#It's just that he unintentionally comes across as frightening to most people

[bespectacled-bookwyrm]

Ooh, a bit more stuff for my Feral N AU:

Nate, Colress and Grimsley’s son, is the first person to see N. He doesn't actually know he's a person, and tells his dads that there's 'something green and furry looking into my window'. He gets so spooked at one point that he ends up needing to sleep in his dads' room with them.

Colress notices N's presence due to his garden; the fruits and berries haven't been nibbled on like usual, instead pulled off the stems - very few Pokémon eat berries like that, and none of them live around or near the house.

Grimsley notices N because of his Pokémon. Specifically, Liepard. She's a lot more on-guard than usual, due to the close proximity of The Pack (of Zoroark), and Grimsley quickly figures out why after seeing some red fur snagged on brambles.

N eventually makes his presence known when he gathers the courage to break into their kitchen (he wanted to raid Colress' windowsill tomatoes). He simply didn't count on Ace and Alecto raising the alarm; rather, he expected them to keep quiet about his presence, instead of kicking up a fuss, due to him viewing himself as a Zoroark (generally, packs don't fight, and there are social rules with Zoroark to never reveal another's presence unless it's an emergency, a social gathering between groups, or it's a grudge match between packs), not realising that, to the little Zorua pair, he is A Stranger who has invaded their home, not A Fellow Zoroark/Zorua.

Some things will need adjusting, of course, because this is a Baby AU, but I'm liking what I've got so far.

Thoughts? :)

[dross-the-fish]

Phantom Ramble

I think one of the reasons I'm personally so resistant to viewing Erik and Christine's relationship as a romantic one is due to the fact that for most of the book I don't fully trust Erik as a character and I can't imagine Christine does either. Erik has a pattern of creating himself, whether it's the phantom of the opera, the angel of music, or even "Erik" we never really find out who he is. He says he wants to be loved for himself but he never is himself. He keeps himself hidden out of fear of rejection. Not just on a physical level but on an emotional one as well.

The name he gives Christine "Erik" is a name he came upon "By accident" and I've seen some people mention that in earlier versions of the story, like the original newspaper in which it was serialized, Christine stated that Erik picked that name because it's Scandinavian and he was hoping to use it to get closer to her, which is definitely a thing he would do and if not for the fact that the Daroga also knew him as Erik in Persia I would agree that's the most likely explanation.

I've always felt strongly that Erik cannot be taken at his word. He strikes me as the type to say anything he has to say to get what he wants and he has grown so accustomed to wearing masks that he is unable to take them off. Even when he's physically unmasked he still can't bring himself to reveal who he really is. Perhaps because he doesn't really know anymore, he has become his masks. His deformity made it necessary to hide from the world and every angel, phantom, friend, teacher or father figure he became feels like had to be meticulously created so he could slip on the role and play the part convincingly enough to fool those around him. This includes Christine. I think he was hoping that Christine would be the one who could see past the performances and I don't think she's able to for the majority of the book. Even when she's fascinated by him or feels pity she never comes across as someone who really KNOWS him. That's not her fault he has, intentionally and unintentionally, made himself unknowable.

Even the Daroga doesn't really know Erik, he has more insight than most people but Erik is as much a mystery to him as to anyone else.

Erik's world is the theater and he is a perpetual actor in his own narrative. It's instinct for him to simply become whatever he needs to be to frighten people away or draw them closer and I don't think he knows how to stop doing that anymore. He's so distant from himself that views his real self as dead, the real him is nothing but a corpse.

I think that's also what makes the ending, the final unmasking so poignant to me because that's the moment when Erik, the living person, not the character, is seen for the first time. It's the mask coming off for real at last.

"I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears… and she did not run away!…and she did not die!… She remained alive, weeping over me, weeping with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer"

What Christine offers him in this moment isn't what I interpret as romantic love it's acceptance, it's compassion, it's seeing him and understanding him. She gives him this when he least deserves it and I feel like this is what makes Erik's redemption meaningful. That his humanity is acknowledge in his darkest moment by the person he's hurt the most. That he is shown that much grace and kindness and that he lets her go without getting the romantic fulfillment he was trying to coerce from her will always be infinitely more touching to me than seeing them in a successful romantic relationship.

I think I also just get tired of seeing romantic love touted as some be-all-end-all redemptive healing force and the thing that could "fix" this character and give him a happy ending.

Again, not saying people can't or shouldn't write their fluffy comfortable or their dark twisted Eristine fics, by all means, have fun and enjoy what you do, but I feel like there's very little appreciation for the redemptive arc in the book that isn't viewed through a romantic lens.

[assorted-things]

My thoughts on Dune: Part 2

Spoilers under the cut! I've just been to see the film so this is probably rambling and not very coherent:

Count Fenring is my favourite character in the entire series, and I am a little disappointed but not surprised that my BESTEST GUY isn't in it. It sort of makes sense that he would be cut, as a lot of the stuff that makes him so cool I think works best in a book where you have narration and characters' interior monologue. A lot of the stuff where he finally meets Paul is very...internal, and I think it would be very difficult to make it work in a visual medium. I am still a little disappointed, mind you :(

I loved Margot! She was quite unnerving, just like how I imagined her when I read the book

I think the most noticeable change for me was Jessica pushing Paul into taking the Water of Life, whereas if I recall correctly she was more reluctant in the book

I thought the music was excellent - I loved how the Bene Gesserit theme gradually started to creep more and more into Paul's scenes

Equally I liked that Paul's fight with Feyd-Rautha didn't have any music - it made it so much more impactful because of the contrast with the loud battle scenes

Gurney actually singing a song was delightful!

I love the costume designs for the Bene Gesserit

I understand why they made the changes they did to Alia - trying to get her to be book-accurate could have unintentionally come across as comical to people not familiar with the books

The gladiator scene looked amazing and Giedi Prime is just how I pictured it - both films have done a great job of showing the huge scale of Dune's setting, and I can't wait to see how Paul's throne room will look if we ever get Dune Messiah

The worm-riding scene was fantastic and made it look absolutely terrifying

My favourite change from the book is the way that Chani was expanded on as a character - much as I love Dune, I think she was a bit of a flat character in the books, so I like that they gave her more to do here

I think the film did a good job of portraying the fanaticism around Paul as frightening rather than ~heroic~ - the themes from the book about the dangers of charismatic leaders, and how the Fremen are exploited, are definitely put across

Having the battles take place on-screen, unlike in the book, makes Paul's holy war seem more...real, I guess? Reading about how effective the Fremen are is very different from seeing it portrayed on screen, and even having read the books the prospect of them going to war on the great houses really made me go "oh shit"!

But also, the portrayal of how badly the Fremen are treated by the Great Houses did have me rooting for them a little bit despite knowing full well what happens next, which is great because it means the people unfamiliar with the books are really going to have the rug pulled out from under them when Paul causes the deaths of sixty-two billion people

The scene at the end where the worms come through after the Shield Wall is broken down was awesome

Most importantly: Baby Worm!!!!

[resurrextion]

Her already frozen cold body froze immediately when she felt Albert's hand tuck the strand of hair behind her ear. Keep it together. As long as Albert wasn't as awful as Jack...Besides, she thought, This power was supposed to go to Cindy. If Dr. Caine is interested in figuring out what the hell is going on with me, that's all I care about. He isn't gonna try and steal my soul unlike some people. Shmidt. Oddfellow.

Resurrection looked passed Albert's sympathies, almost disassociating when he spoke of her not feeling any pain. The poor thing had been desensitized to some things and highly sensitized to others. Manipulated and lied to she had been, and if Albert was lying she wouldn't be shocked. Either way, the young Browning knew it would come at a cost.

"Whatever it takes," she murmured before clearing her throat, "I've...written down all that I can about what happens to me, details of every death I've had and what physical toll it's had, if it helps. Also I've been coming up with ideas of how and why it latched onto me when it did."

A bound journal she presented to the Caretaker. If he flipped through the pages, each one held a page of recountment for the girl, gruesome details of each and every one of her previous deaths. The first one being drowning, followed by strangulation, decapitation, blood loss from being stabbed, multiple insane deaths via Jack Shmidt's circus, chopping off limbs and putting them back together like Frankenstein's monster...and the list went on. The most recent death involved being eaten alive and blood drained by seven vampires who hounded her, across from her friend-to-be-boyfriend Charlie, while they screamed amongst a vision of a 60's music fest. Most of her deaths dealt with others trying to kill her for her power, of this raw immortality. The thing was, Kelsey expressed the term raw power more, the further she had dealt with this.

"Honestly from what I can personally conclude, when the ritual was first performed, it came out as raw energy. It had no place to go, and it didn't go to Cindy like intended, it just...went somewhere else. It stuck around for decades until it could find a suitable host. Apparently choosing me as a host while being drowned by an unknown figure was good enough for it, I will never understand why. But with that power inside of a human body, it isn't regulated, it isn't meant for a human vessel, but chooses to stay."

As she spoke of this her eyes unintentionally glowed violet for a moment, "It's too powerful, so from what I've experienced, goes absolutely haywire when under pressure or under negative emotions. Sure the resurrection process works, but it has drawbacks, it's not a fully ready product to hit shelves, this is a prototype. Cindy had gotten a power just like this, but it was complete, it never causes her problems. But for me, it works, but malfunctions and glitches."

The heralds were a subject Kelsey never fully got the full scope of. Chaos hated her guts in glee, naturally. Legend actually seemed to like her enough. Death apparently was intrigued. Sacrifice had initially despised but grew to grow fond of her just enough to want to protect her, just like the camera man he had as a host. And Vengeance? Kelsey didn't dare know. She was honestly scared to know; that was her father's designated herald. The notion that the herald that was constantly sharing a body with her father, with Julian who loved his daughter, it was...a lingering anxiety. She was frightened first meeting Sacrifice; imagine coming face to face with Vengeance that looked into her soul through her father's eyes. That was terrifying enough.

Death would never get her, not completely.

"Everyone's after me it seems," the girl replied flatly, knowing the obvious truth, "No matter how unorthodox this power is, it gave me a second chance at life. I just wish those immortal hungry monsters would just leave me alone. All I want is to be with my undead father, my ghostly mother, and my partner. Nothing else. I-I get that it isn't going to be normalcy, I've accepted that ever since I first died, but for once I want to feel like I'm not being hunted for sport. And if I can find out and keep hidden the key that keeps me from dying, from this power going away and fading, before the monsters who want me dead? That's what I need, Dr. Caine."

"Oh, dear," he cooed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He was fighting hard to keep his excitement contained-- the prospects of dissecting her made him salivate. And so an exaggerated smile that didn't quite meet his eyes spread across his lips. "I'm certain I can find a way to make the process less painful. Perhaps even painless. I'd hate for this to cause you any duress. Finding the answers about yourself shouldn't cost you that."

His thoughts were already racing. Where should he start? What were the extremes he should go to? Could go to? He'd have to plan this out very carefully-- but at the same time, mistakes could very well answer and create even more inquiries into her disturbing immortality.

"Yes. Yes, it's very interested," he was exaggerating but only slightly. He had to as Death wasn't an emotive one. "You've escaped it's grasp. Why wouldn't it be? All roads lead to Death... except yours." He stepped away from her for only a moment to press a call button for a member of his staff.

"Are there any specific questions you're wanting answers for? Or is that part of your request for assistance? Either way, I'm happy to help you."

[cyber-dump-171]

Chapter 6: Raccoon or cat?

Left for Carnage (Twisted Wonderland x Reader)

← Chapter 5 | Masterlist | Chapter 7 →

Word count: 4.9 k.

WARNING: mentions of ritual circles and weapons.

Note: Hello everyone! I’m uploading this chapter a bit early since I’ll be away for a few days and won’t be able to write. Hopefully, I can start uploading a bit more often. Thank you for the recent support!

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"Fugya! Get me out of this cage, you filthy humans!" the sudden voice from the tent frightens you. With adrenaline coursing through your veins, you quickly stand up and back away from the potential danger, clutching the cleaver tightly. 

Unfortunately, Ace panics at the sudden voice and tries to back away, only to trip on his own ankle and almost fall to the ground. Your free hand shoots up from your side and you grab him by the front of his sweater, pulling him with a force that almost sends him flying toward you, but he's able to stop just as your noses collide. 

“ACK!” “SORRY!” as if the two of you had touched fire, you recoil and almost jump away from each other, angry red blushes spreading across your faces. Fortunately, the embarrassing situation doesn't last long, as the voice inside the tent continues to complain about being let out.

"What the fuck is that!?" Ace asks in a hushed tone, shakily grabbing your arm. "From the size of the movement and the voice, it could be an Assimilation Beast," you turn to face the redhead whose face has gone pale. "Beast!? You mean like those things that tear people into tiny pieces!?" he looks at you in confusion and you shake your head quickly, trying to calm him down.

"No, it's not that kind of beast. An Assimilation Beast is very similar to a human, they can talk and even have desires and feelings. But they are often driven by their impulses and can be rebellious," you explain between breaths. "They usually act as companions for adventurers or explorers, and they can even transform into humans if they wish."

Your short class is interrupted by a sudden violent shake coming from the tent. The creature lets out a short growl and continues with its complaints. “HEY! I can hear you two! Let the Great Grimm out or I’ll set this thing on fire!” though you forgot to add that most of the time, they aren’t exactly bright. 

The creature, calling itself "The Great Grimm", continues to shake and begins to make strange sounds. You and Ace look at each other, somewhat confused as to what you should do about it. Dealing with these types of beasts is kind off easy because they’re usually passive, however, whatever is inside that tent is upset and restless as you assume it has been trapped there for several days. However, before you can even attempt to rationalize with the beast, a blue flame erupts from the opening of the tent and the fabric quickly catches on fire.

“GYAAAAAAAH! I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THAT!” the “Great Grimm” screeches in surprise and you hear next to you Ace muttering “fucking idiot”. You quickly take off your jacket and your fingers find the bottle of water that was secured to the side of your bag.

Sprinting to the burning tent, you remove the cap from the bottle and pour the liquid at the main source of the fire, stomping hard on the rest of the fabric to quell the flames. It manages to calm the blaze enough for you to take out the cleaver and cut a hole in the tent, making it wide enough for you to squeeze your arm in.

Your eyes locate a small metal cage nestled among the blue flames, and you use your jacket to grab at the metal, removing the beast from danger while thinking that the material will at least prevent you from burning your fingers. However, you underestimate the heat of the beast's fire, as the flames quickly eat through the thick material of your jacket, scorching the tips of your fingers.

Unintentionally, you drop the cage with a hiss and it falls on top of the dirt, the creature inside complaining from the sudden fall as its' body bangs hard against the metal walls. You quietly apologize to the animal as you watch the tips of your fingers turn red, sighing in relief as it appears that the most you will suffer is a first-degree burn.

"Are you okay?" Ace runs up to you and gently grasps your hand as he examines your fingers. You reassure him, explaining that your fingers will be a little sensitive for the next few days. But your concern shifts to the small cage lying on the floor, accidentally covered by your jacket.

You cautiously approach the lump of cloth that moves from side to side. Your hand grabs a handful of the cloth, and after a few seconds of silence, you tug on the jacket and come face to face with a...

Cat?

"Is that a raccoon?" the ginger pipes up from beside you with a surprised tone and you quickly turn to look at him, doubting that the two of you are seeing the same thing. There’s no way that this is a raccoon… right? The creature hisses in response, the electric blue flames blazing from his ears increasing in size for a short moment. “I’m not a raccoon! I am the Great Grimm!” he proudly announces and the beast turns to look at you, his eyes squinting. “You two don’t look like those filthy humans… whatever, release me from this cage immediately, henchman!”

What a rude little thing. 

You brush off the strange nickname and crouch down to get a better look at the beast. The strange flame ears and vivid blue eyes remind you of the mythical legends of the creatures that came from the Netherworld. There was an illustrated book that you used to read a lot as a child, that contained a whole section that spoke about these beasts, which were referred to as "the servants of Hades." 

These creatures had several characteristics in common with the one you're staring at right now, one of them being that many of them emitted flames somewhere on their bodies. However, from what you remember, they were just that, a myth.

But, with what Malleus told you about extinct creatures reappearing in the world, it wouldn't be impossible or unbelievable to see mythological beasts suddenly appear in this world.

The cat or raccoon creature starts to complain at you when you turn around and find Ace, who has managed to put out the rest of the fire caused by the assimilation beast. The flames have eaten much of the fabric and that gives you a good view of what is inside the tent.

"Holy shit, is that a pentagram?" the redhead points to the circle drawn in chalk on the floor of the tent. You pull your cell phone out of the back pocket of your pants and open your photo gallery, scrolling quickly until you come across the picture of the previous ritual circle that Prince Draconia had shown you. And to your surprise, they don't look alike.

In the center of the circle are the drawings of four skulls, forming some sort of compass, surrounded by various symbols: at the top, there's a cat, followed by a flame, a star, an eye, and finally what appears to be a fish. The chalk is black instead of white, and in the middle of the four skulls is a silver goblet that has been spilled, the liquid inside of it being the same blue substance that has been found all over the camp.

"How is this possible? Did they summon this creature inside the tent?" there are so many questions running through your mind. Using your lantern, you take a closer look at the walls of the tent that are still intact; several scratch marks litter the walls but unlike the ones you found on the destroyed tent, these are smaller and do not pierce the fabric. As such, they most likely belong to the cat.

“It must’ve been uncomfortable,” Ace murmurs beside you. You hand him the camera and instruct him to take some pictures of the tent as you pocket your phone and walk towards the small cage, where the creature is grumpily lying down on the metal bars. “You said your name was Grimm, correct?” the cat perks up at the sound of your voice, his beady blue eyes looking at you. 

“You forgot the ‘Great' part,” he snobbishly corrects you and in response, you simply roll your eyes. “Ah right, sorry. Can you answer a few questions? I need to know what happened at this camp and why were you locked inside this cage,” you respond as the creature squints its eyes at you.

"Fine, let me out of this cage and I'll answer your questions," he retorts in a tone meant to convince you, but you shake your head in denial. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I'm afraid you'll just run away if I let you out. Maybe I can do something else?" you offer, thinking about how stubborn this beast is. Grimm huffs again and a deep grumble startles the both of you.

"Oh, I see. Would you like something to eat?" the cat uses his paws to cover his stomach, nodding sheepishly at your request. You get up and walk over to Ace, who is staring intently at the ritual circle drawn on the tent floor. “What’s up? Did the raccoon say anything?" he perks up at the sound of your footsteps and you shake your head in disappointment. 

"No, he wants to eat before he gives me any information. Do you know if we can find any fruit or food here?" you dismiss the idea of consuming the tins left behind by the other humans, believing that it is best to preserve these things as they are considered evidence. Besides, you can't guarantee that the food isn't poisoned. As wild as it sounds, it has happened to some of your colleagues a few years ago with some preserves they found at a park.

Ace scratches his chin and hums thoughtfully. After a few seconds, his eyes scan the area until he stops at one of the bushes and points to it. "There! Blueberries! There are lots of bushes like that all over the forest, just be careful not to eat the white ones, they're poisonous," Ace explains, and you go over to grab some of the berries. When you have a hand full of fruit, you return to the cage and extend your hand at the creature.

"Here, this is the only thing we could find," you softly encourage it to take the fruits as you sense his reluctance, and after a short silence, the creature gives in and uses its little paws to grab the blueberries. In one single bite he eats most of the bunch, the juice spilling out from his mouth and staining its pointy teeth as he begins to hum happily. 

At that moment, Ace walks over to you two and takes a seat beside you, quietly commenting that if this thing didn’t just try to set the two of you on fire and force you to call him “The Great Grimm”, it could make a cute companion. You agree with a smile. The cat/raccoon finishes eating his fill and turns to look at the two of you with shiny eyes.

“All right, we already gave you what you wanted, raccoon, so tell us everything you know," the ginger instructs exasperated, most likely tired and wanting to get this over with. Meanwhile, the creature scoffs at Ace and bares his stained teeth at him. “I’m not a raccoon, I’m the Great Grimm! And I only agree to respond to their questions, not to you,” the creature sticks his tongue out in a childish manner, as it sits on its hind legs and crosses two of his “arms”, turning its head away from Ace.

