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cegantheayugipi · 2 years

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The Idiot Internship (Itto x Reader)

An Arataki Itto x Reader oneshot

Word Count: 9.2k

WARNINGS: BIG SMUT AHEAD, MINORS DNI!!

Tags include: heats/ruts, omegaverse themes (Itto is an Oni after all), breeding, marathon sex, reader is AFAB

Summary: You’re a Liyuean law student looking for a summer work study. When an alumna from your school offers you one all the way in the beautiful islands of Inazuma, who are you to decline? However, it comes with a caveat – your boss knows nothing (and cares nothing) about the law.

OR: Itto was never taught about the birds and the bees. Heck, he wasn't even taught what masturbation was, and he was a little too dumb to figure out on his own. However, when your continuous presence around him during your internship sends him straight into an Oni rut, he's going to need a lot of teaching – fast.

~~~ When Kuki Shinobu gave you this job and told you that your boss would be dumb, you had no idea she meant this dumb.

And here you sat, at the back of the dilapidated office room where the Arataki Gang held meetings, listening to Arataki Itto’s ‘great and glorious’ idea.

“And then, at the end of the drumalong festival, we set off a bunch of fireworks! It’ll be great!”

“Uh, Boss.” Shinobu spoke up, raising her hand in protest. “We need to apply for a formal permit to have any sort of public demonstration, and the process will take weeks.”

Your white-haired boss shrugged dramatically, scoffing at his subordinate’s suggestion.

“Psh, who needs a permit, we can do everything first and ask for forgiveness later!” Itto brushed off Shinobu’s very important statement of fact.

When Kuki Shinobu gave you this job and told you that your boss would be dumb, you had no idea she meant this dumb.

And here you sat, at the back of the dilapidated office room where the Arataki Gang held meetings, listening to Arataki Itto’s ‘great and glorious’ idea.

“And then, at the end of the drumalong festival, we set off a bunch of fireworks! It’ll be great!”

“Uh, Boss.” Shinobu spoke up, raising her hand in protest. “We need to apply for a formal permit to have any sort of public demonstration, and the process will take weeks.”

Your white-haired boss shrugged dramatically, scoffing at his subordinate’s suggestion.

“Psh, who needs a permit, we can do everything first and ask for forgiveness later!” Itto brushed off Shinobu’s very important statement of fact.

You tried your best not to scoff, or make any noise for that matter. As a law student who had traveled all the way from Liyue for this work study, every single word that left the gang leader’s mouth in regards to rules and regulations made you wonder if he even had two brain cells to put together. While the Oni may be hot, what he had in body he lacked in brains.

“Boss, if it’s alright, I’ll talk to the Yashiro Commission about it anyways.” Shinobu spoke up, her arms crossed over her chest as she faced her boss nonchalantly. It seemed like she typically had to do things like this for him. She was sitting next to Itto, as per usual.

“Alright, alright. It’s still a couple months away, so that’s enough talking for now. Let’s go have some udon!” Itto announced cheerfully.

You sighed loudly, not bothering to hide your exasperation. The gang members began to chatter loudly as they shuffled out of the run-down meeting room, excited for a good meal of Inazuman noodles, led by Itto who was the most excited out of the bunch. You wondered why on earth Kuki enjoyed managing an organization like the Arataki Gang when it seemed more like babysitting several adult children.

~~~

You followed the gang through the streets of Inazuma City, your stomach full from the large meal you all shared at the local noodle shop. Although you tended to miss your home country of Liyue, the food in Inazuma was so good that it always eased your homesickness.

Kuki Shinobu trailed at the back of the group, falling in step in front of you. She footed the bill for everyone, because somehow the Arataki Gang was always broke. You wondered how on earth Shinobu managed to pay your wages for the work-study, let alone the gang’s daily activities. However, according to your professor Yanfei, Kuki Shinobu was a woman of many miracles. You couldn’t deny she was incredibly intelligent – she single handedly made up for the gang’s collective lack of brain cells.

You were in the middle of thinking about how lucky you were to be offered a work study from Shinobu when you spotted your boss’s red and white hair in the corner of your eye. He was at a Taiyaki stand, chatting loudly to its owner. As you changed direction and walked closer to him you began to pick up their conversation.

“Just one left?!” Itto exclaimed dramatically. “I’ll take it!” The Oni dug through his pockets, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper, some lint, and a handful of mora.

The woman who ran the stand reluctantly picked the mora from his hand, offering up the last Taiyaki in exchange. You admired the beautifully decorated Taiyaki stand, glancing over the intricate sign displaying the menu.

Taiyaki flavors:

Chocolate SOLD OUT

Matcha SOLD OUT

Red Bean

Pumpkin SOLD OUT

Custard SOLD OUT

Wait… the last one was red bean?

Itto was allergic to beans.

As he raised the Taiyaki to his mouth, you realized you needed to stop him.

“Don’t eat it!” You shouted, lunging for your dumbass Oni of a boss. You snatched the food from his grip with a surprising amount of ease, considering how much muscle Itto had. All he did was stare – meanwhile, you did the best thing you could think of.

Opening your mouth wide, you shoved the entire Taiyaki in your mouth. You couldn’t deny it was delicious, but your face burned bright red with embarrassment as you chewed on the dessert.

“Wh-” Itto gawked. “Who are you?!” His voice cracked with surprise as he shouted.

“I’m your intern.” Your voice was muffled by the absurd volume of dessert that filled your mouth.

“Oh, I see… Did you really want the last Taiyaki that bad?” Itto asked, his voice sounding disappointed that he didn’t get to taste the dessert.

“Beans.” You spoke, pointing to your mouth. You finally swallowed the last of the Taiyaki with one large gulp, continuing to talk now that your mouth was finally free. “The Taiyaki has red bean paste inside.”

Itto let out an overly-dramatic gasp, one hand flying up to cover his chest.

“You saved my life!” He exclaimed. “I’m allergic to beans!”

“I know.” You responded, giving your boss an awkward smile.

“You’re awesome! Who hired you?”

“Kuki Shinobu.”

“Of course it’s my right hand man who hired someone as great as you!”

You nodded, knowing that you were, in fact, great and that you had most certainly saved Itto’s day – or possibly week, considering how bad his allergy was.

“What’s all this ruckus?” Shinobu spoke as she approached the two of you.

“The intern you hired saved me, Shinobu!” Itto pointed at you. “I was about to die!”

“Don’t be overly dramatic.” You responded flatly. “I just prevented you from eating beans.”

“Ah,” Shinobu nodded, “Thanks for staying sharp, boss doesn’t read menus well enough for someone with a severe food allergy.”

“Thank you, thank you so much!” Itto scooped you up in a huge hug, inadvertently squishing your face into his ginormous chest as he spun you around.

You were extremely annoyed at Itto’s irresponsible, reckless, and stupid behavior. However, you couldn’t deny it was strangely pleasant to be squished into such a soft chest.

You felt a little dizzy as Itto finally set you down, thinking perhaps the spinning had thrown your balance off.

“Oh, what’s your name, by the way?” Itto asked casually.

“Boss, I think they’re a little overwhelmed.” Shinobu spoke up. She noticed how red your face had gotten, and was worried that Itto had manhandled you a little too much.

“Uhhhh…” you mumbled, staring at Itto’s chest, too dazed to respond.

~~~

Ever since you ate Itto’s dessert to prevent him from having an allergic reaction, Kuki began to assign you to more and more tasks related to your boss. First it was running simple errands for him, like helping Granny Oni with her groceries, making tea for the meetings, or helping Itto find Onikabuto for his ridiculous beetle fighting tournaments.

You did everything begrudgingly – you accepted this work study thinking you’d be shadowing Kuki, not running around as her idiot boss’s assistant. You felt almost like you were a glorified and well-paid babysitter for the seven-foot tall Oni.

Eventually, Shinobu even gave you keys to Itto’s house to wake him up, since he tended to sleep in and risk missing his morning meetings.

“Wait, what do you mean, make sure he attends today’s meeting?” You questioned, turning over the metal key in your hand.

“If Boss isn’t up, can you make sure he is?” Shinobu explained. “The key is yours to keep, just make sure he doesn’t miss any more meetings.”

“Uhm…” You looked down at the key for another minute before responding to Shinobu. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Great.” She responded, immediately switching her focus to another task as she poured over papers on her desk.

You immediately walked over to Itto’s house, nervous about the huge level of trust Kuki Shinobu must have in you to be giving you Itto’s house key.

‘Just make sure he doesn’t miss any more meetings.’

Shinobu’s words echoed in your head as you reached his front door. Afraid of invading your Boss’s privacy, you thought it would be best to knock first. You gave three loud raps on the door, and almost immediately a voice called from inside.

“Come in, the door’s open!” Itto’s voice came from inside. You turned the doorknob, thankful that you didn’t need to use the key that still sat in your back pocket. “I usually leave it unlocked in case anyone wants to stop by!”

“Uhm, is that safe, Mr. Arataki?” You asked, following the sound of his voice and clattering pots and pans to his kitchen. There he was, cooking up a storm. His jacket hung on the back of a chair at his dining table, an apron tied around his waist instead.

“Mr. Arataki? Are you calling me a Mister?” Itto asked, looking up from the stovetop where he seemed to be cooking something. He paused for a moment, then the realization dawned that you were referring to him. “Oh, of course! It must be because I'm the best.”

You laughed, now completely acclimated to Itto’s unusual personality.

“Yes, uhm, Miss Kuki sent me here because you have an important meeting soon,”

“Oh yeah, yeah! Of course, I totally do have a meeting!” Itto waved the cooking spoon he held in his hand. “Uhm, I’m sure they won’t mind if I’m a little late. I made breakfast, after all!”

You glanced over at the mess of pots and pans, only to see two beautifully decorated dishes of Yakisoba bread.

“Here, sit down and have a plate, I’m sure you’ll love it!” Itto untied his apron, showing off his toned back as he reached for the two plates and carried them over to the table. “I call it ‘way of the strong’, it’s the perfect breakfast for champions!”

“You made two servings?” You questioned, staring at the beautiful dish he set down in front of you.

“Uhh, I had extra ingredients, so I thought I should make it all!” Itto responded awkwardly as he settled into the chair beside you. He didn’t want to tell you that he normally ate both servings whenever he cooked himself breakfast.

Without even realizing it, your mouth began to water as you smelled the delicious meal.

“Go ahead, dig in!” Itto encouraged you, waiting eagerly for you to taste his cooking.

As soon as you took your first bite, you began to scarf down the meal as if you hadn’t eaten for a week. The food was delicious. Given Itto’s stupidity he had demonstrated over and over throughout your time working for him, he was somehow an amazing cook, and this fact blew you away.

“Mmmm!” You smiled, your eyes lighting up as you devoured his food.

A smile grew across Itto’s face, despite still chewing on a mouthful of food.

“See, it’s definitely worth being late!” Itto spoke before he swallowed his food, making his words come out muffled.

“Mhm.” You nodded enthusiastically, your mouth also full of food.

~~~

For the next several weeks, you began to form a habit of visiting Itto in the mornings. He was almost always cooking something, and somehow always had extras he insisted you should try. Over time you began to realize being Itto’s assistant wasn’t actually that bad… his strange personality finally began to grow on you.

However, today, you walked into Itto’s house to find it completely silent. There was no cheerful voice welcoming you inside, and no loud sounds coming from the kitchen. This was actually the case for the past couple of days… You would have to find your way up to the bedroom and bang on the door until you heard Itto shout from inside that he was awake.

“Mr. Arataki, you have a meeting soon, please wake up!” You called.

Almost immediately, you heard a loud groan come from the other side of the door.

“I’m up!” Itto’s voice was gravelly, thick with sleep.

This morning routine was far less fun than before. Not to mention, you would have to wait for several minutes before Itto finally emerged from his bedroom, disheveled, hair messy and eyes tired.

“Didn’t sleep well again?” You asked as your gaze scanned down Itto’s body, eyes lingering on the dark circles that grew beneath the Oni’s eyes.

“Y-yeah, I think I didn’t get much sleep.” Itto responded groggily, rubbing his eyes as he followed you out of his house and down the path towards the gang’s meeting room.

“I’ll bring you some Chamomile tea, it normally helps me a lot!” You responded cheerfully.

“Oh, thank you!” Itto gave you a slight smile, but began to pick his pace up. “We’re not too late, are we?”

“I’m sure we’re fine, don’t worry Mr. Arataki.”

~~~

The meeting seemed to begin just fine, although Itto definitely looked more tired and dazed than before. As Shinobu talked through the important details for the week ahead, you raised your arm to ask a question.

“Ms Kuki, will Mr. Arataki be helping-” an abrupt bang interrupted your sentence. You nearly fell out of your seat as you jumped from the noise, but looked over to see that it was Itto who had slammed his hands onto the table all of a sudden. He shot up from his chair then bolted for the door, something seeming to be on his mind.

“Boss?” Shinobu spoke, but Itto was long gone. She sighed as she turned towards you. “Can you go after him and make sure he’s fine?”

“Is it normal for him to act like this?” You questioned. You had noticed that his personality had begun to change recently, but today was completely different than before.

“Actually, we’ve never seen him like this before…” Shinobu responded. “Would you be able to find out what’s going on?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” you stood from the table and bowed before leaving the meeting room and searching for Itto.

You ran down the dirt path, scanning for Itto’s head of messy white hair. You managed to spot him on the path that led to his house, so you picked up the pace and called out to him.

“Mr. Arataki, are you okay?”

Itto seemed to bristle at the sound of your voice, immediately picking up the pace. You began to speed up as well, running after him since you didn’t know what was wrong.

“We just want to know if everything is alright!” You exclaimed, chasing after the Oni who only seemed to pick up his pace even more. Since Itto towered above most people at a shocking seven feet tall, his strides were far longer than yours which made it extremely difficult to keep up. You were a fast runner, but you didn’t know how much longer you could keep this up for.

Before you knew it, you were following Itto up his front steps and into his house. You raced up the stairs after him and watched him run into his bedroom.

Before you had the chance to reach his bedroom door, Itto slammed it shut, the hinges rattling violently against the doorframe.

“Sorry, door!” Itto shouted from inside.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Arataki?” You became more worried as you heard a pained groan from his bedroom.

“Uhhh, I’m fine, I just uhm… forgot to feed my Onikabuto that’s all!” Itto shouted awkwardly, as you heard shuffling and rattling coming from inside his bedroom. You heard the fluttering of bedsheets and the creaking of his bed, and wondered what on Teyvat Itto could be up to in there.

“Oh… Okay, if you’re alright, I’ll just head back then.” You spoke through the closed door, somehow feeling a little unsettled despite Itto’s insistence that he was alright.

The walk back felt strange. As soon as you walked back into the meeting room, everyone’s eyes were on you. Several people accosted you with questions too quickly for you to answer them.

“Is boss okay?”

“I’ve never seen him run out of a meeting like that before!”

“He looked upset!”

“Calm down, everyone, let Y/N speak.” Shinobu interrupted the group. Everyone fell silent as they looked at you, eagerly awaiting your explanation.

“I think Mr. Arataki hasn’t had enough sleep, so he forgot to feed his Onikabuto.” You explained.

“Oh, of course!”

“Yeah, that makes sense.��

“No, not his prized Onikabuto!”

“I’m glad he’s alright!”

Chatter began to fill the room as the tension instantly dissolved at your explanation. The gang members returned to their own conversations, but Shinobu seemed skeptical of your explanation.

“Boss normally sleeps like a baby.” She told you, “There’s probably a reason why he’s not sleeping well. Can you make sure he’s alright? I’ll treat the both of you to Ramen tonight.”

“O-okay, I’ll check on him later.” You responded, a little unsure about how you’d manage to get Itto to leave his room again.

~~~

Now that the sun was sinking lower in the sky, you approached the front door to Itto’s house once again. You needed to get your boss out of the house and make sure he was alright, and you were certain the prospect of Ramen would coerce Itto out of his bedroom easily.

However, as you turned the doorknob to his house, you realized it was actually locked.

In all your weeks of coming over to Itto’s house, his door was always unlocked. He never seemed to care about his own safety, but you figured it was since pretty much no petty criminal or monster had a chance of beating the 7-foot tall Oni stacked with muscle. Not to mention, your boss had very few material possessions – and the ones he actually cared about were his Onikabuto and trading cards.

For the first time, you reached into your pocket and pulled out the house key Shinobu had given you. You unlocked the front door, quietly swinging it open as you stepped inside.

You wondered why the door was locked… peering into the house, everything seemed to be in the same position as always. You crept through the hallway and back up the stairs, noticing Itto’s bedroom door was also closed, meaning he must be inside since Itto never closed doors behind him whenever he would leave.

You knocked on the door gently, calling out to your boss.

“Shinobu says she’ll treat us both to ramen, but only if you get out of bed!” You spoke loudly, reaching over to open the door. You stepped into Itto’s room, only to find that the place was far messier than you had ever seen before. There were feathers and torn pieces of fabric on the floor, evidently the remnants of what was once a pillow. Itto’s jacket was thrown haphazardly on the floor, alongside his gloves and bracelets. His purple shirt had also been thrown across the room, hanging over the windowsill that showed the setting sun outside. But what was likely the most striking difference was the rather large hole in the far wall, that looked like someone had simply punched through the wooden boards of the Inazuman home.

