure this out. So what we head to the mountains? I don’t think I can climb with my arm like this.”

“Well, then you should stay here.” He continues walking around the house, shoving things into his bag. “I’ll be gone a few hours and then be back it’s not a big deal you can just rest and make food or something.” Maybe see if you can find an old map and trace the borders that we know on it.

“You can’t go alone Chishiya.” You were firm, the thought of him going out alone scared you. “I’ll come with you it will be fine.”

He pointed to your bandages. “Let me check your arm.”

“You dressed it a few hours ago it’s fine.” You shook your head.

“I’ll go by myself then.” He heads towards the door, looking for a jacket of sorts.

“No, NO!” You shout making him turn to you. “You can check it.”

“Well, that was a short tantrum. Sit down.”

You take a seat on the small stool in the kitchen, close enough to the table so he can lay out whatever he needs. “I couldn’t see it properly in that building it will be safer to check it again.”

“Please just don’t hurt me.” You wince, already imagining the pain of the wound.

“I’ll try my best.” He is careful as he unwraps the bandage. “It looks deeper than I thought, I'll have to stitch it up.”

“Needle and thread stitch?” You feel your palms begin to sweat.

“Unfortunately yes. I have some numbing cream it should take away the pain.”

“What about pain killer?” You ask, hopeful.

“I have a stronger one here but you have to take it crushed up.” He explains, watching as you consider it.

“What will happen if I don’t?”

“It will take twice as long to heal and it could get infected. I’m sure even you know what that means.”

You hated how he sounded whenever he explained things to you, always sounding as though talking to an inferior child. “Why do you treat me like I’m so dumb.”

“How do I know you’re not?” He smirks, opening the painkillers.

“I studied literacy, I am a writer. I am educated. Stop acting like I’m so dumb-witted person because I have just as much knowledge as you do, maybe not in exactly the same way but I’m not unequal to you.” You wanted respect from him. Maybe too much.

You watch as he grinds them down, pouring them into a cup of juice. “This will take away the bad taste. Take them whilst I prepare the thread.”

You took the drink silently, gagging at the taste of the crushed pills but thankful for his idea to add the flavouring. “Chishiya how bad will it hurt?”

“I’ll try my best to make it easy just relax.” He explains, threading the needle.

“Will you talk to me whilst you do it? Help distract me?”

“Okay. Just don’t move too much.” You winced as he rubbed in the numbing lotion. “Leave it a minute and I’ll begin.”

“I’ve had stitches before but I was a kid in an equipped hospital and it certainly wasn’t like this.” You gestured to the table and then the window. He seemed to understand as he laughed lightly.

You watched as he picked up the needle, bringing it to your arm. “You know I was working the day I came here?”

You bit down on your tongue as the thread pierced the skin. “Fuck.”

“I know I know, don’t talk okay just breathe. It was late and I didn’t know what was going on. It was weird when I got here there didn’t seem to be so many people. I was supposed to assist a heart transplant for a child, it was the first time I’d actually seen a transplant to be given under the first circumstances. I wanted to be a doctor because of my dad, I thought I’d I became a doctor we would have more in common and he would have liked me a little better but that didn’t happen. It was an immature wish.”

You were thankful for his speaking, it served as a great distraction. “I’m sorry you deserved, ouch, you deserved better chish.”

“I said don’t talk.” He shook his head in disappointment.

“What do you want to do after we get out of here?”

“I’ll quit my job. I don’t know anything else I don’t think about it. There’s no point in thinking of a future that may not come you have to be present at the moment. You have to think for the you that exists now, not the you that will exist in however long.”

When he stopped to explain things without having a condescending tone it was easier to understand and accept things from his point of view, regardless of how warped it was. The you that existed now will be the you that exists in the future, but you didn’t tell him that. You couldn’t. “How much longer?”

“You’re all done.” He smiled, closing the stitch. “It doesn’t take long, how was the pain?”

“Better than being shot again I suppose.” You refrain from shrugging remembering the pain from earlier.

“How do you feel?”

“Really uh- dizzy?” You stood up, holding on to the table for support. “Chishiya I don’t feel good.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

That was the last thing you heard before everything switched off, a darkness encasing you. When you opened your eyes it was dark, the sun had set, and the house was only illuminated by the small lamp. “Chishiya?”

You had no response and the lack of movement in the house only spoke to one thing… he was gone.

[miniscule-meow]

Isabell and the Lads CH 2: The Healing Process (2.6)

Masterpost Wordcount: ~1.7k First Part | Last Part | Next Part (eventually)

---

A rhythmic tapping rouses her from her sleep.

Her eyes peel open to find a familiar darkness surrounding her. She could almost convince herself she is back home and that she isn’t living out her biggest nightmare. Almost.

“Isabell?” Zeke’s voice, though gentle, shatters the dream of her being back in the walls, where she belongs. “Are you up?”

“Yeah, I’m up,” she calls out groggily. She must have been in a pretty deep sleep if his footsteps didn’t wake her up before he got to her, she doesn't like the thought of a human being able to sneak up on her.

Isabell sighs, raising her arms in an attempt to stretch, and she’s met with aching ribs and sharply protesting limbs. So that’s how it’s gonna be. As gently as possible, she maneuvers herself into a sitting position, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She has to pause here, the pain in her body has officially caught up with her. She thought there was a chance she could sleep all of this off, but as it stands right now, everything just feels worse. She takes another breath, deep enough for her ribs to flare their complaints. She’s been awake for maybe thirty seconds and she already wants to cry.

Instead, she grits her teeth and stands out of the bed, testing her leg. She doesn’t need to put much weight on it to know that it is not happy. She’ll need to stay off of it as much as possible if she ever wants a chance to get out of here.

Her shelf is still nice and dim, with only a bit of light slipping in around the edges of the curtain. So, the main lights must be on out there. Turning her attention to the curtain wall, she can see Zeke’s monolithic shadow in front of her.

“I’m coming,” she says, hoping he’ll just wait for her. She doesn’t want to see his massive fingers pull back the barrier separating them.

She’s trying not to think about it, but all of this is truly only the illusion of safety. At any point the human could decide that he’s tired of waiting, that he’s tired of her. Every single moment she’s putting so much trust in him. Trust that he’ll be patient, trust that he’ll be kind, trust that he’ll be gentle. It’s trust that she simply does not have, but she has no choice.

She hobbles her way out to the open part of the shelf, clinging to the wall as much as possible in an attempt to avoid putting too much weight on her leg. She’s really going to have to do something about that.

She blinks, her eyes adjusting to the full light of the room. Her breathing catches, seeing Zeke’s massive form kneeling in front of her, his eyes trained on her. Even though she’s been interacting with these humans, seeing them, especially for the first time again, sparks an intrinsic fear inside of her.

Don’t get caught. You’ve already been caught. They can see you. Run. Hide. Escape.

She shoves the thoughts aside. This is her situation. She can’t fix it right now. The humans are helping her.

The rational thought quells her fear meager amounts at best.

“Good morning,” Zeke says, his eyes scanning over her. “How are you feeling today?”

“I’ve been better,” she says, leaning heavily against the wall. “Um, thank you, by the way. For… setting this up for me.” She gestures over to her ‘room’ behind the curtains.

“Of course. I’m glad we could find something that worked for you,” Zeke responds with a small smile gracing his features. “I was going to make some breakfast. Do you want to come out to the living room?”

Does she want to? Does she want to willingly put herself in the palm of his hand? No. Not really. Does she agree anyway, of course. That’s what the human wants, right? At this point, it’s more dangerous to disappoint him.

She nods numbly, and Zeke’s hand rests on the shelf in front of her. She feels as though she’s watching her own actions from behind her eyes, as if she were instead watching a screen. The only way her mind can rationalize a willing interaction with this human is to just disconnect herself completely.

Sure, the humans have been nice so far. But every single moment she spends with them she has to fight every one of her instincts. Her brain’s wiring just won’t stop telling her that she’s in extreme danger. Don’t get caught, don’t get caught don’t get- she’s already been caught. She needs to play by a different set of rules now. But it’s been a lifetime of fear, well deserved fear. One or two reasonable conversations with a human isn’t going to magically undo all of that.

She takes a hesitant step forward, still pushing against the wall of the shelf for support, when the hand in front of her shifts. You were taking to long. He’s run out of patience. She jolts, expecting the hand to lurch forward and snatch her up in an unforgiving fist. Instead, the massive fingers curl in on themselves, and the hand moves in the opposite direction. She looks up, finally connecting the hand to the human, and meeting Zeke’s gaze curiously.

“Sorry. I just- You know that you can say no to me, right?” His brow furrows, his green eyes taking her in. When she doesn’t respond, he continues, “I don’t want you to say yes just because you feel like you can’t say no. That isn’t… that’s not consent. I mean,” he looks away, searching elsewhere for the right words to say, “yeah, before neither of us had much of a choice about anything. It was an emergency situation, and I’m really sorry about all of that. But now you have your own space here and- I’m rambling,” he shakes his head, looking back to her, “I don’t want you to say yes to me just because that’s what you think I want. And I really don’t want you to say yes to me because you’re afraid to say no. That’s… that makes me,” he hesitates, “that makes me feel really gross,” he admits, shaking his head once more.

She hadn't considered his feelings in all of this.

Her being afraid of him makes him feel... gross? How is that even possible. She'd always been under the impression that humans relished in the fear they caused. It never occurred to her that he might be just as uncomfortable interacting with her as she is with him.

Is it possible that she's been so wrapped up in her own feelings that she's completely missed the nuance of emotions from this impossibly large being? It is just easier for her to write off everything from them as fearmongering and manipulation so she doesn't have to consider that they aren't really all that different after all?

But still, this fear that is so deeply interwoven into her being. She's had horrific run-ins with humans. She's seen their cruelty, the inflated ego of having something smaller than them that they can dominate. She's never seen a human like Zeke. Kneeling down on her level, going out of his way to help her feel comfortable, telling her how he feels? This doesn't fit in the box of humans are scary and irrational beings that she has sequestered in her mind. This simply makes no sense to her.

Even if, and it's a big if, she were to take this human at face value, and she were to let herself trust him, it's not like she can just turn her fear off with the flick of a switch. Maybe she doesn't want to be afraid anymore. But can she really turn her back on the one thing that has kept her alive all this time?

She stays hidden because she's afraid of getting caught.

She goes out borrowing because she's afraid of starving to death.

Everything she's needed to do in life, she's done because of fear. Every choice she's made has been based on what outcome she's more or less afraid of.

Now to just say, 'no, fear, I don't need you anymore.' It feels impossible.

She feels herself slipping into a circle of thought. Be afraid, but don't be afraid, but you should be afraid, but you shouldn't be afraid, but you've always been afraid, but you don't have to be afraid anymore.

She will have to try to unpack this later.

Zeke continues, “you can say no, you can obviously also say yes. It’s- I mean, that’s why I’m asking. I want to know what you want. Okay? Do you want to go out to the living room, or would you rather stay here. It’s up to you.”

She looks up at him cautiously. What does she want? She tries to do the mental gymnastics required to figure out what he wants her to want. This has to be some kind of trick, right? What does she want? A human shouldn’t be concerned about that. She fits in the palm of his hand, and he cares about what she wants? Here she is again, trying to fit Zeke into a box of what she understands humans to be, and failing miserably.

“Um, I want… um, N-no. No, I’d actually like to stay… here,” she feels as wound up as a spring, her shoulders tense rigidly. I just told a human no. She looks up at him wide-eyed, terrified she’s made the wrong choice.

Zeke just nods indifferently. It doesn’t seem like he’s upset or disappointed at all. If anything it looks like he relaxes a little bit. “Alright,” he says standing. “I’ll bring you some breakfast soon, okay?”

“Pancakes?” She asks, remembering the warm fluffy clouds he made for her yesterday.

“Yeah, I can make that happen,” he responds. She can’t see his face, but he sounds amused. He could even be smiling, a rarity from him.

With that, his footsteps retreat off into the main part of the apartment. She takes this time to drag herself back into her room. Zeke had been kind enough to put a little electric candle in the middle of the room for her. She flips the switch and the warm light flickers gently in the space. Off to the side, he had left her a bundle of craft supplies. By the time he comes back with pancakes for her, she’s crafted herself a crutch. So, even though she’s still hobbling around, she’s at least doing it with some proficiency now.

[vashbug]

Dropped into No Man’s Land Ch 2

Summary: Vash has a hard time trusting you. You tell him about Earth. You realize something important.

Notes:  Chapter 2 of my silly Trigun Isekai fic. Okay, that's all I'm posting for today! I think two chapters is enough for now. I hope you enjoy :)

First Chapter: Here

Read on AO3: Here

***

You let out a nervous laugh as you watch Vash's face go from jovial, to curious, to suspicious in the span of a few seconds. He's taken a cautious step back, and suddenly you feel like he's looking at you as though he's calculating the trajectory of a bullet. Vash might be all too trusting, but he's not stupid, and you're an outlier in a world he knows almost everything about.

The moment drags on for a little too long, and you can see Vash's right hand twitch slightly at his side near his gun. You know he won't fatally harm you, but you sure don't want to get shot today. You make the mistake of sparing a quick glace at the holster strapped to his thigh, and it takes a millisecond for him to take that as a threat and draw, aiming directly between your eyes.

"Hey! Woah!" You put your hands up quickly. You know he's only doing this because he feels like you've deceived him, but the sight of his gun makes your blood run cold regardless.

"What are you," He asks, "and why are you here?" He's practically growling, and if you were watching him on TV, the tone in his voice would make you shiver. Instead, you feel like you might throw up.

"I'm human, I swear!" Your mind is struggling to process what is happening, and you're having a hard time finding the right words to defuse the situation. His glare is colder than you anticipated. "I told you the truth! I swear on my life."

Vash doesn't move a muscle as he stares you down. "Explain why you know who I am, then. I need to know if you're a threat to the people who live on this planet or not."

Ah, that's what this is. He couldn't give a shit whether or not you were here for him, he just wants to make sure you won't hurt anyone. Your mind clears somewhat and you're able to speak.

"Oh," you chuckle nervously. There's no point in hiding it now, whether he thinks you're insane or not. It's better than having him shoot you. "You're sort of... famous. In my time."

For the first time in a minute he moves, slightly lowering his gun. He looks surprised. "What?"

"Theres..." You need to phrase this in a way that makes sense, and in a way that doesn't make you so embarrassed that you beg him to shoot you. "There's a book about you. Where you're the main character. It's a... western, about a gunslinger named Vash The Stampede. He wears a red coat and travels from town to town helping people. Or trying to," you smile sheepishly.

He takes a moment to think this information over. "So in your... reality or whatever, there's a book about me? That you've read?"

"Yeah, I mean, it doesn't seem like it's entirely out there that at some point our realities have crossed, given that I'm here." You feel a lot more confident now that his gun isn't pointed directly between your eyes. "Maybe the author dreamed about you or something."

"How much does it say about me?" His curiosity is obvious now, though he's still trying to mask it with suspicion. His gun is lowered all the way down now, still in his hand.

"Oh, well, it... It says enough about you that I know who you are, but you seem a little different from the Vash in the book." He seems exactly like the Vash you know, but you're trying to save face a little, in case you get any details wrong.

"Okay..." He doesn't seem entirely convinced. "Then tell me something no one else knows about me."

This takes you by surprise. You didn't expect a quiz. You have to think for a moment. "Um, I know that Rem grew red geraniums."

He looks surprised again. "That's... That's not good enough. There are plenty of people who know that." His face says he's expecting another answer.

You feel sick to your stomach. You look him directly in the eye, so he knows that you're serious. You know what you have to say, but you desperately don't want to open old wounds.

"You saw something terrible; something when you were young, back on your ship." You eye him cautiously, careful with your words. "After you saw that, Knives was asleep, and Rem told you about the train, and the ticket..." You stop, sure this is enough. You don't dare to elaborate further.

It's Vash's turn to look sick. He carefully places his gun back in it's holster and sits heavily on the ground, his head dropped between his knees. "There's only a couple people that know that," he mutters.

Your heart aches for him, but at the same time you feel relief flood through you. You slump back and sigh. He raises his head and gives you an apologetic look. "Sorry, this is just so weird. When I realized you knew me, I was worried you were an alien... here to threaten humanity... or something." He looks ashamed, his cheeks red with embarrassment. It's obvious in the way his shoulders hunch forward that he feels bad about threatening you. "If it makes you feel any better," he pulls his gun back out and releases the cylinder with a click, showing you the inside. "I'm out of bullets."

You glance between him and his empty gun with your mouth open, not sure of what to say. Then you laugh-- a real laugh--and the sound makes his face brighten. "Damn it... you really are him."

He laughs as well, and for the first time since you've met you're both smiling at each other. He takes this as forgiveness and snaps his gun shut again, hiding it away once again. The two of you sit quietly for a while, watching the fire flicker in the dark, trying to process everything.

"So..." You look up at the sound of his voice and find him tracing circles in the sand with his prosthetic hand. He looks like a little kid about to ask their parents for something they're not supposed to have. "In this book... what other things do you know?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you," you say, trying to sound playful. Truthfully, you were worried about this. Would telling him too much alter the timeline? Was it even the same timeline?

"Please! Just a little!" He half-walks on his knees over to your side, lacing his hands together and giving you the biggest puppy-dog eyes he can manage. His big blue eyes sparkle with anticipation. "I just want to know a little, you don't have to tell me anything life-altering; nothing about the future."

You fold immediately. Damn it. "Okay, I'll tell you. But only the light stuff! I don't even know if this is the same timeline I know." He sits upright, legs crossed like a child ready for story-time.

