#I'm mafia-baiting sorry

[moongreenlight]

Mafia!Price is NOT your fucking aesthetic. A full comprehensive list as to why.

He cooka da pizza!

He goes to church every Sunday. A massive Roman Catholic Church downtown. Ancient building with floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows depicting the life and loss of Christ. Full two hour masses that he always wears a suit to. At first it starts as some last-ditch attempt to absolve him of his guilt, but then it became habit. 

And maybe it was his wife. Her parents were devout and just about keeled over when they found out their only daughter was married by a quick ceremony in the courthouse to a man they’d never met. Her mother was the worst, though it was to be expected. Likely didn’t know John had won his new bride when her husband didn’t have the funds left to pay off his debt. Fucking miracle she hadn’t yet done the math and realized his first child was born seven months later. He’d be persecuted to no end.

There was a target on his back since the wedding. Always put him in the hot seat on Sunday evening dinners while his wife was trying to wrangle their children into eating their vegetables. Drilled into him about work and life and why he always seemed too busy to prioritize “something worthwhile” in his life. Mother sets in on him like she’d been waiting for the opening all evening.

“So, John. Remind us what you do for work.” Accusatory. Glaring over her barely touched plate of roast at him.

“Contracting. Bit of this and that.” He fights the urge to roll his eyes, if only barely. 

“Hm. And what does that entail? Can’t keep you as busy as you swear you are.” She’s unabashed. Her husband doesn’t share the sentiment. He sighs into his glass of brandy and tries to catch her eye. 

“Don’t do much hands-on these days. Project management and bookkeeping for me now. Brought on a few guys to do the grunt. You remember from when we did your bathroom, I’m sure.” He doesn’t shy away from the challenge. Principled. 

“Boys would do well to have some structure. Bet they haven’t been in a church since they were baptized.” She ignores his parry and switches to what she really wants to talk about after looking over to her daughter who is all but force-feeding them florets of broccoli. Typical.

He finally wore down after a Christmas where the only gift he got from them was a deep brown leather-wrapped bible. Used. Split down the spine, dog-eared pages.  Like they’d stolen it from the shelf in the pew for the dolts who weren’t well-mannered enough to bring their own. 

From then, it had become a welcome escape from reality. Church in the morning. 8am service, because he was up before the sun anyway. Sipping coffee in the kitchen beforehand, pouring over a heavy binder with the title ‘family finance’ scrawled in his wife’s delicate handwriting across the front.

He could hear her wrestling with their two boys in the bathroom upstairs. Their indignant screeching clueing him in that he should probably get up and help, but he always tried to steal a few more moments to himself. Calm before the storm.

The boys have sour looks on their faces when they stomp down the stairs not five minutes later, though they’re nothing in comparison to their mother who’s only a few steps behind. They get the deep furrow in their brows from him, the bitter curl of their lips from her. 

“Glad you’re enjoying your slow start, John. Really.”

He should feel worse for not helping. Tries to lay her hackles back down by snapping the binder shut and pressing a chaste kiss to her temple. She barely pauses to accept it before pushing past to pack her purse. Four bibles, his ratty one, her perfectly white one with different colored sticky notes poking out the sides, and two smaller children's bibles that she’d shove in their laps for appearance sake. Snacks for the boys, and a flash of the handle of her small handgun- safetied and then shoved into the bottom of her tote.

“Should’ve shouted f’you needed help. Can’t hear a thing down here.” The boys snicker when he winks over at them. They’re outfitted in their Sunday best. Slacks with damp finger marks on the thighs from where she’d tried to smooth out wrinkles. Buttoned-down shirts that they were already tugging at the collars of. Hair gelled back, no doubt the reason for their griping earlier. 

She doesn’t find it nearly as funny as they do. Shoots him a nasty look over her shoulder before disappearing into the spare room to grab a pair of low heels. 

“We’re already late. If we have to sit in the back again, you’ll never hear the end of it.” It’s not an empty threat. They’d missed one service and some aunt had told her mother in passing. Took three months to get her to stop bringing it up.

“S’not even half seven. Takes fifteen minutes to get there.”

It’s supposed to mollify her, but it has the adverse effect. She looks ready to throw a shoe at him when she sits on the bottom stair to tug them on. He raises his hands in surrender.

“Easy.” 

Somehow all four of them make it to the car in one piece. He sends a message to Kyle before they leave telling him to save them a space toward the front to err on the side of caution.

[katsu28]

summer's golden haze - chapter two

pairing: lando norris x reader

summary: backyard barbecues, the local market, and an unexpected discovery that has you wondering what exactly you may have just gotten yourself into. (5k)

warnings: angst (this early on, i know i'm sorry but it's for the plot i promise <3), lando and max f bickering like an old married couple

a/n: she's here!!!! sorry it took a little longer than expected but i hope you all enjoy this chapter :) pls feel free to come chat in my asks if you want to, i'd love to hear what everyone think about it so far!

previous chapter | masterlist

“Are these guys rich or something?”

Camille voices exactly the thought running through your mind as you roll to a stop to the address Lando had texted you yesterday, gawking out at the sprawling acreage in front of you. 

You peer at the impressive villa through the windshield, taking in everything with baited breath. She’s absolutely right. 

This house has to be two, if not three times the size of the one you’re all staying at, and that’s just what you can see so far. Vines bursting with colorful flowers crawl up white stone walls, curling around trellises of even more foliage, shutters on huge windows. There’s even a massive fountain in the middle of the courtyard, pristine marble, spewing crystal clear water in streams. 

It’s a classic old money countryside villa—worth millions, you assume, not even taking in the gathering of vintage and expensive sports cars parked along the cobblestone driveway. You suddenly feel so, so small compared to the extravagance of just the exterior of the place. 

Who are these people? 

A guy with brown curls similar to Lando’s pulls open the door when you ring the bell, in the middle of yelling something at someone further inside the house, before turning his gaze on you all. His face lights up in recognition at the sight of you. “Oh, hey, you’re the girl Lando won’t shut up about! I’m Max, but I’m sure he’s told you all about me, hasn’t he?” 

So this is Max. Lando’s told you a little about him, but mainly just funny stories. You wonder if Max knows his best friend is going around telling girls he’s just met about the time Max walked into a glass sliding door. 

“A little bit, not much. It’s nice to put a face to the name though!” You say politely. 

Max sighs dramatically, shaking his head in faux disappointment. He and Lando must be close. “I’m the best part of his life, and he doesn’t think to share it! What a knob. Anyways, welcome, come on in, make yourselves at home!” 

He ushers you all inside, leading you through the house and out huge double French doors leading to the backyard. The rest of their group sits on couches gathered around a stone fire pit, drinks in hand, chatting amongst themselves until they see you all coming. Max does the introductions between your two groups, but there’s one person missing. The one person you were looking forward to seeing again is nowhere to be found. 

Max must notice how your eyes search for Lando, because he grins knowingly. “He’ll be out in a bit. Work called.” 

“Oh, what does he do?” Samira chimes in. You fight the urge to throw a stone at her, because you know what she’s doing. She’s getting information on Lando because you haven’t got the guts to do it yourself yet. 

“Has he not told you yet?” Max raises a brow, taking a sip of his drink. When you shake your head, he presses his lips together, like he’s debating whether or not to tell you himself. “Yeah, sorry, I think I’m gonna stay out of this one. He gets pissy when I meddle with his budding relationships.” 

Budding relationship. Your face flames hot at the insinuation, but Samira takes it in stride, raising a skeptical brow. 

“What, is he in the mafia or something?” 

“‘Course not, that’s ridiculous. Pretty boy like him, he’d never make it in the mafia,” Max snorts. “No, he’s…look, it’s not really my place to say. I’m sure he’ll tell you when he’s ready.” 

Lando materializes from inside at that very moment, brows furrowed. There’s a tic going off in his jaw and he looks a little pissed off about something, but as soon as he looks up and sees that there’s company, he composes himself in a split second. 

“Hey, guys!” He chirps, hand raising in a wave. He makes his way over to where you all are, plopping down in the empty spot beside you without hesitation. “Glad you could make it.” 

“Thanks for the invite,” Maren replies, ever the polite one. “And the coffee yesterday.” 

Max makes an offended noise from the back of his throat at his friend. “You bought them coffee yesterday? Where was mine? You never buy me coffee.” 

“Mate, you don’t even drink coffee!” 

“Maybe I would if you bought it for me!” 

The two boys continue to bicker with each other in the same way all evening, which leads you to believe this is just how they are with one another. It gives Lando another dimension in your mind, and you like it.

There are a handful of common interests amongst your friends and Lando’s, ones that spark conversation immediately. As the night goes on, it feels like you’ve all been friends for a while, and you’re glad. Part of you was worried things would be awkward between everyone, but thankfully that isn’t the case.

It passes the time quicker than you expect. Soon enough it’s nearing midnight and you’re close to nodding off onto Lando’s shoulder, fighting to stay awake and looped into the ongoing conversation despite the sleep threatening to overtake you.

It certainly doesn’t help that he exudes warmth from where you’ve wound up pressed against each other on the small couch. You turn your head to look at him, to take in the little details of him. The angle of his jaw, the slope of his nose. The smattering of moles across his face and neck.

One wayward curl hangs over his forehead, and you want to reach out, brush it away. You don’t think you’re quite at that stage of comfort with each other yet, but then he tears his attention away from the rest of the group and meets your gaze with what you can only describe as pure fondness dripping from his lazy grin. 

“You alright?” He says softly, shifting his body to face you a little more. 

You nod, because you’re more than alright. For the first time in a while, everything feels just the way it should be. “Are you?” 

“Hm?” Lando replies noncommittally, sipping his drink. “Fine, why?” 

“Earlier, after your phone call, you seemed…upset. I don’t mean to pry, I just wanted to see if everything was alright.” 

“Oh, that? Nah, that was nothing, just my boss. Wanted to talk work stuff, but I wasn’t feeling it, y’know?” He shrugs. It feels like there’s more to what he’s saying, but you don’t want to push too hard. You’re still familiarizing yourself with him. “You’re sweet to check on me, though.” 

“Okay. But if you, um, if you need to talk or anything, I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”

Lando traces a finger briefly over the thin strap of your dress, just over your shoulder, before dropping his chin into his palm. You already know he’s about to change the subject. Involuntarily, you shiver at his touch, and he definitely notices, because he suddenly looks a little smug.

“Pretty dress,” He hums, tilting his head. 

You weren't trying to make a good impression on Lando, but you weren't exactly not trying, if that makes sense. It doesn't really make sense to you, but you’d gone for cute but comfy with a dress you’d borrowed, hoping it says you’d made an effort, but not too much of one. 

Suddenly you can’t remember what you were just thinking about not being at a certain stage of comfort with one another. Is it weird that you're secretly pleased he liked it enough to mention it?

“It’s not mine,” You say softly. Lando lets out a noise of question. “I borrowed it from Maren.” 

“Ah. Well, you should definitely get one for yourself then. It’s a nice color on you.” 

You want to say thank you, or really just say anything at all, but the moment your gaze flicks back up to his, you’re lost in his eyes again. Everything around you blurs into the background until it feels like it’s just the two of you. You’re teetering on the edge of something, and fuck, it would be so easy to just go over. To let yourself fall and fall and fall into his waiting arms at the bottom. 

Suddenly you hear your own voice in your head.

Don’t get attached. 

Clearing your throat, you pull back from Lando as smooth as you can manage with him muddling up your brain like this. “It’s late. We should get going,” You say, a tad louder than necessary. 

“She’s right,” Camille chimes in, taking note of the slight urgency in your tone. “We’ve got a guided hike in the morning—sunrise, can you believe it?” 

