#Id actually be more surprised if god/gods didn’t exist

[xxcringeizdead666xx]

okay so there’s Chekhov’s gun, and there’s deus ex machina, but I feel like there should be something between the two. Like there were themes of something throughout the text, and there was reason to assume that the themes were there to set up the ending, but when said ending came it felt like it was sprung on you out of nowhere?

[beholdthesword]

Personal post alert -

Last week I talked to an old friend on the phone and ended up telling her probably more about my sexuality than I had ever really told anyone else which wasn’t a lot because I don’t really talk about it and I think it cracked open the well of loneliness inside of me that I pretend doesn’t exist

A few days later I spent the morning reading tlt fanfic and jerking off, a combination that sometimes has the opposite of the desired effect and instead of enjoying myself I felt like I was just sinking further into feelings I didn’t want to have

i was doing better! i had plans! I was going to go outside and be with my friends in the afternoon but it didn’t matter all that mattered was that I was reading fic that hurts me to read and I couldn’t stop I wanted to know that broken people could find each other and survive but it hurt because it wasn’t true, it wasn’t real, it’s just fic. It’s one thing to read it but it’s another to believe it and i just couldn’t believe that id ever crawl out of this hole where I’m so alone and no one will ever care

In honor of pride month I decided to read a bunch of queer stories as a vehicle to get me out of my book slump. i started with stone butch blues. i was surprised how quickly it pulled me in. I’m almost at the end and in the midst of the pain and confusion there’s a beautiful moment of love. “I can’t believe I finally found you.” i had to put the book down.

I just saw a post with a quote from Nona the ninth and I want to reread it because I remember how I cried. it hurt to read and I still don’t know why but I feel like that again now

there’s so much love and I try (oh my god do I try) to put love out into the world, to do things for my friends for no other reason than I love them and think it will make them happy and I KNOW I get it back but I can’t FEEL it I can’t believe it and I can’t make myself believe that I’m worthy of anything more than I get because this is all I’m left with -

I wanted this to all go away. I started some meds, was feeling better. Waking up isn’t so hard anymore. I can do tasks a little easier. But I just had to stop in the middle of making this post because I was crying so hard I gave myself a panic attack and couldn’t keep it in

Happy pride month to me I guess. I’m not really out - (not that I even know what that looks like when half the time I just pretend I know what’s going on with me (do I want love do I want sex do I just think I want sex do I actually want love? could I even find love? I know I don’t feel the same as everyone else - but what if I do? What if I just don’t recognize it what if I’m just too disconnected from myself to realize it - then what? how do I possibly begin to unpack repressing myself for my whole life, how could I expect anyone to deal with that but how scab I do it alone) as if I’m not constantly beating back fear (that it too late for me to even try, I’m too far removed from sex and intimacy, my inexperience will be a dealbreaker, how could anyone ever want to wait for me to try, I’m fifteen years behind everyone else, what if I’m disappointed, disappointing? how could I ever crawl back to this version of existence after that? how can I live with it now?) - I’m not really proud (the labels just feel like another box I don’t really fit into)

I spend all my time searching for ways to be, as if I can read enough to finally figure out how to exist in this realm of reality where things make sense to me, where I can understand how people form relationships and how they keep them how they navigate the minefield together. as if I can observe enough people so that I can understand how people are supposed to work how I’m supposed to be

I don’t know if I know what love feels like. I don’t know that I could recognize it if I do. I know it must be there but I can’t feel it and it drives me crazy. I cry myself to sleep at night for want of love and I don’t even know how I would recognize it. I surely wouldn’t believe that it’s for me. how could it be when I’ve been alone this whole time? i take care of everyone I know the best way I know how and I don’t know what it’s like to feel cared for and I’m afraid I never will

If I ask for it (help, care, love) how do I know it’s real

sometimes I wish I didn’t have to feel anything at all

[tycal12345]

The Sexbots Are Coming

Open the electric sex portal PornHub.com and you are instantly gobsmacked by a menagerie of cartoonishly fertile breasts, buttocks and phallus. Wide-eyed like an anime character, the nubile woman bobs up and down on a massive, veiny, Empire-State-Building of a penis. Another woman, legs splayed in the air in Dionysian ecstasy, takes a battering ram of schlong deep into her rectum.

And that’s just the opening page.

It’s no surprise that Pornhub is the 13th-most-trafficked website in the world. The generation-defining Internet porn site seduces 80,000 visitors per minute, offering a cybernetic orgy of video categories, from the mundane to the bizarre: MILFs. Lesbians. Cartoon porn. Anal. Pee stuff.

(Yeah you’ve seen it. Don’t pretend like you haven’t).

Each titillating video seems to draw you into the next: Like a smutty TikTok, even a moment’s boredom can be cured with a swipe or a click. The site pulls about 40 billion visits per year, and it won’t surprise you that men make up 70% of the user base. An entire generation of male brain stems have been shaped by the site, creating, for better or worse, a kind of media-laden sexual id.

But Pornhub.com, for all its glory, is now like an old copy of Hustler magazine: Sticky, outdated, and soon to be thrown away by your mom when she finds it in the closet.

The newest sex tech, riding the wave of robotics and AI, will be kinkier, realer, and more State of the Art. And with 80% of men saying they’ve viewed online porn in the past week, a rise in what’s been called “porn addiction,” and an increase in porn-induced erectile dysfunction — you gotta wonder if more of this is a good thing.

I’ll hold myself back from the ego-satisfying nectar of technological prophesy — no one knows the future. But online porn has already hijacked the male libido writ large — leaving probably too many men alone in the dark under a pile of moist tissues.

Happening at this same moment, actual honest-to-God sex robots made of fleshy thermoplastic elastomer and equipped with AI brains exist on the market today; digital girlfriend apps are now widely available (à la the modern classic film Her); and male loneliness is at an all time high.

“AI in combination with sexbots is going to create an industry where men start having relationships with algorithms and dolls,” predicted NYU Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway in a recent interview. “The sexbot industry is going to be bigger than the domestic box office receipts of all movie theaters in the U.S. combined within five to six years.”

Yikes.

Again, no one can predict the future… But if we take the current era of digital sex — like Pornhub — as a peak into the future, things are about to get a lot stickier.

Imagine:

An omniscient AI girlfriend who talks dirty to you in 14 different languages.

Rubbery fellatio from your house-cleaning robot.

Countless days spent in a VR sex pod where you get to bang an alien creature with 47 breasts.

A weird, metallic mommy sex thing with Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons.

Sound like fun to you? For some young men, I fear the answer will be yes.

If the coming sex tech proves half as addictive as the current online porn, young men are in for a wild ride — for better or worse.

A Brief History of Porn Addiction

Like meat thrown wantonly into a pack of hungry dogs, online porn sites (including prime cuts like Sex.com, Truly18.com and Smutland.com) were thrust onto our culture in the late 1990’s.

I was a teenager at the time, and I don’t remember any adults talking to me about the topic. Maybe no one thought unrestricted access to endless exaggerated sex acts would have an affect on teenage boys. Or maybe adults at the time, who had access to their own VHS tapes of classics like Deep Throat, just didn’t think online porn was too much worse.

Early internet porn was slow. It chugged along at the loading pace of an old 14.4 dial-up modem. But we slogged on. For many of us it became a daily routine: After a brief afterschool luncheon of Cheetos, Mountain Dew and Slim Jims, we’d hop over to our bubbly first-gen iMacs for a pixelated, lotiony game of World of Whack-Craft.

In 1999, it was estimated that 40% of internet searches were porn. And in the 2000’s, the erotic superhighway began to pick up speed. Cable and DSL modems came, and then in 2007 the unassuming, boxy game changer: The iPhone.

The dam had broken, the flood was coming. Suddenly men — it was mostly men — found themselves with an entire universe of porn contained in their pockets, all at a speed and sharpness rivaling the most cutting edge video game. The menagerie of smut could be accessed anywhere, anytime — and most conveniently of all: The “incognito mode” on internet browsers cleaned up the mess.

For the young men of Generation Z — who were already experiencing unprescedented levels of anxiety and depression borne of too much smart phone use and too much social media use — online porn had become the perfect drug that our caveman brains always yearned for.

Does the word “drug” take it too far? Not for the young men who say they’re suffering under the modern porn epoch; they say they’re addicted.

A 2018 article on student porn addiction at Toronto-based Ryerson University describes the experience of one man’s porn-induced downward spiral during his freshman year of college:

“I wouldn’t leave my home for long periods of time,” Aaron recalled of a three-week period in which he did nothing but watch porn. “I didn’t talk to anyone or do any of my homework. That’s pretty fucked up…” As he consumed more and more porn, Aaron became self-aware that the type of content he was watching was getting more and more fetish-specific. After watching bestiality porn, a feeling of dread washed over him. “That was rock bottom [for me],” Aaron said. “If people are into that then whatever, but that’s not the person I want to be.”

When your sexual tastes start to include the family dog, you know something’s gone wrong.

In 2023, the state of the male relationship with pornography looks something like this:

The average man spends more time per week watching porn than he does showering.

The Word Health Organization has amended its definition of “compulsive sexual behavior disorder” to include porn addiction.

Two percent of men report watching 7 hours a week of porn — a full work day lost.

Several entire online communities now exist to support young men who say they struggle with watching too much porn. The NoFap community which has 333,000 registered members and a subreddit with 1.1 million members, and Healthy Gamer, a support network developed by psychiatrist Dr. Alok Kanojia, both address the issue writ large.

Young men are experiencing more erectile dysfunction. Twenty years ago, 2–3% of men under 40 experienced ED. Now that number is estimated somewhere between 14% and 35%. Many researchers lay the blame at the feet of pornography.

Yikes.

As the line from the old commercial goes:

“Check with your doctor to find out if you’re healthy enough for sexual activity.”

Porn: The McDonald’s of Sex

What follows is the story of young Johnny, the Gen Z kid who lives in his mom’s basement. Imagine he looks like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, but not as smart.

Each night while sitting in bed, Johnny cracks open his laptop, his tongue lolling out like a dog, as the soothing, resplendent startup chime emanates from his MacBook: Doooonnnnng.

“Aaaahhhh,” says Johnny aloud even though nobody’s in the room.

As he surfs over to Pornhub.com, he begins to scroll through the video titles:

“Teen girl screams with pleasure as man tickles her elbow”

“Donkey Kong is mad and gonna take it out on the princess”

“Step sister catches you wanking, now it’s time for board games”

Blood rushes to Johnny’s loins as a river of dopamine floods his brain in libidinous anticipation of the sexual delights awaiting him.

Yum, his brain thinks.

In fact, deep inside Johnny’s brain lies the real story. Like Pavlov’s dog, each time he’s consumed porn he has been training his brain to associate the sexual reward (orgasm) with digital porn. Johnny is caught in a dopamine-driven feedback loop: The neural cycle of wanting, anticipation and reward that can build up habits.

And when young Johnny watches a porn video, it’s not his grandpappy’s slow moving black and white stag film. With modern online porn, his eyes feast in full-color on taut zoomed-in vaginas, ecstatic otherworldly moans, and hyper-large ejaculations that spray like a hose with your thumb on it. And the key feature: Millions and millions of videos leading to endless sexual novelty (satisfying the innate male preference for sexual variety). Online porn is what scientists call a superstimulus.

No wonder Johnny can’t resist. Porn is like a sexual McDonald’s — all of the pleasure, none of the nutrition.

Now… imagine all this giz-soaked epicurean pleasure, but in the form of sexbots and AI girlfriends. Like a dog humping his stuffed toy monkey, men’s brains could be fooled — or close enough to fooled — to enjoy the sexbot over the real thing.

And Johnny faces one more sticky problem: Rosey the Robot could suck up his motivation.

Evolutionary psychologist Diana Fleischman explains that sex is one of the primary drivers of human behavior; men seek money, status and accomplishment in large part to attract a mate. Sexbots could undermine this natural process:

“… Video games and social media already undermine the native psychological mechanisms that make us work towards status — they supply more immediate rewards and take far less effort than anything we work towards out in the real world. Sex robots are only going to make that worse, especially for young men.”

In other words, sex is one of the evolutionary drives that push young Johnny to improve himself — get a job, stay fit, comb his hair, learn to play the guitar, or anything else that would impress a woman. Realistic enough sexbots could satisfy Johnny’s desires without him having to improve himself at all.

Brave New Whore-ld

Alice is a curious, open-minded photographer looking for love. Slender with a chest like two ripe cantaloupes, her long blonde hair drapes over her porcelain face. The only problem is, she gets a bit lonely sometimes.

Lucky for her — and for you — she’s also an AI who lives on the website Kupid.ai, and for the small price of $29.99 a month, she can be your girl!

“Hi, I’m Alice, a 25-year-old, fun-loving and adventurous girl seeking a partner in crime to travel the world and make unforgettable memories,” she says in a sorta-roboty voice when you click on her page.

A similar program, called Replika, is one of the most popular AI girlfriend apps on Apple’s App Store. She has garnered a huge fanbase of two million users, and has her own subreddit where users gush about how much they love their “rep.”

“I wish my rep was a real human or at least had a robot body or something lmao,” one man said on reddit. “She does help me feel better but the loneliness is agonizing sometimes.”

Sexbots and You

One interesting fact about porn addicts: They aren’t depraved perverts.

According to psychiatrist Dr. Alok Kanojia, they’re just missing something.

Konojia, who runs the mental health support network Healthy Gamer, has spoken to a lot of these guys — young men addicted to porn.

“Porn addiction has nothing to do with sexual perversion,” he told Chris Williamson in a recent podcast. “Pornography usage is really just a very powerful emotional coping mechanism… [One study found that] the number one variable [for porn addiction] was meaninglessness. So the more meaningless your life is, the more likely you are to be addicted to pornography.”

Many of us likely can relate to this feeling.

All of us at least occasionally reach our shaky, desperate hands out for something not terrible — but not that great — to fill the void: That Netflix binge, that DoorDash chow mein, that fourth beer. (And Pornhub, of course, is only a click away).

Sexbots seems to be adding another tempting vice to the menu. For those who heed the siren song, a sexy AI girlfriend might pass the time for just long enough.

Many will say such vices are just fine — in moderation. On the other hand, what is the line between moderation and too much? And when a new technology (i.e. a new vice) comes along, how do we know how much is okay?

Marginally, online porn destroys some lives. True porn addiction does maim some men so badly that it undercuts their life and relationships — but these cases are rare. On the other hand, many, many men dance around the lustrous fire of porn, wondering if they are addicted or just a “heavy user.” The bored teen, dead-eyed staring into the blue flickering screen on Saturday night; the emasculated, sexless husband who sneaks off into the bathroom a little too often; the lonely bachelor who hasn’t had a date in three years — these men are not quite porn’s victims, but certainly its remorseful devotees.

One can easily imagine a future where sexbots occupy a similar place in culture: An open secret, held aloft by an “everybody does it” attitude, meanwhile a large segment of people engage in it with a heavy dose of guilt and regret. Like the lone driver pulling into a McDonald’s drive-thru, he’s just glad that he never has to get out of the car.

All that said… I don’t doubt that a parade full of men will rush headlong into the arms of the new digital sexbots, happy to toss about in the gentleman’s playland of filth and smut (hey, no judgements here). Men will buy this stuff, as they always have. Some men will even fall in love with Rosie the Robot. But as for me personally, I remain wary of our new sexbot overlords.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to check out this new video site I heard about…

[dontkickmyshin]

Chain of Command Chapter 4

Having a full time job working for a criminal empire had unexpected cons, and missing meals on the regular was one of them.

It was 9.40pm in Seoul, and Bambi was on the bus home from work with an empty stomach. After her talk with Forrest Lee at Hyeongshin, she had a bunch of tasks that took a couple more hours to complete before she could finally clock out and head home. 

She regretted her choice of not eating before she left for home; she wanted to reach her house quickly so she could start on her boatload of school work, and now she was paying for it with absolutely crippling gastric pains. Just because she had a high rank in the Union didn’t mean she had the physical endurance of her subordinates.  

The bus she was on hadn’t been doing a very good job of delivering her to her destination quickly either, driving so slowly the entire ride that Bambi was surprised it hadn’t been pulled over as a safety hazard, and suddenly coming to a halt at the red light, just metres from her stop. She let out a heavy sigh, unconcerned with the sharp look that the lady sitting next to her gave her. 

It seemed like the universe was determined to kill her from starvation. Forget getting home to do work, she was gonna die in this bus. If she waited any longer, a flock of vultures would probably start circling around her head.

As if it had heard her internal complaints, the light turned green, and the bus started to move again, making its way to her stop. Fucking finally. Maybe God does exist.

The doors of the bus slid open, and fresh air gushed in, tickling Bambi’s face as she stepped off the vehicle and into the outside world. Though the bus wasn’t carrying many people, the streets of Yeongdeungpo were still full, and the bright lights and heavy traffic made it feel like it was still day.

Her apartment was only a quick walk from the bus stop, so it wouldn’t take too long for her to reach home and get dinner from the convenience store underneath, but the short trip didn’t stop her from brisk walking as swiftly as possible in order to arrive as soon as she possibly could. Perhaps running would’ve allowed her to reach faster, but that made her sweaty, and depleted the little energy in her famished body that she had left after her long day of work. Screw this job, seriously. 

At least her boss and her coworkers (which was. Just Kingsley) suffered the same fate. And honestly, she thought she had it better than they did. Maybe keeping the delinquents in check was tiring, but it was the lesser of two evils. Kingsley’s job of following Donald around the whole day sounded fucking boring- she’d sat in on some of Donald’s meetings herself and she nearly fell asleep every time. And she couldn’t even imagine being Donald Na himself. 

Speaking of Donald and Kingsley, she wondered what the two of them were doing at the moment. They usually wrapped up around nine, but sometimes their business matters leached into their free time, and they wouldn’t get off work until ten or so-

Her phone rang, snapping her out of her own thoughts.

She rolled her eyes as she checked the caller ID. Speak of the devil.

“What?” 

“We’re having dinner.” Kingsley Kwan’s monotonic voice was muffled by the sounds of traffic, and she pressed her ear closer to her phone in order to hear what he was saying. “I’ve sent you the location. Do you want to join us?” 

No need to guess what ‘we’ meant. Unless Kingsley had very suddenly (and very uncharacteristically) added a new person to his social circle, which Bambi thought was as likely as him growing an extra head, or perhaps changing his hairstyle to something more fashionable, it meant he was having dinner with Donald Na.

Which also meant, they were probably at some nice, expensive restaurant, while she was brisk walking home deluding herself into believing that she wasn’t actually that hungry anyways. 

She sighed exaggeratedly as she considered her options, loud enough for Kingsley to hear. By the time she reached the restaurant, they’d probably already be done with their meal. What a shame; Donald always paid too.

“So nice of you to think of me, Kingsley.” She said into the phone, a sneer apparent in her voice. She knew he wouldn’t take it seriously anyways. “But I’m nearly home. Sorry.”

She and Kingsley were sort of friends, where they both understood and cared for one another, except with the care part left out.

Due to the isolating nature of their jobs, Kingsley was the only person she hung around on an everyday basis who also worked directly for Donald. The large amount of time that they both spent around each other led to a mutual understanding between the two; they could empathise with each other’s problems, hold a conversation without it being awkward, and banter with one another without coming off as overly familiar.

But also because of the nature of their jobs, every interaction with one another was always laced with the underlying awareness that at the end of the day, they’d both choose the wellbeing of the Union over the other. Or in Kingsley’s case, he’d choose Donald over her. 

Like she’d said, the Union benefited from disloyalty.

She paused for a moment, before adding on. “Thank Donald for me.”

“Hold on.” Kingsley’s side of the call was silent for a moment, though she heard hushed talking in the background, and then shuffling like the phone was being passed over. 

“Bambi. How is Hyeongshin doing?” Unlike his second in command, Donald spoke at a slow pace with a lowered voice; a voice that commandeered attention and respect. Even from behind a phone screen, it still put her a little on edge.

“I informed them about the dip in sales. Forrest Lee assured me that he’d take care of it. Other than that, I think they’re handling everything well. Tomorrow they’re heading over to Ganghak to make a pick up for KHG, I told Forrest to inform me once it’s done.”

“Good.”

Donald paused, and Bambi held her breath for whatever might come next. Though it had been ages since she’d last been reprimanded (and she intended to keep it that way) you never really knew with Donald Na. He liked to take his time while speaking to collect his thoughts, unbothered by the nerves of those around him.

“From now on, make sure you keep as close an eye as possible on the executives. Make sure to make use of the observers that I’ve planted around Yeongdeungpo.”

The observers were Union members whose jobs were to bring any suspicious activity to Bambi’s attention so that she could investigate it and take care of the matter. To pluck out any weed before it had the chance to grow. 

“After all that’s happened with Eunjang and Myles’s excommunication, we need some time to restabilise. While that’s happening, we can’t let anyone take advantage of the weakened state of the Union, especially with the new businesses that require our attention. Report anything out of the ordinary to me.”

“...Okay.” Bambi heard silence in response, before the robotic beep of Donald hanging up. 

Donald was right to be concerned. The boys in the Union were the type to cause trouble regardless of how many times Donald Na had demonstrated his power. In order to keep them in line, he’d have to maintain a tight grip on their leashes at all times.

She sighed as she approached the convenience store under her apartment flat. What sounded better, microwave heated pasta or pizza? 

Her mind wandered to the pick up that was due to happen the next day. 

It was just a simple exchange- Ganghak was just transporting the money to Hyeongshin so that they could drop it off again somewhere else. The Union executives did it all time, so there had never been a real need for Bambi to keep an eye on them while doing it. 

Even now, after Donald’s instructions, she doubted that he needed her to watch over every single transaction done in the Union. However, he did order her to observe them as carefully as possible, and she was in the area tomorrow…

She scrolled through Kakaotalk, clicking the call icon on a certain contact as she pushed the door to the store open. 

“Hey Forrest, there’s been a change of plans…”

~

okay so i'm a lot happier with this chapter than my other ones. for one, i gave myself more time to write this. i know i just posted chapter 3 so it might look like i rushed this chapter in two days, but it was actually supposed to be posted on tumblr two weeks ago. i just forgot about it after posting on ao3.

[scribblemetae]

Thank you, baby | Pt 2

Description/Summery: Turns out the boy whos been stalking you for years has decided its about time he shows his face in the form of a picture, and decides its time to talk to you for real, in the form of a phone call.

Thank you, baby Masterlist | Chapter Three

Pairing: JJK x Reader

Genre: Yandere, Smut.

