#On Being Right – Dialectic Two Step

[mashpotatoe]

im a white jew, i was born in israel,

ive lived there all my life and was brought up in an environment that fosters racism driven by nationalism, nationalism driven by racism.

in israel, they teach you jews and muslims (though usually, they just say arabs) have always been enemies, the same way the US deems the entire middle east as a inherent war zone, ridding them of the responsibility for perpetuating war in thst region.

they tell you "were the fair and humane side who strives for peace! its the arabs who never accept the offer!"

i remember the first time i began doubting that sentiment was in fourth grade, when we were having a discussion in class about the character of Saul from the Torah. the teacher was talking about how Saul, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Israel, used to fight the Philistines, and when she added that the Philistines were the natural enemy of the Israelites, she asked the class what group of people is their modern equivalent to which everyone very eagerly replied "Arabs!" and nevermind that there in that same class sat two arab boys, one of whom sat next to me, who i looked at and thought "but he isnt my enemy? hes just a boy in my class."

they teach you to hate arabs. sometimes they say it outright. sometimes they say it more carefully, or make a distinction between good and bad arabs, those who are with us and those who are against us.

in a state based on the idea of (white) jewish supremacy, they teach you jews are naturally superior. they use the conspiratorial narrative of "jews controlling the world" to their favor, giving their own watered down explanation for why antisemitism exists, saying that it must be driven by jealousy.

the zionist movement always used antisemitism to its advantage, either for reinforcing the notion of jewish supremacy or appealing to the real pain and trauma of generations, people who survived the holocaust, connecting them to stolen land where they are "guaranteed" safety ergo granting "justification" for the suffering of others.

its using peoples real pain that makes fear mongering so effective, and when the israeli population grows up being told all of their neighboring countries want to kill them, they quickly get defensive of the "only land where they can feel safe", but the only explanation ever provided for Why these neighboring countries are considered enemies is because theyre arabs.

and when it comes to palestine, it isnt even recognized as a country, nor identity. just a threat. ive talked to many people who are genuinely unaware of the occupation, and they arent willing to believe it either, because the media narrative has successfully shifted the blame on hamas. because "how could it be us? we want peace! its the terrorists who make us look bad! and their children, they grow up to be antisemites*, might as well get rid of them too!" they never stop to think what environment these children must grow up in to develop these "radical" ideas.

* what they mean by antisemite is really just antizionist, but the term anti/zionist isnt practiced in local dialect, being a zionist is treated as a given

any jew who stands against israels oppression is dubbed a self hating jew, but the biggest contributors to antisemitism is the people in charge of an ethnostate, because at any moment they could decide who is not white enough to be jewish, who is too jewish to be white, who stood against the current coalition government and who is an obedient dog.

israelis arent a monolith, but many of them have been won over, convinced its an "us v them" situation, when in reality it could never be the "us" that "loses"

the israeli government was waiting for an event like the massacre on the seventh of october to declare war, to have the so called "right to defend itself", so they could initiate the final steps of an ethnic genocide and displace, if not kill, all remaining palestinians. under the guise of bringing peace.

it isnt too late to call for a permanent ceasefire, to end the occupation.

please contact your representatives, attend protests and rallies if you are able. palestine will be free, and the flowers will rise again.

[sassycheesecake]

MEET AND GREET DAY 1:

#13, Setter Atsumu Miya of the MSBY Black Jackals

Man’s flirtin' with ya nonstop

The moment you step up to the M&G, it’s like the heavens have send him an angel

Usually Atsumu has a problem with shutting his mouth, but when he saw you, he was lost for words

He calls you lots of nicknames and you’re almost a melting puddle at hearing his Kansai dialect in person

Atsumu keeps giving you this look with his hooded eyes, along with his lazy smirk(YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHICH ONE I MEAN)

Of course, Atsumu’s teammates are used to his flirty nature with some people, they know it’s a show he puts on in front of the world

A cocky, arrogant and overconfident bastard can actually be a funny, loving and protective person in private

They watch with high interest from the sidelines, because the usual confident smartass is actually nervous and gives out an honest smile, not the usual fake ones he uses with the press

But they obviously wouldn’t be teammates if they don’t tease each other once in a while

"Tsum-Tsum it’s been almost 15 minutes since the game, why is your face still so red?" Bokuto’s comment turns Atsumu’s face a couple more shades red and the Setter wishes to sink into the next hole in the ground

ANYWHO

With one unfortunately not too long lasting hug, you say your goodbyes and without your knowing, the sandy-blonde Setter looks longingly after you, like he just said goodbye to his lover

It’s like almost there was a voice inside his head, telling him to run after you

Get a full name, a number, an email, anything he can get so he can contact you

So when the Setter runs after you, ignoring the staff team’s shouts and yelling, he still can see the back of your outfit and he calls after you

Hearing your name being called out in a deep familiar voice, you turn around and find the sandy-blonde Setter halting to a stop right in front of you

Atsumu rambles on about feeling his heart beat faster whenever you speak or look at him and the sandy-blonde has never felt this way before

After a bashful goodbye and an exchange of numbers, the two of you part ways with exciting smiles on your faces

As soon as the blonde twin enters the locker room, he can’t contain his excitement anymore

"Guess who just got himself a number by a gorgeous fan!" 😍😍 Atsumu is so happy he could shout it from the stadium’s rooftops

Despite getting a good chewing out by his captain, coach and PR team, Atsumu doesn’t hesitate to contact you that same night, asking you out on a date ❤️

[slipperzipper]

Heimdall x f!Reader (Smut!)

| Pairing: Heimdall x Reader

| Contents: Massive warning for those who do not like sexual content because this oneshot contains smut smut smut! Sex pollen, Masturbation, Grinding, afab reader, p in v, creampie, rough sex, and orgasms, let me know if I need to add other things to this as well!

| wrds: 3.2k

| Disclaimer!: Massive warning for those who do not like sexual content because this oneshot contains smut smut smut! minor Grammar and Spelling mistakes so apologies, Kind of weird start. also does anyone else still like heimdall? I know its been a year since I initially posted my first oneshot of this asshole. I'm deciding to repost this on tumblr since I know some people still like this man lol

“I’m pretty sure a legless donkey could move faster than you.” 

Heimdall’s voice called out, the two of you had been walking through the wild jungles of Vanaheim. So far, if it had not been for Heimdall’s insults and petty comments, it was going well. The flora constantly grabbing at your ankles and causing you to stumble slightly each time you continued or turned into a new direction, but that was the least of your worries. 

The reason why you were in Vanaheim in the first place was for the All-father, or Odin for short. 

According to Odin, there was a lost relic in Vanaheim that he desired desperately. Apparently so desperately that he forced Heimdall to bring you with him for extra help. Unfortunately you couldn’t exactly say no since you wanted to look good in front of the All-father, accepting the offer with a feigned smile. You were his guest afterall.

“I’d move faster if it wasn’t for your constant insults!” You laughed, you were a couple dozen feet behind him, he just had to lead the way since you were ‘too incompetent’ to do so. Your eyes seemed to be lost in the environment, its natural beauty and color was just a sight to behold.

You were almost jealous of the Vanir that they get to live in such a beautiful realm, but you were soon kicked out of your thoughts as the sound of the golden god yelping hit your ears. That caused you to walk a bit faster, before turning into a jog, then into a sprint in order to find him. You knew he couldn’t be hurt by a person or animal, but plant life? Can’t exactly read a plant’s mind if there’s no mind to read. Even when Heimdall was a dick, you knew Odin wouldn’t exactly be happy if his most loyal son died to some miniscule threat.

But that isn’t what you saw when you found him. There was a small red-pink plant next to him releasing a dusty spore, his arm covering his eyes before backing up and falling on his backside. You grabbed him from under his shoulders and dragged him out, his grumbles consisted of the plant and how he hadn’t needed the help.

“Heimdall! Are you okay?” You asked, your hands propping on your knees as you looked down on him. He groaned at this strange feeling bubbling in his chest. “Yes- yes I am fine.” Heimdall reassured before pushing himself up to stand, trembling slightly but ultimately walking it off.

Why was he acting like this? He was being complacent and hadn’t insulted you yet for asking if he was okay. This was out of character for him, even his tone was out of character, and you hadn’t failed to notice. “Heimdall, are you actually okay?” Your voice asked again right as you walked in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Yes, Of course I am fine.” Heimdall’s voice shook a little, catching you off guard since his dialect indicates that he’s the biggest and best bitch in the world. “Are you sure ?” You ask yet again, he brushed off the comment before continuing. 

“We must find Gulltoppr before we return to Asgard-” Heimdall’s voice trembled worse as he stumbled towards a tree. His hand gripped into the tree's vines as a way to capture himself from completely falling. A strangled grunt rippled through the air and made you stop in your steps towards the god. 

He sank to his knees while he had a full body reaction to the sensations around him. Heimdall was feeling all sorts of sensitive, even when he had moved his hands to catch himself, they were all tingly. 

When he heard your muddled voice call out to him for the umpteenth time, his heart skipped a beat when his brain processed your sweet words. Heimdall! What’s happening to you- Answer me! Your hands grabbed at his tunic and turned him around to see a sight to truly behold:

The Scion of the Aesir was sitting on his knees, in such a seductive and submissive pose that rattled your brain. His usual cockiness was wiped from his face and was instead replaced with bright red blush and with quite the pleading pout settling on his lip. His hands now finding purchase on gripping your clothes, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was grabbing. 

“H-Hey man, can you stand-” How he hated how your voice sounded. How it sounded like it was coated in the sweetest honey in of all the nine realms, he was easily entranced by it. From your point of view he looked hypnotized, absolutely lost in something.

He groaned when he felt the back of your hand touch his forehead, checking if he was possibly burning up from the plant’s spores. You weren’t technically wrong with that assumption because his entire body was emanating warmth, you could easily feel it when you planted your hands on his shoulders after he let out that little noise. 

“(Y/N).. please I-” He cut himself off with a pant and a down turned head tilt. “I need you.” 

He knew he would have some form of regret after this if he were rejected, whether that in your head that he was a little submissive slut or that he was so weak he got caught off guard by a plant of all things. He didn’t exactly appreciate the circumstances that led up to him on his knees. But he would soon know what you thought of this situation anyway. 

He brought his head back up to stare directly into your eyes, his bright purple ones held lust and need with parted lips. Speaking of his lips, they seemed a little bit more plump than what they normally were. You hated the fact that you knew exactly how his lips looked, from the quick snags you got when he wasn’t looking that you didn’t think much of until now. 

Shit! You just remembered he could probably read your thoughts right now. You got your answer when his lips tugged into a small crinkled-eyed smile before bringing you down by the grip he had on your clothes. His arms sliding around you to bring you into a tight hug when his mouth planted itself next to your ear.

“Please- Can I- Please may I have you?” His voice tickled your senses and caused shivers to go down your spine. It was just so desperate that you felt like you couldn’t say no. He moved himself from the side of your head only to look into your eyes again, just to read what little thoughts you had. Hues of colors were all he could see at the moment before the thought of him actually letting him have you in a jungle of all places, it was absolutely strange to you. But the look on your face told a different story. 

You would be a liar if you hadn’t at least one thought about what he looked like under all those layers, and that was all Heimdall needed to know before his hands found themselves hugging your hips instead. 

Forcing your body to grind down onto his newfound bulge. A moan erupted from his lips at the new found sensation adding onto his sensitivity. “Fu-Fuck..” Heimdall cursed while he continued to rub your clothed sex against him. The grip on your hips were harsh and it was like he was clinging for dear life, they were definitely going to bruise tomorrow.

“H-Heimdall!” You whimpered out when he grinded particularly too hard, the noise sounding like a siren calling sailors to shore. It was such a hypnotizing sound that he never wanted to stop hearing. The tingly sensation from the mutual rubbing was ever present in making his dick even harder.

“Heimdall!” You cried out his name once more. This time it actually captured his attention instead of adding to his sexual experience. He stilled his ministrations before retraining his eyes back onto yours, only to find them averted as he so desperately tried to read your thoughts.

“Are you sure of this? In the middle of a jungle..?” You barely whispered, but with his enhanced sense he could hear it as clear as day. He was reminded of his body’s blessing and curse that came from the plant’s spore when his body had moved against you by accident, a pathetic whimper erupted from the Herald of Ragnarok.

 

Your lips tugged into a small smile, you moved yourself against him just to tease him. Your shyness earlier muffled when Heimdall grinded against you once more, his lip quivering slightly as his gruff hands desperately grabbed and released your hips repeatedly. 

“Gah-! (Y/N)!” Heimdall cried out as his eyelids fluttered, his body jerking and his clothed pelvis flushing against yours. Forcing you to grind against him once more. He had panted heavily now, making you realize that he came in his pants. 

Your eyes widened when that piece of information dawned on you, you made the golden god himself come in his pants! You knew Heimdall wasn’t himself right now. He was high off his mind and you just made him come in his pants. Even when he technically consented, it still felt wrong. 

“Heimdall- I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” You started to apologize before a weak hand planted itself on your mouth. “Just- Just stop talking.” The aforementioned god spoke with a harsh tone, you would lie to yourself if you said you didn’t feel a little hurt at his words. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong, you actually did quite the opposite.” His voice hinted. He brought his pelvis back to flush against your sex, you could feel your own wetness against him. You could feel him and how hard he was once more. He was hard again already?! 

“Yes. Yes I am.” Heimdall scoffed when he read your mind before a groan had caught him to keep him in check, how he was the one who was affected rather than you who was just as ruined as him but from natural causes. “You don’t mind helping me out, do you ?” He coyly asked with a head tilt just to further tease you. 

Heimdall had scooted you off of his lap so that he could stand and release the ache in his pants. Unfastening his belt and letting both his kilt and his pants hit the ground.You could only watch with a glimmer of shock, awe, and lust as his belt piles with the other clothes.  His cock was dripped in his own come, standing at attention with an angry red tip. He was also nicely trimmed and looked groomed, showing how well-kept he was. “After all, you did cause this.” Heimdall putting the blame on you was such an absurd claim, yet you couldn’t help but agree.

Heimdall couldn’t help but sigh when he did show himself, he felt so much better after letting his pants drop. But he also wouldn’t lie to himself when he thought about what you looked like underneath all those layers you wear. Coming back to you (who was still on the ground), he had grabbed the waistband of your pants, along with your undergarments, before pushing them to your ankles. Your lower half is on full display without any distractions.

It left him breathless, to actually see you. He soon shoved your upper half joined your legs on the ground, the harsh ground being familiar to you from the times when you sparred with the man. 

His fingers ran themselves through your folds, catching you off guard, causing you to squeak in surprise. You were wet, undeniably so, and Heimdall liked that. Your legs tried to crumple together but Heimdall prevented that with his polished hands 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, You really thought?” He panted out while he scooted close to you, basically hovering over you. You hadn’t really noticed until now but the atmosphere of Vanaheim really made Heimdall’s appearance glow, he was truly handsome. 

He felt particularly nice in his sexual suffering for some odd reason, his fingers feeling your pussy up in ways that you liked. You cried out when he swiped small circles on your clit, holy Hel, the touches were electrifying. It wasn’t long before Heimdall lined himself up with your hole. Giving you one last look, one of pent up lust and desire and need. His cheeks are a bright red color that paired so well with his fuschia eyes. He slipped himself in.