So you tell him about his friends, mostly, steering clear of any major events. He knows Wolfwood, Meryl and Roberto already, but the timeline diverges slightly and he ends up separated from them, with plans to meet with them again after Vash makes a few stops. You don't have time to ask him for details, as he's playing 20 questions with you at break-neck speed. After a while you run out of things to tell him about, and he begins to ask about your timeline and your Earth.

"What's it really like there?" His eyes are wide, and he leans closer and closer with each answer you give him. "Is flora really everywhere? Do you really watch movies? And just how many people are in your town?" He hangs on every word you say, and the fire begins to die from neglect.

"Well, flora really is sort of everywhere, except for in the desert, but even then there's specific vegetation there." You're careful not to use the word plant in this context. "And I do watch movies... And..." You have to think for a moment. "There are about 9 million people in my city? It's one of the biggest." You have to guess the population size.

His already wide eyes grow even wider. "9 million... In just one city." He thinks about it for a moment, and then his tone turns quiet and serious. "Is it... peaceful?"

You know the answer he is hoping for by the look on his face.

Your heart throbs painfully in your chest. "Well..." You look down at your hands. "It's more peaceful than here." You give him a weak smile, and you know it's not convincing. "It's not the same as here, really. I mean, I don't think you can even compare the two. People have more peaceful days than not, depending on where you live, I guess." You quickly realize you're not cut out for this conversation; you're not sure how to explain that there are so many contradictions in your life on Earth.

You look at his face in the dying firelight. For the first time since meeting him here, you see that familiar look, the one that exposes just how old and tired he truly is. You're not sure if he's disappointed with your answer, and you don't have the heart to ask.

"But," you continue, reaching over and taking his hand in yours. You figure you know him well enough to do this much. "People are mostly good. And we all help each other when we can. There are so many people from my Earth that are trying to make it a better place. I forget sometimes, that the Earth is a good place. It is... It's beautiful." You smile at him, this time genuinely. One of your hands holds his right, the other tracing circles into his palm. You notice that his hands are bigger than yours.

His eyes search your face, and while his expression is still worn-down, something else is there. Surprise? Curiosity? You can't place the feeling.

"Rem would have really liked you," he says quietly, looking down at his hand in yours. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but she wanted the world to be a better place. She wanted everyone to get along, just like that." His voice hitches slightly in his throat.

You're surprised at the mention of Rem, and suddenly you're keenly aware of your hands, your finger tracing it's slow circles over his gloved palm. You know it's a huge compliment--an honor, really--to be compared to Rem. Your face turns hot, and you can hear your own heartbeat in your ears. You can feel him looking at you, but you can't meet his eyes. You have to change the subject.

"The fire..." You glance at the dying coals. "We should probably keep it going, it's getting cold." You pull your hands away so you can wrap them around yourself.

"Ah!" Vash looks as though something in him has snapped back into place as he makes a show of fussing over the fire. He seems like his usual, cheerful self as he pushes sticks and kindling into place. The fire comes back to life, and you're both bathed in the warm glow.

"Thank you," he says into the fire after a while. "For telling me about Earth. I hope you get back there someday. It sounds like a wonderful place." He turns his head to look at you as he says this, a smile that reaches his eyes spreading across his face.

He is so sincere it makes you want to cry again. You're not sure if you want to curl up in his jacket or curl up in his arms. He's still smiling at you, and you're sure he knows exactly what effect he has on people. Several thoughts cross your mind, all of them having to do with touching him or kissing him, and you have to fight to hold down your embarrassment. You decide it would be best not to act on any of them, though he's still looking at you, and he's so close...

Instead, you pick up your cracked phone and look at it once more, Idly turning it over in your hands. You concentrate on picking the sand out of the crevices, trying not to think about Vash. You look at the cracks in the screen, thinking it would probably still work if you could get it to turn on. You know you won't get a signal, but you'd at least have whatever is saved on it...

You exclaim so loudly Vash nearly falls into the fire.

"Ah! What that hell? What is it?"

You ignore him as he watches you scramble on all fours behind him, reaching for your bag. "My laptop!" You pull it out of your bag and brush the sand off of it, frantically opening it and pressing the power button. "Come on..." You plead. Please turn on.

Vash moves to sit behind you so he can look over your shoulder, obviously curious about your strange tech. His proximity is dangerous, with his chest practically pressing into your shoulder, but you don't have time to think about that.

You have to contain a shout when the screen blinks on. You can't believe it. It's working. You sort through your files and find that everything is unchanged, and this fact brings a small comfort to you. A piece of home.

But more importantly, you're looking for something. You search your downloads folder for the file. Vash watches you without making a sound; his gaze could drill a hole through your face and hands.

And there it is. Thank god for poor reception on the subway! If you really want to read something on the way home, you have to download it and send it to your phone so the poor cell reception doesn't prevent the next chapter from loading.

The fic your friend sent you, the one you didn't finish, sits in your downloads. The absurdity of it makes you laugh and nearly tear your hair out. Vash looks at you, concern and confusion written across his face.

You scan through the pages you've already read, heart thrumming in your chest.

Your hunch was correct. The events of this world, the one you've fallen into, aren't following the plot of the original. No, they're following this specific story. Vash separating from his friends, on his way to Octovern to buy gun parts; it can't be a coincidence. You've fallen into the story you were reading when the car hit you, right where you left off.

If you can't get back home, you'll need a way to protect yourself.

It doesn't seem like much, but with your combined knowledge of the original story, this is the closest thing to a weapon you have here. You might as well be able to tell the future.

This is it. This is how you'll survive.

[thiccpettybitch]

Sweet Sorrow - Ch. 1 Miguel O’hara x F!Reader

Phew, alright, I have to admit, this chapter was a bit of a struggle to write. My self-doubt and anxieties are having a go at me, and I can't help but feel like I rushed it a little. But you know what? I'd rather get it out there than keep overthinking it until I can quote it word for word.

I know it might be a bit confusing or jumbled right now, but I promise it'll get easier to understand as the story unfolds. There are so many good moments planned that I can't wait to share with you 😭

Today's been a self-doubt day for me, but hey, it happens. Now, let's talk about Sweet Sorrow, the spin-off of my baby Bitter Sweet. I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know what you think about it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Also, I want to take a moment to say thank you so much for all the support. We've reached over 1000 likes and over 100 reblogs, and I'm incredibly grateful for every single one. Your likes, questions, comments, and asks truly make my day brighter. I can't say it enough – thank you all from the bottom of my heart!💖

(I’ve also gotten all your asks so don’t worry! Once the next chapter of Bitter Sweet is out, i will begin slowly releasing them as well! ty again, ilu all!)

Now, I'm going to take a deep breath and keep pushing forward with the story. With your support, I know I can make it even better, and I'm excited to see where this journey takes us.

Part 2

As you find yourself hurtling towards an inevitable end, you gaze upward, and there is Miguel, falling with you. His hand reaches out with desperate hope, as if trying to bridge the impossible distance between you. Despite his bloodied and battered state, he grits his teeth, calling out for you with a heart-wrenching cry. You don’t have the strength to call out for him, tears well up in your eyes, suspended in the air like tiny, glistening droplets, as you continue to fall.

You know he won't be able to catch you; the fall is too fast, the distance too great. However perhaps selfishly so, you still use the last of your strength to call out for him, begging him to save you.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Green Goblin appears, swooping in on his glider. He crashes into Miguel's side, sending him careening into another building. You close your eyes letting out another sob as you watch The Green Goblin looks down at you, his face twisted with malevolence. He gives you a small, taunting wave, relishing, before setting his sights on Spiderman, on Miguel.

Will it hurt?

As you plummet, the inevitable ground approaches, and you can't help but think that this is it. In a final desperate act, you call out Miguel's name, as if it's your way of making a lasting impact on the world. The prospect of death might be beyond your control, but no one can take away the memories of his name, his face, his smile, his touch, and his love. They will be the last thoughts in your mind before you touch the ground. Before you die.

With a loud gasp, the back of your jacket unexpectedly snags on a flag post, suspending you high above the ground. As you look down, the world spins around you, making your head swirl with dizziness. Panic takes hold, and you cry out in a desperate attempt to free yourself. The flagpole protests with creaks, and you find yourself trapped, unable to move without facing a deadly plunge. It's as if fate is playing one last cruel joke on you, leaving you helplessly suspended, caught between life and death.

---

Miguel's expression contorted with pain as the glider collided with him, forcing the air from his lungs in a pained grunt. Amidst the chaos, Osborn's sinister laughter echoed in his ears, fueling his determination. He mustered every ounce of strength, pushing himself up, his talons digging into the glider's metal.

‘’Miguel--!!’’

Rage and panic surged through him, driving Miguel to lash out. With a fierce punch, he thrust his hand through the metal, causing cables and sparks to fly, but he paid no mind to the chaos around him. Osborn cursed and fought back, trying to halt his advance. Fingers closed around Miguel's mask, but he didn't care anymore, not even as the mask was yanked off, and their eyes met. A roar escaped his lips as he smacked Osborn in the face, the broken glider sending the villain flying into a nearby building.

Despite his aching body, Miguel webbed onto two buildings simultaneously, propelling himself forward through the air. He ignored the pain, focused only on reaching his destination. Landing on the roof of the building where you had fallen, he scrambled up on all fours, rushing to the edge. Before he could react, a blinding light burst through the air, and he collided with a solid mass, sending him falling backward.

Looking up, Miguel froze in astonishment. Before him stood a large, futuristic-looking Spiderman, his face concealed behind a mask, yet the intensity of his gaze felt palpable. It was as if he was scrutinizing Miguel's very soul. But the urgency in your cry brought him back to the present. Determined to reach you, he rose to his feet, ready to dash over, only to be halted by the other Spiderman's outstretched hand, signaling him to stop.

"Don't kid," the man's voice resonated with a deep yet strangely familiar tone.

"What- ¡Bastardo! ¡Fuera de mi camino!" Miguel practically spat, his frustration boiling over as he tried to move past the other Spiderman. But his defiance was met with an iron grip on his suit, forcing him back to the ground with a powerful slam. Despite his own strength, Miguel found himself overpowered as the other Spiderman held him down effortlessly with just one arm.

Rage surged through him as he yelled in frustration, attempting to push the man off, but to no avail. The other Spiderman responded by slamming him back down, now using both arms to maintain control. Their faces were inches apart, and the intensity of the moment was almost suffocating.

"Listen to me!" the other Spiderman growled; his voice urgent. "I can save her! But you have to listen to me; I don't have much time!"

Miguel's eyes locked onto the stranger's face, wide with unfiltered rage. Their attention was momentarily drawn to the ledge by the sound of a creaking pole and your desperate cries.

"Hijo de puta! Get off me, I’ll rip your head off!" Miguel yelled in frustration, but his defiance only resulted in another punishing slam into the roof, leaving him gasping for breath.

As if by some futuristic mechanism, the man's mask suddenly dissolved before Miguel's eyes, leaving his face fully exposed in an instant. He froze, staring up in pure shock.

"Yeah well, good luck with that, kid," Miguel looked up at the older version of himself, utterly speechless and shocked.

"¡Escúchame!" The older man's voice echoed with intensity, his crimson eyes locking fiercely with Miguel's brown ones.

"Even if you save her now, she'll be in danger again, maybe later today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next shocking week. It doesn't matter! She'll keep facing death over and over!" Miguel shook his head, about to protest, but he was forcefully pushed back against the roof, the pain shooting through him.

"SHUT UP!" the older version of himself shouted, cutting off any further objections.

"She is destined to die! Because of you! Because of who you are, because of who WE are! But I can save her… I can save her life, you understand?’’ Miguel gazed up at the man, still in shock and pain, his eyes glazing over as he looked toward the ledge of the building.

"I can save her. But she can never see you again. She will be safe with me; she can have a life with me, but only if I take her with me. You have to let her go." The older version of himself pressed him down before rising and leaning over Miguel, hovering just above him, his finger pointing directly at his face.

"You go over there now, you save her?" He pointed towards the edge. "She dies. And there is NOTHING I can do about it. You have to make a choice, right now." Miguel swallowed hard, his eyes glossing over as he looked at the ledge and then back at the older version of himself.

"I…" Miguel hesitated, his heart pounding in his chest.

"CHOOSE, NOW!" The older Miguel barked, his teeth showing in a fierce display of impatience.

"I… Save her! I love-" Miguel's voice trembled as he looked up at the older version of himself. To his surprise, the man's expression softened slightly. In that fleeting moment, they shared a connection. Miguel blinked, and just like that, the mask formed back over the older man's face, concealing his emotions once more. He stood tall, turning away from Miguel, leaving him sitting there.

"I'll keep her safe. Tienes mi palabra," the man said, glancing briefly over his shoulder before leaping off the side of the building.

Miguel remained sitting there, a mixture of relief and sorrow flooding through him. He watched as bright lights illuminated the scene, listening to your desperate calls for him. His entire body went rigid. He dashed up, rushing to the side, only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the portal closing, taking you away with it. You were gone, leaving him standing there alone, his fists trembling at his sides. The distant sounds of the city were drowned out by the deafening sound of his heart hammering in his ears.

---

The flagpole keeps creaking, and panic engulfs you as you frantically search for anything to hold onto, causing you to swing back and forth in desperation. With every creak, the pole bends a little more, making your heart race even faster. You stretch upward, trying to grasp onto it as it starts bending downwards.

Your hands wrap around the pole, but you feel yourself slipping, and in desperation, you cry out for Miguel, for anyone, to come and save you. The bolts that attach the flagpole to the wall begin to move as your weight puts strain on the weak fastenings, threatening to give way.

In a terrifying moment, the small flagpole is pulled out of the loosening bolts, and you scream as it drops, together with you.

Suddenly, a figure casts a shadow above you, and you look up just in time to witness another Spiderman's arrival. His talons dig into the wall as he slides down, causing it to crack apart. In a swift move, he snatches the collar of your shirt, catching you, and with incredible strength, he pulls you up and holds you with one arm. For a moment, you stare at each other, shocked and slightly bloodied you stare up at the eyes of his mask slowly narrowing, as if he waited for something to happen.

But before you can comprehend what's happening, the man throws you through a portal, and you scream out for Miguel, your voice echoing in desperation. He follows right behind you, and the world around you shifts drastically.

The surroundings are strange, uncanny, and constantly morphing into different shapes, colors, and constructs. It feels as if you're floating in space, yet there's a sense of movement, as if the world around you is shifting and transforming. Shapes, sounds, and colors blend together, creating an otherworldly experience. It's as if you've entered a realm where time, space, and reality intertwine, leaving you in a state of awe and bewilderment.

Suddenly, the man reappears, the other Spiderman, leaping towards you with a trademark Spiderman leap. Panic grips you as you scramble to escape. Whoever this guy was, whether he wore a Spiderman suit or not, he wasn’t Miguel.

You flail your arms and legs, akin to a dog attempting to swim for the first time. However, before you can fully comprehend what's happening, a hand snatches you up and propels you towards yet another bright light. Your body is flung through the portal, leaving you disoriented and landing on your front in a large and dimly lit room.

Slowly, you push yourself up on your arms, whispering a quiet, pained "ow..." The realization of the situation dawns on you, and your eyes shoot open. Flipping over onto your back, you begin to crawl backward, putting distance between yourself and the man who is stepping toward you.

Every muscle in your body tenses with fear and uncertainty. Your heart pounds loudly in your chest as you try to make sense of where you are and what's happening. The dim light in the room casts eerie shadows, adding to the surreal atmosphere. You don't know who this man is or what he wants, and your instincts urge you to keep your distance.

"Lyla!" His voice startled you, and as you turned around, a cheerful yellow hologram of a woman materialized on the man's shoulder.

[Oh, hey Boss~ How’d it go- Oh…]

Suddenly the hologram playfully teleported in front of you. Instinctively, you scooted back, keeping both of them at arm's length. The hologram, Lyla, flickered momentarily before returning to the man's shoulder.

"Check her vitals and bring up the statistics from her dimension," he says, drawing a circle with his hand to encompass all of you. As he walks past, you scramble away, realizing that he doesn't seem interested in you. Making his way over to some monitors, he starts typing something in.

[Got it]

The hologram nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders as a bright yellow light shines over you, seemingly scanning your body. You instinctively move away, flinching as the light flicks from one side of you to the other.

[Elevated heart rate; 123 bpm. The respiratory rate is increased, steady at 15. Without a thorough check-up, I can't provide precise statistics. However, based on a quick review, she shows possible signs of anxiousness and confusion, and she might be somewhat disoriented. Additionally, she could be showing signs of paleness, which might indicate a drop in her blood pressure, although that could also be due to a lack of sun exposure... sorry to call you out, y/n]

"Lyla..." The man's voice carried a cautious tone as he swiftly typed on a hologram keyboard, summoning screens before him.

[The canon is stable, no disruptions or anomalies detected.] The hologram swiftly flicked around and settled in front of you, making you flinch involuntarily.

[I'm so excited to have you here! I mean, hiiiii! My name is Lyla! I have so many questions for you~ By the way, is that your natural hair color? Because-] Lyla's bubbly introduction is interrupted as you ask, your hands trembling slightly.

"How do you know my name…?" you inquire, feeling a mix of curiosity and unease.

Lyla flicks, and in an instant, her back is turned towards you, now facing Miguel with her hands on her hips. Then she flicks again and reappears in front of him.

[You didn't tell her?] she asks Miguel, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Haven't really had the chance to yet," he snapped at her, clearly annoyed, as he finished whatever he was doing on the monitors. Finally, he turned around to face you.

The man walked over towards you, and fearfully, you scrambled backward. He stopped, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, and let out a tired sigh. "I won't hurt you," he reassured you. Despite his words, you still flinched and moved back even more as he takes another step towards you.

"You have my word; you are safe here. I just need to give you this," he said, holding up what seemed like a futuristic watch.