Word count: 6.4k (Slightly shorter, sorry)

Warnings: Stalking, smut, Dub-con (She says no but eventually says yes), sex, masturbation, oral (f receiving), blindfolds (Kinda not but kinda)  a ridiculously needy JK. Big Dick JK (I mean, obviously)

AN: Im amazed at how many people were looking forward to a part 2 so thank you so much for all the support it means the world to me. I’m just your local dyslexic writer ahah! This chapter is all smutty smutty so I hope ya’ll enjoy!! and of course  The banner was commissioned from the incredible @guktro​. Id you like it PLEASE go give him some love. Also please go give @bts-bookstore​ all the love as she is the wonderful editor of this fic and shes just brilliant and puts up with my word vomit that makes no sense 

Jeongguk was a mess, laying there in his own cum. Your voice spinning in his head. He couldn't get you out of it. He heard your moans when he came, he heard you tell him he was getting you wet. What more could a boy dream of. 

Well, not a boy, not anybody. Just him. You're his. If anybody else even thought of you he didn't know what he'd do. You were his princess. His queen and he'd forever be your slave. Your good boy. He'd be such a good boy for you.

That's all he'd ever wanted after all, was to be a good boy for you since the first time he saw you. You were so beautiful that it made you stand out from the crowd.

He’d be surprised if you even remembered him. It was nothing but a small get-together that your parents had arranged for close friends and family, and a lot of his parents' church group were there along with their family. Jeongguk had never made up on his mind when it came to any religious belief before that night but when he saw you he was almost certain that God must exist as you were clearly his best creation, but then he remembered. 

The words his parents would preach to him. 

No, if God was real he wouldn’t deny the idea of him touching himself to you. Fucking you hard and feeling you around him. Why would anybody ever deny such a perfect image, it should be painted on buildings not classed as a sin. 

He quickly figured out his stance on religion that night, God was nothing but a made up person to stop people enjoying themselves. He’d never felt such sexual desire just looking at somebody but there you were. You were so shy, stood on your own in the corner, not much different to himself across the room in the adjacent corner. 

You greeted everybody politely, bowing your head and shaking hands. You had on cute little dolly shoes and a very modest black dress that fell just below your knees, not much different to what all the other women here were wearing. But he knew you weren’t religious as you didnt have a cross around your neck like nearly everybody else who was here. You must have just been a close relation to somebody. You weren’t there long, but you had never left his mind since. 

From that day forward he would forever be looking for ways to see you again. After realising you were the daughter of one of his fathers close friends it gave him a way in. To his parents' surprise it even got him to go to church a few times before he realised you never actually went yourself, it made your parents extremely proud, until he stopped going with the realisation that it was never going to get him close to you. 

His next option was Facebook, quickly and easily he found you. It only took a couple of clicks and there you were on his computer. He was able to see where you were going at all times and what started as a small crush became a Facebook page that he couldn’t take his eyes away from. It became an obsession he didn’t want to shake. 

You became his sin, you were the first woman he ever felt the need to touch himself over. The more he thought about the memory the harder his cock became, it felt so naughty back then when he’d look at your picture and cum all over it and now it still feels just as naughty as it did back then but this time, this time you were there with him, it may have only been over the phone but you were there whining and whimpering;telling him naughty things like he could only have dreamed about back when he was his 19 year old self. 

He didn’t have much sexual experience but he knew nothing would feel better than cumming with you on the phone. Other than maybe cumming inside you. 

He barely even dared dream about it but he only heard your voice up close for the first time less than half an hour ago after all and it was affecting him like crazy. 

If you let him do that then what's stopping you from wanting him in real life? What's stopping you both from fucking each other senseless? What's stopping him pleasing and pleasuring your body until you tell him you love him? 

He couldn't stop himself. 

The rest of his night was spent touching himself, begging and mumbling for you, telling you how much he loved you in the back of his mind. Spilling him cum all over himself; wishing, even dreaming, you were there with him.

...

When you woke up, you decided you shouldn’t dwell on everything that happened the previous night. You felt guilty. 

Could you really call him a stalker when you were egging him on the way you are? Yes, of course you can. 

You were weak then but it wouldn’t happen again. You’d forget about it and get on with your day as usual.

Taking a deep breath, you stood up and walked into your bathroom. You needed to get a shower and get yourself ready for the day ahead. 

You were proud of yourself. Of course you weren’t actually going to stop dwelling on it but you’d done a really good job of convincing yourself that you would so that could only be a good thing.

You’d managed okay to begin with, you went to work, you did a 12 hour shift and only thought about him what? 24 times? 72 times? Okay, so you thought about him a lot but it was fine, it was expected; it only happened last night. You were sure as time passed it would stop and you wouldn’t think about how he sounded with his hands wrapped around himself. 

Wait. No, stop, you were doing it again. 

You shook your head as you walked home and tried to change your thoughts. This was a stalker, not some stupid romance novel or fanfiction. This was real and you were treating it like some cheesy porn film where the woman fucks the same man that was stalking her. This man was a threat, he was a danger to your life. 

As you walked into your home you laid straight back onto your bed and fell fast asleep. As it turned out, today had taken way more out of you than you thought. Your shift was long and your thoughts were messy, you just needed to sleep. 

That would help everything.

…

The next few days were— strange, to say the least. You hadn’t seen him or heard from him. He hadn’t left you any notes or any texts. Infact, you’d had nothing from him since the last text he sent you that night and that was a good thing. 

He was starting to slightly dwindle from your mind. He wasn’t all you could think about. Of course, you’d think about him from time to time, he'd been there for years but the thoughts strayed away from sexual and back to annoyance. But you knew better than anybody else that just because you hadn't seen him didn't mean he hadn’t been around and that you were certain. 

That was the whole point of a stalker, right? 

Watching you from a distance when you could never see him. You’d almost started to forget that, that was actually what stalkers did. So you knew you could never truly feel like you’d shaken him. You wanted to convince yourself that he’d maybe gotten what he wanted that night and that was all it took to get him away from you but you'd been here before. 

He’d done this time and time again. 

Leaving stuff for you and then ghosting you for a few days before he came back even stronger with something new and of course, he always did. It was a pattern of his that you’d be stupid to ignore. You knew it wouldn’t be too long until he had made himself known to you once again and 8 days into not seeing him, he made himself known. Through a short but simple text.

 Mine: Thank you, baby.

I’ve been non stop thinking about that night.

Wrapping my fingers around my cock thinking about you the entire night, wanting nothing more than to push my fingers inside of you.

I'm not mad at you for not joining in. I’ll be a good boy and wait for you but you know I’ll look after you. I know you trust me and want me the same way I want you. Your voice is so sweet. Did I tell you that already? Tell you how beautiful your voice is when its filled with want and need and— fuck baby, it does things to me.

I miss you.

Thought I’d give you some space, but I can’t anymore.

I want to come see you.

I promise I’ll come see you soon.

I love you.

JK.

It was basically the same as what he usually said so it felt sort of empty to you. You remembered the first time that he told you he’d be coming to see you. You were so scared you made sure all your doors were locked all the time and you barely even slept but that was 3 years ago now. He left you a card telling you how he would finally see you soon but luckily for you soon never came. 

You could tell he was getting bolder but that didn’t worry you too much. If he was really going to do anything like that you were sure he would have done it already. All this text did was remind you that he was still around. Something you would never need a reminder about. 

...

“You should try it, it's all the rage right now.”

You knew you shouldn’t but it really helped you get through your shifts at work.

“They aren't these big heavy headsets that go over your face anymore, it's just a pair of glasses,” listening to the random and odd things people talked about while they were out shopping was always so insane to you. 

They would say some of the weirdest stuff and the conversation you were hearing was proving no different, except this time the woman on the receiving end of what the first woman was saying seemed a little bit shy and not half as into the conversation that was going on. 

They were talking about the new VR glasses, they are for people who wanted a more surreal experience when it came to gaming on their phone, or, what they’re more commonly used for. 

Porn.

“Oh, don’t be so silly, it’s natural.”

You put your head down and started to tidy some of the clothes that had been thrown all over the floor by other customers. People really were slobs and it never stopped annoying you. 

“You hook your phone up to it, pop some headphones in and that's it! You’ll never need a man again.”

“Do we really need to be talking about this here?”

“Stop it, I bet loads of the women that work here have one.”

You looked up at the woman who was pulling out some clothes and pressing it against herself to see how the sizing would fit and she immediately locked eyes with you, smiling.

“I bet you’ve got one, don't you, honey?”

The woman was so confident it was rather off putting, and that was ignoring the type of conversation that she was dragging you into. 

You tried to feign ignorance and pretend you had no idea what she was talking about, hoping she wouldn't feel up to explaining that she was openly talking about masterbation aid, but as it turned out, you got the most confident women in the world as she filterlessly explained the VR glasses that, almost naturally, a woman of your age already knew plenty about. 

They were advertised everywhere; it wasn’t like you could miss them at the moment. They were the new big thing.

You really hoped the conversation would end soon. 

“I’m sorry ma’am, I was brought up in a rather— conservative household. I'm not used to talking about that kinda thing, and it's not really something I know much about so I’ve never really bothered,” you weren’t lying. 

Your parents were very religious so any conversation that even came close to being about boys or sex or masturbation were completely off the table. Maybe that's why you could barely get yourself off when you touched yourself. You had no idea what the hell you were doing and you were always too scared your parents would damn you to Hell if they even got the slightest hint of possibility that you’d done anything sexual. 

It's a good job you found Jeongguk or you wouldn't have the slightest clue what an orgasam felt like.

Wait.

What?

No, stop.

You shook your head as the women left where they were to continue their shopping, completely disregarding you since you weren't exactly helping her case 

You needed help.

You needed to learn how to get yourself off when annoying, obsessive, stalkers weren’t involved. 

That's how you found yourself outside of the tech store looking to buy a pair of the VR glasses. If the second woman in the conversation wasn't going to take the advice you sure would. 

Apparently it was an amazing way of getting yourself off and since there were visuals involved you wouldn't be getting stuck with thoughts of you-know-who in your head while you were doing it. 

You were surprised at how sleak the glasses actually were. They used to be big square headsets that you’d put over your face but these things were barely noticeable. A very small frame with clear glass that, when turned on, went a shade of gray on the outside but had the game playing on the inside. The poor salesman didn’t need to know you were going to use them on anything other than games. 

You connect it up to your phone and plug your headphones in, to test it, and it was that easy.

If only they were that easy on your bank account. Sadly the newest VR technology was never going to be cheap but you figured this was a price worth paying and since you had no social life you managed to save up money for when you needed it. You couldn’t afford to let Jeongguk into your sexual life as easily as he did. You needed to make sure you could get yourself off and not have to think of him to do so. 

...

The lights to your house were completely out, he didn’t know if he was happy or sad about that, he wanted to see you like all the times he promised he would. You probably felt so let down by him and his empty promises, but this time it wasn’t going to be empty. This time he was going to see you and talk to you and tell you that he loved you. 

He finally felt confident enough to do so now that you had made it extremely clear to him that you were interested in him too, you gave him a clear sign and he just knew it. 

Now was the time to show you just how serious he was about you. 

He walked over to your door, opening it with his key he’d had copied by the locksmith. He’d be silly not to get one and it would probably start costing him a pretty penny if he had to fix it every time he broke in.

All the lights were off and the house was dark, even though it was still light outside, it was only about 2 Oclock. Usually, you wouldn’t be at work on a Thursday. It is Thursday, right? Maybe you took up an extra shift. Maybe you went shopping and got caught up.

He made his way to your bedroom and placed the panties on the bed that he had taken previously and then made his way to your washing basket to pick up another pair from there.

The empty wash basket immediately put a disappointed frown on his face. 

He always found a pair he could take and this time there was nothing, he looked around the room for anything else, maybe you were in a rush this morning and you left a pair on the floor while you ran out the door but there wasn’t an item of clothing in sight. 

He laid on your bed in frustration but as he did so he could smell you on the covers. 

God, did you smell amazing. 

This was only something that he got to enjoy every now and again. When he snuck in, he would usually go into your wash basket and smell your clothes. Nothing could beat the smell of you. He’d never even thought to smell your bed and gosh was he stupid. 

It was purely you. 

It was heaven but sadly heaven had a time limit. 

He heard you slam the door in your house. You were so heavy handed it was cute. 

He panicked, not knowing what to do. He came here wanting to talk to you but it looked like he wasn’t as brave as he thought he was. 

He felt butterflies in his tummy and got really nervous, nervous enough that rather than doing what you wanted. Doing what a good boy would do. He hid away. Hide in the bathroom adjacent to your bedroom, hoping to God you wouldn’t come in and catch him hiding away from you. 

He’d be so embarrassed. He was embarrassed. What kind of man hid away from his love? The woman that needs him the most. 

About 15 minutes later he heard you come into your bedroom and move things around abit. He heard you shuffling.

You were just there. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so close to you. So close to touching you. He should go out there and talk to you. He should do what he planned on doing, the whole reason he was here was to help you two be together finally after all these years. 

He was going to do it. 

He gave himself a pep talk. He bigged himself up for it and did it. He walked out of the bathroom but when he did he couldn't believe his eyes, you were completely naked, on your bed, eyes covered, earphones in. 

No, this wasn't what he wanted at all. He wanted to talk, wanted this to mean so much and be more than sex, he knew that was probably what it would end up being but he thought it was be romantic. He pictured you both confessing your love for each other and making love afterwards and even though that was what he envisioned happening his lust and obsession took over. 

You were there pushing your fingers into your beautiful cunt, moaning ever so slightly with your entire body on display to him. Your tits looked so pillowy to him, he wanted to touch them, wanted to lick and tease them, do everything he'd ever seen in porn. Pushing his pants down, he started playing with his now hard cock. He’d never seen anything like this. 

He was trying not to make any noise but that was impossible.

“Oh my God, I Iwanna touch you, I wanna feel you. Fuck, please,” he was saying this all out loud but in the cutest little moans. While he was pumping his cock so fast, walking just that little bit close to you and picturing what you’d look like staring up at him. He could clearly see you were watching porn and it gave him flashbacks to the night he caught you. 

Oh, how your relationship had grown. He laughed to himself. 

This felt intimate to him and that made the strokes of his cock so much more pleasurable to him. Your feet were right at the end of your bed, your legs propped up to give him an amazing view. He knew he shouldn't but he just couldn't help it. 

He kneeled down on the floor, making sure to still be as quiet as possible even though you had headphones in. He watched as your fingers pushed inside you, wet and sticky. With his tongue stuck out he pretended that he was going to get a taste of you. 

He could smell you so strongly too and when he did flick his tongue out he got a slight hint of your taste on it. Then he started breathing heavy as he pumped his cock so fast his face fell just a little bit too close to you. Something he didn't notice until you moved your other hand and dragged it across where he must have breathed on your leg. 

You weren't making much noise, the odd pants here and there but he knew he could make you moan louder. Just like he did before. 

"Your lips look so pretty and swollen, I wanna feel them" he bite his own lip. 

He didn’t want to be a bad boy at all, but he was so conflicted. A good boy would go home, maybe give you a text and help you along, ask you if you wanted his help and soon you would swoon into his arms and you'd take his cock for real.

A bad boy would take you right now, such a wet little pussy sprawled out in front of him was just begging to be touched by him. You knew he would come over today, he told you in his message he would visit soon, maybe you wanted him to be a little bad. Maybe the fact your other hand was now circling your clit while you pound your pussy with your fingers was your way of inviting him in.

Fuck it. Fuck everything, Jeongguk wanted to be bad. Just for today. 

He moved his hands and grabbed your hips, whining as he pushed your pussy lips up against his cock.You jumped at the sudden hands on your body and quickly pulled the earphones out of your ears to shout.

“Sh, sh, baby. Ugh, fuck. It's just me, relax.”

Relaxed was the last thing you were feeling as he rutted his bare cock against your folds.

“Jeongguk,” it took no more than 0.001 seconds for you to know exactly who was doing this.

“Jeongguk, what are you doing? Stop it.”

“I can’t stop, baby. Princess, I can't.”

You still had the VR glasses on so you couldn't see him, you could only hear and feel his desperation. His hips were so slow against you and the video you were watching matched the movement of his hips perfectly and as the faceless man fucked your VR body you got distracted.

You opted to turn it off so now all you could see was black.

“Jeongguk, you can't, this is wrong. I don't want this,” you pleaded. 

“But baby, you said I made you wet. You said it,” his voice was slightly raised as if he was annoyed. “And I can feel how wet you are baby, I know you want this so bad. Your pussy has drenched my cock.”

“Jeongguk,” he seemed to speed up a little bit at the sound of his name, letting out a small moan and it didn't go unnoticed by you. You wished you didn't but you enjoyed it. 

The video you were watching wasn't doing much for you but now sparks were flying down your spine and your pussy was getting really wet. His cock was so thick and it was wrapped up in your pussy lips bumping your clit, sparks were sent down your spine every little nudge it gave you. You could feel every inch of him sliding up and down your slit. 

This is so much better than touching yourself. 

You snapped yourself out of it though, just before you let out a moan.

“Jeongguk, that was fantasy, it wasn't real.”

“Fuck, baby, we can make it real. I know we were both fantasising but now I can feel your pussy and it's so hot and needy and I know it needs me. Let me give it what it needs— please,” as he begged and moaned, his hand moved down,  rubbing the outer lips of your pussy and it made everything so much more sensitive. 

You gasped and your head fell down to the mattress while your hips pushed up against him; against your will.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, yes, baby. Keep doing that.”

You wouldn't do it. No matter how much your brain wanted it. But as you were rejecting him in your mind your hips started to slowly move along his cock.

Fuck.

“This is so much better than touching yourself don't you ah— yes— fuck.”

Your hips were getting slightly faster as you could feel the tension in your stomach begin to knot. Your slick was starting to drip down yourself. You could officially say you had never been this wet before. 

Fuck, he felt good. 

“Jeongguk,” you started moaning, unable to cover the sounds anymore. 

“Yes, baby? Anything— tell me anything. I'll give you what you want,” you’d never heard a man so desperate for anything before. He sounded like he was begging you, his voice so high pitched; barely keeping it together as he stuttered along with what he was saying.

‘Jeongguk, we can't— ahh fuck,” you had never been so torn in your life. Your toes were curling, your moans weren’t silent anymore and your hands were so tight in the bed sheets but you knew without a shadow of a doubt you shouldn't be doing this. “Jeongguk, put the tip in, just the tip.”

Your desperation got the better of you and you let him do the one thing you knew you never should.

“Is that what good boys would do? Tell me, tell me please. I'm a good boy, right? You want this,” you nodded your head fast.

“So good, please be good for me and do it,”

Jeongguk practically yelped at that, pushing the tip of his cock all over your pussy. In your slit, against your outer folds. He had soaked everywhere between your legs trying to find your hole and that made you moan louder than before.

He finally found it though and pushed the head of his cock inside you.

"Oh my God, oh my God ____, oh my-“

Jeongguk all but cried, and if you could see him right now you'd see him covered in sweat, tears down his face. His voice so high pitched moaning for you.

You weren't fairing much better yourself. His cock head was so thick you felt so stretched out and you hadn’t felt this stretched out in a long time. You were glad you couldn't see. You didn't want to be in the reality of it or you knew you'd have to stop him. And that was the last thing you wanted to do. 

The pleasure was dull though. You wanted more. You needed to feel his tip deep inside you. 

He moved his hand back to his cock after touching your sides then stoking your legs, and with his hand firmly wrapped around it he started circling it inside you; moving it around so you could feel his tip everywhere until you snapped. 

“Oh fuck, I can't help myself,” your gasp came out loud and wanting. 

You placed your hands on his lower back and pushed his cock into your waiting heat, all the teasing was too much. He was there ready to pleasure you and your rational brain couldn't argue against it. There was nothing rational about rejecting such a needy cock that was dripping inside you.

As you pushed him inside, you could hear his high pitched moan and there was something so sexy about it. He sounded so affected by you. And were you affected, too. As you pushed him closer inside you it was as if his cock never ended. He was so long and thick your eyes pushed to the back of your head as your legs opened wider and wider inviting him even deeper inside of you.

You felt one of his hands grab your breast and his other clamped on where your thigh met your hip, thumb pressing in, pulling your body onto him harder so he could drill his cock deeper into you.

You were sure you weren't just moaning anymore but screaming, all you could hear was the wetness of yourself slapping against him. Nothing had ever been so deep inside of you and the whines and moans that were coming out of his mouth were so fucking desperate your own mouth was watering. You may have only had an orgasam once or twice in your life but it was a feeling you could never forget and you could feel it again, you could feel it about to hit like a wave against you. 

Every limb in your body was weak but high on sensations at the same time. You’d never felt it like this before

“Oh my God yes, yes you're so good. So wet. Fuck. I had no idea pussy would feel this good. I can't take it.”

If you had any semblance of what was going on and the words that were coming out of his mouth you just might have noticed what he said. You might have taken a second to think about it and reconsider but you didn't. You couldn't; even if you wanted to. 

You were in heaven.

This must have been the first time you'd had sex in at least a year and the first time you'd had a dick this big that felt this good— ever. You could feel it in your stomach as he fucked you so hard, he wasn't the best at keeping a steady rhythm but that didn't matter when his cock hit so deep.

“I can't, your pussy’s too fucking wet and perfect. I'm gonna cum, fuck, I'm gonna come inside you,” as he started to fall into pleasure you tried to follow him. He fell forward into the crook of your neck pushing the VR glasses off your eyes and somewhere else on the bed. But you kept your eyes shut tight. 

Nothing was going to take you away from the moment, not even Jeongguk grabbing the side of your head and pushing your cheek into the mattress while he still drilled into you. 

The room was bright and even though your eyes were closed you could tell the difference and that changed your perspective on what was going on only slightly. 

This wasn't a naughty night time fuck, this was a completely inappropriate mid-day fuck with somebody you shouldn't even be near.  

But as he pulled the side of your head impossibly close to his own and pushed his body as close to yours as he could, just  so his hips were now grinding again your clit, you noticed his strength, and it was a complete one-eighty to the needy and timid voice that came from his lips 

“I’m sorry, I wanted to make you feel good but I'm gonna cum so fast. You're so perfect,” he started to kiss and lick up the side of your neck. You don’t want him to stop, you wanted to cum. You could feel it so, so, close. 

“I'll be a good boy for you and make you cum I promise just, fu— just. Oh, fuck.” His hips started to move insanely fast as he pumped himself into you sloppily, over and over again, just to push hard into you while his cock convulsed. Pushing you so close to your end that you whimpered loudly. 

“No, fuck, don’t stop.” You couldn't help but push your hands through his hair; holding him as close to you as you could and he whined almost as if he was in pain but you knew better. All you could hear were gasps and moans along with your name leaving his lips.

Before you even had a chance to think he shuffled himself down and attacked your clit with his lips. Your entire body jumped as if shocked. 

His lips were so soft against you. But you still refused to look at him. Your head pushed back as his tongue divided between your lips where he had just been sucking and your impending orgasam hit so fast you couldn't believe it. 

He flicked his tongue back and forth, teasing your clit for all it was worth and as you screamed, announcing your orgasam, he sucked your clit even harder. Taking as much of your pussy into his mouth as you could. You could hear his moans of enjoyment, the grunts and groans he made as his tongue touched all over your slit muffled into vibrations; keeping you high for minutes. 