The warm feeling of your cunt caused him to loudly whine. Even when it was just the tip, it was just the most perfect sensation. It was like a drug implemented in his veins and he couldn’t get enough of it. Lifting your legs so that they would be planted on his shoulders as he drew himself closer, helplessly hung there while he drove his cock into you slowly.

You couldn’t help but whimper and grip the ground, the dirt digging into your nails, below as he inched himself in further and further. He eventually bottomed out, his pelvis meeting yours in a lustful stance. He had just sat there, letting you feel used to his size, it was nice of him to do so in this state when you originally thought he would just fuck into your un-prepared cunt.

But that was soon the reality when he brought his hips back and then slammed into your walls again. A howl crawled out of you when Heimdall repeated his action. Then the harsh repetition began. The pain soon washed away as your body started to get used to it. Your velvety colored walls were gripping him like a vice, and he couldn’t be any more happier. His cock fitting into your body like the perfect puzzle piece, as if you were made to be fucked by him.

Heimdall was thankful for that plant now, rather than being annoyed like he was previously, he was now glad that he could fuck your pussy into oblivion.

You couldn’t help the babbling noises of pleasure that escaped and obscured the natural sounds of Vanaheim’s jungles and you absolutely hoped that no one else was strolling nearby. You’d probably die from embarrassment if someone did, but that didn’t seem to matter at all as Heimdall slammed into you. 

He knew he was going to come. He knew you were too based on your thoughts on how you could barely hang on when he kept hitting that part inside you that made you see stars. His nails digging into your skin in small crescents, if he had dug any further he would have definitely drawn blood.

A few more harsh thrusts and you were done, your pussy contracting around his cock as you came. A loud mewl echoed through Vanaheim. Shortly after, you felt his hot load stain your body, a warm feeling spreading from inside.  

Heimdall’s hips jerked while he trudged through, trying to get the most out of his intense orgasm. Pressing himself as deep as he could from this angle, spilling his cum into you. The god was staring into your eyes the whole time, it was like an explosion that entered your mind. It was an array of bright colors that he had the fortune to see. His thighs trembled dangerously as he caressed yours. 

You couldn’t help but be breathless. You haven’t had an orgasm like that since.. You couldn’t even remember. Your thighs shook with intensity even after he fucked you through your orgasm. Heimdall withdrew from your pussy with a disgusting squelching sound and sighed heavenly.   

But that wasn’t it. He wasn’t done and he quickly recovered and developed a boner in the matter of moments even after the previous two, how the Hel was the plant’s spore still taking effect?! 

“One more, please , just one more.”

Heimdall spoke while a hand reached your face, grasping it uncharacteristically gently, and had your cunt gripping at nothing. You nodded wordlessly before being caught off guard by being flipped to your hands and knees, your ass presenting just for the God of Foresight to behold. 

Behold he did, his hands now moving your pussy to see the absolute mess he had made. He could feel his balls aching in preparation of stuffing your slit once more. Your head tilted at its side, somewhat being able to see what was behind you, only to be pushed down with a harsh shove and his dick slamming into your hole. 

A whorish mewl was drawn out. Loving how full you felt, you pressed your ass against his hips. Bottoming out once more before slamming his dick back in. The wet sounds of sex rung through your fucked mind. Your thighs slapped against Heimdall’s, he couldn’t help but enjoy it even more while your plush thighs rippled with each clap. You could barely think now, only processing the big cock inside your now abused cunt sliding back and forth at a pace you couldn’t fathom. You could only drool, rest your head on your hands, and wait to come for the second time. You did, you shook as it took place.

As your orgasm continued, you realized Heimdall was still going. 

You felt your clit get touched and you instinctively hissed, you were feeling just as oversensitive as Heimdall. The only difference being that he was powering through it, you felt like you were about to scream. 

"Just endure. You can give me one more just like you’re giving me mine.” Heimdall reassured, swiping your clit in a softer, less lustrous and more kinder than before hand, and you couldn’t help but let out a choked whine. 

He knew you came again when you convulsed and sunk slowly again. He looked into your eyes again and saw the previous show from before but it was just a bit dimmer and blunt, and he couldn’t help but enjoy it even more.  Heimdall came once more inside, quickly placing you into a mating press, the ground below you dirtying your arms and knees. The hot feeling adding onto the sexual experience. He stilled while his come squirted for the third time this session and he wouldn’t lie if this wasn’t one of the greatest times he’s fucked before.

After waiting some time, He pulled out. Watching the slimy line of his own jizz disconnect from the tunnel of shared seed mixing together, but seeing some of it drip down onto the ground prompted him to slide his fingers inside, shoving it back in farther just for you to savor it. You gave a weak whine at the action, but it's not like you can do anything about it. 

“I’ll call for Gulltoppr, just- stay here.” Heimdall stated, just beforehand he had helped you back into your pants and sat you against the very tree he fell upon. Strands of your hair sprawled from your hairline, he brushed some of said strands past and back into your hair to make it look more presentable. He himself was in his own clothes as he stood

He soon took off to look for his beloved pet, you couldn’t help but notice the stumble he had every few steps.

[realsgwife]

Day One - My first night with Brian

I looked out the window of my hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, the city lights blinking like distant stars. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, none of which should have involved a man with a penchant for married women. But here i was, my finger hovering over the screen of my phone, contemplating his proposition.

"Come on, Sally," he'd texted, "just two more nights. It'll be worth it, I promise."

Brian's messages were persistent, but there was something in his tone that didn't sit right with me. I felt a twinge of guilt, my marriage vows echoing in my mind. Yet, the thrill of the forbidden dance we'd been engaged in for the past few weeks was like a siren's call, tempting me with excitement that had long been missing in my routine life. With a deep breath, I decided to push the boundaries a bit further.

"Alright," I typed back, "Two more nights."

My heart raced as I sent the message. The weight of my decision settled in my chest like a lead balloon, but I couldn't ignore the flutter of excitement in my stomach. I'd always been the responsible one, the reliable wife, the devoted mother, but the thrill of this secret rendezvous had a grip on me that was hard to resist.

The evening arrived, and I found myself dressed in a simple yet alluring dress, a stark contrast to the business attire of the day. I stepped into the hotel lobby and scanned the sea of faces, looking for the one that matched the profile picture from the app. My eyes locked onto Brian, standing tall and confident, his smile hinting at the mischief behind it. He approached me, and I couldn't help but feel a tingle of anticipation. He took my hand and led me to his car, the scent of his cologne intoxicating.

As we drove through the bustling streets of Kuala Lumpur, the aroma of street food filled the air. We arrived at a small, dimly lit restaurant tucked away in a back alley, a place where only locals would know. The warm glow of lights shone through the windows, revealing steam rising from large pots of simmering broth. "This is where I always come for the best pork bone soup in the city," he said with a proud smile.

The moment we stepped inside, the rich, savory scent of the soup enveloped me, and my stomach growled in response. The restaurant was a cozy, intimate space, with the walls adorned with vintage posters and the sound of sizzling woks punctuating the low murmur of conversations. The owner, a friendly chinese man with a knowing smile, greeted Brian like an old friend and led us to a secluded booth.

As we sat down, I noticed the subtle glances from the other male patrons. It dawned on me that I had chosen to forgo a bra that evening, something I rarely did. The fabric of my dress clung to my skin, revealing more than I had intended, and the cool air from the air conditioner made my nipples stand at attention. I felt a rush of heat to my cheeks, but instead of embarrassment, a strange thrill took hold. Their gazes only served to bolster my confidence, a silent acknowledgment of my allure that I hadn't experienced in years.

Brian's ego, on the other hand, was palpable. He ordered for us both in fluent Mandarin, tossing in a few local dialects for good measure. His eyes gleamed as he caught the surprised looks from the waitstaff. It was clear he enjoyed being in control, the center of attention. He leaned back in his seat, his arms stretched out along the back of the booth, his fingers lightly grazing my shoulder.

The booth seat was tight, and my short dress left little to the imagination. I felt the fabric ride up my thighs as I slid in, my skin grazing against the cool leather. His hand hovered dangerously close to my exposed flesh, and every movement sent a jolt of anticipation through me. The warmth of his body radiated next to mine, and I found myself leaning slightly into him, my resolve wavering like a candle in the wind.

As we waited for our meal, the tension between us grew palpable. The air was thick with unspoken desires, and my every breath seemed to echo with the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. The tightness of the booth only served to amplify the intimacy, our legs brushing together with every shifting position.

Suddenly, Brian leaned in, his breath warm against my neck. "Sally," he whispered, his voice a seductive murmur in my ear, "I want you to take off your panties." The audacity of his request sent a shockwave through my body, leaving me momentarily speechless. I swallowed hard, the weight of his words heavy on my mind.

I glanced around the restaurant, the low light playing tricks on my eyes, making it feel as if we were in a secret chamber. The clinking of cutlery and the murmur of conversations around us seemed to fade into the background as my heart thudded louder in my ears. With trembling hands, I slid my panties down my legs, under the table, and handed them to him, our eyes locked in a silent challenge.

He took them with a smirk, tucking them into his pocket. The thrill of the exchange sent a shiver down my spine, and I felt a warm wetness spread between my thighs. Our food arrived, the steaming bowls of pork bone soup placed before us, the rich aroma making my stomach rumble again. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to look away from him, his gaze dark with lust as he took in the sight of me, half-exposed and fully aware of the effect I was having on him.

We ate in a tense silence, the clinking of spoons against porcelain bowls the only sound between us. Every bite was a dance of temptation, my eyes flickering down to the bulge in his pants, then back up to his smoldering gaze. The heat grew, a pressure cooker ready to blow. When we finished, he placed a gentle hand on my bare thigh, his thumb stroking slow circles against my skin. The simple touch sent sparks through me, and I bit my lower lip to keep from gasping out loud.

"Let's get some fresh air," he suggested, his voice a low rumble that sent my pulse racing.

We left the restaurant, the cool night air a welcome reprieve from the oppressive heat of the dining room. He led me to a nearby bar, the neon lights reflecting in the puddles from an earlier downpour. Inside, the atmosphere was electric, the air thick with the scent of beer and the low throb of music. We found a quiet corner and settled into the plush seats. He ordered a couple of cold Tiger beers, the local favorite, and as we sipped on them, the tension grew.

The cold glass felt good against my flushed cheeks, the bubbles tickling my nose as I took a deep swig. The beer was crisp, cutting through the heat of the evening and the even hotter anticipation simmering between us. We talked in hushed tones, our conversation a dance around the subject of what was to come. The alcohol loosened my inhibitions, the sweet, bitter taste coating my tongue and making me bold.

As the beer flowed, so did our conversation, moving from safe topics to the more intimate. He spoke of his fantasies, his desires, and I found myself sharing more than I ever had with my husband. His hand grew bolder, moving from my thigh to trace the outline of my pantyless mound, the fabric of my dress now damp from my arousal. I gasped, my eyes widening, but the thrill was too potent to resist.

Then, with a sly smile, he took a small pouch from his pocket and placed it on the table between us. "Put this on," he whispered, his eyes dark with excitement. I opened the pouch to find a slim, vibrating panty inside, and my cheeks flushed a deeper shade of crimson. The object was sleek and black, a silent declaration of his intentions. He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a seductive murmur, "It's something special for the both of us."

My hands trembled as I slipped the vibrating panty on beneath the table, the cool material caressing my sensitive skin. He took out his phone, his thumbs moving deftly across the screen as he synced the device to the panty. "Just a little something to keep you on your toes," he said, his eyes gleaming with mischief. The first buzz was faint, but as he adjusted the intensity, the vibrations grew stronger, sending a jolt through my core. I couldn't help the small moan that escaped my lips, my eyes locking onto his as I felt a new level of vulnerability wash over me.

The bar's music grew louder, a pulsating beat that seemed to mimic the rhythm between my legs. Every few minutes, the vibrations would change, a surprise that had me squirming in my seat. His control over my body was absolute, and the thrill of it was undeniable. The vibrations grew stronger, and my breath hitched as I struggled to maintain my composure, my knees pressing together in a futile attempt to contain the sensations.

The night grew late, the bar's patrons slowly thinning out. The bartender cast us a knowing smile as he wiped down the counter, and I realized we had become the main attraction. The vibrations grew more intense, and I could feel the heat pooling between my legs. The tension was unbearable, and I knew we couldn't stay much longer.

"Let's go back to my place," he said, his voice thick with lust. I nodded, unable to form words, the promise of release hanging in the air like a sweet fruit ripe for the picking. As we stepped out into the cool, damp night, the vibrations stopped, leaving me panting for more. His grip on my hand was firm, his other hand sliding down to the small of my back, guiding me through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The city was a blur of lights and sounds, my focus solely on the man leading me to his lair.

His apartment was simple, the lighting dim and inviting. He led me to the bedroom, the king-sized bed in the center looking like an oasis in the sea of desire that was threatening to drown me. The vibrations began again, a gentle hum that grew stronger with each step closer to the bed. I could feel the wetness seeping through the fabric of my dress, the anticipation making it almost unbearable.

He pushed me onto the bed, the vibrations reaching a crescendo as his hands began to roam my body. My dress was peeled away, his eyes devouring every inch of my exposed flesh. His mouth found my neck, kissing and nipping at the sensitive skin, making me arch into his touch. His hands slid under the vibrating panty, his fingers tracing the contours of my swollen clit, making me moan in pleasure.

The room spun around me as the vibrations grew stronger, my body writhing under his expert ministrations. He watched me, his eyes hungry, his own arousal clear through his pants. With one final, powerful pulse, the vibrations stopped, leaving me gasping for air. He leaned down, whispering in my ear, "Now, it's my turn to play."

The panties were removed, and his mouth found my sex, his tongue tracing the path his fingers had just been. The sudden sensation of his warm, wet mouth was almost too much to handle after the relentless teasing of the vibrator. I moaned, my hands tangling in his hair as he licked and sucked, bringing me closer to the edge.

My climax built like a storm, my hips bucking against his face as he continued to pleasure me. When it finally hit, it was like lightning, a jagged bolt of pure ecstasy that left me trembling and gasping for air. I had lost my inhibitions, my body no longer my own as I succumbed to the raw, primal need that had been unleashed.

Brian's touch was everywhere, his fingers digging into my flesh as he pulled me closer, his mouth never leaving my sensitive core. The vibrator was forgotten, a distant memory as he worked his magic, his tongue flicking and swirling in a way that had me seeing stars. My legs were trembling, my back arched, as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me.

As I came down from my peak, he stood, his eyes never leaving mine as he began to strip, revealing a body that was toned and sculpted from hours in the gym. The sight of him, so hungry for me, made me feel powerful, a seductress in a world where I was usually the one being seduced. The vibrator was forgotten, a mere toy compared to the man standing before me.

With a wicked smile, he climbed onto the bed, his erection jutting out from his boxers. I reached out, my hand wrapping around his length, feeling the power of his desire. He groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head, and I knew I had him. The vibrations began again, a gentle reminder of the control he had ceded to me.