As he moves forward and you flinch back once again, your back pressed against the wall, he lets out a frustrated sound. Suddenly, he leaps at you and snatches your wrist, causing you to cry out and instinctively smack your closed fist against his chest.

"Stop! Wait! Just—just hold still!" You try to pull away from him as he tris to calm you down, his grip tight as he tries to hold you in place.

"No, stop moving, I'm—stop," he says wearily, trying to get you to calm down.

"No! Let go of me! HELP ME, SOMEONE, PLEASE!" Panic surges through you, and your body is on high alert as you thrash around in his grip, your eyes darting around the room for someone, anyone.

He snatches both of your wrists, trying to hold you still, but your panic escalates into a full-blown panic attack. You pull, hit, and kick him, desperately trying to pry your hands away and get away from him.

"Just—STOP!" The man finally says, grabbing the bottom of your face and forcing you to look up at him. You resist at first, attempting to break free from his grip, until you finally open your eyes and freeze. As you watch, the Spider-Man mask covering his face dissolves away, revealing his face.

The man standing in front of you was a spitting image of Miguel, a bit older, with a few more wrinkles likely from frowning and stress rather than actual age, you would have guessed. He stared down at you, his eyebrows knitted together in a frown. Shocked and unable to move, you could only stand there, gazing up at him.

He took the opportunity to snap the bracelet onto your wrist. It wasn't tight, but it felt secure enough that it wouldn't easily come off. You didn't even notice, too absorbed in staring at his face.

Finally, Miguel, older Miguel, let go of you and straightened up, his gaze turned away with a noticeable frown on his face.

"Who..." you asked, your eyebrows tightly together as you took in his appearance.

"My name is Miguel O'Hara. I lead an elite strike force dedicated to the security of the multiverse-" he began explaining.

"What- no," you interrupted, taking a step back and shaking your head, a look of confusion and disapproval on your face, "I know Miguel, you—you're not my—"

"I am Miguel, but not your Miguel, I am from another dimension," he clarified, attempting to make sense of the situation.

[This dimension, to be more specific], Lyla chimed in, appearing hovering above his shoulder, seemingly nonchalant.

You shook your head slowly, your lip trembling as you glanced down at the floor, trying to process what you had just been told. You closed your eyes tightly, attempting to stop the swirling emotions from overwhelming you. It was as if by not agreeing and not wanting it to be true, you hoped somehow to fix the situation.

"I don't—I don't know you. I want to go back; I need to make sure Miguel—MY Miguel is okay!" You push past him and walk over to where the portal had been, running your hands over the surface of the wall, searching for some sort of button or switch.

"You can't go back," he says firmly.

"What?" you ask, turning around to face him. "What do you mean 'can't'? You brought me here, so you can take me back!" you protest.

"You," he sighed, glancing around the room, searching for the right words before finally closing his eyes in defeat. He looked at you with a serious expression, "You were supposed to die tonight, but I managed to find a way around it. However, for that to happen and for you to survive, you can't.... you can't go back. I'm sorry."

"You're lying... I survived! I've been in dangerous situations before! I—this was no different, I got saved—" you protested, your emotions running high.

"You got saved by ME; I interfered. Without it, you would have been killed," he explained, his hands now on his hips as he walked over to you slowly.

"In our worlds... as Miguel and y/n, we are the equivalent of a Spiderman," he pointed at his own chest and then gestured to yours, "and a Gwen Stacy."

You frowned, looking at his hand, and he let out a quiet sigh. "It's a messed up 'never meant to be' canon event that is unavoidable, trust me – I have tried. As soon as versions of us meet, it starts."

"What starts?" you asked, feeling confused.

"A canon event, something that can't be avoided without the risk of total and complete destruction of that dimension," he responded matter-of-factly.

You let out a bitter laugh. "You're kidding me, right? You want me to believe that an entire dimension, world, universe—whatever—would collapse just because versions of us start dating?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" he asked, taking a step towards you, his voice low and dangerous as he towered over you. "In every universe, versions of us date, and you, almost every version of you, die. That's your story."

Miguel leaned back, looking down at you with disdain. "Or, if you're lucky, I'm the one who dies. Either way, that's our story, our fate. If anything, or anyone, breaks that cycle, THAT then threatens that dimension's safety."

"Why?!" Your voice broke, and a mixture of anger and sadness welled up inside you, tears building up in your eyes.

He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Because it's a canon event! And canon events cannot be broken without the risk of complete multidimensional collapse."

Everything he said sounded so foreign to you, yet strangely believable. The sincerity in his voice and the evidence you had witnessed so far led you to believe him. He didn't come across as a man who would lie. But believing his words didn't mean you had to accept them.

Your hands felt clammy, and a cold shiver ran down your spine. A headache began to pulse in your temples, and as you looked up, the room seemed to spin around you, leaving you feeling dizzy and disoriented. This couldn't be happening... this couldn't be real.

"I-I want to go back. Take me back..." you desperately say, your words a mix of a plea and demand.

"I can't do that," he responds, his hands on his hips.

"Let me go back!" you cry out, tears spilling down your cheeks.

"I can't do that," he responds again, avoiding your gaze, a heavy weight in his voice.

You feel yourself heat up, anger and panic mixing into a dangerous and unfamiliar mess inside you, threatening to erupt. Suddenly, a door next to you opens, revealing two people dressed in Spiderman suits—one wearing a blue vest, and the other clad in a fully black suit with white marks.

"Take her to my quarters, let her lay down and rest until I find a place for her to stay," Miguel mumbles, tiredly rubbing his eyes with one hand as he turns around to leave.

"Don't touch me... I’m not going anywhere!" you warn, your voice firm

Miguel stops and his head whips around as he looks down at you, his eyebrows raised. The unspoken question, dare, hung heavily in the air.

Is that so?

---

You thrashed around, your fists smacking into his bulky back as he had you slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Curses and threats spilled from you, but he remained nonchalant, walking ahead with a frown on his face. Your yelling caught the attention of people around you, and as you looked up, you realized that everyone was wearing different kinds of suits, all with some sort of Spider symbol or design.

After an awkwardly long elevator ride, during which you had tired yourself out with all your kicking and thrashing, you heard the ding as the elevator doors opened. Stepping outside, he carried you until he ended up in front of a pair of doors. He dropped you on your feet and you opened your mouth about to curse him out when he spun you around and pushed you inside.

"You—YOU! You can't just... I HAVE RIGHTS!" you shouted in frustration and anger.

"Oh? Great, oh wow" he responded sarcastically, barely letting you get your words out.

"AND YOU CAN'T JUST, JUST TAKE ME AND—" you continued to vent your anger.

"Uh huh, uh huh," he nodded, his hands on his hips, watching you storm over towards him with a mocking smile on his face.

The doors closed abruptly in your face, and you stopped, your eyes wide with pure shock. For a moment, you were left speechless, trying to process what had just happened, your eye twitching in annoyance.

And then? Then you began breaking stuff.

You were yelling a mixture of gibberish and curses, you had been smacking your hand against the metal sliding doors for what felt like hours, kicking at them, and demanding to be let out. When that didn’t work you began trashing the place, kicking chairs out of your way, smacking over books and bowls and- well… the place wasn’t really decorated much. Until finally you were left pacing back and forth, a pillow held tightly in your hands, it was the only thing around not yet on the floor.

You finally stopped, backing up to take in your surrounding and the state of the room, as your back hit the wall, you slowly came to a stop, dropping the pillow you had been holding. It wasn't much of a weapon, but in that moment, you didn't really care; your mind was not thinking straight.

Your eyes shifted around the room, taking in the destruction you had unintentionally caused. Finally, you slumped back, feeling your body slide down against the wall until you landed softly on the floor. You pulled your knees up against your chest and wrapped your arms around them hiding your face.

In your mind, this felt like a terrible nightmare you desperately wanted to wake up from. You yearned to open your eyes and find yourself back in the safety of your bedroom, with sunlight streaming through the blinds. The comforting routine of having breakfast with your aunt and uncle, followed by a trip to school to meet your friends and, of course, Miguel. It filled your heart with a sense of normalcy you sorely missed.

Your chest felt so tight for a moment that you thought you might be having a heart attack, but it was more likely a panic attack taking hold of you. The knot in your stomach tightened, and the silence around you only amplified your distress. It felt as if the world was closing in, leaving you struggling for breath and unable to think straight.

You desperately needed to wake up. This had to be nothing more than a terrible nightmare. Lifting your tear-stained face from your arms, you took in the surroundings of the room, hoping to find some semblance of familiarity. It was a small, cramped space with a kitchen area, a bedroom, a compact living area with a large desk, and finally, a door that you presumed led to the bathroom. At first glance, it didn't look like a jail cell, but then why did it feel as though invisible metal bars were closing in around you?

Your eyes shifted to your wrist, and you had to take a deep breath to steady yourself. The braided bracelet encircling it suddenly felt so heavy, like a weight pulling you down. Your chin trembled, and your vision blurred as tears welled up in your eyes. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, you began to weep, tears streaming down your cheeks as you rested your forehead against the bracelet.

After what felt like hours of crying, you noticed a bright yellow light shined down on you. Looking up, you watched as Lyla materialized in front of you, silently observing you.

[Miguel has instructed me to give you a quick tour of his quarters. Would you... like me to show you around?]

If you had to guess, you would probably say she's some kind of AI; thus, who knows if she could feel sympathy or even understand what you were going through. Running the back of your hands over your eyes, you wiped away some of the tears, but you were still unable to get your breathing under control.

[Is there anything I can help you with? I could pull up a few breathing exercises or calming videos of puppies if you would like?]

You eyed her for a moment, contemplating whether she was being genuine or making fun of you. Based on the tone of her voice and the hologram itself, Lyla seemed to be at least trying to comfort you.

[I have to admit... I'm not really good at this. It's not as if Miguel possesses a wide range of emotions.]

"What time is it?" You asked, choosing to ignore her attempt at small talk.

[It's approximately six PM.]

"Why is it so dark in here?"

[Miguel prefers it that way. In his work station and quarters, you'll find the lighting is usually kept dim.]

You glance around the room and realize that one of the reasons it feels like a glorified prison cell is the lack of a window.

"Does he hate windows too?" you ask bitterly.

[No. However, I was instructed not to open it due to...] She trails off, nervously flickering her gaze around the room.

"Due to what?" you press, narrowing your eyes as you slowly stand.

[There are napkins in the third drawer of his desk, please help yourself,] she said, smoothly changing the subject.

Silently, you walked over to the desk, your gaze fixated on the drawers. You made a mental note to check them all out later, when you weren't being watched. You pulled on the drawer, and there, on top of some files, you found the box of napkins. You consciously ignored the box of lotion that lay behind it.

"Terrific..." you muttered to yourself, feeling slightly frustrated.

"Why can't you open a window?" you demanded.

[I am fully capable of opening a window, it's—] Lyla began to explain.

"Why were you instructed not to, then?" you interrupted, your upper lip twitching in annoyance.

Lyla fell quiet, flickering around until she reappeared in front of you on the desk. You wiped your nose and some tears off your face, feeling a mix of emotions. Suddenly, a noise on the far wall caught your attention. You looked over and watched as some blinds, which had been impossible to spot in the dark, cracked open, allowing a stream of light to finally shine in.

[Ooh, WOW! Haha! Look at this place! You ripped it apart! That's so funny, Miguel is gonna lose his mind,] she exclaimed.

"Is he violent?" you ask, making your way towards the window.

[What? Of course not! Well, if you're wondering if you have anything to fear, then no,] she assures you.

"Oh good, I'm glad my kidnapper doesn't have violent tendencies," you retort. There was a time when you might have felt guilty about your attitude, but after everything that had happened, you couldn't care less.

[Would you like me to put on some music? I know what you like! I have a few playlists saved based on your—] she begins to suggest.

"How high up are we? Are you able to remove the blinds completely?" you inquire, glancing out the window as you test the strength of the metal blinds.

[y/n... Even if I opened those blinds, and even if you weren't several hundred feet above the ground (I do not have permission to disclose HQ information with you), and you could get out...] Lyla flicked to your side, her avatar looking at you with sympathetic eyes, or as close to it as she could manage.

[You're not in your own dimension. You're not even really in your own timeline; you're about an average human's lifetime ahead of your own timeline. Even if I let you out... you'd have nowhere to go], she gently explained, delivering the disheartening truth.

As the blinds peeled back loudly, the entire window was revealed, causing you to flinch instinctively. You turned your head quickly to see Miguel, the other Miguel, leaning against the doorframe with his hand sliding off a button.

Glancing outside, you watched the city before you, and the knot in your stomach grew. Everything looked futuristic, with cars soaring down below and buildings towering even taller than those back home.

Home...

The only thing that looked remotely similar to home were the large, over-the-top billboards littering the city. You were too high up to actually see the people walking down below, which did prove that Lyla hadn't been lying.

Lyla flicked over to Miguel, hovering above his shoulder, engaged in a quiet conversation with him. As you turned towards them, the growing tightness in your chest returned. Slowly, you walked away from the window, positioning yourself on the opposite side of him—more importantly, the opposite side of the door. Miguel casually observed you, and for the first time since you had seen his face, he wasn't frowning. You glanced at the open doorway behind him and then back at him, trying to keep your face as neutral as possible.

"Don't..." He casually warned, staring down at you.

Turning around, you began walking towards the kitchen, attempting to feign hunger by casually sliding your hand over your stomach. But as soon as you were near the door, your only plan was to get the hell out of there and away from him.

With a swift move, you tried to slip past him, but he reacted lightning-fast, grabbing your wrist and hoisting you up in the air. He forcefully pulled you backwards, leaving your toes barely touching the floor, before throwing you onto his couch.

"Enough already—" Miguel started to say, but he had to stop himself as you made another desperate attempt to dash past him. He pushed you down against the couch, one hand on your chest.

"Let me out of here! Send me home!" you hissed, trying to push him away, but his grip was firm.

"YOU ARE AN ANOMALY! If you go back there, your whole dimension will disappear, together with everything in it! Everyone you know, your friends, family, loved ones—everyone will die," Miguel explained, his hand keeping you in place as you stared up at him, breathing heavily, and eventually slumping back against the couch.

You didn't have the energy to question him further. You smacked his hand away from you, sitting up and leaning forward. Your arms rested on your knees, and you covered your face with your hands. The amount of information from unreliable sources was overwhelming, making your head spin and your stomach churn.

You fell backwards against the couch, silently staring out the window. For a brief, beautiful moment, your brain seemed to take pity on you and dissociated from reality, allowing you to watch the sun finally set and the darkness of the night slowly taking over. While Miguel occupied himself with some paperwork, speaking into his bracelet, and moving about his quarters, he eventually settled down across from you on the couch.

As you continued to gaze out the window, he watched you intently, about to say something when you interrupted him. "Is Miguel safe—my Miguel?"

He nodded silently, and you closed your eyes, letting out a breath. "I... I won't ever see him again, will I?" you asked, your eyes welling up with tears as you looked over at him.

"No," he answered quietly.

Closing your eyes, you felt tears streak down each cheek. "Why is this happening? Why—" you began, feeling overwhelmed with emotions.

Miguel sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. After a moment of silence, he looked up at the spot above your head before his gaze settled on you, making it appear as though he almost looked down at you as he spoke.

"Every Spider-person's life is connected, woven together in this... beautiful web of life and destiny. It's called the Arachno-Humanoid Poly-Multiverse," Miguel explained.

As you blinked in bewilderment, a look of pure confusion crossed your face. Miguel, looking annoyed, glanced away before sighing.

"Or... The Spiderverse, if that makes it easier," he muttered. "It's easier if we just—Ugh. Lyla, do the thing!"

[Huh? What thing?]

Miguel's stoic expression melted into one of confusion and borderline bewilderment. He shook his head, clearly perplexed, and turned to glance at Lyla, ‘’What- What do you mean ‘what thing?’ The information, explainy thing!’’

[Oh, okay!] Lyla responded.

As the blinds fall over the window again, you jump in your seat, and suddenly the room transforms from pitch black to a display of red laser-like shapes forming in front of you. The shapes resemble hundreds, if not thousands, of small webs, all interconnected. Each one takes the form of a small heptagon with tiny images inside, depicting various events. However, the images are too small to make out clearly, and Miguel mumbles something about it being easier to show in the "big room."

You lean forward, engrossed in his explanation. "These nodes," he points them out for you, "they're where the lines converge; they are the canon. Chapters that are a part of every Spider's story, every time." You watch as Miguel leans forward, his eyes shifting from one node to another as he speaks.

"Some good..." He looks over at another node. "Some bad..."

"Some very bad." He stops at the node in front of you, his gaze shifting up to meet yours.

"That's how the story's supposed to go. The canon events are the connections that bind our lives together," Miguel said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched you. "But those connections can be broken. That's why anomalies..." He looked away from you, his expression turning bitter, "are so dangerous."

"In universes where versions of us meet and become... close, our relationship becomes a canon event, an event that always has and always will end with one of us dying. You weren't supposed to survive in your universe," he explained solemnly.

"Do I always... die at the same time?" you ask, your voice tinged with sadness and confusion.

"No. Sometimes you... we—" Miguel hesitates, searching for the right words, "Versions of us begin lives together. Some get married, some have children, and some... some die before even making it as far as you did," he says, bitterness evident in his voice.

"And now, because that story has changed, you have become an anomaly. Which means that if you return, your dimension will begin unraveling. And there is no stopping that," Miguel explains, his tone somber and resigned.

"What..." you say, distraught.

"It's what happens when you break the canon,"

"Then why... why am I alive? Why did you save me?" you ask, eyebrows furrowed.