Before the redhead can respond, you place a hand on top of his shoulder and gently squeeze it, stopping him from uttering another word. ��As I said before, I want to know what happened. Tell me everything that you remember; who were the people that captured you, why were you in the cage and where are the people that captured you,” you pull out your phone and enter the recording application, while Grimm clears his throat. You start the recording.

"I don't remember much, but I woke up in this tent. There was a human in there with me, and without saying anything, he grabbed me and out of nowhere tried to stuff me into the cage," he uses a paw to wipe something from his pointed ears before continuing.

"Obviously, I resisted. I started clawing at him and spitting fire, but the filthy human used something on me that felt like fire. It hurt my muscles and I couldn't move! I don't remember much after that, except that a while before you arrived, something huge attacked the filthy humans outside. There was screaming and crying. I didn't see what it was, all I know is that it was on all fours, it smelled terrible, and the humans didn't come back.

You and Ace exchange a look of pure terror. Whatever it was that attacked the campers is still roaming the forest and probably close to you. You promptly get up, stop the recording, and secure all the necessary evidence; Ace quickly grabs the box and the old backpack he left by the side when he went to check on you.

You pack your belongings into your bag, slip your jacket back on, and pick up the cage Grimm is in, but Ace stops grabbing, gently grabbing your right forearm. "Don't tell me you're taking that animal back to the mansion," the redhead whispers in disbelief and the creature complains from below that it's not an animal. You shake your head at him and start walking down the path you previously took.

"Nope. I would endanger everyone inside the mansion and Riddle would cut my head off if he were to find out. But I know of one person who could take care of it for the time being."

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“Bonjour? It’s quite late, bel oiseau. Are you alright?” the sleepy yet raspy voice of Rook comes from the other side of the speaker, and you suddenly feel your face get a bit warmer. However, you quickly shake your head from inappropriate thoughts and take a deep breath. "Sorry for waking you up, Rook, but I have an emergency. Do you remember the woods near the Rosehearts’ mansion? The Tulgey Wood?" you question as you watch your fingers. The hunter mumbles a yes from the other end of the line.

"You see, Riddle came back earlier than we expected so me and another volunteer went out at night to investigate. Well, we found an abandoned camp that was invaded by a beast. But more importantly, inside one of the tents there was an assimilation beast locked up in a cage," you hear a ruckus from the other end of the call, specifically the rustling of fabric and him moving around the room. “Goodness! Where are you? I'll be right there!" he suddenly sounds more awake.

"In front of the Rosehearts mansion gate, but it's far from the town entrance. I'll start walking and meet you halfway there," you begin to trudge down the cobblestone path but are stopped when Rook chuckles at the other end of the line. "Non, non! Stay right there, just make sure you're safe. You forget that I'm pretty fast, bel oiseau!" unable to let you mutter another word, the hunter hangs up the call. You let out a sigh and take the phone off your ear.

“Is your friend coming here?" Ace stands next to you and crosses his arms, while you nod. "Yeah, he's coming. But what are you doing here? I thought I told you that it was fine and to go to sleep," the redhead sighs in annoyance as a tired expression decorates his face. "And leave you here alone with a beast prowling through the forest? As if!" you smile at his sweet defense and can't help but chuckle. “Thanks, Ace, that's very nice of you.”

"Don't mention it, after all, you’re a lot more bearable than Mr. Goody-two-shoes over there," he uses his thumb to point behind his back, towards the manor and you guess that he’s most likely referring to Deuce. You sigh and shake your head, deciding to check on the small beast who is awfully quiet.

You crouch and take a look at the cage that sits on top of your — very ruined —  jacket, quietly cooing when you see that Grimm is sound asleep, laying his head on top of his small paws. ‘So cute!’ You softly laugh, imagining that the poor creature must have gotten tired of so much arguing and complaining, but you also think that part of that tiredness could have come from the summoning and that it suddenly found itself in a new dimension.

Its cat-like form reminds you of the many stray cats that used to sneak into the garden of your old home. You remember that Roger would give you some plates filled to the brim with fish and hardboiled eggs as you and Sigurd would run outside to feed them and as they busied themselves chomping down on the delicious meal, the two of you would gently pet their fluffy fur. Full of nostalgia, your fingers go between the bars of the small cage, and gently, you begin to caress the spot between the eyes of Grim. He’s soft.

You continue to stroke the fur and the beast's chest rumbles, low purring sounds filling the comfortable silence between you and Ace, chuckling as Grim begins to mumble incoherent words, still asleep. You want to get him out of there, hug him as tight as you can, and give him lots of love and scratches, but with the attitude he's shown so far, he'll probably bite your fingers off. 

Ace crouches next to you and looks at the cage, running a hand through his messy ginger hair.

"Hey, what are you going to do when this is all over? I mean, when the Unbirthday Party is over," the redhead inquires in a quiet tone, not wanting to wake the little demon. You face him, your fingers still absentmindedly stroking the fur. "Well, that depends on what information I find. If it's serious, I might be sent on another mission. And if it's not, then I'll continue with my investigations," you explain, and Ace hums in response. 

"And you? I assume you don't want to work for Rosehearts forever," you tease and Ace glances at you in horror, his face turning even paler. "Oh Great Seven, no! I'd rather die than work for Cherry Head after this," his intonation elicits a short laugh from you and Ace lies down on the grass with a groan, his arms slithering under his head.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I thought I'd see if I could get into college, but after the brutality of high school, I'm taking the year off. I think I'll travel," he mutters the last part and closes his eyes, breathing in the cool night air. 

You understand this feeling, the dirty looks and stupid comments from classmates, the burden of unnecessary schoolwork, and finishing each day emotionally and psychologically drained and exhausted. "But are you really going to do this for the rest of the year? Are you just going to research? Sounds boring...no offense," you roll your eyes and take a seat next to him, tilting your face up to look at the stars.

"It's not boring, the things I investigate are interesting, and well, that's not the only thing I do. I work for a guild, so they give me different missions and let me travel to different places to explore. They're like little adventures...that's what I'm currently doing right now," except there's the threat of someone overblotting and the possibility of a cult summoning beasts. 

Ace hums a silent reply and opens his eyes once more to gaze at the night sky, silently counting the silver stars.

"Ah, right... I also wanted to ask you about the guy who came with you. Is he your colleague? You know, when I saw him from a distance, I thought he was a girl," Ace admits with a small laugh. "You mean Epel? He's a great guy. Just don't call him a girl or little, because there's a good chance he'll fight you to the death," the redhead snorts and you let out a laugh as you imagine Epel's angry little face with his fists clenched, smacking the shit out of Ace.

"Well, he was hired to be my butler...but I help him with some of the chores, so it feels like we're roommates...though who gets paid at the end of each month," you reply. Ace changes his position and sits down next to you, his face comes into your peripheral view as his red locks gently brush against his face. "But why are you helping him? That's what you hire him for (Y/N)," Ace speaks in a serious tone, and you move your head to the side, concentrating your gaze on your twiddling fingers. 

"If I'm honest, I... it bothers me... I can do all these tasks by myself, I've been doing everything by myself since I was little and it doesn't bother me... but my siblings insist that there should always be someone with me and they leave me no room to refuse," you continue. 

"Anyway, I get along with him very well and don't mind the company. I've had some interesting conversations with him and he even volunteered for this mission, so I think of him more as a partner than an employee," you explain to Ace and he nods. But before he can answer, you see something looming on the horizon. 

And it is coming fast towards the two of you.

You stand up, squinting at the figure, one hand on your bag, ready to pull out the cleaver in case it's an intruder. But you let out a sigh of relief when you recognize that is Rook, running happily towards you, waving a hand to get your attention. 

"Lovely night to see you again, my bel oiseau!" he's never going to drop that nickname, is he? Ace gets up and walks over to you, holding the cage with a now wide awake Grimm in it. The ginger casts you a questioning look.

"That weirdo is your friend?" he whispers, and you slap him in the arm for the insult, taking the cage from his hands. "He's not a weirdo, though I warn you, he can be a bit... dramatic," you warn him, and soon enough, the blond hunter is standing in front of the three of you. 

He takes off his hat, clutches it to his chest and bows. "Bonjour! Apologies for the delay, I didn't know the manor was on such a steep hill," he sounds a bit tired, but his immaculate appearance says otherwise. There's not a drop of sweat on his face and he doesn't look out of breath. How does he do it?

"Good evening, Rook. Sorry to call you so late, but as I told you, there was an emergency," the hunter nods, but is momentarily distracted by the new person. "Not to worry. However, could you introduce me to your new friend?" the redhead holds out his hand and gives the hunter a polite smile. "I'm Ace Trappola."

Rook shakes Ace's hand gracefully with a wide and bright smile. "Pleased to meet you, Monsieur Heart! I'm Rook Hunt, le chasseur d'amour," Ace softly repeats his nickname and looks at you sideways, a confused expression on his face. "He usually gives nicknames to everyone he meets, don't worry... Rook, I need to tell you everything that happened," you turn to the hunter.

You explain what happened when you arrived at the campsite, with Ace chiming in from time to time to add certain details. After telling Rook the whole story and handing him some important pieces of evidence to take back to Malleus, he stares at Grimm, who is still locked in the cage. "Hey, you, get me away from that creep," the cat gives you a look, but before you can do anything, Rook gently removes the cage from your hands. 

"Your words hurt me, Monsieur Fuzzball. But do not fret! I will take good care of you while (Y/N) continues with their mission," the hunter's words made the little cat's blue eyes widen in surprise and shoot up to look at your figure.

"Fugya!? I'm not going with that creep! You, save me!" Grimm yells and you let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. "It will only be for three days, and then I can pick you up and take you to an upgraded facility. Also, Rook will feed you and you can get out of the cage freely when you're with him," you reassure the creature, hoping it will calm him down a bit.

Grimm groans in response and you hear Ace yawn. Your eyes feel heavy and suddenly, you want to yawn too, what time is it? Rook seems to notice your tiredness and smiles at you as he puts his hand on your head and ruffles your hair. "Go back to sleep, bel oiseau. Don't worry, I'll take care of the little one," he speaks in a soft voice and you nod, tears clouding your vision.

The four of you say goodbye and Rook turns and walks back to the village. You and Ace go around the back of the mansion and climb back up the wall. The two of you run to the servants' quarters, say good night to each other, and go to your respective rooms.

You fall into a deep sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.

━━━━━━◇◆◇━━━━━━

*BEEP BEEP* BEEP BEEP*

The alarm makes the terrible sound and your immediate reaction is to hit the snooze button with your fist, almost breaking the damn thing. The room falls back into complete silence, the only sounds being birdsong from outside the window and some footsteps walking past your temporary room.

When you open your eyes they feel heavy and dry, your arms and legs ache, your fingertips still sting from the burn, and you feel a little dizzy. "Damn, I hope I don't fuck up at work," you turn your eyes to look at the clock, which reads "7:00 a.m." in big red letters. You have plenty of time to get dressed and find something to wake you up.

You get out of bed, take a speedy shower, and put on your uniform. You sluggishly wander into the barren kitchen, holding back a yawn as you start looking for the coffee machine, desperate for the bitter taste of caffeine to power your brain and get you moving. Unfortunately, you don't find anything. 

The kitchen door creaks open and Trey saunters in, giving you a closed-eyed smile while bidding you good morning. "Good morning, Trey, can I know where's the coffee machine?" you inquire, and the green-haired man grabs something from the fruit bowl before shoving an apple into your hands.

"One of the rules of the Queen of Hearts states that coffee is forbidden, instead we drink tea. The only time we can have it is on our birthdays," you've only learned up to rule 150, but with so many rules, it's hard to remember even the first 50. 

"But you can eat an apple, I read in a cooking magazine that they can be the equivalent of coffee due to their natural sugar," you quietly thank him before chomping down on the fruit, the sweet juices coating your mouth as you stare mindlessly in front of you, thinking about the previous day's investigations.

A deep chuckle jolts you from your thoughts as you find Trey suddenly standing closer to you, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he leans over the counter, his muscles and veins flexing under the pressure. "You got something here, (Y/N)."

Before you can even raise your hand to wipe away the remains of the apple, Trey's warm thumb presses against the corner of your lips. He gently drags the digit across your closed mouth, wiping away the rest of the juice.

You feel as if you're about to combust. Admiring the Cheshire grin on Trey's lips, you feel heat pooling in the apple of your cheek, barely able to stutter out a response, the sudden contact sending electric chills down your spine. 

Before you can even comprehend what the hell just happened, Trey's eyes drift to the clock hanging behind you and he sighs when looking at the time. "Shit, I've got to get Riddle's breakfast or he'll be furious," you don't even notice the man disappearing into the pantry, too distracted as you still feel the warm pressure of his finger on your lips.

Cater enters the kitchen, fixing his ponytail, ready to tackle another day of pure bullshit. "Good morning, everyone! How are you- Wow, (Y/N), are you okay? You're flushed!" the orange-haired man runs to your side and places his palm on your forehead to take your temperature.

Today is going to be a long day. Three more to go.

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Tag list:

@r0texe @hellokittykuroo @d3nz3lm0rn @alureasoley @kirmalight @xxrabbitcultxx @warcelia @lucian-kinnder @maximumphantomlover​ @hillichurl

[seeuonadarknite]

cat and mouse — yandere tsukishima kei x f. reader

warnings: noncon, fingering, exhibitionism, degradation, rumors

All throughout high school you would tell yourself that college would be a breeze if you made it out alive. Sure, the difficulty in studies would increase tenfold, and turning in work would be a lot more crucial towards your final grade, but it would all be worth it in the end. You were working towards a goal, towards a purpose. Once you received your diploma, you'd be capable of getting a real, well-paying job that would financially take care everything you'd ever need.

And the best part about the college you were attending was that, for the most part, the people were all good-natured and grounded. You didn't have to deal with juvenile brats that projected their insecurities by picking on smaller people.

For the most part, that was.

Whilst the campus wasn't necessarily riddled with hellions, it still had its flaws. There was one person who you could definitely live without; Tsukishima Kei. He was an admirable student who was enrolled for free with the help of his scholarship. Nobody would ever suspect a guy like him to do something as dastardly as using his power to tarnish a fellow classmate's reputation in order to isolate them from the school's population.

But that was exactly what he had done to you.

None of it made sense to you. Why would a guy you have nothing to do with take time out of his day to make your life a living hell? At the start of the semester, you had multiple friends and your studies were going perfectly. But the four eyed monster had to barge his way into your life and sabotage all of your relationships by spreading a stupid rumor that all of his minions believed because it came from a reputable guy like him. Why would Tsukishima lie about something like that? He just wanted the world to know the truth, right?

You were sick and tired of the entirety of the campus keeping a distance from you as if you had some sort of plague. If people actually looked into both sides of the story, they would understand that everything coming from Tsukishima's mouth was utter horse shit. This immature behavior of his was absolutely unacceptable and you were determined to get to the bottom of it.

So you took it upon yourself to approach him after bumping into him on one of your off days. Sure, it was risky confronting him head on, but you were literally in frozen back aisle of a grocery store. If he tried anything funny with you, he'd be immediately stopped with the scream of your mouth.

Inhaling a deep breath, you flickered your eyes towards the lanky blonde who seemed to be torn between picking out ice cream flavors. If you calmly approached, he might be willing to reason with you. All you needed to do was figure out the perfect time to attack—

"Oh? So you're some sort of stalker, too?"

Shit. He turned around to face you whilst you were busy getting caught within your internal battles. Great, you no longer had the upper hand here. So much for the element of surprise.

In an instant, he was on the move, looming over you and making small steps towards your cowering figure until your back hit the door to the icy freezer. Goosebumps began to stain your skin as the condensation of the chilly glass soaked through your flimsy tank top.

His palm greeted the glass as he placed it right above your head, successfully blocking your desired escape route. This is okay. You were one scream away from safety—

"Mmf!" His rough, calloused hand clasped over your mouth before you could even think about mustering up a measly response.

You felt small under his scrutinizing glare as his eyes narrowed dangerously at your cowering form. "Nobody can see us back here. However, if you don't shut the fuck up, they'll hear us. And everyone will know just how much of a slut you really are." It was obvious in the way that he spoke that malice was dripping from his tone as he tantalizingly carried his penurious words.

You didn't understand; had you done something to hurt him? Why was he so keen on preaching to the world that you were just some brainless slut that didn't deserve her privileges? And it wasn't as if what he was saying made any sense whatsoever. If you screamed, all fingers would automatically be pointed towards the guy cornering his frightened victim. That was kind of the nature of calling for help.

Flickering your unsteady gaze up towards Tsukishima's, you felt your stomach drop. The way his enigmatic golden-brown eyes burned holes into your form through his fogged glasses sent chills running up your spine. It was a complete mystery how he managed to look so uninterested, yet with such hawk-like intensity at the same time.

The way he stripped you down with his menacing gaze left you regretting not equipping yourself with pepper spray beforehand. Any form of self defense would've been completely conductive towards your case. But alas, you let your guard down and made the fatal mistake of showing up at the grocery store unarmed. You'll have to dually note not to be vulnerable in any public space for the next time.

It didn't help that the voice in the back of your mind was screeching at you to do something, pleading with you to make a move, nonetheless your body failing to pick up on any internal signals. Not only was your inability to move on your own making matters difficult, but Tsukishima's knee propping itself up in between your legs rendered your legs useless, terminating your biggest line of defense. The way he predicted your every move like it was as easy as drinking water was unnerving; he definitely knew what he was doing.

It was hard to decipher what rang louder in your ears; your heart pounding through your chest at rapid speeds, or your labored breath. Perhaps it was just your nerves hitting you like a runway truck, but it genuinely felt as if every one of your organs had clambered up into your throat. It couldn't get much scarier than this. If you stuck around here for much longer, he'd have his way with you in no time and you'd be left with nothing but a guilty conscious.

The fact that he was actively defiling you was humiliating enough in itself, doing it in the back of a sparsely populated grocery store only added insult to injury. If you allowed yourself to get violated by your college bully, much less inside of a public space, it'd eat at you for who knows how long. You couldn't just let him get by with such a vile act.

However, he didn't give you much time to sulk on it, as he interrupted your train of thought with his free hand traveling down south towards the hem of your shorts. Once his hand reached your navel, you began violently thrashing in his vice-like grip like a wild animal. Going down without a fight wasn't on your agenda.

You half expected him to scowl at you and maybe cuss you out, but his facial expression remained as vacant as ever. Having said that, although he seemed unbothered by your gesture, it still wouldn't do in his book. He had to stop you from making a scene somehow, so he swiftly removed his hand from your face, only to shove his fingers into the wet caverns of your mouth. The way your tongue desperately pushed at his digits only caused the tent in his trousers to grow. You were unintentionally coating his fingers in your warm saliva.

Nonetheless, whilst Tsukishima was having the time of his fucking life, you were feeling your vision begin to impair as tears clouded your eyes, threatening to spill from the brim. This only egged him on as a sinister grin tore across his face. The way your warm, salty tears frantically poured down your face empowered the lanky male. It proved that only he had the power to turn the handles behind the faucet in your eyes with just the touch of his hand; he was the only one capable of making you feel this way.

A pathetic mewl emitted from your throat, unintentionally sending vibrations throughout the fingers that Tsukishima had shoved into your mouth, as he wasted no time in slipping his fingers under the elastic to the flimsy piece of clothing protecting your sensitive parts. The way he dragged his slim fingers across your folds was absolutely agonizing. It stopped you from predicting his next course of action, as he was going so painfully slow.

He eventually guided his index finger towards your slit, prodding the pad of his digit against your weeping hole. He got a kick out of watching your body quiver with anticipation as he dragged out his movements, slowly inserting his lengthy finger into the heat of your cunt, inch by inch.

It felt like you had been waiting for decades before he finally plunged his finger all the way inside of your cunt, basking in the way your walls immediately clamped down on the digit. You immediately began regretting wishing he'd hurry his pace, because he quickly resorted to pummeling your hole with his nimble finger at rapid speeds. At this rate, it felt like your legs were going to give in beneath you.