Lando’s mouth dips into a tiny frown for a moment, but it disappears as quickly as it appeared. He nods understandingly. “Sure. I’ll walk you out.” 

You all say your goodbyes and thank you’s, to which the boys wholeheartedly agree you should all do this again sometime before you part ways. 

Lando trails behind a bit like he’s unsure, but catches up to you quickly on the way out, shoulder bumping against yours lightly as you fall into step with each other. His hand brushes yours and lingers a little, pinkies almost intertwining. 

“Tonight was nice,” He says casually. 

“Yeah, it was,” You agree, bobbing your head. 

“Would you—I dunno, maybe want to hang out again?”

“With you guys? ‘Course we would, I’m sure the girls would love to.” You smile, casting a glance at your friends. They’ve all coincidentally already gotten into the car, but if you squint hard enough you can see them gawking at Lando and yourself through the windshield.

How very not subtle of them. 

Lando rocks on the balls of his feet almost nervously, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. “No, I meant, like…just the two of us.” 

“You mean, like, alone?” 

“A date. I’m trying to ask you out on a date,” He blurts, nose scrunching. “And failing miserably apparently.” 

“Oh!” You feel your face burn hot, yet you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face even if you tried. You’re about to take him up on the offer, but before you can say a word, another voice pops into the conversation. 

“Yes! She says yes! Whatever you’re asking, her answer is yes!” Samira yells through the window enthusiastically, muffled through the glass but still very audible.

Neither you nor Lando can stop the laughs that escape your mouths, especially when you turn around and all three girls are shooting you excited thumbs ups. 

“Guess that’s settled then,” You giggle, turning back to face him. 

“It’s a date.” He pushes forward, catching you by surprise when he presses a soft kiss to your cheek. As cliche as it sounds, the touch of his lips against your skin, although fleeting, sends a flurry of butterflies through your stomach. “I’ll text you later to plan, yeah? Get home safe.” 

He waits for you to pull around the circular driveway, and as his waving form gets smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, a glimmer of hope worms its way through you. 

In the back of your mind, you know you should keep it in check. This could be totally casual. A short summer fling that won’t hurt anyone no matter how it ends. But maybe, just maybe, it could turn into something more. 

-------

Your schedules don't end up giving you a free afternoon together until a few days later, though you come to realize it only makes you look forward to seeing Lando again even more. 

You're supposed to be meeting him at the local market in the center of town at half past one, but you find yourself there early, wanting to get a lay of the land before he gets there.

Evidently Lando had the same idea, because you spot him within the first few steps into the open air marketplace, squatting next to a stand with crates and buckets of bright flowers. He’s already got a bouquet clutched in his hands, but still he browses through the different bunches. 

“Flowers for Max?” You joke. 

Lando shoots to his feet so fast he nearly hits his head on the lightbulb hanging above, only managing to miss it by mere inches as he startles at the sudden voice. When he realizes it’s just you, he snorts with laughter. “He wishes! They’re for you, actually.” 

“Me?” 

“Yeah, you,” He says teasingly. You don’t even know what to say. Flowers on the first date might be normal, yet nobody’s ever done it for you before. You’re touched, but he must take your silence as something else, because his smile drops the tiniest bit. “Unless you see something you like better? I can still put these back.” 

You study the flowers he’s picked out already. A little on the smaller side, it boasts a beautiful mix of both soft and brighter colors while still being simple—it’s exactly the sort of thing you would’ve chosen if you were buying flowers for yourself. “They’re perfect.” 

He pays for the flowers and passes them over to you with the biggest smile on his face, one that grows even bigger when you tuck them carefully into the crook of your arm after giving the delicate blossoms a sniff. 

You notice the camera hanging around his neck at that moment, despite knowing close to nothing about golf, you do know a thing or two about photography. “Golfer and photographer? Impressive.” 

“Amateur at best.” 

“Oh, I’m sure you're just being modest.” 

“Not even a little bit. I just enjoy taking pictures of things I like.” 

He swings around to face you fully, bringing the camera up to his eye and pausing only a second to make sure you're in focus before snapping a photo of you. The shutter clicks twice before you have the sense to hold up a hand out in front of you, a surprised laugh spilling from your mouth. Even then he grins, takes another one before lowering the camera. "What, you don't like having your photo taken?" 

“I’m just not very photogenic!” 

Lando scoffs immediately, shooting you a pointed look. “That is such a lie.” 

“I probably just broke your fancy expensive camera,” You joke. 

“We’ll just have to wait til I get it developed and see. I think it’ll turn out wonderful.” 

“And if it doesn’t?” 

“I’ll buy you dinner. If I’m right, then…you let me buy you dinner.” 

You let out a noise of surprise. “Well, that doesn’t seem very fair, does it? You’d have to buy me dinner either way.” 

“I can think of worse things than taking a pretty girl out for a nice meal.” His words take you by surprise, but judging by the smug grin on his face, Lando takes pride in eliciting a reaction from you. “Shall we?” And just like that, he’s sauntering off down the path like he didn’t just leave you at a loss for words, pep in his step even as he turns around to shoot you a roguish smile. “You coming or what?” 

You push aside the fluttering in your chest, giving your head an amused shake before catching up with him. It’s cute that he thinks he’s funny. Even cuter that he seems rather eager to take you out on a second date before the first one has even started. 

The two of you wander through the market aimlessly, stopping here and there at various stalls to have a look around. If you had the means, you’d buy everything you see. You wind up picking up some gorgeous looking fruit and a bottle of locally pressed wine, a few small souvenirs for your family back home, but the most important thing you buy isn’t even for you. 

Lando had lingered at a stall selling handmade jewelry early on, seemingly interested in a woven bracelet of blues and whites, but didn't pick it up. Part of you wonders why, but it sparks an idea in your head. 

You tug at Lando’s arm lightly, smiling guiltily when he turns to look at you. “I think I left my phone at that fruit stand a few stalls back.” 

“You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached to your body, you muppet,” He chides, shaking his head fondly. “C’mon, let’s find it.” 

“No, I can get it. Why don’t you find us something good for lunch? I’m starving.” 

“Are you sure?” Lando cocks his head, shoulder bumping against yours. “I don’t mind.” 

“I’ll be right back,” You promise. To sweeten the deal, you make the bold move of pressing a kiss to his cheek. He freezes under your touch, but you pass it off as him not expecting it and being taken by surprise. “Two minutes, okay? Maybe less.” 

As soon as you confirm he isn’t paying any attention to you, you slip back through the crowd, finding the same stall and buying the bracelet he’d been looking at. You tuck it safely into your pocket, quickly making your way back to Lando before he realizes you’ve been gone long and comes looking for you. 

“All good?” He asks upon noticing you reappear by his side. 

You wiggle your phone in the air. “Never better. What's for lunch?” 

Lando grins happily, reciting the spiel that the very friendly older man at the food stand gave to him when he’d decided on the delicious looking food. Sure, maybe he stumbles over his pronunciation a little bit, but you find his giggled embarrassment sweet. 

You find a semi-secluded bench a little jaunt away to enjoy your food, and you do enjoy it. You think it might be one of the best things you’ve ever had, and when you tell Lando, he looks pleasantly surprised. As you continue to savor every bite, Lando’s eyes light up with amusement, so much so that you wonder what’s suddenly got him all smiling big like this. 

“What?” You say incredulously. 

He gestures to the lower part of his face. “You’ve got a little…” 

Mortified, you mirror his actions on your own face, searching for the food you’ve somehow gotten smudged on your chin. After a few tries that have him shaking his head, you whine, “Help me, please?”, to which he obliges with a soft chuckle. He reaches out, thumb rubbing at the corner of your mouth briefly. 

This moment almost seems too intimate, but then again, so have a lot of moments between the two of you. The way he’s looking at you makes you feel like you’ve still got something on your face, but then his gaze flicks down to your lips again almost imperceptibly, and you have an inkling of what’s about to happen. 

“Did you get it?” You ask softly. You’re not sure why you break the silence, but it's definitely not because you don’t want him to kiss you. If you think about it, you’ve wanted Lando to kiss you this whole time. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I got it," He replies. His hand lingers, long fingers splaying flat under the curve of your jaw now. You surprise yourself by shifting forward slightly, as if encouraging Lando to close the gap. He leans in closer and closer still, and your eyes fall shut on their own accord, heartbeat hammering against your rib cage. 

You nearly melt the moment his lips touch yours, held up only by the firm grasp of his hand cupping your face. It’s a little awkward with the food in between the two of you blocking you from pushing closer to him, but you make it work, reaching over it to wrap your fingers around Lando’s forearm. You feel like you need it to ground yourself, because holy shit, you’re kissing him. 

Well, more like he’s kissing you, because you’re definitely not the one leading the way. Lando kisses like he knows exactly what he’s doing, and judging by how you feel weak in the knees when you’re not even standing, he does know exactly what he’s doing. 

You’re falling, falling, falling, getting lost in him, until— 

“Wait, hang on,” He breathes, pulling away. Your eyes flutter open in an almost dazed sort of way, focusing on him in hopes of finding him in the same state, but all you’re met with is…guilt? Sadness? Shame? Maybe a mixture of everything, you’re not sure. All you know is that it has your heart plummeting in your chest. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” 

Everything hits you at once, and suddenly you’re crashing back down to reality. Lando thinks kissing you was a mistake. You were so sure he liked you back, sure enough to go on a date with him, and now here you are with egg on your face, feeling unbelievably stupid. Hurt. 

“I’m gonna—I have to go,” You mumble, scrambling to your feet. You don’t even have an excuse prepared, you just need to get out of here, get away from Lando before you spontaneously combust from the sheer embarrassment. 

His hand encircles your wrist before you can make it even a step away. 

“No, no, don’t! Please, just let me…let me explain. I promise things will all make sense in a second, if you’ll just hear me out,” He says pleadingly. Despite your better judgment, you sit back down, expression guarded. Lando blows out a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly. “Look, I like you. I really like you, and I wish things were as simple as that, but there’s things I’ve not told you. Things that, if you knew, you might not want to be with me.” 

You squeeze your eyes shut as hard as you can, burying your burning face into your hands with a muffled groan. “Oh my god, you are in the mafia, aren’t you?” 

“The—what?” Lando blurts, sounding wildly confused. “No, I’m not, I’m not in the mafia. Are you mad? I’m a Formula 1 driver!” 

You crack one eye open, then the other. “Formula 1.” You repeat, disbelieving. “Like, the racing thing?”  

He nods enthusiastically, tells you everything—how his childhood dream turned into a career, how he gets to travel all around the world doing what he loves. The fame, the lifestyle, the opportunities he’s worked so hard for, all while sounding entirely humble and grateful for everything and everyone who’ve gotten him to where he is today. 

It’s impressive, to say the least. The fact that he’s still fairly young and has already accomplished more than what some people have in a whole lifetime. Then he gets to how the chaos that doing what he does at the level he does it at wreaks havoc on other parts of his life, and you feel a wave of sympathy roll over you. 

The tradeoff for all that success is not getting to have a normal life in almost every aspect, and given the downward set of his brow as he tells you about it, this isn’t the first time he’s had this conversation with someone. 

“It makes being in a relationship…difficult, is the best way I can describe it. I’m never in one place more than a week most times, and the whole time zones thing makes it harder too. And after these two weeks are up, I’m already off to somewhere else, jumping right back into the second half of the season and hitting the ground running.” 

Realization hits you like a truck at this point, and you have to fight the urge to laugh out loud. Of course Lando is who he is. Of course you had to form a connection with someone with a life as complicated and as far away from your own as possible, someone who couldn’t be in a normal relationship even if he wanted to. 