"Because I... I found a way—a way to save you," he responds, his expression serious, but a hint of melancholic determination gleaming in his eyes, as if just speaking those words aloud was an act of defiance against some unfathomable force.

"How many other versions of me have you saved?" you ask, his gaze remaining on you for a moment before faltering, and he looks away, seemingly feeling ashamed.

"None. You are... you are the only one I could save," he admits.

You silently watch him, trying to process the weight of what he had just revealed, whether intentional or not.

"That's why you can't go back. If you break enough canons, we could lose..." He gestures, and you watch as nodes begin to crumble, causing the entire web to slowly disintegrate. "Everything."

"We...?" you question, seeking clarification.

Miguel let out a tired sigh, scooting forward and reaching for your hand. You flinched at his touch, and he looked up at you, his frown slowly softening as you held out your arm. He lifted your sleeve and showed you a small red spot, the mosquito bite you had gotten a few days ago.

"For you to survive, you..." He trailed off, his thumb running over the spot slowly. "There can only be one Spider-person in every dimension. If, for whatever reason, another person becomes one, then they also become an anomaly. At that point, one of the spider-people either dies, or the dimension itself collapses. Sometimes, it's both."

Your eyes meet as he holds onto your arm. "For you to survive, you had to become... an anomaly. Instead of you dying, you became an anomaly and then got removed from that dimension. Things change without tipping the scale, without breaking the canon."

"An anomaly... You turned me into a Spider-person?" you gasp.

Miguel silently watches you. "Not exactly... I injected you with—"

"Wait! So, Miguel could die? I mean, if there can only be one Spider-person, what if the universe or dimension or canon, or whatever it is, doesn't realize I'm gone? It could still kill him?!" you interrupt, your concern and anxiety evident in your voice.

[I have run hundreds of statistics, and so far, none show any dimensional rupture or damage. The canon has technically not been broken, only altered. The end results are still the same—only one Spider-man, only one of the two of you in the dimension.]

‘’This was just some test to you? You’re risking Miguel's life, my entire dimension because of what some AI calculated?!’’ You stand up abruptly, staring down at Miguel.

[Hey!] Lyla objects, clearly offended.

‘’As long as you don’t go back and interact with that dimension, it should be safe,’’ Miguel leans forward, looking up at you with a hint of a smile on his face. ‘’You were— are, a scientific miracle. A breakthrough never thought to be possible. However, if something does disrupt your dimension, it’s our job to try to fix it. We’re not always lucky, but—‘’

You leap over the small coffee table between the two of you, aiming for the collar of his suit. Miguel swiftly captures your wrists in his hands, holding you firmly in place as you glare down at him, tears welling in your eyes.

‘’You sick-‘’ you hiss, baring your teeth at him, your nails digging into his hands.

‘’y/n, you were going to die. If not you, then your Miguel would have. You can hate me as much as you want. I didn’t make the rules, you think I’d want this…?’’ Miguel's voice wavers slightly, his eyes reflecting a mix of guilt and desperation.

In that moment, the anger inside you clashes with a sudden wave of overwhelming sadness and helplessness. You struggle against his grip, but Miguel's hold remains steady, as if he's trying to protect you from yourself.

‘’You should have just let me die,’’ you glare at him, and he looks at you, his eyes widening in surprise, ‘’At least then my dimension, my Miguel would have been safe.’’

‘’I... couldn’t...’’ Miguel mumbles, staring into your eyes, his own welling up with emotion.

‘’Why?!’’ you ask with tearful eyes, glaring down at him, your heart heavy with frustration and grief.

He watches you silently for a moment, his expression pained, before his eyebrows knit together, and he pushes you back against the couch, releasing your wrists as you fall back. ‘’No more questions for today. Lyla, get her something to eat. I have a headache.’’

You continued objecting, ignoring Lyla's attempts to distract you with food recommendations and takeout options. Your mind was consumed by the weight of the revelations, and the internal struggle left you feeling torn apart. Miguel eventually left, locking the door behind him, leaving you alone to process everything that had been revealed.

Unable to find solace in the chaos of your thoughts, you finally dropped down against the couch, pulling your knees up into a fetal position. The tears welled up again, and you cried yourself to sleep, exhaustion and emotional turmoil taking its toll on your body and mind.

---

In the following days or weeks – time seemed hazy in this new dimension – you settled into a monotonous routine. Conversations were rare, especially with Miguel. Sleeping on the couch, facing away from the room, you woke each morning to find a comforting blanket placed over you. Emotions churned as you grappled with the reality of being an anomaly here. Memories of home and loved ones tugged at your heart, while uncertainty and vulnerability clouded your mind

As days passed in the unfamiliar dimension, you grew closer to Lyla. Despite your attempts to ignore her, she proved to be persistent and engaging. She spent time with you, sharing stories and anecdotes, breaking through your emotional barriers.

During a conversation, you discovered that she had been "observing" you for quite a while. While it felt like stalking to you, she insisted it was part of her duties. After a two-hour debate, you agreed to disagree.

Lyla's presence became a source of solace in the disorienting dimension. She became a friend, easing the burden of being stranded far from home. In this vast multiverse, her companionship reminded you of the need for friendship, someone to confine in, someone to speak to.

She reminded you of Gwen…

[yeehawbvby]

Falling Away With You | Ch. 53

Sebastian x F!Reader and M. Rasmodius x F!Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter Summary: Spirit’s Eve shenanigans part 2 - the event.

Author’s Note: See the comments for a little bonus snippet~

Table of Contents + Work Summary

Check it out on ao3!

Prev | Next

Naked, we both rush to the bathroom. 

I pee and do my best to clean all the Seb Residue™ off and outta me, while Seb wipes off the bits of red lipstick that look out of place off of his mouth and the skin around it; and then while I wipe off all my lipstick and grab his clothes, fangs and cape for him, he applies that black lipstick he was hoping for, puts on some more deodorant, and brushes his hair.

Since the shrine didn’t give my hair any oomph, I tie some of it half-up into a braid while Seb gets dressed. It’s super soft and easy to work with like this.

While I’m braiding, I wonder if our beloved fish son has any opinions on having to watch us bang. 

Right in front of his salad! 

Can fish food even be considered salad..? I dunno what it’s made of. 

I’m sure it can be. 

When I’m finished, I top him up with a snack and decide that it’s salad now. Gerard is so health conscious, wow!

Seb and I don’t dare to say a word, not wanting to distract each other while we get ready — we just focus on being as not-fucked out as we possibly can, and looking presentable. By the time we’re both done, we hear another knock.

We jog to the door to meet whoever’s there. It turns out to be Maru. 

“Oh!” 

I think we startled the poor girl by just flinging the door open in her face like that. She puts a hand over her chest, as if to soothe her heart. Oops.

She looks adorable — her costume is just a simple black cat, but rather than going the sexy route with it, she’s wearing a black onesie with a puffy tail sewn onto it and some mittens. The hood is down, she has cat ear clip-ons in her hair, and she drew a little triangular nose, freckles and whiskers onto her face. 

“Cute costume!” I smile, trying not to fawn a little. She may be, what, 19? 20? But I almost feel like I want to protect her right now...

“Thank you! Yours too, wow.” Recouped, she continues to Seb, “Um. Dad is pretty mad… he almost came down here himself but I went ahead of him.”

“Of course,” he rolls his eyes. “When isn’t he pissed at me?”

Maru shrugs awkwardly. It’s probably so weird for her, being Demetrius’ clear favorite and trying to talk to Seb about him... and on the other side of things, I know it’s hard for Seb to constantly be in Maru’s shadow. I don’t blame him for feeling some resentment towards her.

He sighs. “Thanks for taking over. That was cool of you.” 

He holds up a fist for her to bump. She smiles shyly, returning it. She shifts on her feet a little, and adds, “I’d just try to avoid him, if you can. He’s a little mad at everyone today, actually.”

“I’m willing to bet you’re safe from him.”

“Seb…” I nudge him with my elbow, furrowing my brows. 

I get that it’s hard but god damn, she can’t help it if Demetrius is gonna favor her so much!

His sister peers down at her feet, silent. Probably doesn’t know what to say to that; probably can’t deny it, but doesn’t wanna lie.

Seb shuts his eyes to recoup for a sec. “Shit, I’m… I’m sorry.” Sighs again and adds, “I know it’s not your fault. Didn’t mean to be a dick.”

Atta boy.

She smiles up at him, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. 

“I dunno what happened for him to be mad at mom, but is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Maru replies, her voice quiet. “I couldn’t tell you why she’s so down, but I can tell it’s because of dad because he isn’t talking to her.”

Seb rolls his eyes. “‘Course…”

“Um,” I butt in, feeling timid.

I’ve rarely ever spoken to Maru, and the few times I have, it’s always turned into stuff that’s hard to understand for my dumb idiot baby brain, like her research and inventions. It’s super cool but man if I don’t feel confused every time. 

That said, it feels weird to talk about their family squabbles with her, but… 

“She told me earlier,” I continue when they’re both looking at me. I keep my eyes low and focused on nothing in particular, avoiding eye contact. “He doesn’t want to go into town, and doesn’t wanna wear the matching stuff she bought him.”

“Ohhh… That’s— damn it. He didn’t wear it.”

My shoulders slump. “Seriously?” I frown. 

Maru nods, half-shrugging, “He just has an old hazmat suit on,” adds on for Seb, “The same one he wore in that weird rain we got a few summers ago. It still has some green stains on it…” and tacks on in a mumble, “At least it’s festive, I guess.”

I can’t help but roll my eyes at the man. Poor Robin…

I look at Seb, whose jaw is tight. He’s holding back something. I don’t want him to have to, but at the same time, I don’t want him getting into a whole thing with Demetrius. Based on what he’s told me, their fights don’t sound pretty.

“Let’s just go,” he sighs, nodding at the stairs.

Maru nods and runs up, and we follow closely behind. Her tail nearly tickles my face. 

When we get outside, Demetrius is waiting with clear impatience. Robin stands nearby, tupperwares of cookies in hand, still upset as ever. 

Luckily, Demetrius doesn’t say anything snarky when he sees Seb. He just makes a show of sighing, turns around, and begins walking down into the town. For a moment, none of us follow. Maru winds up being the first to go. 

When she leaves, I meet Robin’s eyes and try to cheer her up, reenacting the punches I did earlier. A silent offer for me to kick his ass (for real this time!). I’m happy to see the corners of her lips upturn and the apples of her cheeks plump up in response.

“The fuck are you doing?” Seb laughs.

“Don’t worry about it, toots.”

“Toots?” Robin chimes in. 

“I said what I said.”

_______________

Abby, Sam, and Victor — a knight in bulky armor, with her helmet tucked under her arm; a beautiful princess, I’m assuming to be saved by Abby, from… something; and another vampire, in the same cheesy outfit as Seb but without makeup, respectively — are totally gobsmacked when they see Seb and I.

While Victor is bantering with Seb about their matching look amongst other topics, Abby and Sam gawk at me. 

“Can you… like… not?” I shyly ask. I can only look around and pretend to be people watching to avoid their stares for so long.

“The fuck do you mean ‘Can I not?’” Abby argues, “How in the hell did you do that?!”

“Did you, like, dye your skin?” Sam reaches out to touch my forehead with a nosy finger, but I jump away. 

“Makeup,” I lie, “Looots of makeup. Can’t touch it much or it’ll just rub right off.”

“What about the hair?” 

Abby nudges him with her elbow. “Ever heard of wigs, dumbass?” 

“That’s a sick wig, though! Like, holy crap.”

“It is pretty nice,” she agrees, emphasizing the T’s in the word “pretty.” “Must’ve been hella expensive.”

“Hella?” I pry, scrunching my nose. “The 2010s want their slang back, bozo.”

“Oh, bite me.” I bite the air in her direction, and she flinches back, laughing. “Down, girl!”

I cross my arms. “I’m an elf, not a puppy,” I grump. 

“Dog ears would be kinda…”

Abby groans. “Saaam, dude, please don’t do this.”

“I mean…” he shrugs, attempting the signature Byrne eyebrow waggle, and failing yet again. 

“Down, boy!” I laugh, feebly swatting at him. 

He turns it into a pseudo-handshake, swatting back a few times before dapping me up. We finish it with a fist bump. 

Abby fake-coughs out the word “Simp.”

The simp in question replies with great speed, “Says you.”

“The fuck you mean ‘says me?’”

I tease, “You’re big on questioning the integrity of your friends’ words tonight.”

“I’m a knight. Isn’t that a cop, in a way?”

“Acab.”

“That’s my girl!” Seb temporarily cuts in. Victor and I bark out a laugh before they continue their conversation.

“Does that make this an interrogation?” I go on through some residual giggles.

“Uh, yup.”

“It’s our right to remain silent then!”

“Yeah!” Sam agrees. “We’re sticking it to the man!”

“Neither of you have a stick,” Abby quips, unsheathing her toy sword and wagging it at us. 

“Well, y’know…” I trail off, giving Sam a quick up-and-down. Him and I share a shitty grin with each other before flashing ‘em to Abby. 

Sam finishes my sentence, “One of us does.”

She puts the sword away. “Groooss,” she whines, face palming. Sam and I laugh about it, being the mature gentlepeople we are, and exchange yet another a fist bump. “I’m getting punch, you guys want any?”

“Hell yeah,” Sam responds while I nod.

“I’ll help,” I offer, scurrying closer to Abby. 

“Sick. What about you two?” she asks a little louder to get Seb and Victor’s attention. 

“Huh?” Seb asks.

“Punch?”

They answer in unison, “Yeah, sure.” 

“Jinx!”

“You can’t say ‘jinx’ for other people, Sam.”

“Then why was I able to do it just now?”

Abby and I snort, her rolling her eyes too as we walk away from their silly argument… 

And right over to Pam, who’s pouring, like, a gallon of vodka into the punch bowl! God damnit, Pam!

We both sigh. 

“I mean,” I mutter, shrugging sheepishly, “I’m down for it.”

“You sure, tipsy?”

“Tipsy?” I snort, handing her some orange plastic cups as Pam walks away with her thoroughly boozed bev. 

“Yeah, ‘cause you get tipsy so fast.”

I groan. “Please don’t make that a thing.”

“Okay, Tipsy.”

I bump her hip with mine. “Ow,” I wince on contact. “Real metal, or something?”

She simply winks at me. 

…Huh?

Is it real or not, Ab?

I’ve gotta know how heavy that shit is if it’s real.

Is Abby, like, jacked or something?

Still ignoring my question, she wiggles a cup expectantly.

I move on. “Sure, why not?”

Abby tastes a sip. “Fuckin’— Yoba, Pam!” she whisper-yells. “This is why not.” 

She hands me the drink and I give it a sniff.

Oh my god.

I take a sip. 

Oh my—

“God!”

Abby stifles a laugh, continuing to scoop punch into the other cups. “How the fuck did your ears do that?”

I guess they moved. Shit, what did Magnus suggest? 

“Uh…” oh god, oh fuck, “trick of the light..?”

“That’s not how ears work, lady.”

“They do now, I dont fuckin’ know.” I take a hefty sip of punch. Sure as hell need it. 

Lucky for me, she just laughs it off with a weird look. I give her one back, and she laughs a little harder. 

I could swear I see a little bit of a blush on her cheeks as she observes me for a moment longer than necessary, but she puts her helmet on, hiding her complexion and giving herself the hands to carry this stuff. She handles two of the drinks while I maneuver the other three into my grasp.

Handing Seb and Victor their drinks while Abby gives Sam his, I tell them, “Dink up, gamers.”

Now that I’m passing off a drink to Vic, it’s like he’s seeing my costume for the first time. His eyes bug for a sec, “How the hell—“

“Don’t worry about it.” I shoot him a finger gun with my free hand and wink before downing another sip of punch.

He doesn’t question it. Just nods and shrugs.

It’s honestly nice that he pays less attention to me and my looks than the others. There’s a lot less pressure to exist, in a way, around him. Not that the usual attention isn’t flattering, but like, never in a gazillion years did I think I’d move to a small town like this and have a bunch of pretty people totally smitten by me, y’know?

I wonder if, being in the city for so long now, Victor is just used to seeing people way cuter than me. Maybe I’m a 10 here but a 3 or 4 there. Or maybe I’m just not his type…

For fuck’s sake — listen to me, wondering how it’s possible that he’s the only person in this group who isn’t attracted to me. Has my ego really been inflated that much?

Whatever. Either way, I'm glad at least one of my friends isn’t romantically or sexually interested in me, at least that I know of.

Seb wraps an arm around my back and pulls me in front of him. Nearly coughs the damn drink onto my head a few seconds later. 

“Pam?” he asks.

“Pam.”

“Paaam,” Victor lilts approvingly, nodding slowly and with a shit-eating grin before downing his whole cup.

“Fucking hell, dude!”

“Chug! Chug! Chug!” Abby begins chanting. 

“I mean, I already did,” Victor points out, rubbing his neck. 

Fuck. He remembered to put faux bite marks on it. 

I shoulda given Seb some of my own, heheh—

No. Down, girl.

Abby challenges him, “Chug more.”

Victor puts his hands up in mock defense. “Fine, I guess I’ll do it. Only ‘cause you’re forcing me to.” Then he walks away, empty cup in hand ready to be refilled.

“Hey,” Seb murmurs near my ear while Abby and Sam goad Victor on. His breath and low voice send a chill down my spine.

“W-what’s up?”

“Maze?”

“Oh fuck yeah, let’s go.”

The emo man takes me by the hand and we make our escape, disappearing into the hedges. While we navigate our way through, he explains the concept: get through before anyone else, and you win a huge, golden pumpkin. Nobody knows why it’s so special, but most people seem eager to get it. 

If you were to give it to anyone, it’s a sure-fire way to get in their good graces. The whole thing sounds like a silly town tradition, like bouquets, but I love the whimsy of it.