You disregarded this, instead striding over to the mountain of blankets on top of Itto’s bed. You could tell he was in there – one of his horns had poked a hole through the blanket.

“Come on, Mr. Arataki, get out of bed!” You reached towards the blankets, hearing him whine from under the covers.

“I don’t wanna…” He complained, grabbing the edge of his blanket and pulling it tighter around him.

You sighed, fed up with his unusual behavior.

“Fine, then. I’ll just drag you out of bed myself.” You grabbed onto Itto’s wrist, yanking him away from the bed with all your might. You weren’t weak, but Itto was a huge Oni, and it took all your strength just to slide him off the bed.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Itto shouted as he slipped off of the bed, arms flailing and knocking you off balance. “Stop, Y/N!”

You stumbled backwards, caught off balance by Itto’s sudden movements. You fell backwards onto the floor, followed by the Oni who landed on top of you with a loud crash.

You squeezed your eyes shut, expecting to be crushed by Itto’s heavy body, but he somehow managed to land with his hands and knees on either side of your body, catching his torso before it could fall on top of yours.

“Hey!” You blurted out, looking up at Itto’s face that burned bright red. He seemed to be out of breath, his chest heaving as he stared back down at you.

“A-ah I- I’m sorry!” Itto stuttered, his face reddening further. “I- I- don’t know what’s going on-”

That’s when you could feel it.

Something inside his pants was pressing against your thigh, and it was definitely not his leg. It twitched slightly, and Itto let out a whimper at the same time. Your eyes went wide as you realized you were feeling his dick.

Itto saw the look on your face, and his gaze immediately shifted to the floor.

“I- I’m sorry, normally this just happens when I need to pee in the mornings but now it’s happening all the time and for some reason I can’t pee it’s so bad it hurts and I can’t get it to go down I don’t know what to do or how to stop it from hurting it’s making me go crazy and sometimes I can’t even think at all it hurts so bad-”

Your jaw dropped open as you realized what Itto was saying through his nervous mumbling.

“A Rut…” You murmured, glancing around his room. It all made sense now.

“A what?” Itto questioned, his voice cracking.

“I think you’re in a rut.” You stated matter-of-factly. “Have you ever had this before? How long have you been feeling like this?”

“N-no, never! It’s been like this for almost a week… but it’s getting worse and worse I don’t know what to do-”

“A week?! And you… don’t know what to do?” You raised an eyebrow at Itto’s explanation. Firstly, from what little you knew about the subject, you understood that only a few unsatiated days would drive anyone in a state like his insane. But secondly, Itto sounded like he had no idea what was even going on with his body. “Like, you don’t know what to do when your dick is hard?”

“What do you mean? You’re supposed to wait until it goes away.” Itto spoke bluntly, and you stared up at him in disbelief.

“Mr. Arataki, do you really think it’s gonna go away this time if you just wait?” You felt his member pulse against your leg.

“N-not when you say my name like that,” Itto whined, “I don’t know why it keeps making it worse.”

You began to blush fiercely at his statement. Itto hung his head, groaning from the pain he was subjecting himself to. Did he really enjoy the way you said his name like that… all this time?

And… Why were you happy he liked it that much?

You opened your mouth to speak, but you suddenly became flustered as you thought about what you were going to say.

“Boss…” you called, and Itto’s ruby gaze lifted to meet yours. “Do you want me to help you? I can show you how to uhm…” Your gaze traveled to his dick that was straining against his pants. “Help it.”

“Yes, please, anything to help me!” Itto nearly cried with desperation as he begged.

“Are you sure?” you asked, your tone serious. “You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure, please Y/N, I’m completely sure!”

At his confirmation, you rubbed your leg against Itto’s painfully hard member. A pleasure-filled whine escaped his lips, surprising the both of you and sending heat straight to your core.

“W-why does it feel so good,” Itto groaned, gasping as you began to rub your leg back and forth.

“You’re telling me that you’ve never jerked yourself off before?” You asked bluntly.

“N-no, touching it is inappropriate!” Itto cried, realizing that what you were doing to him was dirty. “B-but why does it feel so good?”

“If you want me to stop, tell me.” You stated frankly, your thigh continuing to stroke him through his pants.

“N-no…” Itto murmured, squeezing his eyes shut and dropping his head. “Keep going…”

“Okay.” You hooked your fingers around his collar, dragging his head down so your lips could meet his.

“Mmh!” Itto groaned, his dick twitching against your thigh as his lips mashed against yours. Your lips caught on one of his sharp canines, eliciting a moan from yourself.

Itto had no clue what he was doing. He knew that people kissed, but he didn’t know it was anything more than putting your lips on top of someone else’s. So when your tongue slipped past his lips and began to roam his mouth, his arms began to shake.

Itto tried his best not to fall over as he moved his arms to rest his elbows on either side of your head. He was glad he did it when you began to slide one hand down his stomach until it reached his waistband. He felt like he was going to fall over as he felt you fumble with his belt. Somehow you managed to undo it while also exploring his mouth with your tongue.

Itto let out a low-pitched moan as he felt your hand slip into his pants, your cold fingers sliding down and wrapping around his cock. Itto seemed to malfunction as you stroked up and down his length. He broke from the kiss, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes as he moaned.

“Haah… o-oh my…shit Y/N, it’s so go~od…”

“Too good?” You asked, loosening your grip and slowing your movements.

“N-no!!” Itto snapped his head up to look at you, his eyes filled with fear of the possibility of you stopping whatever magic you were doing to him. “Keep- keep going…please…” Itto trailed off into a whisper, but was swiftly cut off with a loud gasp as you touched him again, beginning to push his hips into your hand almost instinctively.

“Okay, follow my lead.” You began to sit up, pushing Itto until he was sitting upright on the floor with his back against his bed frame. You began to loosen his belt, unzipping his pants and carefully freeing his member. No matter how careful you were, once it escaped his pants it slapped against his stomach, eliciting yet another hitched breath from the poor Oni’s mouth.

You stared at what you had just released – you could feel its large size from when you held it inside his pants, but only now were you able to see the red markings that wove its way from his lower stomach down to the tip of his angry, hard, and already leaking cock. You had never seen an Oni’s manhood before… despite the intimidating size, it was beautiful.

“Ngh…” Itto groaned as you closed your hand around him, stroking up and down his length. “...Feels so good…”

You trailed your gaze up to Itto’s face, where he was struggling between eagerly watching your movements with his eyes, and shutting them to fall fully into the incredible sensation. Itto’s half-lidded crimson eyes met with yours as you continued, your hand gripping tighter and pumping faster. You could feel his dick twitch as he panted from the pleasure.

“So, this is what you do when it gets this way.” You spoke calmly, ignoring the wetness that grew in your own underwear.

“Aahh…” Itto gasped, “Why did nobody tell me this?”

“It’s something you should really figure out on your own, dumbass.” You smirked as you shifted in your seat. You pressed your thighs together, trying not to reveal that you were also getting turned on.

Itto groaned louder, leaning his head backwards to rest on top of his bed. You could feel his dick pulsating harder… The Oni squeezed his eyes shut, panting harder, confused about this new feeling that seemed to send stars into his vision.

“S-something’s happening, w-wait- FUCK!” Itto exclaimed, his chest shuddering as he felt something build up in his lower abdomen. It was good – almost too good. He dug his fingernails into the wooden floor, leaving deep scratches with his sharp nails.

“It’s okay, let it happen.” You spoke soothingly, giving a couple fast pumps before Itto climaxed into your hand.

Thick and hot ropes of white burst from Itto’s swollen cock, the member twitching and throbbing like nothing the poor Oni had ever experienced before. He moaned, his voice quivering, tears pricking at his eyes from the intense pleasure.

It took him several seconds to regain his senses; you tried not to touch his overly-sensitive member as cum continued to spill from it in short spurts. It was a surprisingly large amount; but then again, Itto wasn’t exactly human.

“A-ah, I’m sorry…” Itto whimpered as he picked his head up to meet your eyes. “I don’t know what that was…”

“It’s called an orgasm, and this is cum.” You spoke, holding up your hand covered in white. “It’s a normal thing for… adults to do.”

“An orgasm?” Itto spoke in disbelief. “It felt like I died and went to heaven.”

You laughed. “That’s what orgasms feel like, dummy.”

“I wanna do it again.” Itto spoke, and that’s when you noticed his ruby eyes still half-lidded with desire. “Holy shit… You smell so good… how did I not notice it before..?”

Your thighs squeezed together at Itto’s statement.

“Wh- I smell good?” You stuttered, your eyes drifting down to his cock that was still standing completely erect. He began to push himself away from the bed to lean closer to you, dipping his head down to your neck to take a deep breath in.

“I don’t know what it is…” Itto murmured, “you smell like, really good.”

Your eyes widened as you looked down at your lap. You realized he could smell your arousal.

“Please, can you keep going?” Itto’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but his pleas sent heat straight to your core.

“I suppose…” You trailed off, staring down at his still-swollen manhood. “I could show you something more.”

“More?” Itto asked, bringing his head back to look you in the eyes. “There’s more?”

You laughed, still in shock that Itto, one of the hottest men you’ve ever seen, could be this clueless when it came to sex.

“Yes, of course there’s more. There’s endless things you can do when it comes to sex.”

“Sex? Like the bad word?” Itto questioned.

“Yes, this is what it means.” You responded, surprised by your ability to remain stoic. You wrapped your hand back around his cock, stroking Itto with his own climax.

“Ahh, it feels even better-” Itto whined, “Why does it feel even better-”

“Because now it’s wet.” You spoke plainly, listening to the squelching noises you made with your hand.

“Nghh…” Itto began to shift his hips, trying to buck into your hand.

“Tsk tsk,” you released your grip. “Stay still. Let me guide you.”

“O-okay,” Itto agreed, settling back onto the floor so you could continue stroking him. You used your free hand to fumble with the bottom half of your clothing, undoing your buttons and buckles. As you began to peel off your clothes one-handedly, the smell of your arousal hit him like a truck.

“W-what are you doing?” Itto whined, staring at the skin of your upper thighs that you had revealed.

“I think this might feel a lot better for you.” You spoke. “Do you want to try putting it inside me?”

“Wait, wait.” Itto’s eyes widened. “It’s not gonna hurt you, is it?”

“Not if we do it slowly.” You responded, taking your hand off of Itto’s member to slide your undergarments off of your legs.

Itto held back a whimper as you crawled closer to him – he could feel the heat radiating off of your skin and smell the salty-sweet scent of your arousal. You began to straddle his hips, lowering your core until your lips met the tip of his leaking cock.

“Now tell me if you want to stop.” You spoke, surprising yourself with how calm you were acting. Ever since you saw his manhood, you had wanted it inside of you. You craved it so badly, you didn’t know if you’d be able to hold back if he told you no.

Itto nodded, staring down at your bare legs, digging his nails into the wooden floor even more to avoid digging them into the plush of your thighs. He didn’t know where these aggressive, lewd, lustful thoughts were coming from – but he couldn’t stop them.

“Ah-!” Itto’s eyes went wide as you began to sink down onto his dick. You were so hot, so wet, and you squeezed him like nothing else as your pussy slowly began to stretch around his length.

You let out the faintest whimper at the stretching sensation, not used to anything near his size. It bordered on painful, but you were so turned on that you had to stop yourself from pushing too far too soon. Itto’s ears pricked at the sound, the sensation going straight to his erection.

“A- are you okay?” Itto groaned, trying his best to remain calm as you sank down onto him.

“Y-yeah, it feels good.” You blushed, sinking slightly further down. It already felt like he was filling you completely, but you knew you weren’t even halfway down his length.

Itto stared down at his dick, watching you swallow more and more of it as you sank down. It was so warm, so wet, he thought he might already orgasm again.

You felt like you couldn’t fit any more of him in despite only having half of his length inside you – you felt too full, and it was getting difficult to continue to slide down over the widest part in the middle of his shaft. You decided to stop there, shifting your legs to kneel comfortably on the floor. You began to move back up, until only the tip remained inside. Itto watched you, his ruby eyes fixed on your heat, staring at the strings of slick you left behind on him. What he didn’t expect, however, was for you to start moving up and down on him.

“Hnn, ahh,” Itto panted, pleasure building up all too fast from how you moved, making him enter you over and over again. It felt like he was being swallowed up by the heat radiating from your pussy.

You began to move faster, bouncing off of your heels to keep up your momentum. Itto’s pants turned into moans and whines as he gripped onto the bed frame behind him in an attempt to avoid bucking his hips up into you. You had told him to stay still, and he would do his best to stay still.

You could feel your own climax begin to build as you moved – it got harder and harder to keep up your pace, your head clouding with lust from the sensation of being stretched and filled over and over. Your legs began to shake as you tried to continue, your stamina running low, pleasure beginning to take over your body.

“Ah, it’s gonna happen again-” Itto whimpered, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as he struggled to maintain his composure. Itto’s desperation made you smirk. You didn’t realize you could have such a huge and strong Oni quivering so helplessly below you. Trying your best to keep moving, you bounced over and over until you couldn’t suppress your own moans anymore.

With a cry, Itto’s hands flew up to your thighs, his nails biting into the fat of your thighs. He couldn’t help it anymore; he came hard, his cock pulsating as it unloaded inside of you.

You could feel the warmth spreading inside you. His load was huge; it made you shudder, pushing you further towards your own climax.

“Ahh- Mr. Arataki, not inside…” You whined, realizing that you probably should have told him to not finish inside of you. But for some reason, you found it pleasurable – you enjoyed the sensation of his hot release filling you.

“A-ah, I’m sorry!” Itto’s eyes grew wide as his face turned bright red, his grip loosening as he began to lift you up and off of him.

“I-it’s okay.” You spoke, whimpering at the empty sensation he left inside you, “It’s already done.” You moved your hands to cover Itto’s that were placed on your thighs.

“O-oh,” Itto murmured, “that’s good, because I don’t wanna stop just yet…” He lifted his hips slightly, pushing back inside of you.

“Aah, again?” You gasped at the sensation of being filled again.

“O-only if you want to!” Itto stopped moving, his gaze snapping to meet yours, worried that he was hurting or upsetting you. You began to chuckle. You haven’t orgasmed yet, but you were close, and Itto’s hesitation was beginning to drive you crazy.

“Of course I want to continue, dumbass.”

“Oh, o-okay!” Itto nodded, “C-can I move, this time?”

“Yes!” You exclaimed a little too loudly as you collapsed and rested all your weight onto Itto’s hips. With the load of cum inside you and the sex you just had, you were able to slide slightly lower down Itto’s length.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Itto asked, worried about the way you seemed to squirm on his dick.

“Yes, I’m fine…” You spoke, staring at him through half-lidded eyes. “It feels really good for me too.”

“O-okay. I’ll try to go slow…” Itto could feel himself twitch inside of you at the sound of your voice. The way you told him it felt good turned him on far too much. He wanted to move so desperately, to just go wild and pummel into you like you were a ragdoll. However, he knew he would only hurt you if he did that. And so, with as much restraint as he could muster, he slowly pushed his hips up into you and then back out.

“If you keep up a rhythm like I did, it feels goo-” You were caught off guard as Itto picked up his pace to match what you had done before. “-aah~”

You closed your eyes, the pleasure stealing away your vision. As Itto began to thrust deeper and deeper into you, he began to reach a part of you that you never thought existed. The pleasure built up in your core and made you feel like you could pass out. You had finally taken in all of him, the Oni bottoming out with each thrust, his inhuman size completely filling you.

You lost control of your speech – gasps and moans left your mouth that you would be humiliated of in any other situation. Yet somehow, Itto found the noises you made so enticing… he didn’t know why, but it felt like you were urging him on to go faster and faster.

“Hng! A-ahn, hahh~” You couldn’t focus on anything as Itto continued his rhythm. He squeezed your thighs harder, his hips slapping against the plush of your ass with each thrust. He looked down, watching himself enter you over and over, eyeing the strings of cum that slipped out of you and began to make a mess on his pants and the floor.

“F-fuck, Y/N-” Itto gasped, “You’re so…”

You could feel your own climax encroaching, and you began to lose control over your balance. You didn’t know why… but your hands flew up to grab onto the horns on his head.

“-Aah, fuck!” Itto cried, not knowing why his horns were so sensitive – or why they felt so good when you held onto them. He tried his best to continue at the pace he started but everything you did seemed to push him to just let loose.

The pressure in your core, the snap of Itto’s hips against your ass, and the iron grip of his hands on your thighs sent you over the edge. You wailed as you came hard, your walls convulsing around his cock like nothing you felt before.

“Fuckfuckfuck Y/N you’re squeezing me too hard-” Itto cried, gasping at the sudden tightness around him. He couldn’t move anymore; your orgasm was constricting him too much. He fell still, resting your hips on top of his own. In the throes of your orgasm, you had finally been able to take all of him, now settling down at the bottom of his shaft. You felt like all your energy was gone as you slumped forwards against Itto’s chest.