“I wish it were different, but I just—I wanted you to know what you might be getting into if we…” He trails off, but you know what he means. If we want to get involved with each other. If we want to be together. 

“So like, long distance, but infinitely harder.” You’re doing your best to put a light spin on the massive amount of new information you’ve just acquired, but you’re barely managing to process it all, let alone even think about what it would be like to date someone as well known as Lando. 

“Yeah, something like that,” He says softly, shoulders creeping up towards his ears. “It’s—well, it’s a lot of baggage for anyone to have to deal with. Lots of eyes and ears, pretty public. Not really your cup of tea, I’ve noticed.” 

He’s right. You’ve never been one to enjoy being the center of attention, preferring to fly under the radar. Blend into the background. And you hate to say it, but knowing all of what he’s just told you changes things. You don’t think you can handle being thrust into the public eye, and it makes you feel like the most selfish person in the world to walk away from him just because of who he happens to be. 

Your life would be forever altered, your sense of privacy and security gone, and that isn’t something you want to compromise. You’re comfortable being nobody significant. With Lando, that would change, no matter how many measures you take to make sure it doesn’t. 

As much as you’ve come to like him—and you really like him—it’s just not something you can see yourself being fully okay with. 

“I’m so sorry, Lando,” You say quietly. He just smiles sadly, like he already knew it was coming, and you can't help but think about how many relationships—platonic or romantic—that he's lost out on because of his status. The thought alone makes you feel even worse. “I like you too, but I can’t—I don’t think I can be what you want me to be. It’s not me, it’s not the way I can live my life.” 

“Don’t be sorry. You haven’t got a reason to be,” He murmurs, thumb rubbing across your knuckles comfortingly. “Knew it was too good to be true, didn’t I?” 

“I’m sorry,” You say again, hoping that Lando knows you truly mean it. “I wish it were different, but—”

Lando shakes his head, interrupting before you can grasp for any other ways to apologize. He squeezes your hand reassuringly again. “Hey. It’s alright, I promise. I’d never ask anyone to do something they aren’t comfortable with. Especially not you.” 

Even when he’s sad, he’s still so thoughtful. It would take a different kind of awful monster not to want to be with him. Apparently that monster is you. 

You wish you were someone else, someone who could take huge changes in stride and never miss a step, but you’re not. Someone who knows what they want and goes for it—who knows who they want and doesn’t let anything get in their way. 

Unfortunately, you’re not that kind of person. 

“What do we do now?” 

Lando drops your hand to run his fingers through his curls, down to the back of his neck sheepishly. “Dunno about you, but I’ve—d’you think there’s any chance we can still be friends? I really do enjoy spending time with you lot, we all do.” 

“Friends would be nice,” You say softly. It feels strange to agree with him so wholeheartedly. 

Maybe it’ll be awkward between the two of you, maybe you won’t even be able to sit next to each other with what’s happened today, but you can’t bring yourself to care all that much. The only thought running through your mind is that you don’t want to lose Lando, even as just a friend. 

You’ve gotten attached. 

The bracelet you’d bought Lando burns a hole through your pocket. It would be weird to give it to him now, after you’d just turned him down, but you can’t exactly just return it either. You don’t really want to. 

Maybe it won’t go to him, but you’re sure you’ll find something to do with it someday.

The girls are waiting in the living room when you finally make your way home, gathered on the sofa with identical innocent smiles like you hadn’t seen them with their heads poked through the curtains. Samira bounces off the cushions with what you can only describe as a gleeful cackle to grab your flowers, showing them off to the other two like a game show host before grabbing your hand and dragging you into the center of their blanket pile. 

You know they're expecting good news and you wish you could give it to them, but you can’t. 

“So??? How’d it go?” 

“He got her flowers, obviously it went well!” 

“Okay, spill, now,” Camille presses, easing the bouquet out of Samira’s hands and setting it on the coffee table. “What’s he like, what’d you do—” 

“When’s your second date?” chimes in Maren excitedly. The other two nod their vigorous agreement. 

“Lando’s amazing,” You sigh, letting yourself fall back against the plush pillows. “He’s super sweet and really funny, we walked around and looked at all the vendors, and then we had lunch and talked for ages, and…there won’t be a second date.”

“What? That’s impossible, you guys were like, made for each other!” 

You sigh, rub at a flower petal that’s fallen away from the bouquet. “It’s complicated. I don’t—I’m not ready to get into all of it again this soon, but long story short, our lives are just too different. Being with him would mean compromising things I’m just not ready to lose right now.” 

If any of them wants to push for a better explanation, and you know they do, they refrain from doing so. They know you’ll tell them when you’re ready. 

But even Samira can tell you’re not quite as okay as you insist you are, and she’s been rooting for you extra hard. She leans her head onto your shoulder, squeezes your hand reassuringly. “You did what was best for you, and that’s all that matters.” 

“We agreed to still be friends, so we can still hang out with the guys and stuff like that, but—I mean, yeah, it just didn’t work out.” You don’t think you sound very convincing at all, but it’s the bed you've made, you’ve got to lay in it. “I just don’t really want to talk about it right now, but it's fine. I'm fine.” 

It has to be. You have to be. You’ve made sure of it.

follow @katsu-library to be notified when i post a new chapter :)

[finnzhal]

CRIMSON KNOLASTNAME x GN!READER

@psychicanais asked

hey i’m just asking maybe could you do dating head canons for crimson from helluva boss? nsfw or sfw i don’t mind <33

FINN's response

Hello ! I' m sorry if this headcanons can be a bit OOC , I tried making it realistic as much as possible . I' m a SFW blog but I felt a bit risky last night and mix some NSFW headcanons there hehe

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NOTE : I don' t condone this behavior in real life . If you' re sensitive to heavy topics I suggest reading something else in my page !

I literally have to rewatch S2 EP 3 for this cause i don't give two shits about MOXXIE' s dad

If you guys are interested in requesting , my requests are open ! Just make sure to read my INFO's !!

Reader : GENDER NEUTRAL , YOU / YOUR

Character : CRIMSON KNOLASTNAME

Mentions : SPOILERS (?) , DARK Toxic relationship , Abusive , spoilers(?) , Sexism, lack knowledge of LGBTQ / homosexuality

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How you guys met

[] To be honest , I don't really see Crimson getting into committed relationships . He would just do one night stands wether a woman or a man whenever he feels ykyk

[] Crimson probably met you in a bar or you were once his victim that seduced him while you're about to get killed ( I'm loosing creativity for this one- )

[] So Crimson made you as one of his toys whenever he wants to relieve himself , calling you and talking to you just because of that .

[] Slowly meeting more other than in bed , making you as an employer of his Mafia , making you live in his house , and now actually dating . In those correct orders .

[] Crimson asked you out after one of his successful kills

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[] Crimson would spoil you with gifts , expensive ones and the most questionable yet disgusting ones too . He gifted you a skull once , the skull was from one of the people who mistreated you

[] Crimson would bite you at every part of your body whenever you guys are alone , He doesn't care if it's visible . He wants people to know you're his .

[] Crimson will and would show you off to his gangsters and to everyone

[] Crimson will call you " His treasure " or " His bait " . . If you guys are alone he'll call you " Darling " or " Dear / Dearest "

[] Crimson will literally flirt with you at any given time just to see your flustered reaction . If you do flirt back , you know what will happened next

[] Crimson will make you as bait to get his victims , if his victims gets closer to you or touch you . You'll see the victim's skull on the wall

[] Crimson would get very possessive over you

[] Crimson would get an obsession over you , He doesn't want anyone to be closer to you or take you away from him .

[] Crimson would be controlling of you , guilt tripping, and manipulating you at every chance he gets and maybe even isolating you

[] Crimson will get his gangsters to monitor you everywhere you go . He's not gonna let you try and do anything funny .

[] If you' re a man , he would choose being the top everytime you guys sleep together . It' s less gay , he said . .

[] If you're a woman , he would talk shit about your behavior for not being a "woman" enough .

[] Crimson will punish you for disobeying him . To talking back to him , doing something or going somewhere without his permission , and more

[] Crimson will do quickies with you in risky places , it gets him riled up and will be extra harsh on you

[] Crimson will degrade and praise you outside and inside of the bedroom , there' s no in between

[] There' s times that Crimson is uncharacteristically clingy and sweet . He'll purr like a cat if you pet him after a long day , wrapping his tail around you for more

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I guess that's all for him . . I couldn't think of anything else and since this isn't my cup of tea . I tried my best , I hope you like it !

If there's any grammar / spelling mistakes , please let me know !

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© Do not steal. Please. FINN's fragile

[skzhocomments]

THE WHITE LILY (Mafia Book #1 - Bang Chan) - Chapter 15 - I was never there

Story masterlist - please consult it for the summary of the story, trigger warnings etc.

General masterlist

Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

Let me know if you'd like to be on the taglist for this story or on the general taglist!

---

Chapter 15 - I was never there

chapter word count: 2.8k words

~third person POV~

"Sky, can you hear me?!"

"I think Minho's mic works, guys!" Seungmin shouted to Jeongin and Han, turning his eyes to the big computer screen in the van and turning off his headphones, putting Minho on speaker.

"Minho?!" Han spoke.

"Connect me to Chan right now!" the boy shouted through the earpiece. "I did it! Fuck, but there's a BIG problem."

"We hear you, Lee Know."Chan spoke, signaling to Changbin and Momo to retreat to the cars outside.

"I killed him!"

"So he came to Tunnel A, after all, like Shade thought." Seungmin affirmed.

"There's a big problem here, fuck. Jeongin, prepare the medical kit immediately! I'm coming with Felix and Hyo!"

"Minho, calm down, what's wrong with them?"

"They've been shot! Shade... shot them both."

~

"What the fuck happened?!" Chan opened the van's door and helped Minho carry Hyo and Felix inside. "Hyo, you were there with Shade the whole time... fill us in."

"I... Channie... I'm so sorry. Shade... no, Emilia. She... betrayed us. I don't know what happened, I really thought we were friends!" Hyo looked like a mess, crying her eyes out and bleeding profoundly from her leg.

"What... do you mean to say, Hyo...?" Chan asked with hesitation.

"When we were alone, the earpieces suddenly stopped working, and... she pulled out the gun on me... Told me she hates my guts, hopes I die and that she'll make it look like an accident! But then... Lixie opened the door... he tried to stop her, so she opened fire!" she cried.

"No... it can't be..." Chan shook his head. "That's impossible... she would never..."

"She kicked my gun from my hand when I tried to shoot back and then she shot me in the leg! Fuck, this hurts like a bitch!"

"It's impossible..." Chan continued to deny.

"OPEN YOUR GODDAMN EYES!" Minho shouted. "You have proof right here!"

"And there's more-" Hyo continued, barely speaking through the tears. "She must've been hand in hand with them the whole time... her room... still looked the same..."

"I- no..." Chan couldn't believe his ears. "But Lee Know killed their boss, so how..."

"I saw it too..." Minho nodded. "There were pics of her on the walls..."

"I told you... the baby with the rose mark on his back... wasn't a coincidence..." Hyo kept insisting.

Despite her messed up appearance, she was burning with happiness that she planted that seed a few months ago. It all fell into place, as Chan seemed to doubt Shade more and more.

Minho also bit the bait, much to her surprise, which only made things better for her. She was glad that she had the brilliant thought to shoot her leg and make it look like Shade did it.

It was so satisfying, she barely held in her smile.

Minho pat Chan on the back. "She probably thought that I wouldn't be able to take him down on my own... I know you love her, but... Lixie might not make it, Chris! And Hyo is also badly hurt! Because of her!"

"So... where is she, then?" Chan continued asking Hyo, not knowing what to think. Was Hyo telling the truth? How could she not, when she herself was bleeding so much?