With newfound confidence, I straddled him, his hardness pressing against my wet folds. The vibrations grew stronger as I sank down onto him, his girth stretching me in a way that was both painful and exhilarating. He filled me completely, his hands gripping my hips as I began to move.

Our rhythm grew faster, the vibrations matching the beat of our passion. The room was a symphony of sighs and moans, the headboard knocking against the wall in a staccato rhythm. The world outside ceased to exist, the only reality the two of us tangled together in a dance as old as time.

As we neared the brink of climax, I could feel the tension coiling tight within him. His eyes were wild, his breath ragged, and I knew he was close. I leaned down, my breasts bouncing with each thrust, and whispered in his ear, "Come for me, Brian."

With a roar, he did, his body shuddering beneath me as he emptied himself. I watched him, a strange mix of satisfaction and disbelief. Who was this woman I had become? The vibrations faded away, leaving only the sound of our heavy breathing and the thundering of our hearts.

We lay there, our limbs entwined, the air thick with the scent of sex and desire. The weight of what we had done settled over me, but it was a burden I was willing to bear for the rush of adrenaline that still coursed through my veins. As we caught our breath, I realized that I was no longer the same person who had arrived in Kuala Lumpur just a few days ago. I had crossed a line, and there was no going back.

The rest of the night was a blur of passion and pleasure, our bodies exploring every inch of each other. We were insatiable, the forbidden nature of our encounter only fueling the fire that burned between us. I had never felt so alive, so alive and so… alive with sin. The guilt was there, a shadow lurking at the edge of my mind, but it was easy to push aside when faced with the intoxicating high of our illicit affair.

As the first light of dawn began to creep through the curtains, we lay in a tangled heap of limbs, our breaths slowing to match the quiet of the city outside. The weight of my actions pressed down on me, but I refused to let it ruin this moment. Instead, I basked in the glow of our shared secret, the thrill of the unknown and the excitement of what was to come in the next two nights.

[asterias-record-shop]

—𓆩[in our next life || EPILOGUE]𓆪—

𓆩[masterlist]𓆪 𓆩[request/ask me something!]𓆪

𓆩♡𓆪 CHARACTER - Finnick Odair x Fem! District 4 Victor! Reader

𓆩♡𓆪 TYPE - fluff, smut, slight angst

𓆩♡𓆪 WORD COUNT - 1.7K

𓆩♡𓆪 SUMMARY - Peeta and Katniss weren’t the first to fall in love after the games. That title went to you and Finnick, your mentor after you were Reaped at the age of fifteen two years after Finnick. After being dragged back into the Games with the Quarter Quell, you both are determined to stop it, no matter what- especially if one of you would gladly sacrifice themselves for the other.

𓆩♡𓆪 STORY WARNINGS - that I know of, there is none! maybe besides cursing(?) but it's pure fluff, just let me know if you think i should add anything!

Ten years later…

This would be the second rope being tied around your wrist, to the same man. Things were different now; the games were over, Finnick built you that house on the river bank, and you had a son this time too.

Your dress was similar to the one you had before, especially because Cinna designed this one too, but this time, it was much smaller than the ballgown you had before. It was still poofy, yes, but this time it was lined with pearls taken from your first dress in strands of gold. Your hair was pulled into your preferred style, a flower crown of white camellias, pearls stranded in your hair as well.

You probably loved this more than your first outfit, a white bouquet in your hands as well. You were going to cry even more this time, you were sure of it. When someone knocks, you turn with a quick confirmation for them to come in, Katniss peeking her head inside. “Someone wants to see you…”

You giggled as your son ran in, gasping loudly. “Momma, you look so pweety!”

You laughed at his childish dialect, smoothing down the front of your dress. “Yeah? You think papa will like it?”

He nods his head vigorously. “Yeah! And if he doesn’t, he’s crazy!”

You giggled, offering your empty hand. “Wanna walk mommy down the aisle?”

He continues to nod, running over. “Momma, I’m glad you’re getting remarried. That bracelet is dirty.”

You laughed, nodding with him. “Is it baby? Well good thing papa’s getting me another one, right?”

“Yeah!”

You named your son Atlas, and for heaven's sake, he came out exactly like Finnick. Golden hair and bright sea blue eyes, a perfect smile and the freckles you loved since you were a child.

He takes your hand, leading you out the room as Katniss follows behind. “You look beautiful, Y/N.”

You smiled back at her, giggling. “Thank you, Katniss.”

You walked out the back door, stepping down the steps of the large wrap around porch Finnick had built himself. The second you stepped into the meadow of different kinds of wildflowers, all of the memories came flooding back.

“Finnick, we’re not supposed to be here!”

You whisper yelled at him as he dragged you to the edge of District 4, laughing.

“So? Come on, we’re almost there!” He pulls you harder, groaning. “Y/N, don’t be a scaredy-cat!”

You groaned. “My mother will kill me.”

He snorts. “Fuck your mother.”

You gasped, slapping his bicep before he sharply tugs you forward, a gasp falling from your lips before you screamed out as you both began rolling down the hill. His hand keeps your face in his neck as he laughs, your arms wrapping around him as his other hand holds your side.

You finally get to the bottom, Finnick laughing like the funniest thing in the world just happened as you sit on his chest, looking down at your grass stained dress. The Reaping would happen in a few days, and your mother had just bought you this dress. She would kill you if you came home like this.

“Finnick, my dress is all dirty!” You whine as he sits up.

“You’re so over dramatic, darling. We can clean it when we get back, look at all the flowers,” he says, smiling as he picks one and puts it behind your ear. “I know they’re your favorite.”

You couldn’t help but giggle as you picked one and tucked it behind his ear. “My favorite wildflower, Finnick. Not my favorite in general.”

He laughed, clearing his throat. “My apologies, your majesty, your favorite wildflower. Is there any way you could possibly forgive me?”

You giggle, humming. “I mean… I guess so,” you say, making him grin before you boop his nose. “But it’s gonna cost you.”

He starts to blush, but hums. “Oh yeah? What?”

You purse your lips, letting out a soft ‘hmph’ as you fix yourself on Finnick’s lap. “Well, if I’m your highness, that means I’m queen, right?”

He purses his lips in response, nodding. “Yes, it does.”

“Well then, you can be my knight. To protect me and stay with me for the rest of my life. Sounds good?”

He smiled widely, nodding. “Sounds good. I’ll be your knight, Y/N?”

You put up your hand, offering your pinky. “Promise?”

He smiled, nodding as he wrapped his pinky around yours before pushing his hand up. “Lock it.”

You do, watching as he kissed your overlapping thumbs before doing the same. “You can’t break it now, Finnick!”

He nods before smirking. “Y’know, we just shared saliva.”

Your brow ruffled. “No we didn’t.”

“You kissed after me,” he teased, chuckling. “That means you got some of my saliva in your mouth.”

You blushed madly, quickly wiping your lips. “Finnick! Don’t say that!”

He laughed as he pressed his face into your neck. “Oh come on! Knights and queens belong together.”

You purse your lips. “No, kings and queens belong together.”

“Knights and queens make better pairs,” he says immediately before humming. “Y/N, I want to do something.”

Your brow ruffled. “Okay?”

He shook his head. “With you. If you don’t like it, you can tell me to stop and I will, I promise, but I’ve been wanting to do it with you for a while.”

You nodded. “Okay, I will. What is it, Finnick?”

He blushed madly, cheeks turning a bright red as he looked away. “C-Can you close your eyes?”

You do, closing them tightly before something soft lands on your lips. You don’t realize it at first, but Finnick was kissing you. Your lifelong crush was kissing you.

You don’t open your eyes until he pulls away, slowly finding his eyes as he swallows. “W-Was that okay?”

You look at him confused. “Did you just kiss me, Finnick?”

He looked away, mumbling under his breath. “Yeah, yeah I did,” he was blushing madly. “I just… I‘ve been wanting to do it for a while and-”

You pressed your lips to his before he could even finish, holding his cheeks before pulling away. It was soft and quick, but that’s all you really needed. You could feel your cheeks heating up as you rub them softly, clearing your throat. “I uhm… you don’t have to ask next time.”

He starts to smile. “So I can kiss you whenever I want?”

You shove him. “Of course not, dummy! We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend!”

His smile falls. “Why not?”

Your brow furrowed. “You… you want to be?”

“Yeah, I do,” he says quickly, fixing the flower over your ear. “I want to love you until the end of time.”

“Forever?” You ask and he nods.

“And when we meet again in our next life.”

You inhaled shakily as you stood at the end of the white carpet rolled out between the chairs of people, only the most significant you truly wanted to come. Finnick stood on the dock, hands ringing together nervously before he saw you. His jaw drops as he stares, Cinna grinning as he stands between him and where you were going to stand.

Mags had sadly died a few months before Atlas was born, peacefully with you and Finnick by her side. Of course you were heartbroken, but you also knew you would meet again in your next life.

The drums started to play as Atlas tugged on your hand making you look down at him.

“Mama, are you okay? Daddy’s crying.”

You look at Finnick who, sure enough, had tears rolling down his cheeks before he wiped at them.

“Yes baby,” you whisper, your own eyes filling with tears. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m amazing, I’m so, so happy.”

“Well, come on!”

You laughed as he tugged you down the aisle, waving at everyone as Haymitch and Effie grin at you. You smiled widely at them, wiping at your cheeks as you finally got to the dock where the drums stopped.

Atlas ran around you both, running to Cinna who sighed loudly.

“And at last, the day has finally come,” he says, announcing it to everyone here. “Where the King and Queen of Panem are getting married again.”

You can feel the rope being wrapped around you both, your hand holding one end as you stare up at Finnick who leaned his forehead against yours. Cinna continues to speak as Finnick takes the other end, Katniss and Peeta stepping forward to do the same thing they did the first time, but this time, they cut off the previous rope from your wrists before melting the second one around again.

“I have a gift for you both,” Cinna says as the rope stays wrapped around you both, slowly taking a box from his pocket before opening it. “To add onto your rings.”

You gasped as he took out two more rings, one a thinner band with a pearl on it made for Finnick while the other was a vine-shaped gold with a pearl on it as well. He slips them both onto your fingers as you look up at Finnick, eyes watering as he sighed. “I fucking love you, Y/N Odair. I love you so much.”

You giggled, stroking his cheek. “I love you, Finnick Odair. Until the end of time, and in our next life.”

He sighs, pressing a soft kiss to your lips. “Until the end of time and in our next life, darling.”

“Give her a real kiss, Finnick!” Effie shouts, Atlas groaning in disgust as Finnick pulls his hand from the rope, both of his strong palms resting on your jaw as he pulls you closer, kissing you passionately.

You could taste the slight saltiness from the tears, but you groaned against his lips as you pulled him closer, lower. Everyone cheers as Atlas groans once again.

“Stop being nasty!”

You giggle as you pull away, smiling up at him again. “I love you too, Finnick Odair. Until the end of time, and when we meet in our next life.”

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In our next life taglist: 𓆩[@poppet05]𓆪   𓆩[@ennycutie]𓆪   𓆩[@jewelrybean25]𓆪   𓆩[@arzua10]𓆪   𓆩[@savagemickey03]𓆪   𓆩[@ok-boke]𓆪   𓆩[@instabull]𓆪   𓆩[@maxinehufflepuffprincess]𓆪   𓆩[@starryeddie]𓆪   𓆩[@ashlynhasmanyhyperfixations]𓆪   𓆩[@taestrwbrry]𓆪   𓆩[@iveraly]𓆪   𓆩[@b1llzb1tch]𓆪   𓆩[@avoxrising]𓆪   𓆩[@aquawhore]𓆪   𓆩[@luna-ann]𓆪   𓆩[@maliaaaa]𓆪   𓆩[@jyessaminereads]𓆪   𓆩[@hellowhatthehellisgoingonhere]𓆪   𓆩[@crowleysqueenofhell]𓆪   𓆩[@alexa-33]𓆪   𓆩[@wh0re4life]𓆪 𓆩[@duwcsd]𓆪   𓆩[@nyainterlu4ee]𓆪 𓆩[@magical-spit]𓆪

omg. OMG. THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT! OMG!

This is the last chapter, omg. With a heavy heart, this is (kinda) the end! I will start taking requests for Finnick in this universe, the link to request is in at the top! Don't be shy my loves!

© asterias-record-shop

[puckingeccedentesiast]

Hospital - 2

Nova Crosby -

10:17 pm

Luke paced the hall outside the emergency room, the silence in the bustling hospital, unnerving. The only sounds emanating throughout the hall was his heavy footsteps and frantic breathing, erratic like his heart. Anyone passing by would be highly concerned, a young man in a distressed state however clamer then staring at Nova's emotionless face as she stayed in a half conscious state of mind.

He had received a message from Sidney saying he was boarding the plane roughly twenty minutes ago, there hadn't been much update from the doctors on Nova's state as they were currently trying to figure out what's wrong and what the best course of treatment would be.

Luke was roughly on his thirtieth lap down the hall when a door crashes open and a nurse is navy scrubs peered out, when she spotted his pacing figure she moved towards him, calling out gently.

"Are you here for Nova Crosby?" she spoke quietly, hands clasping in front of her. The nurse stood like a pylon in the storm of Luke's emotions as he whipped around and practically sprinted to her, after hearing nothing for the first forty minutes of being in the hospital Luke was becoming understandably desperate.

Anticipating the barrage of questions the nurse tenderly grasped his arm and led him to a small cluster of seats adoring the side of the hall, non-verbally asking him to take a seat. News about any loved on becoming injured and hospitalised is always hard to deal with. Luke tried and failed to form words but no words from any of the 7,000 dialects of the world would accurately depict his feelings.

"Take you're time son." she murmured grazing her hand feather-lightly over the fabric of his hoodie. Luke choked out a wet, unintelligible sound before taking another few gasping breaths desperately trying to tame his mind but it felt akin to herding cats.

"H-how is she." he formed eventually, lips feeling swollen around the words. His brain was still struggling to even comprehend the fact that this situation was real, that Nova was in the emergency department with critical injuries and all he could do is watch and wait for his Nova to come back to him.

"She's going to alright.. eventually." the nurse stated, "I'm not going to sugar coat it. She has a long road ahead of her and will need lots of support but right now they are preparing for surgery to place some disk in her back to counteract the vertebrate discs from deflating."

Luke took a deep breath, "Something tells me that won't be it."

The nurse sighed, the smile lines on her face showing the many happy moments and information she would have shared but now it only sported a frown, "She has a minor concussion, however that is the least of your worries, she also has a fractured sternum but there is little we can do about that." She let out a long sigh, "We will need to keep her under monitoring though at risk of a collapsed lung."

Luke picked at the skin around his finger, taking a deep breath. "That's a lot."

The nurse smiled softly, "It could however be much, much worse too hon." she watched as Luke contemplated this notion, grappling once again with his mind before he nodded reluctantly.

"I think you should take a walk, hon. Go down to the cafe on level two, they do a wonderful banana bread." the nurse smiled gently, standing up and guiding Luke with her.

"I will, you have my phone number, her father's too but he is on a plane here currently so please, call me if anything changes." Luke begged, eyes wide and voice shaky.

"I will hon, I will personally make sure." She smiled gently, "Now go eat! Banana bread remember!"