“Ahn, Itto… so good…” You hummed, resting your head against his soft chest, almost forgetting that you were still inside him and that he was still very turned on. Your grip around the Oni’s horns loosened, your arms falling down to your sides.

“W-wait what happened, are you alright?” Itto asked, his voice reverberating through his chest as he spoke, his ruby eyes scanning over your body to see if anything was wrong.

“No, ‘m fine…” You murmured. “Just had an orgasm too…”

“Oh-” Itto’s mouth formed an o-shape, his eyes widening as he realized what had just happened. “D-does it feel good for you too?”

“So good…” You hummed, your head resting on his chest.

Itto released his grip on your thighs, wrapping his arms around your torso and carefully standing up while still inside you. He turned carefully and set you down on the bed, trying his best not to hurt you in the process.

“Can I… continue?” Itto asked, and you gazed up at the Oni who stood above you. You nodded, and he slowly began to pull out of you.

An empty feeling began to take over you as you watched him pull his entire length out of you. It was coated in a thick and white mixture of his cum and yours, but you realized something that shocked you – he seemed to be even bigger than before, despite cumming twice already. On top of that, he seemed to be all too eager to continue, making you wonder just what kind of libido an Oni might have while in his rut.

“You smell… so good…” Itto began to bend down, his head dipping between your legs as he smelled your leaking cunt.

“A-ah, Itto, not there-” Your sentence was cut off by a moan as you felt his wet tongue slide across your entrance. Itto licked a strip up your lips, gathering the mixture of climaxes in his mouth, the taste and smell going straight to his head.

“H-hey!” You grabbed both of his horns, pulling his head away from your pussy. When you saw the slick running down his chin and the lust in his eyes you realized the smell of sex must be some sort of aphrodisiac for him.

“I want more…” The white-haired Oni whined, sending a fierce blush across your face and turning you on again.

“Me too…” you responded, beginning to get up from where you laid on the bed. You rolled over and got onto all fours, showing Itto a new view of your entrance. You reached one hand back, fingers probing gently at your entrance, putting yourself on display for him. “Here, you can put it-”

Itto didn’t seem to need instruction. He pressed his engorged cock into you again, the sensation of being speared open by something so huge cutting off your sentence with a gasp. He wasted no time pressing further, fully sheathing himself inside of you within seconds.

“Ahn, Itto~” You moaned, shocked that you could take something his size just like that. “S-so big…”

As Itto began to move, attempting to replicate the same pace as before, you felt fuller and fuller. He hadn’t been moving for long when you realized your arms and legs were already shaking. His hands subconsciously went to your hips, and you were thankful for the support as you leaned into his grip.

Itto’s hips began to make noise as they snapped against your ass, the skin-on-skin slapping growing wetter and wetter. Somehow, despite being completely inexperienced, Itto was excellent at holding his pace – so excellent that you couldn’t maintain your composure. As he fucked into you, your arms failed. You fell face-first onto his bed, your shoulders and chest resting on the soft mattress. Your back was now arched as Itto continued to hold your hips in the same place before.

You let out a garbled moan as Itto lifted your hips and pulled you backwards, your legs now dangling off the side of the bed so he could enter you more easily. Your ass was now facing the ceiling; this angle made your eyes roll back in your head.

Your head was so clouded with lust that you couldn’t spare a thought to wonder how Itto could do this with no experience whatsoever; neither of you knew just how much his Oni instincts were taking over. He relentlessly pounded into you again and again, losing all restraint. It felt so good. The sounds of skin slapping on skin, the wet sounds of his cock bullying into your pussy, and your moans mixed together into a lewd symphony inside his head that made him want to keep going and going.

Itto panted as he neared another climax, completely unaware that he was pushing you towards yours as well. You wailed, the sensation of being filled to the brim over and over sending stars into your vision. He had begun to thrust harder; the impact of his hips against your ass would send you flying if it wasn’t for his iron grip on your upper thighs.

As Itto reached the precipice of orgasm, you could feel him swell. The Oni moved his hands, using one arm to hook under your hips as he planted his other palm on the mattress beside your head. His movements fell still as he bent down and placed his lips against the nape of your neck. You felt a sharp pinch – Itto had bitten into your delicate skin, his fangs drawing blood. At the same time, however, you felt his cock swell and twitch as something warm spread inside you; he had bitten you at the same time that he came.

His lips remained planted firmly on your neck, eliciting a moan of both pain and pleasure from you. After a few moments, Itto began to move again, stirring the cum inside of you. You whimpered at the feeling, surprised at how animalistic he was acting.

Itto released you, leaning back and slowly removing his length from you. You could feel a thick liquid leaking out of your entrance and hear it dripping onto the mattress, as Itto finally set you down on the bed and rolled you over onto your back.

You stared up at the Oni, noticing the red tinge to his lips that you could only guess was your own blood. His hair was even more unruly than normal, and his expression was glazed over with desire. He didn’t utter a single word as he grabbed your thighs once again, the sharp edges of his nails digging painfully into your flesh.

He pushed your thighs up and against your chest, exposing your abused entrance yet again. You glanced down at Itto’s member – it was even bigger than before, particularly towards the middle.

“Hahhh- Itto, will that even fi-” You were cut off again as he bullied his way into your cunt, filling you completely, hitting a very different spot inside of you. “Ahn, Itto!”

You didn’t have any time to adjust to the new, better feeling. His thrusts were fast, needy, hard. He pummeled into you relentlessly, pressing your knees into your chest harder, his nails digging into the fat of your thighs. Your moans began to turn into screams of pleasure. You’ve never felt this way before – and never expected to feel this way from someone who was a complete virgin. Your body shook as his hips snapped against your ass, the movements needy and hungry.

“Itto~ Aah!” You cried, tears welling up in your eyes from the overstimulation. You came hard, almost too hard for you to handle, the avalanche of pleasure combined with Itto’s unrelenting movements forcing fat tears to roll down your face as you wailed. Your walls clenched around him, but he continued pummeling into you without any indication of stopping.

There was something feral about the way Itto moved, his grunts as he thrusted, the wild look in his eyes. You had never seen someone with this kind of stamina, with this kind of animalistic desire. You gasped as you felt him grow even larger, a bulge beginning to grow at the base of his length, stretching you further as it popped in and out of you wetly. It grew bigger until it became stuck inside you, Itto no longer being able to pull his engorged cock out of your abused pussy. You were stretched so tightly around it that nothing escaped, even his final release.

Itto groaned as he came and his movements finally fell still. He collapsed on top of you, his arms landing on either side of your body to prevent his weight from crushing you. He unloaded a final time inside of you, his member twitching as hot ropes of cum painted your insides, this time trapped inside of you by the huge knot at the base.

“Hahhh… ‘m so tired…” Itto sighed, his hot breath blowing across your neck. He buried his face into the nape of your neck where he had bitten you, pressing his lips gently against the bleeding bite mark.

“W-what was that,” You murmured, staring up at the ceiling as you finally came down from your high..

“Dunno…” Itto mumbled, “but now I can’t pull it out… ‘n I’m sleepy…”

The Oni relaxed and you felt more of his weight shift on top of you. His breathing became more even, and it sounded to you like he had just fallen asleep.

“I-Itto?” You whispered, looking to the side to see his eyes peacefully closed.

It was weirdly characteristic of your boss to pass out on top of you after fucking you silly.

You smiled to yourself, finally closing your eyes as well.

‘I suppose I’ll have to apologize to Miss Kuki tomorrow…’ You thought to yourself as you drifted off.

~~~

The next morning, you woke up in a different position. You were underneath heaps of blankets, wrapped in something very soft and warm. You opened your eyes to see that you were inside Itto’s (pretty much destroyed) bedroom. The clothes you were wearing – if you could call it that – were hanging off of you like rags. You didn’t realize the sex you had the previous evening was that crazy. There were bite marks and scratches that littered what skin was visible above the blankets, and you dreaded seeing how you felt once you started walking.

You shifted in place, and heard a loud creak. you looked down to see the bed was sloped at an unusual angle, evidence that the entire bed frame had been broken. You looked around to see scraps of yours and Itto’s clothes littered across the floor. You tried sitting up to get a better look, but felt something slightly tighten around you as you moved. That was when you realized Itto was sleeping behind you, his arms wrapped around your torso, hugging you close to his chest. You turned your head to see his serene face, feeling his messy yet soft hair tickle your face and neck.

You smiled. Arataki Itto really was a good guy, no matter how dumb. You decided it was likely a good idea to slip out before he woke up, since there’d be no doubt he would feel bad for what he did to you last night if he was awake to see the state of your body. Besides, you had to somehow get home and shower before you needed to turn up for work.

You began to shift slightly, figuring out a good angle to slip out of his grasp and inch out of bed.

“Don’t go…” Itto murmured, his voice raspy and deep from sleep. It was as if he could sense you were trying to leave, even though he wasn’t fully awake – he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet.

“H-huh?” you stuttered, confused. You believed you were only there to help him with his… unique problem. So when Itto held you close the next morning, you didn’t understand why.

“I like you a lot… I've liked you since I first laid eyes on you.” Itto finally opened his eyes, giving you a soft smile. Your gaze traveled up to meet his sleepy ruby eyes.

“You mean when I stopped you from eating beans?” You scoffed, but you couldn’t stop the smile that grew across your face.

“Yeah, you saved my life! How could I not fall head over heels for you?”

“You do realize that I’d already been working for you for like… three weeks when that happened.” You quipped.

“Hey, that was the first time I noticed you!” Itto whined, and you never expected to say the words that came out of your mouth next.

“Well, I’m glad you finally noticed me.” You moved one hand up to run your fingers through his unruly hair. “And I like you too.”

You laid a sweet peck on his forehead then retreated back under the covers, nuzzling your face into Itto’s chest and closing your eyes again. Work could wait.

~~~

Bonus: The Previous Night

Kuki Shinobu hadn’t heard from you in a couple hours. It was beginning to get dark, and she wondered if you had given up on trying to get Itto to leave his room. She decided to turn up at his house and check to see if he was still there.

As she approached the house, she could hear strange sounds coming from the upstairs window that happened to be completely open. Itto’s purple undershirt was hanging out of the window, and a dim light came from inside… Shinobu knew that meant Itto must be at home. However, as she got closer, she could hear someone else inside.

“Ahn, Itto~”

That sounded like your voice… she wondered why you would still be at his house, when you told her you would go fetch Itto hours ago. However, your voice sounded a little unusual.

“S-so big…” Your voice sounded more like a moan, and Shinobu’s eyes went round with shock as she heard Itto speak next.

“A-ah, Y/N you feel so good!”

Shinobu had to slap a hand over her mouth to stop her from making a noise of death. She spun on her heels and ran away, completely scarred by what she just heard her boss exclaim.

‘Well, at least I know Boss is alright now…’ She thought to herself, nauseated at the thought of what he and you were likely doing right now.

3K notes · View notes

ambrosialdesire · 1 year

Text

down boy, down

18+ DARK CONTENT BELOW, MINORS + BLANK BLOGS DNI

pairing: gorou x fem!reader word count: 6.5k warnings + tags: general yandere and obsessive themes, explicit sexual content, unhealthy relationships, kinda pwp, slight misogyny, dubcon, edging, male masturbation, heat (rut), knotting, breeding, innocent virgin (for now) & pervert gorou, mentions of panty stealing, brief sub gorou (he's just insanely horny), begging, degradation sorta, religious guilt implications, power imbalance/abuse of power, corruption (kinda, it's just yae miko is just nudging him), all characters are 18+ synopsis: generals are supposed to be the prime example of rigorous restraint and complete self-discipline, but this doggy general can't control himself when your presence is around. gorou feel like he's losing his mind with the way his thoughts only contain the need to completely breed you and it's getting worse as time goes on. a/n: yes i can write something else besides aot lolol some terms are not officially in-game (mostly the military terminologies) and some parts of the lore i sorta forgot because its been so long since i played inazuma's story. i tried as best as i could to fill in. there's not a lot of yandere gorou so i wanted to try my hand at it. this is technically my first smut fic in a while so apologies in advanced if it's bad (i'm terrible at dirty talk cause it's so awkward to write lol). in my mind, he has scars, muscles (but not super super defined ones), and is slightly taller than his in-game model. i wanted to try and write in the guy's perspective cause it may or may not be a practice for some incoming fics hehe enjoy!! note: please keep in mind of the tags above and do not proceed if triggering or uncomfortable, especially if you are a minor!! do not read my or any other writers' dark content if you are underaged. this is a fictional work and does not reflect irl morals, do not believe this is how a real romance works or functions.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.───

For Archons' sake, Gorou's a general.

Someone who has the respect of all that he swore to protect. He's the supposed "top-dog" soldier of Watatsumi Island. He built his reputation from the ground up, spent years upon years training himself to be the best soldier on the island. He's the number one supporter of Sangonomiya Kokomi, the Divine Priestess who entrusted him with leading her army safely through the throes of this terrible war. He's been told he was a humble leader, a man of sincere righteousness, a good person.

Internally, he knew that everyone had it all wrong about him.

They don't know that this man, this soldier, had become a disgusting degenerate of an animal.

Sick, sick thoughts filled his mind when the nights grew quiet and the bonfires outside had soon slowly burned out. The innate want — no, need — to breed, consistently grew stronger with each passing night; it was a genetic predisposition that he felt like he had been cursed with. If he thought about it for too long, he could feel himself harden and strain against the restraints of his garments. He'd get himself to the point where he'd slowly palm himself, his body growing warm and his breathing quickening, but he'd never finish. It was frustrating from the way he'd get oh so close but he just couldn't cum, no matter how much his cock was twitching or how much his tip was leaking out precum.

It was too shameful, too scandalous.

Gorou wasn't always like this. For the longest time, his urges had always been easy to control. His mind had always been focused on battle positioning plans and extreme training regimes, anything to get the upper hand against the Tenryou Commission. It was like everything in him was suddenly rewired the day you joined the ranks.

Usually it was not his place to oversee newcomers, the lower ranked captains were assigned for that position. However, Her Excellency wanted him to train this group of newbies this time around. She told him that it was the utmost emergency, resources and people were running low and she needed time to gather more support. Gorou would never refuse her request so he obeyed her command, preparing himself with speeches and strategies.

Very few people were willing to go up against the Shogunate and her powerful army; he was the one that had to inspire them and ensure that their minds were set for fighting for what was right. They had to fight, not only for the island but for the people who were currently being persecuted in the Inazuma mainland.

As he approached the training area while reading over the speech, he stopped dead in his tracks. A light scent, almost a sweet floral, lingered in the air. It was a complete contrast against the sweat and dirt so he followed after it, his eyes finally landing on you.

You were sparring with one of the other newbies, pinning him to the ground while laughing. You held your own well, the man was twice your size and there he laid in a dazed confusion. His tail fluffed up as he watched you get up and stretch, the disheveled training uniform pulling up and revealing the smooth skin of your stomach.

He felt himself swallow nervously as you noticed his presence, your body stiffening and going into the position of standing at attention. You were the only one to do so, the others scrambling to copy your actions as they finally realized he was watching them.

It was rare to see women in Watatsumi Island or in the village, much less so his age. Most of them either were dedicated shrine maidens, women who were already happily married, or the elderly taking care of their grandchildren while their parents worked outside of the island. To see you was quite a surprise, especially since the other trainees that surrounded you were all men. There was a small handful of resistance soldiers that were the opposite sex, all working alongside Her Excellency as her advisors.

Gorou had to regain his thoughts, trying to shake out your smell out of his head. He began to speak, slowly pacing back and forth as he recited the whole trainee speech in verbatim, finally turning towards them and saluting a dismissal. The crowd saluted in return, soon dispersing to carry out other assigned duties and he opened his communication box to send back a message to Kokomi when all of the sudden, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was the flower-smelling soldier, you. He tried not to stare at you while he was talking but your scent was so enticingly distracting, he couldn't help but take a few glances. You were even prettier up close, the particular aroma was even stronger as you stood in front of him.

"General Gorou sir." You saluted quickly, your posture unwavering. You positioned quite well for a starting soldier, color him impressed.

"At ease. Do you need anything—?" He didn't know your name yet, lightly trailing off. You seemed to catch on with his hesitancy, perking up immediately.

"L/N. Private Y/N L/N. And yes General sir, I would like to ask when will we be doing weapon and hand-to-hand combat training."

"In a few weeks. The skills that we will be teaching this week is all physical activity training. It's quite necessary. It would be pretty embarrassing running down the battlefield and falling just because your body can't hold up the armor." He heard you snort, your hands going over your mouth almost immediately. His face grew warm as he stared at you with wide eyes, your gaze casting itself to the ground.

"Sorry General sir, I couldn't help but laugh."

Gorou's tail started wagging, his hand immediately catching it before it could move any noticeably faster. With his other hand, he placed it on your shoulder and smiled.