It didn't take the blonde long before he swiftly inserted another finger, relishing in the way that you practically sucked on his fingers as a form of leverage. The way he scissored and curled his fingers inside of you at unbearable speeds left you a whimpering mess. It remained a complete mystery to you on how the store's patrons didn't seem to notice the gigantic blonde expertly fingering you into the freezer, fucking your hole with his fingers senseless.

And it was unbelievably humiliating how unbothered he was by the lewd, obscene sounds of squelching your cunt produced as he curled both nimble fingers upwards, repeatedly hitting the spongy spot inside of you that you could only assume was your g-spot.

If he continued at this rate, you'd come undone in no time. As much as it embarrassed you to cum all over your bully's fingers in a matter of minutes, you couldn't ignore the tight knot forming in the pit of your stomach. You couldn't ignore the tingly sensation you felt heating up in your core. At this point, it didn't even matter to you if you gave into his childish game of cat and mouse.

"Hey, shortcake, eyes on me." You had managed to successfully distract yourself from the situation at hand by pondering over your own release without even realizing it. It seemed like you were beginning to enjoy yourself as you chased your own release, much to Tsukishima's dismay. That wouldn't do. The purpose of this was to humiliate you and put you right in your place. You weren't supposed to be enjoying this one bit.

Perhaps if you had cried a little bit harder, or even bitten down on his fingers that remained idle in your mouth, maybe he would have been content with just violating your cunt with his fingers. But in his book, you were growing bored. And he was as well.

Perhaps it was time to take it up a notch. It was time for the real deal.

[mrwinterr]

Who Do You Love?

Pairing: David Budd x Female Reader

Summary: After some months that David’s been working for the Home Secretary, you notice he’s been acting differently. Not wanting to overanalyze the situation, the signs are just too hard to ignore, so when it’s time to confront him there’s only one real question to ask.

Warnings: Bodyguard (2018) TV series spoilers! Adult themes. Explicit language. Light smut. Infidelity/cheating. Mentions of war, PTSD, political assassination, death, pregnancy/miscarriage, paranoia, and attempted suicide. Sad vibes, probably. We’re not gonna have a good time.

Disclaimer: This piece goes hand-in-hand with All For You. It’s not required to read beforehand, but it would be nice. As far as the TV series, yeah, don’t even read these if you’re still planning to watch the show. If you don’t care, you may proceed.

Title Inspiration: “Who Do You Love?” by The Chainsmokers ft. 5 Seconds of Summer

A/N: I want a happy David, I really do, but I’m a heartless writer. I took a break from the smut, so it’s not a huge bulk of the fic this time. I hope y’all still like it! Happy New Year! 

Another night alone was not unusual for you as of late, having grown accustomed to it ever since David had taken up the job of protecting Home Secretary, Julia Montague. Neither you nor David could’ve foreseen his courageous efforts in neutralizing the terrorist attack on the train back home would thrust him into his new position, furthermore the extent of its outcome in his personal life.

It wasn’t a hidden secret that David resented most politicians, and you knew of Julia from the news and her political ambitions in pushing a bill to increase security surveillance. David’s job put a big emphasis on confidentiality, so for his superiors to throw him into a public political warzone was a bit suspicious to you. There was something that didn’t add up, and you couldn’t just outright ask David whose side he was on in all this.

After neglecting the mountain of dirty laundry, tonight was dedicated to the domestic chore. It was nothing out of the ordinary mixing your batch with David’s, but he had a habit of leaving things in his clothes pockets, so it was routine for you to check everyone. You’d moved onto one of the costly tailored button-ups he wore to work and feel something protruding from the shirt pocket. You dig your hand in and fish out a tube of lipstick. Strange. You didn’t use this brand of cosmetics, and even more so the garment smelt different.

Under normal circumstances, this type of discovery would raise a red flag, but you recall one of David’s first days on the job as her bodyguard, the intern had clumsily spilt Julia’s coffee all over her outfit just before she was about to do a live interview, and David had offered her the shirt off his back, essentially saving the day. The man was just too dedicated to his job sometimes, so you shrug it off, but this wouldn’t be the first time you would notice something out of place.

It really started after the first assassination attempt that was made on Julia’s life. With the rate she was going at, her political status had made her a prime target to those opposed to RIPA-18. It was very frightening, you figured that much for her, David had seen worse in war. You just about had a heart attack when you reunited with him that night, the blood still stained on his clothes and missed splotches on his skin.

The both of you clung onto each other all night, lost within the throes of passion. It might as well have been one of the most intense nights yet, even then you could tell something changed by his movements. You didn’t think much about it at first because there’s already so much wrong with him, you’ve yet to learn all his mood swings.

Then one day you’d gotten sick, and discovered it was because you were pregnant with David’s child. One of the few things that made you forget about all the aches and pains that David unintentionally caused, was remembering the beautiful smile on his face when you revealed the news to him. You knew how much happiness Ella and Charlie brought him, you could only imagine what that would feel like, your own family with David.

He was so overjoyed in the beginning. He had quickly phoned his mother, who’d visited and even stayed a few days with you when David’s new position became more demanding of him, claiming she was worried about you being alone. You didn’t deserve to experience this alone, but it was sure heading that way.

Lately, you’ve found yourself occupying the Budd household quite more than often when David’s mom went back home. With David being on duty almost 24/7, you were completely alone, so the little family welcomed you.

Legally, on paper, David was still married to Vicky. It was something you weren't going to verbally admit bothered you, but oddly enough it did. What with the mood you’ve been in as of late, it ate at a part of you. They were separated and the divorce papers were well on track until David’s “promotion” paused the process.

There’s still not a hostile fiber in you towards Vicky. She’d moved on well, been on several dates with someone else, and things were looking great for her. It was lowkey, not even David knew about it, not that he even stuck around or bothered to care. It had to come out eventually because it would affect Ella and Charlie’s lives.

You watch as Vicky rounds the table after placing a cup of tea in front of you then sitting in the seat across and asking how you’re holding up.

You contemplate for a split second if you should be honest or not, but who else could you confine to at the moment? No one else could possibly understand. Vicky herself may not even, but she knew David more than most people did, so surely, she could see where you’re coming from to some degree, right?

Letting out a big sigh, you answer her truthfully, “I’m...not well, Vicky,” your eyes drop down to the cup in front of you, finger tracing the rim, the hot cloud of smoke of the concoction almost burns your skin.  

“Oh, poor thing,” she says, extending her hand over to place it on top of your other one on the table, “it’s the pregnancy. It has to be. It’s taking a toll on you. I can tell.” You look up at her and almost want to cry. No one noticed it was more than symptoms of pregnancy. You were bottling up so much.  

“Let me tell you, while I love Ella and Charlie, pregnancy was not a breeze…” she started to ramble, but you quickly cut her off, exhausted of people telling you the same thing over and over, unintentionally, blaming the innocent baby.

“No. I don’t think it’s that. I don’t want to blame anything on the pregnancy,” you say straight up. You got yourself into this mess, you went headfirst knowing the baggage David came with and you knew full well that protection wasn’t at the forefront in the affairs. Ready or not, you both went in this together and brought a baby into the picture.

Vicky stares, confused, but still genuinely concerned, “then what else could be wrong?” When you didn't immediately respond, she knew it had to be one other thing, or person, and you just didn’t want to admit, well out loud, “David?”

You only nod; you knew you were going to have to face the music sooner or later. So, you start listing things you’ve observed that have caused you to grow suspicious over the course of the last few months. You just hoped you didn’t sound like a mad woman in front of her.

The one time your phone had died, and he let you use his to place a food delivery. You couldn’t unlock his phone, trying every possible combined set of numbers close to David, only to come to a conclusion that the access code had changed. Visibly distressed, he realizes you were attempting to unlock his work phone. You knew that was his though. What work phone?

You didn’t even know he had one of those, let alone why did it have the same crack on the screen in the exact same spot as his personal one? You feigned stupidity and blamed it on exhaustion. Deep down David knew you were suspecting something was up, and he ended up placing the order for dinner that night himself.

The other time you confronted David about coming home smelling heavily of another woman. Whatever, whoever, her perfume was strong, and it made you nauseous. The pregnancy didn’t even do you any favors on this one with your senses heightened and overly sensitive.

Of course, he smelled of another woman, the person he was assigned to protect. You could see all the holes in his alibi. He was lying, and it hurt most when he indirectly admitted your mood swings were irritating him and then flipped it all on you, saying you were overthinking the situation and getting all paranoid for no reason. Accused you of not trusting him, when truth was you had the utmost faith in him, but not when the evidence was piling up.

There’s a solemn look that washed over Vicky’s face. She had expected more tales of David’s PTSD, but none of what you spilled alluded to it. This time David couldn’t blame the effects of war on your suspicions. However, Vicky knew that this was you and David, and if there was a pair that could survive love’s tumultuous doings then it was you two.

“There’s a lot of coincidences, yes, but this is you and David,” she says, grasping your hand for support because she could see the moisture in your eyes building up, “is it silly of me to admit I was always jealous of you,” she confesses, trying to steer the conversation a different route.

She didn’t want you to think she was brushing off your worries, but to remind you that everything you and David had been through to get to this point to be together, whatever you both were dealing now wasn’t anything you two couldn’t overcome. There were high hopes for you and David in Vicky’s mind.  

A small smile cracks your face, and you bring your vacant hand up to dab at the inner corner of your eyes, just before the tears start to race down, “jealous? Of what?” It was almost shocking to think you had something she was jealous of.  

“Every time you visited us,” she starts, “I could tell David held so much admiration for you,” and you know she’s not trying to hurt your feelings, but it’s taking a bit to figure out where she’s going with this.

“That’s silly,” you scoff lightly, “you both got married and had two kids, surely there was no doubt,” then bring the cup up to your lips for a small sip.  

“But there was and look where we ended up?” she says. Your lips cave in to form a tight line in response, and carefully place the cup back down on the dish, before she follows up, “you two are finally together.”

“Vicky,” you pipe up, not knowing where to begin. It was never your intention to steal David’s heart away from another.

“I’m not saying any of this because I’m mad at you. No. I’ve never truly hated you. You’re a good person and you’re finally getting your happily ever after. Don’t ever stop fighting for it,” she comes out wholeheartedly, and this time you make no attempt to keep the tears at bay. It stung to hold them back anyways.

Vicky gets up from her seat, walking the short steps to yours, to wrap her arounds around you. You immediately cling onto her arms and just cry, finally letting everything out.

“Seriously, don’t think of the worst,” she starts advising, while rubbing your back, “David will always come back to you,” she pulls you away from her before reminding you, “you knew going into this wasn’t going to be easy.”  

You feel so pathetic. What she said was completely true, you just didn’t think it’d be this bad. There’s no doubt you love David and want to be with him through the good, the bad, and the ugly, so you nod and try to keep your chin up. It wasn’t to appease her, you were going to get back up, because if not for David, then for the baby.

Suddenly, the front door busts open and Ella and Charlie are bustling into the kitchen, where you and Vicky were. Quickly wiping away the tears, you both noted that school had just let out.

They were ecstatic to see you, especially Charlie as he had currently been experiencing issues of his own adjusting to school. They lifted your spirits greatly; they were more fascinated by the baby growing in you and couldn’t wait to meet him or her. You absolutely adored them. They looked like David and the whole time they were talking your ear off; you wonder to yourself if your own kid will look more like you or David. 

David’s thrusts were deep and good; you made no attempt to hold it in, letting him know exactly how he was making you feel. Nails digging into his firm buttocks, pulling him closer to you, wanting him to just keep going and going; the chase proving to be almost just as good as the climax. You feel one of his hands run up your side and his large hand starts groping your breast, adding onto the pleasure he was plaguing your body with, while the other held onto the small of you back, bringing your hips up to his.

His face was buried in the crook of your neck, you could feel his hot breath fanning against your skin and hear his murmured swears and praises. The air in the room was thick, and for the majority of the intimate activity, the only sounds that travelled around the apartment consisted of heavy breathing, moans, gasps, whines and skin slapping, until the annoying distinct ringtone started screeching from a few feet away.

You’d learned to distinguish his work alarm since the supposed mix-up, and it pinged constantly, agitating you. David’s pace notably falters, and the rhythm you’d both built started dwindling, the needy side of you started to panic because he was going to stop and you desperately wanted to come, even more so come with him, but it looked like neither of you would be as you feel one of David’s hands leave your body and make an attempt to reach out to the device.

You grab a hold of his wandering hand and lace your fingers together, hoping to keep him close and forget about the alert. You buck your hips forward, urging him to continue. His grip tightens and cock twitches inside of you in response. Your strategy almost deems successful when he picks up momentum, each swivel of his cock gradually bringing out the starved woman in you. Not to mention, your sex drive had heightened too, you’d longed and craved any affection he could give you.

“David, baby…” you whine, holding a hand to his face, forcing him to keep his gaze on you and only you, the ringtone almost drowning out, “...don’t. Don’t. Fucking. Stop...please,” you resort to begging and hook a leg over his body, the new angle allowing him to thrust deeper.

And just when you’re about to tip over the edge, the incessant ringing persists, and David’s halt unintentionally pulls you back down. He unwinds your sweaty clasped hands, no doubt in search of the phone once more, however, you had more leverage than he did, and your hand beats his hand to it. He wasn’t that far behind as his hand covers yours, and he tries to grab the phone to answer the call, but instead you swat it off the nightstand.  

“What the fuck?” David says aggravatedly, while attempting to reach his phone on the ground, all while he’s still inside of you, pressing your body deeper into the mattress, but careful to not crush you.

“No, fuck you, David,” you spit back, and shove his body off of yours. You scoot over to one side of the bed and try to level your breathing. You were both so close!

“What is wrong with you?” He asks, forgetting the phone on the ground.

“Do you really have to answer that?” You ask, attitude on full display.

“It could be an emergency at work,” he tries reasoning.

“You’re not on the clock, David!” You dispute, sitting up, clutching the sheets to your body to conceal yourself.

“That’s not the point! It could’ve been serious. Julia could be hurt,” he says, the words just coming out of his mouth, giving each excuse little thought. His mind was in a frenzy and you didn’t miss a single syllable.  

“You called her Julia,” you say just above a whisper, and suddenly you have an urge to vomit, but you do your best to control it.

“What?” he asks, not understanding what that meant at all to you.

It hurt more that he didn’t realize there was anything wrong and if he did, he was doing a good job at hiding something and making you look like the bad guy. You lightly shake your head, feeling defeated, and lie back down, settling on your side facing the opposite direction of him.

What was going on in David’s head? You tried so hard to understand him. It was like walking on eggshells, and even you had a breaking point. It was just sometimes too much because it felt like you were the only one putting in the effort to keep this relationship afloat.

The bed shifts significantly, letting you know that he’s gotten out of it. What felt like an hour, but were only a few seconds, the room was silent, tension still heavy in the room, and neither of you were willing to be the first to crack. You lie still, unmoving and making no attempt to stop him. It’s only when you hear the swing of the bedroom door creak, you allow yourself to blink the tears in your eyes away.

He didn’t leave the apartment that much you could rest assured of. Rest? That was what you were having trouble with. Things weren’t getting any easier with David and you even though you vowed to yourself that you’d go through Hell for him, the pressure was getting too heavy on your heart and in return, you knew the distress wouldn’t be good for the baby.

Maybe it was all just paranoia, the stress of pregnancy, and you were taking things too personal. You could be understanding about a lot of things in David’s life, his terms and PTSD, his kids, and his job, but was it too much to ask of him to be understanding of you? You suppose you were being selfish, and you were really tired. The only way to help you sleep was to swallow your pride and admit you were wrong.

The rush of the cold air instantly surrounds your bare legs the second you throw the covers off your body to get out of the bed. You throw on the discarded oversized shirt to be decent. Your steps are light, and you’re kind of nervous and, dare you admit, ashamed of how you overreacted that it drove David to the point of sleeping on the couch. After all, you made him feel unwanted in his own bed, and he certainly had enough respect to not steal yours.

Just when you’re ready to apologize and ask him to go back to bed with you, he’s already sound asleep, his legs sticking out from the mere blanket covering his upper body. You didn’t have the heart to wake him up for that. Sleep didn’t find him easy and he seemed just as stressed as you were, so you don’t disturb him. It can wait, right? You turn around and head to your room, shut the door and pray sleep finds you soon.  

It didn’t and neither did the conversation. 

News of the blast at St. Matthews College, where Julia was presenting a speech, rocked not only the political world, but it was the forefront of every news channel and medium. Tons left injured or dead, and as if that wasn’t bad, David was being told Julia had not survived the bombing.

He’s clearly distraught, believing he’s failed her, and on top of that, the weight of his lies started to suffocate him. He was going to have to come clean to you about everything he’s done behind closed doors with Julia. You wouldn’t forgive him, he was sure of that, and if by some chance you did, it would take a hell of a long time for him to regain your trust.

How many more lives does he have to ruin or lose under his watch? It was becoming too much, and it was sad, as he stared at the gun in his hands, that he’d contemplated his next actions more than once, but he really didn’t know what he had left to do anymore. There was a lot actually, he had his kids, a baby on the way, and a new life to build with you, but he was far too gone at that moment.

It’s Vicky that finds him back at the apartment, cleaning the brass fragments from the wound on the side of his head. She quickly puts the pieces together, the notes on the table addressed separately to her, the children and you, and the admission from David that these were brass fragments of a bullet casing.

“Dave, what the fuck? What about Ella and Charlie? What about-” she starts going on but stops when he visibly cracks because he knows your name is next to come out of her mouth, “I’m taking you to the hospital,” she decides and is quick to put away her tools.

“No. No one can know about this,” David says adamantly. They start to argue about his injuries and how David hadn’t been aware that he fired a blank round before he asks her to go back home to the kids.

“I’m not leaving you like this,” she says grabbing a jacket and tries to reason that he shouldn’t be alone right now and maybe being around the kids and seeing you will open his eyes and realize what he was leaving behind had he successfully ended his life.

He couldn’t pretend living like he was okay. What had happened to Julia was not his fault. All David ever did was do his best to protect, protect his country, his family and her.

“You need to tell her,” Vicky says while she hands David a cap for him to cover the wound on his head.

“I don’t even know where she’s been the last few days,” he admits pathetically. His own girlfriend, the mother of his unborn child, he can’t even keep tabs on where she’s been this whole time. It made him feel even terrible that he’d neglected you.

“She’s been staying with the kids and I,” she reveals.

“What? Why is she there?” He asks, and quickly puts the cap on and gets up from his seat.

She didn’t tell David of your whereabouts earlier because you’d asked her not to and she politely respected that, but she knew now was not the time to take sides anymore. You two had to deal with your issues now.

“She shouldn’t be alone, Dave. She’s pregnant with your child and yet she’s going through it all by herself,” Vicky tells him.

“I never meant to bring her into any of this mess,” he says heavily, full of grief. He brought you into the madness that was his world and now you’re trapped in it, bringing a new life along for the ride.

“She loves you, David, don’t sell yourself short. She just feels like she’s been left in the dark. You need to talk to her,” Vicky advises him, “it may not be pretty, but you have to hear her out.”

She knew you couldn’t stand being alone in the apartment without being reminded of David constantly. You weren’t in a good place either and she wanted to help you both before it was too late. 

You’d been left behind at the house with Ella and Charlie in the other room watching TV, while Vicky was out looking for David. He wasn’t answering any of the phone calls she’s made, even ones made on your cell phone, there was no form of contact or communication from him. You knew he was there at the college; he was Julia’s bodyguard after all.

When you heard more than two voices return, you knew she’d brought David back and had told him you’d be here. You weren’t mad at her for ratting you out, it was going to come out eventually. Nothing ever stays hidden.

“You don’t normally wear a hat indoors,” Ella points out the cap on David’s head that stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You said it’s silly,” Charlie reminds his father.

“Then I’m being silly,” David responds as he watches his children chomp away at the slices of pizza in their hands.