Luke nodded to her grateful for the support in this treacherous time, as the doors to the elevator opened and he stepped in his phone buzzed.

Sidney - 11:02 I've landed, what's new? I'll be there in half an hour.

[enigmatist17]

Part 1 2

---

Prowl, Bluestreak, and Perceptor were brought to the N.E.S.T headquarters after a relatively short journey, most of the Autobots who weren't out on patrol or other duties clustered on the tarmac in excitement. It had been a while since new arrivals had landed on the planet, and when transport landed on the island they called home, the anticipation was almost overwhelming. Optimus was the first to depart with Ratchet right behind him, the noise of the excited crowd dying out when Optimus held up his servos.

"Autobots, our fellow human allies, it is my pleasure to welcome three of our fellow Autobots to their new home." The Prime looked back with a soft smile, stepping aside with Ratchet to reveal the first unfamiliar bot to descend the ramp, a slightly taller bot trailing behind with a curious look on their face. "Bluestreak, Perceptor, I welcome you to our N.E.S.T headquarters, a place where we work with our human allies to protect Earth."

"It's nice to meet you all!" The shorter bot waved with an odd New York inspired accent, eyeing the various humans with wide optics. "Wow, they're all as small as the Major is!"

"You get used to it, Bluestreak." Ratchet chuckled as Perceptor eyed the organics with curiosity, but otherwise remained silent as he glanced back into the strange aircraft they'd arrived in.

"Where's Prowl?" Bluestreak started when a taller red bot with dark blue accents stepped forward from the crowd, the Datsun he'd scanned a slightly different model than Bluestreak's.

"Smokescreen?!" The shorter bot clicked in confusion as he watched the other bot approach, reaching out with trembling servos when Smokescreen was within reach, doorwings sagging the moment he made contact. "By Primus..."

"Good to see you, little brother." The two clasped arms for a moment, before Bluestreak whistled and motioned inside the aircraft, watching Smokescreen head inside with a shake of his helm before hurrying after his brother.

"I advise we leave to give them space; privacy is something neither of us has been afforded along our journey here." Perceptor vented quietly as he hesitated at the bottom of the ramp, only to shake his helm.

"Perceptor is right, there'll be plenty of time for introductions later." Ironhide grumbled as he finally emerged, Will perched on his shoulder as he joined the small group. "C'mon, Will could use some coffee anyway."

"Damn right I can." The major rolled his eyes as the crowd dispersed, some leaving for patrols and others joining the bots who had crowded around Perceptor, eager to meet a new Cybertronian. No one saw the duo Datsuns for a long while, Perceptor bringing the three Praxians some energon when Optimus had nudged him to do so breems later, trekking up and into the massive plane as quietly as he could. The three sat huddled in a far corner, Prowl being held between his brothers as they quietly spoke in their Praxian dialect, Bluestreak looking up when the scientist stopped a few feet away.

"I have energon." The youngest of the trio eyed the crate he was carrying with interest, but remained still when Prowl looked up, giving Perceptor a nod.

"Join us, please." Perceptor elected to sit across from the group, making sure everyone had their rations before tasting his, and the pure taste nearly sent him into stasis. It had been a long time since they had not had to subsist off crudely mined energon, and once more, he was pleased they had decided to join Optimus and his cause yet again, both for safety as much as companionship.

"Optimus chose this planet well, these human allies have done much to try and make their home ours." Prowl listened to the other silently, knowing he'd been burning with questions. "There are many faces you'll know, and many others stationed around this planet who will be arriving soon to greet us. Many of the humans are intrigued at your arrival, you have already attained a legendary status due to stories from the others, notably by Sideswipe."

"Intriguing." If they were all like the major that Prowl had spoken with, he doubted there would be many issues with him taking on his former command position. Something in his spark twists at the unspoken gap he couldn't bear to think of, and Smokescreen gently nuzzled his doorwing at the shift in his EMF field.

"When you're ready, he is here." The silence could have defeaned the entire planet at Smokescreen's words, Prowl's grip on his rations tightening to the point the metal creaked until Bluestreak gently pulled it away, chirping to the other in a soft tone. The four sat together until the eldest Praxian finally felt stable enough to leave, looking sorely out of place at being the only one to remain in his root Cybertronian form. A few humans who appeared to be heading off for the night paused at the sight, waving their arms in greeting as Smokescreen did the same in return, pausing to speak with them.

"Hey fellas, do you know which hangar everyone is in?" A human with some sort of device on their face nodded, pointing to a far building.

"Most of 'em are down in B hangar, I think Optimus headed out with Bumblebee already with Sam."

"Thanks for the info, I'll catch up with you later." The humans all waved or nodded as they resumed their journey, and the new arrivals dutifully followed the other bot to the building, able to hear some conversations as they got close enough. They're in a mixture of Cybertronian and human, terms that the three were unfamiliar with, blending almost effortlessly with terms they'd all grown up with, and despite still being in a war, many of the Autobots are the most relaxed the newcomers had ever seen.

"Prowl, it's good to see you!" All optics turned to look at the second-in-command as Wheeljack greeted him with a slight bow, before clasping Prowl's arm with a flash of his audial fins. "You've been missed!"

"What he really means is he wants to ditch his paperwork." Ratchet chuckled from his spot in a corner, nodding his helm.

"I suspected as such." The Praxian's doorwings twitched in amusement, releasing the other bots arm and turning his attention to the silver Stingray in the corner. "I heard you spoke to the humans about me."

"Someone had ta warn them." The gladiator smirked, wheeling over to the officer with a hum. "If it helps, I went ahead and picked out an alt for you to scan."

"Bribery already? You've gotten too lax." The affronted look on Sideswipe's face earned more than a few laughs from the crowd, but it served its purpose when a ghost of a smirk crossed Prowl's face for a moment.

"You'll know when it's going to be bribery." The shorter bot rolled his optics, crossing his arms. "I have a reputation to uphold, after all."

"Indeed."

Prowl spent the next breem catching up with the Autobots that surrounded him, having spent so long searching for those under his command he had almost lost hope. It was no Cybertron, nothing would ever compare to home, but all the bots clustered in this large human building could make him forget for a moment. No one noticed him slip away in all of the friendly chaos, doorwings quivering as he took in the latent sensory information from his surroundings once he was out and into the evening air. The moon cast a faint glow on his bare alt as Prowl began to head toward a building not far from the current hangar he'd been in, the painted on black slash across the door a familiar sight over the endless millennia he'd been fighting this war. A pair of soldiers were standing guard outside, and despite likely not knowing who he was, one opened the doors for him while the other stood aside, revealing a room that held an examination berth in its center, occupied by a lone figure.

Jazz

"Oh Jazz..." Clawed servos gently rest on the dead saboteur's pedes, the metal grey and far too cold. Prowl couldn't remember a time when they weren't moving, Jazz always tapping to a beat no one else could hear or dancing with a grace Prowl had always been fascinated by. Ratchet had repaired most of the damage as the Praxian carefully moved to the side of the berth, the welding that crossed the entirety of Jazz's midsection nearly making him purge, his processor supplying an image he didn't want to see. He knew Jazz had gone how he always would have, fighting and clawing until his spark was snuffed out, but it still hurt. They had dreamed of a life after the War, a life where they could find a rhythm to dance to across the stars, two stars always orbiting across time and space.

"Oh Jazz...my vibrant Spark...I'm sorry." Prowl gently ran a claw across the visor that showed as much emotion as it had always hidden, leaning down to kiss the top of his helm. The two humans standing guard outside nearly jumped when they heard a low thrumming noise from inside, sharing a look when it became clear that Prowl was singing. It was a song full of sorrow and longing, the trills and clicks slicing through the air like cries of pain, reducing a lot of nearby humans to tears despite not fully understanding why.

Prowl is so wrapped up in his song of mourning, he does not see the sliver of metal he picked up slip out from his subspace. It hovers in the air for a moment before suddenly rocketing toward the berth, landing right where Jazz's spark had once been.

Prowl doesn't get a chance to react before the room is engulfed with light.

[that-ari-blogger]

Don't Die for Love. Live for it. (Out For Love)

There are a ton of similar phrases and words in our languages.

This is not a hot take. The concept of a synonym is far from mine to discover, but I want to dwell on the specifics. There is a reason we have multiple words and phrases, the subtle differences in meaning and tone are suited for different situations.

“Crimson” and “red” differ in specificity, and “sanguine” has other connotations that change the vibe slightly.

Again, this is pretty basic stuff, but I would like to use it as a jumping off point because of one specific nuance.

There is a pretty majour distinction between “I would die for you,” and “I would live for you”.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Hazbin Hotel)

Ok. First up, a little thing. This song uses an ABAB rhyming scheme with two exceptions that I will get to in a moment.

“I see you're driven by your detestation

Your every step is stoked with animus

You need a different type of motivation

Or there's no way that you can handle this”

Rhythms and rhymes serve a very similar purpose in poetry and song. They guide you through the story and set the pace and feeling.

Like a key in a song. Everything in the song fits a few notes that provide grounding. When the key shifts, so does the mood. Likewise, when the rhyming scheme changes, the mood follows.

I am fascinated by the simplicity of this song's staging. Episode seven is by far the most traditional of a musical as Hazbin Hotel gets, with the crowd work call to arms of Ready For This, and the mentour duet dance of Out For Love, and the simple staging calls back to that.

Animus is a weird word, right? As in, who besides me and my horribly scuffed dialect has ever used this in common conversation?

In terms of definition, the word has three (technically four, but I don’t want to talk about Jungian Psychology) meanings; Hostility or ill feeling, motivation to do something, and the rational mind.

These are vaguely similar ideas, but not entirely, but we can use context clues to pick up on which meaning Carmilla is inferring.

Most obviously, she told us a line earlier. Driven by detestation. So “animus” in this context means hostility. But there is an argument to be made for motivation.

There is an absence of specificity in the line preceding. Detestation for what? For angels? For Vaggie herself? Is animus in this context Vaggie’s desire to get herself killed?

The tone is different from a typical pep talk, isn't it? Hazbin Hotel is a satire, and here we get a twist on the mentour. Usually, the third act breakdown consists of all your friends telling you that everything is fine actually and being reassuring. We will see how Ready For This shakes up that, but here it is played remarkably straight. With one exception: If you wanted sympathy, you came to the wrong place.

This also fits really well with the detestation idea, but it doesn’t exclude the self-destruction angle, it just reframes it. Because we know Vaggie is “out for blood”, so any blaze of glory motivation needs to exist in concert with that.

“I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Vaggie

You're out for blood

But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love”

I refer to Whatever It Takes, in which Vaggie assigned herself as Charlie’s armour, dehumanizing herself for someone else’s dream. Charlie didn’t ask Vaggie to do this, and I don’t think Charlie knows that this is how Vaggie feels. But, Vaggie is willing to throw her life away for someone else. Vaggie is willing to die for Charlie.

But is she willing to live for her?

Which brings up an interesting question: What is this song talking about? It’s title, chorus, and bridge all spout the phrase “out for love” like it means something, and what exactly is that?

“Out for love, love

Think of who you care about, protect 'em and be

Out for love, love

You're gonna fight without gloves

And when that push comes to shove

Yeah, you just might rise above, long as you're out for love”

Clearly, it is something to do with using love as motivation, but Vaggie has already been acting out of love. Is this just a cookie cutter proverb?

I would argue that it relates to my core thesis. i.e. Vaggie’s relationship with her own life and what love means.

Vaggie is a soldier first and foremost. She is someone who has been told day after day that her life means nothing. She is to give herself to the cause. Even though she can’t be killed, her role is to give her life for someone else’s war. She is a tool.

She was even made to wear a mask just to make sure nobody could mistake her for a person with free will and decision-making skills. It was the crime of removing that mask that got her into hell. The crime of being a person.

Even when she leaves that toxic environment and starts life with Charlie, that mindset sticks. It’s not conscious, but it’s how she has been taught to see the world. Do you ever examine the way in which you walk?

Dying for someone is quick. It is a single decision. Living for someone takes time and dedication.

Living for someone is protecting them time and time again. It means being there for them and getting them out of the way of a bullet rather than stepping between it. Living for someone is self-sacrificial, sure, but not self-destructive. That is an important distinction.

It is not toxic to love and be loved in return. It is toxic to be required to love and to receive nothing. It is toxic to be told to die for a cause.

Vaggie doesn’t know the difference, so she assumes all affection works the way it did in heaven.

The Crane Wives are the unrivalled queens of metaphor and complex emotions. Am I biased in this declaration? No. No I am not. Definitely not biased. What are you talking about? No biases here.

Specifically, their song Nobody works in a really similar way to Out For Love.

It has a similar rhyming scheme. ABAB, with the chorus falling into a couplet that ends each phrase by repeating a single idea.

But this song is about a toxic relationship that the perspective character is unable to leave for one significant reason.

Throughout the song, you listen as the protagonist tries to reconcile the disparate parts of her lover.

“Tender as a bruise, sharper than a razor.”

She is begging with her subconscious to let her out, but love is a fickle thing and can be corrupted into a carrot or a stick.

“Nobody ever loved me like she tells me she does”

Tell don’t show. There is no actual love in this song, it is just the idea of it. Ostensibly, there is no difference, but there is a difference in phrasing, and a difference in tone. We know it is fake, but the protagonist doesn’t know any better.

The song breaks all rhyming and rhythmic conventions that it has established for one brutal moment to make this abundantly clear before it lapses into defeat in the final chorus. When everything changes, your mind is reset and you remember the different part more clearly. It’s like a key change.

Vaggie doesn’t know better. Dying for someone is better than nothing, right? That’s love, what doesn’t hurt a little bit?

“I should be counting blessings

Something is better than nothing

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it?

It's close enough to perfect

What does it hurt, a little bit?

A little bit?

A little bit?”

Hazbin Hotel is tragically short. It needed at least two more episodes to get where it wanted to go, so it found loopholes. It implied a lot of its story, and while that didn’t work for everything, there are some elements, like Vaggie’s story, that I found really compelling.

I mentioned that Out For Love is structured similarly to Nobody, and that continues here. Before the final chorus, Carmilla keeps her rhyme scheme going, but messes with the pace of the song entirely.

Fear of losing. Don’t die, essentially. If you live for someone, you are a better fighter and a better warrior. If you have something to live for, then you have a win condition, you have something to achieve. If you are just trying to get killed, then you lose either way.

“Fuel yourself with the fear of losin'

That somebody who's your reason to live

Harness your heart, and you can't help choosin'

To fight with all you can give.”

The song emphasises it’s point to get you to remember it, and then, after all that, we get the key change.

For the majority of its runtime, Out For Love has sat comfortably in C majour. But for the final chorus, it rises in pitch and settles into D flat majour, which carries a sense of victory to it as Vaggie finally gets the message.

She needs to live for love, only then can she truly be someone’s guardian angel.

Final Thoughts

I don’t like that Vaggie got her wings back at the end of this song.

I will defend this song from any hater you throw at me. If you tell me it sounds bad, I will disagree with zeal. If you tell me it’s redundant in the narrative, I refer you to the 1400 words that I have written to the contrary. But I cannot defend the wings thing.