"Please, you can just call me Gorou. I'm not fond of formalities when we aren't on the field." Your eyes lit up once more, that was the funny thing about newbies. They always look up to the more skilled seniors, especially if they were a high rank like him.

"Yes sir- Gorou." You corrected yourself quickly, causing him to chuckle. The two of you began to discuss, mostly small talk to fill up the time. It was supposed to be a professional conversation but the more he spoke with you, the more personal he wanted to be. The two of you were soon interrupted however, you were needed by one of the captains. He quickly dismissed you, not wanting for you to get any bad first impressions from his colleagues. He didn't realize that his tail had drooped down low when you disappeared from view, the fur flattened down completely.

As the weeks went by, you proved to be a diligent and hardworking soldier, carrying out tasks with no complaints. During his observations, you rarely had any struggle keeping up with the men, not that it mattered in the first place. You were more nimble than most during close combat and you did better with a polearm than a bow or sword. During those weeks of training, he was only observing you. He swore it wasn't stalking, God forbid.

It was innocent at first, what he thought about you. He liked you, he usually liked all of his subordinates but something felt different about you. Was it because you were the only woman in the ranks at the moment? He wasn't like this around Her Excellency nor her advisors, but that was completely out of respect. Didn't he respect you?

The realization hit him when he saw your hair down one night while making his rounds around the camp. You were returning from the bathhouse, most likely bathing after all the men so you could have the well-needed privacy.

You spotted him first, waving a hand from afar. He only noticed when the floral scent hit him, barely smelling the hint of soap along with it. He finally became aware of the fact that your hair was still damp, pooling down over your shoulders. The moonlight bore down on you, giving you a glow that was absolutely breathtaking and then you smiled.

You smiled and everything suddenly felt tight in his body, as if he was being restrained by his own skin.

Gorou was lucky that it was nighttime and he was a distance away. Any closer and you would have been able to see how red his face had gotten. He'd only seen your hair up, a military standard that must be followed for all who had a hair length that went past their shoulders, so to see you like this left him dumbfounded. He quickly waved back and jogged off to his housing early, feeling his heart beat hard in his chest as he shut the door harder than it needed to.

He went over to sit on his bed, doubling over as he clutched a fist over his chest. His body was warming up and it felt like he couldn't breathe, only able to take in quick, sharp inhales. His mind felt like it was all over the place but still was able to only focus on one thing: you.

It was unethical with what he was feeling. He could only remind himself that he is a general — a rank higher than most — and here he was, thinking about a private. You looked up to him, you were supposed to because he was your leader, your guidance in this kind of world. Yet the way you gazed at him with complete adoration and fascination, the way you cheered praises at him when he showed off during sparring, it was getting to him when it shouldn't. Others had done the same but when it came to you, he just couldn't have enough.

Gorou's body felt like it was on fire and he moved to lay down, wincing when he finally noticed that he was hard. This never happened, this never happens. Maybe he could just sleep it off. In the morning, all of this would be gone. These... feelings.

He couldn't relieve himself. If he touched himself and came, it would be considered a sin. He had no room in his plans to visit the shrine maidens and confess something so innocuous. What would he even say? Forgive me, for I have thought and climaxed to one of my lower subordinates inappropriately. He'd prefer getting incapacitated by General Kujou Sara than say anything relating or similar to that.

He sat up and carefully removed his clothes, shuddering as the chilled air touched his bare skin. The bandages that he wore in his lower half were still intact but there was a definite outline of where his stiffened cock was being restrained. Fuck.

Gorou hesitantly went to trace his fingers along the outline, barely putting any pressure against it before he sharply inhaled, looking over and seeing that he reached the tip. It felt good, the wrappings were thinner than he originally thought. Shame soon shadowed over him, his hand retracting to his side and clenching the once-neatly made sheets. He shouldn't be doing this at all. Not when the origin of this came from a subordinate, a subordinate he shouldn't be thinking of in the first place.

He laid back down and shut his eyes tight, ignoring the panging throbs that were tempted to be relieved. He wouldn't let this issue bother him, so long as he can endure it. If he started something he would regret, then may the fallen god Orobaxi strike him down mercilessly.

Days turned into weeks and then into months. No matter how much he slept it off, tossing and turning restlessly in his bed, he was never able to get you out of his mind. He tried to avoid you as well, attempting to limit the interactions to important business only but it seemed that luck had never been on his side to begin with.

It was you who was always initiating, asking if your form is right as you held up the polearm in a perfect defensive stance, making him come to you and press his body against yours to fix your positioning. It was you who was always questioning whether or not a planned attack was coming soon, eyes lighting up as he mentioned a hint of any sort of battle. It was always you. Even when he was trying to map out positions on where a possible vantage point could be in his housing, he'd hear you approach the door and question him about what was arranged for tomorrow.

Some days, he wouldn't let you in. Gorou would tell you that he's busy at the moment and like a good little soldier, you obeyed his request and began to speak behind the barrier. What you didn't know was that his hand was pressing against his bulge as you spoke, biting his lip as he tried to keep himself quiet. His high morals always bit at him, making it so he could never bring himself to finish, a painful shame bleeding into the depths of his soul.

Whenever he heard your voice, it was like something was injected into his veins every single time you spoke to him. Your smell was even worse for him, his tail curling whenever you passed by him. And those eyes, God those eyes. Staring at him like he was the light of your life, turning into little half moons whenever you smiled at him. Everything about you ignited something truly terrible within him and he was addicted, the feverish heat never truly going away as you finally left his doorstep.

Her Excellency was worried about his change of state, telling him that he can take a break if he needed one. She noticed the sweat pool and drip down his flushed out and dazed face, even when the weather was fair and he barely moved an inch besides the occasional shuffle of his legs and tail. He couldn't, he wouldn't, not when the war was still going on. What would she think if he confessed to her about what he was doing to the thought of one of her soldiers?

You were a compelling distraction. A small bump in the road, a large sinkhole that he was struggling to get out of, slipping in deeper with every miserable attempt. The constant arousal and burning heat had diverted his busy mentality, only focusing on how his cock was aching and stirring for any sort of release. It was to the point where he started missing out on his other job, papers and requests piling up on his desk until his incompetence began to not go unnoticed.

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

"My, my, my. I haven't smelled this kind of scent in years, no wonder my best writer has been slacking in his duties." A disappointed but amused tut had Gorou's tail bristling from the sound of a familiar voice, ears flicking and head turning towards the now-opened door. A decorative fan hid her face but he knew all too well who it was based on the red-colored shrine maiden outfit and the long muted pink hair.

"Lady Guuji! You're not supposed to be here on enemy lines." He got up from his desk and quickly closed the door behind her, nails digging into the wood as a pang of warmth ran through his body. Miko closed her fan and walked over to his desk, pushing and prodding papers around with it as she slightly clicked of her tongue. Shit, has he really been that distracted?

"Oh Gorou, as far as I know, the Grand Narukami Shrine sides with no one in this war. I just wanted to see why the aspiring Ms. Hina hasn't been sending over her column responses like usual, you know she's usually so punctual with her postings! But now, I can see — no — smell why." She sniffed the air once more, his cheeks growing redder by the second.

"It reeks of your rutting stench in here, would you be so kind and open up a window for me?"

He obeyed and barely cracked two of his windows open, his tail still puffed up with anxiety as she sighed with displeasure. "You can't just wait this out you silly little pup, you need a release in order for it to go away."

"Re... release?"

Miko blinked once then once more. As if she finally came to a realization, a smug smile grew, her purple eyes glowing with amusement. "Don't tell me this is your first rut, dear Gorou?"

Rut. He heard of it before, the desire to breed whoever his body had chosen as his sworn mate. His father had mentioned it long ago when he was a young teenager but he originally thought that he was excluded from the effects. Why did you have to pop up now, out of all times?

"I'm surprised that you haven't jumped on your beloved leader when it started, I must applaud you for the amount of self-control you have in yourself." Clapping her hands in false praise, he was tempted to snap back at his other boss for assuming that he would ever treat Her Excellency that way when a knock filled the room. Her attention was now at the front door, one of her ears twitching with interest.

"Afternoon Gorou! I have something I want to tell you, may I come in?" He wanted to tear his ears right out of his head, the same uncomfortable warmth bleeding through his skin like an infection. He could already feel the starting familiar stir within the confines of his bandages. He felt like screaming or crying, maybe even both.

Out of all times?! Miko made her way towards the door before he could realize it and nearly opened it, cracks of the outside sunlight peering through. His body collided with the heavy wooden door without him realizing how speedily he reached it, a startled and surprised cry coming out of the other side as he slammed it back shut. Fuck, you sounded so cute.

"Gorou? Are you alright?" You asked, concern lacing within your words and he chuckled internally, already imagining your eyebrows scrunching together.

"Y-yes, I'm fine! Sorry about that, I tripped on my... m-my rut— I mean my rug— yes, my r-rug." He winced afterwards, embarrassed of his unprofessional behavior. A stifled giggle was heard behind him and a low growl came out of him in return, blue eyes narrowed as he shot a look at the pink-haired kitsune.

"Um, okay. Is it fine for me to come in then?" He could feel his hard-on throb, the lack of touch and urge to be in something warm irritating him. Yet the Guuji was still in the room, waiting for him to be finished with this conversation, as much as he still wanted to talk to you. His forehead pressed against the door, eyes closed as he tried to imagine what you looked like behind there.

"No, sorry not today. I-I'm awfully busy, paperwork's been piling up." He was met with silence and then a soft sigh, the tip of his tail twitching.

"Oh. Okay, sorry to bother you again Gorou. I..." There was a light sound of shuffling and two turns, as if you had something else to say. "I'll — um — I'll ask you another day then. Good luck."

The sounds of dirt crushing under your boots slowly began to fade away and he finally let out a relieving sigh, laughter exploding behind him and suddenly all his nerves were on high once more.

"Hah! You haven't chosen the priestess, you chose a soldier. A nice smelling one at least. Why haven't you made your move huh? I'm losing precious Mora because of your interest in her." Miko teased, the sound of her sandals clicking on the floor as she moved around in the small space.

"First of all, I would be abusing my authority. I'd just be taking advantage of her and her respect towards me, God knows if she'd report me for being an absolute disgusting pervert." His fist clenched against the door, waiting for his body to calm down before he faced the fox yokai. Every little cell was begging for him to go and chase after you, to finally, finally claim you as his. A small voice of logic had still made its presence known however, whispering the futures of every consequence that could occur if he had chosen to follow his urges.

"Play your cards right then doggy, you have all the power and control compared to her. And it seems that your patience is waning thin." She ruffled through his bed and with the tips of her fingers, she carefully fished out a small piece of cloth from behind his pillow, a deep color of scarlet burning in his cheeks as he finally turned towards her.

It was an accident, he didn't mean to grab it when he was making his normal rounds. He wasn't supposed to be near the bathhouse but his thoughts were suddenly clouded with a searing appetite, one that he was unable to resist. He didn't even realize that he had grabbed the neatly folded white panty from the bench, his conscious suddenly clearing when the tip of his cock was messily spilling pre-cum all over it when he made it to his home.

Gorou snatched it from her and shoved it into his pocket, a furious snarl suddenly slipping through his bared teeth. He himself jumped at the sheer sound of it, putting another hand over his lips as Miko stared at him in shock before laughing once more.

"This is why I hired you, you keep surprising me general." She sighed pleasantly after, pretending to wipe a tear. She was extremely humored with his heinous actions, as if she didn't care at all that what he was doing was any short of shameful. Miko made her way finally out, her hand on the knob not before looking back at her underling.

"And Gorou?" He flinched, his shoulders tensed.

"Yes?"

"My advice is get rid of your rut, no matter what it takes. You don't want to hurt that little soldier, right? So get her in your bed before your instincts do."

‘•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•’

Even if Miko had told him he should, Gorou couldn't bring himself to do it.

He had merely yielded, telling Her Excellency that he hadn't been feeling well recently and she agreed to let him sort himself through his "illness". She gave him some remedies and medicines, occasionally checking in on him when she wasn't busy planning. None of her treatments were working but she never gave up. News of him succumbing to a sudden sickness had spread through the ranks but their Divine Priestess had told them not to bother him while he was recovering, which he deeply appreciated.

He had locked himself in whenever she left, placing a chair against the knob to prevent any outsiders from entering and each of the windows were nailed shut. Even if he did open a window for a needed draft, he'd still be burning awfully hot. Plus, he didn't need the others to know why he was moaning and groaning in supposed pain. It sucked, everything about this sucked. Maybe if he had just a small taste of you, everything would go back to normal.

No. From the start, nothing about you was normal to him. Every time he thought about you, the heat would get worse and his already-sore dick would swell back to life. Were you thinking about him right now? Did you miss him? Gorou wasn't the type to get envious easily, but the rise of his rut enhanced those feelings to the max. He despised the image about you moving on to other soldiers, especially the higher ups. None of them were as kind and thoughtful as he was, clawing at his pillows at the idea of your sparkly eyes looking at someone else.

He couldn't do much to keep you away from those men, all he was able to do was finish up what he was behind with for Yae Miko and rest everything away, relieving what he can without a complete release. Would the ache go away if he finally did cum? Ugh, part of him wished she had explained this thing to him more but having your boss explain the birds and the bees for their kind would be horrifyingly embarrassing.

Nighttime rolled into the camp once more, his eyes shut in frustration and his hands restlessly grabbing and pushing around his sheets. He couldn't sleep, the pangs getting worse and his brain continuously fogging. If he went on a walk to try and clear his mind, he didn't trust himself not to walk into the sleeping quarters and not take you right there. So he decided to bathe instead, running cold water until it reached the right amount.

Since he wasn't on duty at the moment, there was no hassle in removing his garments, though he did keep the bandage wrappings on since somewhat helped control his urges. He carefully unraveled the cloth, shuddering as his already hardened cock sprung out of its restraints and lightly tapped against the skin beneath his belly button. Trying to ignore it, he stepped into the tub and sighed in relief as the water chilled his overheated body.

Only a few seconds passed by and he couldn't resist not looking. Observing himself, he felt strangely foreign seeing a swollen ball near the base of his dick as he bathed in the cool water of his tub. It was just as sensitive as the rest of him, exhaling a quiet whimper as his fingers brushed against it. As if something nefarious had suddenly grabbed ahold of him, his hand slowly wrapped around the shaft above the rounded flesh and began to stroke himself, the water rippling as he shivered from the feeling.

This was the first time he ever touched himself in this manner, his head arching against the rim as he tediously ran his thumb over the reddened, leaking tip. Despite the water, he could feel the smooth glide of the slick that was continuously leaking out of him. His canines gnawing at the side of his lips, eyes focused on the languid strokes. It was almost torturously slow pace, a building pressure forming at the pit of his lower abdomen.

This was bad, very bad. He needed to stop right now before he crossed a line into sin, an inescapable downturn into hell itself. But it felt so good, so so good.

Gorou panted, his mind forming the image that you were in the bath with him, that you were the one slowly stroking him off. He could feel the heat crawl up his chest to his cheeks, seeing your hooded gaze on him. Despite your training, your hands were always so soft compared to his callused hands. Was it because of the lotion that you used after bathing? God he missed your scent, the panty that he took was already losing your smell.

He let out a low groan as he thought about your flowery aroma and without thinking, he started to mutter your name. His hips bucked against his hand, the bulbous swelling preventing him from going further down to the base. With every rough movement, the water splashed out of the tub.

He imagined you teasing him, telling him that he's going to run the tub dry if he kept on moving so much. Still pretending that you were his hand, he began to pick up his pace, your name on his lips growing louder and louder. You called him a filthy general, asking him how he could think of you in such a way for a lowly soldier, simple cannon fodder. You then asked him why he decided to steal your used panty and he only could muster up a weak apology. He begged you not to tell the others, not to tell Her Excellency that he wanted you, that he thought of you for so long that it was poisoning him and his very soul. Gorou wanted you so badly but you were unobtainable, someone he could never touch. He loves his job, he really does but he loves you even more.

You finally kissed him, the faint traces of his ghastly imagination touching his lips. His pathetic chanting ceased as a blinding white painted his vision, his face contorting and crying out in agonizing pleasure. The waves of his sudden orgasm flowed through his veins as he gripped the side of the tub. He felt the material crack under his palm, bits of it crumbling onto his fingertips. His ears flattened against the side of his head and his tail had wrapped itself tightly around his leg, his breathing uneven and slow.

Gorou finally opened his eyes, his mouth still parted open in a quiet breathless pant as he looked down into the water. A white substance flowed around him, his red face contorting to mild disgust. Short feelings of drowsiness and a small sense of relief that the pain was gone ebbed throughout his body. He unwrapped his hand from his shaft, slightly twitching from the lost feeling.

In a slow realization, he then registered that the burning simply did not die out. No, it almost felt like it had gotten worse. The warmth crawled up his stomach and flushed around his face, the once-cold water now displeasingly lukewarm. He could imagine the sinking fangs of Orobaxi pierce his soul and label him as tainted, a sinner. A small part of him felt no regret, that this is what was meant to happen but most of him — if not all — had a sinking, devastated feeling. He shouldn't have done this, especially with you in mind.