While Vicky was on the phone cancelling her date tonight, you faintly hear the end of the conversation he was having with Ella and Charlie over their dinner. He still hadn’t even seen you. Then you hear his quiet, controlled sobs, but he couldn’t detain them enough and be strong around his kids.

“I just did something silly today,” he tells them.

“Wearing a hat?” Charlie asks innocently.

“That, too,” he replies as he clings onto them both in a group hug.

Vicky had just revealed to you of David’s suicide attempt moments ago. You’re numb. Clearly, Julia’s death had affected him rather deeply, so much that he thought killing himself was a solution.

He didn’t care about you or the baby. You both weren’t enough to save him or have anything to look forward to. You can’t even cry anymore. You wanted to lash out and get mad. She advises you to keep calm and think rationally, but you’re tired of thinking about all of this.  

Without warning, David enters the room you’d been staying in. You’re like stone on the couch, arms crossed and starting straight ahead of you, mindlessly at whatever TV program the kids left it on before retreating to the dining area. Your eyes cast themselves on David’s demure stance. He cautiously steps forward and hesitantly takes a seat next to you.

“Is it true?” You ask, breaking the silence and finally turn to look at him. He only nods in response, his head hangs low, ashamed. You felt like your heart didn’t have any parts to break anymore. The confirmation alone just felt like him stomping on it for added measure.

“Ok,” is all you say, biting down on your lip to prevent you from saying anything else. It was petty, but you’d refused to show him any remorse or sorrow of any kind.

“Is this where you’ve been the past few nights?” He questions, rather awkwardly too.

“Oh, so you’ve noticed I haven’t been home?” You ask bitterly.

He was really going to push your buttons. You’re not sure if Vicky was right about you and David having to talk. This wasn’t going to go well at all. You were not in an ideal mental and physical state to be talking about your problems with him, but if not now then when?

“Of course, I have. Why wouldn’t I?” He asks, almost appalled by the accusation, and watching as you get up from the couch to stand in front of him.  

“I hardly see you and when I do I find out that you just tried to kill yourself, so forgive me for not assuming I even ran as a mere thought in your messed-up head,” it was harsh, poking at his mental state, but you were so fed up, your mind was just as clouded, “...you didn’t think about me when you held the gun to your head,” you said ripping off his hat.

Your heart tightens in your chest as you stare at the wound and tears threaten to fall, but you don’t let them, “...and you certainly didn’t think about our baby when you pulled the trigger,” then chuck the cap at him, he makes no attempt to catch it as it lightly bounces off his chest and fall onto his lap.

“I’m so sorry,” he says sincerely and making no attempt to hide his tears as they raced down, “I’m so fucking stupid,” and he gets up on his feet, ”...I need help.”

He’s not even going to use the excuse of work and you’re not expecting him to rat himself out and come clean about Julia just yet. David didn’t work like that and you were absolutely done with it. No, everything had to come out now.

“I know,” is all you say at first. He thinks it’s some form of forgiveness, him acknowledging his problem, until you follow up, “just admit it,” your voice changes in tone from anger and hurt to an icy one, “who do you love now, David?”

All while asking him that question, you’re trying to get his eyes to focus on you, but you simply cannot. He’s looking everywhere but, and it hurts.

“It’s Julia, isn’t it? Tell me!” You shout at his face. When he doesn’t answer immediately, your lips press down together and you don’t hold back the tears any longer, “I can’t believe you,” you say in disbelief, almost struggle to breathe right, “this shit has been keeping me up at night!”

You back away from him and cover your mouth, just to conceal your sobs so the rest of the family doesn’t hear you cry. They most definitely heard you yell, but you didn’t want to further trouble them anymore or cause a big enough scene for them to burst right through.

There hadn’t been a doubt in your mind that David loved you before, but just seeing how he couldn’t open up enough to tell you there was someone else during, filled you with more heartache. Maybe it would hurt less, you wouldn’t know unless it came straight from his mouth.

David starts crying as well and you honestly want to slap him, but instead you start saying nasty things, cutting him way worse than anything you could ever do physically, and you certainly don’t hold back. Claiming you two were never meant to be together, and the baby doesn’t mean anything especially in uniting you both.

“I’ll be surprised if this baby even survives,” you scoff thinking about a past experience, and how cruel life was gifting you this baby.

“What are you talking about? You’re not thinking about-“ David starts getting all frantic suddenly, and not thinking, he grabs both your arms in his hands, holding you in place.

“God no! I would never!” You say in disgust and pull away from him, “I can’t believe you’d think I would…”

“Then what did you mean?” He asks curiously.

“I never told you why I broke up with him,” you don’t really mention your ex’s name these days. While you’d both moved on as civil as the both of you could, it still pangs you to reminisce about the relationship and how it ended.

“He couldn’t handle the long distance,” he said thinking he knew.

“He only couldn’t after...” you pause, trying to decide if now was the time to reveal this secret. David had the right to know, after all, an incident like such could happen again.  

“After what? He was seeing someone else?” He grew increasingly anxious and almost ill towards the thought of another being unfaithful to you.

“No! It was my fault,” you don’t want to slander your ex at all. He couldn’t have prevented what happened to you across the other side of the world even if he tried. “I miscarried. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I woke up one day in my blood and the sharpest pain I’ve ever felt.”

You started reliving that day, how you were alone and the way your neighbors had to come to your aid. Your poor ex felt so helpless, he wanted nothing more than to drop everything for you, but the wave of depression afterwards had strained the relationship. It formally ended when you’d returned from studying abroad.

“I didn’t even know you were pregnant,” David says in shock. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, and if it was stupid to think all this time you could’ve easily had a life without him long before you two finally became a thing.

“It didn’t matter, David,” your voice finally regained strength, and wiped at the tears on your face of the memory, ”you and Vicky were so in love. There’s nothing you could’ve done for me.”

“That’s not true,” David persists.

“I would’ve turned you away, just like him,” you say so sure. David was your friend then, yes, but you didn’t need or owed him this before now.  

“You’re not going to lose this baby,” he promises.

“You don’t know that,” and you’re not trying to be a pessimist about this, you wanted this baby, but you were more than aware of the possibility it could happen again. Bad things just always seemed to be happening lately anyways.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’d protect you both with my last breath,” he vows, grabbing your hands, desperate to feel any part of you.

“I don’t need your protection, David,” your words continue to crush him, that was your subtle way of leaving him and he knew it, “I love you, David. I love you so much!” you say with plenty of emotion, and lightly squeeze his hands in yours, “...but you can’t even tell me who you love right now,” you point out, reluctantly removing your hands from his.

“You need to get help, David. If not for your family, me or the baby, please do it for yourself,” you say last, before placing a small kiss on his cheek.

“I’m going to get help...for you,” you hear David say determinedly just before you walk out of the room. It wasn’t all you wanted to hear, you wanted him to tell you he loved you back, but you wanted him to live easy once again even if that meant him not loving you.

You could manage on your own, and work something out when the baby arrives, but for now it was time for you to go home.

A/N: Nope. Sorry! Whenever Season 2 decides to come out, maybe we’ll get a happier David, so for now I don’t think I can let these two ride off into the sunset…but I can if you send 2020 off with giving this a like, reblog, comment or all of the above!

[kagedaddy]

how you meet - haikyuu!

Warnings: none

boyfriend scenarios [1] [masterlist]

daichi sawamura

You were running late to your volleyball practice,”not again, not again!”you sprint towards the gym.

You swing the door open unintentionally smacking a person on the other side,”aita (ouch)!”the person groans in pain.

“Oh shoot! I am so sorry,”you bend down and profusely apologised to the male who’s bent over in pain, he waves his arm as if to days it’s okay.

Your captain tsks at you for your tardiness and your clumsiness,”(last name) please bring Daichi-san to the clinic and run five extra laps when you get back,”she instructs you and you nod.

You help the male up and walk with him to the clinic,”I apologise again Daichi-san,”I bow my head. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it,”he smiles at me as he clutches his face.

We reach the clinic and the nurse looks at me,”again, (last name)-san?”Daichi quirks his eyebrow at you, stifling a laugh at your embarrassment state.

I rub the back of my head,”how many people have you hit?”he looks at you with amusement in his eyes.

“I think four?”

sugawara koushi

Walking into the gates of your new school, Karasuno High. You were having new student nervousness, as much as possible you didn’t want to be late to class.

You took out your student packet to check where your shoe locker and classroom was located.

Finding your shoe locker was easy enough to find but your classroom was not, you had gone up and down the floors and was still not in luck.

“Hey, you seem lost. Are you new here?”you turn around and you meet a grey haired male,”oh is it that obvious?”you joke awkwardly but nod your head.

“I’m looking for class 4, any chance you can help me?”you say as you hand over your student packet to the male. “Well, you’re in luck, I was heading that way.”

“Thank you,”you say happily and he just laughs at you. “I can show you around the school, later. I’m Sugawara Koushi by the way,”he flashes you a smile.

“That would be awesome! I’m (last name) (first name), it’s nice to meet you!”

asahi azumane

It was a regular school day, nothing out of the ordinary except for you rushing down the third year floor.

You were holding a stack of papers your teacher had instructed you to bring them to his desk and you had completely forgotten to do it.

Being distracted you had not seen the ace of Karasuno as he exited his classroom and colliding into the tall figure, making all the papers fly.

You had looked up to the male you bumped into and was intimidated by his looks. Slightly frightened you bowed immediately. “I am so sorry Asahi-san, I was not paying attention where I was going.”

Quickly trying to gather the scattered papers and leave but you were surprised as Asahi helped you picked up the papers. “It’s okay, it was my fault too (last name)-san.”he apologises as he handed me the stack., hands both touching.

You both looked away with pink tinted cheeks before you quickly left.

nishinoya yuu

You had been chatting to your friend, (friend name) at your school’s courtyard, enjoying your lunch and the afternoon breeze.

Out of the corner of your eyes you noticed the blond streaked second year rolling in the dirt yelling,”rolling thundaaa!”

You couldn’t help but stare and giggle at the hilarious sight, he knocks into his bald friend which breaks into a playful argument.

The two males turn their attention to your giggles and stare wide eyed as they have made a pretty girl laugh.

You flush in embarrassment having Ben caught staring at them and turn back to your friend who snickers at you, she leans into whispering,”blond streak guy is approaching.”

He taps your shoulder and you turn to him,”I’m Nishinoya Yuu and I think you’re cute,”you flush even more red.

“I’m (last name) (first name) and I think you’re funny,”you introduce yourself and the boy nearly blew a fuse, he runs back to his friend who pats him on his back.

tanaka ryuunosuke

The soft jingle of the bell alerts you that a customer has entered the cafe, you quickly rush to the front of the counter ready to take their order.

The voices of teenage boys fills the small cafe, all of them talking loudly, yelling out their orders before their senpai yells at them to be quiet.

“Hi, what would you all like to order today?”you ask politely once they have settled and quieted down, after their senpai ordered for everybody, they all take their seats.

You move to the back of the bar and start making their orders, once finished you brought their orders to their tables.

“milk for #1 setter?”you question as you hold up the cup of warm milk, a boy with midnight hair raises his hand and mumbling a small thank you.

“Caramel Latte for the MVP?”a bald male raises his hand and takes the cup from your hold, his friend elbows his and points towards you.

“Hi. I think you’re hot, I’m Tanaka Ryuunosuke,”he smiles flirtatiously but he gets smacked by his senpai,”Tanaka apologise!”

“I’m sor-,”you cut him off, giggling at his antics, he was kinda cute. “Thank you, I’m (last name) (first name),”you wink at the male before giving the rest their drinks.

His cheeks heat up as his team teases him.

kageyama tobio

I’ll be partnering everyone up for the semester long project, you have the whole semester to work on this.”your sensei announces and all the students groan in annoyance.

“Kageyama and (last name),”you turn to the grumpy male offering a small wave only to receive a scowl in return.

Well this was going to be a long and fun project, you sigh. Your partner was already not up for it, after all the announcements you approach him.

“Kageyama-san, how do you want to go about our project?”you ask as you pulled a chair to sit across him, he blushes but hides his face from you.

“I-I-I can do it after my volleyball practice.”he curses himself for stammering,”oh okay, should we exchange numbers?”you tilt your head.

“S-sure,”he hands you is phone and in return you hand him yours, your classmates look in shock as the setter’s ears burn hot.

“We can start on it this weekend, just message me after your practice.”

hinata shouyo

“(last name)-san, would it be okay if you tutored a fellow classman?”Takeda sensei asked apologetically,”I don’t mind sensei,”you offered the stressed sensei a gentle smile.

“Thank you, (last name)-san, his name is Hinata Shouyo,”he points to the orange haired male jumping around the courtyard.

“Hinata!”Takeda sensei calls the energetic male and he bounces over to both of you,”This (last name) (first name), she’ll help you with your exams,”the male nods in understanding.

“Please listen to her, if you don’t pass you won’t be able to go to the training camp in Tokyo,”Takeda sensei warns him and it petrifies the poor boy. “Yes I will,”he salutes sensei before turning his attention to you.

“Help me beat bakageyama!”he bows to you and you can’t help but laugh, who’s bakageyama?

tsukishima kei

You huff in frustration, it has been five minutes and you were in the same situation. The book that you have been needing still sat at the top most shelf and you were still unable to reach it.

You stand on your tippy toes and attempt to at least touch the dammed book. Your finger grazes the spine of the book but that was it.

“I swear!”you quietly say and ball your fists, a large shadow looms over you and takes the book from the shelf with ease.

You crane your head to your hero and you are met with the sour face of your tall blond classmate, he drops the book in your hands.

“Thank you Tsukishima-san,”you gratefully bow your head in thanks earning yourself a “tch” sound as a reply.

“Elementary students do not belong here (last name),”he says before returning to his seat.

You stand in your spot even more annoyed and embarrassed with enflamed cheeks.

yamaguchi tadashi

“Excuse me, are you Yamaguchi-san?”you ask the green haired male, he turns to you and nods shyly. “You must be (last name)-san?”he asks back.

“Yup. Thank you for accepting to tutor me in algebra.”you bow your head, the male becomes flustered and his cheeks burn red as the whole class turns their attention to the both of you.

“It’s n-no problem (last name)-san,”he managed to get out and you jump in joy startling the poor green haired male.

“We can meet up after my practice,”he says and you nod your head,”okay. I’ll be waiting Yamaguchi-san.”you yells as you sprint out of the class in a hurry.

Leaving the poor boy flustered.

//

heyya! first scenario up, wooo! i enjoy writing these kinds of stuff i think it’s cute, where you read or imagine just small snip bits of the story. if you guys would want me to write a complete story on your fav characters let me know. made a masterlist for all the scenarios, i’ll update the other schools in the coming days. leave a like and comment if you enjoyed reading, have a great day guys.

all the love xx

[emiefaunwrites]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my partner can I project onto the boys and have them working through things like how they communicate when they have conflicts and how they communicate when they have bad mental health impacting their relationship? Sorry for such a big ask but these boys are the source of so much of my seroronin

Hey there anon.

I'm really sorry to hear you're having those problems. I've come from a series of unhealthy (and damaging) relationships myself and I hate knowing that others suffer in relationships. I don't know what problems you're having but I hope you remember how important you and your feelings are.

And it would be my pleasure to write something for you. Say the word and if it's within my power in the AU, then I'll write whatever you want.

I hope that things get better for you soon and I hope this helps, even just a little ❤

********************

• In general, Taka and Leon's relationship is great.

• Especially the longer they are together - they've learnt how the other communicates and are able to deal better when the other is upset.

• But as with all relationships, they hit some bumpy roads.

• It's mostly in their first few years together, once the 'honeymoon period' has worn off.

• They're both very similar in a lot of ways, but they're also incredibly different.

• And their communication styles most definitely clash.

• Leon is more of an emotional person - he gets wound up fast, wanting to vent his frustrations out and have someone agree with how shit whatever it is that's annoyed or upset him is so that he feels cared about.

• But Taka, despite crying easily, is very logical in his approach.

• Yes, he will cry over the smallest thing, but he quickly recovers and plans the best course of action to resolve the issue.

• As you can imagine, these two ways of managing anger/upset are not the most compatible.

• Taka loves a good snuggle at the beginning but he quickly wants to talk it through and have Leon offer advice.

• And when Leon's mid vent, the last thing he wants is for Taka to challenge his thinking to offer solutions.

• It leads to conflicts - both boys not understanding why the other doesn't seem to get what they need.

• And so what is meant to be comfort leads to more anger and upset.

• It takes one big heart to heart after a particularly big argument for them to finally air it all out.

• 'Why aren't you listening?!'

• 'I AM listening! Would I be giving you advice if I WASN'T listening?!'

• 'I don't WANT advice! I want you to LISTEN!'

• It's a hard thing to change when a person is so set in their way of communicating - it's hard to see another point of view.

• So even after that conversation, it was really hard work.

• Leon would misunderstand a situation and be hesitant to offer hugs, jumping straight into harsh advice while Taka was still in the heat of his upset.

• And Taka would remain silent, coming across unintentionally cold when he wouldn't ask about what was upsetting his partner, thinking that Leon would come to him.

• This was when the peak rocky patch hit during their first year at University.

• After so many failed attempts at communicating, they had bocame frightened to talk about their feelings, bottling up issues out of fear of getting it wrong.

• Leon's self-esteem spiralled downwards, jealousy and paranoia knawing away at him and he withdrew further and further away.

• And Taka misunderstood, thinking he was being childish, and so let the anger simmer gently under the surface.

• They would spend their time together as normal - good days being good days as if there never were any problems.

• But once there was a hint of any trouble it was tense - their unresolved issues hanging thick in the air and it just built and built and built.

• And one night it all became too much - a night where Taka was going to go out with his theatre club for a social.

• At one mention of a certain member's name - a beautiful, intelligent, kind and caring female - Leon's entire body deflated and he tucked himself under the covers, ignoring Taka's questions.

• And that was it. Taka just couldn't take this anymore.

• He confronted the jealousy, calling it childish and accused him of not wanting Taka to have friends.

• And Leon countered miserably - of COURSE he wants Taka to have friends, he's not an asshole.

• 'You won't talk to me! You've been pushing me away ever since I joined the damn club! What am I supposed to think?!'

• Taka's right. Leon HAS been pushing him away. He's seen how happy he is and thinks he doesn't belong in his life anymore. That there's someone better out there for him - this female club member. And that'll mean Leon will be alone again.

• But how can he say that? How can Leon possibly tell Taka what he's frightened of?

• He curls himself into a balls, squeezing his eyes shut and tries not to cry, tries to just ignore the ache in his chest and the screaming thoughts of Taka finally seeing how terrible a person that Leon is.

• And Taka stands there, angry and confused, trying to understand what's happening.

• His boyfriend is being unreasonable. Pushing him away for seemingly no reason. What on EARTH could logically...

• Then it hits him.

• But Leon ISN'T logical with his emotions. He's reactive. He lets them all take over and consume him.

• Okay. Let's try something new.

• With a deep breath, Taka sits in down on the floor next to the bed and takes his phone out.

• He's cancelling...and it's all Leon's fault. The emotions start to well up, the guilt and the shame and the self loathing becoming to much.

• 'No, just go...'

• 'I don't want to go.'

• 'Yes you do...'

• 'There's more important things than a club.'

• No. No no no, this isn't fair. Taka should...should be with better people. He should...he should FORGET all about Leon. Leon isn't...he isn't WORTH IT. Taka deserves someone so much more...so much more...

• Leon doesn't realise that all of this is said out loud, doesn't see the pained look on Taka's face as his heart breaks in his chest.

• All Leon feels is pain, pain and misery and hopelessness and...

• ...and a warm palm against his cheek.

• 'You're worth EVERYTHING to me.'

• It's a long, emotional evening and there's a lot of tears on both sides.

• A lot of talking, a lot of apologies, a lot of love and endless forgiveness.

• And with words whispered against each other's skin as they cling together desperately, they promise not to ignore their feelings again.

• It isn't perfect. No relationship is.