"I don't know, Chris!" She cried out. "She ran away!"

"Look, we have some cameras outside, don't we? Seungmin can check if she left the Manor." Minho kept his calm, even though he was burning with rage inside. He also noticed that Chan wasn't completely rational, and when it came to hierarchy in SKZ, he was the next in line. It was time to help and take charge.

"Mhm, I found her... she headed towards the garage and left with a car just a few minutes ago. I'm trying to make out the plate number."

"Chris, we must... we must not let her get away." Hyo said. "What she's done to me... to Felix..."

"We won't." Lee Know placed his hand on Hyo's shoulder, comforting her. "We will find her and bring her back..."

Jeongin tried his hardest to tend to Felix and remove the bullets from his chest so he can stop the bleeding, being unable to process what the others were saying. His Emi would never do that. He was sure of that. 

However, seeing Chan's gaze darken, his blood ran cold. He felt that his leader's feelings for Emilia were disappearing with every word Hyo said, and hearing how determined Lee Know was to find her, he imagined the worst.

Emi, stay away... he pleaded in his mind. It would be better that way.

~

Emilia took a car and started driving towards the side of the house where Jeongin, Jisung and Seungmin should've been stationed. However, no one was there when she arrived.

This can't be... Am I too late? she cried, hoping that the boys found Felix and took him back to the house.

It was only one way to find out, so she drove as best as she could, forcing herself to stay awake. The loss of blood was getting to her head, and the pain was almost unbearable, which forced her to take many stops on the long drive back to Stray Kids' house.

Tears were uncontrollably falling down her face, her vision blurry.

How did things get this fucked? She wondered, cursing herself for pushing down the uneasiness she felt about this night... that feeling of calm before the storm.

After almost three hours, she reached the house and stumbled inside.

She was able to hear voices in the kitchen, so she ran as fast as she could, in her wounded state, towards them.

Around the table, Chan, Hyo and Jeongin looked somberly.

"Emilia?!" Jeongin exclaimed and got up, coming to embrace the girl. He was quick to notice the blood coming from her abdomen, but before he could say or do anything, Chan got up and pushed him aside.

"Chan, how's Felix?!" the girl asked worriedly.

"Shade... bold of you to walk in here like this."

Shade? Why is he calling me Shade? Emilia quivered. He hasn't acted so cold ever since the baby incident...

"I don't know what you-"

"I'm barely holding myself together right now" Chan exhaled angrily. "... please, tell me... what the fuck did you do to Felix and Hyo?"

"I- I didn't do anything! Hyo, she's the one-"

"She's lying!" Hyo screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face once again. "After what you've done to us, you dare to come back here?! How could you shoot me and Felix?"

"What?! I didn't- Chan, you have to believe me. Look, she-" Emilia tried to defend herself, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears, as Chan got angrier the more she spoke.

"Get out." He spat.

"Wh.. what?" she looked at him puzzled. He surely wasn't telling her what she was hearing... was he?

"You heard me. Get the fuck out of here and never come back."

"But- but Chris-" she tried touching his face, wanting to speak some sense into him, but he already seemed to have his mind set.

"Don't fucking touch me." He replied emotionlessly.

Seeing that she wouldn't back down angered him even more, so he took it out on her with a powerful slap on her face.

The hit didn't seem to register, however, as she tried coming next to him again, touching his face, her hands shaking.

"I said, DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" he pushed her as hard as he could, making her body hit the wall behind. She fell on her knees weak, powerless.

Why was this happening to her?

"Chan-" Jeongin tried to intervene, but he was quickly shut down as well.

"Go check on Felix, will you?" his leader commanded.

Huh, so Felix is alive, that's good... Emilia thought, feeling relieved that at least her friend was alright.

"For what you've done, I should kill you right here and now. You somehow managed to make me fall for you. How stupid was I?!" Chan continued angrily pulling out his gun and pointing it to his former lover as soon as Jeongin reluctantly left the room. "How could you betray them, hm?! How could you betray me?!"

"I never-" she tried to talk, but the blood in her mouth from the slap made her cough.

"You look so pathetic." Chan laughed lowly. "And you are worthless. It wouldn't even be fun killing you at this point."

He came closer to her and grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her to look at him. His gaze was so cold, it made her freeze, for she never saw him like that, not even in the first night she came to kill him.

In her head, especially since becoming his lover, she never connected Chris, the love of her life, to Chris, the heartless mafia leader.

"I'm gonna give you some time to pull yourself together... and when your world's sweetest, I'll hunt you down with everything I have. You hear me? This shall be fun. We can even put your pretty head on display somewhere in the garden when the time comes, why not? That's what rats deserve."

Emilia stood on the ground, silent.

"Not gonna say anything, doll? Then get the fuck out of my house already, will you? You fucking traitor." He let go of her hair pushing her, and turned around.

Nonchalant, he grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped off the blood on his hands – hers – then headed towards the door, signalling to Hyo to follow him.

Hyo took one last glance at Emilia before exiting the room in crutches. Seeing her like this was even more satisfying than if she managed to kill her earlier. 

God, what a good feeling! she smirked, turning around.

~

(Song: The Weekend - I was never there)

(quick A/N: I recommend listening to this while you read the next part, as it's been an inspiration for this chapter)

~

Emilia stood on the ground bleeding for what felt like hours. After having her whole life taken away from her by the man she loved most, she was completely empty.

It never mattered that she would've never betrayed Chan, that she would always be on his side, because it seems he was never on hers.

Otherwise, why would he turn his back on her so easily? How could he not even listen to a single word she tried to say?

He took Hyo's words at face value once again and didn't even doubt for a second that things could've happened differently.

Channelling all the force left in her body, she used the wall behind her to stand up. She slowly made her way out of the house, leaving a trail of blood behind her, and she walked through the now-so-familiar gardens of the manor, out on the empty streets, so dizzy she didn't even notice where she was headed.

However, her feet seemed to have a location memorized, as they brought her there without her mind to it.

The Overpass.

This shall be her grave.

Seems fitting. She thought, leaning against the old bridge's wall and letting herself fall down to the ground, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.

Her vision was blurry enough either way, so why not just close them and listen to the world around her? After all, the last senses you lose when you die are hearing and touching, and so her hearing was as sharp as ever. Even sharper, perhaps.

Hearing the water's flow beautifully in front of her, she wished she could just be one of the fishes swimming without a care in the world in there.

Ah, if only I was a fish! She thought, bringing a smile to her face.

But no, I always wanted more. Too much.

Thinking of him hurts...

Fuck.

Why was I so stupid?

I can't believe I got myself tricked so easily.

Did I bring my own demise?

I must've, right?

It's all my fault things turned out this way.

Somewhere from her left side, heavy footsteps were closing in. She pulled out her gun, pointing it towards the dark figure that was approaching, and pulled the trigger. 

Of course, nothing happened. The gun was as empty as it was earlier when Hyo stabbed her.

She couldn't help but let out a bitter chuckle.

„You lost a lot of blood." a quiet voice spoke next to her. She quickly felt herself being picked up from the ground.

She let herself indulge in this last gesture of care and placed her head on this person's shoulder. It felt different from Chan's.

Opening her eyes slowly, she was unable to see anything but a dark silhouette.

"San...? why are you here...?" Emilia asked weakly. "You died... did I... also... die...?"

"Shh. Don't speak. I'm here to repay the favour. I'll be your guardian angel this time." The voice said, making no sense in the girl's head, for the boy was not her former partner, but her Shadow.

"I'm gonna fix you. Everything will be alright." Jeongin spoke again, trying more to assure himself than to assure her.

"I will take care of you... I will never leave you alone..."

His voice was growing distant, as Emilia slipped in and out of consciousness.

~

She woke up a few days later in an unfamiliar room.

"Argh." She tried to stand up, the pain in her abdomen stopping her.

"You're awake! Thank God!" Jeongin rushed near the bed. "I was afraid you're gonna wake up when I'm not here."

"Felix... how is Felix?" Emilia asked anxiously, as she suddenly remembered all the events that took place before she passed out.

"He's stable for now, but... we still aren't sure if he'll make it... he has yet to wake up." Jeongin looked down for a brief moment, before sitting on the bed next to Emilia and grabbing her hands.

"I'm so glad you're awake, though. You have no idea."

"Jeongin... you shouldn't be here, Foxie..." she looked away. "I'm a traitor in Chan's eyes... he will kill you if he found out..."

"Emi, I know you would've never harmed Felix or Hyo... She is lying, isn't she?"

Hearing that question brought back all the feelings she tried to bury. She started crying uncontrollably, letting herself be embraced and soothed by Jeongin.

"Shh, it's okay."

"But it's not! Chan, he- fuck, Jeongin, I messed up!"

"If Felix wakes up, this whole misunderstanding will be solved..." Jeongin started.

"No, you're missing the point. I messed up because I let myself fall so in love with him, it hurts! I didn't care about how fast and hard I fell for him. Why didn't I know how dangerous that was, hm?!" She started sobbing, feeling all the pain inflicted on her soul by her former lover.

How little regard did he have for her and their relationship, she wondered? Why was it so easy to push her away, to not even care about what she had to say?

Wasn't he supposed to love her? To be on her side?

Or were those just lies?

Her feelings for Chan were suicide, only you couldn't see the ropes.

The boy held her tighter.

"I was simply... oblivious that his kisses were poison to me. How couldn't I notice it was too good to be true?!" she cried and cried, holding onto Jeongin for dear life.

However, this time he pulled away and wiped the tears off her face.

"Emi... it's not your fault. What other people do is not up to you..."

"You're right, but you know what the sad thing is? Even if I knew, it probably wouldn't have mattered. As long as it was him... I would've... gladly... drunk any poison." She smiled genuinely.

Jeongin didn't say anything in response, waiting for the girl to finish.

"The only mistake I made... was to not realise that he wouldn't do the same for me."

I would've taken a bullet for him to prove how much I loved him, but as it turned out... all this time, he was the one holding the gun.

"How ironic... Why did things happen like this?" she continued smiling.

After all, nothing hurts more in this world than a heart left wondering why. 

She didn't know what to do with herself, so she simply had to turn off everything around her. She had to grow numb, and her smile in these circumstances only proved so further.

"Jeongin, even if Felix wakes up, which I pray to God will happen, I can never go back there. Chris... I don't want to see him ever again."

The boy nodded.

"I always thought... white lilies represent a new you, a Rebirth... but you know, Innie?"

"I'm not sure I follow..." he replied, confused, unaware of the painting in Hyunjin's greenhouse.

"The truth is, they have a double meaning. They represent the dead... And that's what I want to be for him, do you understand?"

"Emi-"

"You will go out and dig a grave for me... and if he ever asks..."

"... I understand. And I promise you that I will do just as you asked me."

"Thank you, Innie." The girl smiled shily. "Truly. You're the only one I can still trust."

"Emi... how about this? We'll wait for a few more days until you are a bit better, you lost so much blood... and after that, let's leave this shithole behind, together. Let's run far away for good." 

Jeongin grabbed Emilia's face and looked deeply into her eyes. 

"I'll make you forget all about him."

With no warning, he pressed their lips together.

Let this be... the last time we see each other, Innie. Emilia thought and indulged in the kiss. 

The first time they met, she gave him the gift of life, saving him. This shall be her farewell present, then. 

---

Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

[mytalemyworld]

Hayriye: Oh God, am I dreaming or did I drink too much lemonade? Yavuz: I am alive. You are not dreaming or something. Look. (took her hand and put it on his heart) I am real.

What a bastard! He knows she is the only one who can help him so he does whatever it takes to woo her. She is perplexed.