There was a small knock on the door as he got out of the tub from his second bath, almost inaudible if he hadn't had these ears of his.

Weird. No one should be up around this hour, they would most certainly get in trouble if he catches them. He huffed, rolling his eyes. Pranking the sick general, are we? Gorou quickly wrapped himself up with a towel tightly around his waist, approaching the front door with light caution.

"Hello? State your name and purpose." He called out through the closed door, ears perked and twitching around for any signs of life. Maybe it was just a passing animal.

"Gorou? It's just me, Y/N. Are you okay?" Fuck. He's so utterly fucked.

"Uh y-yeah, why wouldn't I be? You shouldn't be out of the sleeping quarters, I won't be able to save you if you get caught." He tried to be as stern as possible but the growing mass underneath his towel was starting to make it difficult to think.

You softly laughed and he could imagine you shaking your head. "Don't worry, I'm sneakier than you think. And I wanted to check on you because I heard yelling coming from your direction. I... I got worried since you're still ill."

Gorou's heart was leaping out of joy. You were thinking about him? Of course you'd worry about him, it was part of your character wasn't it? He could feel his hands grasp at the chair holding the door, almost tempted to rip it out of the way.

"I know I'm not the best at medicinal assistance like Her Excellency but I want to help you. I feel bad not being able to do much besides train without your guidance." You quietly mentioned and his mind suddenly blanked, the heat crawling up his nerves and limbs.

"I do need your help actually."

"Y-you do? Well, I'll do anything to help you get better sir."

Anything, huh?

Gorou pulled the chair away from the door and opened the door, finally seeing you. The glow of his lantern-lit room highlighted your features, admiring seeing your hair down and your sleeping attire loose on your body. He couldn't be more grateful for your naïve willingness. His little idiotic soldier.

He grabbed your shoulder and tugged you into his home, almost slamming the door shut before you could have any change of mind. Your eyes widened as you soon realized that he was fully exposed, his towel barely covering his throbbing lower half. He let you drink in the scars and the muscles he's worked hard to achieve before he finally made a move.

"Wha—" Barely a sound was able to escape you before he collided his lips against yours, bodies toppling over into the wooden ground. In the haze of his lust, he felt terrible that you may have hit your head onto the ground but your mouth was so warm and your lips were so plush that all of his empathy was washed away.

His hands grabbed at the thin pajama pants the military provided for every soldier and ripped them off of you. He made quick work at removing his towel, his heavily aroused cock springing out and brushing against your covered cunt. He could see through hooded eyes that although you were most definitely confused, your fear could barely hide the arousal pooling behind your pupils.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He whispered frantically against your lips as he tore off the white panties, almost salivating as he felt his tip catch onto your bare warmth. A few ruts against your pussy lips and he could already feel some slick gather against his shaft, not knowing if you were getting aroused or that was just his own pre-cum leaking down and making a complete mess.

Slowly or at least, as slowly as he thought he was going, he pushed the head inside. A long and relieved whine came out of him and your back arched, body pressing against his as you cried out from the sudden intrusion. Swiftly, his mouth enveloped yours to quiet you down. It would be a shame if any other soldiers made their way to his home, but then again, he could make them disappear without a single trace left behind. Curiosity is such a fickle thing to have as a soldier, it could end them up dead in a nameless pit or in your instance, speared by a horny general.

His head threw back as he began to thrust shallowly in quick succession, the knot preventing him from going any deeper much to his displeasure. Gorou had never felt such an indulgence in his life, he thought his little session in the tub earlier was everything but this? He could live with the sins building upon his shoulders as long as he could relish in your warmth for eternity.

Your hands gripped on the rug above you, clawing and grasping at it for dear life, moaning aloud as his cock dragged against your walls. The blouse that you were wearing was slowly loosening with every sharp movement he made against you, revealing your chest that he could never bear to look at before. He peeled back the fabric and grabbed one of your breasts, squeezing once before leaning in and sucking on the pert nipple.

His tail twitched in bold satisfaction as you started to whine out his name, begging him to go deeper.

"Yeah? You want that soldier?" His voice rumbled against your nipple, feeling you clench around his shaft as he spoke.

"Y-yes! Please, please just a little more." Obeying, he snapped his hips harder against the plushness of your thighs, the knot pushing and budging against your tight hole. You hissed at the sudden realization of the circular muscle swollen around the bottom of his shaft, but you didn't try to stop him.

Would it fit? No, it had to fit. You will fit him. His hands grabbed your hips, pulling you in until you were flushed against his waist. His mouth left your chest, moving towards muscle in between your neck and shoulder. Gorou wasn't going to leave you unmarked, the whole goddamn camp was going to know who he knocked his pups into. It would serve some good to the island, Orobaxi would be pleased to have new followers right?

"Gonna fuck — hah — gonna fuck you up, breed you full of cum. You're my mate, mine." He growled into your ear before he bit down into your flesh. At the same time, he forced his knot into you and clawed the plushness of your hips.

Your pussy stretched and gripped around the enlarged knot, trying to accommodate the sudden thickness. He could barely see your eyes rolling to the back of your head as you came, your walls spasming and milking his cock for his hot cum. Wanton moans were the only noise you were able to make as he continued to fuck deeply into you, his tongue licking at the inflicted mark.

The same pressure in his lower stomach that he felt in the tub overrode his system and he pushed his dick in a little more, feeling the tip hit against a barrier. White stars blinded his vision immediately, his body shivering and shaking as he came hard into your womb. He took in heavy breaths, resting his head in the crook of your neck.

The burning was gone, he could finally feel the air in his room as it cooled down both of your bodies. It was gone but he wasn't done yet, no, he was far from it. Now that he had finally had a taste, he wasn't going to let you leave, not when he had bound himself to you. Figuratively and literally.

His pupils were blown out with pleasure, the blue color barely making its presence known as he began to kiss up your neck. You were barely there, eyes heavy with sleep but still groaning as he began to move once more, walls too sensitive to handle anymore. That's okay, he would breed you in your sleep if he had to.

" 'm gonna put more pups into you." His words slurred as he lazily thrusted, his knot pulling and pushing into a particular nerve bundle. You could only whine in agreement, completely engrossed and fucked out on his cock as you quivered from the stimulation.

Gorou will take real good care of you. What was he thinking before? A general always will need his soldier, what a fool he was for trying to believe that he never wanted you. A rope can only be tightened so much before it inevitably snaps. You belonged here in his home, warming his bed so he could take you whenever he returned from the battlefield. He picked his head up from your neck, kissing you deeply once more.

You were truly a heaven-sent blessing, weren't you? As fate may have it, he had hope that Orobaxi and Her Excellency would bless the both of you with a beautiful litter.

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love-minor-poltergeist · 2 months

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Hello polter! What do you think about the new cuphead dlc? I told myself I wasn’t going to fall for Chef Saltbaker, but i was very wrong. Could we please have some headcanons sometime?

A/N: Man you could really tell how far behind I am on some of these requests– man, I didn’t even know how long I’ve been in this rut until now. Especially since the DLC came out 2 years ago. Even as I am typing out this little note, I can’t help but grimace and feel awful for only now getting to this (シ〒﹏〒))シ

Now, I wasn’t sure if this was referring to just general headcanons or x reader ones, so I decided to go for the former for the time being!

General Chef Saltbaker Hcs:

┌── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┐

Even before his scheme to finally bake the Wondertart came to light, the residents of Inkwell Isle Four sensed something was… off about Chef Saltbaker. The way his jolly smiles didn’t quite reach his eyes; how he’d often lash out at random intervals before suddenly slipping his cheerful mask on; the numerous backhanded remarks he’d dole out to customers— and god forbid he becomes passive aggressive.

Point is, he wasn’t really a friendly fellow to begin with– and everyone was able to catch on relatively quickly. However, there was a tense, silent agreement between the other Island denizens and Chef Saltbaker: they stay out of his business, and he’ll play nice. And with gourmet treats to sweeten the pot, it’s enough to make most people look the other way.

He kept his life incredibly private prior to his rehabilitation. Chef Saltbaker wasn’t originally from the fourth Isle, having quietly set up his bakery to little fanfare. The man hardly ever left the building, either. During the late hours of the night, long after closing hours, a few onlookers even caught him opening the door that led to the basement of the bakery; leading to a few crazed conspiracies and theories of what exactly he did down there.

Granted, considering how Saltbaker had a lab down there, they weren’t wrong. But he also just had a nook that he lived in. Rent could be expensive in the city blocks of the Isle. He’d rather spend most of his budget towards ingredients, so living within the bakery was just naturally the better option.

Honestly, baking the Wondertart was the culmination of a series of unfortunate events. A struggling career in the culinary arts, years of being taken advantage of by restaurant owners– who dangled the empty promise of a promotion if he just was more passionate, constant stress over meeting rent, funding the bakery, and himself, rude customers; it could go on forever. After continuous disappointment and admittedly isolating himself, it was easy to see why he went a little, ah, mad.

Saltbaker’s gotten a lot better though! Albeit, there’s still remnants of that bitter, passive aggressive (hell, even just normal aggressive) personality lurking underneath his much more positive self. Now that he has gained the trust and friendship of the Isle denizens– finally gaining a sense of belonging and community he didn’t know he was missing– he’s calmed down significantly.

Complete and utter neat freak about his kitchen. Organizes all ingredients and spices alphabetically and dedicates separate drawers to each cooking utensil. Not to mention that at the end of each shift, he’ll make sure that the kitchen is absolutely spotless. He does not care if it’ll take him an extra hour; if everything is not in order like he left it, he’ll go mad.

After doing community service, Saltbaker mostly just uses his laboratory to experiment with different flavors and batters for his deserts. Some of his concoctions range from mere enhancements to common flavors like strawberry to exotic flavors like dragon fruit or lychee. He’s open to new flavors!

While his large, pot-bellied frame may not look it, Chef Saltbaker is incredibly fast. When you’re working a one-man show and have a line of customers waiting for their orders, it’s completely necessary for him. Granted, a lot of the people who come in are usually complete sweethearts and are willing to wait. Nevertheless, the man’s practically a blur as he’s speeding from station to station, kneading dough one second and then preparing a batch of frosting the next. If he finds himself needing extra help, he’ll usually use magic or conjure up a salt clone.

Though the latter doesn’t happen all too often since said clones tend to make his desserts much saltier than he would like.

Food gore makes him irrevocably angry and stressed out. Why on earth would you show him this? Saltbaker already hated wasting food, but downright ugly food or disgusting looking combos will genuinely mess him up for the rest of the day. Same thing with those images of people gripping their food too tightly. The first time Cuphead did it to an eclair in the bakery, it took every muscle of self restraint for Saltbaker to not jump over that counter and clobber a child to death.

Speaking of, don’t ever suggest to add breadbowls to the menu in front of him. He took pride in baking that loaf of bread and you want him to massacre it?! How very dare you. He doesn’t care if it’s a popular trend, he’ll sooner slap the person who asked than waste a crumb of that bread.

Incredibly strong, but that’s a given. The man kneads dough by hand all day and usually carries in crates and heavy bags full of groceries into the bakery. Could pick up around five grown men with ease.

Ms. Chalice usually pops in to get extra cookies, and will often offer to help out where she can in the kitchen. She and Chef Saltbaker were kind of awkward around each other for a bit– given the whole “Hey I lied to you and your friends and tried to steal their soul” bit. However, after some time, they’re comfortable around each other to the point where you’d usually overhear their banter while they work.

“Oh, come now, Saltbaker! You can’t put a price to our friendship!”

“Yes I can, dear. Fifty dollars.”

└── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┘

#cuphead #cuphead the delicious last course #general headcanon #headcanons #requests #chef saltbaker #cuphead dont deal with the devil #cuphead headcanons #chef saltbaker headcanons

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ransprang · 11 months

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Illumi sex pollen for kinktober plz

Kinktober 2023

Illumi: sex pollen

Illumi found himself hidden beneath the earth's surface on Zevil Island as one of the contestants in a brutal and secretive Hunter Exam. The island was notorious for its treacherous terrain, deadly creatures, and the constant threat of betrayal from fellow participants.

He had been resting for who knows how long after he collected the other badge he needed. His slumber was disturbed by loud groaning and someone rolling around outside his hole. Digging himself out to peek and take a glance at the menace, he sees you, another contestant. He saw your face was flushed red and almost in pain, but there were no signs of injuries as you stayed rolled up in a fetal position.

Feeling someone stare at you, you open your eyes. The sight of a strange man staring back at you from just a few feet away scared you making you get up from your fetal position. You barely knew this man yet for someone reason your body was screaming for his help. "H-hey I'm y/n. I've got all the badges I need so p-please don't hurt me. I got into a scuffle with some pharmacist contestant and he injected something into me. And now I really don't feel good."

Illumi stares at you blankly before he starts to dig himself into his hole. "H-HEY! Wait please." You felt so pathetic asking a random man for help, but you need to. "I need help. I may die before the round ends." Illumi usually doesn't care, but he figured if you don't stop making noises he can't get any sleep. Or worse someone may come to this spot and find him. That would be a nuisance.

He gets out of his hole completely and walks towards you, "Where are you in pain?" he asks with his head slightly cocked. You feel like nothing under his gaze. So insignificant. Yet, it's kinda pleasing to you. "M-my body is burning up."

You shut your eyes and hold onto your stomach as another wave of heat washes over you. "Hmm", he walks towards you and puts a hand upto your forehead. You realized it the. You were craving for his touch. Just anyone's touch. That pharmacist must've injected an aphrodisiac into you.

"f-fuck" you whimper. Illumi sees your thighs quiver and your eyes shut from a simple touch. He too realizes what you have been exposed to. Feeling a bit bored on this island he decides to use this situation as a little time pass.

Illumi drags his fingers slowly hand from your forehead down your chin, neck then reaches your chest. He pushes you back making your back hit a tree. You squeeze your thighs together in anticipation. One of his hands is on the tree caging you in, the other trails along your thigh, feeling along the softness of your skin. Feeling his skin along your thigh made you shiver with arousal. You trembled and exhale shakily as he gripped the fat of your thigh, his hand trailing along the soft skin of your inner thigh and teasing you with his fingers.

His fingers easily access your panties under your skirt and he pulls your panties to the side. You let out a gasp as you felt a finger prod at your clit. You whine out shakily as you felt him plunge his digits into your cunt, a shaky breath leaving you as you felt his fingertips kiss your g-spot. "Needy little thing aren't you." Illumi makes a passing comment while his eyes stay fixated on your face.

You moan loudly under his gaze. His long, slender fingers that rut into you, hitting your g-spot. "Y-yes it feels so good. I need to cum please. Please please." you say in desperation as you burn up. Illumi brings his other hand to pick up one of your legs and get it to wrap around his waist. He pulls up your skirt allowing him full view of your dripping pussy.

He uses this freed hand to play with your clit while the other continues to go inside you fast and hard. You cry out, eyes screwed closed, hips shoving forward. Finally as your moans grow louder with the build up in your stomach, you cum hard on his fingers. He lightly supports you as you are weak from the pollen. After coming down from your high you thank him. He keeps quiet, but something in his eyes suggests that he enjoyed watching you get off on his fingers.

Your pollen, admin sar

#hxh 1999 #hxh 2011 #hxh #hxh x reader #hunter x hunter #hxh killua #illumi hunter x hunter #hunter hunter #zoldyck illumi #illumi zoldyck #illumi #hxh illumi #illumi x reader

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graciereadshannigram · 8 days

Text

hey fam, my spreadsheet is FINALLY up to date so i am FINALLY getting back to the monthly rec lists! here's the cream of the crop from June :)

as a reminder: the ingredients for a five star rating typically (but not always!!) include some combination of a.) believable characterizations of both Hannibal and Will, b.) compelling plot and/or character arcs, and c.) high quality smut.

that being said, my judgment of the aforementioned ingredients is powered almost exclusively by vibes and as such, is incredibly subjective.

you can find past recs below:

February March April May

and if you have any recs of your own for me, PLEASE SHARE.

without further ado, let's go!

Bring Your Hunger by HigherMagic

Word Count: 22748 Summary: Having two Alphas is practically unheard of. Having three is damn near impossible. Having three like Hannibal, Duncan, and Nigel? All of them not only content to share, but genuinely enjoying each other's company? Well, Will doesn't believe in fate so much as luck, and he's more than willing to admit he's the luckiest Omega in the world.

Show, Don't Tell by StratsWrites, whiskeyandspite

Word Count: 3680 Summary: “The bedroom,” Hannibal murmured. “Do you have the patience to get there?” In answer, Hannibal gripped the backs of Will’s thighs and hoisted him up, settling him onto the kitchen island. After the fall... Will makes Hannibal wait. Just... to see what he would do.