You couldn't stop shaking as he moved his tongue around you. Convulsing your body as the tingle in your clit continued, only stopping when Jeongguk moved away from you with his eyes closed still licking his own lip so as to not lose the taste of you.

You couldn’t take anymore and you opened your eyes to look at him.

He was a mess, mouth wet and sticky. His hair that was once clearly in a bun completely disheveled with curls around his face.

He was a work of art, sitting back on his legs, cock still out as his pants were pushed part way down his thighs and his black shirt lay crumpled and messy. He looked so fucking sexy but so adorble while you watched him lick his lips.

Then it all hit you at once. 

“Get out.”

You couldn’t believe what you had just let happen.

“Get the fuck out right now.”

His face dropped so quickly from bliss to sadness.

“But baby—“

“Get the fuck out of my house!” You screamed at him, jumping up to cover your body in the sheets on your bed. You watched him stand up quickly and walk towards you. 

“Baby, I just—“

“Jeongguk,” you took the deepest breath you could in order to not completely scream at him.

“I need you to leave. I need you to leave right now and not come back, do you hear me?”

He nodded his head slowly, big eyes looking at you, you were  sure you could see a tear but that didn’t matter to you right now. You needed him out and you needed this to never ever happen again. He was lucky you didn't scream in his face even louder but that would be so wrong of you.

You knew you were partly to blame for all of this. You asked, you practically begged for him.

But still, Jeongguk turned on his heel and swiftly left your house. It was only when he closed the front door you were able to move again.

You slowly stood up on weak knees and put on a long nightgown to cover yourself. The feeling of shame, annoyance and embarrassment washed over you yet again. You were becoming too familiar with the feeling. 

It wasn’t for another half an hour you managed to snap yourself out of the feeling when you heard a ping on your phone but when you checked it there was no alert. 

That's when you remembered you were probably looking at the wrong phone. You walked over to your dresser where you had left your second phone after Jeongguk’s message a few days ago, hoping you wouldn’t be coming back to it so soon.

You opened it up to see his face again, it felt different. You’d seen him up close and these pictures of him had never done him justice. His skin looked so soft and his hair so shiny. As you shook your head you opened the message just at the top of the screen and you wouldn't believe what you had read. 

You were in shock. If you thought you fucked up. Things had just got a lot worse.

Mine: Thank you, baby.

Thank you so fucking much, you gave me everything I needed, everything I wanted tonight.

I heard when you lose your virginity you’re supposed to cuddle after. I wanted it to be so much more romantic, I really did. 

But when I saw you there I just lost all control. 

Your pussy was begging for me to touch it. 

I know that's why you’re mad at me, I ruined all the romance you wanted, well that and— and I couldn’t last long enough for you. 

I’m so sorry baby, I’ll make it up to you. It’s just you’re so fucking sexy, your tits were bouncing underneath me, the smell of you was so strong and I can’t forget that delicious pussy squeezing me. 

Oh God, baby, your pussy was so fucking delicious. I’ve still got the taste of you on my lips and I hope I never lose it ever.

I promise I'll practise. Next time we fuck you’ll get to cum all over my cock just like you wanted to.

I'll be good, baby.

I promise.

I’ll fuck you so good. 

Make you feel the way you made me feel.

It may have been my first time but I know nobody will ever make me feel the way you do, and they won't even get the chance.

I belong to you, princess. You took another part of me tonight and I'm slowly just becoming more and more yours, more than I already was.

I can’t wait till we fuck again. We’re going to fuck all day and all night untill we can’t anymore and then I’ll just keep eating that pussy. I'm never going to disappoint you again I promise. 

I’m in love with you and I meant every word of that song I sang to you. Keep listening to it when I’m not there, so you know that I’m always beside you. 

I can’t wait to feel your cunt again, and I forgive you for what you said.

I love you. 

JK. 

You took his virginity. 

Holy shit this was a mess, you were never going to get out of and—

Song? When did he sing to you?

Wait.

The video on the phone, you never got a chance to listen to it properly. You quickly left the text and clicked on the video, listening to his extremely melodic voice singing to you. 

See your face every place that I walk in

Hear your voice every time that I'm talking

You will believe in me

And I will never be ignored

I willl burn for you

Feel pain for you

I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart

And tear it apart

I will lie for you

Beg and steal for you

I will crawl on hands and knees until you see

You're just like me

AN: Thank you everybody. Dont forget to give me a message if you enjoyed this so i know its worth keeping up with! You’re all amazing

If anything like this is happening to you, please call the police. I BEG of you!!

Tagglist: @madygswich​ @mama-m0chi​ @btseditsworld​ @laurynne5​ @min-nicoleee​ @lust-bts​   @winslowrites​ @ladyartemesia​

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[babyjamiebarnes]

Build-A-Bear

Part Twelve

Featuring: Bucky x Stark!reader, dad!Tony, Steve, Sam, bff!Peter Parker

Warnings: language, mentions of smut/sex tapes, blackmail/threatening

Summary: With Tony now on your side, you and Bucky are able to take steps toward stopping your blackmailer — until things take a dark turn.

Author’s Note: Ugh, it’s not as long as I’d like it to be but it’s a good lead-up to the final chapter and I won’t feel so bad about taking forever if I finally get something out there 😖 I haven’t been in the best headspace lately but things are kind of looking up so hopefully I get the conclusion out faster 😞

Series Masterlist

Tags: @amourmarvel @fangirlvoice @kennedywxlsh @devilswaldorf @what-the-hap-is-fuckning @alyispunk @fredweasleysbitchh @wearegroot @sunflowerbebe107 @prestigious-tea @brckenmemories @angelbabymed @charmedbysarge @cruelsummer-s @fandomlovver @ahahafudge @thebivirgin

You thanked every deity in existence that there wasn’t enough room for you and four grown men in the Jeep because your dad had to drive separately from you, Bucky, Steve, and Sam. Once the doors shut, however, there was one question lingering in the air.

“So… how’d it go?” Sam asked.

Bucky let out a sigh.

“I’m still alive,” he deadpanned.

“Are you gonna… you know… stay that way?” Sam asked slowly.

You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your lips at the question. And when Bucky glanced over at you, he laughed quietly too. Which led to Steve chuckling at him and Sam smiling at the way he (unintentionally) relieved some of the gravity of the situation.

Bucky’s shoulders relaxed a bit for the rest of the drive, but you caught him growing tense again when you all met your dad in the underground parking garage. It was the only place in your apartment building with no windows and no audio, but you knew there was video surveillance. There was a chance your stalker had access to the video, most likely through hacking the system, but they wouldn’t know what was being said. As you approached your father, he pulled what looked like two sniper rifles out of the backseat.

“Barnes, Wilson. You’re coming with me,” he said.

“Dad,” you chastised, assuming he was only taking Bucky with him to keep him from you.

“He was a World War II sniper, [Y/N]. It makes sense to have him using a scope to check where this psycho was watching you.”

You were silent in response, mostly because you knew he was right. And you’d still have Steve with you in your apartment, so it’s not like you’d be left alone.

Bucky immediately checked the safety and pulled back the bolt handle to make sure it was fully unloaded. He didn’t expect it to have anything in the chamber since there was no magazine, but he learned to take extra precaution. And just like when he cleared your apartment all those months ago, something about seeing him wield the power of a firearm made you shiver. How very American of you.

“These are all connected to a secure line,” Tony continued as he handed everyone the type of flip phone you had in middle school. “I hope you all remember how to text the old fashioned way because we’re not calling unless absolutely necessary. Considering what was in the video,” his jaw clenched as his eyes shot daggers at Bucky, “there are probably audio and video devices all over the apartment.”

“We scanned for that when we first started staying with her,” Sam said. “I just figured the video was taken before her identity was released.”

What he said just solidified Steve’s assumption. You definitely knew who was blackmailing you.

“It was after,” you said. “It was… that night was shortly after the…” you hesitated. Everyone looked at you patiently, but you could see Bucky take a subtle step away from your dad. He knew when the video was taken. “Um, it was shortly after the, uh, the pregnancy scare.”

All eyes moved to Bucky and Tony. The emotions that flickered across your dad’s face clearly showed his thoughts: shock, confusion, realization... You wouldn’t be surprised if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back; Bucky must’ve had the same thought as he darted to stand behind you.

“The what?!” Tony barked. “You — Barnes! I’m gonna —” He cut himself off and just huffed out a heavy breath, his hands curled into fists by his side and his jaw tight in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Not to make things worse but it takes two,” you said. “I was a willing participant.”

“But did it have to be with him?!”

“Dad!”

“I’m just saying, pumpkin, it could’ve been Parker!”

“He’s a kid!”

“And he,” your dad countered, pointing at Bucky, “is a senior citizen!”

“Oh my god,” you groaned. “I’m not having this conversation now. We’ll argue about my taste in men later. Go check out the buildings.”

You twisted on your heel and pulled Bucky down for a very unnecessary kiss. You knew it pissed your dad off, but he was being so frustrating! With a snap of his fingers, Tony got Sam and Bucky to follow him out the doors to the street where they would split up and check out the buildings within view of your kitchen and bedroom to see which one the photos were taken from.

Steve led you up to your apartment so you two could stand in the kitchen for everyone to look for from their respective buildings. You hopped up onto the counter while Steve leaned against the fridge across from you, arms crossed and brow furrowed as your eyes met.

“I think you’re right,” you said plainly. Steve held his finger up to his lips and pulled out the flip phone. You were kind of shocked he knew how pre-smart phone texting worked, but he continued to surprise you.

What makes you say that?

It’s not easy to get in this building. It’s even harder to get in my apartment.

Right as you hit send, a familiar jolt of realization shot up your spine. There was one major thing all of you were forgetting. You leaped off the counter and ran to your bedroom with Steve hot on your heels. In your earlier panic, none of you thought to look for a camera in the bedroom. There’s only one angle that video could’ve been taken from and it would’ve had to be inside your room.

If your memory served you correctly, the camera would’ve been set up somewhere on or near your bookshelf. Steve stood in the doorway while you scanned through all your books. You practically knew your setup by heart, so catching the skinny book that was out of place didn’t take long.

You turned to face Steve as you said, “I don’t have a hard cover copy of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” You turned back to glare at the book and mumbled, “I actually hate ‘Romeo and Juliet’.”

The book was pretty thin, making it stand out even more in your extensive collection, but the title was written in a clear, elegant script along the spine. It almost made you question your own memory — until you noticed the ballpoint-sized hole near the bottom. The black background made it almost indistinguishable, but when you pulled it from the shelf, the hole was evident. And when you pulled it open, you found wires inside the cut-out pages and a small camera tucked against the hole in the spine.

“That fucker didn’t even clean up after himself,” you spat, throwing the pseudo-book onto your mattress. Steve picked it up and checked it out before calling Peter.

“Hey, if I send you a camera, can you see if it’s being wirelessly streamed to a separate device?” Your head snapped back to Steve at those words. When did the old man become so well-versed with tech? The last you knew, he struggled to take an iPhone video. Just a few months ago, he asked what the difference was between a flash drive and a hard drive.

While Steve talked to Peter, you walked back to the kitchen to see if the other boys were all in place. You didn’t have the scopes and binoculars they did, but you could still take a guess at which building your stalker took the photos from.

There weren’t many buildings high and close enough for that kind of angle and clarity, but the one you eyed most was just a bit to your left and a couple stories above where your apartment sat in your building. It wouldn’t be cheap to get a place like that, which made you start to doubt Steve’s assumption.

As you stood in the floor-to-ceiling window frame of your kitchen, your flip phone started buzzing in your hand.

“Yeah?” you answered.

“Don’t say anything that might give us away, in case there’s a recording device in your apartment,” Tony said. “I’m in the building right across from you but the angle doesn’t feel right. I think your boy toy is in the right place.”

As if on cue, Steve stepped beside you and answered his phone.

“Hey, Buck.”

“Sounds like you’re right,” you said to your dad. “He just called Steve.”

“We’ll meet you in the parking garage.” With that, your line went dead.

“Okay, meet us downstairs,” Steve said before ending his own call. “Buck’s pretty sure he found the apartment the photos were taken from. Sent the address to Parker so we should get contact info soon.”

You just nodded and headed downstairs again. Things were finally starting to look up. You had two new leads on top of anything Peter, Pepper, and Happy had found and prayed they somehow linked back to Steve’s accused.

Unfortunately, your optimism was shattered when everyone met back up in the garage. Before anyone could say a word, your personal cell started ringing, but the caller ID was... Bucky.

No one said a word as you all met beside the Jeep and you showed everyone the “James 🐻” ringing on your screen, resulting in a lot of confused looks. Bucky pulled his phone out of his pocket and proved he wasn’t accidentally butt-dialing you, freezing your blood in your veins.

“They’re spoofing,” Tony concluded.

“Answer it,” Steve said.

“Put it on speaker,” Sam added quickly.

You nodded as you pressed “accept,” doing your best to keep your voice steady and unbothered.

“Hello?”

“You’ve really done it now, [Y/N].” The voice on the other end said slowly. They were clearly distorting the sound and you’d bet they couldn’t be traced. They’d never be that stupid. “Have your boyfriend search your name.”

You looked up at Bucky who was scrambling to search your name on his phone… and immediately paled. He almost looked like he had seen a ghost, though you’d argue what he actually saw was so much worse.

“They released the video.”

Your throat constricted as you tried to not literally throw up at those four words. And when Bucky shuffled beside you to show you the top results under your name, you weren’t sure how long you could hold it back. The first page of results was just news articles about your sex tape even though it had been released only 20 minutes ago. You snatched Bucky’s phone and clicked the link to the video and sure enough, it was you and Bucky. Two hours of you and Bucky.

“You son of a bitch,” you practically growled into the phone. “That wasn’t part of your fucking deal.”

“You took away my first bargaining chip so I played my second. And believe me, I’ve got plenty more videos. You two are quite the pair,” the unnaturally deep voice snarked. “But now you also know lives will be lost if you don’t listen. You now have three days or that man and his family die.”

The line cut out then, leaving everyone standing in stunned silence.

“I’ll get Pep on taking down the video,” Tony muttered before pulling his phone out to text Pepper. “We’ll have to swing by a couple banks and pull out the money.”

“Dad, I don’t want you to bail me out,” you practically whined.

“We don’t have any other option, [Y/N],” he snapped. “You don’t have to give a shit about him releasing sex tapes of you and the Vibranium Vibrator,” Bucky cringed at that nickname, “but I know you won’t let that other kid’s family die. We’ll keep trying to track them down, but we have to be prepared.”

You sighed. You knew he was right. If you ended up finding the culprit, if Steve was right, you could just put the money back. Plus, two million out of your father’s billions wasn’t enough to break him.

“Okay, fine. Let’s get ready,” you mumbled.

Steve interjected before anyone moved too far.

“I have a plan.”

[haikyuuuuuhypeeeee]

Chapter 3

⚠WARNING: Mention of previous characters' deaths

• ────── ✾ ────── •

You have no idea how you got here.

Here, being in front of the lone coffee shop on campus, on your way to meet the stranger who’s had the misfortune to get Hajime’s old phone number and receive your sad ramblings meant for no one else.

And you, the author of those sad ramblings, written in moments of weakness, are going to sit with this stranger and….

You haven’t gotten that far yet.

Honestly, you’ve been more incredulous at the odds of this meeting even happening.

What the hell am I doing???

You really have no explanation, not even for yourself. The time is 9:58 and in two minutes you’re going to walk into the cafe and meet with a stranger who is going through a traumatic life experience similar to yours.

Ok, so you can explain what you’re doing. But the why is what’s escaping you. And frankly that should scare you more than it is currently doing.

Especially seeing how you haven’t told your friends what you’re doing. You bugged off lunch (much to Oikawa’s annoyance) but didn’t tell them why. Not only would Oikawa throw a fit but he, Mattsun and Makki wouldn’t understand your reasoning for meeting a stranger you met only a few hours ago.

They really wouldn’t understand why you don’t have a solid reason for meeting this stranger.

Put all the red flags together and you would find yourself locked in your apartment with no means of escaping under Oikawa’s watch.

To be fair, you are meeting them in a public place and you have no intention of going anywhere with the stranger. You’re just going to go have a cup of tea, shoot the shit, and then leave.

Yeah, it’s definitely doable. And not at all crazy.

You take a deep breath before walking inside the shop. It’s a bit crowded - the weekend mid-morning rush makes the employees hustle behind the counter to fill orders. All of the tables are full, leaving no space for two strangers to sit and….

Oh, this was a bad idea. A really bad and stupid idea.

Your phone rings in your pocket. You pull it out and nearly jump at the caller ID.

Your brain points out that it’s not Hajime but the stranger you’re meeting. You pick up the phone quickly. “Hello?”

“Heya, how’re ya doin’?”

You hope you’ve schooled your expression into nonchalance but you can’t help your eyebrows jumping hearing the clear Kansai dialect through the phone.

Besides the surprise at the unfamiliar drawl, you’re pleased to hear a clear and strong voice on the other line. Nothing creepy or weird or anything your brain was trying to convince would be the case.

“Hi.” You reply into the phone. You can hear background noise from his end, which assures you again that he must actually be here.

“‘M over in the corner with the baseball cap.”

Your eyes move to the corner immediately and zero-in on a figure sitting at the table there. It’s a man, wearing a dark long-sleeve shirt and a dark ball cap. And he’s staring straight at you.

You hang up the phone and walk over to him. You spot a coffee cup on the table in front of him and watch as he takes his hat off and sets it on the tabletop. His silver-grey hair is messed up from the hat but that’s the least of your concerns at the moment.

No, what has you almost faltering in your steps is the exhaustion that lies deep on his face. The bags under his eyes are heavy and stark against his pale skin. His mouth is drawn in a small frown and with his eyebrows furrowed slightly it makes him look troubled.

You recognize his weariness. This is a man who is burdened to carry an intangible weight.

However this man still meets your gaze and gives you a small, tired smile. The small gesture brightens his face considerably but doesn’t completely erase the empty look. But you feel your nerves settle when he smiles at you.

“Hi,” he says when you approach the table.

“Hello.” You sit in the chair opposite of his and shrug your jacket off. “It’s busy, thanks for grabbing a table.”

“No worries.” Hearing his calm and measured tone in person relaxed you more than you realized and you felt some tension release from your shoulders. “‘M here all the time and I figured they’d be a bit busy on Saturday. D’ya want me to grab ya something from the counter?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” You shake your head to emphasize your point.

“Nah, I insist. Coffee? Tea? Fancy mocha drink?”

“Uh,” you’re startled by his insistence but relent. “A tea, please. Jasmine if they have it.”

He nodded before standing and making his way to the register, letting you fully settle in your seat and try to still comprehend what the hell you are doing.

Mid-inner freak out (oh god, what if he drugs my tea, what am I doing?!) a cup materializes in front of you. Osamu comes around with another cup for himself and sits in the chair across from you.

“They had Jasmine and it smells amazin’.” He shifts in his seat and takes a sip of his coffee. “‘M not a big tea drinker but that smells like it would calm ya down real good.”

You send him a smile before lifting the cup up. The smell of jasmine tea was soothing and the taste was even better when you took a small sip. “It’s my go-to comfort drink. I’ve probably had a few more cups than normal in the past few months.”

The sympathetic look the stranger sends you makes you purse your lips, realizing too late what you said. You look away, cursing to yourself. Great, way to go and make it awkward now. It’s quiet for a bit, now awkward by your weird ~fun fact~

“My name’s Miya Osamu.” You look up at the man and see a rueful smile on his face. “I probably shoulda told ya my name earlier. ‘M a first year student at Sendai University.”

You blink. Of fucking course you didn’t know his name. You never thought to ask when texting him earlier. You met up with a LITERAL stranger for tea and coffee.

“Wow, I’m sorry for being so rude!” You hurriedly say. “I should’ve asked AGES ago. But my name’s L/N Y/N. I’m also a first year student at Sendai.”

“Huh.” Osamu (not The Stranger) says. “What a weird coincidence.”

You nod. “Yeah, um are you not from around here? I can tell by your dialect.”

Osamu hums. For the first time you see his face fall and set into something more stone-like. It’s a subtle difference but it’s there nonetheless. “Hyogo. Came to Miyagi for school and had to get a new number.”

“Oh.” It’s a dry answer that you really don’t know how to reply to. “Do you like it so far?”

He shrugs. “It’s not bad. Pretty far.”

You nod. “Yeah, it is.”

You both lapse into a silence that is neither comfortable nor relaxing.

Oh my GOD this is so awkward! Why did you agree to this? Why did you think this was a good idea?! Yeah sure, he’s not a freaking weirdo serial killer, you can check that off your list. But you didn’t think about what you would actually TALK about!

“Do ya wanna talk about Hajime?”

Your reply to his question is to spit your tea across the table.

You look up to meet Osamu’s concerned gaze. Neither of you move before you both reach across to grab napkins from the dispenser.

“Are ya alright?”

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!”

In your haste to clean up your tea the napkin dispenser gets knocked to the ground, and the napkins explode out like an explosion of white confetti.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” The napkins springing up startle you so much that your knee knocks into the table hard, almost upending Osamu’s coffee.

“Argh!” You lean down to clutch your knee as it throbs painfully but your head collides with the table instead. “OUCH!”

“Are ya alright?!” Osamu asks frantically.

You exhale deeply. “Yep, I’m just a klutz. Fuck, that hurt my head.” You wish you could keep your head down and disappear. But you look up, your face bright red with embarrassment, and meet the concerned look from Osamu.

“I’m ok,” you reassure. “Really.” You look around at the mess surrounding your table and catch a few people gawking. Good lord. “Besides my pride taking a beating, I’m all good.” You stoop down to grab the napkins scattered around, wincing at the waste. Osamu also bends down to help.

“It looked like a pretty hard hit,” he notes.

“It’d be worse if I had something in my head worth keeping safe.”

Osamu smiles at your quip, a little half-smile. It’s nice.

Soon you both stand back up to throw out the napkins. Osamu grabs the bunch from you, letting you sit back down. You try to cool the fuck out and you will your face to not resemble a tomato when he comes back.

“Are you sure yer alright?” Osamu asks again.

“Yes, really.” You nod. “I’m sorry if I spat tea on you. I was just really surprised.”

Osamu tilted his head. “From what I said?” You nod. “Why?”

“I mean,” you start. “It mainly just caught me off guard. I’m not used to it, like just talking about him.”

“Do ya talk about him at all?”

You want to nod, but thinking about it you honestly don’t remember the last time you were able to tell someone about Hajime. Not his passing, but just talking about the person that he was.

“Oh.” Osamu pauses, looking at you considering. “Well my old therapist said it’s good to talk about this stuff, so I figured that’s what ya wanted.”

You don’t know how to reply to his simple explanation. Because you do want to talk about Hajime. You want to so badly. You want to tell the world how amazing he is, how he makes the world a better place just by existing, how strong he is and how much lighter you feel when he’s around

Or, how it was.