Only a few turns later, we pass Harvey, who’s all but cowering a few paces away from some hay bales.

Doctor Haywood, more like Doctor Scared-Of-Hayw— I’m sorry, that one barely even makes sense…

Seb encourages him, raising his glass (well, plastic), “Hang in there, doc.”

He replies with a shaky thumbs-up. 

We continue on, weaving our way through a mixture of fake and real spiders, some subdued (but still intimidating) monsters, and a fake-out pumpkin patch, before arriving at a dead end occupied by a Baba Yaga-lookin’ hut with feet.

“Coulda sworn this was the right way,” Seb mutters. 

I look around, trying to spot any paths we could take. I’ve got nothing.

“Need help?”

“Oh god!“ I jump, startled.

“You got that too, right?”

“Ye— Wait, he can talk to more than one person at a time telepathically?”

“I can with some effort.”

“Where the fuck are you?!” Seb laughs. 

“Look to the cliffs.”

Seb and I both turn, scanning for him. With nothing but the darkness and our stupidity to blame, it takes a few seconds to notice him – he’s practically right above us, sitting back on his hands with Linus cross-legged at his side. He waves while Magnus offers a warm smile, and I smile at them both, nudging Seb.

I think out loud, “Guess it makes sense why you could hear us.”

He winks. Cute… “Unless I was simply reading your mind again.”

I fake astonishment with a fist on my chest clutching at imaginary pearls. “You wouldn’t dare!” I proclaim, trying to sound like a generic damsel in distress from an old film.

“He would,” Seb points out.

“I would,” Magnus agrees, nodding.

“Whatever, man.” I take a long sip of my punch, definitely beginning to feel the effects. I wince a little at the sting it leaves behind. 

“Are you alright?” Linus asks, having noticed.

After shaking off the feeling a bit with Seb patting at my back and quietly chuckling to himself, I nod. 

A one-word explanation should do. “Pam.”

“Pam…” Linus nods sagely. 

Magnus looks a little confused. “Pam?”

“She spikes the punch at, like, every town gathering,” Seb explains. 

“Ohhh.”

“Surprised you haven’t noticed it more,” I poke, “with all your creeping around at these things.”

“Hush, you.”

After a little snicker, I ask, “You want some?” I dunno how to get it to them, but I’m sure we could figure it out. 

In lieu of an answer, Magnus holds up a fancy bottle of wine, a lazy, mischievous grin on his face. Linus yoinks it right from his hands and steals a sip. I guess that explains the darkness to both of their cheeks.

“Oh hell yeah.”

“You earned it,” Seb proclaims, vaguely motioning around us. “This is sick.” I enthusiastically nod at the sentiment.

“Indeed we did!” Linus agrees. 

“So uh,” Seb moves on, “about that golden pumpkin…” 

I look over to see him squiggling his eyebrows around, as he often does. He’s got a slight lil shimmy to his shoulders too this time. Dork.

Magnus smiles knowingly. “What about it?”

“Got any hints?” I interject. 

Seb tacks on, “Or answers?”

“Or answers?” I repeat enthusiastically. I mimic the emo’s earlier wiggles, earning a smile from the older men and Seb alike.

“That would be telling.”

“Th—“ I have to stop for a giggle. Pam… “That’s the point!”

“I get it,” Seb laments dramatically, “you hate us.”

I place the back of my hand on my forehead and lean against Sebastian. “M’so hurt I might faint.”

“Spirits save me,” I hear him mutter. His smile betrays the annoyance in his voice. 

Linus comes to our rescue! “Try looking more closely at those hedges behind you.” Magnus nods along.

“Not all heroes wear capes.” Seb salutes the white-haired man. 

“Thank you, Linus!” I beam, tugging Seb a few paces towards our destination. He goes along with me, laughing at my enthusiasm. “Love you, Maggg,” I add in a sing-songy tone.

“Since when do you call him Mag?” Seb questions, his nose scrunched.

I shrug. “How d’ya feel about Maggy then?”

Magnus answers, “Please, no,” while Seb and Linus both shake their heads, Linus laughing as he does so. 

I lazily swing a defeated snap in front of me. “Damn.”

“And I love you too, little elf,” Oh?! Magnus adds on, waving. “Good luck, you two.”

That nickname was so cute! It feels different hearing it from him, versus all the shadow people who called me the same.

God I wish I was always an elf.

Too giddy to respond, I beam back at him before scurrying away. 

“Little elf does it for ya, huh?” Seb asks once we’re alone again. His voice is smooth and he takes his hand from mine to place it atop my head and frick it all makes me fucking melt. 

Sometimes I forget he can just, like, sense my heart rate and shit. Wizards, man… 

“Shuddup.” Comes out as a squeak. 

“Is that who I think it is?” I hear Sam yell from somewhere nearby. 

“No,” Seb lies.

“First they abandon us,” Abby goes on, “and then they lie. Bastards.”

Victor cries, “For shame!”

“Gonna have to catch up if you want an apology,” Seb calls out. 

“You won’t just apologize because I’m an innocent little guy?” Abby pouts. I can’t see it but I’ll be damned if I can’t hear the frown in her voice. “You wouldn’t upset a little guy, would you?”

“I would.”

“Yeah I would too.”

Seb scoffs, “(Y/n) you are a little guy.”

“My point stands.”

“Betrayed by my own kin!” Abby laments. 

“For shame!” Vic repeats with more force.

“You sound more knightly than vampirey when you say that, y’know,” I respond.

“And y’sound more like a squeaky toy than elfily..? Elfly..?” Sound it out buddy! “Elfy,” he decides.

“Yeeowch,” Sam narrates, “a critical hit!”

“Goodbye,” Seb laughs, tugging me along. I stumble a little, but he helps me stay upright.

Pam.

By time we find the pumpkin, let’s fucking go, the others catch up to us, somehow. They must’ve been booking it.

“Dude, dude,” Abby greets us with urgency.

I’m surprised she didn’t immediately mourn the loss of the golden pumpkin.

Behind her, Victor has his eyes locked in on the pumpkin in Seb’s embrace. Sam is next to him, just kinda admiring the scenery. 

Abby places a palm on mine and Seb’s shoulders. “You’ll never guess who I just saw.”

“Try me,” Seb retorts while I tilt my head. 

“You remember that dude from the tower in the woods?” Oh no. “He’s here.”

How did she not see him at the fair earlier in the season?

Whatever.

I wonder if she noticed he’s a whole different color palette now. Sure, Spirit’s Eve is a good excuse and all, but I almost kinda hope she just couldn’t make out the details of his appearance in the dim lighting of his garden to begin with. 

Feeling slightly more than tipsy — living up to the girl’s new name for me, I fucking guess — I trip on my own thoughts, trying to figure out a response. 

Luckily, Seb jumps in. “He does live here, you know.”

“Well fuckin’ duh, but why have I never seen him around before? What’s his deal?”

“T’be fair, he helps Linus set this up every year,” I state. “You’ve gotta just look outside more often.”

“Really?” She squints, “Wait— How do you know that?” 

“I…” shit, shit, “I went back to his house. To apologize!”

Big mistake.

“Aaand that makes you close enough for him to tell you about stuff like that now?”

“I mean… uh.” I’m flubbing this, and if I had to guess by his silence, Sebastian is pretty stuck too. “I guess we’re friends now, yeah, I’unno. I’ve gone over there a bunch at this point.”

“And you just knew about this?” Abby grills Seb, crossing her arms. It seems like Sam and Victor’s interests have been piqued by now. 

“We… are gonna have to explain everything to them if we can’t save ourselves somehow, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Seb answers both Abby and myself. 

“And you didn’t stop her?!” Sam frowns. Fuck, that’s right — he was there for the conversation about me going on my own in the first place. “What if he’s some kind of psycho?”

“He’s—” Seb sighs, rubbing the corners of his eyes, smudging his makeup a little more than I had earlier. “He’s not.”

“Yeah?” Abby rebukes. “How would you know?”

“I already knew him.”

Oh, okay, we’re doing this I guess.

“So… you lied, then?”

Abby looks genuinely hurt. Fuck. 

Sometimes I forget that, even if she isn’t hostile towards me anymore, she still probably has lingering feelings for Seb. He was everything to her until recently, after all. Maybe he still is, but she’s just grown or something. 

“Did you know that he knew the guy?” she asks me. Still sounds hurt, but her voice has hardened a considerable amount.

“No!” I frown, worrying the rim of my cup with my thumb nails. “Not until after meeting him.” It’s not completely wrong… I met Magnus before Seb spilled about their past to me. She doesn’t have to know.

Abby seems to not know where to look, and opts to stare at the helmet in her embrace. It’s almost like she’s just as upset about being left out of this new, weird trio of ours as she is about being lied to, which I can empathize with. Shit sucks…

God. We’re a pair of real dickheads, aren’t we? I knew the weird friendship quest I was on would be as sleezy as it felt. It was stupid of me to follow through with it all that time ago.

Selfishly, part of me is still glad I did, because now I’m friends with her. There’s less drama. Less fear that she’s gonna go, like, totally apeshit on me for dating someone she was either in love with or obsessed with — maybe both? — for so long. 

She really is friendly and sweet and fun to be around when she doesn’t have it out for you, and I’m happy to know this side of her.

Also, maybe I would’ve never gone to Magnus’ tower if this hadn’t happened. Maybe I wouldn’t even know him right now, and maybe he and Seb would’ve never reconnected. It would just be weighing on both of their consciences forever while I’d never meet my literal soulmate.

That would suck.

I shut my eyes for a moment and sigh, trying to sober up my thoughts. “M’sorry for not telling you sooner,” I offer softly. 

“Yeah, me too,” Seb adds. “Look, if you want I can fill you in on everything some other time, but… let’s just enjoy the night for now, yeah?”

“Yeah, enjoy the night,” Abby scoffs under her breath. She continues at her typical volume, “I’m not sure if I should feel more mad or more jealous right now. Like, what the fuck?” 

“Yeah, I… I get it,” I cut in. “You have every right to be mad at us. We didn’t mean to leave y’so out of the loop, though — we didn’t think it mattered.” Realizing that coulda sounded a little insensitive, I quickly tack on, “I mean, he’s just some dude.”  

Now that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.

How am I getting so good at lying?

God, I suck.

Abby softens a little, part of her seeming to agree, but she still looks upset. She takes a few breaths that seem deeper than usual. Spares a glimpse back at Sam and Vic, who are kinda just awkwardly standing there.

It looks like Sam has something to say too, but he’s keeping his thoughts to himself for now, I guess. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look like this before. 

…Like, his face, I mean. I’ve never seen him all dolled up in a pink ball gown that’s too small for him either. Obviously.

I pick at the orange plastic in my hands some more while Seb tears up the nail polish on his left thumb with the adjoined pointer.

“You, uh,” I meekly suggest, “you want the pumpkin..?” I pat the gold gourd for emphasis.

A humble peace offering.

“N—“ She cuts off her initial response and thinks about it. Her shoulders deflate while she realizes, “I mean, kinda? Fuck.” 

“I’ll take it if you don’t,” Sam mutters. 

Victor nudges him. “She didn’t ask you.” 

“You’re awfully quiet,” Abby diverts to Seb. I dunno if he’s just frazzled, or if he was brain-talking to Magnus, or what.

“Just, uh… Stressed.”

I nod. Fuckin’ same, dude, whether it’s a lie or not on his part. 

More awkward silence passes before I figure out a potential solution. 

Maybe… hm.

I clap, newly determined to fix my— our— whoever’s fuck-ups. Seb, Sam and Abby startle while Victor simply waits to see what happens.

“I have a proposition.

“Huh?”

“We can all share the pumpkin.”

Abby tilts her head. “What, like, cut it up?”

“No— well, yes?” I shake my head. “But no.”

“Graceful as ever,” Sam teases me. 

“Shut up, you’re into it,” I shoot back. His cheeks redden while he smiles and rolls his eyes. “What if I, I’unno, make something with it? Aaand we can all hang out and eat pumpkin stuff and whatever. Finish off autumn with a bang.”

“Ha. Bang. Kinky.”

“Sam!” I laugh. Victor nudges him for me. Thank you Victor. “I know I don’t have much room at my place,” I go on, “but I’m the only one with my own house, so we can do it there.”

“You drive a hard bargain, lady,” Abby ponders. 

“Am I allowed to partake in this pumpkin party?” Victor slurs. He sounds shy, almost, even in his more boisterous, drunken state.

“If you can make it out here, hell yeah.”

“Why don’t we do it tomorrow?” Seb chimes in. “You can stay over at my place if your mom lets you.”

“Or mine,” Sam adds.

Abby and I nod. Victor shrugs and nods too. “I’ll ask when she seems ready to leave later. Maybe She’ll be boozy ‘nuff to let me.”

“Cool,” I breathe.

That broke the tension, but now I have a whole thing to host. Ough.

Well… at least that’s one thing settled, for now.

[echoghost1]

Ecto-Implosion 2023

Title: The Portal Turns On

Total Word Count: 4,031

Total Chapters: 3

Characters: Jack Fenton, Danny Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Jazz Fenton

Tags: POV Jack Fenton, Good Parent Jack Fenton, The portal accident, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jack is there for The Portal Accident

Summary: When the Portal fails Jack and Maddie can't find it in themselves to do much of anything.

After a few weeks, Jack decides to follow his son into the lab and try again. He already failed, it's not like it could be worse.

AKA Jack is there for Danny's accident AU

Art by Fern315/@friendzoned61

You can read the fic on AO3

or the first chapter of the down below the cut

[you're here] | ch. 2 | ch. 3

Jack was so excited he could barely keep still. Today was the day. It was finally here!

Everything he and Maddie had been working on for the last twenty years was finally coming to a head.

He almost plugged it in the second Maddie said she was finished with her calibrations but then he remembered the kids.

This was going to be the biggest thing ever! This was historic! They couldn’t miss this!

“I’m gonna get the kids!” Jack said in a rush before he bounded up the stairs two at a time.

He swung open the door and found his son standing in the kitchen doorway with a bowl of chips. A few chips were on the floor around his feet for some reason.

“Just the son I was looking for!”

“What?” Danny said as he dusted a few crumbs off his shirt.

“Where’s your sister?”

“Upstairs, I think.”

“Great!” Jack said before he ran over to the other staircase and shouted up for his most favorite, and only, daughter, “Jazz! Come down here quick!”

Jazz popped her head around the corner, “what is it?”

“Come on! Come on!” Jack urged and then walked back towards the basement.

He took the bowl of chips from Danny’s hand and tossed it on the coffee table, “you won’t be needing these.”

“I was eating those,” Danny said his hand reaching out towards his snack.

“You can have it later. This is much more important.” Jack said as he started down the stairs.

“More important than food? I guess this is big.” Danny said and then he followed behind Jack.

Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, Jack turned around to face his audience. His kids.

“Today, you two will witness history!”

The reactions he got were mostly confusion, but that was fine. Everything would make sense soon enough.

“As you know, we’ve been working on this project for years. We’ve been working on this since before either of you were born. Way back in our college days!”

Danny looked over to the framework and then back to Jack, “you finished it?”

“You betcha!” Jack said with a grin a mile wide.

“I hate to ask, but what’s it supposed to do?” Jazz asked with her arms crossed and doubt written all over her face.

It was a little disheartening to have such a skeptic for a daughter but, he’d make a believer out of her yet.

This was just the thing to do it.

“We’re going to punch a hole from our world straight to the world of the dead!” Jack explained, punching his open palm for emphasis.

“That way, we’ll have constant access to the spectral dimension. We can gather samples, full specimens, and more data than we’ve ever been able to gather in all of our research to date!” Maddie added.

“So true, honey,” Jack said with a grin. She always had so many good ideas.

“You’re going to rip a hole in reality?” Jazz clarified.

“Yup-arooni!”

“Okay then.” she said with an eye roll, “I’m going to stay on the stairs.”

“You sure you don’t want to be closer to the action?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, very sure.”

“How close can we get?” Danny asked.

“That’s the spirit!” Jack said with a supportive slap on the back.

Which may have been a bit too strong given Danny stumbled forward a few steps.

Jack turned back to Maddie, “So where’s the cord? Can I do the honors?”

“Of course sweetheart!” Maddie said and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before handing over the two cords.

Jack wasted no time and jammed the two cords together.

He watched the portal spark to life and then…

Nothing.

That wasn’t right.

He squeezed the two ends together a little tighter. Maybe they didn’t connect all the way.

Still nothing.

He looked at his wife.

She looked just as confused as he felt.

She held out her hands for the cords and he handed them over.

She unplugged it and plugged it in again.

It didn’t change anything.

She dropped the cords and quickly walked over to the board with their notes.

She read over them, looked to the panel, and looked back at the notes.

“I don’t understand. It should have worked.”

“Hate to break it to you, but I know why it didn’t work.” Jazz said with her arms crossed on the stairwell.

“You do?” Jack asked, hopeful that his daughter was able to see where they went wrong. Hopeful that it was something silly that they overlooked in their eagerness to start.

“It didn’t work because ghosts aren’t real. They never were.”

Jack’s shoulders sank.

“Come on, Jazz. There’s no need to be mean.”

“I’m not being mean! I’m being realistic! Maybe they’ll finally get out of this fantasy that they’ve buried themselves in and actually work on something real!” She said before storming off out of the basement and out of sight.

Jack sighed unsure of what to do with himself. It certainly wasn’t the first time he’d been told something like that, but somehow it was worse this time.

Maddie was getting upset. He knew even before she slammed her fists on the table.

It wouldn’t do her any good to stay down here.

Maybe they should just walk away.

Maybe Jazz had a point.