I will read anything where Will purposefully drives Hannibal out of his mind.

to lie in wait for blood by its_the_ratdawg

Word Count: 1907 Summary: They had been sharing a bed since their first night on the run, ever since Will had climbed into bed next to Hannibal and curled around his broken body. In nearly a year that had passed since then, they’d always slept together unless they were enduring the climax of a particularly nasty fight. It had only happened three times. Tonight had nearly been the fourth. Hannibal laid there feeling as awake as he had ever been. Even with a fire built in the wood stove, the bed seemed cold with Will tucked stubbornly against the far side of the mattress, stoic as the cross on the wall above the bed. The pale moonlight streaming in through the window only made the illusion more severe. Just as Hannibal was considering drugging himself to sleep, Will shifted and his breath hitched. Hannibal waited for the rhythm of his breath to resume the slow, sleeping pace he was used to. He nearly jumped when instead he felt Will reach for him, his hand finding Hannibal’s waist. Wordlessly Will pulled Hannibal against him the way a bear might drag its prey to it with a single paw.

Somnophilia is really my thing and I loved this.

Batter My Heart by amarriageoftrueminds

Word Count: 2351 Summary: Hannibal/Will, Hannibal tricks Will into talking dirty. Will has trouble switching off. Hannibal doesn’t mind, and encourages Will to continue their conversations about serial killers while they’re having sex. About one serial killer in particular.

Fuck me, this was so hot.

Blaze by HotMolasses

Word Count: 3008 Summary: The thought slipped from his mind as a warm tingle spread across his skin. Will inhaled again, deeply, and the scent was so good, so very, very good. A soft moan even escaped his lips before he realized what he was scenting, though it wasn’t until he heard the feral, bestial growl in front of him that his brain finally made the full connection, and his eyes flew open in terror. Rut. Hannibal had indeed lost his control. Will’s eyes snapped up to Hannibal’s and he saw them dilating. Will’s throat grew dry and his heart leapt with fear. The Chesapeake Ripper was in rut, and it was because of him.

This author could write anything and I'd eat it up.

A Rising Tide by gleamingwholeanddeadly

Word Count: 3255 Summary: Sleepy, nostalgic talks in a bedroom the same colour as the ocean. Hannibal reflects on how close he feels to Will. Will wouldn't mind getting even closer. OR: Cuddles, unnecessarily florid banter, and graphic morning sex.

Oh I love this author so fucking much.

no amount of crying i can do for you by abbmyg

Word Count: 3763 Summary: Will is driving from Quantico to Hannibal's house in the middle of a blizzard. He never makes it home.

Umm, I'm tearing up thinking about this fic. It hurt. A lot.

i bet on losing dogs (you're my baby) by antiheroblake

Word Count: 2822 Summary: now, all hannibal has is winston

This made me sob. It hurt.

The most dangerous injuries don't leave scars by CulterVenatorius

Word Count: 909 Summary: When Hannibal hadn’t told Will about the encephalitis, thus preventing immediate treatment, he’d been more than aware of the possible outcomes. What he hadn’t been prepared for was that Will might change him and that one day, he might come to regret his decisions.

Ow ow ow ow OW.

Love Letters by Thiefbird

Word Count: 2039 Summary: After Will's funeral, Molly finds a box filled with relics from his past, and confronts the truth of her husband's history with Dr Lecter

WHUMP. This one hurt. In a good way.

Wrong by HotMolasses

Word Count: 4257 Summary: Will roughly rubbed his arm across his mouth again, trying to rub it off. Rub off the scent of Alana, after they’d kissed. After she’d kissed him. Or he’d kissed her? It was mutual. Until it wasn’t. Until Will breathed in her scent, so familiar, so Alpha, so…wrong. He’d pulled back forcibly, unable to hide the expression of revulsion on his face. “I…I need to go.” he said, sweeping his coat off the back of a chair on his way towards the door. “Lock up when you leave.” The weather was crap, and it probably wasn’t smart to drive in the snow while he was in pre-heat, but Will didn’t know what else to do. He needed to figure this out, he needed to talk to the only person who understood him. He needed to talk to Hannibal.

Another damn good reread.

Quid Pro Quo (Just friends helping friends) by QueerCannibal

Word Count: 4840 Summary: Will Graham isn't exactly going to therapy, and Hannibal Lecter isn't exactly his psychiatrist, which is probably why when their conversations turn to unorthodox topics neither of them are entirely guilty about it. Will Graham is stressed, and Hannibal Lecter--as Will's friend--wants nothing more than to help.

ACE HANNIBAL AND TRANS WILL. We love the representation.

a slick delicate sound by destroyedspectacularly

Word Count: 4345 Summary: Hannibal catches Will with one of his students (Matthew Brown) in his office, and takes the opportunity the stupid boy left behind, and finds out some fun new things about one Will Graham in the process. -- “Were you hoping he’d cross the line on his own? Do all the work for you?” “Well, he’s a good student. I know he’d love to do all the work,” Will shut his eyes in shame before he even finished his sentence, “That—that was inappropriate—should we go? I think we should go—”

I LOVE WHEN THEY FUCK IN WILL'S OFFICE ON HIS DESK.

The Porcelain Fawn by EarthsickWithoutYou

Word Count: 4976 Summary: Will falls asleep while visiting Hannibal one evening, and the good doctor carries his guest to bed, unable to resist watching him sleep. But when Will starts having one of his lusty nightmares, Hannibal can't hold his passionate obsession back any longer...

Oh noooo, not Will have a nightmare that turns into a sex dream that turns into actual sex!

Whiskey for One by CarnivalMirai

Word Count: 5364 Summary: Will is bribed by Beverly into driving her to a college party. When he loses his way to the bathroom, he bumps into the host’s father. And oh, is he beautiful. Or: Will fucks his classmate’s father

BEST FRIEND BEV. This probably would have gotten five stars regardless, but the ending was really the cherry on top.

Home and Dry by mokuyoubi

Word Count: 4329 Summary: Um, so, people on tumblr wanted Hannigram phone sex, dick pics, and Hannibal talking dirty, and this is what happened. Will's stuck in a car with Jack and Alana, and Hannibal starts sending him massively inappropriate texts. Tada!

Fuck me sideways, this was perfect.

You'll Go Blind by mokuyoubi

Word Count: 3650 Summary: Hannibal comes home to find Will masturbating in his bed, and it's time for them to finally follow through on the promise of all the texts they've been sending one another. I guess it could be read as a stand-alone, but it would help to read Home and Dry, first.

THE BUILD UP FROM PART ONE (above) MADE THIS SO GOOD.

howl by multifandom_fic_writer

Word Count: 7386 Summary: Prompt: When omegas go into heat, they go feral. Only an alpha strong enough to subdue them is worthy of being their mate. Will Graham has never found anyone to be worthy. After all, there is only one alpha Will wants to submit to – and he doesn’t even know their name.

This was just stupid hot. Okay. That's all.

Dead Men and Sinners by gleamingwholeanddeadly

Word Count: 4890 Summary: He looks at Hannibal and sees what he sees: himself glowing where he stands, blood-red and divine- a vengeful god of death. Protecting what's his. Hannibal steps toward him, and Will sees what's coming next, too. He drops the knife and catches Hannibal's face in his bloodied hands as he presses in to kiss him. The touch of his lips is searing hot against the blood cooling on Will’s skin, and so are his hands grasping at Will's waist. "Nothing," he whispers, kissing Will again intently before he continues, smearing blood between their mouths, "nothing is so moving as watching you act on your glorious wrath." A trespasser makes the mistake of attempting to blackmail Will and Hannibal, which is the last decision he makes. Hannibal shows Will just how pleased he is by his savage protectiveness. Pure filth written for Bottom Hannibal Day

God why is post murder sex so hot?

an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve by gleamingwholeanddeadly

Word Count: 11540 Summary: n/a

This was fucking gorgeous and beautiful and sad and hopeful and. Wow.

bite down into me by gleamingandwholeanddeadly (something_safe), printersdeadly, printersdevils (tuesdaysgone)

Word Count: 21307 Summary: When Will is diagnosed with encephalitis and has to come cold turkey off his hormonal suppressants, Hannibal does everything within his power to ensure Will's comfort throughout the recovery process. But despite all Hannibal's careful planning, Will is never quite what he expects, and they quickly find themselves entangled in all manner of ways.

FUCK. This was so fucking good.

Keep Me Warm by nbcravenstag

Word Count: 5138 Summary: Will lets out a gasp, which is decidedly the worst thing he could do because Hannibal is on him in a second, pulling him close, tucking him against his chest, and rubbing his hands up and down Will’s body through the mountain of blankets. Will lets him do this, realizing now that Hannibal isn’t here in the present with him, but somewhere colder and less kind where there was blood in the snow and a devastating loss to come. _________________ Will arrives home after walking through a blizzard, fully expecting an angry husband, but instead finds a traumatized little boy, terrified of the cold and haunted by what he's already lost.

This hit all the right emotional notes for me. There's something so sweet about Hannibal being vulnerable with Will, wow. And Will knowing exactly how to react.

The Armor of Patroclus by nbcravenstag

Word Count: 8754 Summary: “You stay with me now, Will.” Hannibal urges, placing him back down so that he can continue compressions. He whispers please with each pump of his hands against Will’s chest and breathes life and love back into Will’s lungs. “You stay with me. You can do that, I know you can.” Hannibal pushes and pushes and begs and goes lightheaded with the lack of air, but he cannot stop because Will still won’t wake up. _________________ Hannibal finds himself on the beach and nearly loses Will along the way.

The angst here was perfect. Utterly perfect. Sometimes you just need some good good angst, you know?

Always In My Mind by swaggnation

Word Count: 19133 Summary: They had, in fact, not died together. And Will was ready to make it everyone’s (Hannibal’s) problem. Or, Three times Will tries to kill himself, and one time Hannibal answers for his sins.

OUCH OUCH OUCH but also this was so sweet and good and mmmmmmmf.

kalos kagathos by zipegs

Word Count: 8176 Summary: Will has always had issues with penetration, but with Hannibal, he discovers he wants to try. Thankfully, Hannibal’s cock is just the right size.

Oh! This had some really great trope inversion and that made it such a nice breath of fresh air.

Elysium by sourweather

Word Count: 2955 Summary: Hannibal finds Will dissociating in the shower. Again. Luckily, he has a creative technique for bringing him back to earth.

I need more showerhead orgasms!! Wish I had Hanni whispering in my ear like he was whispering in Will's. Fuck.

The Law of Meat by gleamingandwholeanddeadly (something_safe), printersdeadly, printersdevils (tuesdaysgone)

Word Count: 85396 Summary: Hannibal wakes alone in a hospital bed, barely able to move, and even less able to accept what Tattlecrime tells him - Will did not survive the fall.

THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL. Chapter 8 was absolutely gorgeous and so well done and so necessary for Will's character development wow.

#gracie reads hannigram #fic recs #hannigram fic recs #hannigram #hannigram recs #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #murder husbands #nbc hannibal #mads mikkelsen #hannigram fic #hugh dancy

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mychlapci · 6 months

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TFA anon here again making a part 2 of the rutting Dinobots and Prowl lol.

While Swoop and Snarl are having their sloppy seconds with Prowl and double fucking his pussy, Grimlock decides to focus on his port (or just his asshole lol but I’ll call it a port). So when Prowl is overwhelmed and overstimulated from two fat spikes demolishing his valve, he gets an additional surprise from when Grimlock pushes the head of his spike into his port. Since it was very tight (and had a bit of prep since all Grimlock did was tongue fuck him a bit) Grimlock could only fit it like almost half way before he had to stop but that was fine because either way Grimlock was enjoying it. For Prowl, it hurt considering the little to no prep, but it worked in his favor since he loved pain when it came to sex.

So now three spikes were pounding into him. One in his port, and the other two in his valve. I like the idea of both Swoop’s and Snarl’s knots popping into his forge and stretching it far beyond what Prowl thought was possible, stretching it so wide Prowl thought his valve would be broken by the time they were done with him.

When all three were completely spent, they slipped out of his valve and began to lick the transfluid out of his widely gaping holes as Prowl came again around their tongues. He barely had any strength left to move. The Dinobots all take him to their nest so they could all curl up against each other and fall sleep. Prowl ends up staying the night there.

Prowl wakes up the next morning panicking because he was supposed to be back yesterday. He firmly tells the Dinobots not to tell anyone what happened yesterday and leaves.

Anyways, after Prowl gets back to the base that morning, everything goes surprisingly smoothly as somehow the other didn’t notice he was gone for such a long time and aside from some grilling on where he had been, they sort of let it slide (maybe they assumed he lost track ‘meditating’ and he will let them think that) and for the first couple of days everything is fine… (sort of. Prowl may or may not have grown an addiction to Dinobot spike)

Prowl tells nobody about his pregnancy and his trips to the Dinobot island remain secret. By this point the Dinobots have accepted Prowl as their mate and are now fiercely protective of him, especially since he is carrying their sparklings. Of course, Prowl cannot hide this secret forever, but for now, he enjoys taking spike after spike to fill his needy forge for his sparklings and the love showered all over him as his new lovers take care of him.

Eventually, his pregnant belly becomes noticeable (not like he could have hidden it from the start. He has a very lithe body after all) and is immediately grilled on who the sire is and how that even happened in the first place.

The whole conversation was awkward and embarrassing. Ratchet just looked so done with everything when Prowl was finished and Optimus looked horrified. Bumblebee calls him “Dino tamer” and Prowl sort of wants to drop dead whenever he calls him that. Bulkhead (surprisingly) just asks him what it was like and Prowl obliges and tells him in more detail than was needed.

When the sparklings are born, the Dinobots + Ratchet are helping him through it and by the end of it, he is cradling four dinobot sparklings in his arms.

(Should I make Bulkhead get fucked by them and they have a fivesome? No clue)

Holy shit dude they’re breaking his little holes. Prowl’s gonna be all Hole by the end of this. Three fat spikes is a lot.

I love the thought that Prowl literally doesn’t tell anyone about his pregnancy and the only reason they even find out is because he starts growing his baby-bump. I mean, at what point does it stop being rude to ask him about it? There was definitely a period of time during which he was walking around with a very clear beginning of a baby-bump and no one said anything because it was too awkward. I mean, Bumblebee probably said something, but not about pregnancy. That would probably be weird.

mhmmm Bulkhead showing interest in what it felt like to be the dinobots' mate, that's juicy. He keeps subtly asking about details, inquiring on how it felt, until Prowl finally agrees to take him to the island and show him… Three rutting, doting dinobots are very difficult to satisfy with one bot alone, after all <3

#valveplug #tfa #pregnancy mention #texty

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centrally-unplanned · 8 months

Text

Something I struggle a bit with a sort of disconnect with the current leaders of "professional-quality anime discourse". We live in the sakuga era, where groups like Sakugabooru & Full Frontal Moe are doing really stellar work on peering behind the curtain at the realities of anime productions. They aim to give you the "animators look" at how it all happens, what people are thinking, what studio conditions are, the works. They command the heights from a respect standpoint in my opinion right now, and sort of "drive" analytical discourse.

But they aren't really what I find interesting. I love and need a ton of their work, but in the end the sakuga era is the animator's era; it centers anime-as-art, the people who create, their techniques, etc. That isn't actually my thing! I care about cultural history & casual history, "otaku studies", and consumers of media always outnumber producers of media a hundred to one. They of course exist symbiotically with each other, but the creators side is only ever going to be a part of that. And its not the load-bearing part of questions around why this or that media product succeeded, what it meant to audiences, how it reflects people's relationship with individual media & wider identity norms, etc.

And ironically I think the "peak" of this discourse in western spaces is coinciding with its decline in relevance in Japanese spaces. This is a whole other topic but in earlier eras the telos of technological progress, its intensity and directionality, created a parallel momentum in cultural identity - "new, better anime" seemed always around the corner and people responded to that via identity formation around the momentum. But now, even though technical improvements occur, from an audience perspective the telos is gone. Audiences would actually get a bit wrapped up in things like the digital revolution back then - now its more like trivia, it doesn't shape as much.

There is of course people out there who touch on the cultural & historical topics, I'm no island or anything. But its very diffuse, and other sections of the discourse space are struggling. Great YouTubers exist but imo overall this is not a great time for AniTube, the intensification & legibility of financial success has not inspired that kind of work. Obviously the blogosphere is bleeding heavily. Academic works have gems in there but media studies as a discipline is shackled with awful theoretical concepts and compositional norms, its like pulling teeth with their output every time. And also are generally interested in western fandoms as befitting western academics (and while I do use Japanese academic papers sometimes, the legibility barrier is...its tough).

Beyond just "feeling alone" its an issue because right now I am quite demotivated on this area; I feel in-between ideas, with any potential project seeming dim in its payoff. The default source of inspiration normally is the works of others! Every time I get politics-burned at some point someone else puts out a really good analysis, or even just a good question. Proposing good questions is underrated, its the fuel that powers research. Not to mention "shit keeps happening", you know? Fukuyama may hold an iron grip on the ruleset still but within his bounds the game keeps on playing, which results in flurries of activity that are inspiring. I really lack that for media discourse stuff right now. I can't remember the last time I read a work that I loved. Liked, yes, sure. But you don't get out of ruts with a like.