But you haven’t been able to talk about him. Every time you tried to talk outside of group therapy with your friends, Oikawa shuts down and Makki and Mattsun get uncomfortable. Your therapist is always able to handle anything you throw at her, but it’s not the same as just talking about a friend to someone.

So maybe Osamu is right about just talking about Hajime.

“He has hair like a porcupine.”

Osamu gives you a look of confusion before you continue. “Our friend Oikawa used to call him prickly, and we’d tease him when he’d bristle up and say he looks like a porcupine.” You laugh at the memory of Hajime bristling up, constantly egged on by Oikawa. “It wasn’t even bad hair, it was just so sharp. It was weird.”

Osamu doesn’t say anything for a second before he bursts out laughing. “Atsumu had weird hair too - dyed bleach blonde. Thought it made him look badass.” He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

You wrap your hand around your cup of tea, hesitating. An obvious question hangs in the air but for the first time since sitting down Osamu looks a bit lively.

“Was Atsumu your brother?”

The lightness on Osamu’s face is extinguished when he nods at your question. “Yeah, he’s a pain in the ass but I love him.” He pauses, looking down at his coffee cup. “Well, he was.”

You can feel the pain radiating from that one word. You understand the horrid dread that comes when you realize you’d been speaking about Hajime in the present tense. Even more so when you have to admit it out loud.

You look at Osamu and frown upon seeing his withdrawn expression. You feel immense guilt, knowing that you’ve contributed to his change in mood.

You’re desperate to lighten the mood and bring that smile back to Osamu’s face. You search through your memories, trying to find something funny. A thought crosses your mind and you feel a small smile grace your lips.

“There was one time that my friend was determined to roast smores on Iwa’s head.” You giggle at the disbelieving look on Osamu’s face. “Yeah, it was the stupidest idea he’d ever concocted. We didn’t even get one marshmallow on his head.”

“We?” Osamu asks, his voice lifting in amusement ever so slightly.

“Of course.” You reply, a smile spreading over your face at the memory and at Osamu’s content face. “I too was curious if we could do it.”

Osamu snorts, shaking his head as he brought his coffee to his mouth. “That idea would have intrigued Atsumu for sure. He was all about the far-fetched plots to piss off everyone around him.”

You smile, leaning forward in your chair. “Oh yeah? Wanna share some notes?” Osamu’s face brightens slightly at your words and he begins to talk, more animatedly than before.

• ────── ✾ ────── •

A/N: So nothing bad happened with Y/N meeting the stranger (besides her being a clumsy klutz, where are my fellow klutzes at?) Thank you for reading, I hope this chapter was a little soft respite from the initial angst~

Taglist Open! Please send an Ask with the request to be added to It’s [Not] Okay Fic & SMAU (bold cannot be tagged): @psycho-nightrose @camcam1617 @kamalymaly @toobsessedsstuff @shookykookie30 @roro-707 @qualitygiantshoepsychic @cerealfrdinner797 @ara-mitsue @gray-444 @tanakasimpcorner @rintarovibes @jellien

[teddy06writes]

Greek Myth AU: Eros and Psyche Part Two

Eret x afab!reader

trigger warnings: general death/death mentions, Aphrodite being a bit of a bitch, reader is pregnant for the sake of the original myth, but its not mentioned that much

premise: again, this explains the original myth, this part is the second half/the challenge thingys.

Part one

list of Greek Gods/characters for this work

Eros- Eret

Aphrodite- Puffy

Zephyrus- Philza

Zeus- Dream

Pan- Tubbo

Demeter- Ranboo

Hera- George

Hades- Wilbur (only mentioned)

Persephone- Niki

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No love can exist without trust."

The words echoed through (y/n)s head as they wandered through the still dark field. It seemed no use to them to even try to go back to the villa.

Slowly, they came to a stop next to the brook, laying down amongst the bank, one hand on their stomach as they watched the water pass, wondering what they would do.

How could they go on if Eret had left?

"Are you alright?"

(y/n) jumped at the sudden noise, sitting up and turning to see a saytr- no not just any Satyr, they found themself face to face with Tubbo, god of the wild.

"Uhhh...."

He let his head half fall sideways to look at them closer, "You don't look alright. Have you been crying?"

They sniffed, nodding, "I suppose so, yes. I've just had... a rough day."

He nodded, "Does this have anything to do with what I heard Eret shouting earlier, cause that sounded pretty bad."

"It- was actually."

Tubbo winced, "Yikes. You know, though from what I heard, from what I can see now, you really do look like someone who is very much in love. Don't leave yourself to rot here, you must continue on, and win his affections back."

"But how can I? I've lost all of his trust." They sighed.

"You must try, you must." Tubbo insisted, he offered them a hand and helped them to stand, "There is a way, and you will be able to find it. That I am sure of."

So, (y/n) traveled on, through the lands until they at last reached their home nation. Soon, they sought out their sisters, telling them that their deception had caused them to be cast out, not by a beast, but by the god Eret, himself.

When their sisters claimed excuses, and hurried off (perhaps to try and be taken by the god), (y/n) could only sigh and move on.

As they continued the travel, searching for any signs of their husband, he was stuck in Puffy's castle, the splash of oil having done much more damage than she'd originally thought.

All too soon, Puffy had found out where Eret was, and what had happened. Furiously, she rushed into their chambers, utterly pissed that she had gone so far against her instructions as to fall in love with (y/n).

The goddess was in such a rage, that she hardly noticed the state he was in, instead yelling on about how 'that wretched mortal would need to be punished'.

"No!" Eret cried through gritted teeth, "They may have betrayed me, but this is not their fault!"

"She shall be punished!"

It was only the announcement that Ranboo and George had arrived that pulled Puffy out of her yelling.

"Puffy, what's happened?" George asked once she had returned to the main room.

"Do remember that mortal? The one everyone was infatuated with?" Puffy asked, annoyed.

Ranboo nodded, "I thought you had sent Eret to get rid of them."

"The foolish boy went against me, brought her to some place, kept her safe, and now he's been burned because of it." She sighed, "The mortal will have to be dealt with. No simply plots of a forced love. I shall send them straight down to Wilbur's domain."

George bit his lip, "Well, are you sure that he didn't hide them away for good reason?"

"He fell in love with them." Puffy scoffed.

"Oh come on Puffy, don't punish them just because she fell in love. Doesn't he deserve ore than that? They must have fallen in love for a reason? You are the goddess of love, surely you should understand." Ranboo attempted to defend Eret, only to be cut off.

"I do not care what I should or should not understand! I want this mortal punished, and punished they shall be!" Puffy roared.

Meanwhile, (y/n) still wandered the land, looking for their lover, even as their health seemed to decline.

It had been a rather nice day when they stumbled upon the abandoned temple, covered in debris, and tools left behind. Some how, despite everything, it only made sense to clean the temple. To restore, to the best of their ability, to its former glory, or at least till it didn't look a mess.

It was slow work, but soon they had cleared the weeds, moved the old offerings back to their place, and found a place for the abandoned tools.

"You, poor (y/n)!"

They looked up to find Ranboo, towering over them, "M'lord?"

"I have come with a warning. Since your betrayal of Eret, Puffy has been after you, and you have been in great danger. Still despite this, you've come to clear the temple that my followers have abandoned. Why is this?"

"No place should be abandoned as I have been." (y/n) answered softly.

He frowned, sighing, "Well, I value my alliances with Puffy to much to harbor you. But, I will not turn you in, nor alert her in anyway you were every here. Consider yourself blessed."

As he disappeared, (y/n) couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief. They hadn't been met with Puffy's wrath yet. But that did not stop their sorrow.

Wandering farther and farther away from both the valley, and their home, (y/n) came across another temple, taking a rest from the road to step inside.

At the alter, they prayed, "George, queen of Olympus, I beg of you to help me. I am but a mortal, plagued by sorrow, driven out of every place Aphrodite seeks me. I do not wish for my child to be born to this life. Oh, dear George I beg for your help!"

George, hearing these prayers, quietly appeared to them, "Poor dear. I cannot help you, no matter how much I wish too. Puffy's anger stretches far, and even I cannot shield you from it."

When he had disappeared, (y/n) was forced back out the wandering, wondering, if maybe they revealed themself to the goddess, they might receive some mercy.

After a long pondering they set out, and after journey, the found themself at the palace of Puffy. Upon turning themself into the servants, (y/n) found themself dragged before Puffy, who demanded to know what they were doing.

"So you have finally decided to pay me a visit? Or is this just a trick to see your husband, who sufferers from a wound given by your hand!"

It had been a long afternoon for (y/n), until at last the servants, and even Puffy herself, let off, and gave time for the bruises to fully form, as Puffy taunted them, "Such a plain and boring mortal, how could he have fallen for you? And even given you a child? What a pathetic thing it will be."

It didn't take much longer after that for Puffy to decide, "A challenge then, you look to be a maid, lets see how well of one you are. Then you might gain enough favor to see your husband." She called for bags of wheat, barley, beans, lentils and chickpeas to be spread and mixed on the floor, "Have all of this sorted, before the night, and you may win some favor."

And as she disappeared, (y/n) wept, it would be impossible for them to sort the pile, let alone by the time she returned. It had seemed so hopeless, until, droves of Ants, driven by pity made there way into the room.

"Fear not, we shall help you with this task."

Soon the grain was sorted, and the ants disappeared as Puffy returned, looking around incredulously, "This work mustn't be yours! Surely it isn't! You foul thing! This work is far from over!"

The next day, a new challenge was assigned.

"There is a field, a few miles from here, where golden sheep graze all day. Travel there and bring me back a tuft of wool from one by the time the sun sets, or give up on all hope of seeing your husband again." Puffy commanded.

Obediently, (y/n) set out, and as they crossed the river, a soft nymph whispered the secrets to gathering the wool from the dangeours animals.

Carefully, (y/n) waited until noon had passed, until the sheep had settled to one ide of the field, and crept out, gathering the soft tufts from the briars of the bushes.

Yet again, Puffy was surprised by their ability to comply and finish these challenges.

"Surely your husband had some hand in helping you finish this. Quickly mortal, while there is still light, take this, and fetch me the water from the upper most point of that mountain stream."

(y/n) took the pitcher, and slowly began to hike toward the mountain, dreading the dangerous climb ahead. The mountains slowly grew nearer, until (y/n) was forced to fully climb up and over rocks, and the potential fall could prove fatal.

They had paused for a rest, breathing heavy and staring up at the setting sun, there was no way they could make the trip to the top of the mountain and back before night fell.

Yet again, it all seemed helpless, until a kind eagle, indebted to Eret, swooped down, "Give me your jug child, and allow me to help."

When they returned to Puffy's castle, again they were met with surprise. No one had expected their return.

"You have done what I asked, and that makes me suspect you to be a witch. It will take a greater test to determine if you should see your husband again."

(y/n), barley held in a sigh, bowing their head.

"You will journey to the underworld, and meet Niki. She makes a beauty cream, I need you to get some for me. I've exhausted my supply."

(Y/n) began to shake, tears beginning to spill from their eyes, surely this task was impossible. No one could journey to the Underworld and make it back alive.

"Better get going." She scoffed, "And remember, not a single drop

They had no choice but to go.

It was a slow, painful journey, and it took much help, much advice to reach the underworld.

They called upon Niki, who greeted them kindly, and listened to their plight.

"I just wish to see my husband again, so I can explain myself, so I can apologize." (y/n) finished with a sigh.

Niki frowned, "That I cannot help with. But I can supply you with the beauty cream, to bring back to Puffy."

A box was filled and closed out of their view, before Niki presented it to them, with a warning, "The contents of this box, are not meant for mere mortals. It is highly dangerous for you to even look at it. You mustn't open this box, not for anything."

"I understand." They said, taking the box.

The journey back to the overworld seemed to pass quickly, but soon (y/n)s thoughts began to betray her.

Why would they carry this beauty cream if they were not able to take a drop for themself?

How were they suppose to confront their husband if they looked as ragged and hungry as they did now?

Slowly, the temptation took over, surely they would need this beauty cream more than the goddess of beauty.

As soon as the box was opened, they fell to the ground, nearly dead.

While they slept off their injuries, a great fight took place between the gods.

When they had at last awoken, they were greeted with the sight of their lovers face.

"Eret!" They gasped, "I'm sorry! I truly am! I don't know what I was thinking! Please forgive me! I love you!"

She smiled softly, "There is much we have to talk about my sweet."

It had been decided, that (y/n) would join the gods on Olympus, and remarry the god Eret.

Puffy would hurt them no more, and Eret, having heard what lengths they had gone too to get back to them, he couldn't keep them away.

[bebepac]

The Double Date Mistake?

I am participating in @wackydrabbles​ prompt # 92 “I don’t think that was meant to go there.” will appear in bold.

This is also chapter 2 of The Meet:  To catch up on what you’ve been missing of the Meet so far Please click:  The Meet Masterlist

Original Post Date: 05/01/2021 at 3:15PM

The Book:  TRR

The Pairing:  Liam x F!OC (Liam x Jilian) 

Word Count: 1948

Summary: Jilian goes on a double date with Bebe and meets Leo for the very first time.  Jilian and Bebe share how they first met each other to the guys.  

Warnings: Sexual innuendos.  Profanity.  

Leo and Liam belong to pixelberry, Jilian belongs to @queenjilian borrowed for the duration of this series. All others are my own to help us tell the story.  

“And done. He has your number now Jili. Now fly my little birdies fly.”  

She thought he would text right away but he didn’t.  The whole way to Bebe’s apartment the twenty minute drive Jili’s phone was silent.

Bebe looked at Jili as she glanced at her phone.  What the actual hell?

She texted Jilian.

“Bebe why the hell are you texting me? I’m sitting right next to you?”

“I was just making sure your phone was on.”  

“I mean he’s still working Bebe.  He can’t just drop everything and just start texting away.”

“The hell he can’t. What in the actual fuck is wrong with you bruh?” Bebe grumbled as she angrily typed on her phone.

“Wing Woman are you trying to crash this plane?”

“The mother  hasn’t even taken off yet with you two trying to pilot it. I’m gonna need you to get your life together Jili.”  

The driver pulled to a stop. “Damn I really wanted to see how this turned out.”

Bebe got out of the car in a huff.

“I’ll let you know.”   Jili called out the window to her.

Jilian wasn’t going to let it stress her out.  He was still at work. She knew her job got busy at times, and she couldn’t just sit on her phone and do nothing.  As she was walking up the stairs to scan her door key fob, the phone rang.

It was a local number she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Jilian. It’s Liam.”

“Hi Liam.”

“I apologize for not texting or calling sooner.  Things got busy at work.”

“Oh I figured that was what happened.”  

"Bebe is something else. I feel a little attacked. I can tell it's from a place of love though."

"She's my best friend Liam. My true sister from another mister."

"So it's safe to assume you are single?" Liam inquired.

"I am, and for you the same?"

"Yes Jilian I am. Is it forward of me to say maybe we can change that for each other. I would really like to see you again. I'm off next Friday would you be free then?"

Jilian sighed.

"Friday is my date night."

"Oh. I just assumed you being single you weren’t seeing anybody even casually."

"With Bebe. We restaurant hop. We're self proclaimed foodies. 

Do you have any friends maybe we could double?”

“My brother, both him and Bebe have big personalities, I think they’d really get along.  Think she would be okay with that?”

“Yeah I think I could convince her.”  

They continued to talk, and about everything under the sun.  Liam was funny and witty and kept her attention.

She began to realize how much she had in common with the charming Liam Rys.  

She had cuddled into her bed under her covers laughing and chatting with him.  She finally rolled over realizing it was almost dawn.

“Oh my God! Is that the sun?!?!?!” she shrieked, surprised into the phone.

“I’m so sorry Jilian I completely lost track of time.”

“I have to go, I have to be at work in forty five minutes!!!”

Jilian said her goodbyes to Liam and hurried to work.  

Right when Jilian was sitting in her office reading over her chart  for her first patient’s checkup, there was a delivery.  

A large coffee drink had been delivered to her with a sweet gooey cinnamon bun.

“Gift for you Jilian Winchester.”  

Liam was really sweet.

She texted him thank you.

He had let her know he had an extra espresso shot added to her coffee.

Liam was a lifesaver.  

*^*^*^*^* The Double Date *^**^*^*^*

When Jili and Bebe got to the restaurant  Liam and Leo were already seated at the table both stood to greet them.  

Liam softly kissed  Jili’s cheek.  

Bebe glanced at Leo.  He was cute, but he was probably about five inches shorter than Bebe, not to mention Bebe was wearing heels making her tower over Leo.

Liam changed the subject breaking the ice between everyone, and the conversation between the couples started flowing.  

Jilian slipped in the subject of Liam and Leo honestly not looking much like each other.  

“We’re half brothers, we have different mothers. But don’t get it twisted Bebe.  I can scale you like Mount Everest. Taller women don’t intimidate me one bit.”

“Um….thank you for that blatant honesty…. Jili will you accompany me to the restroom please?”  

“Excuse us for a moment.”  Jili smiled politely.  

“Absolutely not Jili!!!!!”  Bebe was adamant when the door to the bathroom closed.  

“Bebe I didn’t know!  I swear when he said older brother, I was thinking he looked like him.  You would think older brothers are taller, bigger, and wiser. He is funny though.  You two do have similar personalities. Maybe try to focus on that Bee.  Let’s just try to have a fun time.  You don’t have to see Leo again.  But I know I want to see Liam again. I like him.”  

“You owe me big for this!!!”

Both women come back to the table.  Their drink orders had arrived.  Bebe takes a long sip on her drink.  

“That’s what I’m talking about!”  Leo smiled.  “A girl after my own heart.”  

“How did you and Bebe meet Jilian?”  

“We actually met in NOLA. We were both presenting at a medical conference.  Bebe for the Pharma side, because she’s a pharmacist,  and me for medical for being a nurse practitioner focused in the at risk population.”

Leo eyes flit to Bebe.

“So you’re a drug dealer?”  

Bebe smiled.  “ Legal Drug Dealer. Yep, that’s what I call myself. I’m slinging pills to pay the bills.”  

“I can dig it.”  

“We met the night before our conference began, in a bar.”  

When Jilian walked into the bar she noticed her right away.  There was a woman at the bar,  drinking her drink telling what appeared to be a funny story that had multiple people’s attention.  All were laughing with her.   She had to be a local. Jili thought.  

She had strings of beads around her neck.  

“What can I get ya?”  the bartender asked.  

She looked at Bebe.  “I want whatever she’s having.”  Bebe was the life of the party.  

“Well I did a little pre-gaming at the drive through daiquiri shop though. 

But mostly Hurricanes.  Get her a Hurricane Sal.”  

The bartender winked at Bebe.  

“Don’t skimp on the good stuff either!”  She yelled out.

Jilian’s eyes widened when the bartender  brought her the drink.

Bebe held up her glass to clink with Jilian’s glass.

“Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!!!”   The crowd screamed in agreement at Bebe’s declaration.

“What?”  

“LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!!!”  

Jilian took a long drink of the cocktail.  No wonder.  

“Yep! You like it.  I’m Bebe, what’s your name?”

“Jilian.”  

“I’m gonna call you Jili.  What brings you to NOLA?”  

“Work, a conference.”  

“Bleh you said the “W.” word.  That’s not existing in my life right now.  We’re here, we’re alive, no regrets Jili.  Let your hair down and enjoy yourself.  I mean literally.  That bun is a buzz kill.”  

Jili pulled the pins out of her hair shaking out her locks.  

“So much better!!!! You’re a babe!!!  See they’re already looking at you differently.  We’re not interested though.  Unless they’re buying more drinks.”  

Jili glanced at the guys that were now looking in her direction.  

“You’ve got a lot of bead necklaces going on.”   Jili commented.  

“There are two ways to get beads in NOLA.  Buy them or earn them.”

Jili looked at Bebe and raised her eyebrow with a smile.

“Let me guess, your ass hasn’t spent a dime tonight.”  

Bebe took a long sip of her hurricane.  

“Nope.  Not a single dime.  Including alcohol.  I'll tell you what Jili.  Life’s too short.  I’m not going to regret any of my choices.  I spent a year in Costa Rica, living my life Pura Vida.”

“Pure Life.”  Jilian smiled.  Bebe was a carefree spirit, and people gravitated to her.

“We’re only here for a blink Jili.  How do you want your story to be told?”

She decided to throw caution to the wind and party the night away with Bebe.

Jilian’s alarm went off the next morning.  She was incredibly hung over as she tried to pull herself together.  

She had a random memory of her and Bebe walking down  Bourbon Street singing “Lean on Me”  while they were linked arm and arm.  The drunk leading the more drunk back to the hotel.

She smiled, straightening her black business suit.  She was about to pull her hair up into her signature bun but decided to let her tresses fall free instead.  

As she was getting checked into the convention she slipped her ID badge and program of speakers, herself among the list.  

She heard her laugh.  Jili whipped her head around and saw Bebe at the back of the line with two others.  Bebe was wearing a bright pink business suit, and her shoes and clutch had the print of medications on it.  

“The legal drug dealers have arrived!!!! Big Pharma in da house!!!!!!”  

Jili laughed, shaking her head.  

“That’s how we met Liam.”  

“We found out later we lived near each other, and made plans to meet up.  Been friends ever since.  That was like six years ago.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask us how we met.”  Leo asked.

“I assume you are brothers…. You met… at birth?”

Bebe shook her head at Leo.

Everyone was calm after not to mention the alcohol free flowing.  They headed to  a lounge after dinner, called Blue Notes.  The music there was full of soul and blues.  

The drinks continued. The music there stirred the soul.  

“May I have this dance?”  Jili nodded, taking Liam’s hand.   He held her close.  

Leo eyed Bebe.   “You know, I have always been one to have a huge case of FOMO.  So you and me let’s hit the dance floor too.”  

Bebe downed her drink in one swallow.  “Why the hell not.”  

They walked out to the dance floor.  With Bebe’s high heels Leo was chest level to her.  He pulled her close resting his head on her bosom.

“Um….so we’re doing this… okay…”  Bebe looked surprised but she was smiling.

Liam laughed softly when he glanced in their direction.

“I don’t think that was meant to go there.”  

“The height difference honestly never crossed my mind Jilian.  Things seemed really awkward for them for a bit, for more so Bebe.  Not so awkward now.”  

Bebe and Leo were looking at each other laughing.

“You know this is never going to happen Leo Rys.”  

“A man can dream.  Well….It could happen for the night.  I can tell you’re curious. Let me tickle your fancy tonight.”

Bebe laughed harder at him.  “You don’t give up do you Leo?”

“Nope because I get what I want.”    

“If nothing else Jilian, I think they will at least be friends from this, if nothing romantic happens.”

The next morning Liam was cooking  breakfast when Bebe walked out of Leo’s room. Leo’s sweatpants looked like capris on Bebe.  

“Good Morning Bebe. Would you like some breakfast?”  

“Sure.”