It’s a shame, because I really like this song and think it is unfairly maligned in the Hazbin fandom. But I think its final moments ruin it. I think having Vaggie as visually distinct from the angels in silhouette, keeping her ribbons in the place of the wings, would have made the rest of the series so much more visually interesting, and the fact she got her wings back takes the teeth out of her fall for me as a story beat.

Next week, I will be covering Ready For This, and the extras that teach Charlie about redemption. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2025

As I said in my last post, I'm slowly getting better at figuring out how to set goals which both push me out of my comfort zone and which actually orient me towards what I'm trying to do. This year my main goal is to just remember how to be a learner again; I feel like recently I've gotten a little too in-my-head about how I need to be perfect before I speak, and actually this tends to be a problem I have in general - I won't talk to people unless I feel like I can talk perfectly, but that's not how you learn. I'm also trying to get better at setting reasonable timelines for what it takes to get to a particular level of language, which I have a better feel for at this point, and taking into account how much time I'm spending on the language every day (it shouldn't feel overwhelming if it's supposed to be a brief warmup). With these in mind, here are my goals for the year:

CATALAN

This year, I really want to speak Catalan with more people. That's the bottom line. I'm at a level where I need to be doing language immersion, and that means not being shy about not knowing how to say things or starting off the conversation wrong or any number of things (this historically has been less of a problem for Catalan with me, but for some reason I was absolutely taken out last summer and essentially went partially mute from social anxiety, so we're going to find out what was up with that and try to coax me away from it). I also want to learn to speak the Valencian dialect of Catalan better, and hopefully I'll get the chance to do that!

I'm planning to continue my reading challenge as well, but I'm going to make a separate post about that.

BASQUE

I want to improve my Basque vocabulary, and also my listening comprehension skills. I want to finish Eskamak kentzen and also watch/listen to more things in Basque. I think I just need a whole bunch of audio input - I know a lot of the words, but it's still very hard for me to parse them in speech. In order to improve my vocabulary, I want to do a quick vocab review every day when I get to the library, before I start my work. That way, I'll have a constant, easy, long-term exposure to a wider variety of words, and hopefully after a few months I'll start remembering some!

WELSH

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with Welsh this year - I feel a bit directionless with it, so I might put it on pause until it feels like the right time to take it up again. But I'd also like to get more listening and vocabulary practice - I can understand large portions song lyrics without looking them up, which is a huge step forward for me. If watching Rownd a Rownd seems like the vibe, I might try to take that up again. We'll see, this one is more open.

MALAYALAM

Mostly, my goal with Malayalam is just to keep taking class, but also I'd really like to get over my fear of speaking. I struggle to pronounce a lot of the letters, and I don't know a lot of words, but if I work on these, I think I'd feel more confident. (I do also just need to feel okay with looking like a fool, though.) By the end of the year, I hope I'm able to have conversations in class or with my family without wavering too much, even if I forget something or mess up the pronunciation.

OTHER LANGUAGES

One main thing I want to work on is learning how to learn a small amount of a language but still being able to use it with people. There are a few different languages which I've wanted to learn for a while but haven't had the time - I'm hoping that maybe I can work up the courage to learn a few phrases, talk to someone, and perhaps learn a thing or two. This is very open-ended, but it's more a challenge for me to expand my comfort zone.

Aaaand that's a wrap! Here's to 2025 being a good year for languages, at least!

[asanjou]

as follows: an excessive number of words on a topic i have frequently described as "pointless bullshit"

unfortunately i have the dialectics temperament and i ♥️ arbitrary categorisation so i have a lot of thoughts

i do like a pointless fandom argument it must be said. well argument is the wrong word for it i think because i think if you're getting genuinely heated about who kabutos tertiary is you gotta take a step back. but wrt secondaries/tertiaries it's interesting because what that is is a beloved fandom pastime of sorting things into boxes applied to a framework that doesn't really exist consistently throughout the franchise

cut because i rambled on this more than i thought i would

i like reading those threads because it's kind of fascinating to see how people interpret what "secondary" and "tertiary" mean & how they try to apply that when the setup isn't "two main guys, one marginally less relevant guy, and everyone else" because there's a lot of different approaches. i think on here most people will apply the logic secondary = second most plot relevant character with a rider form tertiary = third most plot relevant character with a rider form but there's also the logic secondary = guys who shows up second tertiary = guy who shows up third

which is where the kabuto argument arises because even though thebee is the third rider form to show up, like five different people use it and then it disappears. compared to sasword where he's like the fourth or fifth rider to debut but tsurugi is undoubtedly the third most plot relevant rider character (or gets the third most screentime at least)

continuing with kabuto this is where the second logic starts to wobble because you'll consistently see the argument that kagami isn't the secondary of kabuto because gattack doesn't debut until episode 20. that's where we get into the plot importance argument because no one is arguing he isn't the deuteragonist (well they are, they're arguing he's the protagonist but you understand this isn't relevant to what im talking about right now)

here's where blade and geats come in because these are the big two of slap fighting over the secondary title. in blade, garren appears before chalice and the plot heavily revolves around him for the first however many episodes before taking a backseat for mukki spiders for a while, with chalice's stuff is happening in the background consistently throughout.

geats has a kind of kabuto-like structure to start with where keiwa is our audience insert despite ace being the protagonist, so throughout the show even despite him spending big chunks off time offscreen you still kind of consider him the deuteragonist, even while michinaga has a lot more plot importance and there's more focus on his relationship with ace.

i think it's interesting to contrast how people talk about those two because the takes im seeing a lot will be "garren is secondary, chalice is tertiary" and "tycoon is secondary, buffa is an evil/rival rider" with naago as tertiary, but i don't ever really see "chalice is a rival rider" or "leangle is tertiary" despite chalice also existing as a third faction for chunks of the show.

(the reason for this is almost certainly that people were having these arguments while geats was airing and therefore opinions were formed before the plot shook out, in comparison to blade which is usually viewed as a complete work so people are aware of how the character focus changes after shou aikawa took over and wrote the greatest love story ever told)

these are the main two lines of thinking and they're probably the ones id also go by but the interesting part is seeing the ones that clearly come from people who get very different things out of the media than i do. a big one i see on reddit is that the secondary has the second most prominent final form after the primary. this gets applied to the garren/chalice argument too because while they both only have one upgraded form (until the story is continued in kamen rider outsiders) garren's jack form exists in the context of blade's jack form, which is then upgraded to king form, and wild chalice is framed as hajime's equivalent to king form within the narrative. the presentation is tha wild chalice is a final form whereas garren jack is a mid season upgrade. this isn't helped by the fact that chalice tends to eat shit less than the rest of the cast in general and that garren will still be tachibana sakuya no matter how many fancy capes you give him

most other lines of logic seem to be highly subjective. "i think this character is secondary because he has the coolest suit" "i think he's the tertiary because his fights were more fun to watch" "he has to be secondary because i, personally, believe he has the second largest penis in the cast" and so on and so forth.

ultimately though the final designations are up to toei because what these are are marketing terms applied to characters that take wildly different roles within the stories because the people writing the shows are more focused on nonsense like "dramatic tension" and "character arcs" than remaining beholden to rules decided by the council of r/kamenrider users that say secondary form must be second to debut. it's definitely a little frustrating in comparison to the 6th ranger categorisation which is fairly uniform with the exception of maybe five seasons tops. but then sentai is more formulaic to begin with

All this being said I will paypal five american dollars to anyone who can write me a convincing 500+ word argument on why leangle is the secondary rider of blade

[ghostwise]

Matacuervos, ch. 7 - A heavy thing Rated M, 1.6k words - cw: death, canon-typical violence, discussions of trauma, slavery, and child abuse After Rocio murders their target outside El milagro, Zevran and Hamal contend with the fallout, and with an entirely unexpected circumstance. Read update on AO3 - Read from ch. 1 - thank you @rowanthefierce for beta-reading this chapter!

Hamal sprinted down the stairs two steps at a time, leaping over the last of them. He rushed through the front door, out where the air was cold by Antivan standards, but balmy yet for him.

“Zevran!” he called out. Where had he gone?

Hamal nervously rearranged his grip on his bow, looking down the street towards the brothel—but before he could investigate, a soft, pained noise came from behind the cart, and caught his attention. He stepped carefully around the stunned horses, behind the carriage wheels.

“Nadia?”

“¡Maldito mago!”

She was on the ground, partway beneath the carriage, her arms and knees scraped from the fall. Nadia groaned as she lifted a shaking hand to the back of her head. Hamal knelt beside her and gently eased her up. He could see her scalp was sticky with blood, and a lump was already forming under the skin.

“You’re hurt,” he observed in his meager Antivan, scrambling for the correct words and wishing he had more time to piece the language together. He understood it more than he could speak it, and even that was difficult with Nadia’s rapid-fire and distinct dialect. “Not good! Your head!”

“I’ll be alright!” She waved him off. “Where is Zevran?”

“He… looks for the man. I don’t know.”

Again, Hamal’s gaze drifted in the direction of the brothel, eager for any sight of Zevran. He could not see much from this position, but he could hear a rhythmic sound, like something being struck repeatedly, like metal hitting wet stone. He didn’t have to say what was on both their minds: this wasn’t what they had planned.

“Thank you,” Nadia said softly, leaning against him. She took a shuddering breath. “We should search the carriage. Quick! El carruaje.” She repeated the words, seeing his confused look, and tapped the carriage a few times. “Carruaje.”

A new word to him, though he’d never get the damn r’s right. Hamal did as he was told. He pulled open the carriage door and looked inside. There was no translation for the soft and pitiable sound he made then, but the feeling was something Nadia understood.

“Oh… d’alen.”

He and Nadia looked in on a sleeping child. The little girl was slumped against the back seat of the carriage. She looked to be about eight years old. A sliver of blood trickled from her nose, and her small, pointed ears poked through a mess of dark curls. Besides her, a bag of supplies lay on the floor.

Nadia exclaimed something in frantic Antivan, but Hamal only understood, “Help me!”

“The spell,” Hamal murmured to himself, as he pulled the child carefully out of the carriage. “That bastard used his magic near her. But I think she’s only stunned. She’s breathing.” He looked at Nadia, though she couldn’t understand his Elvhen, so perhaps he was saying it for his own sake: “She’s alright.”

Nadia nodded, sniffling. She roughly wiped at her face, her bloodied hands smearing red diluted tears over her skin.

But it was more the shock than her injury which troubled her now. She hadn’t truly had any doubts about what Zevran and Hamal had told her, but it had all come on so quickly; just this morning she had been carrying on with business as usual. To be embroiled now in a plot against slavers in her very home was overwhelming.

Together, she and Hamal brought the child out of the carriage, and they wrapped her up in Hamal’s cloak.

The girl was safe now. She’d never go to where she was headed, or return to where she’d hailed from.

Outside El milagro, Rocio was hunched over on the ground, her cane now discarded at her side. She did not react as Nadia and Hamal joined them, but Zevran, through his pounding headache, hurried to meet them.

“You’re alright,” Zevran said, relieved. He would have embraced Hamal and kissed him, but he noticed the child in his arms and his breath caught in his throat. “Where did- was that child in the carriage?”

“Yes,” Hamal said. “She’s unconscious, but alive. Nadia is hurt.”

“I am fine,” Nadia said, hearing her name through the stream of Common exchanged between the two men. “The girl is what matters. Maker only knows, if we had not found her tonight…”

Zevran gave her a short nod, taking in the information. This was what their efforts had amounted to. They may have lost their informant. But a child was saved!

“Nadia, you both need a doctor,” Zevran said firmly.

“We need to handle things here first,” Nadia said, aiming a pointed look at the corpse. It was not her first time seeing a dead man, and yet, her stomach turned at the sight of his bashed-in face. She gestured with her hands out. “What’s happened? Who killed him?

Rocio looked up from her perch upon the blood-soaked stones. “I did,” she croaked out. “He deserved it.”

“It complicates things,” Nadia said with a grimace.

“What’s complicated about it? You say he stole that child!”

Nadia blinked at her. For a moment, she pretended she already knew the young woman; pretended she was a coworker or a neighbor she saw often. It was a skill that aided her, in her line of work. Compassion. Exercising it now, she saw pieces of the story in the painful angle of Rocio’s leg, and the fury in her wet eyes. Perhaps a reflection of herself, too, albeit one from decades ago.

“What’s your name?” she asked softly.

“Rocio Ciriani.”

“Rocio. Have you ever taken a man’s life before?”

“No.” The admission came out, low and hoarse. Rocio gazed up at Nadia, then looked at Zevran and Hamal in turn, lingering, finally, on the child. “I haven’t.”

“It’s a heavy thing. At this rate, the city guard will be called, if they aren’t already on their way,” Nadia said evenly. “But a murder at a brothel is nothing they haven’t seen before. It can be explained away. A drunk customer. A jealous lover. A rape.”

“Braska.” Zevran seethed quietly. “And what of the children he was going to buy tonight?”

He crouched over the man, staring into his face with a keen desperation, though the life was gone from him already. “Give me a name,” he urged quietly. “I know who you work with. But where do you meet them? How often? An address. A contact. Anything!”

For Zevran’s part, he was distressed. A few hours ago, his only goal had been to locate an informant, interrogate him, and kill him later; to dispose of the body in a river, or a charnel house. He’d have killed Gloria Amilcar, too, if it hadn’t been for Nadia’s involvement. He thought, also, of what he’d learned tonight about his father’s death. This had ballooned far out of proportion, and try as he did, he could not pinpoint where he’d gone wrong.

Hamal leaned in to speak to him.

“We need to go,” he said gently in the language that they shared, but which was neither of their native tongues. “The city guard won’t care about a shem selling elves to the Crows, but they will care about a dead shem with a Dalish arrow sticking out of him.”

Zevran wrenched the arrow from the man’s broken form. There was sense in his husband’s words, but his head was swimming.

“I’m not going to run,” he said, and he repeated himself in Antivan for Nadia and Rocio’s benefit. “No voy a huir.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Nadia said.

“I won’t run either,” Rocio forced out in her tear-soaked voice. “And I won’t lie to the guard. Everyone should know what has happened! What is the point if nobody knows? We have so much proof!”

“Proof or no, you will go to jail!” Nadia told her. “And still, there will be no guarantee that the guard will care, or do anything to help. What’s the point of that? I have worked this brothel for thirty years. This is how things are. A whore can be replaced.”

“The way things are must change. This is my life.” Rocio, unmoving, let out a hiss of air. “If it makes even a little bit of difference, I have to try.” There was a cold edge to her words.

“Brave girl,” Zevran murmured.

Then there was nothing more to say. There was no convincing a determined Antivan. This, he knew.

Nadia rolled her shoulders, feeling quite lightheaded. Her neck throbbed. She looked up at Zevran and Hamal, these men who had so disrupted El milagro ’s routine.

“To think, you returned without anyone asking you to, and in a single night made a mess of everything.”

Zevran’s eyes flitted to her, hurt. But she looked back at him with the strangest combination of pride and sorrow.

“Thank you,” she said, emphatically. “You came to help us, and you have. You made us aware of horrors that needed to be exposed. Leave Gloria to me; I will help Rocio turn her in. Leave Rocio to her fate, for she chose it. Now take that child with you. And go.”

Zevran rose to his feet. He exchanged a look with his husband before asking, “Where would you have us take her?”