80% of this is explained by "I am going through a depression episode" lol don't worry I'm not an idiot. But hey, what is Tumblr for if not to rant...

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dndeceit · 27 days

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Today was my birthday, so I'm going to do a rare thing and treat myself by posting a bit of a teaser for a fic that I've been working on for about a year and a half (at least April of 2023). The story is very close to being finished (I'm on the last chapter!) but it's going to take a lot of editing, so I don't know when it will be ready to start posting it properly on AO3. Overall, the fic will run twenty chapters (about 100k words by the time it's ready to post).

The story is called Salt for Salt. It's a Janus-focused supernatural AU about friendship, family, and finding home (and also sea monsters).

Cover art and the first half of the first chapter can be found below the cut.

(This sneak peek is rated T for mild swearing. The full fic may carry a higher rating due to its horror elements.)

Janus's father had been a con artist and a thief who—in his son's expert opinion—never failed to ruin everything he touched, Janus's life included. When the handling of his father's will revealed that his identity had been built upon forged documents, Janus had watched the life he had worked to build for himself fall disastrously apart. Expelled from university, burdened with debt, and barred from most employment, Janus was left almost aimless in the aftermath, with only the support of his closest friends to keep him afloat. Years later, stuck in a rut and with little left to lose, Janus decided to take a gamble. Following the trail of one of his father's old stories, Janus set out in search of clues about the other side of his family—whoever they turned out to be. That search has led him to the cold, remote island of Inch Murrough. Now it should only be a matter of navigating the social complexities of a small town and the colorful characters that lived there… (Needless to say, drawing the attention of the local sea monsters had not been part of his plan.)

Chapter One: Stars in the Sea

The moon was a narrow sliver, casting just enough light to frost the wispy, fast-moving clouds with a delicate silver glow. Patches of the night sky peered through where their cover was broken, lit with more stars than Janus could ever recall seeing in his life. Yet as beautiful as it was, the sky held nothing to the wonder that stretched out before him. Dark, frigid-looking waters roiled with a fraught energy, tossed by winds that felt only a breath shy of a storm. And somehow, it seemed the sea was on fire. The peak of every wave was capped in a brilliant, pale blue light. Sparks scattered as they crashed and broke against each other, twinkling softly as they dimmed, turning the black waters in front of him into a second field of stars...

It was captivating, and magical, and so alien to his experiences that at first Janus felt sure that he was dreaming. But the wind whipping those waves was strong and cold. It tugged at the fabric of his clothes and stung his cheeks and nose where they had grown damp from the sea spray. The roughness of the wood beneath his bare feet was very real, and his wonder shifted quickly, first into confusion and then alarm-

Because Janus had no idea where he was, nor any idea how he had gotten there.

Pulling back from the sparkling waves, Janus crossed his arms against the cold sea air and tried to take stock of himself and his surroundings. He stood alone at the end of a wooden pier overlooking a modest harbor which, beyond the boats rocking fitfully where they were moored in the rough waters, appeared to be basically empty. It was night time, and it was cold, and he was dressed in nothing but his pajamas. His feet were bare and they were sore—the soles tender and his toes freezing—like he had been walking around barefoot for a while. And it may have been the sudden shock of coming to awareness the way he had, but his blood felt like it was buzzing, like he had just stepped off of a roller-coaster. His throat burned, and he felt lightheaded and shaky-

And Janus supposed if he was going to be wandering around at night barefoot and half-frozen he might as well get sick from it. But seriously, fuck his life.

He didn't have his watch, so he couldn't guess how late it was, and he didn't happen to have his phone in his pajamas pocket because when had he ever been that lucky? The harbor was silent except for the wind and the waves and the sound of the boats at their docks, illuminated where the water lapped at their hulls by the same strange blue light that had held him mesmerized. There was nothing familiar about it, which only meant that it wasn't the same harbor where the ferry had docked when he first arrived at the town of Tam's Landing. On an island the size of Inch Murrough, there would of course be more than one, but at the same time it was hardly large enough that he imagined there could be that many...

There was only so lost one could get on an island with just the single town, right?

He would hope that he was still on Inch Murrough, at the very least, because finding himself elsewhere would make this whole alarming situation a much bigger problem than it already was. The last thing Janus remembered was lying down to sleep in his bed at the boarding house. He had booked his room for the week, assuming it would take him at least that long to find what he had come all this way for. There was supposed to be a resort hotel on the western side of the island, but he had learned that it was unfortunately seasonal and wouldn't be open until the summer. Though it was just as well, truly, given his limited assets. On his voyage out, the ferry captain had offered his recommendation for the bed and breakfast on the north side if he could afford it, or Greene's Boarding House to the south and it's...colorful landlord, if he couldn't.

(As it turned out, people didn't exactly trip over themselves forgiving student loans after you'd been expelled halfway through a degree for enrollment fraud. He was more than used to seeing his choices dwindling before him by this point.)

For better or worse, Janus found himself shaken out of this dreary thread of recollection by a tap on his shoulder. Then another on the top of his head. Sure enough, as he looked out over the strangely-glowing waves, the dark water became speckled with glimmering ripples as the thickening clouds the wind had drawn in from the sea began to release their burden. Janus cursed the weather, cursed his luck, and cursed his father on top of both for good measure because why not. If he wasn't sick already, he definitely would be if he stayed standing out here like a fool.

Questioning how he even got there was something he could worry about once he got himself out of the damned rain.

By the time he escaped the waterfront and reached the shelter of an awning on an adjoining street, the rain had begun to fall in earnest. The flannel of his top was damp and heavy on his shoulders, and was rapidly wicking away what little warmth it had previously allowed him to hold onto. Poorly dressed for it as he was, in the chill of a late autumn night the rain had just shifted his situation from uncomfortable to genuinely dangerous. And whatever the hour, Janus only knew that it was late. Late enough that it was probably early. The streets were that eerie sort of empty, and the clatter of driving raindrops chased every other sound out of existence. He shivered in his sad, isolated little pocket of misery, closed off from the rest of the world by a curtain of hissing rain.

Consequently, he was so caught up in that misery that he missed the approach of someone else arriving to intrude on his pathetic little scene.

A flash of movement and color at the corner of his eye was what finally caught his attention, and Janus looked up to find himself being watched. The man looked like he sat on the early border of his thirties or thereabouts. He had brown hair and brown eyes—currently wide with surprise—that stared back at him from behind a pair of black-framed glasses. Though, perhaps the most pertinent detail—or at least the one most pertinent to Janus—was that the man was far better dressed and equipped for the weather than he was. In particular, Janus found himself looking at the man's green, frog-eyed umbrella with an almost violent amount of envy.

"Oh, gosh," the man stammered suddenly, clearly trying to shake himself from his earlier surprise. "Are you-"

"Freezing," Janus answered through clenched teeth before the other could finish.

He imagined the question was likely meant to end differently. Still, in his mind, his answer was the only truly important one in that moment. His throat pinched on the word, reminding him once again of its soreness. He chose not to elaborate further.

With a surprised blink, the man winced sheepishly.

"Of course! I-" Looking around the empty street, perhaps expecting the rain to offer some solution, he stumbled toward the awning. "How-"

He cut himself off shaking his head.

"Never mind, it doesn't-" he said, mostly to himself, as he held out his umbrella. "Here. I- I'm not sure what we can do about-" His eyes flicked down, taking in Janus's lack of shoes. "But I- I mean- We're not far from where I work. You can wait it out there—or at least get dry."

Janus might have bothered to stutter out a thank you, but he doubted there was much he could meaningfully express through chattering teeth and a tortured throat. Still, as he ducked silently under the offered umbrella he was grateful nonetheless. He was even more grateful that the man, clear questions aside, did not stick around to chitchat once he had.

"It's just down the street."

#diaryndeceit #wip sneak peek #sanders sides #fic meta #writing meta #my fanfiction #janus sanders #patton sanders #sanders sides au #sanders sides fanfic #current wip #salt for salt au

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aphfanficwriters · 28 days

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Monthly Members' Fics — Aug 2024

A Snake With Blue Eyes by Tentaculiferous (America/England, Canada/England, America & Canda) While Arthur is thrilled that the King of Spades has been discovered, the King himself takes less joy in being found. Alfred was happy with his life as a commoner. Maybe he hadn't had fancy clothes or even his own bedroom, but he'd had freedom. He could go where he wanted, do what he wanted, live the kind of life he wanted. Now he's supposed to waste his days sitting on a throne being the Queen's good little boytoy. Fuck that.

Strange Magic by Tentaculiferous (America/Canada/England) With the threat from the Kingdom of Clubs looming, the King, Queen, and Ace of Spades resort to an old magic ritual to save their people. But the price for their kingdom's safety may turn out to be more than Amelia and Matthew are willing to pay. (Or, Amelia, Matthew, and Rose fuck for the good of the kingdom.)

Trick Cards by Tentaculiferous (America/England, Canada/England) After a heated disagreement between King Alfred and Queen Arthur, the queen decides to end things once and for all. But Arthur isn't the only one in the castle with a trick up his sleeve, and he may be the one playing the fool in the end.

Synchronicity by proosh (France/Prussia) Francis' pre-rut rolls around and it triggers something awful and unknown within Gilbert.

The Hidden Spade — Chapter 1: The Princess and the Prologue by Actually_a_horse (America/England) When Alfred finds he has the mark of the Queen of Spades, he knows he will be forced into royalty and the feminine role of Queen—dresses and all. There is no way Alfred can allow himself to be found out, not when his freedom and identity are on the line. The universe seems to have other plans for him, however. Can Alfred keep his secret? Or is fate too strong to allow a Queen to not take her throne? (UKUS, rating may change with future chapters)

acuerdo by southerngothics (South Italy/Spain) It’s still new to him; four months is an eternity for humans, perhaps, but perspective has shortened and condensed time into a coiled thing, folding over on itself until the entire stretch of it is thin as parchment. Four months is the blink of an eye. And the fighting has not stopped since he set foot upon that little island kingdom; he hasn’t had time to truly process it all. That Romano is his now. That they are together. That every morning he will wake up and Romano will be here, and that every night Romano will be asleep in this bed. It still seems like the far-fetched dream Pedro had cooked up in hushed tones, away from the menacing glares of el Papa. Spain is convinced, somehow, that if he blinks, reality will throw its punch and he’ll be back in Palermo, crushed under that damned France’s boot. In 1282, King Peter III of Aragon is crowned King of Sicily.

s'unifier by southerngothics (America/Canada) This does nothing, it seems, to deter Canada. Instead, he only burrows his head into America’s chest and snuggles closer, and it’s almost too nostalgic for him, dragging up memories that are still fresh, haphazardly stitched-up wounds. The colonial days are hemorrhaging within him and for a moment it’s hard to think clearly, sunny days mixing with gunpowder in a disorienting flat circle of history. He wonders if it gets easier or harder as time goes on. In the early 1850s, multiple American annexation movements take root in Canada.

Teach My Heart to Bend Instead of Breaking by Tentaculiferous (Canada/England) Matthew Williams is an unusual student, a diamond shining brightly amid a sea of clods. That’s how Arthur Kirkland, his history professor sees him. Arthur’s only intention in taking Matthew under his wing is to nurture a rare talent, but it’s possible to become too close to a student. Already on thin ice with his wife and the university due to his prickly personality, getting entangled with Matthew might be what finally deals the deathblow to his marriage—and worse, his career.

Felidae by Mossy_man (Russia/Turkey) Ivan gets cat ears and pussy. Sadik gets two cocks. That's it, that's the plot.

(Prussian) Dad Baby by ChibiDashie (Austria, Germany, Prussia, OC) Based on and inspired by the Bluey Episode "Dad Baby" While Prussia was helping clean Mary's bedroom, Mary finds a mysterious object stored in her closet that came from her own mother and father. Even as Prussia demonstrated how this object worked, this gave Mary an idea to play a silly game! Hilarity and shenanigans ensue between Mary and Prussia during this funny game. aka Prussia learns how it feels to be pregnant and suffer

#axis powers hetalia #hetalia world stars #hetalia #aph fanfiction #hws fanfiction #hetalia fanfiction #hetalia writers' association #post: monthly fic round-up #august 2024

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dustedmagazine · 3 months

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Dusted Mid-Year 2024, Part III (The Lists)

Winged Wheel

Dusted’s writers picked two for the mid-year exchange, but any of them could easily reel off a dozen or more other favorites. Find out what else they liked in this collection of lists.

If you haven’t read Part I or Part II yet, check them out.

Christian Carey

Arooj Aftab — Night Reign (Verve)

Richard Baker — The Tyranny of Fun (NMC)

Kyle Bruckman — Of Rivers (New Focus)

Madi Diaz — Weird Feeling (Anti)

Julia Holter — Something in the Room She Moves (Domino)

Hurray for the Riff Raff — The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey — Compassion (ECM)

Kali Malone — All Life Long (Ideologic Organ)

Rosali — Bite Down (Merge)

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion — Rectangles and Circumstance (Nonesuch)

Ches Smith — Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic)

Waxahatchee — Tigers Blood (Anti)

Tim Clarke

DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water (Fantasy)

Loma — How Will I Live Without A Body? (Sub Pop)

Jessica Pratt — Here in the Pitch (City Slang)

Jon Mckiel — Hex (You’ve Changed)

Winged Wheel — Big Hotel (12XU)

Corridor — Mimi (Sub Pop)

English Teacher — This Could Be Texas (Island)

Helado Negro — Phasor (4AD)

Ty Segall — Three Bells (Drag City)

The Smile — Wall of Eyes (XL)

Andrew Forell

Arab Strap — I’m totally fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore 👍 (Rock Action)

Camera Obscura — Look to the East, Look to the West (Merge)

Daryl Groetsch — Above the Shore (self-released)

Drahla — angeltape (Captured Tracks)

Geotic — The Anchorite (Basement’s Basement)

Iceboy Violet, Nueen — You Said You’d Hold my Hand Through the Fire (Hyperdub)

Kim Gordon — The Collective (Matador)

Mick Harvey — Five Ways to Say Goodbye (Mute)

Sandwell District — Where Next? (Point of Departure)

Umbrellas — Fairweather Friend (Slumberland)

Yosa Peit — Gutbuster (Fire)

Reissues:

Brion Gysin — Junk (WEWANTSOUNDS)

These Immortal Souls — Get Lost (Don’t Lie!) Mute

Bryon Hayes

Rosali – Bite Down (Merge)

Winged Wheel – Big Hotel (12xU)

Gastr Del Sol – We Have Dozens of Titles (Drag City)

Beings – There is a Garden (No Quarter)

Ambarchi Berthling Werliin – Dusted II (Drag City)

Sunburned Hand of the Man – Nimbus (Three Lobed)

Water Damage – In E (12xU)

Dun-Dun Band – Pita Parka Pt. 1: Xam Egdub (Ansible Editions)

Gerycz Powers Rolin – Activator (12xU)

Magic Tuber String Band – Needlefall (Thrill Jockey)

Alex Johnson

Rosali — Bite Down (Merge)

RE Seraphin — Fool’s Mate (Take A Turn/Safe Suburban Home)

Uranium Club — Infants Under the Bulb (Static Shock)

The Spatulas — Beehive Mind (Post Present Medium)

Yohei — Echo You Know (Perpetual Doom)

Pardoner — Paranoid in Hell (Convulse)

NYSSA — Shake Me Where I’m Foolish (Six Shooter)

Nowhere Flower — Ruts the Place (Radical Documents)

Sheer Mag — Playing Favorites (Third Man)

Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)

Oren Ambachi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werlin — Ghosted II (Drag City)

Winged Wheel — Big Hotel (12XU)

Jennifer Kelly

Rosali—Bite Down (Merge)

Mdou Moctar—Funeral for Justice (Matador)

Mary Timony—Untame the Tiger (Merge)

Myriam Gendron—Mayday (Thrill Jockey)

Lupa Citto—S-T (12XU)

James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg—All Gist (Paradise of Bachelors)

Rail Band—S-T (Mississippi)

Winged Wheel—Big Hotel (12XU)

Six Organs of Admittance—Time is Glass (Drag City)

Split System—Vol. 2 (Goner)

Ian Mathers

The Body & Dis Fig — Orchards of a Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)

Broadcast — Spell Blanket: Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Warp)

Cassandra Jenkins — My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)

Chelsea Wolfe — She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (Loma Vista)

Jessica Moss — For UNRWA (Self released)

Laura Masotto — The Spirit of Things (7K!)

loscil // lawrence english — Chroma (Self released)

Myriam Gendron — Mayday (Feeding Tube/Thrill Jockey)

Polar Inertia — Environment Control (Northern Electronics)

Whitelands — Night-bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day (Sonic Cathedral)

Jim Marks

Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash — Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols (Sonic Camera)

Mary Halvorson — Cloudward (Nonesuch)

Demian Cabaud — Arbol Adentro (Porta Jazz)

Fabiano do Nascimento and Sam Gendel — The Room (Real World)

Francesco Sensi — In Abstracto (WoW)

James Brandon Lewis Quartet — Transfiguration (Intakt)

James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg — All Gist (Paradise of Bachelors)

Juan Pablo Alcazar — Otro Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps (Porta Jazz)

Michele di Toro, Yuri Goloubev, and Hans Mathisen — Trinomics (Calogola)

Tony Moreno Trio — Ballads Volume 1 (Sunnyside)

Patrick Masterson

Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee (Realistik)

Chief Keef — Almighty So 2 (43B)

Marika Hackman — Big Sigh (Chrysalis)

Water Damage — In E (12XU)

Oneida — Expensive Air (Joyful Noise)

Winged Wheel — Big Hotel (12XU)

Burial — “Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above" (XL)

Gouge Away — Deep Sage (Deathwish Inc.)