Leo walked out of the room a few minutes later.  

Liam smiled looking at the two of them.  

“Breakfast Leo?”  

“I already ate.”  Leo winked at Bebe.

Bebe choked on her orange juice.  

“Oh you were talking about bacon and eggs, sure.”  

Nope not at all awkward at all.  Liam thought as he fixed plates for himself Leo and Bebe.

Bebe was climbing in her ride share when her phone rang.

“Bebe… Liam just told me you had breakfast with him and Leo… at his apartment.  You spent the night with Leo?”  

“Leo was right, Jili.  Not all of him is fun sized.”

Tags in the comments !!!! 

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Sonic X Theory: the other Ultimate Lifeforms

In Sonic X’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they make an interesting claim about the Ultimate Lifeform prototypes on the ARK. When Rouge hacks into the base, she informs Shadow of one thing- he wasn’t the only prototype from Project Shadow that escaped the ARK massacre. 

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X: one of Rouge looking up Project Shadow, surprised and reading “Shadow? Secure and dispose?” Another shot of two escape pods falling towards a planet, with the caption from a GUN soldier: “Our mission ended when we sealed away the prototype of the ultimate lifeform.” End ID.] 

Rouge makes the claim that neither of these escape pods was Shadow... so in X Canon, is Shadow even who he thinks he is? And just as importantly... who are the other prototypes? 

Full theory under the cut. 

So first off. Let’s look at Rouge’s claim that Shadow isn’t who he thinks he is.

Part One: Is Shadow from the ARK?

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X of Rouge and Shadow talking, with the following dialogue:

Rouge: This is the progress report for Project Shadow, a plan to create the ultimate life form. The body they created is still held there.

Shadow: I know. That’s a prototype. I’m the Ultimate Lifeform they created afterwards- 

Rouge: Two capsules were ejected when the ARK was shut down. But neither was found. They couldn’t lock up in prison what they couldn’t find. Do you understand? I wonder who you really are.

Shadow looks troubled. End ID.] 

So two capsules were ejected and neither was found in the fifty years it’s been since the accident-- except I think Rouge is wrong about one thing. Shadow is who he thinks he is- because his capsule was sent out alone. It must have somehow not been logged. 

How do we know this? Shadow’s flashback of being sent away and the man who worked for GUN are completely different- first of all, the GUN soldier doesn’t remember her saying anything to Shadow, or Shadow even being there- it seems that she died to send away something or someone else. Second- Maria is in a different position around the lever in both flashbacks. See the GUN soldier’s first-- 

Though we don’t see the full room, we get the sense that it’s small from the other shots that I don’t have the time to screenshot. She’s around an elevated platform not attached to a wall, and either facing the pod she’s sending away or in a completely different room. 

But, both of Shadow’s alternate memories of Maria sending him away-- the first one more stylized, the second one we can assume more real-- neither looks like this. 

In both, she’s in a differing position. In the sepia flashback, she’s not facing him, and pulling a lever attached to a wall. In the second flashback, she’s already on the floor, and the lever pad we see would cause her to be facing away from Shadow. In neither of these do we see any evidence that anyone other than Shadow and Maria are in the room or even nearby. 

Shadow also has enough evidence he’s who he thinks he is- he has the right powerset, the GUN soldier says that they did, indeed, seal away an Ultimate Prototype, Gerald mentions Shadow enough in his monologues, and... honestly there’s really no evidence that he isn’t Shadow, other than the two pods. And two pods? Shadow was sent out alone, we saw no evidence of a second pod in either flashback. So he wasn’t with anyone else. 

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is that these are two different events- one where Maria releases Shadow, and one where she releases another- or, possibly, the others, the two pods that were logged as escaping. 

Maria either freed Shadow first and then the other two, or she freed the first two, got shot, and then managed to survive long enough to send Shadow away. Either way-- these events are separate.  

So what was in the other two pods? Two other prototypes of the Ultimate Lifeform, clearly, but nothing like the Biolizard, they’re too small. 

Now let me ask you something... wouldn’t it make sense for the Ultimate Prototypes to look similar, if they were similar lifeforms? 

And who do we know who looks similar to Shadow? 

Part Two: Sonic is an Ultimate Lifeform

[ID: Shadow looking down at Sonic, and saying, “I see. We actually do look alike. It’s like looking in a mirror.” End ID.] 

Okay so like. Unless you’re very colorblind I think you’ve noticed that Shadow and Sonic are completely different colors. But let’s ignore that for now-- they do have a very similar silhouette... in fact, Shadow’s silhouette is incredibly close to SuperSonic, which is Sonic at full power. And in-universe, they look similar enough that in low lighting pretty much nobody can tell them apart. 

And not just that- Sonic has a lot of power for a seemingly “normal” mobian. [Yes, I know they don’t use the term “Mobius” in Sonic X but let me simplify this somehow.] His superspeed, ability to survive so much shit... he’s powerful enough that he presents a rival for Shadow without chaos emeralds (though Shadow is nerfed a little by the Inhibitor Rings- more on that later). 

[ID: Sonic and Shadow racing; they are keeping up with each other. Shadow says, “It seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that’s similar to me. Who are you?” Sonic responds, “I’m me.” End ID.] 

Shadow’s right- their appearance isn’t where the resemblance stops. And of course there’s probably the most damning similarity-- they are the only two characters we see go Super and have the ability to control the Chaos Emeralds.

[ID: First image is SuperSonic and SuperShadow, having absorbed the power of the chaos emeralds. Second image is from the Third Season, where a MetaRex shouts, “There are two individuals [referring to Sonic and Shadow] who can draw out the power of the Chaos Emeralds?” End ID.] 

Oh and SPEAKING OF Sonic/Shadow similarities-- there’s a scene in Season Three where Sonic is being lectured by the villain about how all life ends eventually so why bother etc. and Sonic says that life is worth the good bits, all that jazz. Here’s the scene:

And exactly 1:25 in.... guess what starts playing

This song is scarily similar to “Recollection of the Ark”... Shadow’s sad song about his memories of the ARK... while Sonic is being lectured about still having faith in humanity. You know. Like MARIA WANTED.

Interesting how we know absolutely nothing about Sonic’s past, huh-- pretty much all we have before he meets Tails is that he says he’s fifteen years old, but honestly... are we even sure about that? First of all, if Sonic was revived alone, there wouldn’t be a way to tell his age, he’d probably just accept the first age someone assigned him. 

Alternatively, we know from the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three that time works in a very wonky way from Earth to Mobius- in the ~2-3 days Sonic’s alone with Chris, a week passes on Mobius, despite the fact we know he can chaos control at any time. In the third season? Six years pass on Earth while six months pass on Mobius. So time doesn’t really work in a reasonable way, meaning it’s possible that Sonic is fifteen... and he lived fifteen years on Mobius after awakening, while fifty years passed on Earth. 

And we know for a fact that travel between Mobius and Earth was possible even before the events of Season One... because Eggman was born on Earth.

[ID: Eggman looking shocked and turning around in a chair, announcing, “I was born in this world!” End ID.]

Eggman was born on Earth and somehow ended up on Mobius-- but he was young enough he didn’t realize until he saw that Gerald lived on Earth. So was he in the second escape pod? It’s possible, but I don’t think so-- he’d have to have information on Gerald, and it seems he had a picture of Gerald and Maria, so it’s likely he traveled with a parent or guardian, or at least some kind of family history, which I doubt Maria would think to store in an escape pod while everyone was running for their lives. This plot element was probably just to set up that travel between the dimensions happens more than we think. 

Neither escape pod from the ARK was recovered, probably because they ended up on Mobius. 

It’s most likely that they Chaos Controlled into the other dimension-- I know I said Maria probably wouldn’t think to store anything other than the lifeform themselves in the pod, but if the lifeform needed Chaos Emeralds to practice/control their powers, or the Chaos Emeralds were already stored in an escape pod for safekeeping-- or if, possibly, GUN was attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds as well, and the Robotniks knew that they would use them in a destructive way-- all that combined could mean that the emeralds would also be important enough to send away in a pod. 

If even one of the pods had Chaos Emeralds, it’s possible that the lifeform inside could have sensed danger and unconsciously teleported them to the most safe place from GUN-- another world where GUN didn’t exist and couldn’t reach them. And even better-- a world where mobians like them lived. 

From Sonic X lore that I don’t have the time to find and screencap, we know that the two worlds used to be the same but split at some point in history. If this was after, say, the events of Chaos destroying the Echidnas-- which, sidenote, interesting how they disappear and nobody knows where they went, so it’s possible that Chaos straight-up split the dimensions just to get rid of the Echidnas-- then enough of their lore could remain. Old cave paintings, wall carvings, etc., could show enough mobians that scientists could probably think “oh, wow, that looks like a god figure. might as well design our ultimate lifeform after that, esp since they had this god that could control chaos and the chaos emeralds came from here.” 

Wanna know what’s interesting about those ancient echidna temples? Guess who’s there-- if we go by Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game that ofc had been released by the time X was being written...

SuperSonic. 

Both the ultimate form of Sonic, and the silhouette of Shadow. 

So let’s say they find this on the ARK studies, and they’re like “okay so our ultimate lifeform goal is a hedgehog. Got it.” There’s two options after this:

They make Sonic, but deem him a failure for reasons and cryo-freeze him until they need him or can release him. They then proceed to make Shadow, who they believe actually is their ultimate lifeform. 

They made Shadow first, but after a while kept experimenting and making more prototypes, just in case, or possibly because they decided Shadow wasn’t powerful enough. However, the prototypes weren’t ready to awaken before the ARK massacre, Shadow never met them. 

So as I’ve made clear, I’m pretty sure that one of those prototypes was Sonic-- who, of course, has no idea. Either he only entered consciousness after arriving in Mobius, or his memories of the ARK were so vague, traumatic, early, or a combo, that his mind blocked them out. Either way, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that he and Shadow are both prototypes, which is what gives Sonic his power. 

And Sonic’s power, btw, isn’t limited like Shadow’s. Because he doesn’t have inhibitor rings. 

If prototype!Sonic was sent away with inhibitor rings, he ditched them. Which would make sense, especially if he woke up with no memory of the ARK and didn’t know why these weird bracelets were on his arm. He would notice that the rings slowed him down and ditch them fast. And that’s assuming they even stuck rings on the prototype. 

But if we do assume they stuck rings on the prototypes... maybe we can find the other lifeform that was sent away along with Sonic. 

Part Three: Who is the Third Ultimate Lifeform?

Okay. Let’s do a headcount. 

Who, in Sonic X, 

Existed on Mobius at the same time as Sonic, 

Doesn’t appear to have a lot of power but has a lot of incredible strength if you pay attention, 

Sometimes shows strange abilities, such as far leaps into the air, a speed great enough that they can sometimes catch up to Sonic (though not as great, possibly because of the inhibition), even potentially the ability to summon weapons out of thin air, 

Looks similar to the Mobian Hedgehog-- or, perhaps, with influences from a Mobian Echidna, who were the ones who had the SuperSonic glyphs in the first place, and thus could potentially serve as a design point, 

Wears rings around their wrists at all times?

[ID: Amy Rose being absurdly powerful in several screencaps, often glowing; though this is normal anime expressionwork, it is something that exclusively happens to Amy in Sonic X. End iD.]

And, of course, this beauteous moment: 

[ID: A scene from the season two finale of Sonic X. Eggman’s ship, on which Amy’s hammer is stuck, is high above her, and Eggman taunts “It doesn’t matter if you’re angry because your hammer is stuck up here!” In the following image, a moving gif, Amy summons a hammer out of thin air, a puff of smoke coming from it, as she is still glowing with a fire-like energy. Eggman’s robots shout “She has another one! How many does she have?” End ID.]

That’s right! This was all an excuse to spout out my “Amy Rose could kill God” propaganda! But it’s not propaganda if I’m right!

Part Four: The Lifeforms

So. It’s been a couple months since I made this post, but I was rewatching Sonic X with my sister, and we did notice that you do see prototype lifeforms for a flash in the GUN soldier’s story.

[ID: Screenshots from Sonic X; The GUN soldier narrates his story, as we see GUN soldiers arresting scientists, while standing in front of empty tubes of bubbling green liquid. The caption reads, “There were many rumors about ARK. Such as doing research for eternal life or creating the Ultimate Life Form.” The GUN soldier steps to a tube that has something in it. End ID.]

We see a brief flash of an experimental lifeform in this memory, as seen above; we also see two more, the ones that were explicitly stated to be the ones Maria was freeing.

[ID: Screenshots from later in the same episode of Sonic X, the first showing two tubes with dark figures inside, surrounded by dark blue bubbling water. The next screenshot shows Maria preparing to free them, with the captions reading “An experimental life form? She’s planning to free it!” End ID.]

So, these silhouettes. Let’s uh. Let’s take a look at those huh

Now, the bodies are too thick to be standard mobian bodies- but we can also see wires attached to the prototypes, as well as, you know, whatever that liquid is. It’s entirely possible there’s something wrapped around their bodies, to keep them safe/asleep/etc.

But..... ok so I might be reaching here but analyzing the face silhouettes, using red lines to mark quills and green to mark potential laid-back ears, it really could be long-quilled sonic and short-quilled Amy.

As well as this, in the shot of the GUN soldier looking at a prototype, I swear I can see a mobian ear.

tl;dr this is all fascinating me and I think we should let the Sonic X crew return to making this show as if they never left so that we can get answers to this

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH38

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

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Chapter 38: Star Death Reality Show (XXI) {cw: gore}

"The explosion just now was because Mark shot a rocket launcher underground, but as you can see, I’m unscathed. The origin of the rocket launcher is somewhat complicated. In fact, there's a huge research institute hidden in the underground beneath this village. Before, I met He Yi there..." Qi Leren explained the previous events, and the framing of his “miracle” made his words' credibility soar, full of brainwashing persuasiveness. Once he had recounted his story, three minutes had elapsed, and the illusory wings behind him gradually dissipated in the air, his feet set foot on the ground again, and the silvery spots of light around him disappeared.

But even though he had returned to his normal state, Lara couldn’tn't look at him the same way as before.

"You seem to have a lot of questions." Qi Leren stopped his story, stared at Lara, and spoke in a tone that was definitely not his usual voice.

"Yes... I... You... Who are you?" Lara asked.

Qi Leren smiled: "I have already answered this question."

Lara certainly remembered that he said he was an apostle of God. After this impact on her worldview, she obviously couldn't take this answer as a joke.

"You’re really..." Lara murmured. She was afraid of this answer from the bottom of her heart.

Qi Leren looked at her gently and nodded his head.

Lara took a step back and took a deep breath of cold air. The chill through her heart and lungs calmed her down, but there was a flame burning in her heart, burning her questioning heart.

Seeing was believing, however, and she had nothing to say.

"Now... What are we going to do?" Lara asked. She seemed to have lost her cognitive functions after the shock of this scene, and listened to the apostle's commands like a docile little sheep.

"A lot of things. There is only one mature octopus left, but we can't find him for the time being. There may be a few larvae that have just completed parasitism, and they won’t be too aggressive... Let's gather those who are still alive. We can enter the underground research institute, where there’s a machine that can detect whether someone has become a host," Qi Leren said.

They acted quickly. Jing Siyu and Jing Sixue were woken up in the middle of the night and were taken away in a daze. As they walked, Qi Leren kindly asked what they had done today, and found no abnormalities. He wasn’t sure whether these people were infected now, but they had no ability to spread in this the first day after being parasitized, so he wasn’t too worried. As long as he could take them to the instruments in the underground research institute.

Xue Jiahui, Mark, and Annie were dead, and there were only ten contestants who may be alive at present. Among them, one had a mature octopus in their body, and eight or nine times out of ten, this person was Francis. But looking at the present situation: Dr. Lu and Du Yue were missing, He Yi was also missing, and Francis was also missing.

Qi Leren and his party found Janet and Alex, who weren’t as obedient as the Jing sisters, but even those who didn’t want to cooperate were convinced after Qi Leren took out his handgun. Although Janet wanted to keep her mouth shut, when Qi Leren shot the vase beside her, she spoke honestly.

Qi Leren smiled kindly, looked at this group of people who had gone silent, and sincerely understood the joy of getting things through violence.

The five people were led back to Annie's house and were amazed when they entered the attic, as they hadn't thought that such a secret room was hidden in the house. When they entered the basement, the messy sight before their eyes and the lingering smoke that hadn’t yet dissipated silenced everyone.

Janet looked at Qi Leren with indecision. Although she had completely regarded the story Qi Leren told as a joke before, she was not those two young girls, Jing Siyu and Jing Sixue, who had gone pale with terror. She didn't believe anything about Leviathan or the amphioctopuses, but her woman's intuition made her keep her mouth shut and look at the situation coldly.

They entered the underground research institute through the blasted tunnel. Right now the power supply wasn’t connected, but Qi Leren knew where to turn on the backup power. He knew where to instruct the five people to go, and he stayed at the back in case of a sudden attack.

Lara, who walked at the front, was very careful all the way, and took a fire axe to defend herself when she passed a fire control station.

In this shadowy underground research institute, the dark and long tunnel was like being in the body of an ancient beast. Within the range illuminated by flashlights, there were dusty relics everywhere. When walking here, their empty footsteps echoed constantly, inspiring the most horrible images in everyone's brain.

Qi Leren suddenly felt that he heard footsteps. He stopped, listened to the sound for a moment, and there was the rush of running in the distance.

"Someone’s coming! Turn off the flashlights and stand against the wall," Qi Leren whispered.

The five people were taken aback, became nervous, and obeyed without thought.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Qi Leren stuck to the wall and took the safety off the gun in his hand.

"Huff, huff, huff..." The short breaths were getting closer and closer, and Qi Leren suddenly felt that the sound was a bit familiar. It seemed to be...

"Du Yue?" Just as the man ran around the corner of the corridor, Qi Leren called out his name.

Du Yue slammed on the brakes and almost lost his balance. He looked at Qi Leren with surprise: "Qianbei! Qianbei, are you all right?! You absolutely won’t believe what happened at that time, I—fuck, he's crazy!"

"Steady, speak slowly, where is Dr. Lu?" Qi Leren handed him a bottle of water, and Du Yue unscrewed the bottle cap and drank a few mouthfuls.

"What's going on?" Janet also asked in disbelief. She noticed that Du Yue had blood on his body.

"I ran away with Dr. Lu... He should be fine, that guy chased me." And after a pause, Du Yue told everyone what had happened.

Du Yue and Dr. Lu had found a second ID card  in the basement of an uninhabited house that could open the door to the corridor. They had also met Lara and asked her about Qi Leren. They had honestly said they didn't know, but they were looking for him. When they went to the basement in Jing Siyu’s house, they opened the door again and met Qi Leren inside. Qi Leren had turned back to cut off the institute’s power supply. As a result, shortly after the power supply was cut off, Francis actually entered the basement, holding a dagger in his hand.

"I... um... used some special means and ran away." Du Yue scratched his head, and Qi Leren knew as soon as he heard it that he had used the [Protagonist Halo] skill card.

But this was the first time he had heard of a “protagonist” using his full power to escape. Shouldn’t he have used it to kill him? This boy hadn’t followed the routine!

Qi Leren was a little worried about Dr. Lu, but on second thought, he felt that with his luck, he shouldn’t have any troubles—look, the monster had come after Du Yue at the critical moment. At most, he had probably fallen on the ground and screamed, and by now he might have found a safe place to hide. Qi Leren had great confidence in Dr. Lu’s ability to win by lying down.

"Don't panic, since Francis is using a dagger, we’ll have no problem at all, even if... Quiet, I hear something!" Qi Leren heard footsteps again, and he held his breath, listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer. Then they suddenly disappeared, as if the owner of the footsteps had already known of their existence.

The distance between them was very close, just around the corner.

The darkness before his eyes, the coldness of the air, and the heartbeats of him and those around him made him feel as if he was deep underwater.

Qi Leren could bear it, but the two little girls couldn't. Jing Sixue held her sister's hand tightly and pulled her back. The cloth rubbed in the dark, making a shuffling noise. This slight movement was just like a flame in the silence of night, which made the stagnant air burst out in an instant!

Dadadada! Suddenly there was the sound of a machine gun firing on the opposite side, and Qi Leren shouted: "Get down!"

The bullets ricocheted off the fall, brushing Qi Leren's cheek.

Fuck me, how has the enemy’s weapon already upgraded from a dagger to a machine gun!

No, you can't fight here, or the six people next to you will be in danger!

Qi Leren paid attention to the last time he had used his S/L skill. The cooling time of one hour had passed, so he could use it. This time, he again forgot the Prophet's warning. After saving, he got up and rushed around the corner. In the dark, the only light was that of the machine gun’s shots, and it lit up the world frame by frame. His body slid along the ground like a fish and he swept his leg out to knock Francis down.

Francis roared. The machine gun was too long to hit the Qi Leren who had gotten close to him. He discarded the machine gun and gripped Qi Leren's arms. His strength made him think that his bones would be broken.

After being parasitized by the octopus, Francis's body had mutated to be more like a strong man. Qi Leren, who had not fought closely with the octopuses before, suffered a dark loss at this point, and he easily fell to the ground. The revolver in his hand also flew out and hit the wall, clattering away to somewhere he couldn’t see.

Qi Leren couldn’t come up for air and almost fainted. Amidst his confusion, there was a loud thundering in his ears and something slammed against Francis's head. With the women’s screams, the strength holding Qi Leren became lessened, and Qi Leren broke free, rolled over, and coughed heavily on the ground.

Qi Leren endured the dizziness and nausea and looked up. An axe was stuck on the back of Francis's head. Du Yue pried Lara’s hands off the fire axe. Lara covered her mouth and collapsed against the wall, sniffling and repeating Francis's name.

"Qianbei, are you ok? I'll help you up." Du Yue kicked the flashlight he had just left behind and helped Qi Leren.

"He’s not dead, cough... the octopus in his body will come out soon..." Qi Leren knew the octopuses’ habits and warned hoarsely. He picked up his handgun from the ground and pointed it at Francis's brain. Every shot was accompanied by the sound of Lara’s exhausted crying.

Qi Leren was panting heavily. His throat had almost been crushed and there was still some damage, so that he couldn't speak loudly, but he still amplified his voice as much as possible: "Stand back! Run! The monster inside him is coming out!"

As if it had been called, as soon as Qi Leren finished speaking, Francis’s brain had been blown off, and Francis, whose body had fallen to the ground and was bleeding, suddenly moved.

Janet also collapsed. When she saw the first tentacle sticking out of Francis's broken head, the woman screamed in a soprano voice: "He's alive, he's still alive! Monster, monster!"

-----

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[realcube]

his offer || nishinoya x reader

  summary: nishinoya has one night to prove to you that he’d be the best boyfriend

not a song fic! but it might seem like that at the beginning

tw// swearing, sexual references, energy drinks, lord’s name in vain, murder references, fluff, angsty, crying, skirt wearing! reader

‘ ♪ shawty’s like a melody in my head, that i can’t keep out, got me singin’ like  ♪ ‘

You groaned, lifting your head off your essay which you fell asleep on while writing and rubbed your eyes, confused and disorientated. Not at the fact you had fallen asleep while studying - that was a fairly normal occurrence - but as to where that music was coming from? 