• But Leon learns to walk away from an intense debate and to calm his thoughts enough to logically talk them through without bottling it up.

• Taka learns how to actively listen in times of frustration - waiting for the signal to offer advice and seeing signs of deteriation in advance.

• And they both learn every day how happy the other makes them, how proud every day they are of the other, and how strong they have become.

[bonjour-rainycity]

If you're still doing Twilight origin stories - I'm a part-time librarian and I love learning about anything that interests me - religion, history, medicine, languages, literature... I love to run too and love following sports like gymnastics. And I like writing.

Hi, thanks for requesting! Here’s your Twilight origin story!

You’d lived in a town in France all your life. Although the town was of a moderate size, your family was the most well-off and owned a sizeable farm and apothecary and sold food and medical concoctions to yours and the neighboring towns. Your family was seen as progressive for the time and your parents encouraged your education -- you were a very curious child and even more curious as an adult. Your mind seemed to race at a speed unlike the others’, and you always had a million questions, a million things you wished to learn. This tended to set you at odds with the townsfolk and people saw you as strange but, due to your family’s stature, they often kept their mouths shut. 

You could typically be found working in the apothecary or helping to stock your family’s large personal library -- the most well-kept and extensive of anyone’s in town. You’d read everything you could get your hands on and would ask questions to anyone who would converse with you. Though, due to your ‘strangeness,’ people didn’t normally talk to you for long. 

In your loneliness, you often wandered the streets of your town at all hours of the night. Your mind would race, filled with curiosities and ideas and no one to speak about them with. 

In the autumn of 1741, people started to go missing. 

First it was just a beggar or two, and no one batted an eye. But then, the son of the blacksmith took an errand to deliver a set of horseshoes and never returned. 

The town flew into a panic. 

Your family knew about your nighttime strolls and asked that you discontinue them for the time being, concerned for your safety. But you saw no reason to stop. Your walks, while solitary, did good for your racing mind -- you could not sleep otherwise. For the sake of your family, you tried to avoid your walks, but still, night after night, you found yourself climbing out your window and onto the grass and cobblestone below. 

Besides, everyone who went missing lived on the other side of town. 

You thought you would be safe. 

You wandered the streets, allowing the cool night air and the bright, full moon to distract from your racing thoughts and endless questions. It had rained during the day, and the cobblestone was still wet, the droplets shining in the moonlight. You turned a corner--

--and stopped short. 

On the ground lay a man -- one of the butchers in town. He was limp and seemed unconcerned with the man lying on top of him. The man’s teeth were buried in the butcher’s neck. 

You froze, body made immobile by shock. 

Slowly, the man looked up at you, what seemed like blood dribbling down his chin. He was pale -- paler even than the dead man on the ground -- and his eyes were a frightening, unnatural shade.

A slow, pleasantly surprised smile spread across his face as he regarded you. ‘You are lucky,’ he said, slowly coming to stand. ‘Had I not possessed such strong control, you would have been killed instantly.’

He came to his full height then, and began to stalk towards you, and fear shot through your heart. 

He seemed unconcerned and took his time as he walked towards you, tilting his head in a conversational way. He introduced himself as Felix, asked for your name, and inquired as to why you were walking unaccompanied in the dark, especially with all the people going missing.

Something -- maybe the fear, maybe Felix himself, maybe deeply-buried reserves of courage, you didn’t know -- but something made you speak with honestly. You told him that your mind raced with a million unanswered questions, with so many things to learn, and would not allow you to sleep most nights. 

He paused then, eyes narrowing as he looking at you thoughtfully. He asked if you believed you would ever find the answers to all your questions and learn all that you wanted to learn. 

You raised your chin, absolutely sure of your answer: ‘There is not enough time in the world.’

He nodded -- it seemed you had unintentionally confirmed something with your response. 

He continued walking towards you now, quicker, more boldly. You backed up quickly, fear taking hold of you, but he reached out and grabbed your hand before you could get too far, keeping you in place with a strength you had never encountered. 

He looked at you, honesty filling his crimson eyes. ‘Regretfully,’ he began, holding you immobile with both strength and gaze, ‘there is no way around the horrors of the transformation. But I think,’ at this, a slow smile spread over his face, exposing his teeth, ‘that you will find the end result worth the pain.’

And with that, he lunged forward, and bit you. 

{***}

You wanted to be mad at him. You wanted to be furious, to rip him to shreds, to make him pay. And, when he stopped you from massacring your entire town in your newborn frenzy, you attempted to fulfill your goals. 

But something about him combined with the wonders of your new life, kept you from doing so. The two of you just naturally got along. At your request, Felix broke into your home and retrieved your favorite books and your personal journals where you kept all your thoughts and ideas. After that, the two of you set out for his home, Volterra, where he promised to help you get a permanent spot in the security of his coven. 

The two of you took the journey slow, this being your first time outside your region -- you wanted to explore. You were surprised to find his brawn did not mean a lack of intelligence, and the two of you often engaged in deep discussions. Though, when it came to research, he seemed content to follow you around and retrieve books for you when it took you too close to a large human population, rather than conduct the research himself. 

Eventually, you made it to the city of Volterra and, with Felix to vouch for you and your insight (as well as Aro’s mind-reading abilities), you were offered a permanent position in the coven. 

You have since remained a remember of the Volturi coven, but periodically take trips around the world to explore and learn all you can. 

And sometimes, Felix gets to go, too. 

Want an origin story? Read here, please!

[aceavatar]

Exchange Student

Hinata x gn!American Reader

warnings: slight language, fluff

IMPORTANT:

dialogue in “” is Japanese. ‘’ is English.

Being an exchange student was fun. So was having one.

I never thought it would be until my mother announced that we were going to be hosting a Japanese boy. That also meant that I’d be living in Japan with him and his family for a long period of time as well.

“Shoyo!” I shouted, grinning widely.

“Y/n!” He shouted back, running up to me, arms open. We crashed into each other, hugging one another tightly.

“You’re actually here!” He said, pulling away.

“Yes! It feels like it’s been so long!” I laugh.

“Too long!” He nods, holding my hands in his excitedly.

He lived with me and my family in America for the fall semester, and he went back home for Christmas, so I already knew him pretty well. I stayed in America for Christmas, but now, it was January 2nd and time for me to start my time in Japan.

“My family is so excited to see you again. Come on, let’s go eat dinner!”

“We’re so glad you’re here, Y/n.” His mother said, hugging me.
“I’m so glad to be here!” I said. “We loved having Shoyo, all of my friends told me to tell him to come back whenever he can. I think they like him more than they like me!” I joke. She laughs while Shoyo blushes, waving his hands in front of his face.

‘We ride bikes to school, you can use my mom’s until we can go to the store to get you one.’ Shoyo said. We shared a bedroom, but I didn’t mind. We did for a while back home, and it was normal feeling.

‘Uniforms are so weird to me.’ I muttered, pulling up my socks.

‘Well I thought that picking a new outfit every day was weird. You’ll get used to it though, I promise.’ He said with a smile. He spoke to me in English frequently, which I was grateful for. He mentioned how overwhelming the language and culture of America was, so I spoke in Japanese with him a lot just to make things easier, and he did that with me too. It made me feel cared for. Well, I was being cared for.

I laughed, nodding. ‘That makes sense.’

We rode our bikes over the rolling hills as my eyes wandered the scenery. It was beautiful here.

Once we got to school, we locked our bikes on the rack and walked in. ‘Welcome to Karasuno, Y/n.’ He said with a grin, waving his arm as if presenting the building to me.

‘Thank you!’ I laughed. ‘I’m excited to see what it’s like.’

“SHOYOOOOO!” A voice shouted, making me jump. I turned my head to see a guy about Shoyo’s height sprinting towards us. “How was your holidays, buddy?” The guy asked. His eyes locked on me, furrowing his eyebrows and tilting his head. “Who’s this?”

“This is Y/n. They’re the exchange student.” He said, nodding at me, telling me to introduce myself.

“Y/n L/n. Nice to meet you.” I smiled at the boy.

“Nishinoya. It’s nice to meet you too!” He smiled back. “You’re American?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s awesome!” He claps. “You’ve got to teach me some slang and stuff!”

“I will.” I said, laughing.

Later that day, after school ended, it was time for volleyball.

‘Are you sure you want to stay for this?’ Shoyo asked me. ‘I don’t want you to be bored.’

‘Oh it’s okay, you waited through my dance rehearsals, didn’t you? Plus, I’d love to see you play volleyball with your actual team, not me in the backyard.’ I said with a smile, nudging him.

He grinned. ‘Okay! I’m gonna go get changed, you wait here.’ He said, putting his hands on my shoulders before he dashed off. I nodded and stood outside the gym, tapping my foot and scrolling on my phone.

“Um, are you lost?” A voice asked. I looked up to meet brown eyes. I shook my head with a smile. “Oh, okay.” He stood, looking around. “Uh, can I ask why you’re here?”

“I’m waiting on someone.” I said. “He should be back soon-“

“Who’s this?” Another person asked, walking up, a third guy next to him.

Oh gosh. Three tall volleyball players. Intimidating. I blinked up at them.

“Figuring that part out.” The first guy said.

“She looks frightened..” The third one said, worry in his voice.

‘My name is Y/n.’ I said. Wait, no, wrong language. “Y/n, my name is Y/n.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.” The first one said. “I’m Daichi. That’s Sugawara and that’s Asahi.”

I nodded as he pointed to the second and third guys. “Nice to meet you guys.”

“Who are you waiting on?” Daichi asked.

“Shoyo.” I looked behind them to see if it was Shoyo himself walking up, but no, it was a tall blonde next to a short green haired guy. “Hinata. Shoyo Hinata. I think he’s changing. He said to wait here.”

“Oh, why don’t you come on in?” Sugawara said, linking his arm with mine, leading me into the gym. It was a nice gym, much nicer than the gyms back home.

“Y/n! Hi!” Nishinoya said, waving at me. I waved back.
“You know them?” Asahi asked.

“Met them earlier!” He explained, continuing his stretching.

“Y/n! There you are!” Shoyo’s voice rang in my ears. I turned my head, face unintentionally breaking out into a smile. ‘I see you’ve met most of the team.’ He said, jogging up to me.

‘Yeah, they’re all really nice to me.’

‘That’s good!’ He grinned.

“It’s so weird hearing him speak in English.” A guy with buzzed hair said, walking up to join the group that somewhat gathered around me.

“Agreed.” The tall blonde said.

“I speak in English around them to bring them familiarity.” Shoyo said. “They’re fluent though.”

“Yeah, it gets tiring being immersed in a totally new culture.” I explained, and they nodded.

“Can you teach me some cool English words?” The green haired guy asked. “I’m Yamaguchi by the way.”

“Nice to meet you! Of course, I’d love to!” I said with a grin.

“Hi guys!” I said, walking in the little ramen restaurant.

“Y/n!” The boys chorused my name. Yachi grinned and waved me over to sit in between her and Daichi, across from Shoyo.

“I’m so proud of all of you!” I said, grinning. They just defeated Shiratorizawa. It was incredible. I wasn’t able to physically be there because I had to fly back to the states for a family emergency. I was on the phone with Shoyo on their entire bus ride there, calming his nerves. Yachi sent me live updates, which I was thankful for. I had flown back that day and arrived back in Japan right as their practice was ending, so we all agreed to meet for dinner.

“Thank you, Y/n! We missed you!” Suga said.

“We did! The team was freaking out without their emotional support American.” Daichi said with a chuckle.

“I missed you all so much!” I grinned.

The conversation shifts to the game, and just to random little side conversations. A while into the dinner, I feel an elbow in my side. I turn my head to see Daichi, leaning closer to whisper something to me “Shoyo missed you a lot. I know he really cares about you, I think he loves you.”

My eyes went wide, blinking at the boy next to me. “Really?” My heart sped up.

He nodded. “Trust me.”

I trusted him.

That sounded bad. I trusted him, and he was telling the truth.

A couple nights later, I was sitting on the sidelines, watching the boys practice. Shoyo was practicing a certain move with Kageyama, drilling it over and over, trying to get the perfect outcome. I looked up and watched them in awe. I was always so impressed with Kageyama’s skill and Shoyo’s drive.

Once they finally got it, Shoyo turned his head to see if I was watching. When he saw that I was, his grin grew even wider. ‘Did you see that?!’ He exclaimed.

‘Yes!’ I clapped and cheered. He laughed and Kageyama blushed at the attention, looking away and scratching his neck.

About 20 minutes later, we had said good night to Kageyama and were walking to get our bikes.

‘Hey, Shoyo, can we talk about something?’ I asked, looking up at the dark sky.

‘Yeah, of course.’ He said, expression turning serious. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘Yeah, don’t worry. I just, wanted to tell you something.’

‘Okay, what’s up?’ We stopped walking.

‘I- well, I,’ I look at his face, and his eyes search mine. ‘I’m in love with you, Shoyo Hinata.’

He blinked at me.

“I love you.”

He chuckled, cheeks pink. ‘I love you too, Y/n.’

‘You do?’

‘Duh, of course.’ He said with a grin, pulling me into a hug. “A whole lot, actually.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in sight. Including mine.

“Do you have to go home?” Noya asked, a frown etched into his face.

I nod sadly. “I can’t stay here forever. But I will come back whenever I can.”

“Don’t forget to text us! And snap us! And send us tiktoks!” Suga said, hugging me.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I said, hugging back.

‘Have a safe flight!’ Yamaguchi said in English, making me smile.

‘Thank you, I will.’ I said back, hugging him next. I hugged each member of the team, promising the same promise to each of them, that I’d keep in contact and not forget them. Like I could forget them. I couldn’t forget them if I tried.

After more farewells, I finally see the red haired boy wading through the crowd of people. “Y/n.” He said, walking up to me.

He helped me pack, which hurt more than I ever though it would.

The whole team moves away to give us a moment, which I’m grateful for. They even forced themselves not to watch us/eavesdrop.

‘I’m gonna miss you so fucking much, Shoyo.’ I said, tears starting up again.

‘I’m gonna miss you too, Y/n.’ He said, wiping his own tears away.

‘I’ll call you every day, I’ll send letters and my hoodies and we’ll visit each other when we can,’ He rambled, holding onto my hands tightly.

“We’ll work, Shoyo.” I said. “I love you too much to lose you.” I look down at my watch, frowning. ’It’s time, I’ve got to leave now.’

He nodded, hugging me tight. He held my face in his hands, slowly moving to kiss me. His soft lips meet mine, passionately kissing me for the last time for a while. I gently placed my arms over his shoulders, pushing myself closer, trying to get one final memory of his feel, taste, smell.

The two of you knew his team would poke fun at the two of you later, but you didn’t care. His lips moving against yours was all that mattered.

I pulled away, taking a breath and resting my forehead on his.

“I love you.” He looked into my eyes. ‘I love you.’

“I love you too, Shoyo.” I grabbed my suitcase handle and adjusted my backpack’s weight on my shoulders.

I started walking away, and after I got to the doors of the airport, I turned to wave.

There stood the boy I grew to love, and the boys I loved in a different way, waving back.

It was about a year until I was able to fly back to Japan. 11 months, technically.

Nobody was there to pick me up from the airport, but it was okay, I knew my way around. I went to the Hinata household to drop off my bags, hugging his mother and sister before going to the Karasuno gym. Although it was break for me, they still had school. It would be weird not seeing the third years, but I was looking forward to meeting the new first years.

I walked up, catching the eye of Coah Ukai. I waved at him and he nodded. “Hinata!” He yelled like he was in trouble.

“Yes!” The familiar voice said. I saw him jog up to Ukai, putting his hands on his knees. Ukai waved his hand and I gingerly stepped in the gym, biting my lip.

Shoyo tilted his head and looked at the door, noticing movement. His brown eyes met mine, going wide. He stood up straight, jaw dropping. He grew a bit.

“Y/n?” He asked. He looked at Ukai ask if asking: Are you seeing this too?

“Shoyo!” I smiled, reaching out to him with grabby hands. He sprinted, full on sprinted towards me, crashing into me like he did at the airport after Christmas break.

‘Holy shit Y/n, you’re here! You’re here you’re here you’re here!” He picked me up, spinning me around. He laughed with joy, eyes sparking.

New faces, presumably first years, stared at us, confusion painted on their faces.

“Y/n! You’re back!” Yamaguchi called, waving.

“Yyyyyy/nnnnnnn!” Noya screamed, waving.

“She was an exchange student last year.” Kageyama explained to a first year holding a ball. “Also Hinata’s girlfriend.”

“Hinata has a girlfriend?” The boy asked.

“Yeah. They did long distance surprisingly well.” Yams said, smiling at the couple.

“I never would’ve pegged him to be the one to have a serious relationship.” The boy said.

“All right, enough. Go home, copper top. Take tomorrow off.” Ukai said, waving his arm in dismissal. “The rest of you, keep practicing!”

“Thanks, coach!” I called to him, grabbing Shoyo’s hand and pulling him out of the gym. Once we’re outside, the warm sun hits our faces.

“Finally.” I said, ‘Finally I can do this again.’ I kissed him gently, his lips feeling as familiar as they did almost a year ago.

He pulled back to look at me. He held my shoulders and looked, staring at my shoes, pants, arms, then face. ‘You’re here. My favorite person is here. With me. Now. In person. Finally.’ He pulled me in for another kiss, more intense than the last one. “I love you.” He sighed, smiling. ‘I love you.’

Thank the heavens for the exchange student program.

[strawberrysoup]

Growing Pains

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes (very generic OC — no detail used aside from the pronouns she/her) rating: Explicit warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, non-con/dub-con elements breeding, somnophilia, drugging, kidnapping, yandere style prompts: “See? It’s not as uncomfortable as it could be, right?” ||  “Look, this is for the best. You don’t understand now, but you will.” ||  “This’ll make us closer, I promise. Just hold still.”

prompts requested by the lovely @o-luthien!! i hope its not too rough! i’m still happy to take prompts rn if anyone’s interested!

She'd laughed it off at first, when Steve mentioned having children. They'd been dating for just over a month-- the sporadic, Are You Busy Right This Moment sort of dating that came with being a superhero. Her job was flexible, she made her own hours most of the time anyway, so she was able to say yes about 90% of the time. He always made it worth it too, the dates somehow spontaneous and yet still well thought out with her interests in mind. They'd been to museums and aquariums, a Broadway show, and the botanical gardens when he'd brought it up at dinner one evening. It was a late night, post movie dinner at a sushi place in Manhattan. The atmosphere was lovely even in the late hour and she'd had a couple of drinks with their meal. She'd been lucky to still have her wits about her when he dropped the "we'll have beautiful kids" bomb. A quick laugh and a joke about how he shouldn't be worrying about kids in his advanced age had been enough to side step the awkward conversation. 

Steve had been born a century ago, when young adults their age where usually already married with a gaggle of kids. It wasn't his fault that social ettique had changed or that it was considered extremely outlandish to mention children so early in a relationship. He probably had no idea it was so weird, after all he'd mentioned he hadn't seriously dated anyone since waking up. She'd successfully passed it off, anyway, so there was no point in dwelling on it. It didn't come up again until about 6 months later, when Steve found Bucky. 

 He'd admitted that his best friend had also been his lover in the past, that the tragedy of losing Bucky had literally been too much to take and had driven him into the arctic. She was okay with it, understood the taboo of their time and the secrecy they'd had to operate under. It had been, well, painful when Steve pulled back of course, but she understood why. That was his Bucky. It was something precious and worth salvaging, rebound relationship be damned. 

 So when Steve had shown up on her doorstep, Bucky in tow, at 4 PM on a Wednesday and asked to talk, she was anticipating a break up speech. She’d invited them in and made them coffee, trying to ignore the way Bucky looked at her. There was no deciphering the expression on his face; she couldn’t tell if he hated her for dating (and sleeping with) his boyfriend, if he felt guilty that he was stealing her chance with Steve, or if he even felt anything at all. The brunet was a closed box, spoke very few words, and watched her like a hawk the entire time. 