And so the plan for the child was crafted in the mismatched pieces of Common, Antivan, and Elvhen they shared. Stitched together with a potent need for justice and a measure of patience.

In Hamal’s arms, the child slept dreamlessly. The spell had been strong enough to stun a horse and two grown adults, and it would take her time to recover her senses.

[sweetandscarlet]

tension in between us

summary: after coming back to work after a vacation, you meet a woman who wanted nothing more than simply, just your company. that was until she visits you once again.

warnings: 18+, stripper!reader (23), rich business lady!wanda (32), lap dancing, oh the tension, horny thoughts are being thunk, power play, eventual smut, wanda being a nervous wreck around beautiful women. minors DNI.

words: 5k

an: i’ve been meaning to post this for a while. happy (extremely late) belated anniversary everyone :) xo saph.

edit: i’ve made a few changes to the warnings since this one shot will be split into two parts as i feel it’s too long for one post! enjoy :)

the cold air was something you had grown accustomed to for a few months now, and as much as you longed for summer to come; there was something refreshing about feeling the chill breeze against your face as you walked towards a secluded but well-built building.

the name always made you smile as you stared up at the glowing neon lights, ‘house of harkness’ reflected in purple onto the mundane streets behind you. you knew of the face beyond the name, you had for years.

miss harkness, or as you personally call her; agatha, was a close friend of your late mother’s. she had taken you in as a friend and mother figure after the unfortunate death of your own. something you would never be able to repay her for, but, agatha was different compared to the people who had come and gone in your lifetime. she simply cared for you, nothing more and nothing less.

“how are you, miss?” your attention was pulled from your blank gaze at the sign, and your eyes followed the voice to the man who stood in front of the entrance of the club. “i’ve not seen you for a while”

you smiled at his kindness, stepping forward just slightly. “i was on vacation, henry. you’ll never believe the sights i’ve seen in england, it was magnificent, much different to what we know here”

the man’s eyes widened just a little at your reply, “a vacation? wow, i'm glad you had fun, y/n. i’ve visited england before, the dialect takes a second to get used to but it’s a beautiful country nonetheless”

you nodded in response, your smile never faltering towards the familiar man.

henry was someone you had known for as long as agatha. he was a loyal server to the owner, working the doors of clubs she had owned in the past and following where ever she settled next.

he was a kind man, someone who knew your mother well, held her memory in his heart and quickly upon meeting him, you had grown accustomed to his sincerity.

“are you ready to get back to work? we seem to have some big spenders in tonight” he asked, stepping to the side to make room for your entrance through the heavy silver door.

“ready as i’ll ever be” is all you could respond as you move forward. henry pulled open the door, watching as you stepped in before smiling once more and closing it behind you.

you make your way through the hallway, purple lights guiding your way as you reached the reception. the staff member who was perched behind the register nodded at you and you shot them a small smile back before continuing your walk into the depths of the club.

“y/n! you’re back!” agatha’s voice boomed over the music that echoed throughout the club, you glanced at your surroundings, noticing the many customers that were situated with other woman you hadn’t worked with before. you brushed it off, turning your attention to agatha who stood close to the bar.

“hi, agatha” you replied, smiling as you stepped closer. the older woman pulled you in for a hug and you instantly sighed in her embrace, you squeezed your arms around her before pulling away. “henry tells me there are big spenders in tonight”

“well not so much right now, those guys have a table booked a couple of hours from now. the other ‘not so generous’ customers are occupied at the moment but.. there is someone here who hasn’t had a dance yet”

you shoot her a puzzled look and agatha chuckles amusingly at the confusion written on your face.

“i think she’s a first timer”

the confusion only grows more. “she?.. i don’t think we’ve ever had a female customer”

“well,” agatha tuts, slinging an arm around your shoulder. “there’s a first time for everything, kid.. would you?”

you shuffle your weight on your feet, turning your head to look up at the older woman. “fine, but i better make some good money from her”

agatha laughs once more, “don’t worry doll. when you see her, you’ll know she means business”

you choose not to reply at that, instead, you slip out of agatha’s hold and head towards the changing room. once you pull open the door, you throw your bag on one of the counters and begin the process of getting ready.

ᗢ

fifteen minutes had passed since your brief conversation with agatha.

you had already done your makeup prior so all you had to do was adorn yourself in red lingerie, and garter belts to match along with your red-bottomed stilettos. it was a popular outfit of yours, a signature look that was sure to get you thousands as it had done in the past.

you gave yourself one last look in the large mirror in front of you, checking your ruby lipstick was pristine and your curls fell perfectly against your shoulders.

“let’s do this” you whisper to yourself before grabbing your clutch that lay next to the large bag you carried inside with you. “it’s show time”

you swiftly turn around before exiting through the changing room door and back into the busy club where coloured lights flash and the booming music echoed around you.

you nod over at agatha who stays perched near the bar. she smiles back at you, her eyes never faltering away from yours. “looking good, kid. you ready to paint the town scarlet?”

you roll your eyes dramatically at the use of your allies.

“just a heads up, some of the girls have already tried to get some money out of her but.. she’s a tough nut to crack so good luck”

a smirk twitches at the corner of your lips, “she hasn’t met me yet”

agatha shoots you a playful wink, her hands reaching up to rest on your shoulders. “that’s the spirit, my little money maker”

you let out a sigh, shifting your weight as you prepare yourself. after a fleeting moment passes, you smile at the older woman before turning around in her hold; making agatha’s arms fall to her hips. you purse your lips and while holding your head high, you take a few steps forward.

your eyes scan the room, in search of the hard to crack-mystery woman. you land on a table of men that are gathered around with champagne, smirks on their faces and a dancer hooked onto each arm like leaches.

you want to roll your eyes at the desperation that oozes from most of them, the way they cling onto one customer that won’t so much as cough up a hundred bucks. it was painful to see, but you tear your attention away from them. reminding yourself that you were once new too, new and naive. they’ll learn.

you continue to keep your eye on the prize, walking past the table that boomed loudly with belly laughs and hollers.

just as you were about to give up and complain to agatha that the woman was no longer in sight, you spot red hair that broadly made itself known behind a pillar and as you turn the corner; you’re greeted by a woman, a gorgeous woman at that, in a black suit, situated with one leg over the other as she nurses a whiskey glass.

you push the thought of how disgustingly good looking this stranger is and instead focused your mind back to why you were here. money.

“hi there, you look like you’re in need of some good company” it was a pathetic starter conversation really, you knew that. “what brings you into the house of harkness?”

the redhead raises her gaze from her glass and up to you. you watch as she gulps dryly, her eyes subtly scanning your body before eventually flickering back up to your face.

“oh you know, just a bit of shopping..” you snigger at that, stepping the tiniest bit closer towards the obviously tense woman. she shakes her head at her own words before moving her crossed leg to rest back on the plush chair she sits on. “that was a terrible joke, i’m sorry. i- i don’t know why i’m here, i was recommended by a friend of a friend and well..”

you smile, “and now you’re here” your eyes drop to the empty chair at the table, “you know it’s- may i?” your hand gestures out, stepping closer to the seat.

the older woman eyes you for a split second before nodding her head. you pull out the chair from under the table, moving slightly before situating yourself down on it; throwing a leg over the other as you maintain eye contact.

“its not everyday we have beautiful women like yourself in here, i think this calls for a celebration..” you nod your head at the older woman.

“oh i- thank you.. and wanda. my name’s wanda”

“wanda” you repeat, liking how the name sounds and how easily it rolls off of your tongue. “how ethereal.. i think this calls for a celebration, wanda. shall we get a drink?”

the redhead looks down at the empty glass she had been nursing for god knows how long. she lingers on the thought briefly, her mind and body battling the decision to stay or leave.

“what’s your name?” wanda asks, mentally kicking herself for how timid the question sounds coming out of her mouth. “it’s not something like diamond is it?”

a laugh escapes your lips as you shake your head. “you’re definitely a newbie, aren’t you? no, nothing cliche at that, my name is scarlet. as you can tell from my whole ensemble, i’m partial to the colour red”

wanda’s gaze drops to your red lipstick and then the lacy bra that pushes up your chest oh so perfectly that it makes wanda subconsciously lick her lips at the mere thought of being so close to them.

“hmh, i can see that. reds my favourite colour, too” wanda hums, her eyes flickering back up to your piercing gaze. “i think i will take you up on that drink offer. what would you like? it’s on me”

bingo.

your smile stretches from ear to ear at that. knowing damn well this is how it starts, it’s an easy trick of yours. coax nervous customers into a conversation, offer to have a drink with them and before you know it they’re racking up thousands in purchases on their bank cards.

“such a gentlewoman, thank you. i’ll take a rum and coke, please”

ᗢ

you don’t even realise until you check your phone that an hour had passed, wanda was currently back at the bar and paying for another round of drinks for the two of you. you had both slipped into an easy conversation that seemed to make time pass you by in a blink of an eye.

you sit up straighter when wanda approaches your table with a drink in each hand. you proudly noticed how over the hour, the older woman’s tension seemed to decrease massively as she reaches her empty seat.

“i have to leave soon,” wanda mentions as she situates herself back in her seat. she places your drink in front of you and then takes a lengthy sip of her own before placing it down on a napkin. “i have work in the morning, but.. i enjoyed talking to you, scarlet”

you pick up your drink, watching the liquid bubble with fizz in the glass as you mull over your next move. now’s the time, just do it.

you shift to the edge of your seat, a delicate hand reaching over to rest on the top of wanda’s thigh and you immediately love the feeling of the expensive material of her pants suit under your finger tips. “i enjoyed talking to you too, wanda. you know.. we could always finish these drinks in one of the booths?”

wanda’s eyes shoot down to your hand, then to the left of you to glance at the ‘private booths’ sign that shone brightly in purple neon, until eventually she turned back to capture your gaze.

you pull your hand away from the warmth of her thigh, watching as the gears turn in wanda’s mind, the mental battle of should or shouldn’t. it made you itch with eagerness and something you can’t quite put your finger on. never in your career has anyone doubted the thought of getting you alone in a dark booth that was only covered by a black curtain. men always jumped at the chance but, wanda… wanda was different. shy, kind, respectful. it was intriguing nonetheless.

“i- i think..” wanda reaches a hand inside one of her pant pockets, you watch with baited breath as she digs around before eventually pulling out a wallet. “i’m not sure how much-“

she flicks through the thick stack of neatly placed bills before settling on several notes and placing them on the table next to your drink.

your eyes fall to them instantly and before you can muster up a reply, wanda beats you to the punch.

“is three-hundred enough? i’m not sure how this works but..” wanda sighs as she rises to her feet, she picks up her drink and takes a few more sips before settling it back down. “i really should go, thank you for your company, scarlet”

your lips part as your eyes rake up her suit clad body, confusion is evident in your face as you land on emerald-green eyes. “wanda..”

“maybe i’ll see you again?” the older woman offers as she folds her wallet up before slipping it back into its resided pocket. “thank you, really. i had fun”

your eyes flicker down to the money that lay in front of you and then back up to the redhead. conflict swarms through your mind at the thought of the woman leaving. you had done what you came to do, make money. but.. this was so different to other customers, they never simply just paid for your time. they came here to see one thing only; you, naked.

you decided to plaster a smile on your face, ignoring the ache in your chest to convince her to stay, before standing up to bid her a goodbye. “yeah, i- until next time, wanda”

wanda nods at you in response, her eyes holding your gaze for a brief moment before she turns on her heels and walks away from the table. you stay there, confused at the interaction as you watch her heels click one by one before eventually fading away and leaving out of the building.

oh, you were definitely intrigued now.

your turn to face the now empty table, your eyes land on the money and you can’t help a smile creeping on your face at the entire situation. for a quick hour of conversation with a beautiful woman, you managed to make more money than you would have done with the other customers who were currently eyeing you up like meat on a platter.

you shake your head with an exasperated sigh as you reach down to collect the bills. it’s not long before you make your way back over to the bar to where agatha’s perched near the edge, watching your every move.

“i guess you were right, doll..” agatha beams, noticing the notes in your hand. you extend your hand and give her the money with a grin. “how did you manage to crack her?”

you purse your lips, sucking your tongue against the back of your teeth before shrugging. “i didn’t do anything, we just spoke and then she said she had to leave”

“so,” agatha tilts her head. “she just.. gave you this? god, you really are the best of the best”

you laugh at that with a rolls of your eyes. “yeah, yeah. you’re just saying that because i make you more money in a day than these other girls do in a week”

agatha tuts, “although that is true, you really do have a talent kid. those new girls couldn’t get a cent out of her before you came out”

pride swirls in your chest at her words. the thought that out of everyone here, wanda chose to tip you. excitement brewed in the pit of your stomach at the off chance of her actually visiting again, it was something you had never felt towards any other customer who had visited before.

“did she say anything before she left?”

agatha’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts and snaps you back into reality, your eyes flicker up to hers as your mind quickly registers her question.

“just that she had to leave and that maybe she’ll see me again?.. i can’t see that happening to be honest but hey, stranger things have happened here”

ᗢ

a few days had passed since your last interaction with wanda. everyday that you worked since, your eyes briefly scanned the hallways every so often, watching as customer after customer piled into the club. but, you never saw thick locks of stunning red hair in the sea of people.

your work days were thankfully busy, which meant you spent hardly any time pondering over whether or not, a stranger; that had quickly invaded your thoughts, would ever come back.

“hey.. sorry to interrupt”

your turned away from your current conversation with agatha and your eyes quickly landed on a timid looking girl, staring at you. you could feel the nervousness radiate from her as she shifted on her feet, waiting with baited breath for you to speak. you eyed her cautiously, your mind registering that you had never spoken to her before.

you smiled as best as you could though, given your somber state over once again, no sign of a certain redhead, in hopes that it would help ease her anxiety. “hey, it’s all good. you okay?”

the younger girl smile brightly at your politeness, her shoulders falling as the tension left her ever so slightly. “yeah, thank you. i just.. sorry, i haven’t had a chance to meet everyone properly yet. are you scarlet by any chance?”

“that she is, melody” agatha spoke, causing both of you to turn towards her as her voice reached your ears. “the one and only, the best of the best”

your gaze flickers back over to the younger girl and you smile once again, rolling your eyes. “pfft, don’t listen to her, she’s crazy”. a grin spreads on your plump lips upon hearing agatha gasp dramatically, but you continue your focus on the girl in front of you. “i’m not the best but i am scarlet though, what can i do you for?”

the younger girl, who you now know as melody, shifts on her feet once more, her eyes scanning over to a certain part of the club before looking back over to you. “someone’s requested you specifically, she didn’t give a name but-“

“she?…” you ask, your heart beginning to beat slightly faster. you pick up your clutch from the bar and sling it over your shoulder, shooting agatha a knowing look. “what did she look like?”

“absolutely gorgeous” melody hums, taking a step back to allow you some room to move. “red hair, black suit. she’s sitting over near the lounge”

you teeth bite down on your bottom lip, chewing nervously as the younger girl speaks. you thank her before briefly bidding a goodbye to both agatha and the dancer.

your legs quickly move in front of you, your mind racing with determination as you walk towards the lounge. after walking past a few busy tables, your turn and instantly your eyes fall on wanda who’s perched in a chair that’s situated with a small table in the corner of the room. you bite back a grin as you step closer towards her, ignoring the way excitement bubbles in your chest.

green eyes trail upwards from the phone in her hands, until eventually she’s staring back at you, watching as you approach.