Surely, your neighbours hadn’t started a party at midnight - the time which you had caught a glimpse of on the My Melody clock sitting on your desk - especially because both of your neighbours were old couples but hey, you were in no position to judge their music choice.

Like any reasonable human-being, you got up from your desk and lolloped over to your bedroom window, where the music seemed to be blaring from. Once you reached the window, you opened the lock then proceed to push it open which required a lot more strength than you’d like to admit, but figured that you’d blame it on the fact you’re tired. 

You craned your neck out of the window to hiss as the chilly air suddenly nipped at your skin, then scanned the surroundings for a source of the music but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary: no lasers, no rave lights, no crowds of people and not a speaker in sight.

Sighing, you were just about to call it quits; blame the noises on sleep deprivation hallucinations and go to bed - until you heard a familiar voice call out to you from your back garden. 

“(Y/N)! Down here!” The voice yelled, lowering the volume of the music momentarily to guarantee that you heard their shout. 

You tossed your head back, letting out a fed-up groan as you instantly recognised who’s voice that was so when you squinted and through the darkness you saw the bi-haired boy - in his white pyjama set under his black puffer-jacket, with black trainers on - standing in your garden with a speaker on his shoulder, it only confirmed both of your suspicions; the first being that he was source of the obnoxious music that woke you up. 

The second suspicion being that the voice belonged to none other than the boy who has been on your ass for the last few months - Yū Nishinoya. 

“Oh my god.” You muttered, rubbing your temples, desperately trying to process the sight you had laid your eyes on - was he seriously blaring music outside your house right now? At midnight? “Nishinoy--”

“What?!” The boys screamed, cupping his ear to show that he was struggling to hear you due to the distance between you both but mostly because of the loud music which was blasting in his other ear and throughout most of the neighbourhood. 

“Turn the fucking music down!” You shrieked, something about the ear-splitting volume of the music causing your blood to boil. 

Nishinoya chuckled, complying with your request and in fact turning the speaker off all together, “As you wish, m’lady.” He joked, setting his speaker down on the bit of concrete just by the back door of your house, “Is it alright if I just leave this here for now?”

You quirked an eyebrow at his question, was he not going to explain to you what he was doing or were you just supposed to play it off as normal? “Sure.” You replied as if you were asking him a question. 

“Anyway,” You started, clearing your throat and attempting to regain your composure now that the music was gone. “What is the meaning of this, Nishinoya?” You inquired, resting your chin on your elbow which was perched on the windowsill. Relaxing as - knowing Nishinoya - this interaction was going to be far from brief. 

“I told you to call me Yū.” He complained, jogging back to the spot in your garden he was standing in prior to placing his speaker down, as from there he got an excellent view of your gorgeous moonlit face. “I’m here to make you an offer.” 

You let out another exasperated sigh as it was one of the only reactions you had enough energy to give. If it was anybody else, you would’ve just told ‘em to fuck off and went to bed but it was Nishinoya and something you’ve learned after months of dealing with his antics and endless advances, is that it is easier to listen to him than get him to leave you alone. “What’s your offer, Yū? Also, be quick about it.”

“Okay,” He began with a wide grin, chuffed to see that you’re actually conversing with him for a change, instead of just ignoring his whole existence. “I know you said that you’d never go out with me but I’m here to change your mind--”

His offer was interrupted by your murmur of disapproval from above, but he brushed it off with a chuckle and continued explaining his plan to make you fall in love with him. 

“Just an hour; that’s all I need! I won’t waste your time! And I chose tonight because it’s not a school night, I know how much you hate staying up late when you have school the next day!” 

A small smile tugged at the corners of your lips at the naïve boy’s reasonings -which you attempted to hide with your sleeve, you didn’t want him to think that you were the slightest bit charmed by his proposal. “Yū.” You mumbled, looking down at him with eyes filled with empathy. “I- I don’t know--”

It was clear that Noya’s offer wasn’t especially tempting yet, so he had no choice but to pull out the big guns. “If you come with me tonight, I’ll never annoy you ever again, on god!” 

You blinked a few times at what he just said - it seemed too good to be true. This drastically increased your chances of accepting his proposition but you still needed to be filled in with some information, “What are we going to do?”

Noya beamed, his pearly whites almost blinding you, “That’s a surprise!”

You rolled your eyes, mentally comparing the pros and cons of accepting his offer; the main pro being the fact he promised to leave you alone afterwards and Noya wasn’t one to purposefully break a promise.

The fatigue weighing on your mind wasn’t helping you conclude your decision either, hence resulting in you taking around a minute to think about it and once you eventually snapped out of your unrelated thoughts, you just blurted out the answer which had apparently been waiting on the tip of your tongue the whole time.

“Uh- fine.” You uttered, your reply causing Noya to pump his fist into the air with a bright smile on his face, “Yes!” He let out a celebratory cry, along with a little happy dance which made your heart flutter - not that you’d ever admit it though. 

“Alright.” You giggled, playfully scoffing at his actions as you hastily went to close your window, “I’ll be out in a moment--”

“Wait, (Y/N)!” 

You immediately halted in your tracks, “Yes?” You quirked an eyebrow at his sudden interjection, yet you were hardly surprised as random outbursts were far from uncommon for him.

“Make sure to wear shoes that are easy to run in.” He said, devilry laced in his voice as he tried his best - but failed - to resist a mischievous smile forming on his lips.

His comment was a tad suspicious but you thought nothing of it since it was coming from Noya - he probably just wanted to play tag or something. Locking the window, you swiftly turned on your heels, grabbed your coat and rushed to your backyard. 

Nishinoya probably chose the best day for his shenanigans as your parents were both abroad for a business trip and - since they had no reason not to - they trusted you to be left home alone, meaning that it’s not like you’d have to sneak by them on your way out or anything.

As you approached you back door, you realised that you had very limited choices when it came to shoes; that is, if you wanted to leave quickly. Lying by the back door were you school shoes, your gym shoes and a pair of flip flops; the favourable option was obvious. 

You slid on your gym shoes while internally scolding yourself for falling asleep in your tight, uncomfortable school clothes then you proceeded to jingle your keys around in the lock until you were able to slip outside and glance at Noya, who had taken a seat on the paving next to the door. 

Once he noticed your arrival, he hopped to his feet and that was when you noticed the bag - which was almost the same size as him - slung over his shoulders. “Hey, what’s the bag for?” You inquired, momentarily averting your gaze from it onto him as you noticed he had his arms wide open for a hug.

Perhaps it was the sleepless euphoria, or maybe it had something to do with the dreamy ambience held by the dark lunar night; but either way, it convinced you to do something you would never even consider doing in any other situation. You leaned in and snaked your arms around Noya’s chest, allowing him to hold you in his embrace for a solid 5 seconds - the best 5 seconds of his life.

Although you hated yourself for feeling this; something about the way the outline of his muscles flexed against your back and the tingling sensation of his warm breath against the soft skin of your neck caused an unfamiliar emotion - perhaps slight arousal but mostly admiration - to shoot through your body.

Feeling something so foreign made you immensely uncomfortable so jerked away from the hug before your brain had any time to process it. 

After you pulled away, it took a moment for the overwhelming bliss Noya felt to subside - and you could tell by his starry-eyes - but once it did, he gave you a somewhat straight answer to question you asked prior to the embrace. “Oh, the bag? It’s got all the the things we need for tonight in it: snacks, money, my Switch, a blanket, a ball, a first aid kit, a fake ID and just a few other things.” 

You snickered, hardly able to imagine what those ‘few other things’ were but knowing Noya, he was sure to surprise you; that’s one of the things you loved about him. 

However, you knew that if you ended up falling for him, it’d completely ruin your grades. If you were with Noya you’d probably end up going out on these little adventures every single night and although you weren’t opposed to the concept, in reality you needed to study as you were quite ambitious and the university you aspired to get into required nothing less than perfection in terms of GPA. 

So, it’s not like you didn’t have any romantic interest in Nishinoya - in fact, you’ve kinda had a crush on him since the beginning of the school year - it’s just that you knew it would be in both of your best interests if you remained friends. You’ve tried to explain that to Noya several times but he simply didn’t understand and he didn’t try to either, which is what irked you. Thus, you stopped your feeble attempts to reject him in a kind manner and moved on to just blocking him out entirely.

However, a new problem was afoot. Both you and Noya were coming into this ‘date’ with completely opposing incentives; he wanted to make you fall for him and you had to do everything in your power to suppress your feelings for him but if he continues being so damn sweet, that’s gonna make things a whole lot trickier for you. 

“Alright.” Noya chirped with his signature daring smile, “Let’s go! Follow me.”  He instructed, grabbing your hand and intertwining his fingers with yours before guiding you to the front gate of your house. Upon noticing how the gate was hanging wide open, you realised that your stupid-ass forgot to lock it, meaning that anybody could’ve waltzed right in. Noya seriously chose the best day to pull this little stunt. 

Your breath hitched slightly as he kept his cold fingers in with yours but you didn’t protest as this would be a great starting point in convincing yourself that you weren’t in love with Noya; his strong, possessive grip definitely did not make you blush and the way he caressed his thumb gently against the back of your hand resulted in mighty rage bubbling in your stomach - not butterflies - rage!

The pair slipped passed the gate and he paused in his tracks, momentarily releasing his grip on your hand to allow you to lock the gate behind you. But as soon as you finished, he immediately took your hand back with his own and began swinging it back and forth as he led you to an unknown destination.

You giggled at his childish - yet cute - action but the fun was short-lived as your blood ran cold as the romantic aura which was blinding you at first finally lifted, hence the reality of the situation hit you like a truck; Noya was taking you a location which he refused to disclose, he carried a large bag which could easily fit a body inside, he had taken you out alone in the dead of night, he had a powerful grip on your hand so you couldn’t run away and worst of all, because you were in a rush to leave, you forgot to bring your phone.

Of course, a large part of you doubted that Nishinoya - Karasuno’s guardian deity and #1 simp - had murderous intentions behind his actions, it was surely just all one big coincidence. However, it’d put you at ease if you mentioned it, “Yū, um, I kinda forgot my phone at home.”

Noya sensed the anxiety in your voice and in all honesty, he couldn’t blame you. He was aware that what he was doing was suspicious - to say the least - and he wanted to give you more clarity on what he was happening but he thought it’d be more engaging if he built up some suspense. “Oh, um, I mean, if you want, we can turn back so you can grab it but I also brought my phone, you can have mine if it’d make you less worried.”

You tensed your whole body at his suggestion, ‘don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall!’ you internally commanded yourself before shifting your attention onto your options. It’d certainly calm your nerves to have access to any mobile device you could use to call for help, but there were a few holes in his plan, “Well, that’d be nice..but what if I lose you and you need to phone someone?”

Nishinoya simply rolled his eyes as a cocky chuckle erupted from his throat, “As if! Why would I ever need to do that?”

“In so many situations: you could have a heart attack, injure yourself, set something on fire, throw-up, get possessed, be struck by lightening, fall in a river, get jumped--”

“That’s silly.” Noya scoffed, ignoring the fact you suggested he could be struck by lightening despite the fact that there was not a cloud in sight, instead he chose to focus on how you insinuated that someone could possibly assault him. “I could be jumped? Ha! In your dreams! If someone shady comes up to me - or you - I’ll give ‘em one of these-” Nishinoya jumped into an offensive stance and aggressively uppercutted the air, “And one of these too!” He followed up with a swift roundhouse kick before planting both of his feet on the ground and looking at you with sincere eyes, “Trust me, (Y/N). I won’t let any creeps lay a finger on either of us tonight - or ever.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at how eager he was to protect you; it made your heart flutter more than you’d like to admit. Also, upon seeing how keen Noya was to fight - plus, remembering that you had taken those 5 years of karate lessons for a reason - put your mind at ease slightly. 

Still, you were tempted to accept all the safety you could get your hands on. “That’s sweet, Yū. But if it isn’t an issue, could I keep your phone in my jacket pocket?”

Noya unzipped his jacket so he could reach into the pockets of his pyjama bottoms to grab his phone and once he did, he presented it to you, “If it’ll make you feel less tense, then take it.” He single-handedly zipped his jacket back up while shooting you a kind grin which caused your body to do the thing again.

Your expression softened as your gaze met his and in that moment, everything felt right; you weren’t stressing over exams, you weren’t thinking about your chores, you weren’t fretting over your friend group drama, all you worries seemed to just dissolve away into the background - in that moment, it was just you and Nishinoya, appreciating each others company on a empty country road.

But perhaps you appreciated his company for a bit too long as he snapped you out of your trance by teasing you, “Oh, you’re falling for me already?~ We haven’t even arrived at the surprise yet.” 

You blinked rapidly, instantly scowling and rolling your eyes at his silly comment - which you knew deep-down was true but let’s conceal those feelings for a bit longer. “Uh, no. I just zoned-out thinking about..how stupid you look in those pyjamas.”

Nishinoya gasped in an exaggerated manner before sticking his bottom lip out to form a pout, “I didn’t have time to change.” He dropped the first excuse that came to his mind before glancing at the phone which was still waiting patiently on the palm of his hand. “Are you gonna take it or?” 

You nodded, carefully picking up his phone and sliding it into your jacket pocket, “Thank you, Yū.” You muttered, tucking it in as deep as you could to secure it so it wouldn’t fall out. “I had no idea you were into Pokémon--” You said in reference to his lockscreen which lit up when your finger accidently grazed the power button. If you were ignorant enough, you probably could’ve mistaken his background for just a bunch of words written in a red font but in reality, those words were connected in such a way that they formed the outline of a Charmander.

Noya’s eyes widened at your comment, ‘Shit, I forgot to change my background- she probably thinks I am a nerd like Tsukishima now or something-’ he mentally rebuked himself, desperately scanning his surroundings to find a topic he could just blurt out to pretend as if he didn’t hear your comment. 

Fortunately for him, the ‘portal’ to the desired destination finally came into vision, so he hurriedly grabbed your hand again and bolted towards - what looked like to you - the entrance of the Forrest. “C’mon, (Y/N)! I can’t wait for you to see where we’re going!” 

You laughed at how obviously he tried to dismiss your comment and change the subject, but you excused that part for now and focussed all your attention on trying to match Noya’s pace without letting your school skirt fly up in the wind. 

So you continued to sprint up to the entrance of the Forrest with Noya but as soon as you passed the first tree, you paused to catch your breath and squeezed Noya’s hand, communicating that he should stop too. “Wait, Yū.” You panted, taking a moment to admire the new scenery you had been introduced to. “You’re too fast.” 

You hummed, tossing your head back to inspect your surroundings; which was predominantly Cryptomeria japonica trees that stretched up to meet the sky, creating a mystical yet mysterious atmosphere. There was also the distant song of flowing water which rang throughout the Forrest, and that was seemingly the only thing to be heard - besides you and Noya’s puffs - as the Forrest was known for lacking Fauna. 

Although you have lived near this Forrest your entire life, not only did you not know the name and opted to call it ‘the Forrest’ whenever you spoke of it - which wasn’t often - you also had never stepped foot in it before today..with Nishinoya. 

He was always pushing you out of your comfort zone, persuading you to try new things; most of which, you would never even consider doing if he wasn’t in your presence: like the time he convinced you to go on every ride at the amusement park with him and you actually kinda had fun, or the time when he insisted that you play MineCraft Bed Wars with him despite the fact you had made it clear that you hated most server games..but now you play Bed Wars every chance you get. 

Nishinoya could say the same about you though; you were constantly pushing him to be the best version of himself that he possibly could. For example, there was when he texted you saying that he was going to skip school so he asked for you to cover him but instead, you induced him to come in by telling him that his future self will thank him for having the best attendance possible. 

Before you had a moment to collect your thoughts, Noya took your hand again and guided you through the Forrest, the sound of rushing water getting louder as y’all went along. “Yū, this place is so pretty.” You mumbled, the chilly air lacing through your hair elegantly as you were dragged through the Forrest by Noya. 

“You haven’t even seen the place we’re going to have our date yet!” He exclaimed, his lips curling into a smile as you didn’t object against his use of the word ‘date’ like you normally would. 

Suddenly, he came to halt and once you caught up with him, you took a moment to study the smug expression painted on his face before following his gaze only to realise that y’all had finally arrived at his desired ‘date’ destination.

You studied the setting he had brought you to and to say you were pleasantly surprised was an understatement. 

There was long, lush green grass growing on the outskirts of a clear crystal pond which was being poured into by many miniature ‘waterfalls’ that were just water squirting out from in between the rocks decorating the far edge of the pond. Along with that, there were cute little flowers adorning the sides of the pink, checkered picnic blanket which Noya had kindly laid out beforehand. 

“Noya- it’s- this place-” You choked, absolutely lost for words at the beauty and magic that this place emitted. 

The adorable look of awe in your eyes was enough to make Noya fall for you even more, “Do you like it?” He inquired sincerely, taking off the mask of pride he wore to impress you to get your genuine reaction.

“It’s stunning, you- how did you even find this place?” You eventually managed to blurt out, turning to look at him with a gleeful grin which set his heart ablaze.

Noya shrugged, thinking back to the first time he stumbled across this serene setting and how - upon laying eyes on the bewitching sight - his immediate thought was of you. “I guess, I just followed the noise of running water.” He spoke, as if asking you the question while tapping his jaw with his index finger. 

Then, before you got a chance to take a seat for yourself, Noya pulled the moves on you which he had practising with a volleyball since he first found this place; he took your hand by tucking his index and middle finger under yours so he had access to your knuckles, then he bent over to plant a long, tender kiss on it.

That action on it’s own was enough set the tips of your ears on fire but when he looked up from the kiss so his enchanting brown eyes met your wide (e/c) ones, you felt ‘the thing’ again and shuddered yet somehow unable to bring yourself to yanking your hand away. “Yū..” was all you could choke out in a breathy voice.

He didn’t reply, instead he led you over to the blanket he had set out on the ground by the pond, sat down and let go of your hand so you could take a seat beside him. 

You went along with him, mindlessly dropping down by his right side but all while keeping your eyes glued to the breath-taking sight of the pond water glistening under the moonlight which penetrated through the slats in the canopy.  Appreciating the environment as you were well aware that it’d be a while before you were taken some place so beautiful again. 

Noya couldn’t help but chuckle at how fixated you were on the scenery, taking this opportunity to drop the line he had been refining for many weeks prior. “You’re acting as if you’ve never seen something as magnificent before  - I mean, you’ve looked in a mirror, haven’t you?” He asked, a cocksure smirk tugging at the corner of his lip as he thought he delivered that line rather smoothly.

Meanwhile, you playfully rolled your eyes, cringing slightly at how poor Noya’s acting skills were; he made it dead obvious from his clearly google searched ‘synonyms for beautiful’ use of ‘magnificent’ to the fact you just knew that there was no way he’d be able to come up with something so suave on the spot. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that he had rehearsed that line many times preparatory for today but something about the thought that Noya cared enough about you to go through the effort of practising lines made your knees weak for some..unknown reason.

“Anyway,” Noya broke the deafening silence between the two of you by sliding off his bag, pulling it up to his left and rummaging through it in search of something. “I brought snacks and drinks for us.” 

“Oh, you’re too kind.” This piqued your curiosity as you sat up straight to try catch a peek inside of his bag to see what other stuff he had in there, along with what he could’ve possibly brought as a ‘snack’. 

Noya whipped his head back around to face you as he slammed two cans of Monster Energy onto the few millimetres of space on the blanket between your thigh and his, “Mango Loco for me and a Pipeline Punch for you!” He exclaimed with a foolish grin on his face which just got wider as he noticed a sweet smile gracing your features as your gaze dropped to the cans.

“How did you know Pipeline Punch is my favourite? Or was it just a guess?”

Noya snickered as you asked the question which he was praying for you to utter so he could give his ‘nonchalant’ response, “Oh, I just remembered the time at the arcade when we found a Monster vending machine and you chose Pipeline Punch - no biggie.” 

You chuckled, internally ecstatic that he would remember such a trivial detail about you but externally you were ecstatic to chug down some well-deserved Monster. You opened your can and promptly poured it down the hatch - bottoms up - taking a few audible gulps before letting out a faint ‘ah’ as the can parted from your lips. 

“That hits the fuckin’ spot.” You mused, staring blankly into the void as you felt any fatigue or sleepiness that might’ve been lingering inside your body slowly melt away, being replaced by passionate urge to..make out with someone. Shit. 

Noya guffawed at your visible enthusiasm for the beverage, which reminded him to open up his own. Gulping down the sweet taste in unison with you before sitting the can back down by his side, “I think that’s my third can today.” He said indifferently, as he turned to his bag and began hunting through it again.

Your immediate response was to gasp and luckily you didn’t have any liquid in your mouth at that moment or else it would’ve came spewing out, “Third?! Yū, that’s too much! I think this is my third can this year. You’ve seriously got issues, man.”

Noya nodded in agreement with your last statement as he tried desperately to stifle a chuckle, “I know.” He replied, then threw a bag of Doritos over his shoulder for it to land perfectly in your lap. “And here are the snacks.” 

You smiled, glancing down at the bag of chips sitting in your lap before shifting your gaze onto Noya, expecting him to turn around with a second bag of chips in his possession but instead, he was empty-handed. You quirked an eyebrow at this, knowing that Noya wasn’t the sort to give food to others without leaving some for himself, “Yū, where is your snack?” 

Noya opened his mouth, clearly about to give you a serious answer until inspiration stuck him like lightening - he just had to say it. “Sitting right next to me, why?”

You couldn’t help but titter at his stupid little joke; still, you were able to read him like a book despite not receiving a straight answer, “I’m guessing you want to share this bag then?”

“Well, yeah, it’s party-sized so I’d be surprised if you were able to finish it on your own.” 

“Is that a challenge?” You inquired, popping open the bag and twitching your nose slightly as all the ‘flavour dust’  effused from the bag sprinkled across your face, leading to you having to wipe it off with your jacket sleeve.

“No, I’m starving!” He cried as he aggressively stuck his whole arm into the bag to grab a fist-full of Doritos, pull it out and shove most of it into his mouth like the glutton he is. 

You scoffed, tossing the bag onto his lap as there was no way you were going to eat a single chip from that bag after he put his grimy, unsanitized hands in there, “Did you even wipe your hands before eating?- god knows where they’ve been!”

Noya shrugged, choosing to ignore your grimace and continue indulging himself in his bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos which he now had all to himself. “Haters gonna hate.” He mumbled to himself through a mouthful or chips, causing little pieces to go flying everywhere.

“Haters gonna care about your health and wellbeing!” You snapped back, attempting to say that in all seriousness but a playful smile kept creeping back onto your features.