 She’d nearly dropped her coffee right into her lap when Steve had asked if she’d be okay with him dating both of them, because he loved Bucky and he was coming to love her and he just couldn’t choose. It had been easy to say yes, to tell him she didn’t mind. Steve’s happiness meant something to her, it had become important to her over the half a year they’d been dating. The three way dates had been weird at first, she hadn’t anticipated that Steve and Bucky would want her to join on their dates, but after a month or two she got used to it. She and Bucky had a lot in common, they fell into an easy and affectionate friendship while both getting banged 9 ways to Sunday by Steve. The first date she’d gone on with just Bucky had been strange but lovely and if they all ended up dating each other, what was the harm? 

 But then the children thing came up again. ‘The first one should be Bucky’s, he’s always wanted babies, you know?’ ‘I hope one of them is blond like Stevie, with those pretty eyes of yours.’ She continued to pass it off the best that she could, ducking and squirming out of conversations about babies. It was about the one year mark with Steve, the 6 month-ish mark with Bucky that she realized she had to reevaluate their relationship. Obviously, they wanted something different out of life than she did. They wanted a white picket fence and a whole herd of children, and that hadn’t even made it onto her list of ‘not ideal but liveable life scenarios’. 

 The night she planned to break up with them came upon her so much faster than she’d anticipated. It was going to hurt, on multiple levels. She really and truly loved them, but there was no way that she could continue dating them when their life goals were so incompatible. It felt like leading them on and that was cruel. So, she slipped into a casual pair of jeans and a tank top with a cardigan over top and headed to the cafe they generally spent time in if they didn’t want to truly do something for a date. Her winter gear kept her pleasantly warm even when the sun had gone down, but there was a frigid trickle down her back. 

 The walk wasn’t far, but the goosebumps rising over her skin gave her pause as she walked. Her hand immediately dove into her pocket, gloves slipping around her phone for a second before she managed to pull it out and unlock it. In general, she wasn’t the type to be jumpy or nervous when walking alone in the evenings, but she was the kind of girl who trusted her instincts. And her instincts told her something was wrong. 

 Bucky’s number was the first on the ‘most recent' screen for her contacts list and she hit dial without hesitation. When it rang out without an answer, she tried Steve’s only to receive the same results. They were most likely already at the cafe, phones on silent because their traditional ideals told them that being on their phones during a date was rude. Usually she found that cute and endearing, but tonight it meant they didn’t realize she really needed their attention. 

 Of course, she wasn’t in any danger. Well, in the minds of the soldiers she wasn’t in any danger. They’d never let anything happen to her. Watching from the shadows as she redialed Steve’s number, the pair smiled. She knew that they were who she needed to call in an emergency, she knew they would take care of her. When she started running down the block, Bucky stayed carefully behind her while Steve went on ahead to the cafe; there needed to be someone there to greet her when she arrived, but they also needed to make sure she arrived safely. 

 She had to stop herself outside of the cafe and take a deep breath, to try and calm herself before she went inside. Obviously, she’d worked herself up for no reason and the panic was sitting just underneath her rib cage, pounding along with her heart. Seeing Steve through the window was what allowed her breathing to calm; she was safe as long as Steve was just a few steps away. He stood up as soon as he saw her walk through the door, a brilliant smile on his face as always. It was difficult to force herself not to run over and throw her arms around him, to explain how frightened she’d been on the walk to the cafe. She reminded herself that she was there to break up with them. 

Oh, fuck, she was there to break up with them. In the cafe they all loved so much. Was she a monster? Was wanting to break up over not wanting children stupid? Wasn’t the point of dating people to find someone (or someone’s, in her case) that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? Because she’d like to spend the rest of her life with them. But, children. They were cute from afar, babies were precious and they had that lovely smell but she didn’t want any. 

 “Hey beautiful,” the blond greeted when she arrived at his side, sweeping her into a gentle hug, “you look out of breath.” 

 “Oh, I was just walking a bit fast I guess,” she waved off the concern and glanced towards the counter with a furrowed brow, “I thought Bucky would be here already?” 

 “He’s in the restroom,” Steve gestured towards the hallway before helping her out of her coat, “I already got you a tea. Did you want something to eat?” 

 “No, no, I’m not really hungry.” In fact, her stomach felt like lead and she wanted to throw up. 

 Steve ushered her into the booth before sitting beside her, unintentionally trapping her in which was going to make the following conversation very uncomfortable, “are you sure baby? Did you already eat dinner? You don’t need to be skipping meals, if you lose any weight you’ll disappear on me.” 

 A small smile cracked her lips and she shook her head, eyes carefully scanning over Steve’s face. He was so handsome, he would make incredibly beautiful babies with whoever he chose. It just couldn’t be her, and that hurt. She was shaken out of her small daydream by Bucky sliding into the booth across from her, leaning up and over the table as he did so that the brunet could press a quick kiss to her lips. 

 “Hey sweetheart,” he greeted with a smile, nose brushing hers. 

 The warmth that filled her chest was tinged with grief as she sat back, “hey Buck.” 

 “What did you need to talk about baby?” Steve questioned once they were settled, his arm coming to rest over her shoulders.

 Her lead stomach somehow grew heavier and she took a sip of her tea. Steve always knew exactly how to fix it up for her but it tasted like ash in her mouth, sticking to her tongue and coating her throat like cement. The anxiety was crushing and she hated that it would ruin the last cup of tea Steve ever made her. 

 “Baby, what’s the matter?” The blond pressed, a frown coming over his face as he shifted closer. 

 “I… I’ve been thinking, uhm, a lot recently,” she murmured, eyes focused on the cup in her hands. 

 “Okay…” Bucky prompted gently when she didn’t continue and she found herself taking a giant sip of tea to put off having to answer for just a moment— it was going to hurt. 

 “You guys… you guys deserve everything you’ve ever wanted, you know? You’ve gone through so much and you do so much for other people…” she took another sip of tea, finger nails clicking against the ceramic, “I know that you want kids. You’ll make amazing fathers, you know? And you’ve earned the right to happiness in this life, I think, so you should be able to have all the babies you want. But I… I don’t want kids. I’ve never wanted kids, even when I was little. The idea of being pregnant makes me want to throw up and raising children sounds like a nightmare.” 

 “Sweetheart—”

“Wait, Bucky, please,” she pleaded quietly, “let me finish? I don’t want kids and you guys do, so badly and I can’t get in the way of your future. I think… I think we need to stop seeing each other.” 

 “Don’t you think you’re being a bit rash, baby?” Steve asked, eyebrows of disappoint in full effect, “we haven’t even discussed children.” 

 “Are you telling me you don’t want kids, Steve? That you’d be perfectly fine with never having any children? Because I know that’s a lie,” another small sip of tea was meant to steady her but just left her feeling overheated and heavy, “it’s not fair for me to keep you both wrapped up when I have no intention of having children.” 

 Steve opened his mouth but shut it again without saying anything, picking up the coffee he’d been drinking and taking a gulp. Across the table Bucky was doing the same with his tea and she sighed heavily before finishing off her cup. 

 “Can you let me out, Steve? I think I’m gonna head home,” she requested quietly, settling her cup back on the saucer. 

 “No baby, you stay there,” the blond answered with a sigh, carding his hand through her hair while holding her against his side, “the drugs we put in your tea will finish working in just a minute or two.”

 Her head snapped towards him, hair flying around her face in a flurry, “what?! Steve what the fuck?!” 

 She attempted to press away from him, but her arms were starting to take on the same heavy feeling as her stomach. Her head was too, actually, now that she thought about it. The tea had tasted off but she’d been sure it was just her anxiety, that the lethargy sitting in her bones was just a result of the overwhelming sadness of having to break things off with the men she loved. She hadn’t considered that the heat boiling beneath her skin was anything but panic. 

 “Look, this is for the best. You don’t understand now, but you will.”

 “Oh my God,” she muttered, her mouth beginning to feel cotton-y, “wha...what..” 

 “I’ve had your apartment bugged since we started dating, baby,” Steve stated casually, “you talk to yourself a lot. We’ve known you were thinking about breaking it off for a couple of months now.” 

 “We’ve thought a lot about it and we just can’t let you, sweetheart. You’re too important to us,” Bucky added, the image of him swimming as her eyes started to blur, “you’ll get used to the idea of babies once you start having them, I promise.” 

 “S-Someone, help…” the words were barely a hoarse whisper, heat climbing through her body like a fire, “help me..” 

 “Shh, we’re going to help you baby,” Steve cooed in her ear, lips grazing her skin, “just go to sleep now.” 

 She woke up to moaning and pleasure, an orgasm rocketing through her with incredible intensity. Above her, Steve was still going strong. His massive form looked just as beautiful above her as it always did. There was something incredibly erotic about them fucking her while she slept, about being dragged out of her dreams by an orgasm rocking her out of control. Her arms were bound to the headboard, a usual occurrence, and Bucky was sitting to her left, cock in hand.

 “Morning sweetheart, how’re you feelin’?” The brunet purred, reaching his unused hand out to stroke through her hair. 

 “Ohhh,” she moaned as Steve hiked her legs farther up over his hips, pelvis grinding into her clit with each thrust, “ohhh fuuuuck…” 

 “Yeah? Is Stevie making you feel good?” Bucky smirked, his hand traveling down to her tits, “look how big they’ve gotten Steve.” 

 “Gonna be nice and full for our babies,” he responded with a grunt, fingers digging into her hips. 

 Babies. Her memory returned with a vengeance; the cafe, the break up speech, being drugged. She screeched, yanking on the handcuffs locking her to the headboard. Her legs kicked out futilely, Steve’s grasp on her waist keeping her soundly in place. His cock was massive and he was pounding her like he was on a mission. 

 “Did you notice the changes over the last few months?” Bucky asked calmly, still touching her face even as she tried to move away, “we had to give you enough drugs to counteract the effects of the birth control shot you got earlier in the year. The fertility stuff has all the upsides, you know? Watching your tits grow was my favourite part, but Stevie liked how it filled you out. This is a perfect weight for you, sweetheart, especially while you’re having babies.” 

 “Oh my God, get off of me!” Her voice came out as a screech, still yanking against the bonds around her wrists, “get off!” 

 “Based on the timeline we’ve been going off of and the stuff we gave you last night, you should be ovulating for the next couple of days,” Bucky came to kneel next to her head, grabbing both of her hands to keep her from bruising herself on the restraints, “calm down, sweetheart, let Steve finish and then it's my turn again.” 

 “Love watching you fuck her,” Steve muttered to his boyfriend, continuing to pound her cunt while leaning over to kiss him, “I swear I can feel your cum in her pussy.” 

“Nah, that monster cock pushed all of mine out,” Buck reached down, swiping his hand over where they were connected and bringing it back up covered in cum, “fill her back up Stevie. Open your mouth, sweetheart.” 

 She tried to refuse but he tutted at her, using his clean hand to plug her nose. He smiled when she ran out of breath, mouth opening in a gasp and he pressed his cum coated fingers between her lips, stroking her tongue. 

 Steve groaned at the sight, “Buck, move for a sec, would’ya?” 

 The brunet shifted and Steve pulled back, cock slipping out of her with a short whine. He’d always been vocal while they fucked, not so much in words but in noises. He grunted and groaned and moaned and she used to relish the sounds, the idea that she could make Captain America make noises like that. But now, as he grabbed her hips and turned her onto her stomach, making her wrists cross in her bonds, she hated the noises. It was disgusting how much he was enjoying himself. 

 “Here we go baby,” he murmured, carefully manipulating her onto her knees while her torso remained stretched out over the head of the bed, Bucky simultaneously turning her head so her cheek rested on a pillow, gently moving her hair out of her face, “gotta get my cum nice and deep in there.” 

 “Please stop,” she whimpered, tears pressing at the backs of her eyes, “Steve, please—” 

 “Shhh, you’re alright baby, you’re okay,” one hand rubbed circles into the small of her back, the other guiding his cock back to her weeping cunt, “almost done and then you can rest for a minute. We might’a put your little pussy through the wringer while you were asleep.” 

 There was no telling how many times they’d cum in her while she’d been drugged. She had no idea how long she’d been out, the black out curtains were pulled over the windows and she couldn’t see a clock from her position. It might not even have been the same evening, the same day. Bucky’s hand came to rest on her ass, a gentle caress making goosebumps rise on her skin. 

 “I’m gonna miss fucking your pretty ass sweetheart,” the brunet stated with a regretful look, “but we can’t waste anything in your asshole until you’re pregnant.” 

 “Won’t be long,” Steve grunted, tucking his hand under her waist and rubbing his fingers over her clit, “we’ll just need a bit more lube than usual.” 

 “Don’t, Steve,” she sobbed, “Don’t do this to me—”

 “This’ll make us closer, I promise. Just hold still,” the blond gave a low hum under his break, movements become sharper and thrusts more brutal, “here we go, baby, here we go.” 

 “No! Don’t—” 

 Her shout was disrupted by him moaning her name, burying himself deep one more time before releasing his load. Her skin pressed nearly seamlessly to his pelvis, only shifting as he gave several small, abrupt thrusts. The rough movements pounded her clit and she came a few seconds after him. She’d known in the back of her head, that the serum had done something to their physiology. Their refractory periods were insane, the sheer volume of cum they made didn’t seem possible. Now, she wondered how strong their swimmers were and how effective the drugs they gave her would be. 

 “That’s so good baby,” Steve moaned quietly, laying his back over hers and gently stroking the hand not holding up his weight over her stomach gently, “so good for me.” 

 “Come on, Stevie, on her back,” Bucky’s tone was just as soft, his hands brushing over both of his lovers gently as he watched the blond pull his softening cock from her pussy and helped him turn her onto her back, “let me grab some pillows.” 

 The blond carefully lifted her legs, tucking her knees up close to her chest and tilting her pelvis back. Bucky tucked the pillows under her waist to keep her hips canted up, to support her back more than to hold her in position. 

 “Now, you gotta stay like this for the next fifteen or so minutes, baby,” Steve instructed as he climbed off the bed, Bucky taking hold of her legs, and grabbing a damp towel from the end table to wipe himself clean, “you’ve gotta give our babies the best chance.” 

 “You’re fucking crazy,” she hissed after a moment, forcing herself not to make any noises that might sound like crying, “both of you. I’m going to get an abortion the sec—”

 “The second you can, we figured you’d say that,” Bucky laughed, thumbing brushing over her skin absently, “that’s why we’re not gonna give you the opportunity, sweetheart. We figure doctors still make house calls, we’ll have all of your prenatal care done here and you’ll have the baby here too. Maybe once you’ve had a couple of kids you can start going out by yourself again.” 

 “Let go!” The words weren’t as much of a shout as she’d been hoping for, “please, please let go.” 

 “Hush baby,” Steve climbed back into bed on her other side and took hold of her legs once again, readjusting her position slightly, “see, it’s not as uncomfortable as it could be, right? You just lay there and let me hold you, okay? Try to relax.” 

 “Here, now that you’re awake,” Bucky reached over to the side table and grabbed the remote, turning the TV mounted on the wall across from the bed on, “we can watch a movie while we wait.” 

 A fucking movie. They could watch a movie while they waited. One of their hands ran up over the curve of her ass, fingers delving into the slick mess of her pussy. She could tell they were pressing cum back into her, trying to keep as much in at once as possible. 

 “We’ll keep your pussy nice and full of cum,” the brunet’s voice was so low it was basically a rumble, “and your belly full of babies. Just wait, you’re going to have a wonderful life here with us, sweetheart. You’ll grow to love it, I promise.”

[trunkzbriefs]

Any Son and/or Briefs family headcanons? Spicy hot takes? Truths Toriyama and Toyotaro themselves can not handle? Straight up lies?

GODDAMN SORRY this took a while cause i suck at putting thoughts together. i apologize for my obvious briefs bias i have more hcs for them than the son family despite loving them both :pensive: anyway heres some random stuff

briefs hcs:

all of the briefs are pros at non-verbal communication. i hc that saiyans have their own language (and also in my own Mind Canon they still have their fuckin tails) and a lot of it is done through tail movement/body posture/grunts/etc. etc so theyve all sort of picked that up. even bulma, who doesnt have a tail, is pretty good at getting across what she means without actually speaking. they still do speak normally but it comes in handy sometimes considering that both trunks and vegeta are prone to running out of speaking energy or getting very frustrated with words, so having another way to communicate works very well for them

vegeta is fffffffffffffffffffurry. without getting too deep into my own General Saiyan hcs (thats why i made a whole ass four subspecies!!) i think that the entirety of planet vegeta tended to be very hot aside from the part where the castle was, where the temperature would drop. meaning that saiyans working in the palace would grow thicker fur around certain parts of their body, and in the royal saiyans theyd be Especially fluffy. he kept it down on earth, but he has thick patches of fur around the bottom parts of his arms and legs. kind of like snowy boots and gloves! he also has fur that grows in on his neck like a lions mane.

future trunks is an actions sponge, vegeta is a words sponge. vegeta will pick up words VERY quickly regardless if he fully understands the meaning of it or not (completely inspired by 'THATS RIGHT BOYS... MONDO COOL' in z) and future trunks will unintentionally mimic the actions of people - around people he looks up to he might take a few small mannerisms from but this extends to copying the disposition of anyone; he's just very adaptive. this is the most obvious (and funniest) when he's around vegeta bc it really shows like. yeah damn that sure is vegeta's son

vegeta & bulla have an intimidating bastard smirk naturally. their natural smiles are pretty frightening and they have to put effort into a 'normal' one. this also extends to current trunks, his default smile is the Vegeta Bastard Smirk but he learned to have a normal smile quicker than his father and sister. future trunks has a slightly unnerving natural smile (the fact that his pupils are always drawn so fucking small makes me hc that he just has a very intimidating look of 'cat thats about to pounce on an unfortunate trapped mouse' whenever he smiles) but he learned to look normal even quicker than current trunks since he's around humans a Lot and is sort of their uh, Hope. don't want to look scary to the people who depend on you!

bulma has some fighting knowledge and mildly good ki control. vegeta taught her it as a just in case so that she'd be able to defend herself against Bigger threats if he wasn't there and also so she could raise her own ki to alert someone to her if she had to.

vegeta is extremely clean and can not stand to have things disorganized for more than like... an hour before he has to tidy everything up. every time he goes down to the lab and bulma is passed out in a pile of bolts and circuit boards it kills him inside just a little bit

future trunks has little concept of power control. since his timeline was always in danger it wasn't really an important thing for him to learn. the amount of mugs he's accidentally crushed is impressive

vegeta tends to not sound like he's asking questions when he is. he doesn't add the proper infliction to the end of his questions and just sounds flat most of the time. it's confusing to people who dont know him well.

im not even gonna lie, im a BIG fan of the chill demon panchy headcanon so i love the idea that the briefs have a Lil bit of demon in them but just dont know it ghjnkm

[banging my fists on the 'hcs that not even got could take away from me' table] future trunks has OCD

vegeta doesn't really get labels but he's bisexual & "debatably a man", bulma is bisexal & bigender transfem (sometimes shes Wamen and other times its like "gender? no"), bulla is a nonbinary lesbian, current trunks is a bisexual trans man & future bulma forgot to explain the concept of gender and sexuality to future trunks so he's a little confused on that front and his gender & sexuality are "i have literally never thought abt these concepts in my life but i think men are nice. i refuse to think about gender though" (i actually have two main hcs for future trunks which are either gay trans man or more-feminine-presenting nonbinary bisexual)

son hcs:

goku is Not as fluffy as vegeta at all, but he does have fur on certain parts of his body. namely on the back of his elbows + ankles, down his back connecting to his tail, and on his shoulders. its inherented from gine!

gohan is learning saiyan language from vegeta! vegeta acts grumpy about it but he's glad to have someone to teach. when gohan learned that most of the history had been lost he basically wished shenron for a big ol book on saiyan culture and gave it to vegeta just as an act of kindness and vegeta was like [in an angry voice but very touched] "Ok. Sit down. You're learning." by extension gohan is also teaching the rest of his family!

i will take ox king being actually non-human to my grave so like, chichi has horns and a very short ox tail! gohan and goten both have horns, but they're hidden by hair. goten's horns are bigger than gohans.