I am so glad they didn't kill off his character. They have an amazing chemistry and the characters have so much potential.

The goofy funny girl and the ruthless mafia who seems to have a soft spot for her.

It's like an anime plot but I'm loving this!

He's not that heartless, actually seems to care about her well-being.

When he finds out she got shot accidentally and that's why she came late to the place where they promised to meet…

Yavuz: Where have you been, Hayriye? You're late. Hayriye: Sorry, Mr. Yavuz. I am a little bit shot. Yavuz: What did you say? How did this happen? Hayriye: Like, bang! Medine's brother shot in the air, I was hit by a ricochet…no need to explain it more. It's nothing. Yavuz: Who is this brother? If he keeps on creating more troubles for you, I'll stop his clock. Hayriye: You may…no, no don't. He is Medine's brother after all.

Perks of knowing a criminal, you have a choice to decide on someone's ending!

Hayriye: Sooo, the reason I came here…the money. you are going to ask me where your money is-About that I- Yavuz: No. It's not that. One day we'll talk about that of course. But I have bigger problems now. I need to hide for a few days. Hayriye: Are the guys who killed you coming after you? Yavuz: No. They were taken care of. Hayriye: Is that so? Yavuz: The cops are looking for me. They searched everywhere. They're keeping a close eye on everyone around me. I..I need someone I can trust. Hayriye: So you mean Ms. Yasemin, I'll go talk to her right away- Yavuz: Sit Hayriye. Yasemin is the last person I could trust. I am talking about you. Hayriye: Me? Yavuz: Can I trust you? Will you help me to hide? Hayriye: It seems to me you can make me do anything now.

Oh, girl takes the bait. He isn't even afraid of the possibility that she may call the cops. Because he knows she can't say no to him.

*rubbing my hands* Yep, this is going to bite him in the ass, I can't wait for it!

[joonkorre]

on s2e8. would love it if the nervous animal keeping guy isn't the killer. and will ugh WILLLLLLLL THIS DIVAAAAAA like omg he's all primmed up, wearing less layers and shedding his glasses more (confident, armored, no longer needing to hide behind a sturdy jacket or shy from eye contact), asserting his boundaries (as much as he can in hannibal's presence ig) and mirroring the "don't lie to me" scene from s1 where he now knows hannibal will actually be compelled to obey him. never acknowledging their one-side friendship to hannibal, finally ending the scene with "not when i finally found you interesting." i'm sorry it's very mafia wife of him like he's literally dressing as the bait, the honey pot like omg???? that's soooooo insane of him to do. i do miss his fluffy hair though.

hannibal's smile at the end of the scene. finally meeting a worthy opponent, finally seeing will rise up to his potential, finally being found interesting by will whom he killed for. it's actually embarrasing for him ngl like omg stand up

[walmart-icarus]

Hey there @walmart-cereal I have a headcanon about one of my posts!

Here it is https://www.tumblr.com/ria-coolgirl/727122658508095488/hey-so-i-just-had-a-random-thought-about

RAAAHHH YES HI RIA THANKS 4 THE ASK

(this was a bit of a challenge)

Usual warnings bla bla bla beta reader when

It was a normal usual casual night

for a bunch of immortals

Roaming around the boardwalk

The only problem was

they needed money for the vending machine behind the weird crystal witchy store that Star went into

so naturally they go ahead to the money dispenser

Max

again, the guys can be quite rowdy

and knock things in their way

press 'f' in the comments for the fallen Mafia Movies stand

"I guess you'll never get the birthday flavored Rice Krispies"

"sHut up Marko"

and just like that

they have to lectured or whatever

for ResPonSibiliTy

"to teach you guys a lesson, you have to take care of this"

And a chubby baby? Child? is being handed to Dwayne

(obviously)

"what the fuck is that"

"language David. A mother wanted me to babysit while she did groceries"

so

Here it is

They name the kid "Squabbledorf"

(to anyone asking, David calls him the Thing)

Neither of them know how to babysit

"we gotta watch him for an hour right?" -Dwayne

'SQUABBLEDORF DON'T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH"

just imagine Dwayne holding a small child in his scary aah hands

the kid would def play with Marko's fish bait thingies

and they feed him water for some reason

i wouldn't know

Max decides never again

-> this didn't turn out as well as I wanted it too! I'm sorry- I feel like I'm better at general headcanons

[pumpkinmetaphor]

i'm not sure if there's any kind of ouran archive, infact i don't think i even looked at ouran fanfic too much back in my ff.net days?? i think by the time i got into ouran i started shifting to ao3 already lol. using ff.net now is just. really bad 😭 like at this point wattpad is better. how did we ever accept ff.net...... for every one Decent fic there was about 5000 poorly written unfinished fics that were so ooc it was basically like watching the author play with dolls that had the characters names stuck on them. still dear to my heart though

also im sorry but describing it as cognitive dissonance is making me cackle. like teenage kaoru can't truly decide if he loves mafia boss demon lord kyoya who would burn down the world to keep him safe 😔🔥🥀... or boring ass REAL LIFE kyoya who WOULDN'T shoot 50 evil rival mafia members without hesitation bc he asked him to. lame. boring. teenage kaoru would be so disappointed if he found out which one he ended up choosing.

"oh well. back to the better world," kaoru thinks as he pulls up the covers over his head and shoves his phone way too close to his eyes to continue his mafia angel love story. no hikaru he doesn't want dinner stop yelling.

I'm sure there's good fic on FF.net but the interface and the format are both just dragging it down. I find the wide screen very difficult to read. I don't think it used to be that wide? Also a lot of the plots are samey, especially because kyo/kao was crackship yaoi bait for anime-only fans, which lends itself to some of the ooc-ness.

But if nothing else, some of them are HILARIOUS. Like, *committed* to the bit. I read a Hika/Haru fic last year and like, no idea who these guys are but I'm obsessed with how Kyoya comes in for one appearance, about 28 chapters into a 30 chapter fic, to kick a football around with Hikaru to "talk about his feelings" and then is never heard from again. I was on the FLOOR, tears streaming down my face laughing at 2am.

God. Kaoru being like "I can fix him" (proceeds to fantasise about making him worse) is...good for him, honestly. Maybe he could convince Kyoya to dress up as a mafia boss for Halloween. Kyoya would be way too into the embezzlement and money laundering aspects of his character and less into the rest of it though.

[ratsoh-writes]

*I give a relieved sigh*

yeah no water scares me. also driving. and you know of my vandetta against all bugs heh. oddly enough I'm not scared of the other common ones though. hights, small spaces, snakes- all suit me just fine

*I direct the lily pad back to shore*

Wanna try fishing?

why do I get the feeling the mafias already know and their just waiting to smack me into a large body of water

-wisteria

It’s only a matter of time. Im sorry

You both float back to shore to grab the poles and go back to the middle of the lake. To your amusement,

The fishing poles are literally just sticks with string, but the string magically extends and sinks when you toss it. You just need to add bait. That’s such a nomad thing to make

[tellywoodtrash]

Hi TT!long time no see..how are you?also I'm so happy to know that you like Ok Taec- yepn 💖 he's...dreamy..have you heard his English? It's very..uhh..proper without being overly formal..is it weird that I like that about him?? Have you watched the Netflix documentaries like 'The Romantics' or the new Crime thriller 'Dahaad'? I'm not a series girl thanks to my attention span of a goldfish but I watched both and they are not bad!!the Romantics takes me back to those golden years of the Yash raj studio Mannn🥺🥺 Dahaad was a good watch, the victims or the crime were not shown distastefully and maybe cause it's made by a woman...please watch it if you can TT..also sorry for my previous ask which was REALLY long and messy before this( I don't even remember what I wrote 😓)..hope you have a really great week and hugs to your Kitty 💖💖💖

Hi friendddddd!

How you been!? Long time since I've seen you around these parts! Hope life has been kind to you.

Girl, I went into Vincenzo for the female gaze and Song Joong Ki as a Mafia man taking down capitalism (which is what Mais baited me with) but I came out IN LOVE with Ok Taecyeon. I truly loved his unhinged performance and had to find out allllll about the guy, and to my absolute delight, he's suchhhhh a fucking dork (affectionate); I can't believe that they saw this gianttttttt silly boi and were like yeah, HIM; he'll play the psycho!!! I'm not into K-pop like at alllll, but I'll listen to some 2PM occasionally just coz he's in it, lol. I'll also watch anything he's in coz he's truly one of my fave Kdrama actors (if not the toppppppp fave!) His upcoming vampire show looks absolutely adorable and is my most awaited thing of this month.

(This show can fix me, i know it can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I tried watching The Romantics but like..... 2 minutes in, Ranveer Singh walked in being annoying and I was like nope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and turned it off. I'll revisit it again when I'm in a much more patient mood lmao. I haven't been watching any Desi stuff other than the occasional movie here or there (and mostly not bollywood), so Dahaad is one of those things I put on my watch list, but am not currently in the headspace for.

Neverrrrrr everrrrrrr apologize for asking for help/comfort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like yes, the words may not be perfect, and my replies sure as hell will never always make it all better, but that's the human experience babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy *Coach Beard from Ted Lasso voice*

[madraleen]

Bungo Stray Dogs - Kafka Asagiri/Sango Harukawa Vol. 14-15: A pretty balanced commentary (*anime spoilers and manga spoilers up to ch.114)

-FYODOR, IF VILLAIN WHY SO DAMN PRETTY

-"i won't let [fyodor] hurt a single person [of the agency]" aww ranpo bb

-OMG I'D FORGOTTEN THAT IS NIKOLAI'S FIRST APPEARANCE! HI, I DON'T LIKE YOU, BUT IN A GOOD WAY, HI. 

-"terrorist murder society" lmfao, society

-i love atsushi, he exists in every font. capital letters, bold letters, small letters, soft letters, average letters, he's everything.

-when ranpo wants to turn this job down, fukuzawa looks like "...my favorite... child... has betrayed me…?!"

-oh dazai-chan. get comfy, get settled. welcome to your meursault arc that'll last for at least ten more volumes. i love it when his speech bubble is music notes.

-see, dazai, jouno can hear THE SOUND OF YOUR MUSCLES, can you control THAT, babygirl?

-NIKOLAI HAS BEEN A SECRETARY FOR HALF A YEAR, how long have they been planning this

-jouno to dazai: "i can hear your rage." awww, dazai-chan has rage. love seeing wild emotions on dazai

-i'm starting to giggle lowkey hysterically 'cause we're about to start the craziest arc, the never-ending arc, THE arc, the-

-kenji-kun is hugging the back of kunikida's chair as they watch nikolai's video, what a lovely detail

-you know what? before the next arc, there should be an interlude when fifty clues fall on the agency's lap and everyone's like "nope. not doing a thing," and just chilling because they're being baited with clues so often just to fall into traps, like damn. just ignore everything and go have a sushi.

-right, the decay of the angel is fukuchi, fyodor, nikolai, bram and sigma. five.

-ooh sigma has to give intel to get intel, interesting

-okay but does that mean someone in special division knows where the book is?! where was the page taken from, where was the book?! who has it?! why does francis need atsushi if people actually know where it's sealed?! (well, maybe francis doesn't know that)

-"DOSTOY"?! NIKOLAI HAS A PET NAME FOR FYODOR?!

-gogol is gogol is gogol and then suddenly you cut to a panel where he's breathtakingly beautiful

-i mean, i have questions about the book. i don't know how literally switching places with the white hoods or... being there from the beginning or... the whole thing with the white hoods being the agency, how the heck does that constitute narrative consistence? book-san, i have questions.