Blues Ambush — Blues Ambush (Radical Documents)

Tei Shi — Valerie (self-released)

Armand Hammer — BLK LBL (self-released)

Donato Dozzy — Magda (Spazio Disponibile)

Bill Meyer

أحمد [Ahmed] —Wood Blues (Astral Spirits)

أحمد [Ahmed]—Giant Beauty (Fönstret)

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet—Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)

Itasca—Imitation of War (Paradise of Bachelors)

Lisa Ullen, Heirloom (Fönstret)

Lumpeks—Polonez (Umlaut)

Matthew Shipp Trio, New Directions in Jazz Piano Trio (ESP-Disk’)

Olivia Block—The Mountains Pass (Black Truffle)

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin—Ghosted II (Drag City)

Rafael Toral—Spectral Evolution (Moikai)

The Handover—The Handover (Sublime Frequencies)

Tomeka Reid Quartet—3x3 (Cuneiform)

Jonathan Shaw

Bad Breeding—Contempt (Iron Lung)

Fuera de Sektor—Juegos Prohibidos (La Vida Es un Mus)

Cindy Lee—Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)

SUMAC—The Healer (Thrill Jockey)

Thou—Umbilical (Sacred Bones)

VR Sex—“Hard Copy” (Dais)

#dusted magazine #mid-year 2024 #the iists #christian carey #tim clarke #andrew forell #jennifer kelly #jim marks #ian mathers #bill meyer #patrick masterson #jonathan shaw

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xtruss · 5 months

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Sicily Sold Homes For One Euro. This Is What Happened Next.

For more than a decade, Sicily has been trying to revive its villages by selling Vacant Houses. Writer Lisa Abend heads to the largest Island in the Mediterranean to see how life has changed.

— By Lisa Abend | April 30, 2024

Mussomeli is roughly 60 miles from Palermo. Photo by Julia Nimke

Like any small town that isn’t yours, Sambuca di Sicilia, located about an hour’s drive south of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, feels a little intimidating at first. Stroll its perimeter on a late afternoon in winter, when the sun sets the buildings alight, and eyes follow you. Order the town’s signature minni di virgini—breast-shaped cakes filled with cream, chocolate chips, and squash jam—and a hush silences the chatter in the local bakery. It’s not unfriendly, this exaggerated alertness, but it does make you, the visitor, feel a bit self-conscious.

By the time I walk into a small restaurant that first evening seeking dinner, my self-consciousness has reached an uncomfortable peak. The restaurant’s only other guests, a middle-aged couple, fall quiet as I make my way to a table. After the waiter and I stumble through my order, impeded by his poor English and my worse Italian, I pull out a book to hide my awkwardness while I wait for the food. But when the first course arrives—a heap of ocher-tinted pasta topped with crimson shrimp and shards of pistachios—I am so clearly delighted by the dish that the waiter then decides we are friends. He introduces himself by name, Giovanni, and when two women with their children enter the restaurant, he seats them next to me and introduces them as well. “La famiglia,” he says—his own, and that of the chef, who, stepping out from the kitchen to kiss his wife, also comes over to greet me.

Two hours later, I walk out into the night air, aloft on a wave of bonhomie and sturdy Sicilian wine. Oh yes, I think to myself. I could live here.

I’m not the only person to arrive at that revelation. In fact, I had come to Sicily to investigate a program that has attracted thousands with the same notion. A program that allows people, although they may not have the financial wherewithal to go full-bore Tuscan-villa-with-frescoed-ceilings-and-private-vineyard, to nevertheless live a different version of the dream. A program that promises them a house for a single euro.

About the size of New Hampshire, Sicily has 4.8 million residents. Photos by Julia Nimke

Since the 19th century, large numbers of villagers in the poorer parts of Italy have migrated to more prosperous regions and countries. The migration continues; in some places, populations have shrunk so dramatically that there are no longer enough patients to keep the local doctor in business, or enough children to fill the school. Young people who moved away to study or work didn’t want to return, and when their parents died, the family homes stood empty, sometimes for decades. Around 2010, the village of Salemi in western Sicily was one of the first towns to come up with an idea: What if you could fill them again by offering the properties for sale at a ridiculously low price?

I wasn’t in the market for a house, one euro or otherwise. But I wanted to know if the program worked. Though the rumors I’d heard about driving in Sicily gave me pause—highways that suddenly turn into rutted cow paths; drivers whose chosen passing method involves achieving the closest possible proximity to the fender of the car in front of them—I decided to set out in a rental car through villages in various stages of implementing the initiative. Were once-sepulchral towns reinvigorated by newcomers eager to put down roots? Were the new residents integrating into small-town life, or was an influx of new blood bringing unintended side effects? And did a town that drew enough newcomers lose the qualities that had attracted said newcomers in the first place?

From left: The population of Sambuca di Sicilia has declined because of a low birth rate, but the town gained media attention after The Sopranos actress Lorraine Bracco bought a home there; The Valley of the Temples has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Photos by Julia Nimke

The morning after my dinner in Sambuca di Sicilia, I leave my home base to see my first one-euro house. Before that, I stop in the Valley of the Temples. Located in a national park, the valley preserves the remains of a Greek colony founded in the 6th century B.C.E. on land inhabited by the indigenous Sicani. A couple of millennia later, the original temples to Hercules and Hera survive, but so does evidence of Carthaginian rampage and Roman reconstruction. Those peoples would in time be followed by Vandals from northern Europe and Muslims from Africa, to say nothing of the French and Spanish. Standing there, looking at the gold-colored columns of once-grand temples set against the sparkling sea and flowering almond trees, time seemed to bend. Outsiders, I realize, have been making their homes here for a long time.

They’ve also been leaving. When I arrive in Cammarata, a steep jumble of a village whose mountains are dusted with snow, I can feel an absence. In the winter sunshine, it’s beautiful, but it’s also empty. In the 15 minutes I spend standing in front of a very sleepy-looking town hall, where I’ve arranged to meet architect Martina Giracello, not one person passes by.

The members of StreetTo want to rejuvenate Cammarata. Photo by Julia Nimke

Finally, Giracello arrives, her corkscrew curls bobbing, and explains the silence. “People here wanted to live in larger, more modern apartments,” she says. Many moved to neighboring San Giovanni Gemini, about half a mile away, where the gentler topography allows for larger buildings and better conveniences. Now, Giracello tells me, “the one real estate agency in the area doesn’t even handle houses in the historic center.”

Like other young people from the region, Giracello and her boyfriend, Gianluca, moved away for university and to start their professional careers. But as they approached the end of their 20s, they returned to Cammarata, yearning for a quieter life. They also wanted, however, some kind of cultural scene, and neighbors their own age. “We studied other towns with one-euro programs, saw that for a lot of buyers, once they are there, the house is just a vacation home, and they don’t have a relation to the people there,” she tells me. “We wanted to do something different. We wanted to create a community.”

“As We Slowly Make Our Way Up Cammarata’s Steep Streets, The Silence Gives Way To The Sound Of Hammers And Saws. ‘Hear That?’ Giracello Asks. ‘It’s Working.’”

They banded together with other professionals to form a volunteer association called StreetTo, which convinces the owners of abandoned properties to sell, then helps foreigners find their houses and navigate the inspections, paperwork, and renovations that follow. And, in the hopes of forging community, they also organize exhibitions, concerts, and gatherings for townspeople old and new. Driven by their desire to revive the Cammarata they love, StreetTo’s members offer these services free of charge. (“At the moment, it is a project geared toward foreigners, but what we want is to also bring Cammarata’s citizens back, just as Gianluca and I have come back,” Giracello says.)

It’s not pure altruism, though. Their town gets something in the way of revitalization. As we slowly make our way up Cammarata’s steep streets, the silence gives way to the sound of hammers and saws. “Hear that?” Giracello asks. “It’s working.”

Panting from the climb, we reach the first property, where Giracello introduces me to the reality of what one euro buys you: not much. The home, more vertically challenged shed than house, has what real estate ads might call “significant structural issues” and what I might call “a massive hole in the roof.”

For an extravagance like a ceiling, Giracello says, you’ll need to spend a bit more. We press on to another house. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, she mentions its price—just over $10,000. The tall, narrow home is built, like many older Sicilian dwellings, with a single room per floor, its stairwell is carpeted in debris, and the battered sink and laminate countertops make it look like the kitchen was outfitted sometime around World War II. But the floor is adorned with beautiful geometric tiles, and a view of the valley spills through the windows. “We try to find houses in not really good condition,” Giracello says. “Because the purpose of the project is to help the town get better.”

StreetTo has helped negotiate the sale of 18 houses so far, but contract negotiations and renovations are still in progress, and none of the buyers have been able to move into their homes yet. But Giracello is confident it won’t be long before her village swells with new life. She pulls out her phone to show me a video.

“When a German nurse and her husband bought a place, a local couple were so happy to see new people that they held a dinner for them, and invited us,” she says. “Even though the Germans didn’t speak Italian and the Italians didn’t speak German, now they are all friends.” She pauses. “We are all friends.”

Today a church and monastery, Santa Caterina d’Alessandria was home to nuns from 1311 to 2014. Photo by Julia Nimke

My next stop is Mussomeli, located nearly in the center of the island. Unlike many Sicilian towns, which drape themselves seductively across a ridge, Mussomeli is all about the vertical. On the morning I approach, the craggy volcanic outcroppings that rise from the valley below have trapped pools of mist, making the town appear to be floating on clouds. It feels like entering Middle Earth.

The illusion doesn’t last: With a population of nearly 11,000 people, Mussomeli is large enough to support a Carrefour supermarket and even a mini traffic jam. But as I push on to the town’s core, the fantasy returns. Mussomeli’s heart holds ancient churches, tiny squares where kids play ball, and views from its tangled streets of that mystical valley and a hilltop with the ruins of a 14th-century castle.

Streets so tangled, in fact, that I get lost, and ask for directions in a dark, tiny bakery selling nothing but focaccia. I pay for an oily square, and ask the elderly man behind the counter what he thinks about the foreigners moving to town. “There aren’t so many here now,” he says. “But in summer they buy a lot of focaccia.”

Seems a fair trade. Mussomeli doesn’t cater to tourism, but between its services and charm, more than 200 inexpensive homes have been bought by foreigners in the past few years. Australian Danny McCubbin owns one of them. Ready for a quieter life after 17 years of working in London for the chef Jamie Oliver, McCubbin was recruited by producers late in 2019 for a television show that planned to follow people on their one-euro adventures in Mussomeli. The pandemic intervened and the show was never finished, but McCubbin had found his purpose. By the end of 2020, he had decided to move permanently to Mussomeli and turn his home into a community kitchen to help people with inadequate access to food.

From left: The Good Kitchen rescues surplus food from supermarkets to provide for people in need; Australian Danny McCubbin moved to Mussomeli in 2020. Photos by Julia Nimke

After I make several wrong turns, I find McCubbin, clearing dishes from a long, communal table. He’d just served lunch to local residents and Ukrainian children welcomed by the town after fleeing the war. These days, the Good Kitchen also supplies weekly meals for the elderly and has taught some of Mussomeli’s youth to cook. A clutch of older men use the space as an afternoon hangout, and there’s also a free Sunday afternoon lunch. (The only requirement for those with means is that they bring something to share.) Not long ago, Mussomeli’s mayor told McCubbin that he had planted a seed, and that more in Mussomeli were now thinking about social projects. “My whole way of living is so simple and joyful now,” McCubbin says. “I don’t know where else I could have done this.”

Rubia Andrade Daniels has also adjusted her expectations. One of the earliest buyers in Mussomeli, she fell in love with a vibe that reminds her of the Brazil where she was born and spent her childhood, but that also seems open to the kind of diversity she’s found in California, where she has lived for the past 30 years. “For the first few days, I couldn’t figure out why people here were being so nice to me,” she says with a laugh. “Then I realized they’re like that to everyone.”

Andrade Daniels, who works for a renewable energy company, loved the town so much she purchased three one-euro houses on her first visit in 2019. Four years later, her enthusiasm remains undimmed, but her timetable has shifted: The kitchen in the house where she plans on living part time once she retires wasn’t finished until August 2023, and progress on the other two—an art gallery and a wellness center—has been pushed to an undetermined future, in part due to the pandemic and the delays in its wake. “You can’t have American expectations,” she says. “Here, things take the time they take.”

I Think About That Pace each day when I return to my base in Sambuca di Sicilia. There, too, there’s been such demand for the listed houses that one euro is no longer the final sale cost but rather the opening bid in an auction that could see prices rise into the thousands. Even then, the campaign was so popular that the municipality launched a second round in 2021, with an increase in the starting price—to two euros.

Margherita Licata, who has been summering in Sambuca since childhood and eventually settled here full time about 20 years ago, says that “99 percent” of Sambucans welcome the newcomers. The other 1 percent? “They worry they have been invaded by Americans,” says Licata, who works for a real estate agency in town. “If Sambuca one day has a thousand outsiders living here, of course it will change our lives. But it will maybe mean the young [people] can find a job and not go somewhere else. If we want that change, we must accept other changes too.”

Of course, it’s possible that Sambuca could become transfigured by take-out coffee joints and big-box stores and other supposed comforts that the town’s new residents like. Already, some Americans have complained about the local teenagers who cruise the streets on their motorbikes at night. And imported class divisions are also emerging: Among the more free-spirited DIYers who have purchased homes, rumors circulate that some of the wealthier buyers want to build an exclusive, members-only swimming pool.

From left: Margherita Licata has lived in Sambuca for roughly 20 years; Pasticceria Enrico Pendola is one of few bakeries in the small town. Photos by Julia Nimke

But for now, there’s little evidence of a non-Sicilian presence in Sambuca, and it remains difficult to find anyone who speaks English. What I did find was an archaeology museum where, after I inquired if it was open, a woman rushed out, turned on the lights, and marched me at breakneck speed through the antiquities on display while barking descriptions of them at me in Italian. I also found a market that popped up alongside the traffic circle where the fishmonger told me how to cook the sardines I bought from the back of his van, as well as a café whose arancini made me finally understand why anyone would want to eat fried balls of rice, and where the elderly man who glared at me as I drank my breakfast cappuccino turned out not to be annoyed with the foreigner invading his morning sanctuary, but just waiting for the opportunity to ask me if I knew his cousins in New Jersey.

I’d arrived in Sicily wondering if the one-euro initiative would ruin the towns that adopted it, replacing their traditional culture with more consumerist ones and destroying their lifestyle and easy sociability. And when that turned out not to be the case, I also wondered if it wasn’t simply a matter of time: Perhaps the pandemic had slowed an already slower way of doing business, and the reckoning would still surely come.

But as I sat again in that same restaurant from the first night, it seemed to me that Sicily would be just fine. Maybe the slower pace was not a flaw that would eventually be overcome, but instead a feature that would ensure Sicily remains alluringly and unequivocally itself. After all, I thought, as I remembered the

Valley of the Temples, different peoples have been arriving on these shores for millennia. They may leave an imprint; they may shape the culture. But it’s clear that a distinctively Sicilian spirit still dominates.

From left: Mussomeli is one of the most popular towns in Sicily for one-euro home programs; Sambuca di Sicilia was a prominent trading hub centuries ago. Photos by Julia Nimke

And so, just before my departure from the island, I went to visit Margherita Licata again, but this time for reasons slightly more personal. Because I had seen enough one-euro homes to know that my powers of imagination were no match for their state of decrepitude, we skipped right to a “premium” home. As soon as she pushed open the doors to the arched courtyard, I was entranced. The rooms were rundown and furnished with old-fashioned chandeliers and faded wallpaper. But they were also large and bright, with intact walls and floors covered with gorgeous patterned tiles. Downstairs, there was an attached space that would make a perfect rental apartment. Upstairs, two rooftop terraces offered views of the town center in one direction, and a lake in the other.

“Fifty thousand euros,” Licata told me with a wink. “But that’s just what the owner’s asking.”

The money in my bank account had not magically grown during my time in Sicily. But my imagination must have. Because in that moment, it all seemed possible.

— Lisa Abend is a Journalist based in Madrid and the Author of The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. She is also a Contributing Writer at AFAR and Correspondent for Time magazine.

#Sicily #One Euro Homes 🏠#Vacant Houses 🏠 🏡 🏘️#Largest Island 🏝️ | Mediterranean #Afar.Com

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