“hey, you um- you asked for me?”

wanda smiles, her hand gesturing to the empty chair opposite her. you instantly obey to the silent command and perch yourself on the chair.

“yeah.. i wanted to see you and thank you again for the other day. i think you could have smelled how new i am to this environment and.. well, you were really kind so, thank you”

your eyes trailer over wanda’s body as she speaks. it makes you almost audibly grown at how good she looks, the beauty and power that radiates from her as she sits in a black suit and heels to match.

ignoring the dull ache you feel building between your thighs, you shift slightly in your chair and lean forward.

you certainly don’t miss the way wanda’s eyes fall quickly to your cleavage and back up to your face.

“that’s nice of you to say, wanda. did you come all the way here just to say that?”

the redhead chews delicately on her bottom lip before taking a deep breath. “no i- i want to.. i’m not sure of the prices but, i want a dance.. from you”

“oh?..” is all you could say as you gulp dryly at wanda’s confession. you study the way she fiddles with her fingers, the way one leg bounces gently and how her brow line creases into a frown. “are you sure? you seem nervous”

it was a shameful thing to point out about someone, you knew that. but, you couldn’t help the concern you felt towards the older woman. sure, if this was any other customer; you’d happily take their money without so much as blinking. but, wanda was kind, deferential. you wanted her to be sure of her decision.

“it’s because i am,” wanda scoffs with a chuckle and repositions herself on her chair. “but yeah i- i do want this, i’m just..”

your shoot her a lopsided smile. “it’s okay, you don’t have to explain, as long as you’re certain”

wanda nods, feeling nothing but relief at your words. how could she possibly begin to explain why she’s nervous? she has no reason to be. she’s a grown woman, someone much older than you, who has plenty of life experience and wisdom and yet when it comes to this? she’s a ball of anxiety that’s ready to roll out of the door and never return.

maybe a drink will help, she thinks.

“do you want a rum and coke? i’m just going to head to the bar before we start”

you smile at the redhead as you rise to your feet, “i’d love one, c’mon, let’s go together”

ᗢ

the air is thick with tension as you both step into the dark booth that’s only light comes from the illumination of bright purple fairy lights that hang overhead.

you motion for wanda to sit down as you plug a cable into your phone that connects you to the speaker. once you do, you pull up a playlist and press shuffle. music slowly builds into an easy rhythm and you gently sway your hips on every beat.

you can feel wanda’s eyes burning a hole into the back of you and a smirk twitches at the corner of your lips as you continue to dance.

you shift backwards, your ass only a few inches away from wanda’s face and that’s when you begin your routine. you reach down, your fingertips touching the tips of your heels and you can’t help but hum at the delicious stretch you feel in the back of your thighs.

you move your hands from your heels, smoothing them up your calf’s and over the back of your legs until you reach your ass. you grab a fistful of flesh and teasingly spread your cheeks apart.

you hear wanda groan from behind you and you can’t help but feel pride beam proudly in your chest once again. the same pride you felt on the first day that you met her, when you realised that out of every dancer in the club; wanda chose you. she chose to speak to you, to tip you. and to now be the one who gives her, her first lap dance.

“you doing good back there?” you ask, a hint of sarcasm laced in your voice as you trail your arms up to your hips, pulling at both ends of the hem of your thong. you let them go with a brief snap against your skin before turning around to face wanda. “sounds like you’re enjoying the view to me”

you hook a finger under wanda’s chin, tilting her head upwards to face you and even in the dimly lit darkness of the booth, you can see the way wanda’s pupils fade from emerald green to black as they dilate. the way her chest rises in uneven breaths and the way her hands grip the edge of her seat harshly.

wanda parts her lips, the words she so badly wants to whisper just dancing on the tip of her tongue. i want you. instead she settles for a breathy “yes”, leaning forward as she does in a desperate attempt to be closer to you.

she fights every instinct in her body to not reach out and touch you, to feel the softness of your skin under her fingertips.

“good,” you mutter, your hot breath hitting her lips as you speak, and it takes everything in you to not close the gap between you. “you really are something else, you know, wanda. you’re so unbelievably gorgeous, it hurts”

you pull away, releasing the hold on her chin and continue to dance, swaying your hips as your hands roam over your body until they reach the curve of your breasts. you give them a generous squeeze and wanda’s eyes never falter as she watches in awe.

wanda holds your gaze, even when you step closer and closer until you swing a leg over her hips, your other one following soon after. she gulps dryly when you fully straddle her, your hands moving to rest on her shoulders.

your hips stay just a few inches above her lap and wanda’s teeth clamp down on her bottom lip when they begin to grind gradually in the air.

“me?..” wanda gasps, the grip on her seat getting tighter and tighter by the second until her fingers turn white. “have you seen you? you’re a fucking masterpiece, scarlet. the things i-“

you tilt your head downwards at that, your face a few inches away from wanda who sits there with flushed cheeks and her lips clamped shut.

“the things you what?..”

a shaky sigh hits your skin before wanda drops her head in embarrassment. “nothing, i- forget i said that”

you hum in thought, your movements coming slowly to a halt as you let the lower half of your body rest on wanda’s thighs. your already peaked heart rate spikes dramatically at the feel of once again, expensive cotton and all your mind can think of is grinding against one of her tense thighs until you leave a mess on her pants suit.

“you can call me y/n, by the way” your words come out in a broken whisper and you don’t even care, your mind is swirling with nothing but wanda. how her skin would feel against your touch, the softness of her lips against yours, what makes her tick and how she would sound when she reaches that blissful peak of an orgasm. “scarlet is just an allies”

“y/n” wanda repeats, lifting her head up once more until your eyes interlock. “that’s a pretty name, it suits you”

you smile down at her, liking the way your names sounds when it comes from her. it makes you itch more with want and you can feel yourself becoming unbearably needy as she holds your gaze. “do you- are you busy after this?”

your eyes widen as the words leave your lips and you instantly begin to climb off wanda’s lap, stepping backwards until the coldness of a large mirror behind you hits your back.

you quickly reprimand yourself as mortification creeps in at such a question. something you have never asked a customer before, let alone thought of. how could you be so stupid?

“fuck, i’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to say that. i don’t think before i speak“

you could see a hint of faint surprise written on wanda’s face but, as she rises from her seat; something you can’t quite place glistens in her eyes as she parts her lips to speak. “you didn’t mean it? that’s quite a shame”

she steps closer towards you, inching closer until you can once again feel her hot breath hitting your skin. “are you sure you didn’t mean it because..” wanda sighs, her eyes hungrily raking down the smooth skin of your body. “my diary’s completely free and if i’m being honest, for the past few nights all i’ve thought about is you”

her confession makes you gulp hard, the confidence and boldness you had before is slowly vanishing as a new side of wanda shows herself and cracks through the surface of her once timid and unsure demeanour.

you clear your throat and stand up straighter, your eyes never breaking contact as you try to regain some sense of tenacity. “oh do tell,” you mutter, moving closer just an inch until you feel the curve of wanda’s breasts pressing against your own. “i’d love to hear about how you’ve been thinking of me”

wanda’s gaze flicker to your lips for a split second before taking a small intake of breath. “well, well, you’re a brave little girl, aren’t you? my thoughts envision you as someone who takes it lying down but.. i guess i was wrong”

a slight grin itches at your lips at the back and forth dynamic you both hold but you bite it back, not wanting to show any significant detail of feeling on your face. “oh i do like to take it lying down but.. you’re right, wanda. i’ll never step down from a challenge”

wanda smiles and unlike before, when it was soft, gentle and the dimples in her cheeks formed; this one held something much more sinister behind it. “we’ll see how long it takes before i break you, darling”

before you could reply, the sound of your timer plays loudly in the booth causing both of your heads to turn towards the noise and the illumination of your phone screen.

“looks like my time is up” wanda voiced with a hum as she steps back a few feet. the loss of her warmth against you makes you want to reach out and pull her back towards you until your bodies deliciously press together again. “so, tell me y/n, what happens next?

[sassycheesecake]

MEET AND GREET ✨MSBY JACKALS 🐺✨ in one post <3

Atsumu Miya #13

Man’s flirtin' with ya nonstop

The moment you step up to the M&G, it’s like the heavens have send him an angel

Usually Atsumu has a problem with shutting his mouth, but when he saw you, he was lost for words

He calls you lots of nicknames and you’re almost a melting puddle at hearing his Kansai dialect in person

Atsumu keeps giving you this look with his hooded eyes, along with his lazy smirk(YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHICH ONE I MEAN)

Of course, Atsumu’s teammates are used to his flirty nature with some people, they know it’s a show he puts on in front of the world

A cocky, arrogant and overconfident bastard can actually be a funny, loving and protective person in private

They watch with high interest from the sidelines, because the usual confident smartass is actually nervous and gives out an honest smile, not the usual fake ones he uses with the press

But they obviously wouldn’t be teammates if they don’t tease each other once in a while

"Tsum-Tsum it’s been almost 15 minutes since the game, why is your face still so red?" Bokuto’s comment turns Atsumu’s face a couple more shades red and the Setter wishes to sink into the next hole in the ground

ANYWHO

With one unfortunately not too long lasting hug, you say your goodbyes and without your knowing, the sandy-blonde Setter looks longingly after you, like he just said goodbye to his lover

It’s like almost there was a voice inside his head, telling him to run after you

Get a full name, a number, an email, anything he can get so he can contact you

So when the Setter runs after you, ignoring the staff team’s shouts and yelling, he still can see the back of your outfit and he calls after you

Hearing your name being called out in a deep familiar voice, you turn around and find the sandy-blonde Setter halting to a stop right in front of you

Atsumu rambles on about feeling his heart beat faster whenever you speak or look at him and the sandy-blonde has never felt this way before

After a bashful goodbye and an exchange of numbers, the two of you part ways with exciting smiles on your faces

As soon as the blonde twin enters the locker room, he can’t contain his excitement anymore

"Guess who just got himself a number by a gorgeous fan!" 😍😍 Atsumu is so happy he could shout it from the stadium’s rooftops

Despite getting a good chewing out by his captain, coach and PR team, Atsumu doesn’t hesitate to contact you that same night, asking you out on a date ❤️

Kōtarō Bokuto #12

Energetic owl 25/7

So imagine how hyper he still is after a winning game

He’s a living bouncy ball, along with tangerine boy

When you came up to the table to get your jersey signed, you can almost feel his bright energy surrounding you, feeling like it’s pulling you into a hug

He smiles brightly at you, sweat clinging to his jersey, defining his well-built body

You’re trying not to stare but it’s highly obvious that you like the hyper horned owl

You get his autograph, an almost bone-crushing hug and one last beaming smile

You’re feeling a sort of rush of adrenaline mixed with something else as you go home, looking up the next home game of the MSBY Jackals, excited to see Bokuto play again and hopefully have another M&G

Even though you can see your bank account shrinking more and more, each time you feel so much excitement whenever you see Bokuto play on court

His beaming smile, his chest receives, his exciting expression whenever he scores and the way he celebrates with #13 and #21

You’re going to their last game before your bank account goes on strike so you make it count as you go to the M&G

Bokuto sees you coming up again and smiles at the sight of you

So you try your shot

"Hey, I have been to some of your games and I really love the way you're driven by your passion in volleyball and I really like you and I wanted to know if you'd be happy or willing to go out with me sometime?"

The whole table is silent and truth to be told, shocked that someone was asking Bokuto out

Bokuto never really thought much of dating until like his retirement but ever since you started coming to the MSBY Jackal games, Bokuto feels like he wants to show you what he can do, you can say in some sort of way he's trying to impress you

You're standing in front of him, sweating buckets in nervousness, when Bokuto gets up from his chair with a neutral expresion

You're already imagining the worst rejection ever when he stands a mere inches away from you

Looking into his golden eyes, his expression changes from neutral to bashful

"I'd love to"

Kiyoomi Sakusa #15

Fresh-out-of-the-shower-Sakusa Kiyoomi was standing a little bit off to the side in his MSBY tracksuit, hands in his hoodie pockets, black medical mask partly covering his scowl when he was watching some of his still sweaty, disgusting teammates talk and hug fans after their win

He was scrutinizing his teammates in his head when an almost very quiet voice interrupts his judgment towards his teammates

When Sakusa was about to tell the fan off, he turned and saw you

A white mask is covering your face and you have a small jersey shirt in your medical gloved hands

That’s right. GLOVED HANDS

You look unsure, almost scared as you keep your distance between the Outside Hitter and yourself

"Can you please sign this for my little brother? He’s in the hospital and couldn’t come to your game due to a broken leg."

You hold out the jersey and watch as the ravenette’s calculating eyes switch between you and the small jersey

"Don’t worry. It’s not from the hospital, I brought it from home, it’s freshly washed because I know you don’t like unclean things"

And then the most unexpected thing happens

Sakusa comes a bit closer, like a cautious cat and takes the small jersey from you, which has his number on it

"Meian. Hand me your pen please."

The taller man and captain of the team looks confused for a second but hands him his sharpie anyway

Sakura signs his signature and you can roughly see him writing something else on it

You thank him with a respectful bow and leave the M&G area

Sakusa looks after your retreating footsteps, curious and intrigued by your mysterious face and personality

All of sudden, Sakusa feels an elbow hitting his side gently a few times with a clicking noise of a tongue and the Outside Hitter knows that annoying ass noise all too well

The blonde Setter waggles his eyebrows in a suggestive way as he just witnessed the interaction between you and his teammate

"Damn Omi, quite the looker fan ya got there."

Sakusa just gives him a pissed side glance, yet looks back immediately to the spot where you just stood, hoping you will read his message

As you head back to your little brother, you see the message the ravenette has left you

"Meet me at Fumin no mori Narukawa enchi on Sunday, 9am."

In the end, you got his number and got promoted to best big sister ever

Shōyō Hinata #21

Hinata is such an easy guy to get along with. He makes friends everywhere he goes

Even though you were nervous, the M&G went really smooth, as if you have known each other for years

the longer you two talked, the more stuff you realized you have in common

It went from talking about One Piece and volleyball to if the cereal or the milk should come first into a bowl (you did receive a few strange looks from the staff members but Bokuto and Atsumu are gleefully proud of their youngest teammate talking and flirting with you and actually succeeding at it considering his teachers were idiots)

You part your ways after the M&G and you're excited to see the next game (big kudos to your best friend for gifting you season tickets)

"Was I seeing this right? Was Hinata actually flirting with someone?" Shion asks Meian in a whisper in the locker room after the game, still shocked that their youngest kouhai is highly interested in someone or something else besides volleyball

Hinata is more cheerful than usual in training sessions and work out

He tells his teammates all about his excitement every day

"Have you guys seen their smile?". "Aren't they the most beautiful person alive?" "I can't wait to see them again, I look for them wherever I go, hoping I would randomly catch a sight of them on the street.", "I am telling you guys, I am going to marry this person!"