Jack walked over to Maddie and gently walked her away from the workbench. “Come on hon, let’s go.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Danny asked. It was hard to tell if he was more confused or worried.

“We just need to get out of here for a little bit.”

“So you’re coming back later?”

Jack didn’t know how to answer that.

Normally he’d say yes.

Normally there was no question.

Right now didn’t feel normal.

It hardly felt real.

“You know I still believe you right?”

Jack gave his son a smile. Or at least he tried to.

He gave him a pat on the shoulder and then walked upstairs with Maddie.

They just needed some time away from the lab is all.

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

But It Beats the Darkness - Malevolent Big Bang 2024, ch 2: ADRIFT

Serial killer Wallace Larson has been murdering children for his ritual, and the cops won't stop him. Private investigators Parker Yang and Arthur Lester choose to get involved... and everything goes wrong.

Interrupting the ritual leaves Parker missing, Arthur in chains, and a piece of the King in Yellow in Arthur's head. But this piece knows who he is, and knows what he wants: to complete his ritual and rule Earth.

Unfortunately, Arthur is incredibly stubborn, maudlin over his missing partner (stupid Parker Yang), and John, it turns out, is not the only piece of the King seeking power right now.

It's a race against time, and John has a heavy handicap. With Larson in pursuit, a trail of murdered victims in their wake, and a host whose body is failing, John is determined to win at any cost... even if the cost includes Arthur Lester.

"It may not be much light but it beats the darkness" ~ Charles Bukowski, The Laughing Heart

AO3

NOTE BEFORE READING

This is part two of a Darkthur fic. There is violence and bodily harm.

This fic was written in tandem with Kraiva's IT MAY NOT BE MUCH LIGHT, and is intended to be read together, though both are standalone. For the fullest experience, read the corresponding chapter from each fic. We'll be linking the connected chapters in the end notes of each.

The incredible art in chapters two and eleven are by @wurmeon. The breathtaking 3D models in chapter six are from @iconiccookie.

---------------

The torture started early today.

Arthur choked, fighting for silence, as one by one, they took his fingernails and his toenails, as one by one, they beat his knees until both were too swollen to hold him up, as one by one, they they decorated him with shallow cuts and poured lemon juice over the wounds.

This was a wild thing to watch.

“—still won’t talk,” said someone out in the hall, barely audible over Arthur’s vocalized panting.

The entity knew it was true. Arthur would never talk. They’d never break him. Breaking Arthur Lester was not a thing other humans could do. It was a sobering thought.

Larson entered.

Arthur hung moaning, shoulders dislocated, held upright by two goons. He was so damaged that his vision pulsed red. The entity didn’t like it. 

Larson gripped Arthur’s greasy hair and yanked his head up. “What the hell is wrong with you, son?”

Arthur tried to spit. Tried; he couldn’t get the breath, and it just dribbled down his chin.

“Charming,” drawled Larson, and let Arthur’s head fall back down. “I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t know anything, after all, Mister Lester. Just one clumsy fool, tramplin’ on things he could never understand.”

Oh, that was bad.

“Then you’re the one who loses out, aren’t you?” wheezed Arthur, who wasn’t stupid, but wasn’t wise , and so did not stay quiet, either. “Without your damn book, there’s no more sacrifices. No more children dragged from their beds. You lose, Mister Larson, and my life is well worth that.”

A moment of terrible silence. No one breathed. No one moved.

“Jack,” said Larson.

And Larson’s hideous offspring came forward, steps ponderous, cruel goat-face grinning. He leaned in.

And he bit off Arthur’s ear.

Holy fuck! John cried as Arthur screamed and twisted, trying to pull his head away from the sausage-hands gripping him, but it was too late. Fucking Jack ate the ear, chewing it thoughtfully like some weird jerky.

Shock sent Arthur into full-body shudders. Was he dying? Would this stop his heart? Shit! Larson! Be careful!

And Wallace Larson… ignored him. 

“That won’t grow back, Mister Lester, no matter what my healers do,” said Larson calmly. “You’ve been through a lot in the last few days, and I thought it might be time to lay things out for you in a way even you can understand. I’ve given up on the book; you don’t know where it is, or at this point, you’d have told us something. Similarly, you’ve made it clear you won’t give up the god inside you. Not that I can blame you—to have a god inside your body has to be the highest honor of your life, but I think we can both agree this is gettin’ ridiculous.”

Larson.

Again, he was ignored.

“Fuh… fuck… you,” Arthur managed, because of course he did.

“This has set me back quite a bit, you’re correct,” said Larson pensively, “but it isn’t the end of my journey, now, is it? So here’s what we’re going to do. You will die here, no matter what. You know that, don’t you?”

Wait, said John.

Arthur tried to push his lips together to spit, and physically could not.

“I'll take that as a yes. There are two ways this can go.” Larson’s accent somehow grew heavier as he slowed. “One: we give you a merciful death. Quick, painless. It’ll all be over, and you won’t have to suffer anymore.”

Arthur laughed, wheezing.

Wallace! Listen to me!

“Two: we take our time. You think you’ve suffered so far? Oh, no. I think you know by now that my people are very good at what they do; we can keep you alive for ages , screaming, losing skin, losing your limbs by inches, until you’re nothing but a mindless stump, no tongue or teeth left in you even to beg to die. And you know what happens then? We still won't let you . That’s right.”

The entity was feeling something else new now, something shivering and paralyzing and terrible. Fear? This was fear. The entity knew Larson, who’d been sacrificing for years to open the way, and knew he meant this threat. 

There was only one way left to go. Arthur. Arthur, it’s time to stop being fucking stupid. Arthur!

Arthur swallowed; tears slid down his cheeks, but he did not reply.

“You’ve got one last chance to get the easy way,” Larson continued. “All I need you to do is talk. One little thing. Anything. Where did your partner go to ground? A reputable team like yours, I know you had places, plans for when things got real squirrelly.” And Larson punched him in the gut, a full-body swing, turning his hips into it. 

Arthur barked air, struggling to inhale after.

“Where is Peter Yang?” Another hit to the same bruised place. “Where would he have gone to ground?” And another, fist deep in Arthur’s solar plexus. “Who told you about the book?”

The only sound, for a moment, was Arthur’s wet and tortured breathing. “…find him,” he whispered.

“What?” said Larson, leaning in.

“Tell you wh… where to find him,” Arthur breathed, barely audible, dripping sweat and spit and blood.

Oh, gods, was he finally being smart?

Larson leaned in just a bit more. “Where?”

Arthur said each word slowly and clearly. “Up. Your. Ass.”

Oh, for the love of hell. Arthur, don't be a fool!

“I think we're long past that point, Your Greatness,” said Larson casually, wiping off his fist on a silk handkerchief. “Unfortunate. Real unfortunate. Sorry about all this. Looks like we’ll just have to do things the long way.”

No. The entity was already trapped, already couldn’t even move. If they took his eyes, leaving the entity trapped in numb darkness… Wait! What about me?

Larson’s pause said more than words. “Real unfortunate.”

Panic hit, and it spared no part of him, no inch of the entity’s mind or heart. Wait! Don’t do this! Wait!

“I’m done waiting,” said Larson. “Hey, maybe we’ll luck out, and when he dies, you'll get his body.”

His ruined, fucked-up body? The stump? This is not what I was promised!

“Neither are you, ” said Larson calmly.

The entity felt like he’d been hit in the head by a brick. That is not what we agreed on!

“Well, now, I don’t recall agreeing on a god who could be split in two, or stolen like a newborn welp, either,” said Larson in the exact same nothing tone.

Arthur laughed like a broken piston, rusty and painful and jagged. “Lose,” he wheezed.

Larson stood in the wake of that laugh, gone pale with red spots high in his cheeks. “Healers here yet?”

“Yes, sir,” said whoever. “They're waiting outside.”

“Well, good,” said Larson, and began rolling up his sleeves. “Tell them to come in about five minutes. I shouldn't need more than that. Tell them to prepare for an amputation.”

Oh, no, no, no, no—

Teeth bared, shaking, Arthur’s rapid breath took on voice, a bleating misery.

Larson, no!

“Y-yes, sir,” said Larson’s servant, and walked out of the cell.

The entity moaned. Don’t you do this! You swore! You swore yourself to me!

“No offense, your lordship,” said Larson, “but I need a less… fragile deity.” He raised a saw—short and wide, many-toothed, with had a handle almost like a gun’s, designed to cut bone.

[ID:

A drawing of Arthur/Darkthur being held up by the arms by two unseen men. He looks determined and angry, and is glaring at Larson in the foreground. He has blood on his arms and coming from his ear. Yellow wisps flow away from Johns eyes. In the foreground, the silhouette of Larson faces towards Arthur, his arm holding a saw. The saw has a graphic starburst shape in reds, oranges and yellows behind it. The background is a blueish grey stone work wall.

/End ID]

No!

Larson did not obey.

#

Minutes. It was minutes. He couldn’t even feel Arthur’s pain, and yet found himself disturbed, unbalanced, enraged, terrified.

Don't you do this! Stop! Stop!

But Wallace Larson did, and then Wallace Larson turned his back. Wallace Larson handed off the gore-covered saw and left without even trying to excuse his infidelity.

Traitor! Apostate! You’ll pay for this! Don't you dare walk away from me! And the entity knew he sounded weak, knew he sounded afraid and desperate. He was desperate. What was coming next? Arthur’s eyes? Would he truly be trapped in his host in the dark, completely cut off from everything? 

Only the Dark World would be worse. He couldn’t help one unsteady sob.

Arthur Lester hadn’t sobbed. Arthur Lester hadn’t bowed. As Larson worked, Arthur laughed between screaming, cackled between shrieking, and was still laugh-weeping when he finally passed out, limp… and now, asymmetrical.

And suddenly, shockingly, the entity was glad Arthur hadn’t given in. Arthur’s submission had to be earned, and Wallace had not earned that honor. Wallace had earned only wrath, and the entity would find a way to act on that, or so help him, the world would burn.

Suddenly, Arthur’s words landed, snicked into place like a key in a lock: I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.

Yes. The entity understood now. He would not accept this fate. 

The healers did their work. Arthur no longer bled. His side healed over and scarred as if he’d been missing his left arm for months. He slept, if a dead faint could be sleeping, and the entity worked on a new plan, and worked on ways to make it happen.

He worked on ways to make Arthur submit.

#

When Arthur’s breathing changed, and he began to cry, the entity knew he was awake.

He let the man cry for a bit. He’d certainly made humans cry before; sometimes, they just needed to, and Arthur had lost an arm—but he wouldn’t let Arthur stay there. It was time to act. Arthur.

Arthur whimpered.

Listen to me carefully. I think I can get us out.

“What?”

This was phase one. This was essential. If he didn’t earn this human’s trust, the human wouldn’t obey him. That was a hard pill to swallow, but faced with damnation, the entity now knew survival came before pride. I’ve been thinking all night. I think I can get us out.

Arthur didn’t respond right away. (The entity was unsurprised; humans were easy to mentally fuck out.) “How? Wh… why would you…”

Because I understand now that you were right. He’s an oath-breaker , said the entity, low and angry . I will see him pay eventually… but I can’t do that if we die here. When you can stand, do it. I don’t think we’ll have much time.

Arthur swallowed dryly. “You’re not lying? You have a way?”

He did. If Arthur’s soul was strong. I do. It may not feel good, but I do.

“All right.” Arthur shifted. Groaned. Shuddered for a moment, an involuntary shock-response, and then finally sat upright. Then he had to breathe.

Hurry.

“Trying.” Using the wall, Arthur got to his feet. “Turning me into a mouse, after all?”

Ha, ha, ha… no, said the entity. We are breaking out of here in the truest sense. I’m counting on you, Arthur. This will be exhausting.

Arthur spoke through clenched teeth. “Then it better work the first time around.”

They’re not getting their hands on us again. Turn right, toward the window.

They had one small “window,” barred, not even wide enough to fit his a hand through. It was like a cruel tease—a glimpse of air and freedom they’d never know again, pointed, mocking .

Anger made his voice hard. This may hurt. And he pulled .

Arthur screamed.

Stand, Arthur! Stand!

Power, pulled and taken, stolen away and tied into something it was not. Power, Arthur’s soul, and in it, the entity’s metaphorical tentacles were tangled.

Somehow, Arthur still stood. Stood, as the entity extruded , stretched and shaped like dough being pulled until it snapped.

Arthur staggered left, and the entity braced them on the wall. “What the fuck?” Arthur gasped.

Easy, said the entity. Easy. I’m projecting myself.

“You’re what?” Arthur rasped, straining to stay upright.

I am about to blow out this fucking wall.

Arthur’s unseeing eyes went wide. “Then what? I’m fucking blind!”

Then. You. Run.

“How?” His voice broke.

I’ll direct you. I need you to trust me, Arthur.

Arthur breathed quickly. “This is a big fucking risk.”

For us both. Arthur, I’m trying to save our lives.

“All right. All right.”

Victory. Take a few steps back.

Arthur did. “Now, what?”

Cover your face. Ch'nglui'ahog! Break. One of the simplest commands, practical, powerful, brute force. 

And Arthur’s soul was strong .

The wall disintegrated, crumbling as if hit by a hammer. Arthur cried out as rubble smacked him, nicking his exposed skin, lodging in his filthy shirt.

Here was their way out. Go!

Arthur chose to obey and scrambled forward. He staggered on rubble, groping with his one hand.

The entity reached with his own, his magnificent limb—strong and long and powerful— and heaved them up and into dead grass that was crunchy with winter and ruin.

That explosion would bring someone though, far too soon. Up! Go! 

Arthur staggered on three limbs and the entity’s one, fell flat on his face twice, and on the third attempt, lurched along the ground, propelled by forward momentum more than strength.

Turn left! Other left!

Arthur ricocheted old wooden fence and corrected.

They were doing it. They were doing it! Faster! You’re clear! Go faster!

Arthur ran, barely more than a jog, but tortoises could win their race, and so could fucked-up escapees.

There were shouts back there. This was terrifying. This was thrilling. This was…Fuck, I need to see behind us.

“Is there somewhere to hide?” Arthur gasped.

Yes! Slow—to your right, barrels!

Arthur ducked right, found the things by touch, and worked his way around them, crouching. Panting. Trembling. Likely only upright because of adrenaline. Not good for much, or at least not for much longer.

I am the master of my fate, thought the entity. They’re just coming out of the wall we destroyed, looking in all directions, but it’s getting very dark, and they can’t see us.

“Tell me when to run. Straight behind?”

Turn for me. Yes—if you turn right around and run, we’ll get into the woods. A pause. I won’t be able to see much longer, either.

“We’ll make it,” Arthur snarled, weirdly vicious. “We’ll make it, survive, find Parker, and when we do, that fuck won’t know what hit him.”

That fuck , by context, being Larson. We will, vowed the entity. All right. On the count of three, turn and run. One.

Larson’s men shouted, blamed, ran the wrong direction.

Two.

Somewhere out of sight, Larson joined in, yelling for answers, cursing people out.

Three!

Arthur spun and ran.

Luck must have been with them because no one seemed to be following.

Slow! Tree!

Arthur ran into it face-first and nearly knocked himself dizzy.

You’re still in sight! Get into the tree-line , you idiot!

Arthur crawled.

Right! No, right!

Arthur crawled faster, lurching unevenly, reliant on the entity’s help.

It was dark in here, and the entity did not like it. Arthur crunched over leaves, gasping.

They couldn’t stop now. We have to keep going. Larson has dogs.

“We can’t outrun dogs,” Arthur snarled.

I can hide our scent for a time, Arthur, but you need to move. More magic. More drain on this human’s soul.

Arthur obeyed (ha!) and staggered forward, hand out to avoid further collision, but he didn’t need it; the entity directed him well, and used his own projected hand to fend off low and prickly branches.

#

His host had done well. The entity finally let his grip on that soul vanish, let his precious limb evaporate; it was more important that they just kept going than that Arthur had two arms.

They went for hours. The darkness oppressed; distant shouts and dogs occasionally echoed toward them like bouncing projectiles, but none found them.

And this host… Arthur … was about done. The entity couldn’t risk him dropping fucking dead. Arthur.

Arthur didn’t respond, dragging his feet, head down, bent forward.

Arthur.

Arthur stopped. “Yes?” he wheezed.

There is a barn. We should go and try to sleep. The moon is about to set; it’s close to midnight. If they haven’t caught us by now, we have the time to rest.

Arthur stood, shaking. He couldn’t seem to fully raise his head. “All right. Where?”

Twenty steps ahead, the treeline stops. Then about two dozen steps to the barn.

Arthur followed instructions. They found the barn. Found it open. Found it empty but for hay and various rusty tools. Found the loft.

Arthur could not pull himself up into that loft. The entity had to, and the effort of reforming that arm just for that moment seemed to be the last thing Arthur could manage for tonight. Safely off the ground, he curled up. “Can people eat hay?”

I don’t think so. We’ll find you food tomorrow.

“Pretty sure my stomach will eat me before tomorrow,” Arthur muttered.

It was such a dark joke, but the entity liked it and chuckled. Arthur. We did it. We got away. That man… he is foul and unfaithful, a heretic, but he’s capable. It’s significant that we got away.

“I don’t know if we did yet,” said Arthur. “I need to sleep. You said you don’t. If they come, you’ve got to wake me. All right?”

Yes. Well done, Arthur.

The praise made Arthur pause. “Thank you. I… I didn’t think we’d make it.”

You still tried.

“I’ll always try.”

It was true. The entity… respected it. For a mortal, Arthur was moderately remarkable. I know.

For a few minutes, Arthur lay quiet. “Gotta get you a name.”

What?

“A name. So I can s-say—” he spoke through yawning—“thank… thank you to your face.” And he was out halfway through that last word.