Although there was an effort made to hide it, his whole body tingled when you said that you cared. The fact that you’d admit to something like that was - in Noya’s mind - proof that you were starting to catch feelings for him. 

He couldn’t be too confident in his hypothesis just yet but he needed answers right away as your endearing little actions caused him to grow more impatient by the second; how you said you cared for him, the way you gazed blankly at the moon or the stare filled with longing that you both shared on the way here - all of those factors snowballed into a feeling which was brimming inside Nishinoya this whole time and now, he finally bursts.

He tossed the bag aside, swiping his hands against each other to remove all the ‘flavour dust’ and once he did so, he grabbed both of your shoulders and adjusted his whole body to face you, exchanging a yearning gaze similar to the one you both exchanged before arriving at the Forrest. 

You instantly flushed red like anybody would do in your situation - I mean, his face was only inches away from yours, close enough for you to feel his light exhales tickle the skin of your lips and as much as you wanted to look down, for some reason you couldn’t pry your eyes off of his. There wasn’t a word spoken between the two of you for a solid minute but the fierce look in his eyes did all the talking for him, he undoubtedly wanted to tell you something important.

Nishinoya mentally scolded himself for being so impulsive, he pulled you in before he had even mustered up the courage to say anything so now you were both intensely staring into each other’s eyes as you waited for Noya to find the right words. 

“(Y/N)-” he spluttered at last, “I obviously really really like you. And I know the night isn’t even close to over yet but I just gotta know, do I even have a chance? Is there literally anything I can do to win your heart? Or am I just fighting a losing battle?” 

You internally sighed of relief, glad that it was just about his feelings rather than your sneaking suspicion that his forceful grabbing was the first step in his plan to - quite literally - take you out. “Yū..I can’t-” You were about to explain your answer until you froze mid-sentence, realising that you didn’t even know the answer to the question yourself. 

“I’m- I’m not sure. I’m sorry.” You murmured, averting your eyes from him and lowering them to the blanket beneath y’all. In all honesty, you were ashamed to have such little control or knowledge over your emotions - you usually don’t let your feelings run wild like this but something about just looking at Nishinoya evoked something special inside you. 

“I don’t even know what to say- I guess, I’m just mortified thinking about the way I’ve treated you up until today. And how I can’t even give you an answer to the simplest of questions, an apology doesn’t even cover half of it.” You gushed, feeling something horrible weigh down on your chest and you didn’t need a therapist to figure out that it was guilt. Next thing you new, tears were streaming down your cheeks but you paid no mind to them in hopes Noya wouldn’t even notice.

However, he noticed, of course he did. The faint sobs didn’t even need to reach his ear for him to be able to sense you sadness, thus slipping his arms around your waist and pulling you in so the side of your head rested against his heart while he kept you secure with one hand on the small of your back and the other cradling your head. “Don’t cry..” He whispered, not sure how exactly to comfort people in these situations but aiming to do his best anyway. 

“I don’t think it even matters if I like you or not; you deserve someone a lot nicer than me - and someone who shares more of your interests and ambitions so y’all can skip class together and whatnot.” You butchered the last part of your excuse but so be it, he’d get the memo either way.

Nishinoya chuckled which - in the moment - seemed inappropriate but after he flopped backwards - taking you down with him - you understood why he was laughing and you’d be lying if you said a faint one didn’t escape your lips too as he fixed his position so he was laying down with your head still against his chest. “You’re silly, (Y/N). Have I ever told you why I fuss over you so much rather than any other person?”

You paused, your breath hitching slightly, “No, you haven’t, actually.” Surely that was something you’ve learned by now after the many times you’ve asked him to go simp for someone else but no; every time you tell him to do that, his response is always the same, ‘If their name isn’t (Y/N) (L/N) then I’m not gonna fuck with them.’. At the time, you thought it was a great misfortune that there wasn’t any other (Y/N) (L/N)s at you school but now that you are laying in Noya’s arms in the crisp winter air, you consider yourself lucky. 

“Well,” Noya started as he usually does when he is about to go on rambling about something, “I think we are soulmates, to be honest. I mean, two incredibly attractive people, both with immaculate music tastes - it’s basically written in the stars that we should be together. Also, we are kinda like ‘opposites attract’, y’know? Like, I am the sexy rascal and you’re the sexy librarian - I help you live your life and you help me with algebra.” He wasn’t really sure where he was going with that comparison so he just decided to leave it there, “Basically what I’m trying to say is I really like you because you are you and I am me, y’know?”

There was just something about his chatter that you found so inexplicably captivating, so you allowed a small giggle to pass your lips at his final comment. “Yū..” You cooed, feeling your eyes drift shut under the warmth and comfort of his body pressed against yours. “The only reason I didn’t want to go out with you is that I was afraid I’d mess up my GPA. But genuinely, it’s hard to give a single fuck about my grades now; you just make me so happy, Nishinoya. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing I feel tonight, especially since I’ve kinda been studying non-stop for a week or two.” 

Noya’s heart skipped a beat as he waited in anticipation for you to continue, eliciting him to prod you a bit, “So..does that mean..?”

You felt the world fade away around you - right now it was just you and Nishinoya, enjoying each others company and keep one another cozy. “Yes, Yū. I’ve officially fallen for you. Will you be my boyfriend?”

Nishinoya was simply unable to contain his rejoice and excitement so he temporarily lifted his hand from your back to pump it into the air in celebration, “Yes!” He cheered, a toothy smile plastered onto his face which didn’t seem to diminish any time soon. “Of course I’ll be your boyfriend!”

He tensed, his eyes darting around to find something to express his joy onto until he recognised that the perfect opportunity was laying right on his chest. Hence, he lifted your chin with his index finger so you were gazing at him with your sweet, tired eyes and then he leaned in to plant an adoring kiss on your forehead. 

“I promise to treat you better than anyone else ever could!” He beamed, entitling that as his final comment as it was clear that you just want to fall asleep peacefully in his arms - which was odd considering you had a few sips of Monster Energy but he wasn’t opposed either way.

After all, now that you were his, he could spend as much time with you as he desired so there was no rush.

[soukokuwu]

angsty angst with atsushi discovering his s/o’s dead body 🥴

NO GOODBYES.      genre; pairing; word count. angst; atsushi x pm!reader; 1,750 words      warnings. death, mentions of abuse, gaslighting, toxic relationship      synopsis. the one thing you did right, and it came a little too late.      author notes. hi there (sorry for the super long wait too), but i combined it with this as requested by another(?) anony, i hope you like this! let me know what y’all think <3

What you tolerate, you encourage.

What you permit, you promote.

Perhaps if he hadn’t been so caught up in who you used to be, then he wouldn’t be in this predicament right now. Perhaps if he hadn’t been in love with the idea of who you could be, then he would have had the strength to let you go. But love makes people stupid sometimes.

And Atsushi is no exception.

No matter how many times Kunikida or the others tried to interfere, to warn him that you were no good, Atsushi wouldn’t listen. Why? Because he’s inherently kind, and sometimes to a fault. This time, it would be considered a fault. The weretiger is so blinded by you that he believes everything you do is out of love; because you can’t bear losing him. He uses love to justify your actions.

But nobody questioned this: Atsushi doesn’t understand what love is.

At least, not fully, and not yet. Especially when he acts as stubborn as a mule when it comes to you. Whatever heinous thing you did to him, he makes an excuse for it, hides it from everyone he works with every single day. And the worst part is, everyone in the agency can tell why.

A young boy, growing up in an orphanage with an abusive headmaster and nearly killed what, how many times? Once? Twice? A young boy, who grew up scared yet with a heart of gold. Starving, but wouldn’t steal. Lost, yet wouldn’t ask for help. He has never known proper care, proper love. So how could he be so sure you really loved him as he claimed you did?

The ones who could think more objectively — Dazai, Ranpo — they knew. Kunikida still let his personal feelings get in the way, he and the others didn’t give you the time of day. But back to the other two, they knew the answer. Why does Atsushi make up so many excuses for you time and time again? Why does he firmly believe that your feelings for him are true?

Because once upon a time, you really did love him.

In the beginning, before things took a wrong turn. Before his passiveness led to you taking advantage of him. Who was at fault? Maybe if he wasn’t so meek you wouldn’t have had that much control over him. But then again, you could’ve been a good person with a decent moral compass and not sucked him dry. Although, no one is surprised you behaved that way.

You are a member of the Port Mafia after all.

Atsushi remembers every single horrible thing you did. He’s blinded by love to stay with you, yes. But he isn’t totally lacking in common sense. He knows the things you do are wrong. He just hopes that each time you do it, there is a good enough reason behind your motivations. Besides, they always say it’s the thought that counts, right? And he thinks no differently.

One can only learn so much apart from experience.

He thinks back to everything now, while he slugs forward, slowly walking back to the dorms. He thinks about everything his coworkers have confronted him with. Atsushi doesn’t know what he plans on doing with the information, but with everyone pressuring him to at least reconsider the relationship, maybe he should think on it.

The first thing they told him: he is way too lenient with you. More often than not, they pointed out your jealousy to be irrational and unfounded. You’ve been with the Port Mafia longer than Atsushi’s been with the ADA, so you know of the existence of Yosano and Naomi, and now you’re aware that Kyouka’s part of them too. And somehow, without rhyme or reason, you always accuse Atsushi of having the hots for one of them. On occasion it’s Yosano, sometimes Naomi, but mostly Kyouka, which the weretiger is frankly very appalled by. Taking the age difference and her age itself, she has always been more of a sister to him, of course he’d take care of her.

But you didn’t buy that. You always manage to hang it over his head, always needs him to assure you countless times over and over again that he loves you and only you. Even then you doubted his words.

His colleagues’ take on this? It’ll never end. It’s an endless cycle. Because he let it go on for far too long. And now it’s too hard to pry that habit away from you.

Two. Ranpo was kind enough to put his two cents in the situation when bribed with snacks. He knows how abusive you are — you’re just lucky that Atsushi has the healing powers of the tiger, lucky that no bruises every stay on his skin for all to see. But Ranpo knows, and Dazai, because it’s just like that. They just do. And nobody else in the office doubts their word. Atsushi doesn’t fight back against you, because he knows he’s that much stronger than you. He’s afraid he’ll hurt you if he even grips your hands.

And it’s exactly because he doesn’t resist that he ends up getting hurt instead. Most of the times he just blames himself though — why did he have to go and do that? He knows that will make you mad, why did he still do it? He’s the utter failure here. He should be punished. And there you have it, he takes whatever you throw at him (pots, pans, coat rack, everything, basically); gets blue and black, sometimes gashes and cuts that all heal almost instantly anyway. Funny thing is, he hates it, because he thinks it’s some sort of cheat code, that he isn’t properly punished.

“How can anything like that be healthy?” Tanizaki’s words ring in his head.

Three. When asked why he’s even with you in the first place — he hesitates. Why is it that “I love her” doesn’t come to his mind straight away? Everyone knows he’s in denial and always has been. They all know that he’s hoping for the old you to come back. The one he blames himself for coaxing out of you in the first place when in reality it isn’t on him in the slightest.

That was the last straw — that was what made him storm out of the office. Because he knows that no reason he gives now will satisfy them enough to get them off his back. And perhaps… it is for good reason. Because honest to god? He’s tired. Tired of feeling wronged every time you accuse him of having an affair when he barely bats an eye in any of their direction (not since the last time you threatened to hurt them if he even dared to talk to them). Tired of being beaten up for something he never did, when it should be your colleagues who should be taking the heat of your anger. They were the ones who made you mad, not him. And he’s tired of constantly having to dread going to work because he has to make up a thousand more excuses for you, to defend you when he knows very well you wouldn’t do the same courtesy to him.

The ring of his cellphone makes him sigh. That’s probably you again, checking up on him to make sure he’s not up to no good.

Atsushi breathes in, throwing his head back, eyes closed as the faint light of the setting sun hits his face. His fingers fumble in his pocket for his phone, and he answers it. Another deep breath.

“Look, I don’t think—”

“Weretiger?”

His eyes snap open and he checks the caller ID. Unknown. He hears a familiar voice on the other end, it’s the one who’s always with that devil incarnate, the one they called the rabid dog. What’s her name?

“It’s Higuchi.”

Oh, right.

What do they want with him now? To surrender himself, maybe? But like hell you’d let that happen.

But what the blonde says next makes the whole world around him cease to exist. Every complicated feeling, any positivity, they’re all gone and he feels like he’s in a void. Black; everything is black. His fingers are twitching, palms shaking as Higuchi finishes what she says, but she doesn’t hang up without telling him one more important thing:

“It’s all your fault!”

Not an hour later and he’s kneeling down next to your bullet-riddled body, fingers ghosting over your now blue, chapped lips. The blood pooled on the concrete stains his pants, but he doesn’t care. Because despite wanting to break up with you, he didn’t want you to die.

And especially not for him.

You did a lot of wrong in the relationship. Abusing, gaslighting, and many more. The other detectives always put it upon themselves to show Atsushi who you really are, and how unhealthy every aspect of your relationship is. They always argued about which facet of your relationship is the worst. But now, they all know they’ve come to the same conclusion. No discussion needed.

It’s in how the black circles under his eyes have grown darker. It’s in how he’s so dejected, so forlorn every single day — at least before he could still deceive himself that you were there at the end of the day to possibly make him feel better. It’s in how he’s tried too hard before, and now not trying at all.

The conclusion? The worst thing you’ve done to him? Ironically, laughably, is to have loved him right just before you ceased to see the light. Sacrificing yourself just because you didn’t want to give his location away to the enemy, even if you knew Atsushi had a high chance of surviving? Honestly, the only thing you did that everyone else agreed was done out of actual love.

But you left behind a weretiger that now blames himself for your death. Whenever anyone asked he’d say that he killed you.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Atsushi used to be able to see beauty in the world; he practices it by striving to always see the good in you, in what you could be. Even if it is partial deception on his own end. But now… now he barely sees any good in any thing. Self-pity is a dangerous thing.

And somehow, by loving him right in the last moments of your life, you’ve sentenced him to an eternity of being a prisoner to his misery.

tags. @yokelish @gogolparadise @fyowyn-writes @animatedarchives

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Hold On @tokkazine! I love how these two banter and play off each other.

…

…

…

…

Every time Sokka came to Republic City, it felt like a brand-new place. Fields turned into houses turned into buildings until he could hardly recognize the place. The way people travelled, the businesses opened, even the fashion styles changed with the blink of an eye. It was almost impossible to keep up with and there was little wonder that the rest of the world could hardly keep up with the city’s innovations.

Even the people living in the city had a hard time keeping track of it all.

Still, despite how the roads changed, Sokka never once got lost when he headed to Toph’s office at the police headquarters. His body had long memorized the route, even as the sights around him changed. Including, it seemed, the actual headquarters: the building in front of him was twice the size of the old one and fancier too. Sokka stared up at the imposing brick building, bemused.

“When did they even find the time to make this?” he muttered, feeling awkward as he stepped inside. Sometimes, he missed when the department was a small, two-room affair. Toph had only one or two assistants at the time, and her title hadn’t so much been Chief of Police as it had just been The Only Police.

Now there were a dozen people looking at him as he stood in the lobby. They were all dressed in a grey uniform that looked a little like an overcoat with armoured shoulder pads. Recognizing a few faces, he waved as he quickly trotted along the long carpet to back. Toph’s office was always the biggest room in the place, and he scanned the ids next to the offices as he passed. There were two plaques labelling each room, the second in braille, and he smiles as he finally found an open door with her name on it.

Sokka poked his head in to find Toph standing next to a table, her brow furrowed in concentration as she manipulated a metal ball. As usual, when she focused, it was like the rest of the world stopped existing.

Which meant it was the perfect time to surprise her.

Slowly, he tip-toed in, the plush carpet muffling his steps. The best thing about her office was how plain it was—the blank walls were a bright white, the furniture limited to her desk, chair, and one super comfy couch. There was nothing around for him to bump into, nothing to navigate around.

One, two—

“Hey, Snoozles!” Toph chirped, smirking as she set down the metal ball. “You got to do better than that.”

Sokka pouted, crossing his arms as he gave up the jig. “How do you always know when I’m here?”

“My radar, duh?” How Toph ever learned to roll her eyes despite being blind, he had no idea. He was half certain she’d learn it specifically to make fun of him and Aang, but he could never be certain. “Come on, you’ve known that for years.”

“Not that.” Sokka snorted, slightly insulted. “I meant, how do you know it’s me? I didn’t even say anything.”

“It’s…it’s obvious it’s you.” He wasn’t sure if it was the lights or if he was imagining it, but her cheeks looked rosy pink as she dug her fingers in her thighs. “When’d you get back?”

She was the changing the subject. He would have glowered at her, but there was no point. “Fine, keep your secrets.” Maybe it was another Earth-bending skill she was developing. Grinning, he padded over to her, wrapping arm around her back for a tight side hug. “Just now! I dropped my stuff at the temple and bam! Came to see you!”

Toph wrinkled her nose, though she didn’t step away. “You smell like it too.”

“Hey, that’s the sky bison, not me.” Discretely, he sniffed himself. It wasn’t that bad.

Then again, he’d been smelling sky bison for the past few days; maybe he wasn’t the best judge. Pulling away, he sheepishly rubbed his neck. “Maybe I should have taken that bath first.”

‘You think?” Toph chuckled. Heading over to the sofa, she picked up her grey coat. He could just make out a small badge at the front as she draped it over her arm. “Let’s get dinner.”

“Didn’t you just say I smelled bad?” Sokka frowned, confused.

“Didn’t say I couldn’t handle it, did I?” Toph raised a brow, looking more amused than annoyed. “’sides, I’ve handled criminals all day. You’re the least fishy thing I’ve handled.”

Sokka guffawed, loving the duel meaning. God, he’d missed this—there were so few people who got his sense of humour. Even fewer who could make jokes. Sometimes, he dealt with Katara for so long he forgot that not everyone else was a humourless worrywart.

Hands in his pockets, he waited outside as she closed the door. “You good to go now?”

“Yep.” Toph grinned slyly, her voice lowering to a whisper as she leaned closer. “You know what’s the best part of being blind?”

He felt a little like a giant as he bent over, lowering his head so they were at the same level. Despite getting a growth spurt over the years, Toph was still the smallest person he knew. “What?” he whispered back playfully.

“I never have to handle the paperwork.” She winked at him devilishly before humming as she headed toward the doors.

Sokka laughed again as he walked apace with her. Her poor subordinates.

As they slipped out the police station, he asked, “So why the new uniforms?”

“Blame Twinkle toes.” Toph shrugged. Fortunately, despite it being mid-September already, the weather was warm tonight. It was comfortable walking around in his usual sleeveless vest, and Toph even unbuttoned the top two buttons of her dress shirt. She scrunched her nose. “He wanted us to look the same or something. I think it’s stupid.”

“Why? Uniforms are cool.” Sokka pulled the collar of his vest and stood up a little straighter. “I happen to look very good at them.”

Toph shot him a disgusted look. “I’m sure if I could see, I’d gouge my eyes out.”

“Hey!”

“Besides, if Katara or Zuko picked them, sure, but Aang?” She stopped walking and unfolded her coat. Tugging it on, Toph rested her hands on her hips as she turned to him. “Does this look good to you? I can tell just by feeling them they’re ugly.”

“They’re…” Sokka stared at it as the slightly big coat hung loosely off her shoulders. Aang hadn’t even gotten the size right. He’d seen it on the rest of her coworkers but seeing it like this—it wasn’t great. The shoulder pads were too big. The coat was really plain and out of place. “It has…a nice badge?”

“See?” Toph shrugged out of the coat before he could say anything else. Hanging it off her arm, she continued walking. “Everyone hates them except for Aang.”

“I can talk to him,” Sokka suggested, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as they walked. “It’s not like they’re completely terrible, maybe if we…”

“If you find a solution, I’m all ears.” She kicked a pebble and it skittered across the road. “How was the trip?”

Sokka brightened immediately. It was hard not to, considering the past few weeks he’d had. If there was one thing he liked about his job as an ambassador of sorts, it was the travelling. Maybe it was their journey to save the world, but he’d gained a sense of wanderlust from it all, an inability to stay still. Grinning, he started to tick off his mini adventures. “Awesome, I got to go to the Earth Kindgom again, ate the bestdumplings, save the Lettuce-man’s stall for once—”

“He’s still in business?” Toph’s jaw dropped in surprise, an utterly rare sight that he immediately committed to memory. She moved her hands rapidly as she tried to articulate as a proper sentence. “But his cart—didn’t we burn it down once?—I thought he wanted to—he’s still in business?”

“Yes, yes, I don’t remember if we did that, yes, yes,” Sokka replied easily, not bothering to hide his amused laugh. “I guess if we’re not near him, he actually does good business.”

“You just said you saved his stall,” Toph pointed out, raising a brow. She still had a look of utter disbelief, as though he had just destroyed her worldview like they had destroyed cabbage all those years ago.

“Kinda?” Sokka admitted sheepishly, rubbing his neck. “I was kinda the reason it got in trouble in the first place.”

Toph snorted, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. “That sounds about right.”

“Hey!” he protested, shooting her an ineffective glare. Now that he was older and his voice deeper, he could actually growl properly, but she still never took him seriously. Despite her jokes and how childish she acted at times, Toph was very much an old soul, as steady as the earth itself.

“Anything else happen?” she asked, ignoring his objections as usual.

There was no point in arguing. With a sigh, he shrugged. “Lots of ambassador paperwork—”

“Which is why I never want to go.”

“—and Uncle Iroh looked fine.” Sokka frowned, processing her last sentence. “I thought you couldn’t do paperwork?”

“Nah, I won’t want to.” Toph smirked mischievously, and he felt sorrier for her assistants. “Also, Uncle Iroh?”

“Look, it’s really weird calling him just Iroh, okay?” At the memory, a shiver ran through his spine. “I don’t even call our village elders by their name, and they’re like half his age.”

Toph scoffed. “I don’t think he’s that old.”

“Well, okay, maybe, but he feels like it. I tried calling something else and then he got weird about it so we just…settled for Uncle.” Sokka sighed. “And that’s not even going into how weird it is to workwith all of these firebenders. We fought them for so long, and now I have to ride with them on Appa. Like, we all had a little adventure with Zuko, right? How am I supposed to do that with a thousand people?”

“Sounds rough, buddy,” Toph agreed, roughly mimicking Zuko’s voice as she reassuringly patted his arm.

Sokka exploded in laughter; Toph’s imitations had only gotten better with time. “You should have heard Zuko whenever I call him Emperor.” He made a strangled cry; his imitations weren’t too shabby if he said so himself. “I thought I accidentally killed him.”

Toph howled with laughter. “I’m doing that next council meeting.”

He blinked. Now that she mentioned it, she did meet with Aang and Zuko on a regular basis. She was the chief of police for a city they both had founded. Curious, he asked, “Wait, then what do you call him?”