-omg, fyodor is learning "common japanese"

-vol.15- dude, what beautiful covers though

-DAZAI'S GRIN IN HIS MUGSHOT HELP ME

-book-san, if cameras materialize out of thin air is narrative consistence, what is NOT consistent exactly? like, alright, it rewrites reality - "and then they saw the footage," so a camera must've been there, so to maintain narrative consistency a camera materializes. but is that narrative consistency when a camera wasn't there in the first place? or does narrative consistency just means "anything goes except mass human extinction ‘cause we can’t have that"?

-"something beyond our abilities" might have made the book- oh, maybe we're back to the lovecraftian mysteries then?

-will we ever meet the government's mind-reading skill user, hm? hm?

-was tetchou so pretty princess in the anime? i don't remember him so

-LIL BB TETCHOU IS HOLDING HIS BREATH BC JOUNO TOLD HIM HIS BREATHING ANNOYS HIM, MY HEART

-jouno stops kenji-kun's punch with one hand, while sitting cross-legged and not batting an eyelash.

-i'm sorry, wth, jouno and tetchou are so pretty

-CHU CHU CHUUYA

-ah yes, the beginnings of my "one agency member will switch over to the mafia" suffering. on the one hand, i'm not in any hurry to see it happen 'cause i'm scared (please not dazai, please not dazai, please-). on the other hand, i'm like JUST RIP THE BAND-AID OFF AND GET IT OVER WITH, WHO IS IT

-"USABLE SKILLS" YOU SAY, yes chuuya, we have one of those, tanizaki-kun! and he's pretty okay with the idea too

-it's interesting how kunikida's ideals are also a burden to him, with him feeling some sort of relief at the prospect of losing them, ‘cause there’s a certain freedom in not having anything to live up to, not having anything to uphold, and in not being afraid of the day when it will all crumble because everything will have crumbled already. complex and human.

-very nice panel sequence when kunikida blows up himself and tetchou, very smooth, very impactful, very nice

-hm, francis also says fyodor could be communicating via the guards but... it's too simple! i still don't buy it. it's too big of a job to delegate it, not fyodor. come on, he's getting the information in real-time, or close to it.

-i just had a certain thought- "but dazai also gets info in real t-, no, he stops time, it's fine, time's irrelevant for him," this is what bsd has done to me, that's a perfectly sensible sentence now.

-DAZAI GOT CAUGHT TO SAVE THE AGENCY, FUKUZAWA, KNOW THAT! KNOW THAT, REMEMBER YOUR BLACK SHEEP CHILD! IT WASN'T A VACATION TRIP TO EUROPE!

-"it's time to play, dostoyevsky" oooh dazai-chan looks so serious. i understand the "i hate you, but also my world is boring without you" appeal, but i genuinely don't feel like this is the case for dazai towards fyodor. i joke that it's his situationship because it's funny, but i actually think that he genuinely hates fyodor and genuinely wants to take him down, no ifs, no buts, no regrets, no sense of loss.

[osaemu]

BSD MEN AS GIRL DADS

✩ ‧ ˚. synopsis: how would they be as girl dads? [ dazai, chuuya, fyodor ]

contents: fem!reader. established relationship (marriage) with all three. your relationship with fyodor is lowkey toxic.

★ ━ OSAMU DAZAI

he does his best.

he really does—dazai's always making sure he escapes work to go to his daughter's school events and he always tries to make it home for dinner, but it doesn't always end that way.

dazai's a busy man, and his work at the agency isn't very family-friendly, to say the least.

so unfortunately, he's gone a lot of the time.

but when he is around, he's the best dad a kid could ask for!

after another one of the agency's fiascos, dazai comes home to both of his girls with flowers for you and sweet treats for your daughter <3

when dazai finally comes home, he picks up his daughter and spins her around, peppering kisses on the top of her head as he laughs for what feels like the first time in a while.

and when he sets your daughter down and turns to you, all you get is a quick kiss on the lips and a promise to tell you everything later in the night.

for now, he just wants to spend some time with his girls. saving the world comes first, but the two of you are a very close second.

★ ━ NAKAHARA CHUUYA

he's arguably the best dad out of the three.

sure, he has insane work hours, but he knows how to manage his time (unlike dazai).

chuuya's always home by the early evening unless he gives you a warning at least a couple days in advance.

he usually brings home some takeout food for the three of you to share, and he makes sure to order exactly what each of you like!

there's actually a lot of security personnel that follow you and your daughter around when chuuya isn't there to do it himself.

after all, he's a mafia executive. he has enemies, and he doesn't want you or his daughter to get harmed because of his line of work :(

chuuya's also a very good communicator—again, it's rare that you don't know his schedule days in advance.

so although he's a busy man, he values his wife and his daughter much, much more, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to keep you two safe and happy.

★ ━ FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

girl, what were you thinking, having a kid with him.

i'm sorry but he's definitely the worst dad out of the three.

he wants to raise his daughter in a way that'll benefit him in the long run, and whether or not she's happy about it comes second.

i mean, at least you two are safe...ish.

if it benefits him or his plans, fyodor's willing to risk your safety to draw his enemies closer to him (kinda like using you two as bait) and that's led to some very heated arguments between you two.

but neither of you have ever been hurt or traumatized by his plans—fyodor makes sure of that.

he doesn't love/cherish the two of you in the way dazai and chuuya love their wives and daughters—it's more of a profound fondness.

he's willing to do a lot to protect you both and give you a happy life, but it's not his first priority.

that being said, it's also nowhere near his lower priorities.

fyodor's a man who's prepared to do what it takes to protect the two beams of light in his life, so long as it doesn't cost him more than he deems reasonable.

[novasdarling]

Hunter X Hunter Masterlist

Tip Jar • 18+

Feitan

Domestic Headcanons

Deeper

Trying to Escape

How They Stalk You

Headcanons

Please Be Mine

Sink or Swim

You're Mine, Clear?

Jealousy is Killing Me

Sweaters Please

How They Like Oral

Bait

This Isn't Love

How They Give Oral

Be Perfect

Tending to a Wound

Kill Me

Chrollo

Smut Headcanons

How They Stalk You

How to Train a Pet

First Date

Losing Your Virginity

Just Answer Me

How They Like Oral

You're Beautiful When You Cry

At His Mercy

My Little Treasure

Library Lover

How They Give Oral

After All I Did

Power Hungry

Come Home

Relax My Dear

The Friend of my Enemy

Piece of Art

Dangerous Out There

Phinks

First Date

Losing Your Virginity

Nylon Obsessed

How They Like Oral

How They Give Oral

I'm Sorry

NSFW Headcanons

Uvogin

Not if You Listen

Sharkman Uvo

Losing Your Virginity

How They Like Oral

How They Give Oral

Weekend Getaway

Love in the Flames

Stalking Headcanons

What's on your Mind?

Begging Won't Help

Nobunaga

How They Stalk You

First Date

How They Like Oral

Holiday Gift

How They Give Oral

Love Bite

Headcanons

Relationship Headcanons

Just Try

Illumi

A Mafia Proposal

How They Like Oral

Just Love Me

Losing Your Virginity

How They Give Oral

Baby Blanket

Growing Pains

Shalnark

How They Like Oral

Through a Screen

First Christmas Together

How They Give Oral

[skullchicken]

The one time I played Four-Dimensional Love Chess in Shadowrun

I like giving love interests to my player's characters cause romance is cute and fun and helps flesh out their personalities. Usually I go about it fairly straightforwardly - this time I did not.

The Set-Up

So it, in a way, started when I began playing with my current shadowrun group. It was after the first mission, when we were still in the phase of establishing characters, their backstories, their current lifestyles.

The decker of the group, Prometheus, is a sort of Robin-Hood-style decker. Well, mostly he's the typical driven-by-revenge-stoic-guy, but in his backstory he explicitly has a line about looking out for the little guy.

Symbolic Picture

The player himself was sort of new to roleplaying and to coax him into getting some experience with being in character, built on that during downtime, like:

Me: You said you live in an appartment building in Stuttgart, right? Your character is currently probably gaming, yeah?

Prometheus: Yeah he doesn't leave his room much except for missions.

Me: There's a knock on the door. It's the owner of the restaurant on the ground floor. You remember her because some days ago you helped her out when some gangers caused a fuzz in her establishment. You overheated their gear into sparking and spooked them out of the building.

Prometheus: Ah, okay, I open the door a smidge, but leave the chain on and go "Uh... hello?"

Me (as owner): "Hello. Thank you so much for helping out recently. I brought you some peking roasted duck." And she does indeed have a plastic bag with a container in it with her.

Prometheus: ... I open the door and accept with a thanks.

Me: "You know, you should really make sure you eat enough."

Prometheus: "Uh... sure."

Me: "You can come over anytime, if you like."

Prometheus: I nod and start closing the door. "Um. Thank you."

Me: There is a glint in her eyes. "How about next week? My daughter will be over. She is very smart."

Prometheus: "I'm sure she is."

Me: "Studies medicine. Very pretty."

Prometheus: "Great. Well, I gotta go, so..."

Me: "Oh, sorry for keeping you." And she leaves.

The Wind-Up

Over the next few missions (and in real life several months), a few things happen, as you can probably imagine. They save a decker from a rival gang named Duster, who was employed by the german branch of the mafia, for example (the game takes place in the ADL/the Allied German States). She has now become indebted to them, which is why she sends them some money every month. Every once in a while I also mention the restaurant owner. You could say that her trying to set the very reluctant Prometheus up with her always off-screen daughter becomes a bit of a running gag.

Then one day my group decides they'd like to go on a trip to Gran Canaria in their downtime. Shadowrunners need vacations, too!

Now me, I don't know shit about Gran Canaria. But I do know some stuff about Teneriffa, since I went there on vacation once, which is close-by. So to save myself some GM-prep, I decide to relocate the group through railroading, like so:

The first day after they've arrived on Gran Canaria, they get a call by Duster, who informs them that the mafia has arrived in droves on the island and there's word of mouth that they're looking for them. Lucky for them, Duster has a friend who works on a resort in Teneriffa in her semester breaks and they just had a cancellation on short notice. Of course, Duster will foot the bill - she owes them a lot of money anyways, might as well pay it off this way.

You might see where this is going.

They did not.

The Bait

So they arrive in Teneriffa after a very stressful 24 hours of packing, traveling, bad news, packing, traveling - and Prometheus has insomnia as a disadvantage as is. And to top it off, Duster's friend, Xiang, who's welcoming them, informs them that since they arrive so very late, they can't really offer warm food.

Prometheus: Can I at least get drink?

Me: Yeah sure. Xiang, even though she has bags under her eyes as well (because of course they're short-staffed) mans the bar. And since you look just that pitiable and she's hungry herself, she offers to make you a ham-sandwich.

Prometheus gratefully accept - and so they get talking. Xiang, as it turns out, has a habit of diving into deep questions quite quickly (she's bad at small-talk, she admits) and soon they are talking about a bunch of different things. Their view of the world, altruism, capitalism etc. In short, it's what counts as flirting with people like them and they seem intrigued by each other.

Probably didn't hurt that she looked like this.

So the days go by and they keep having cute little moments, like her offering to make him a herbal tea to help with insomnia ("scientifically proven that it helps. I study medicine, I wouldn't just plop down some placebo in front of you."), he gifts her a mug with a capybara on it from his trip to the animal park and finally, on the second-to-last day, they agree on going on a date at the local carnival.

The Snap

After some shenanigans with the rest of the group, e.g. getting lost in a mirror labyrinth or competitive snack-eating with the fighter/tank of the group, Xiang and Prometheus decide to retreat into the ferris wheel for some romantic alone time.

And then...

Xiang: "Hey, if you don't mind me asking: Your English is really good, but you have an accent I can't quite place..."