Such a strange human. The entity had pushed many to their limit, to breaking, to death, and he knew what he was seeing. There was no maybe about it: this was a remarkable host, and he’d been lucky to land in him. Rest well, he whispered, and was pleased when Arthur did not stir.

Notes:

Read the accompanying chapter of It May Not Be Much Light here!

(chapter one) (chapter three) (masterpost)

[scrapsovereign]

That One Time I Got Kidnapped By An Evil Vampire Lord Ch. 2

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57838303/chapters/147393754#workskin

Summary: To say that Mackenzie's day starts off on the wrong side of the bed is an understatement. A stranger shows up at her work and is about to make her day a lot more interesting.

Pairings: past Ascended Astarion x Evil male!Tav, Ascended Astarion x Original Female Character

Trigger warnings/Tags: cheating, intimate partner violence, abusive relationships, medical settings, body shaming, internalized fatphobia

Renton Highlands, Washington  

Thursday, August 21rst 

8:30 AM 

“What’s the deal with Nurse Brad? He blood sugar shamed me, which I think was low-key fat-shaming,” Mackenzie complains, her mouth full of breakfast sandwich. “I’m getting bro podcast vibes from him,” she says out one side of her mouth as she chews her food with the other.

She reaches into Rob’s cup holder and takes a sip of the Annihilator she’d ordered from Dutch Bros. She takes a moment to savor the taste of 6 espresso shots, half and half, and white chocolate macadamia nut while Rob finishes chewing to say his piece.

“Lo-ki? I need the Thor-ough details- ohwhoathere!” Rob’s eyes go wide at the Tesla that almost side-swiped his Subaru Outback as he drives down the road to Mac’s.

“He said that if I went paleo and went to his CrossFit gym my A1C wouldn’t be so bad. Like excuse me, I’m on my feet all day already, and today’s the first time in weeks I’ve had fast food and a fancy coffee drink. Oh! And that I need to start reframing my paradigm to embody a ‘high value female’,” Mac rants, imitating the tone of voice Brad used with her earlier. “What does that even mean?!”

“I hate it when dudes say ‘females’,” Rob says, letting his long, salt and pepper brown hair down from its bun. 

“Right? It's so Ferengi-coded. Like, try me again when you have the latinum, small-ears…you haven’t got the lobes,” Mackenzie snickers, Rob utterly lost on what Star Trek deep lore she’s referencing.

“Is that the Star Track? What do they say, ‘Live long and let the force be with you’?” He says with a mischievous grin, turning down Mackenzie’s street.

Mackenzie sighs, taking another long sip of her coffee drink to hide her annoyance. “Yep. And also with you,” she says, deadpan. 

Rob pulls up on the side of the street across from the house she rents with Ari and turns the car off, squinting at her driveway. “Whose car is that?” 

Mac feels that all-knowing lump inside her gut solidify as she sets eyes on her car beside the other in the driveway.

“That’s Ari’s friend Jasmine, they met at ECCC this year,” Mac says blandly, taking another bite of her half-finished breakfast sandwich. 

It turns to ash in her mouth.

She gulps it down, wrapping up the other half and shoving it into her work backpack. Hopefully she’ll remember to eat it on the way back to work. 

Her phone buzzes in her hands- it’s her boss, Amanda.

“Hey-“

“Are you okay? How are you feeling? Are you still there? Do you need someone to come get you?” Amanda blurts out in a run-on sentence.

Mackenzie’s throat feels tight contemplating Amanda’s concern for her. 

Rob’s attention perks up from his phone. “Is that A-man-da Hug n’ kiss?!” He asks excitedly.

“Is that Bobbertina I hear? Heeeeeey Bobby boy!” She shouts, her voice easily heard through the phone’s speaker.

“You know, you can do this over text, or the D and D sessions where you see each other every week,” Mackenzie says flatly, watching Rob shake his head.

“Nah, it wouldn’t hit the same, you know? Hey, so, how you feelin’ Mac? Should we see you tomorrow?” Amanda asks, offering Mac the out if she wants to take the day off. 

Mac sighs wearily, rubbing her forehead. “Nah…I’m coming in. I don’t have any PTO left for a full day. Probably about 10 at the latest?” 

“Hmmm…if you’re sure…okay. Dr. Anderson called off, so it’s inbasket hell- I mean, fun for you today. I’ll help cover until you get in,” Amanda says proudly, her car door closing in the background of the call. 

Mackenzie feels a chill come over her- Amanda working in anything else other than her nurse triage inbasket is a nightmare. 

She’d better get to work before Amanda makes too much of a mess in there.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you then,” Mac says lamely. She likes her unhinged grand-millennial manager, but always feels awkward wrapping up a conversation with her.

“Okay, see you soon!” Amanda exclaims before ending the call. 

Mackenzie slumps in the car, closing her eyes for a moment to steady the flip-flopping of her stomach. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay home?” Rob asks, his brow furrowed in worry. “Ari’s home, he could help take care of you.”

“No…he’s streaming today and I don’t want to impose on him…” Mac slides further down in the seat, hoping that it renders her invisible. 

Rob’s jaw tenses, his fingers tap on the steering wheel. “You’re too nice. He’s supposed to do that for you, you know that, right? Sickness and health and all that?” He states to the road ahead of them, turning to look Mac in the eyes.

“I do,” Mac sniffles, fidgeting with a straw wrapper in her hands. “It’s funny. I spent all night wishing he would reach out and now I don’t want to go inside and see him. Or talk to him.”

Rob sits quietly with her, allowing her the space to feel her grief as it permeates the silence between them. 

“Kim said they couldn’t find anything wrong,” Mac says after a few moments, unable to tolerate the intensity of her unspoken sadness any longer. “She thought that maybe I was pregnant, but my HCG was negative and nothing showed up on the imaging. Which is fine, I don’t think I could take care of a kid right now.”

“I agree, one kid is enough,” Rob observes, curling into a ball, his gangly limbs shielding himself from the straw wrapper that hits him in the face. 

“Hmmph! Give not into anger, for that is the path to the dark side! Much fear I sense in you, young Skywalker.” He exclaims in his best Yoda impression. “But no really, Maccy. You’ve gotta be having some big feelings, you have health stuff going on, and you need some support. Have you tried to explain how you feel to him with your ‘I messages’?”

Mac huffs a laugh, wishing it was that easy. “You think I haven’t? Nursing school Jedi Mind tricks don't work.”

“Have faith in the force, padawan,” Rob says dreamily, switching to his rather good Obi Wan Kenobi impression.

“Listen. I did that when I went full motivational interviewing interrogation mode on him after he gave me COVID the first time. He said I’d picked it up from work, but then I found out about Sara, and that he got it from her and gave it to me because they were…you know.”

“I…” Rob flexes his arms, rolls his neck to the side to stretch it. “I know you’ve forgiven him, but I haven’t,” he states evenly, quietly. A sign that Mac knows he’s angry. 

Mac unintentionally twists the ring on her finger as he mentions it. “Yep, that’s…yep. Well, if anything we’ll have a chance to talk about it tonight when he wants to bang and I have to explain why we can’t. I should probably head on in and get cleaned up. Thanks for letting me crash in that empty stock room after I got discharged.”

Rob yawns and nods, leaning over the seat to give Mackenzie a tight hug. 

“No problem, facilities owed me a favor. Anything for you, anytime. You need help inside?” His brows pitch upwards, ready to spring into action. 

Mackenzie winces as she gathers her things, opening the car door, seeing it scrape on the brown grass of the curb.

“I’ll be fine,” she smiles. She’s lying to him.

Rob smiles back and turns the key in the ignition. He knows.

Mackenzie trudges to the door, goes to open the lock, but feels no resistance. She opens the door quietly, mindful of the background audio that might pick up on his stream. 

She steps over the craft foam and fabric, pins and half-finished garments as she makes her way to the kitchen table. She lets out a heavy sigh in disapproval when she sees the cookie sheet that lies directly on it littered with bagel bites, half-eaten and grown cold.

She has her work backpack almost empty when she hears the sounds of two voices moaning together, one male, the other female.

A wave of nausea surges through her, her limbs going numb.

No. That can’t be it. He’s not cheating on her with Jasmine in their bed. Mac is just being crazy again. He’s probably just watching porn. Yeah…Ari’s just taking a break from streaming Minecraft speedruns to jerk it, it’s not the first time he’s done it.

Her guts ache, a ripple of deep knowing washing over her so strongly it almost knocks her over. It helps her remember Jasmine’s car is still in the driveway, helps her see the line of discarded clothing in the hall... 

“Mmm, Ari…you fuck my pussy so good, ” the female voice echoes from the bedroom door.

Mackenzie has to be hearing things. 

Yes, it’s just an intrusive thought, she’s more than likely going crazy and hearing things others can’t hear. It would make sense- she’s sleep deprived, not feeling well, and she’s in pain. She’s just losing it, she didn’t actually hear anything, she’s imagining things.

That is, until she hears it again, accompanied by a rapid cacophony of combined moans and wet flesh slapping together.

“Yes, Ari…yes just like that…I’m gonna fucking cum on your dick daddy, ooohhhh…Ariiiiiii… ”

“That tight little hole feels so good, Jas! Cum for me, cum for daddy… ”

The floorboards creak underneath her feet as Mac tries to stealth down the hall, giving her presence away. 

Mac takes a deep breath or five to still her pounding heart. 

“Get dressed Jas, I think Kenz is home… ”

Ari’s panicked instructions all but confirm what her intuition is telling her. It did the same when she had caught him in the act with Hayleigh, a 16 year old fan that he’d brought to their hotel room at PAX last year. Mac recalls with deep shame that Ari had almost successfully gaslit her into thinking the whole thing didn’t happen. Ari might have gotten away with it if Hayleigh’s father hadn't shown up at their door 2 months later, angry as hell and demanding $750 to cover the cost of her termination.

She walks quietly towards the hall closet, opening the door carefully, pulling her go-bag out that her therapist insisted she make. 

She wraps her tingling hand around the master bedroom door, making a mental checklist of the additional contents in her room she needs to grab, keeping her mind busy to forget the sudden urge to vomit all over the floor.

The open door reveals Ari and Jas, but not in the position she expected to find them. She takes stock of what she sees, trying to ground herself in the facts. 

Ari and Jas are sitting on the bed next to each other against the headboard, disheveled and flushed, wearing what could be interpreted as sleepwear. They’re an odd pair. Jas is a tiny thing that couldn’t be taller than five feet and some change and a hundred pounds soaking wet, Ari being a few inches over six feet tall and built like a comic book hero-well, a retired one. He had a bit of a gut and some fat under his chin that he’s self conscious of.

If she had only given Ari a brief glance, he would pass her inspection with flying colors. He’s been known to walk around the house with only gym shorts on. The sight of his broad, naked chest with the slight bit of a tum hanging over the elastic waist isn’t suspicious. 

The pillow he has on his crotch is, though. 

So is the musky, slightly fishy odor of sex lingering in the air. 

Mac notices Jas’ long black hair has been pulled into a tight, hasty ponytail. Her small, slender body is slick with what she thinks is sweat even though the shirt of Ari’s she has on is dry. Her dark eye makeup around her jade eyes is smeared in streaks down her face. 

Mac then turns her scrutinizing gaze back towards Ari. He beams at Mac with his ice blue eyes, sweeping back his bleach blonde hair to show its mousy brown roots, putting his muscular, trembling arm on display. 

“Oh…ah, hey there Kenz. Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to work?” He inquires with his SoCal accent (that he claims isn’t an accent), his thumb drumming on the pillow he has atop his lap.

“Yes,” Mackenzie says calmly as she desperately tries to keep her shit together, “Usually I am.” She throws extra clothes into the bag unceremoniously, turning sharply to grab her ADHD meds out of the bathroom.

“Kenz…it’s good to see you,” Jas calls politely from where she’s perched on the bed. 

Mackenzie ignores her, looking down at the bathroom trash can briefly. 

It’s clean for once, after two months of reminding Ari to take it out.

Interesting.

“Is it?” Mackenzie asks, her eyebrows raised, her voice pitching up to a squeak.

“Why would you say that babe?” Ari asks, swallowing thickly. 

Mackenzie stares at him, emotionless. 

“Look, you guys,” she starts, zipping up her pack, throwing it over her shoulders. “It’s pretty clear what was going on before I came in.”

“We…we were uh, just waking up,” Jas stammers. “Ari was about to start streaming and I was going to keep working on our cosplays,” she says playfully, twirling her ebony hair idly with her long, manicured nails.

Nails that match the welt marks forming on Ari’s shoulders. 

“Gotta rise and grind, huh?” Mac snarks, her voice catching in her throat. 

She looks at her bedside alarm- she’s lingered too long, she’s going to be more than a few minutes late if she doesn’t leave for work now.

“You know it babe! ‘The Might Way is the right way’,” Ari smirks, parroting the way he says his catchphrase from his stream. 

“I’m sure it is,” Mackenzie clips out as tears sting the corners of her eyes. She makes her way out of the bedroom, the fibers of the tan carpet crushed underneath the stomping of her feet.

“Kenz,” Ari calls out as Mac walks swiftly down the hallway, ignoring him. “Kenz!”

She grabs her keys and her work bag, ready to walk out the door when his large, calloused hand grabs around her wrist.

“Hey. What’s going on? You didn’t come home last night,” Ari asks, his voice low and soft. 

“Yeah, well, that’s because I was in the ER,” Mac snaps, wrenching her hand away from him. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?,” he furrows his brow in worry, reaching up to cup the side of her face with care. “Why didn’t you text or call?”

Mackenzie flinches, pulling away.

“I could ask why you didn’t do the same. You know, I had been in the ER alone for almost four hours when I saw you replied with kissy heart faces to Jas after she’d tweeted about coming over,” she counters. 

“You’re acting crazy,” he coos, brushing his thumbs that smell like somebody’s else’s genitals against her cheekbones. “It’s just an emoji, it doesn’t mean what you think.”

A strong wave of nausea rips through Mackenzie- she really is going to vomit all over her husband if she doesn’t leave now. She backs away from him and opens the front door to leave.

Mac pauses and turns around to look Ari dead in his arctic blue eyes.

“You know what? This is stupid. Ari, I heard you and Jas when I came home. I know why you didn’t check on me. You were so busy fucking Jas you didn’t even think about me, where I was. You know where I slept last night until Rob was done with his shift?” she rasps, wiping away the fat tears that drip down her cheeks. “A closet. I slept in a storage closet with a pile of musty hospital blankets while you screwed and slept in our bed! Rob had to bring me home-“

“Rob brought you home ? You’re cheating on me with him, aren’t you?” Ari recoils in disgust.

Mackenzie shakes her head, so angry with him she’s unable to think of a reply she won’t regret later. 

“I have to go to work. At least I’m getting paid to get fucked over when I’m there,” she sobs out, barely able to see the sidewalk as tears stream down her face, power-walking to her ancient Toyota Camry. 

“Wait, Kenz, please,” Ari whines, following her to the driveway as she tosses her bags unceremoniously in the car and pauses to hear him say his piece. 

“What are we doing for dinner?” He asks like he hadn’t just accused her of cheating on him.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Mackenzie curses under her breath, slamming the door, turning the ignition and peeling out of the driveway faster than her sedan was built to do.

She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she sees Ari chase after her car barefoot down the street in nothing but his gym shorts, so she does both.

…until she sees her check engine and her gas light flicker on.

Downtown Seattle, Washington  

Mercy West Medical Group Primary Care Clinic

Thursday, August 24th 

10:30 AM

“Hey boss, I’m here- what happened to you?” Mackenzie’s eyes rake over the crime scene of a nurse manager.

Amanda closes her eyes tightly shut as she tips her head back, holding pressure to a nose stuffed with cotton balls that had dripped blood into her mask. 

“So…we had a walk-in for chest pain…no insurance, of course, not our patient. And so I figure I’ll just grab him, do a quick EKG, make sure he’s not dying,” she gestures with her free hand. 

“When I go to grab him and take him back…Mackenzie Elizabeth Eriksson, with the Flying Spaghetti Monster as my witness, I didn’t think the anime thing of having a nosebleed was real,” she nasally groans, changing hands to continue holding pressure. “I was today years old when I learned it was real.”

“Did you get vitals? Does he still need an EKG?” Mac inquires smoothly, positively dead inside. She prays to whoever’s listening that Amanda can’t tell.

“Yeah, orders are in, machine’s in there. He’s in room 7. His name’s Rion Ahncooneen. Ankhunin? I didn’t ask him how to say it, you get the idea. And uhh Maccy? You might wanna prepare yourself for this one. You ever seen Labyrinth?” Amanda side-eyes her, lifting the tissue to check and see if her bleeding has stopped.

“A long time ago, why?” Mac asks, all business as she writes his name and exam room on a sticky note, her gut tingling in an odd way she can’t explain.

“You…uhm. You’ll see what I mean. I didn’t think people that pretty existed in real life, but here we are,” she chuckles, tipping her head back again. “Hey, you alright?” 

Mac cringes at being called out. Of course Amanda can tell she’s upset. She can always tell.

“No, and if I start talking about it, I’m going to start crying and I won’t be able to stop,” Mac sets down her personal and her work bag on the chairs in her boss’ office, grabbing her stethoscope. 

Amanda eyes her go bag with somber recognition.

“I’m here for you, Cheesy. Anything you need. I have a copy of my house key in my desk- top right drawer. You can take the spare bedroom, I’ll wash the sheets and everything-“

Amanda must really be serious if she’s calling her Cheesy, the name Mac had received from an angry patient while they worked together at urgent care during the early days of the pandemic. Mac gives her a quick side hug in reply, avoiding her eyes, and marches down the hall, catching a generous glob of hand sanitizer foam when she reaches halfway there.