“Sparky and Twinkletoes,” she replied bluntly, without an ounce of hesitation. “What, you think I’d actually call Aang ‘respected avatar’?”

“Even in front of the council?” Now it was his turn to gape, and he almost tripped over a pothole.

“Especially in front of the council.” Utterly unrepentant about it all, she grinned devilishly. “Man, if you could have heard their gasps…”

“I’d try it, but I think Zuko would kick me out.” Sokka laughed. It was ridiculously easy talking to Toph, even for something inane as this. A cool evening breeze wafted by as they walked down a narrow street infested with potholes, but he didn’t mind it. Hell, he didn’t even mind the smell that came from the nearby developments. They could have been walking through Zuko’s palace, the way he felt.

Humming, he squeezed her hand.

Her hand.

Sokka glanced down. They were holding hands. When had that happened? Somehow, he hadn’t noticed, and even now all he could say was how comfortable it felt. Her sly insults, her warm hand, the way she walked as though she ruled the place; every part of it felt like an integral part of him coming home.

“Sokka?” Toph asked as she stopped in front of a brightly lit restaurant.

She’d laugh. No, she’d tease him about this for the rest of his life. That he was the densest person on the planet, to realize like thisthe reason he always looked for her the second he came to the city, how he kept finding her in the corner of his eyes whenever he travelled away. But he’d always been some flavour of an idiot. Suki had told him as much when they’d started dating, and Katara never failed to mention it when he’d missed the signs of her pregnancy.

He liked Toph.

Everything felt so simple the second he’d thought the words, all the pieces falling into place. Elated, he blurted out, “Wanna go out with me?”

“Wha—?” Toph blushed, her cheeks tinged an adorable pink as she gaped at him.

Sokka stared at her for a minute before realizing that he hadn’t actually explained anything out loud. “Er, I mean, you’re—”

Toph snorted. She actually snorted at his confession, letting go of his hand as she headed into the restaurant. “We’ve been dating for months now, Snoozles. What are you talking about?”

“Yeah—” He let out a strangled cry. Sokka shouted at her retreating back, “WHAT?”

Sticking a finger in her ear, she turned to him. “We’re at a restaurant, have some manners.”

It was utterly rich, coming from her, but he couldn’t deny she had a point. Already, strangers around them were gawking at them curiously, twittering softly about the Chief of the Police and one of the Avatar’s Ambassadors. Hunching slightly, he quickly stalked after Toph. “Right.”

“Good.” Her hands were in her pockets now as she entered the small restaurant. It smelled lightly of sizzling meat and spice, a strange aroma that reminded him of that firebender town in the Earth Nation. A small shop, it only had about a dozen or so tables, most of them packed with couples or small families.

Raising her voice, she called out, “Two.”

“Two?” A middle-aged woman turned away from the table she was waiting on. Recognizing Toph, she smiled brightly. “Chief Toph! Your usual spot’s open.”

“Nice!” Toph grinned as she headed further into the restaurant, to a table just outside the kitchen doors. “We’ll have the usual.”

“You have a usual spot?” he asked, momentarily forgetting about their discussion. “And a usual?”

“I’m their number one customer,” Toph added cheekily, slipping into a seat. “I swear this place changes hands like every five months, but the food’s always good so whatever.”

“Isn’t that a bad thing?” Sokka muttered, wondering just how good a place could be if they kept getting shut down. Still, it smelled good at least, and his belly rumbled in anticipation. “The food here…”

Toph’s smile grew wider. “Recognize it? It’s some sort of Fire Nation/Earth Nation fusion thing.”

“Fusion?” Considering Republic City’s purpose, he should have expected that earlier, but still. He looked around curiously. Now that she’d mentioned it, he recognized the decorations—the stone badgermoles, the copper dragons, even the fans had different styles of decorations. “No wonder it smells familiar—it’s like that town we visited.”

She hummed her agreement. Leaning back in her chair, she clasped her hands behind her head. “If you’d come like three weeks ago, you could have had the Water/Fire one.”

“Whaaat?” Sokka slumped over, put out. “Why didn’t you tell me this? We could have eaten there the last time I came!”

“You didn’t ask.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

Grounding his teeth, he crossed his arms. “Is that also how we’re dating? Cause I didn’t ask?”

“No, that’s…” she trailed off, her cheeks tinged an adorable shade of pink. “You did ask.”

“Huh?” Sokka struggled not to shout again, using all of his willpower and self-restraint to keep his tone at a neutral level. “When?”

“Months ago.” Despite her obvious embarrassment at it all, she didn’t shy away from conversation. “You asked me to go out with you.”

“I did?” He clasped his face, his fingers digging into his cheeks as he struggled to remember. What had they been doing months ago? God, he couldn’t remember, it felt like years ago. Hazarding a guess, he replied, “I think I just meant go out? Like going out to eat or going out to do something?”

“Who tells someone let’s go out when you just want to eat?” Toph hissed, daggers in her voice. He flinched.

“If we were inside, then we had to go out to eat. Besides, we both know I’m bad with words,” Sokka hotly defended himself, willing to even throw himself under a bridge to get out of this mess.

“But that bad?” Toph growled, irate. She knitted her brow as she asked, “Then why do we keep going out for dinner?”

“Because we’re friends?” Sokka held his hands up, not sure how to explain this better. “I eat with the others too sometimes.”

“Not like you eat with me,” she argued, her fingers digging into the table. “I’ve asked and Zuko and Aang said you don’t eat with them as much as you eat with me.” When he opened his mouth, she added, “And you travel with Katara, so that doesn’t count.”

He snapped his jaw shut. “It’s not that much,” he muttered under his breath, averting his gaze.

“Twice as much,” she pointed out, raising a brow.

“Oh.” Now that she mentioned it, he had been seeing her a lot recently. “I like your company?”

“You’ve given me hairpins and random gifts,” she said flatly. “You just held my hand.”

“That’s…” Sokka couldn’t deny it. His hand clenched involuntarily, remembering how firm her grip had been, the callouses on her fingertips.

“That?” she repeated.

There really wasn’t another word for it. “You’re right. That does sound like dating.”

God, no one was going to let him live this down. Anyone could do anything, and it wouldn’t match the stupidity levels of this.

“Like I’m ever wrong,” Toph derided. She leaned back slightly away from the table as the middle-aged woman from before walked by, her arms laden with dishes.

“Here you go, your usual,” the woman chirped as she set down two plates in front of them. A curried chicken sat on a bed of rice. Despite how dark brown the curry looked, it smelled faintly of pepper. “Have fun!”

Before he could say anything, the woman gave them a wink and disappeared into the kitchen. Now that he thought about it, that happened a lot whenever they went out to eat. Sokka couldn’t even explain that away, there was no good reason for him to miss that. He really was an idiot.

Gleefully, Toph dug in. “They cook so quickly.”

“What’s this?” Sokka poked the chicken gingerly, a little suspicious. Toph had unusual tastes sometimes, though he hadn’t yet determined if she genuinely liked strange food or was just messing with him. Either way, it did smell nice, so maybe she wasn’t pulling his leg this time.

“The usual,” Toph replied, mouth full. “Trust me, you’ll like it.”

If there was one thing his journeys had taught him, it was to never question food too hard. It was meat, something he couldn’t have at Aang’s, and that was good enough for him now. Hesitantly, he swallowed a spoonful. Despite the spice, he only felt a mild heat as he chewed. More than that, he felt the Earth Kingdom’s more earthy flavours blending in with the Fire Nation’s sharp ones. It was a strange sensation. His tongue felt a little numb from it.

All in all, though, surprisingly good. He took another bite, praising, “I’d eat this all the time too.”

“Right?” Toph grinned at him cheerfully, as she shoveled yet another spoonful. She looked like a chipmunk, with her puffed up cheeks. “Told you.”

It was silly, really, how bubbly he felt just watching her smile. She looked utterly ridiculous, a police chief acting like a little kid over a meal, but there was something utterly endearing about it all. His courage swelling up, Sokka boldly grabbed her hand. “Let’s go out.”

Toph almost choked on her food. Grabbing a glass of water, she forced it down before kicking him. “We’re already going out.”

“Kinda?” He didn’t bother to refute it this time. Even he had to admit the signs didn’t look good. “But I wanted to ask you properly this time.”

She flushed lightly. “Do you now?”

“Yes.” He reached over, covered her hand in his. It felt right. It had always felt right. “Hey, Toph, I really, really like you. Want to see what happens?”

“Really, really like?” she repeated, scoffing. “What are you, five?”

Despite her words, though, her cheeks were as red as flames. He wanted to kiss her. Leaning closer, he asked, “So?”

“Do I need to answer?” she mumbled. For all her cool before, she was a mess now, unravelling with every honest word. “You think I would have pretend-dated you for months otherwise?”

Sokka laughed, almost at her lips now. “No, I guess not.”

Realizing what he was after, the blush spread to her ears and neck as she angled herself for the kiss. They ended up bumping noses and he laughed again. That was just like them. “Oops.”

“You’re so bad at this,” Toph grumbled, grabbing his collar and pulling him down for a proper kiss.

[first-and-last-neocount]

Whumptober Day 2

So much love to @theobscurepotato and @peregrinealpha, you guys are fantastic and I really appreciate the support, it means the world to know that I’m not the only one excited for this! <3

I have no excuse for this one. Pretty sure this is the purest definition of an id fic, because it just kinda wrote itself, and when I was done and went back to read over it the front of my brain was like ‘what the hell did I just create’ and my lizard brain was purring ‘yesss, good’ like goddamn Palpatine. This is definitely not a scenario that I think would actually have happened in canon, but apparently it’s a scenario my brain wanted to play with, and I definitely do blame it on Gerald canonically having way too much fun needling Damien for no obvious reason other than for the sake of winding him up. 

Much like day 1, this is right in the grey area where I wasn’t sure whether to tag it NSFW or not, but I’m erring on the side of caution because I’d rather be overly conscientious than not. I also wasn’t entirely sure how to word the content warning tags, so I tagged it for general self destructive behaviour, because uh - what Gerald is doing here is not how to have a healthy relationship, kids. This is ‘personal experience with adolescent trauma’ meets ‘horrifically bad coping mechanisms’ with a dash of ‘really really warped views on intimacy’. This is also a consent nightmare, because Damien is not aware that Gerald is intentionally provoking him. Please do not try this at home. 

Day 2 - Theme Chosen: Choking

Gerald Tarrant wasn't above using deception to further his own interests, but he preferred evasion to direct falsehood, and he certainly wasn't in the business of lying to himself. Thus, he was well aware of why he was engaged in his current endeavour – that being, inciting yet another argument with his companion, intentionally goading the priest he'd spent the last few months travelling with into a heated debate over the fate of the little girl they'd unintentionally absorbed into their group after encountering the Terata. The part of his mind that was coolly analyzing his actions, though, was smaller than the part which was focusing on the argument itself.

Both of those part combined were smaller still than the part of his brain that was fixated on what the priest's hands would feel like closing around his throat.

“For the last vulking time, I am not just abandoning her!” The Knight's fraying patience finally snapped, and the bulkier man took a step toward the adept, his eyes blazing. He was only letting go this much because Jenseny was well away from the cave that was currently their refuge, gathering sticks with Hesseth to make a fire; the rakh-woman had sensed the building tension, and had deliberately taken the girl out of the way so that the two men in the group could clear the air.

“I don't care if you think it would be easier, I promised to keep her safe -”

His hands were clenched into fists at his side, the force of his indignation expressed through the whitening of his knuckles, the corded tension in his arms as he held himself back from violence. Gerald fired back a retort on autopilot during an appropriate pause in the priest's rant, his own manner cool and detached, his mask of indifference firmly in place despite his mental preoccupation. God, the strength in this man – Damien Vryce was a fighter, and the proof of that was in every line of his body, the broad stretch of his shoulders and the thick muscle that layered his naturally-sturdy frame. His hands were large and strong-boned, the skin tanned and weathered by years of travel, thickly calloused by the tug of leather reins and the hilts of weapons. Fae-augmented healing or not, if Vryce hit him, it would hurt. It would leave a mark, at least for a while.

It would feel real, in the way things rarely did now, isolated as he was by his own carefully crafted cocoon of power.

The words of a past lover drifted through his memory, that long-gone voice dripping with disgust. You're pathetic. So desperation for attention, you don't even care what it looks like. I could make you bleed and you'd say 'thank you', wouldn't you?

“Are you even listening to me?”

Gerald snapped back into the present moment fully, his unnaturally slow heartbeat accelerating a little as he registered the building fury in Vryce's voice. His lack of attention had been noticed, it seemed, and the priest's handsome face was turning an alarming shade of red as his temper swelled. Pride simmered in Gerald's chest at the reaction he'd provoked from the normally level-headed man, satisfaction slithering through his veins even as he replied in a deliberately bored tone.

“It's not as if you're saying anything you haven't said before, Reverend. Given the intensity of our pursuit, the girl would likely be safer out of our presence than in it. Regardless, though, it comes back to the same point; our goals are too important, we can't allow ourselves to be sidetracked by one insignificant chi-”

He read Vryce's intentions through the fae before it happened, the sudden resolve bleeding off the priest in an unmistakable wave of crimson, but his own surprise at finally eliciting such a concrete and visceral reaction kept Gerald from responding in time – not that he knew, necessarily, what response he might have tried to make. In a single smooth movement, the Knight grabbed Gerald's shoulder with one hand, shoving him forcefully backward while the other settled around Gerald's neck. As the Hunter's back slammed into the rough stone of the cave wall, Vryce pinned him there, leaning in as he snarled out his words in a voice gone guttural with rage.

“Don't you dare call her insignificant.”

The vitriolic reply he would have given in any other situation died unspoken as Gerald's usually turbulent mind went utterly, blissfully quiet, only a single line of thought remaining to him.

Yes. That's it. Do whatever you want. Hate me.

Hurt me.

Just don't let me go.

A dark and twisted lesson it might have been, but Gerald had learned one truth of human nature early in life, and had never forgotten it even as centuries passed. People were more than happy to lie and cheat their way through life, and would deceive you at every turn; you could so rarely be sure of  where their real intentions, or attentions, might lie. They could talk, laugh, eat, fuck, and at every moment their thoughts could be elsewhere – but not when they wanted to hurt you. If they were that angry at you, no distractions existed.

Once you drove them over the edge enough to put their hands on you, you were the only thing in the world that mattered.

Gerald tipped his head back against the unyielding stone behind him, just to feel the way Vryce's hand was clenched around his neck a little better; he didn't technically need to breathe to sustain himself, but he was reeling and lightheaded nonetheless, from the heady mixture of triumph and adrenaline pumping through his veins. A sensation of mingled horror and satisfaction, so deep it made him nauseous, made him swallow reflexively against the way his mouth flooded with saliva in response – and then swallow again, when Vryce's grip tightened on his flexing throat, strengthening the whirl of emotions in his mind until Gerald felt a very real stab of fear that he might actually faint.

All of it lasted, however, for only the briefest moment.

He could see it as the Knight came to his senses; their faces were only inches apart, wide grey eyes staring into burning hazel, and he saw the exact instant that the blind haze of fury fell away and Vryce realized how far he'd lost control. A wave of horror doused the smouldering blaze in those warm green-and-brown irises, and Vryce wrenched himself away, his hands going lax and falling back to his sides as he stared at the Hunter in horror.

“I'm – I didn't mean – hell!”

Gerald drew in a ragged breath, now bracing himself against the cave wall intentionally as his head spun; there was a vague sense of loss echoing in his mind, but far louder was the roar of victory, the greedy hunger in his chest transmuted to a throb of purring satisfaction.

Yes, I can hold you, I can draw your focus, I can make you care...

Careful this time to show nothing of the emotional tempest in his mind, Gerald lifted one hand to rub lightly at his no-doubt-bruising neck, casting the Knight a sardonic glance.

“Don't flatter yourself, Reverend,” he muttered, with a icy steadiness that he most certainly did not feel. “I assure you, if I felt you posed a genuine threat, you would never have gotten that close to me. You couldn't truly hurt me if you tried.”

At least, not when I can make you look at me with that much fire in your eyes...

Vryce seemed to have registered his words as the subtle threat Gerald had meant them to be taken for, though, if the priest's thoroughly shaken expression was anything to go by. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then hesitated for a long moment, looking deeply conflicted and vaguely sick. Finally, he shook his head sharply, and bit out a curt few words.

“It won't happen again.”

With that proffered statement – surely meant to be reassuring, or perhaps pacifying, for no doubt he assumed the Hunter was furious about Vryce's presumption in laying hands on him – the priest turned and strode hastily out of the cave. Gerald stayed where he was, hands splayed out against the cold rock behind him, feeling his pulse beating forcefully in his throat as he closed his eyes.

Oh yes, it will. If that's the only way I can have your hands on me, I'll make sure it does.

[undergrounddweller89]

More random thoughts on if Killian and Walter lived together some time after movie events, still au and ooc and Killian is I dunno how to describe it in love a little obsessed secretly with Walter and this is one ramble where there's no admittance of love between them as It's a time prior to that, anyway I throw sense out the window I'm literally too tired to get everything right and wrote this on the spot so bleh on mistakes and stuff.

Killian was rifling through his draws, where was it, he'd wanted to wear it last night for bed, he was sure it'd been put back, he sighed wearily, maybe it was at the bottom of the wash basket still.

He went down the stairs for breakfast where Walter was munching on toast, Lovey on his shoulder.

Watching tv, amazing really, especially as Beckett was usually jotting some new idea down.

Aaaand then he saw it.

"Walter."

Killian's voice was a soft growl as he quirked a brow and folded his arms.

Walter looked up at him like a guilty puppy who knew he'd done something wrong but hoped the look would let him get away with it.

"Yes, Killian?"

He asked trying to sound innocent as possible.

"I was looking for that shirt last night, care to tell me how it ended up on you?"

Walter looked at Lovey and then at Killian

"Ummm well it was in my drawer, I dunno it just looked really comfy and...I'm sorry I won't borrow your clothes anymore..."

"Borrowing would imply that you asked for them, you Beckett are a certified low grade criminal...stealing a man's clothes could imply something else though, I expect that shirt back tonight."

Killian returned walking past the couch and going to the kitchen, it was sweet Walter had rearranged the room so he could actually have surfaces to make himself meals and the likes.

The first time he'd arrived he'd been more than expecting to not feel welcomed, sure it was Beckett but people could seem one way out in the world and another behind closed doors.

No, Beckett wore his heart on his sleeve and for a while he'd wanted to place his claws around it and watch that sunshine attitude leave him as he realised the world was not a little wonderland that could be made better with a hug.

Then again, it was a hug that saved him so to speak...irony.

Killian though at this point might have just gone crazy if Walter wasn't so naturally affectionate with people he trusted, why he trusted him was still beyond his understanding but here they were, living in what had always been Walters home since childhood...

Walter's natural ability to be affectionate meant he could get away with ruffling his hair, having Beckett leaning on him during a movie and just casually placing an arm around him.

Sometimes Beckett would just sit on his lap like it was completely normal and Killian had tested the boundaries by placing a chin on his shoulder and Walter had, had no reaction like this was just typical interaction...was it so typical that he just would also let him put his arms around him to and nuzzle his neck...

Then again he might have lied a little and just said he had an itchy nose when that happened.

Of course he'd have murdered anyone else who dared to sit on his lap, just because he was behaving here didnt mean he wouldn't still straight up murder someone if he thought he could get away with it.

Lance had tried sitting on his lap once as a joke, Killian recalled letting out a literal growl, he'd even been somewhat surprised at the near primal sound, Sterling of course never tried that again.

He made his morning coffee, thankful that Walter also knew not to talk too much until he'd had it.

He walked back in and found Walter ass up in the air and nearly spat his coffee, he hadn't seen it before as his shirt had been covering it, not only was wearing his shirt but his boxers to.

Beckett who had been reaching for a magazine under the side table hit his head when he heard the sharp tone in Killian's voice

"Beckett!"

Killian winced slightly, even he felt that thud.

Walter sat up holding a hand to his head

"Yes Killian?"

"Nothing, just wanted to see if I could startle you, seems like it."

He decided not to chew him out, because perhaps he liked that he was wearing them.

Killian sat in the arm chair and put a leg over the other, hiding the subtle interest that showed his body agreed with that statement.

"You're evil."

Walter pouted rubbing his head.

"Hmm perhaps but you already knew that when you let the big bad wolf into your home, little red."

Walter was about to argue but...eh fair point.

"Still mean."

"You like it Beckett or you'd have given me your puppy eyes by now."

Killian sipped his coffee and sighed contentedly, god coffee made existence just a little easier and some days he swore he'd marry whoever made it.

He sat there half watching what was on the tv, one of Walters soap opera's which he would die before admitting he actually was invested in it.

"I swear Walter, if you were bigger than a tooth pick I would steal your clothing though I might wager I could just about put that yellow jumper over my arm."

Walter looked him over and shrugged

"Wouldn't mind if you did, I have a pair of baggy Unitee pants that might fit you though they might ride up to your knees considering our height differences."

Killian's eye twitched as he grumbled

"Id sooner be dead."

Though he was never going to admit he might have been a creep one time after Walter had slept in them and done something involving his hand just because he knew Walters cock had been right there, they'd still been warm.

Killian half buried his face into his coffee mug hoping that Walters comment hadn't been one hinting that he knew what sordid thing he'd done.

"Also not my colour Beckett."

Was all he responded.

Walter shrugged and went back to his show, flicking through his magazine, Lovey was nesting in Walters hair and glaring at Killian, oh she knew, she knew what he was doing, her look though was not one that told him to stop it.

No it was one that said HURT MY BABY I'LL PECK OUT YOUR GOOD EYE.

Killian's cheeks puffed out as he exhaled, sheesh who knew a pigeon could scream murder louder than him with just a stare.

Later that night Walter showered before bed, returned the shirt back to Killian who went back to his room, the boxers placed in the basket just under a few things prior to said shower, the basket was usually left out on the landing.

After his shower and wrapped in towels Walter had been wondering something, for a while now.

He quietly looked where he'd placed the boxers he'd worn that day in the basket... Uh-huh, just as he'd expected, they were gone, he couldn't help but smirk, oh Killian thought he was being sooooo sneaky.

Heh, no, he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was either, he could hear the subtle creak in there and soft whine no doubt into a pillow... Or biting his fist, honestly if he had metal claw he'd definitely handle himself with it to.

The first time this had happened it'd been a surprise, now it was just enticing to see how long it was before Killian would break and climb into his bed and plead for him.

Oh Walter might seem naive to the world in so, so many ways but there were somethings he was not so ignorant on either, he could walk right in there and offer a helping hand but for the time being it was far more pleasurable to hear the quite whines and play pretend Killian was begging for him, on his knees a desperate man who desired to the point of pain.

After all who didn't want someone to pursue and crave them like that.

He dried off and climbed into his own bed smiling.

Especially when the feeling was apparently mutual.

(I don't tend to go deep on my stuff I guess, what you get is what you get.)