goten also has a more ox-like tail, with a little puff of fur at the end. generally, gohan looks more saiyan-like and goten looks more ox/human-like.

although he keeps up his cheery demeanor very well, goku is still haunted pretty badly by like... everything that’s happened in his life. he still has frequent nightmares about cell & buu specifically.

gohan will freak out at worse, zone out at best, if he's even tapped on the neck. it reminds him of the whole 'getting his neck snapped on namek' so that area is pretty off limits to everyone

goten gets along really well with android 17. they both have a love for nature and 17s kind of like his chill uncle, so whenever he gets too stressed out or just needs a break you can find him face down on the ground outside of 17's place on monster island.

goku is really really good at remembering completely random shit. bulma uses this to her advantage whenever she's working and has him memorize random technology stuff. a week later goku can not remember what he had for breakfast that morning but as soon as bulma asks "hey do you remember what i told you last week" hes like "oh yeah sure i have no idea what it means but [blurts out three hours worth of technical garble]"

oh boy is this a headcanon that has a lot more depth to it than just a bullet on a tumblr post, but gohan has DID!

goku, like vegeta, doesnt get labels either, and does not even Try, ask him about any of it and hes like "i dont get the gender thing but i think lots of people look nice :)" gohan is gay and like vegeta, "debatably a man", goten + chichi are both bi nonbinary, & pan is a lesbian trans woman.

both:

bulla and pan are both into music! i think theyd mess around making their own stuff w/ launchpads

i have a general hc of ki mixing or shielding, essentially, if youre close enough to someone people wont be able to tell apart your ki and you can also 'shield' someone with your ki for a small amount of time. if vegeta has his energy low, his and bulma's energy are the same. same thing with goku and chichi! goten and trunks are near impossible to tell apart, and same thing with gohan and videl.

though goten and trunks are both protective over their younger siblings, gotenks is that protectiveness times a thousand. look at bulla or pan wrong for 2 seconds and you're going to have an angry gotenks in your face asking if you have any last words. i like to think that trunks and goten fused casually a lot, especially around the time where bulla and pan were young, so its basically goten and trunks own attachment to them PLUS gotenks' attachment to them as his own person combined.

i like to pretend end of z did not happen the way it did so uub, using nimbus, travels back and forth a lot. goku isn’t the only one who teaches him how to fight as goten, gohan and trunks all think of him like a little brother and love training with him!

fuck you letters to toriyama/toyotaro hot takes:

cell, as cool of a villian as he is, definitely should have had a creepier final form. or multiple- just something that really drives in the fact that he's made up of other's dna & fuckin ABSORBS people. also his first two forms should have had a different absorbtion method other than the tail thing (not the drinking thing thats fine) it just feels.   Weird. not good

it would have been far more interesting to keep the bitter attitude towards vegeta that future trunks had imo... in super trunks was going through a Lot granted but the fact tht he wasnt more confrontational to vegeta being a dick to him seemed kind of off considering his attitude in z i just.. think it would be interesting and far better if they had more of a back and forth 'family but lowkey hate each other' relationship

i dont want to rant about super so heres some super condensed takes, goku black arc specific because thats 90% of what ive seen of super:

mai is a fucking freak ass weirdo, why did they not just make another character to pair with trunks

trunks not flipping the fuck out at his timeline being erased feels... out of character. also trunks deserved the win against zamasu

future bulma did NOT need to die

trunks should have just stayed in the current timeline

please fucking let trunks and goten grow up. we SAW a version of trunks who looked 14 (history of trunks....) and the versions of goten & trunks we have r/n in super do not look 13/14 respectively what in the goddamn hell is going on in the character design department

super definitely should have taken place later down the line

supers version of bulma and videl look awful. why are they That stick like.

vegeta needs to kill frieza. just once.

fu has enough potential to be a very interesting mainline character and i am so sad he's not

i would actively enjoy a sdbh anime with more  budget that isnt just a promo anime and has a plot that makes sense... i think db should have more wild spinoffs

xenoverse deserved a better story that went FULL in on the 'what if' type of timelines- like they did in raging blast which is a FUCKING GREAT GAME

straight up lies:

dragon ball z is a good series

[theatresweetheart]

Heavy Silence

Fandoms: Sanders Sides, G/t

Summary: Virgil refuses to speak. Logan and Roman are frustrated, and Patton tries for what seems like the hundredth time.

Warnings: Mentioned non-explicit abuse, fear, selective mutism, character being treated like an animal.

Pairings: Platonic Moxiety, Background Platonic LAMP/CALM

Word Count: 4427 words.

Taglist: @isle-of-gold

                                            ~—~—~—~—~—~

“Oh for heaven’s sake, we’ve been arguing about this for ages,” an exasperated voice sounded from the living room, although the tone was hushed, as if trying to keep someone from hearing the conversation. “We can’t help him unless he tells us what’s wrong.”

“The kid’s just a bit shy is all—”

“It’s been two weeks Patton and he’s said nothing to us. Two weeks,” Roman countered back, taking Logan’s side on this, “if anything, it’s just pure stubbornness driving him now.”

He was being ganged up on; all of this was because of how the little human they had rescued from the shelter still refused to say anything.

Patton could swear that there was a deeper meaning behind his resolute silence, but it was obvious that Roman and Logan were frustrated by it. Each to their own, he knew. Each had tried, to no avail, to get the little one to speak. Hadn’t even gotten a name out of him. The shelter had been rough, the people had been somewhat hostile and the name they had given him hadn’t suited the kid.

So…they didn’t exactly call him anything.

But there had to be a reason. Everyone had a motive for something, especially if it came to withholding information.

He shuffled back and forth on his feet uncomfortably. “Let me try again,” that earnest look fluttered across his features, “just don’t decide anything too hastily, okay? Maybe—maybe time was all he needed, right? Maybe now he’d be more willing to speak up.”

Silence held between the two other men, before Roman sighed. “Alright. It is safer to say that Pat may have a better chance.”

Logan adjusted his glasses. “That said though, you have tried to speak with him more than the rest of us, Patton, and he still refuses to say anything at all. Not a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ If anything, the silence just gets heavier.”

“I know, I know,” Patton’s eyes flickered between the both of them, but he was staying stern on this. “Just let me try again, alright? Persistence will usually help.”

“Have at it.”

The dismissive tone that he got was a bit disheartening, but it wouldn’t stop his attempt from making at least some ground with the human.

He watched quietly as Logan took his leave, the sound of his bedroom door closing resounded through the halls. It was only a few minutes later before Roman retired to his room, only to reappear minutes later with a bag slung over his shoulder and his car keys in hand. Patton was quickly reminded that the roommate had rehearsal that night.

Which, with Logan in his room and Roman out of the house, would be optimal time to try and make some leverage with the boy.

When the quiet of the living room held and it didn’t seem to be lessening either, save for the consistent ticking of the clock. He knew that he would have to initiate the conversation as the little one wouldn’t even look in his direction half the time.

It took no time to reach his bedroom. When they had first planned this entire thing out, agreeing that getting a human out of the awful living conditions they were in, the box would stay in his bedroom.

And when he opened the door, that’s where he was.

The blankets and pillows and such to help make it feel a bit more comfortable. The sound of a movie playing quietly caught his attention and he saw the iPod—that had been given to the boy as means of entertainment when they weren’t around, or when he wanted alone time (which was all of the time mostly)—pushed up against the side of the box and the boy laying on his stomach in front of it, his arms propped up to support his head.

The sight made his heart ache. The kid was a gentle soul, if a bit too shy for his own good.

There had been some improvement, however, from the first day they had brought him back—where he hadn’t even left the box, no matter how much they assured him he was safe—to now, where he seemed to feel safe enough to watch a movie or a video or whatever it was in full view.

Though, when he stepped fully into the bedroom, the shoulders tensed almost instantly and he watched as the kid reached forwards and paused it without even looking in his direction.

Wide, frightened brown eyes turned to face his own and instantly Patton felt the need to say something.

He stayed where he was though after shutting the door and leaning comfortably against it. “No, no, it’s okay, kiddo,” he promised quietly, offering a small smile in encouragement. “I’m not here to bother you. I just wanted to talk for a little bit.” There was then a grimace that followed that and he felt his heart sink.

So, it would be one-way then.

That was okay. It wasn’t like he was unused to it.

He was also in no position to really force the kid to say something if he didn’t want to. It wouldn’t be fair and, in all honesty, would most likely do more harm than good.

So, he came a bit further into the room and took a seat a few paces away from the box. He tried not to let the fact that he flinched away from him affect him too much, as it only seemed to hurt more. The constant reassurances didn’t seem to really help the boy’s trust, which was understandable, but it was saddening.

The lady at the shelter, Lillian, had sort of given them the lowdown of what had happened in the previous home. Why the boy was so quick to snap, or to instantly shy away from the attention. Why he would flinch when they made normal movements or even turn away when they paid him too much attention.

She had explained that the last person who had him was a bit “rough.” The woman had refused to go any deeper than that—said that the person they had taken the kid from refused to give answers and the human himself had sworn himself into silence—and if he wanted those answers, he had to ask the kid himself.

After he actually got him talking.

There were a few things that he wanted to know before anything else. The kid’s name, his preferences, things that freaked him out and that they could work on together. Things to make this home feel a bit more comfortable for him.

Patton was used to sitting in the silence with the little one, knowing that his presence probably intimidated him to not speak, but he wanted to understand why that was. He wanted to know what had happened to him, what terrified him into silence, so that they could avoid the same things. The last thing he wanted to do was unintentionally intimidate him further.

“Watching something interesting?” He decided to break the silence that way, watching as the boy shifted a bit more, sitting cross-legged, but hiding in that dark hoodie, as if trying to hide in plain sight.

The boy shrugged in response, looking uneasy. From where Patton was sitting, he couldn’t tell if it was a show he had found on the internet that was made by the kid’s kind, or the movies that had come with the rest of the race from the previous place.

It did make him uncomfortable, knowing that humans were just as brilliant as they were, but had been forced down to believe they were nothing more than entertainment.

It was absolutely sick.

He hummed in response, showing that he was listening. He bit his lower lip, a slight pause in the question he wanted to ask. After a brief debate with himself, Patton realized that if he really wanted answers, he needed to actually hear the voice of the boy. Shaking his head and nods could only do so much for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions. Conversations were difficult when it was just one-sided all the time.

“Look,” he started off gently, a reassuring look in his eyes to give a silent promise that everything was fine, “I know you don’t want to talk to me and I respect that. I’m not going to force you to, but this is getting harder by the day, kiddo.” The boy’s shoulders dropped from their tense position, a sad look flitted across his face. “And I really, really want to respect your boundaries because I know how important boundaries are, but we really need to know how you feel. How we can help you feel more at home.”

He took a breath, just watching the emotions seemingly flutter across the smaller features, the warring expressions were showing much more of an inner battle than maybe he felt comfortable showing, or speaking for that matter.

There was a reason why the kid wouldn’t talk to them. There had to be. No one just stayed silent on their own freewill. Everyone had to speak at one point or another, unless they physically couldn’t. So, it left Patton wondering about the backstory that Lillian had left out when she explained everything at the shelter.

Another moment of quiet passed. “I know talking is hard,” he needed to show that he really did understand. “And I know that being with three strangers can be frightening and that’s okay, but we really just want to help. I know Logan and Roman can be a bit much sometimes, but you don’t even have to talk to them if you don’t want to.” And that was true. “It’s perfectly okay to be scared, but, at the very least, can I have your name?”

Patton knew that names could be a very personal topic to talk about, especially for humans. A lot of the time, they would be wiped of their usual name and given a new one that suited them ‘better.’ If anything, it just made him uncomfortable. They had personalities and names and to have that taken away seemed…impersonal.

There was nothing wrong with being quiet, there were also plenty of times where peace and quiet was the best thing for the household. Sometimes it could be so alive and full of movement, that a little silence never hurt anyone. That taking time to be with just yourself could be helpful, especially if one was overwhelmed by the world.

At most times, Patton would be happy to leave the little human to his own devices—he did want him to have as much independence as possible without getting hurt—but right now, he needed a little bit of proof that he could speak at all.

If the kid was mute, that would open a whole new set of doors that none of them had thought would be the reason to why the constant silence.

Though, when he met the smaller brown eyes again, he noticed something deeper behind them. Something that showed a true flourish of understanding, almost as if this was the first time that it was sinking in that he was in a safe place. That his opinions would be valued and respected.

The human bit into his lower lip, looking hesitant, when Patton nodded lightly, trying to be as encouraging as possible without looking too excited by the fact he might actually get to hear some real words.

A frown was set on the smaller features, before he dipped his head down, looking away from him. “I-I thought—”

Patton’s heart stammered in his chest. He could speak and he was speaking. To him.

His voice softened a bit more. “You thought what?”

The smaller hands seemed to be digging into his hoodie, trying to find a way to form the words without retreating and staying silent. There was that inner battle, showing how much he wanted to do one thing, but the other half of him saying that it wasn’t the best idea.

The human took a breath, trying to steady himself. “I just thought you wanted me to stay quiet…”

That sentence stunned him, honestly. Why on earth would they want him to stay silent? Almost as if the little one could hear the unasked question, he continued, if a bit more hesitantly.

At first, he opened his mouth, looking as if he was ready to open up about the story, before he shut his mouth again. He hesitated again, looking nervous and scared for a moment.

It drove a sharp wedge into Patton’s chest, such delicate features so painted with terror over opening up.

“The, uh, the last person I was with. He, um, wasn’t really all that, you know, forgiving,” his nails seemed to be digging further into his arm, looking reluctant to share this information. “He didn’t really like it when I spoke my mind. I-I just stopped talking altogether and that’s when the hurt stopped.” That’s when the abuse wasn’t as bad. The ‘hurt’ never truly stopped. “I just … I thought you would want that too …”

Patton was almost at a loss of what to say to that. The last person he had been with hadn’t been forgiving?

He had been aware that the little one had been abused, but not to the point where he had been afraid to talk for fear of being hurt. No one should have to deal with that sort of trauma. At least not alone.

Lillian had said that his past ‘owner’ had been rough and cruel, but she hadn’t elaborated into the physical side of it. She had said that the human was shy of touch and would lash out if one tried to do so. She had said that consent was a big thing with this one and that was fair.

The short glances he was being given was slowly allowing him to piece the puzzle of the kid’s past together.

Humans had minds of their own and, while a lot of people nowadays didn’t think they did, were allowed to speak their opinions. It was certainly like that in this house. There were times where they spoke over him, not intending to really cut off any of his silent looks. It would happen from time to time, where the human sometimes went unnoticed when Logan and Roman got into an argument and Patton tried to distract the two of them to settle them down.

There was a deep sympathy that filled his chest, almost weighing him down. The silence he was getting now, it was obvious that the kid was waiting for something.

Something painful.

Patton clasped his hands in front of him, savvy to how the boy flinched slightly from the innocent motion. “Of course not,” he breathed after a moment, the tiny shoulders were tensed and frightened. “We wouldn’t…ah, geez. I had no idea.”

The kid shrugged in response, making it his mission to keep his eyes down. Looking anywhere but Patton. It was heartbreaking.

The little details like that didn’t go unnoticed and Patton had been picking up, slowly but surely, on the boy’s behaviours. Whether how he was when the others raised their voices, or if he was asked too many questions, or when there was too much attention on him and he would rather shy away and hide in his jacket—which was admittedly maybe a bit big for him—than face them down.

There had been a few nights where he was still laying awake in his bed, at awful hours of the night—it was a big thing for him, making sure the others had gone to bed and then doing the same himself—and he had heard the smallest of sounds coming from the box pushed into the corner of the room.

There had been one night in particular when he had heard, what he had thought was, the smallest shout possible. Panting had then followed after it and then the sound of muffled sobs. It was so obvious that the little one had woken with a nightmare. The new surroundings had probably frightened him more as well, even though he was anything but trapped.

One of the other workers at the shelter had explained that keeping the human in the box without a way out would be the best way to prevent him from hurting himself or attempting to escape. Patton had ignored those instructions almost as soon as they had gotten home and had cut a small doorway, or something of the like, into the side of the box and allowing an in and out for when he wanted to leave the box without needing assistance. Plus, feelings of claustrophobia would be heightened in a place where one couldn’t escape. The last thing he would want was to have the human experience a panic attack because he felt unsafe in his own bed.

With a gentle sigh, Patton lowered himself down a bit further so he was laying on his stomach, his head propped up in his hands. The human had flinched again, but he didn’t acknowledge it.

“I just want you to know that, even if things get a bit…loud around here, no one means you any harm,” Patton told him quietly, an earnest look shining through dark brown eyes. “I know the house can be a bit crazy sometimes and that’s probably frightening—” A small, nervous half-laugh, half-breathing out uncomfortably from the human was heard, “—and I understand that. It’s a normal response to being around strangers.”

When he felt he had been watching him for a bit too long, Patton let his eyes roam over the interior of the box. It didn’t really look incredibly homey, even after offering the boy one of his older shirts to sleep in. He made a mental note to possibly get rid of the box altogether and find a more suitable place for the little one.

Though, when he looked back onto the small form, the brown eyes were wide and focused on his own. The surprised look on the human’s features made him feel so horribly guilty.

“We’re— we’re not going to punish you for speaking your mind,” he continued after a moment and those tiny brown eyes almost seemed to get wider, more emotional. “Your opinion means just as much as mine does, or Logan’s does, or Roman’s. I want to know what you like and don’t like. I want to know about what makes you uncomfortable or scared, so we can work around that. I want to know about you, kiddo.”

A moment passed and it took a moment before the human hiccuped, a small intake of a quick breath and he choked on what sounded like a sob.

The sound instantly made Patton’s fatherly instincts kick in and the first thing he wanted to do was reach out and try and comfort him, except in this situation, that wouldn’t really work out in his favour. “Awe, bud, that’s not what—”

“T-thank you,” the human breathed instead. His voice was a bit muffled from how he was hiding his face behind his sleeves, but Patton could hear it nonetheless. “I don’t—this isn’t … I’ve never-”

A softer look fluttered over his features and he shuffled a bit closer, not enough to loom, but enough to be as close as he dared. “You don’t have to thank me,” he promised him quietly, offering a gentle grin in response to the teary look he got. “Your words have just as much meaning as mine do. You’ve got a good head on those shoulders, I know you do. You’ve made it this far, haven’t you?” The sad expression turned almost confused, so Patton elaborated. “You’re talking to me. I think it’s absolutely incredible that you’re saying anything at all to me. That’s strength right there.”

It was quiet for a little while after that and the boy seemed to try and clean himself up, using the sleeves of his jacket to dab at the wetness under his eyes, or just scrubbing completely to clear his face of any sadness at all.

Letting out emotions in this sort of way was healthy though, so saying otherwise would be wrong. It might seem like it hurts more, having a fit or being so openly vulnerable, but in the end, having someone actually willing to listen to you and sticking around was the best way to deal with untapped emotions. Or the ones that people liked to tuck away and keep them hidden under lock and key, never to see the light of day until they reach their breaking point.

It’s a painful process, Patton had felt it himself. In fact, he was still in healing from coming clean about how he actually felt and was still working through some problems of his own.

While he hadn’t exactly come in here expecting the human to talk to him, nevertheless open up about his past, there was still something crucial that he was missing. Without a name, it just made everything that much more difficult. They wouldn’t know what to address him by, or what he found uncomfortable or offensive.

The name at the shelter had been rubbish, in all honesty. It hadn’t suited him at all. Almost as if it were a throwaway at that point, but the fact that they still remained unknown to his true name was a bit startling.

While Patton had no trouble using nicknames, it didn’t always feel right to be addressing him like that when talking about a more serious topic. It was almost like it would take away from the topic or the seriousness of it.

A faint noise, almost sounding like someone was taking a breath, drew Patton from his thoughts. He could see the inner battle on the features again, almost clear as day.

What was—

“—Virgil.”

The sudden admittance actually startled him so badly he blinked, confused for a moment. “W-what?”