She opens the exam room door, rubbing sanitizer over hands that don’t feel like they belong to her, putting her best patient care game face on. 

“Hi, I’m Mackenzie, I’m one of the medical assistants here. I’m going to get an…an…” Mackenzie’s brain shorts out, her stuttering words robbed of her as she stares at the shirtless man in the exam room. 

Amanda calling him pretty is the understatement of the century.

The corners of his eyes tug up at her with a cocked eyebrow. He leans back on the exam table where he sits, playfully puffing out his hairless, smooth, perfect tits as if on purpose. 

Oh no. He knows he’s pretty. 

Mac exhales, annoyed at his preening. He’s one of those. Great. Just…great. 

She rakes her eyes over him critically; down to the slender, cut muscles of his abdomen and back up to the sharp, delicate features of his face covered by the blue surgical mask.

This is a man who takes great care in his appearance, unlike Ari. His skin practically glows in the fluorescent light of the exam room. His short nails are impeccably manicured with a layer of clear polish, his silver brows shaped to perfection, with a hint of kohl lining his eyes. His black lightweight woolen trousers hug his waist perfectly. She eyes the crisp white linen shirt that hangs on the door with a blazer that matches his pants- they probably cost as much as her rent. 

“Yes darling, you were saying?” he states airily in a posh British accent that sounds like silk velvet would feel, carding an elegant hand through his impossibly perfect, long silver waves. 

“EKG. Yep. What’s your name and birthday?” She requests, flipping the machine screen up to put in the information. 

“Rion Ancunìn. October,” he pauses to think about it, his head tilted to the side. “October the fourth…1983.”

Huh, a Libra. That explains the pompous airs he puts on. 

“Birthday’s coming up soon. Any plans for the big 4-0?” She inquires with empty interest. 

“You could say that,” he drawls flirtatiously. “Nothing set in stone as of yet, but I suppose a bit of hedonistic debauchery might be in order for the occasion.”

Mackenzie pauses and blinks after she takes out the leads and alcohol swabs from the machine, reflecting on the phrase ‘hedonistic debauchery’. She’d more or less grown up under a rock, she doesn’t know the first thing about what that’s supposed to be. She’s dying to know more, but isn’t a question like that inappropriate?

Mac’s impulsivity wins. “I might regret asking this, but what does ‘hedonistic debauchery’ entail?”

“It’s better experienced than described,” he purrs seductively, giving her a once over with half-lidded eyes.

Mac almost starts laughing. 

Is this guy hitting on her? Is he fucking for real?

“Sounds like it’s different than the usual board games and beer that’s popular ‘round these parts,” she chuckles politely. 

“I’m going to have you lay down for me,” Mac instructs, avoiding his gaze that follows her as she comes closer to him. She pulls out the table extension, turning her back briefly to sanitize her hands and put gloves on. 

When she turns around he’s watching her keenly, like a cat would observe a mouse. 

Like she’s his prey.

“And you’re not going to join me? Pity,” he pouts, looking at her out of the side of his keen ruby eyes as Mac chokes on her own spit from his remark. 

She tears open the alcohol wipes and he hums as she quickly swipes them across his left ribcage. Touching him feels like playing Russian roulette with an electric fence, her nervous system sending lightning rods of electricity down to her core. She fans him with the plastic card that houses the electrode tabs to dry the alcohol and he groans. HE GROANS. 

“That feels rather nice. Are you looking for a job? Because I could pay you to do that all…day…long,” he drawls, his eyes closing in bliss. She feels a hot flush creep up her chest, a bead of sweat dripping down her back. 

She quickly assembles the leads with shaky, fumbling  hands, her brow furrowed in concentration as she hovers her finger over the button to run the test.

“I need you to relax for just a moment,” she says monotonously, feeling another bead of sweat run down her back.

“Difficult to do when a pretty thing such as yourself is near, but I’ll give it a go,” he smirks roguishly underneath the blue mask that covers his face, giving her a sly wink. 

Mac feels her whole body tense and ache as she watches the lines turn green on the machine. 

She presses the button to capture and print out the report. She should set some boundaries with him. She should tell him that was inappropriate. She’s pretty sure too that there’s a policy about this kind of thing, not that she’d ever had to look it up.

So why do her guts tell her that the attention from him feels right? Why do they beg for more? 

A flood of shame washes over Mackenzie from head to toe. Her sex drive had been dead for almost a year and a half, so what is it about this stranger that’s made it come alive so inconveniently? Why is her body betraying her like this? Can’t she stay in control of herself? 

While Ari had incorrectly guessed she was cheating on him with Rob, had he been able to accurately detect that she would have feelings like this for another?

The tears she’d held back successfully return at the thought of Ari enduring what he has made her suffer, flooding her eyes and fogging up her eye protection. 

No, no, no. She’d done so good holding her shit together for the last 15 minutes she’s been here! She’s not crying in front of a patient…

A warm, strong hand reaches out to grip hers with care. She looks up to see Rion sitting up on the edge of the table, his eyebrows soft over his gorgeous sparkling eyes. 

“What’s troubling you, pet?” He coaxes, rubbing his thumb in reassuring circles over the back of her hand. 

Try as she may, a waterfall from her eyes streams down her face, soaking her mask as they run down in a steady river. 

“I’ve had a pretty bad day,” She explains vaguely, tearing the sheet off to show the on-call MD.

“Obviously. It must be something truly horrid to upset you so,” Rion chuckles, one of his hands coming up to trace a knuckle down the side of her tear-soaked face.

Mackenzie casts her eyes downward, fat tears pooling in the clear plastic of her eye protection as she nods with a sniffle. 

A knock at the door startles her, reflexively moving a footstep away from him.

“Everything okay in here?” Amanda asks nonchalantly as she lays eyes on a shirtless Rion, her mask hiding the lecherous smile Mac knows she wears underneath.

“Yeah, I was just getting ready to show it to Dr.Calloway,” Mac sniffles. 

Amanda takes the EKG tracing and pushes a pretend pair of glasses further up her face like an anime character, humming as she looks the sheet of paper over. “I think you’ll be fine sir- are you still having symptoms?”

“The healing touch of your lovely colleague has cured me,” he confirms, giving Mackenzie’s hand a squeeze. 

Another bead of sweat runs down Mackenzie’s back as she tries to pull her hand away.

He holds her firmly in his grasp.

Amanda’s eyes squint at Rion, at Mackenzie, and at their joined hands.

“I think we can get unhooked and dressed. It looks normal to me, but I’m just going to run everything by our on call doc just to make sure you’re safe to be released into the wild,” Amanda advises, closing the door behind her. “I’ll be right back.”

Rion lets go of Mackenzie and she goes right into autopilot, unhooking the leads with practiced ease. 

“I think my husband’s cheating on me again,” she blurts out, the confession spilling at the impulse of her traitorous gut.

“Oh dear. Do you have a lawyer?” he inquires softly, Mackenzie shaking her head in reply. 

“Would you like one?” He hops off the exam table, taking a card out of a smooth metal case, presenting it to her with a flourish.

“Astarion Ancunìn

Attorney at Law”

She looks it over, turning the card stock in her hands.

Astarion’s an unusual name. She imagines it got him teased or bullied as a kid, no wonder he goes by Rion. She finds it interesting the card doesn’t have any contact information on it. It looks custom-pressed, the paper has a good heft to it, and she can detect the smallest hint of fragrance through her mask. 

“I don’t know if I could afford your services,” she says dejectedly. “And I don’t know if I want to get divorced just yet. I feel like we could still work things out, I still love him,” she explains, her eye protection fogging up as she speaks.

“Oh, my sweet. Look at me,” he raises her chin up, his eyes darting back and forth to search her own despite the barrier of plastic and condensation between them. “Love, true love is not self-sustaining. It is a choice, and one must make that choice every day. It takes dedication, sacrifice, hard work…mutual effort from the parties involved. Honesty. Clear, effective communication.” 

His hand drops and he turns away from Mac, slipping the fine linen shirt on, buttoning it up with nimble fingers. 

“Speaking of being clear- I would hate to mislead you. I fear that I am not a divorce attorney. My legal specialty is rather, shall we say, unique? That being said, I dabble in a few areas that are relevant to your…situation.” He shrugs on the coat of his impeccably tailored suit. “Join me for a drink tonight? We can continue this discussion in a more…appropriate setting. Think of it as an informal consultation of sorts.”

Mackenzie fidgets with the card in her hands nervously. He looks like he has champagne tastes, and all she has in her go bag is an extra set of scrubs, underwear, handmade linen shorts and a t-shirt. “I don’t know if I have anything to wear…ah!”

She cries out in surprise as Rion’s hands shoot out towards her and pull the royal blue fabric of her scrub top taut at the sides.

“What’s your dress and shoe size?” He murmurs his question, holding her at arm’s length to analyze her frame and the shape of her curves.

“Depending on who makes it, anywhere from a 16 to a 20, shoes are always an 8.5,” she grouses, ashamed of how much weight she’s gained in the last few years.

Rion tsks in what Mac fears is disapproval at her larger body size. “A pity that women’s sizing remains inconsistent across the realms. No matter. You close at 5pm, correct?” Mackenzie confirms his assumption with a nod.

“I’ll have the appropriate attire delivered to you by then. The address of where we are to meet will be included with the garments.” He sweeps her hands up to his mouth covered by the disposable mask on his face, lingering a moment too long as he presses his lips to them.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, darling.”

Mackenzie stares dumbly into space as he exits the room and disappears, the realization of what she just agreed to crashing down upon her. 

[starglaee]

Cobra Kai and Cold Hearted (my fanfic on Wattpad) characters and plotlines as folklore songs. Cold Hearted spoilers below. Feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions!

Tag list: @secretsandwritings-blog

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the 1

Cobra Kai: Lawrusso. Easily. Every time I listen to this song I can’t help thinking of them: “ And if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you. In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone. But it would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one.”

Cold Hearted: Elion and how I feel from writing them: “I persist and resist the temptation to ask you if one thing had been different would everything be different today?”

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cardigan

Cold Hearted: No matter what happens, Robby is there for Zion. They know each other, they trust each other, and confide in each other. This is especially true post season 3. There’s no other couple in the show or my book that really fits this song like them: “When you are young they assume you know nothing. But I knew you.”

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the last great american dynasty

Cobra Kai: Tbh this song gives me Sensei Kim Da-Eun vibes. While I’m still waiting to see what they do in season 6 with her character, I think she fits the depiction of a badass woman coming to town and turning it upside down: “There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen. I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

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exile

CH: This is the title of my playlist for Elion (Eli and Zion). The angst fits them so perfectly. Also, the mentions of violence and clear jealousy illustrates these two in season 2 and 3 in a way no other song I’ve found can. Taylor’s writing makes me so happy, and Bon Iver’s voice makes it that much more heartbreaking: “I can see you standing, honey, like he’s just your understudy. Like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me.”

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my tears ricochet

CK: This very much applies to Johnny and Kreese. Kreese made Cobra Kai a safe space for Johnny in his childhood only to abuse him and shut him out. Johnny grew but brought back Cobra Kai then Kreese tries to join again. Once he did, he stole it from Johnny. I have too many quotes for this one so here’s a few: “And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name wishing I stayed…” and “And I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home.”

CH: Zion and Terry and Kreese are exemplified beautifully in this song, too. Like Johnny, they used her for their own gain while mentally abusing her in the process: “And you’re the hero flying around saving face.” and “‘Cause when I’d fight you used to tell me I was brave.

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mirrorball

CK: Samantha LaRusso is a mirrorball. In season 1, she did anything to fit in and be popular like endure what Yasmine and Moon said to her and her former friends and classmates. In season 2, we get a glimpse of her changing herself to be with Robby and try to push Miguel and her feelings - both anger and love - away. In season 3, she’s masking her PTSD. In season 4, she does all she can to be the Bonsai Badass for her dad and the Miyagi legacy. In season 5, she finally breaks down for Miguel and says she can’t do karate anymore until she really knows who she is and overcomes all the mental obstacles still waiting for her. She also lets Daniel and Chozen in over the course of the show, letting the mirrorball crack more and more. (I love the exploration of her PTSD, if you can’t tell): “The masquerade revelers drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten.”

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seven

CH: Tbh I think this only fits Jess and Zion since we don’t know a lot about anyone’s childhood except Anthony and Johnny, but they don’t have any friends that would fit this song. Jess knows from an early age that Zion’s mom is bad, though they can’t put their finger on it. It’s such a sweet and haunting song about childhood that only they can really express: “Your dad is always mad and that must be why. And I think you should come live with me and we can be pirates then you won’t have to cry.”

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august

CK: This is an accurate song for SamRobby. The summer romance, the angst with the Miguel of it all, and the whispers of hiding it from Sam’s parents: “‘Cause you were never mine.”

CH: This song heavily inspired the prequel chapters with Zobby (Zion and Robby): “August slipped away into a moment in time.”

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this is me trying

CK: Johnny’s relationship with Robby is beautifully detailed in this song. It’s about overcoming alcohol and peaking too soon. Johnny won 2 AVTs in high school before losing to LaRusso. After that, he let it and his trust issues overtake him and thus drive Robby out of his life. When he finally gets his act together, it’s for Miguel. But he keeps trying for Robby at the end of season 4 when he tells Robby they’ll save Kenny together (though I still wish Johnny would prioritize Robby over Miguel more and actually help him rather than depend on Robby helping him but that’s another rant): “At least I’m trying.”

CH: This is also about Zion in season 5 to everyone she loves while she does all she can to recover from the addiction: “Pouring my heart out to a stranger, but I didn’t pour the whiskey. I just wanted you to know that this is me trying.”

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illicit affairs

CK: Samiguel, duh. It’s not as beautiful of a story as Taylor describes because it’s just them kissing at a party while actively having their respective partners: “It’s born from just one single glance, but it dies and it dies and it dies a million little times.”

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invisible string

CK: This may be a weird take in a non-romantic way, but the invisible string is for Julie Pierce and Daniel. The string is actually Mr. Miyagi. But regardless I think this is a cute way to think about it, like karate has bonded them even if they don’t know it yet. (This is also my official prayer and plea and whatever that Hilary Swank will be in season 6. I guess we’ll see): “Isn’t it just so pretty to think that all along there was some invisible string tying you to me.”

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mad woman

CK: aka Tory. The woman is always mad as hell (/lh). She’s always called crazy and manipulated by some old Cobra Kai war veteran. Just give her a break, man: “Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy.”

CH: Yeah, it’s the same with Zion tbh. But I also pose the idea of it being Zion’s pov on the Demetri rivalry. He calls her crazy, initially had Yasmine on his side, and she reacts the only way she knows: “What did you think I’d say to that? Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? They strike to kill, and you know I will.”

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epiphany

CK: Is it weird to give this song to Silver? (I guess it also applies to Kreese.) He’s a war veteran with very obvious and untreated PTSD that he uses to mold an ideal version of the world for himself where Cobra Kai rules and he doesn’t have to answer for his heinous and violent actions. He also hid away from the karate world after the AVT in ‘85 with his money, business, and rich friends, which was where we found him at the beginning of season 4. He even repressed those memories until Kreese brought them out, thus also bringing out the monster: “Just one single glimpse of relief to make some sense of what you’ve seen.”

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betty

CK: This song is a poor apology, kind of like what Miguel gave to Tory. It reminds me of that scene in season 3 when Miguel is at Tory’s work accidentally and they talk and she calls him out on just wanting Sam back (despite that being her initial suggestion for the relationship anyway (also another topic for another time)): “I thought of you all summer long.”

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peace

CK: Daniel’s song for Amanda. She’s such a catch, amazing wife, fabulous mother, and whatever. But Daniel can’t stop the karate villains from his past from emerging or from engaging with them. He may never “give her peace,” but he tries to be upfront about it. In season 5 she really snapped when rival after rival showed up and how Terry manipulated and divided them, but after he got hurt and she talked to Jessica it seemed better. And at the end of season 5 she gets it. So I feel like this song was a conversation at some point offscreen, and it helped their marriage significantly: “I’d give you my sunshine, give you my best, but the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.”

CH: Zion to Robby. Rumor after rumor, fight after fight, manipulation after manipulation, and breakup after breakup. He’s still there for her. Like Daniel, she’s desperate to get her partner to know that she does all she can for him despite the drama the real world brings in. She acknowledges her trauma, and Robby acknowledges his. Because of this it’s a bit healthier than the song depicts where Taylor’s lover is on a pedestal in comparison to her. Let’s just say Robby lets her bejeweled (iykyk): “All these people think love’s for show, but I would die for you in secret.”

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hoax

CK: I kind of feel like this is Robby’s song for his mom. He loves her and is so protective of her, but she keeps choosing alcohol (and drugs?) and men over him. Even though she makes him sad, she’s the person he goes to after kicking Miguel. Even though she’s not the best mom, she’s all he has. He let her do whatever just to keep his mom around: “Don’t want to know other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in the world would do.”

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the lakes

CK: This one is for Miguel. He suffered in silence during season 4, doing what Johnny asked and supporting him when he was the one who needed that. He wanted to run away to Mexico because he felt he didn’t belong in karate anymore (and because of his dad but for these purposes it’s just because of karate): “What should be over burrowed under my skin in heart-stopping waves of hurt.”

CH: This one is also for Zion, the girl who always fantasizes about running away and finding a better reality than the Valley, especially with Robby: “I don’t belong, and my beloved neither do you.”

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Fun fact: my Zobby playlist is called My Beloved. I’ll share the songs if you’re interested. It’s a long list, though.

Let me know your thoughts on this if you have any! Please remember this is just my take on things.

It’s fun to do these, so feel free to request more things. I’m most familiar with Taylor’s music, but I’m open to listening to new music or doing non-Taylor related content.