Prometheus: "Ah, yeah. I'm British by birth but lived most of my life in Germany."

Xiang: "You speak German, too? (Switching to German and laughing) Man, what have we been speaking English for all this time? I'm from Germany, too! Where do you live?"

It was around this time that the coin dropped.

Group (OOC): ooooooooOOOOOooooh....

Prometheus: (flatly) "... Stuttgart..."

Xiang: "Really?! Oh my, that's great! That means we could meet up sometimes. I mean, I study in Dortmund right now, but my Mom owns a restaurant in Stuttgart!"

Group (OOC): OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Prometheus: "... really now..."

Xiang: "You know, it's a bit funny, since we're speaking of her. She's been trying to set me up with this rando from our apartment complex for months now. Maybe this will finally shut her up, haha."

Group (OOC):

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Prometheus: "You know... I don't think it will."

Epilogue

This wouldn't be the last time I would foreshadow some stuff like that, but it was definitely the funniest because no-one saw it coming. Prometheus' player mentioned he had kinda forgotten about the restaurant owner until it came up again here.

By the way, they're still together in-game and a pretty cute couple at that. To end a long-ish story, here's Xiang's reaction when she also put two and two together on the ferris wheel.

"Oh my god, Mom is going to be insufferable.

She must never know."

[othersideoftheparadise]

Tampered [3/?]

Sam Wilson x cis fem! reader

Warnings: Spoilers for TFAWS. Mentions of blood, alcohol poisoning, graphic mentions of violence. This is the first time I'm ever writing something like this, so I'm open to constructive criticism.

Word count: 4.3 k ish.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 here.

2000

Dull pain thrummed between your eyes as the butt of the gun connected your forehead, almost making your vision black. It felt like needles pricking the skin all at once. You had to finish the mission. Your recovered, maintaining your balance back again, ignoring the pulsing pain, gripping the knife tucked in behind the belt, you dodged the punch aimed at your gut. You kicked your feet off the wall behind, as the boost gave you enough height to strike down the enemy, slashing his neck open right by the artery. Killing the very last attacker in the room. He slumps down with a thud, with blood splaying everywhere.

As the adrenaline rush wearied off, you were hungry now rather than being nervous about your mission. It was your duty to clear off the path for the Soldat and always look behind his back, just in case. More like a worm pierced onto the fishing hook for fishing. It was more like being assigned to be a bait for clearing the path.

You had to report back to the assigned rendezvous point, as you were told to be, but hunger made your ears ring. You did not have time to dwell upon in the middle of the mission, but the sweet aroma of freshly baked, warm bread and the sight of a boy around your age licking his fingers as he gobbled down plum pie definitely wanted you to think twice. Searing waves of hunger pangs hit, subconsciously leading your feet towards the boy. Hearing another set of footsteps approaching, you tried to shimmy behind the garbage bin behind, only to be yanked out by the man you never wanted to deal with.

The Soldat.

He looked down at you with his eyes reflecting no expression behind the mask. He dragged you by your hand as you protested.

“Let me go!” you trashed in, kicking and grunting against his firm grip.

‘Салдат, принеси с собой цечку, немедленно.,’ You heard the voice on the other side through the earpiece.

“N-No, No, I don’t want to go, it is so dark and p—please.” Blood was rushing to your head all at once, pulsing every beat. You didn’t want to go back. You wanted to stall as the feeling of fear overwhelmed sank into the gut.

Confusion was written all over his face; you could sense his hesitation. Previous mission with the Soldat ended up with him screaming for minutes in pain and agony when he had disobeyed. The people in the base never threatened but always made sure that you were present during the electroconvulsive therapy and when he was kept in cryo till the next session.

Shifting weight from one leg to another, your heart lurched, and your stomach tugged as you were closer to the destination. He was bruised and was limping by the time he had found you, but now he was straight up rigid, listening to the command. You remembered his gut-wrenching screams piercing in, and he took you back to the rendezvous point before the cleaning crew showed up.

“I’m sorry. I was just fascinated by this. I don’t know what to call it, but this part seems to be important. Who is Nakajima?” where he was pressing all the wrong buttons. Zemo was one of those only men; you were eager to know what was going on in his head.

Here he was playing the role of sugar-daddy, prodding over. What was more important was how Bucky never told you that your neighbour Nakajima was one of the people on the list of his amends. It was on you that you had expected him to tell you; he had no obligation that he had to.

“If you touch that again, I’ll kill you.” Bucky let-go of Zemo’s neck.

Sam visibly tensed up, looking at them, “I’m sorry. I understand that list of names. People you’ve wronged as the Winter Soldier.”

So, this was the reason why he wanted to move in.

Part of you was disappointed, but you had no right to have expectations. It was his own decision, and you had to respect it.

On the other hand, it was Zemo. It made you wondering for a while about how he was able to sit in the same room as you did. He should be angry, angry for rotting in prison after avenging his family’s death. This guy was surely a good spy and was very skilled; this was another reason you had to keep an eye on him.

Zemo devised a plan, laying out different people to meet in and around, starting from Madripoor. The city that had loose laws hence had better leverage for things to go according to him.

“It’s kept its lawless ways. But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone.” Zemo let Bucky know.

“That is not going to work.”, this plan was going to fail; Bucky can become the Winter Soldier but cannot act like one.

“And why would you say that?” his interest piqued. He obviously knew this better than anyone else. If this was one of his mind-games to rile you up, it was not happening anymore.

“Well, it was something that he was conditioned to do in his subconscious. Not in his real-time. He does not know to pretend like one.”

“Alas, we do not have a better plan, do we?” he replied back.

Knives, Check.

Guns, Check.

You found yourself scrolling aimlessly through the local television, making sure that your eyes did not skitter over to the suit that was draped over him, fitting neat and tight.

Holy fucking shit.

You had to physically make sure that you were not watching him, straining your vision onto the screen. He looked like a mafia drug lord. You knew that you would be floored if he had opted to wear the shirt with his sleeves rolled up. You wanted to have more of the Sambal and rice that was served in the morning. The appetite had appeared out of nowhere.

“Alright, I’ll be leaving now. Ping me when you’re done with your business or in case of an emergency. I’ll be looking over from the second floor, from the lodge opposite to the pub.” Part of you did not trust Zemo, but you were sure that Sam and Bucky would be able to handle themselves.

Mentally slapped yourself, ignoring the looks thrown at you. All of this would be over for once and all if the plan had worked out, and you would tell Sam that you would be leaving.

Putting the food on the plate you waited, you made sure that table was all set up before Sam came back from his jog. Things were awkward, to say the least, and tiring as well. You couldn’t care less about how people showed false compassion at Nat’s funeral, making you roll your eyes. One thing that always made you regret that you did not have anything that belonged to Nat other than her memories. Everything had burned down once Bruce snapped, even before the team could comprehend her death. It was so unfair that everything that belonged to her had been destroyed, wiping out her entire existence as if she had never existed in the first place.

Another headache was pulsing in, beating in the hollow space with every heartbeat. You heard the door slam shut, reminding you that Sam had indeed returned from the run. Here you were, preparing breakfast, soaking in the domesticity in the world where she was already forgotten. She deserved to live, live a good life after all of this with Steve. Sunlight shimmying into the house made it look like the future that you had always wanted. This was too good to be true; the team was still recovering from the loss.

Sam and you both were still managing to barely keep the relationship tied together as the honeymoon phase after the blip had ended. The real world was settling in. You had seen him struggling to set into the new world, where people had moved on without him. You tried your best to ignore it because it always ended with ‘let me handle it’ ending the conversation.

“Hey, are you listening to me?”, He asked digging in, looking over for a response. “I said that the food is delicious. It is terrific.”, He reassured after seeing you cock an eyebrow.

“I appreciate it, Sammy.”, you smiled, remembering how Nat opened up to you saying that she always wanted a family with Steve, wanted a life, a life that you were living now.

“Hey, look at me.”, he hooked your chin with his finger, lifting up. “Thinking about her is not going to bring her back alright, but you can talk to me. I’m right here. It is okay, not to be okay.”, He looked at you with all sincerity that he could muster.

All you wanted was to scoff, scoff at how he was always ready to help others but dealt with his problems all by himself.

“They were supposed to get married!”, This was when the heaviness in chest grew heavy. He was physically taken back by the new information. Maybe he didn’t know about it yet.

Shit.

“And really, Sammy? I could say the same to you. I get it, alright. I get it that we both are going through a tough phase, but I have wanted to say the same to you. All you say is ‘I can do this and shut me out.” You emphasize with your fingers, seeing his tense shoulders.

“You are so careful around me all the time that you physically look like you’re embracing yourself for shit to collapse.”, This was it; you had been waiting for weeks to say this. You saw his jaw tick with all the tension that he had been gritting in and holding back.

“N-no, No, I don’t want to go in there. Do you understand? I get what you are trying to say, but it is just that I need some time to open up about everything. The world did not wait for anyone and has been running even in all those five years.”, He said, pointing at the window.

“I need some time, m’kay? I need some time to adjust to all of this.”, He was ambiguous.

“This is how our relationship is, Sammy. We don’t talk. This-this is why you are always on alert mode whenever you are with me because you think you have to keep reasoning every time anything happens. Y-You also think that you’re better off without telling anyone about your problems.”, Emphasising the conversation, you sat looking dead in his eyes. This flared anger in him, flickering like a spark staring out a fire.

“Why does every conversation we have, has to end up about our relationship? And no, you’re wrong this time; it is not that I don’t want to talk to you about it. It is just that I need some time.”, He reasoned, trying to explain, taking deep breaths.

You both had arguments almost every single day. It was emotionally exhausting. You could not imagine what he must be going through now that everything had resumed.

“This is what I am talking about. We both have grown out of this relationship, and we have different opinions, which is absolutely fine.”, He was positive, scrapping the chair away. “But I need a break; I need a break from all of this. It is just that you and I are dealing with different things, and I’m tired of explaining this to you every time.”, He said with certainty.

It really did take some time for his words to sink in, but he was crystal clear. He approached you, instantly regretting his words.

“You’re right, Sam.”, You stared aimlessly, getting up.

“H-Hey, I did not mean it.”, his voice dropped, lacing with sadness, looking at you.

“Stay there and sit down; this is your house.”, you emphasized, motioning him. He looked distraught as seriousness stetted in.

“No, Wilson. I understand; you are right. We need a break, and this is not working out because we both need time. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I was selfish and insensitive about what you are going through right now.”, Sighing you carried yourself to pack up, ignoring the headache pounding in. He didn’t deserve any of it. He deserved someone better than this.

“It is just that I’m not in the right headspace right now. I’m sorry.” You repeated again, walking out. You were too afraid to think how different life would have been if the snap had never happened. Simultaneously, you imagined how Nat would have cussed you back and forth for ruining your relationship.

“Hey James, do you have a spare room to crash in for few days?”, You whispered into the phone, hearing the beep sound.

Before you knew, you saw Zemo, Sam, and Bucky scrambling around, confused. You sighed, loading your gun, firing off people who were attacking them right away. Another line of fire came out of the window beside yours, halting immediately after the attackers were down.

What the hell?

“Wow, look at you all dressed down to take out the bad guys.”, you had sensed her but not this close. Maybe you were getting slow.

You looked up at the women, who had saved Steve and Sam back in the day. To be honest, you had forgotten about her and knew why she was ignorant about the whole situation, “I know why you’re all bitter. I’m sorry that we did not come back.”, you signified, raising up for hands, surrendering.

“Oh please, there is a difference. It is always easy for people like you to say ‘sorry’ not knowing what someone else had to go through.”, Sharon scoffed, pointing the gun.