The human turned away from him, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut. He was waiting in preparation again. “It’s my name…I just, um, thought-” The boy cut himself off almost instantly before biting into his lower lip. “I-I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have…I just assumed. It’s stupid, I know, I–”

“Wait, wait,” this time Patton cut him off, but his tone remained soft, but the way that Virgil seemed to be so self-deprecating was upsetting. “What are you apologizing for?” After he had voiced the question, the smaller shoulders bunched again and it hit him. He was worried his name would be changed to something else and that admitting his real name would only lead to more hurt. Understanding flooded forwards almost instantly. “Awe, bud, there’s nothing to be sorry about, I promise. I asked for your name.”

He kept his head tilted downwards, but there seemed to be a small realization that followed. “You’re— you’re not going to change it?”

“Heavens no,” was the answer. “That’s your name. It wouldn’t be fair to change it. Heck, I think your name suits you really well, too.”

It took a moment, but Virgil’s attention shifted once more and he allowed himself to meet his eyes. There was emotion swimming behind them, he knew that. They were sitting in the quiet again before, but this time it was far from uncomfortable.

The thought that the boy—Virgil—was so ready to give up his name, to relent and give up the fight, it didn’t sit well with him. There had been so much damage done to him that he carried that over with him into his new home. The idea that someone could be so cruel to creatures that were relatively helpless when it came to caring for themselves in this world was sickening.

Surely, before everything had happened, humans had taken care of themselves. Created societies, laws, built what they believed to be sky-scrapers. He had heard that they had even sent someone to the moon. They were certainly brilliant.

After everything had changed for them, well, his own kind had forced them down and they didn’t put up a fight. There had been, for a little while, but of course, they hadn’t won it and humans were downgraded. Not that everyone thought it was the right thing, but it had been a couple years by now and they were seen more as pets and companions then anything else. Sometimes pests by other people. It was truly disheartening.

Then there was this little one, sitting in the box looking more than ready to give up everything, including his personal name, just to keep from being hurt further.

How people could do it, Patton would never know.

Well, he had pretty much gotten the answers he had come in here for, so really, he didn’t need to be here any longer than need be. With that in mind, he pushed himself up onto his knees.

After a heartbeat of hesitance, Virgil finally spoke up to him. “Do you— wanna watch with me?”

The request was quiet and feeble, but it surprised him nonetheless.

“You want me to?”

Virgil shrugged in answer, looking like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it in the long run.

Grinning, Patton adjusted his glasses. “If you’ll have me.”

The smile he got in return to that made warmth fill his chest. It was the first time he had actually seen Virgil smile since he got here, and it was heartwarming.

It took no time at all, but Patton had grabbed a couple pillows from his bed and brought them over to the box, a blanket was tugged from the bed as well. With a quiet request from the human—and the explanation that it would be easier for the both of them to watch—the iPod had been moved to sit outside the box, laid up against the side to keep it propped up.

The two got a bit more comfortable like that. It took Virgil a moment to remember he was safe, even with having Patton right at his back and he had sunk slightly into the pillow, creating a small crease. He tucked himself into his own blanket and his hoodie in turn.

He looked back to Patton, almost as if asking for permission to start the video again, when he got a gentle nod in reassurance. He had reached forwards and pressed the play button, nearly the size of his hand he noted, before sitting back and curling into the warmth the blanket and jacket offered him.

Maybe, just maybe, not everyone in this Godforsaken world was all that bad.

[dreamcatcherfication]

Like a Dream That You Can’t Quite Place

So this was a fic requested by @burntuakrisp at one point, and even though it took some time to get around to, here it is! This is a mash up of Satisfied from Hamilton, but Anna singing about Kat. Now I didn’t want to do a direct song-to-story format, so I tried something a little different. This is more of a “inspired by” type, so you’ll catch references to Satisfied, but it’s not actually sung at any point. There’s a part of this that might be a little controversial so let’s hope I don’t get cancelled for it. Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, turns out it’s because I’m a ten year old boy who finds sex jokes funny.

Writing Masterpost

And note: Just because this takes place in the past does not mean I am writing about the actual wives of Henry VIII. These are still the musical characters but set in the past.

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas. Now featuring random asks:

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Random Asks

Trigger Warnings: Vague mentions of sexual abuse, mentions of beheading, Henry VIII

In truth, Anna had not wanted to come to the wedding, nor had she found it appropriate that she had been invited. Who would think it would be anything less than awkward for the former wife of the king to come witness his marriage to the new queen. However, it wasn’t jealousy that made the situation awkward, but rather the groom who now stood between two extremely close women. Or in Katherine’s case, girl. 

Anna had not attended the actual ceremony, but she was amongst the dancers in the banquet hall who surrounded the king and his new queen as they feasted. It was strange seeing her dear friend Katherine now wearing a crown of jewels and sitting next to a man three times her size, but Anna could say nothing. She approached the queen and kneeled down. “Your Majesty,” she greeted courtly.

Glancing around uncomfortably, Katherine gently put a hand on Anna’s shoulder. “You do not have to kneel Anna, you were a queen just as I am.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Anna continued to remain formal. If they were in private, Anna would find it absurd to use the royal terms with her former lady in waiting, but she wouldn’t dare cross that line with Henry sitting right next to Katherine. “I’ve come to congratulate you on your marriage.”

Henry clutched his large stomach and forced a smile towards Anna. “How sweet of you, dear sister. Have you brought gifts?”

Nodding, Anna unclasped the locket that she had hanging around her neck. “An antique locket from the House of Cleves. I’m sure her majesty will enjoy it greatly.”

Gasping as she was handed the locket, Katherine admired its beauty. “It’s stunning Anna, thank you so much. Will you help me put it on?”

Realizing he was being forced out of the conversation, Henry cut in. “I can do that, my darling.” He leaned over and grabbed the locket, holding it up to Katherine’s neck. The girl frowned when he fumbled with the clasp, his fat fingers unable to hook it properly. Katherine uncomfortably shifted in the long amount of time it took before Henry finally got the locket in place. “Perfect. It looks radiant on someone as beautiful as you,” he flirted with Katherine, who seemed far too nervous for someone who was married to the man.

Anna started to back away, knowing that Henry had already dismissed her by turning his attention back to Katherine. The girl shot one last longing glance in Anna’s direction before she was forced to return her attention to her husband.

Meanwhile, Anna found herself exiting the hall to go for a walk about the grounds. She could not stand staying in that stifled hall, surrounded by the people who had once ridiculed her. She missed the comfort of Katherine as her lady in waiting, the soft moments they would spend together away from all the horrors of the real world. It was hard for her to see everything they had built together fall apart because of the king. As she traversed the palace grounds, Anna couldn’t help but feel herself start to rewind time, falling into a memory she so clearly remembered.

The sky was bright and the breeze blew through Anna’s hair, the sound of birds chirping almost picture perfect. Of course Anna wasn’t alone (her ladies in waiting were a few feet behind her) but Anna could almost feel free when roaming outside. “Milady,” one of the girls called.

“Yes?”

The lady in waiting made sure there was a wide berth between her and her queen. “The king has requested your presence, he has a new lady in waiting he wishes for you to meet. I believe he has taken rather a,” the girl spoke disdainfully, “liking to this one.”

Sighing, Anna turned away from her freedom and followed her ladies back into the palace where her husband awaited. As much as she disliked her husband, she knew there were far worse men to be wed to. Henry spoke so lowly of her, yet he let her do as she pleased throughout the palace. If he was requesting her presence, then clearly he meant business.

Henry was standing outside of Anna’s bedchambers, his hand on the shoulder of a young girl. The girl was a teenager, and her gaze was thoroughly frightened (although she was doing her best to appear calm). “My wife,” Henry said, his tone a mix between disgust and politeness. “It seems we have received a new lady for you, a one Miss Katherine Howard.”

Katherine was one of the most beautiful girls Anna had ever seen. Sure, she considered herself to be quite beautiful no matter what Henry said, but this girl was a rose, plucked directly from the Garden of Eden. For once, Anna felt something deep in her heart start to stir. “Miss Howard, how kind of you to join us. You must be special if the king has brought you here himself.”

“Oh no,” Katherine spoke and curtseyed. “I am of no importance, but his Grace is most kindly.” Anna had to hide a scoff at that comment. Henry was far from kindly, but he loved hearing praise, something Katherine seemed to understand very well.

Growing bored of the women’s interactions, Henry’s voice drowned out any other conversation. “Well I must return to my duties, and you ladies to your needlework, I assume. It was lovely to meet you Katherine,” Henry gave her a full toothed smile that made all the ladies nervous. He spared a glance to his wife and muttered, “And you do as you will.”

There was a clear tension among the ladies as they realized what was going on. Henry was very clearly showing his wife that he had interests in Katherine, knowing that neither of the girls could do a thing about it. “Hello, my queen,” Katherine cut into the silence, doing her best to retain any semblance of proper court. When the girl looked up and gave Anna that smile, oh the queen could almost forget her name. 

Anna dismissed the other ladies and went inside her chambers with Katherine. “Tell me, where is your family from?”

“Unimportant,” Katherine replied, her face flinching. “I am your humble servant, my background does not matter.”

Watching the way she fidgeted, Anna elected not to push further. She knew Katherine probably came from a bad family she did not want Anna to know about (and by acting the way she did, Katherine had unintentionally given that away). Everything about Katherine was so immediately endearing, and Anna knew from the start they were meant to have some sort of connection. Not the kind Henry was trying to form, but the kind that would last. 

And that was why Anna tried so hard to stomp it out.

B l i n k i n g back into the present, Anna realized she had come across a small grove of trees and plants in the palace grounds. She vividly remembered the times she would bring Kat out into the grove to practice dancing with her. The two of them rejoiced in the private time they spent in each other’s company. Of all Anna’s servants, she had grown comfortable with Kat, enough that they would forgo appearances when free of any probing eyes.

Now, alone in the grove with only the dark of the night, Anna felt as if the memories were ghosts of a past life. She was no longer the queen, and Katherine was no longer her servant. They were different people than the two who had hidden within the grove.

Humming a low tune, Anna walked in circles around the trees, twirling as she passed rocks and cobblestone. She had her arms up as she so often had in the past, leading Kat through courtly dances. “I feel we would still be together if not for the three truths I’ve realized,” Anna spoke to the empty grove. It was easier for her to tell Kat her feelings when the girl was nowhere near enough to hear her.

“The three fundamental truths,” Anna whispered, mostly to herself. There was a stumble in her dancing before Anna resumed with more vigor than when she started. “One. Henry is the king. No matter how much you or I disagree with him, he can have what he wants. And if he wants you, there’s nothing I can do but try and make it easier for you.” Anna had no choice but to obey the king, but that did not quell her desire to defy him and keep Katherine safe with her.

Continuing to hum her tune, Anna came up next to a gnarled tree. Resting her back against the tree, she mimed pulling her partner closer to her. “Two. Your family is of low status. You’ve never disclosed your upbringing to me, but I can tell by the way you act. If Henry had any idea how close we had grown, he would not allow it. Servants and royalty do not mix, unless it is the king and his mistress. The only way he will allow us to be around each other publically is if you are his wife and I am his sister.” 

The image of Katherine standing next to the King wormed its way into Anna’s mind. She wanted to tear the image in half, never to be seen again. But the picture was reality. Anna had no power to rewrite reality. “Three. You’ve always been vague about it, but you confided in me about what had happened in your childhood. What those men had done to you.” A choking sound made its way through Anna’s throat as she realized what she was trying to say. “To tell you that I feel that same connection with you that they did… I cannot do that to you in good conscience. So I will suffer in silence, knowing that I can never be satisfied of this hunger deep within me.” 

Her dancing halted as Anna stared at her empty hands. “I hope you will be happy with your groom.”

Inevitably, Anna knew there would be a catch. She tried not to grow close to Katherine, knowing that Henry was pursuing her. Anna and Katherine were being pitted against each other for the title of queen, and Anna would not allow herself to come between Katherine and the most powerful man in England. She didn’t want Henry to marry Katherine, but she also didn’t want to be exiled by the king for fighting back, ultimately resulting in Katherine and Henry’s marriage anyway.

When it came down to it, Anna was helpless to stop Henry.

But if Anna had known Kat’s fate, she would have allowed herself to be exiled a thousand times over, she would’ve put her own head on a chopping block if it gave her the chance to prevent Kat’s death. Henry had known how close the two girls were, so he ordered that none of her servants tell her of the girl’s imprisonment. It was no act of mercy on his part, but rather for efficiency. If Anna knew what he planned to do to Kat, she would have fought tooth and nail to save the girl.

When she received news about Katherine after six months of silence, it was the news of her death. The pain it brought upon Anna was like no sickness she had ever known. Without being conscious of it, Anna made the vow never to be remarried. She would not betray Kat’s memory by moving on and pushing the love she felt for her best friend to the side. She could never feel the love she felt for Kat with another man. For weeks she refused to interact with her servants beyond what was absolutely necessary. She could not forgive them for keeping Katherine’s imprisonment from her.

But the most painful part were her fantasies. The nights where she could still see Katherine’s eyes, the innocent, most beautiful gaze preserved. In the candlelight, Anna could still remember the way Kat had looked at her when they first met. Anna felt her stomach tighten, knowing those eyes would never rest on her again. She had thought that by allowing Kat’s marriage to Henry, she would still be able to see those angel eyes. But Henry had taken that away from her as well.

Standing in the empty ballroom at Richmond only reminded Anna of the time she had with Kat. When the girl was married to Henry, it had been hard to keep their friendship alive, but they had managed as best they could. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Anna turned around

and came face to face with Katherine in her regal dress. The girl still had the same youthful glint in her eyes, despite now having the status of a queen. The ballroom was alive with dancers and music, the air bright and festive. “It’s been so long Anna.”

Swallowing thickly, Anna nodded. “It has Kat.” Letting her eyes drop, Anna noticed the locket around Katherine’s neck. “You still have it?”

Looking down to confirm what Anna was staring at, Kat smiled. “Yes, I never take it off. You would have to chop my head off like Boleyn to get me to part with it.”

The sick feeling in Anna’s stomach grew exponentially, but she hid it behind a polite smile. “Well then, would you like to dance with me, Your Majesty?” Holding out a hand, Anna watched her darling gracefully take it.

“I would love to.” As it had always been, Anna led the dance. There was nothing special about it, just the swaying to the melodies produced by the lute. The way their hands fit together felt so right, but Anna knew it wouldn’t last. She knew Kat would have to leave. That’s why she danced with her for far longer than was traditionally acceptable in the court.

It was the best moment of her life, the soft, silent comfort of Kat in her arms. It was the most relaxed that Anna had ever seen the queen. Kat needed the comfort of a friend, and that was what Anna would give her. Nothing else. There were far too many reasons why Anna was trapped in her position. But from where she currently stood, her position was not so bad.

The dance was stopped when Anna yawned and stumbled on her feet. “You should get some sleep, it’s very late,” Kat spoke softly, pulling herself away from Anna.

“Wait, don’t leave,” Anna pleaded, reaching out.

The queen frowned but then giggled at the desperate face Anna was making. “Why?”

“I’m afraid I might never see you again,” Anna confessed, remembering the news of Katherine’s death. She was frightened that if Kat left the room, she would never return.

Putting a hand on Anna’s arm, Katherine smiled. “You’re insatiable, just like the king. But I’ll always be here with you. As long as you remember me, I’ll never leave you.” Kat balanced on her tip toes and gave Anna a kiss on the cheek before scurrying out of the room.

“Wait!” Anna called, reaching a hand out, but Katherine was already gone.

The ballroom was once again silent and dark, not a single soul but Anna within. Dropping to her knees, Anna stared up at the ceiling and prayed that Kat had been granted mercy. “She was right,” the woman choked out. “Henry will never be satisfied.”

“I will never be satisfied.”

[talthorn-sylvoran]

Unexpected Results

Day 10 - Reap

Part One:

As the sun begins to rise once more, the young man squints at the horizon with disappointment. Time once again ran too fast for him in his work. 

Curving his detailed brush between his fingers, he used the palm to rub at each of his tired eyes. He had been devoting so much time into advanced runework this day and night, he could barely see straight anymore. However, this is what Talthorn did. He dedicated the time to receive his ultimate results. 

Looking back to his work of art he was inscribing on his hand, he smiles slowly over the intricate details. This was going to help him understand so much more! Limited with the degree of arcane he was able to wield safely, the magi had determined it was time to take some additional steps to help him amplify his own abilities and transcend more into his utilization of powerful, ancient magics. 

A shake of some dust, as if to put a bookmark in his work, Talthorn lets the inactive rune rest for a short time before slipping on his glove with pride. This was an accumulation of years in the making until it reached this stage! All the research, study, extra classes, private learning, applied application. He was ready to reap all he could from these efforts!

-

A soft snore breaks out on the magi's desk while his enchanting class is continuing. Talthorn was sitting in the back today and in a feeble attempt at propping up a book to disguise his napping. One of his classmates tries to prod him awake and he shoots up in a start and a shout. "Crystal, shard, essence, dust!" he speaks as if answering a question. 

There is a ripple of laughter and Talthorn blinks back the fog. Where was he? He peels off the parchment stuck to his face. He really needed to get some sleep. After the instructor dismisses them, he decides that it was time for some rest. All these nights of his personal pursuits were murder on his regular studies.

Walking drowsily through the halls, he stops a moment when there is a flash of light in the portal conjuring hall. The cluster of fearful students comes rushing out of the room making Talthorn more curious than scared. There seemed to be higher winds now coming from the area too! What was going on!

The young man moves forward, while others run away from crisis and he peers into the room. His eyes widen at the situation here! There was a very frightened student wrestling with the failed attempt at opening a portal. The instructor was knocked out from across the classroom.

"That's what you get when you let the lower classes trying high level spells."

"Your arm would be as swallowed up if YOU did the spell incorrectly!" Talthorn snarks at the entitled noble. "Do something! You're part of the superior class!"

"What are we supposed to do! They are the one that did it wrong!"

"You HELP them!" he spits back with his obvious statement, his mind already racing. Was no one going to help her? His eyes dance at the glimmering portal to nowhere he had ever seen before. His heart thuds against his chest in excitement.

"Are you insane?! She's torn the fabric far beyond to who knows where!"

Slamming his back into the door, he flips out his tools for his runework. Ripping off his glove he grumbles and one dip is all he gets left of the ink before it also flies away. His steady hands paint on the additional details on the outsides that he was going to work on slowly tonight! There was no time now. 

After the precise paint is fully applied, he weaves another spell in his hand to slam into the circle sending a surge through his body! He just needed to stabilize it! Bolting out his shelter, he rushes toward the scared woman screaming for help. Words of activation have his rune flare while and his eyes focus on the twisting wild magics that were unintentionally being used here. He draws in more power than he had ever felt before, weaving in ways that he only thought of until now! 

"It's okay!" he yells at her. "I'm here to help you! Don't panic!" he appears behind and gets his look at this portal of mystery. Where was this? How was this accomplished? Trying to focus he takes up her hand. "Finish the spell with me!" 

The young woman was so frightened but did all she could to remember what to do. Talthorn follows with her, using his own weaves with her own and in doing all they could to stop the portal from violently reacting! Fluid motions and practiced words, he could almost taste the victory. In the last moments, he was able to guide most of her arm out before it is prematurely closed up from somewhere else!

There is a flicker of scream, before the aftershocks deafened the room. Talthorn turns to see the cavalry crew of instructors come barrelling through. He saw the rather discerting expressions and then accusing glares as they see the swirling white rune in full activation. 

Looking down he saw the young woman in shock for she had just lost part of her arm. There was going to be so much explaining to do, and all Talthorn wanted to do was help. He had helped save a life, felt the thrill of stabilizing a turbulent rip in space that made him feel like a GOD but what would that matter to the people in charge here?

Exposure of all his work came in a much different situation than he ever wished. These were not the sort of rewards he was expecting....

@daily-writing-challenge​

(( The next three stories will be written in sequence! Enjoy some progression in youthful Talthorn developments! They were super fun to write :D ))