You were also curious about what she was going to do further, as she pressed the gun to for back, guiding you to lead the way. The whole situation turned around when Sharon agreed to help in for the next lead.

Sam looked far by uncomfortable as he tugged his collar out for more air. He was sweltering down as he reached the condo.

“What’s wrong, Sam?”, You asked as he looked like he was going to collapse, unable to walk. He huffed, struggling to take out the phone that was buzzing in his pant pocket.

“Wait, let me take it out for you.”, You knew that something was wrong, but you did not want to use your powers to find out without his consent. You heard his breath hitch as you moved closer to him.

This was definitely weird.

“Just do it soon.”, His voice turned hoarse, gritting his teeth. He visibly shivered as you skimmed your fingers into the pocket to take out his phone. It was Sarah. You saw his eyes glistening as he grabbed his phone, walking straight into the room, shutting the door with a loud bang.

You almost heard Bucky snort, making you sharply turn around in his direction. What had happened down there, pushing Sam into a situation like this?

“Bucky, what did you do?” you marched as Sharon huffed, settling down to look at the show you all were putting up.

“I-I didn’t do anything. It was not me, okay.”, He stammered, with his eyes wide. He was practically pressing himself into the sofa.

“It was wine. The snake wine he drank.”, Zemo quipped in, shifting your attention.

“What? What on the fresh hell is a snake wine?” you were bewildered, to say in the least.

You heard, Oh-s and Aah-s, as Sharon spoke up, “Snake wine is assumed to be an aphrodisiac and is believed to make people strong.”, She said, gesturing at her biceps.

“It is a what?!”

“Hey, calm down, listen to me; I’ll arrange someone to buy sex toys with lots of food and hydration. It can go on for hours, but who knows.”, She nodded looking at you.

“Okay”

“No wonder he couldn’t run in those heels.”, Bucky muttered, looking around, shifting around.

You all discussed your next lead that was tipped off in the bar, hearing Sam throw up. This was not a good sign.

“Bucky, please hand me over the medicine kit. I’ll take care of him.”, You rushed in, locking the door.

The whole room was a mess, with everything strewn all over the place. The acrid smell of vomit filled in your lungs as you saw a tired Sam collapsed on the floor.

Oh my god.

“Sammy, hey, look at me.”, you were trying to shake him into consciousness. His eyes were rimmed red as he looked at you. Wiping him down with a warm washcloth, you could feel pain rattle his lungs, and somehow, it had only become worse.

“Come on, Sammy.”, You helped him lay down on the bed, ignoring his burning skin. You knew what you had to do; he was just at the brink of passing out and threw up almost everything you tried to make him drink.

This was not a good sign; with the mind racing with endless possibilities, you did not want to be terrified. You had seen what death was, but looking at Sam right now, did make you remember when he was dusted away during the snap. Living through all the madness, running from one place to another, it was Sam who made you feel human.

“Sam, do you trust me?”, You knew that this was not entirely consensual, but he was only a human after all.

“I—I do. I do.”, he was dazed by all the alcohol and the dehydration.

Removing the wristwatch, you concentrated on the energy from the center, carmine red flickers spasmed through your palms. Pressing them to his warm chest, you imagined him healing from inside as you felt the energy radiating off his body.

He had visibly calmed down, looking down at you. “Is this how you saved Pietro?.,” He looked at you incredulously.

“What?” you were the one staring back in shock, moving away.

Oh no.

“Don’t worry, Wanda accidentally slipped when she was talking about Ultron, but I didn’t know you it was going to be something like this.”, he huffed. The furrow of his eyebrow explained for itself. He did not push it further as he got up to clean the mess, not looking back.

“Sam, I can explain,” “No Y/N, you don’t have to. You don’t owe one.”, He said, not looking up.

“Talk to me Sam, I know that look on your face. You’re angry.”, You tried talking to him, rushing on your feet, closer to him.

“I’m angry because I’m an idiot. Just like I said, you don’t owe me an explanation. I had my doubts after the blip when things were quickly found and how everything is always rearranged like the clappers. You look more alive than ever but older at the same time, and I don’t understand a damn thing.”, he said, chucking the sheets into the laundry basket.

“I did not want to tell it to anyone because I’m already an outcast for not being normal. People look at me in fear and disgust after knowing who I am.”, You tried explaining to him. This was wrong; finding out something like this made the situation worse.

“Look, I get it; I’m really thankful that you saved my life today.”, You signaled him to be quiet as you scanned around. Flares shimmered away from you throughout the room, creating dark midnight hues, with a glint of yellow flaring over them.

He looked more confused than ever.

“Ah, it keeps happening all the time. I don’t know why the colors keep changing, but this one is always prominent.”, you explained, gesturing at the blue orb.

“How long have you been doing this?”, he asked putting on his clothes.

“It was in 2012. I acquired them when I was trying to get Loki off from smuggling the tesseract. I don’t know how but I understood that he was possessed. I tried negotiating, talking sense into him. I told him that I knew what was going on and was trying to help him out. He told me that he would kill me, so I threatened to destroy the tesseract out of stupidity. One thing led to another, and I crushed it with his scepter. The next thing that I knew, that was I was in a hospital bed out for almost a month.” You summarized.

“Wait, and no one knew about it?” Sam was surprised processing in. “No signs of any radiation, damage, or anything?”

“No, it turned out that Loki had used his powers and transferred the blow to the other side of the portal. On the other hand, I did not show any remains of radiation. I don’t know how.”, he was more concerned.

“So, you’re saying that Loki’s intentions were not to destroy New York.”, He sat down, rubbing his palms together.

“No, it was Thanos. He had caught Loki wandering off in space when he committed suicide jumping off the rainbow bridge in Asgard. He made a negotiation by torturing Loki to bring Tesseract and the Septer to him.”

“Which is around two stones, right? Then why would he send Loki, when he could do the job himself?”, he was trying to come out with a possible explanation.

“I don’t know what his true intentions were, but when we’re doing our research on stones during the time heist, we came to a conclusion that he had done the same with the power stone as well. He negotiated with Ronan to wipe out half of Xandar in exchange for the power stone. He did the same thing with Loki too. Give him an army to invade and rule the earth in exchange for the stones.”

“So, this was more like killing two birds in a stone.”, he completed your sentence looking up at you.

“It was also another reason why I never initiated any interest, even though I really liked you a lot when you let us into your home for the first time.”, you confessed, picking upon the fabric of your pants.

“What?” he was letting the new information sink in.

“Technically, it was in the closet when we were trying to set up Steve and Nat together.”, You were feeling guilty that you did not give him any time to process the information.

“Do you regret it?”, He had an unreadable expression on his face.

“I regret a lot of things, Sam. You have to be more specific.”, From what life had thrown you into different situations, one thing that you were sure about having a life with normalcy was that you liked Sam. As a person, a friend, and someone you could rely upon.

“You know what I mean.”, the hardness in his stare threw you off. It was something that was never directed at you.

“I do, Sam. I do. Call it fate or whatever you want; I had hope before the blast had happened. Retire one day and have a normal life. I was convinced that I would not use my powers because I was tired of people exploiting me.”, There were times when blood samples were taken, right before and after having meals. It mostly ended up you hearing gossip about how the blood work always turned out to be normal as guards walked down the narrow corridor, assuming you were asleep.

“From H.Y.D.R.A.to SHEILD, I do not want anyone come after me, and then I met you.”, pinching out splinters from the window, you give yourself a second to continue. “I almost convinced myself that I would always avenge and fight for the rest of my life. This is going to sound really cheesy, you know?”

“It is all kinds of normal; that is what makes us human.” He was looking at the wool rug spread across the floor, nodding at you to continue.

Well then.

“When I met you, I started liking you throughout the years after we met. For who you are, you’re your maturity, goofiness with a pinch of cockiness that comes out every now and then, but you are also respectful at the same time.”

He was looking up at you with a calm look on his face. On the other hand, you were almost shaking because it was always him before the snap who initiated everything. Initiated talks, initiated to join into conversations when Steve and Nat bickered around, initiated to go out for a date in Wakanda and the night you two had before the battle. This was new, but the burden of carrying all of these secrets alleviated your shoulders; maybe this could give you closure. Closure on how you can never change what had happened but only move on.

‘One step at a time,’ like Steve said.

“It is just- I was so scared, I guess. I was not decisive, and my feelings just grew stronger.” You sat down, with eyes swimming all over the room, landing at Sam, who was now sitting down across you. It was like he had heard your thoughts, now that you noticed him in a black turtle neck cotton shirt. This was your Sam sitting close to you, but not close enough. You wanted to be confused as to why you longed for his presence, but it was crystal clear. With realization seeping into bones, you had to accept that you deserved an ordinary life, but Sam deserved better. Better than all of this mess. What if someone had come looking out for him because of you?

“I need some time away from you, Y/N, so that I can decide when we both sort out about this because I don’t want to swing back and forth if I’m honest with you. This is about me, deciding for myself.”, dissolving the encased power that had kept you both from prying ears, Sam jumped when he heard strings of notifications pinging in.

You heard the sound of your ringtone to see Sarah calling in.

“Do you want to talk to her? I, uh—meant that she called you hours ago.”,

“Nah, just talk to her. She might be calling you for a reason.”

Next part

Taglist: @wanniiieeee

[sohin-ace]

Hi¡! i'm a big fan of your one-shots since wattpad😆! So is it okay if I request for bruno with child reader¿ Where he found her on one of his missions working with a gang because of the fact that her parents died, leaving a lot of debt?¿ If the request makes you uncomfortable, you can ignore it and I'll be fully understanding!!Thank you and Sorry my English is really bad😔-

Thank you so much my beautiful gangster 💙 Welcome to my Tumblr!

Man if I had more time I would have made this a one shot of its own.

Bruno taking care of a child!Y/N HC

Bruno and his team were instructed to bust out a rival gang and to exterminate every single one of the members.

Surely he did not expect to see you in there.

But when he had found you, desperately trying to defend yourself and your 'family', he was beyond confused.

Who on Earth had let a child in this sea of bullets?

He was so distraught, frustrated, horrified even. You could barely even manage your own Stand and you were so clumsy too.

You didn't even know how to fight, and even if you did, how could you possibly take a grown man twice your size?

You were the gang's spotter, in fact, you were the one who called your members when you spotted Bucciarati and his team arrive.

Bruno knew it was common for mafia children to be lookouts, baits or sellers, but... you were just so young...

La Famiglia was very strict on protecting children and Capos' wives, yet your members had just left you for dead, all alone to fight. It was disgusting to him.

Bruno stood in front of your beaten, quivering form on the ground, hovering over you like a mountain, his Stand looming powerfully behind him.

"Why are you doing this? Where are your parents?"

His voice was so deep and his tone so strict and harsh, you couldn't help your eyes from watering and he could only stare at you as you explained everything to him, sniffing and sobbing with your tiny voice.

He couldn't lie, seeing you, so small, so fragile, crying your story out, it tore his heart apart.

Debts? A child your age should never even have to hear that word! He knew the Italian system was unforgiving on orphans but this was just too much.

Mista joined Bruno to tell him the entire gang was wiped out, completing the mission. Leaving you to be the only survivor.

You could only cry and pray that he would at least have enough mercy to give you a painless death.

Bruno crouched down in front of you and raised a hand up. You flinched and whimpered, thinking he would strike you.

Instead, he held out a warm comforting hand towards you and gently smiled.

“...Y/N, was it? I'm giving you another chance, Y/N. Would you like to come with me?"

He promised you a safe place, free from debt and danger, somewhere you would get education, a proper childhood, but more importantly, a family.

He closed his huge hand over your tiny one, engulfing your cold, scorched hands protectively in his wamth.

"You'll never be alone again, pupina."