The next time Hinata saw you at the M&G of the game, he asked you out, resulting in you two going out for dinner at a small Brazilian restaurant and Hinata tells you all the stories from Brazil, about his old roommate Pedro and how he has known some of his current teammates since high school, etc.

Yet even if Hinata is a big storyteller, he asks you about you as well, learning things about you and falling for you deeper and deep, the more minutes he spends listening to you

You spend the night at his place and for the next morning, he prepares some different types of açaí bowls, since he still needs to follow his diet plan, but unsure about what you like to eat, he also made some pão de queijo and some tapioca pancakes

It was so good and Hinata confessed that he really likes you and wants you to be his s/o

When Hinata had training again, he first told Bokuto and Atsumu about his date with you, and later his other teammates, to his opponents, to his family to his friends from Brazil

That man is so proud to have you as a romantic partner and cheers you up with his smiles and jokes on bad days, makes you feel like the only person in the world

Shūgo Meian #4

Meian can't remember the last time he had some peace and quiet

A crazy team to keep under control honestly requires a medal for patience

But lately, his mother is getting on his nerves as well

Telling her son to find a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a partner to finally settle down with

She calls him almost every day and whenever she would bring up his love situation, he automatically rolls his eyes at her annoyed tone

Meian is currently tying his shoes in the locker room, ready for the upcoming match against the Tachibana Red Falcons, when his mother called again

"Son, I have found you a compatible match! They're--"

"Mum, I have a game in a little bit, can we do this later?"

"Just promise me, you will go out with them tomorrow! They are very nice and I am not getting any younger here and neither are your reproduction tools!"

Meian is now at his limit, his mother mentioning his private parts is just getting too much for him

"Okay fine! If I go out with this person tomorrow, will you PLEASE stop bothering me about it?"

"Yes. Have a good game my son!" She hangs up and Meian is relieved, now he can focus on the game

"Miya! Stop using my deodorant! Buy your own!" "Give me my shoes back!" "WOOOO! GAME TIME!" "MEIAN! TELL THAT ASSHOLE TO GIVE ME MY SHOES BACK!"

Aaaaand off we go to the next problem

Luckily enough, the Jackals won by 5-4, so Meian is in a good mood the next day

As he waits for you by Komeda's Coffee around noon, according to the details his mother has texted him early in the morning

Honestly, Meian just wants to go back home and sleep, maybe if he's lucky enough, his blind date has both a terrible personality and terrible looks and he can just leave and go back to bed and finish the third season of Bridgerton

As he waits in front of the café, scrolling through Instagram, he hears the sweetest voice his ears have ever encountered

"Are you Meian?"

As he turns to look at you, his eyes widen at the sight of you

Like wow

The way your body moves, the way eyes your shine, the way your skin glows in the sun

When you are close enough to him, he gets an intoxicating scent from you, like gosh he wishes he could just hug you and inhale your fragrance for days

He internally slaps himself for thinking such intrusive thoughts on your first date

You keep talking, Meian guesses how happy you are to meet him because his heart is doing somersaults and his brain feels like it's constantly restarting

"You okay? You look distracted."

"No, no, I am fine I promise. I just have never seen such a gorgeous person before."

And now it's your turn with the somersaults

You both go inside the café, him holding the door open for you, pulling the chair before you sit down (sigh, a true gentleman)

Honestly, when your mother told you you would be going on a blind date with a professional athlete who plays volleyball, you honestly expected an arrogant ass who only talks about how great he is and how this sport is the greatest in the world

Meian is not what you expected

Sure, he is very good looking: tall, muscular, broad mouth-watering shoulders, a body that looked like it was carved by Myron himself

His personality is sweet, a bit inexperienced sure but he solely focuses on you and gives you compliment after compliment

He tells you about his profession, about his team and invites you to his next game in a week

Meian's teammates of course notice the constant smiling looking at his phone and the small nod of his head into the VIP section

Yet the ravenette doesn't care, already planning on marrying you in the future

Shion Inunaki #6

The Libero watches as big groups surround his very popular teammates, like Hinata or Atsumu, screeching, giggling and being excited to be able to talk to the star players

Don’t tell Bokuto

All of sudden he wanted to walk into the direction of the players’ locker room when you stopped him

"Hi." You give him a little wave and a shy smile and Inunaki thinks that you must have switched him up with one of the other players

Sure, he has fans of his own but usually they’re kids and not hot and young people like you

You ask him for a picture and an autograph on your jersey which has his number on it

He’s really enjoying the sight of you wearing his last name and number, it’s almost as if you’re married

You’re beautiful and you play volleyball in your college whenever you have spare time as you both start talking together

Funnily enough, Inunaki went to the same college as you before he joined a professional volleyball team and you actually live close by together!

The two of you agreed on having a coffee date together next weekend when Inunaki has some time off

As you both meet up more and more, your friendship begins to grow stronger, more deeper

On game day, Inunaki walks from the locker room into the large stadium when he checks into the VIP section

His eyes immediately caught yours in the family and close friends section and his heart beats even faster, knowing he has a beautiful partner by his side, always cheering him on

Alexandre Joffe #7

Seven foot frame, rats along his back

Seven freakin' foot soldier

A giant with a heart of gold

When you saw his big stature and his beautiful green eyes, it was like you forgot what to say

Alexandre sees that you’re struggling with your words as you come up to the M&G, your face extremely red as you look at him and wanting for him to sign your small jackal plushie’s shirt

The Middle Blocker feels flattered by your behavior, because mostly people are just very intimidated by his height

But not you

You look amazed, almost like you're envious of him

To be fair, you look incredibly small compared to him

In Alexandre's mind, there's singing birds and talking animals around you, like a Disney figure

He takes the jackal plushie into his large hands, signs it and hesitantly gives it back to you

"Everything okay? Did I do something wrong?"

"What are your plans Friday night?" His smile is dazzling, green eyes shining with excitement

"Uhm I don't think I have anything planned yet, why?"

"How about you and me go to Yakiniku King? I think you're really pretty and I would like to get to know you better."

Wow, well you certainly didn't expect this tonight

Yet, you agree, ignoring nasty looks from the fans behind you and beside you as you exchange numbers

Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be something serious

Adriah Tomas #9

Tomas has known you ever since he can remember

You both grew up in the same hometown and have been inseparable ever since

Until you moved away to pursue your dream career, Tomas stayed to improve himself in his volleyball career

Unfortunately due to your busy schedules, texting became less and less and all of sudden, it stopped completely

At the age of 25, Tomas got a sponsorship from the MSBY Black Jackals, a Division 1 team in Japans V. League

He packed his things, moved to Higashiosaka and is now finally part of a professional volleyball team, like he always dreamed and told you about

There wasn't a day that went by when Tomas thought about you

Wondering what you are doing, how you are doing, and most importantly for him, if you're in a serious relationship with anyone

Yeah classic childhood friend crush developed into something deeper for Tomas, he just always wished he either confessed before you left or at least tried to tell you while you were teenagers

After training, his Japanese teammates Atsumu and Bokuto were talking about their recent hook ups when they asked Tomas about the last time he has hooked up with someone

Even though you both have never been intimate with each other, you immediately came to his mind when they asked

He tells them off, saying he hasn't been interested in it, because he was focused on training and 'didn't have time for distractions'

Thankfully they leave him alone after this yet he can’t help but feel like fate is going to be messing with him

Just one day later, when Tomas is taking the subway home, there is a person that looks just like you

The same color of hair, skin and scent that

When he look-a-like of you turns a bit to the side, Tomas can’t believe his eyes

It was you

You’re here

The same country, the same town, the same subway at the exact same time

He doesn’t hesitate to walk over to you

You’re just listening to your music with your headphones on your way home when a tall man makes his way over to you out of the corner of your eye

Stopping in front of you, you look up quickly and you can’t believe your eyes either

What is he doing here? Is that really the little dimple smiling boy who would always chase you with bugs and share his waffles with you?

My God what has he been eating that he’s this tall? He certainly didn’t have to grow this tall

You both can’t believe it and Tomas looks unsure as he looks at you

You have always been the one to initiate conversation first so you take the lead and Tomas goes along smoothly with it

Before the subway stops, you quickly exchange numbers and stay in contact after you depart

Catching up on the phone about each others lives, Tomas eventually builds up the courage to ask you out over face time while he’s making breakfast

Out of shock of you yelling excitedly, he drops his French toast but can’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline going through his body as he knows that fate gave him a second chance in trying to ask out his best friend and crush

Oriver Barnes #10

Barnes was stretching on the gym floor when he heard his three-year old daughter calling his name

She is a perfect mix of him and his divorced partner

Sigh

It's already been a year since your guys' divorce and Barnes has not been taking it well since day one

The two of you constantly fought over his busy schedule, about Barnes forgetting to pick up your daughter because training went on too long too many times

You finally had enough when your daughter had to stand in the rain, waiting for her father for over an hour, only to end up sick the next morning

Oriver and you fought so much, after that incident you finally had enough and you filed for divorce

Both of you settled for an agreement on when to take your daughter and now it's been going on for about a year now

The Middle Blocker tried to move on but he simply can't

He still loves you since the first time he laid eyes on you

When she hugs her father tight, he sees you walking over with slow steps, holding her Bluey backpack with a tight smile on your face

"Hey." You both say in sync

"What are you doing here? I thought she was staying with you this week." Barnes asks you, trying to make some small talk as your daughter uses him as a playground device

"I know, but she really wanted to come and see you. And I can't keep her from seeing her father."

Your daughter sees Tomas and runs to him, being the Godfather of her, leaving you and your ex-husband alone for a bit

Meian knows how much his teammate misses you, Oriver is constantly talking about you, has pictures of your daughter and still of you in his locker and looks completely heartbroken whenever he sees you leaving with your daughter after it was his turn to have her stay at his place

Oriver looks over at Meian and the ravenette gives a silent nod in return, keeping your guys' daughter occupied as planned

Oriver begins to stand up and you still shocked at the 6'7 height of the massive Opposite Hitter

He looks unsure into your direction, asking if he could talk to you in private

You are surprised and a little bit unsure to be honest but agree nonetheless

He takes you into the meeting room, whenever they talk about after game strategies

After the door is closed for some privacy, your former partner-for-life turns to look at you with a face full of sorrow

"Listen, I know this is extremely shit timing but please listen to what I have to say. I-I know it's already been almost a year, but every day is torture for me. I miss you by my side. Your smiles, your laughs. Just everything about you. Our daughter tells me that you cry almost every night and it breaks my heart, knowing that I can't be there to hold and comfort you.  I still call you 'My (Y/N)' because you are my everything. You are my light, and you've shown me more love than I've ever known. You have graced us with a beautiful, gorgeous, smart daughter. She takes after you in so many ways and I am reminded of what I should have fought harder for. I lost my other half, my soulmate. I feel like there is an empty hole inside my heart that can't be filled with something new. I need you, I want you back in my life. If you'll have me, please give us another chance."

By the time Oriver finished talking, you're both crying

You're taking fast steps towards the Wing Spiker and he doesn't hesitate to pull you into his strong arms

The dark-haired man rests his chin on top of your head, caressing your back while you're trying to control your sobs

Oriver comforts you by just holding you, caressing you and you realise how much you needed it, needed him

Maybe it was a rushed decision after all

You're both in there for a while, until Meian tells him that it's time to start the warm up because the game will start soon

Oriver and you both agree to take it slow, wanting to build up again what you used to have

But out of everyone, your daughter couldn't be happier

[cocoagenie]

[Credits to the person who made the gif]

Midnight snack? | Luffy x Black Fem [OPLA]

Luffy snuck to the kitchen late at night for another taste of your famous cinnamon n' apple dump cake, what he doesn't know is that a great fuss and tease is coming his way and you know just what to demand in order for luffy to get that late desert.

Flirting, mentions of reader having a dialect but the text is proper english, short fic

• ☆☆ •

Luffy couldn't sleep, so as always his inability to do so would be solved by a late night treat. The captain slung his legs over the hammock and threw his blanket off to hop down and stand on his own two feet. His form mirroring that of a person who had too many drinks.

Luffy wet his lips of their previous chap and made his way out the cabin to find the kitchen, the only thing on his mind being the dumpcake you baked this evening. It was by far the best desert he's ever tasted in his entire life. Doughy, soft, crunchy, sweet, and dripping with the nectar of apples and pineapples.

His feet padded quicker to the greed of his gut, it led him closer and closer, around the corner and down a few steps before he took the last turn. And when his eyes found a small lantern on the table with a plate of what he craved, Luffy thought it was a dream.

"Ohh yeahh.." he whispered, hands rubbing together as he thought nothing of the fact that it may belong to someone else, that is until a sound came from the pantry. He peaked around and saw a person closing the door. Draped in night themed pj's with a wrap around their head.

Luffy could tell from their ebony skin and soft humming that it was, "y/n?" You jumped and turned around so quickly with a hand to your chest. Coconut eyes blown wide at the sight of the young captain.

"Luffy, what are you doing up so damn late?!" You whispered yelled, western accent coming through thicker than usual. You walked toward him and then curved to sit back at the table, scooting your chair up as you gathered your fork to dig into your desert.

"Wait, that's your plate?"

"Uh, yeah?" You lifted up a warm peice of the cake to your mouth and chewed on it in delight. Eyes closing in content while moved your shoulders in a happy rhythm. Luffy took a seat and sat next to you.

"Let me get a bite.." he slightly pouted, eyes flickering between you and the desert.

"Oh.. this? This here?" You pointed at it with your fork, eyes glimmering in fake curiosity, he nodded and you smiled.

"No." You giggled and ate another peice as he dropped his shoulders. Brows furrowing hard.

"why!" You told him to quite down as you chewed and then swallowed.

"Because, you already had four peices tonight and at the rate it's dissapearing no one's going to have their seconds" you frowned, toungue running across your teeth as your eyes dropped back down to plate to get another peice.

"I can't help that I have a big appetite, my stomach doesn't hold food like yours.. its like.. this big!" you let his explanation go in one ear and out of the other as luffy stretched out his arms. The pirate sighed when you remained fixed but he didn't stop begging.

"Come on don't be stingy let me get a slice? Please y/n, please please please?—" He put his hands together as his chin was on your shoulder, begging right into your ear canal. You thought about it and let your silence torture him. To be truthful it was funny to see luffy so desperate like this and you didn't think you'd ever grant him his wish until he uttered this.

"Please, I'll do anything?" Luffy was a hundred thousand percent serious about this and finally you gave in, your fork clanking on the plate as you put it up and folded your hands.

"Ok.." he perked up, smile blooming on his lips and only stretching wider as you gave him your undivided attention.

"I'll give you something sweet, if you give me something sweet?" You smirked and luffy put his hands on his knees, smile not faltering as his eyes looked you up and down.

"Like what?"

"What do you think?" You smiled, settling your face on your hand and exposing your dimpled cheek. Now you were only joking and didn't expect anything short of his goofy antics but Luffy was quite puzzled.

"..... oh. oh! o-okay, if that's.. what you want?" He said with a nervous giddiness, you playfully closed your eyes as he leaned closer and closer to you, luffy didn't want you to feel it coming so he quickly pressed a kiss to your cheek and leaned back.

You snapped your eyes open and reluctantly looked at luffy who watched you very attentively, hands reaching for your fork and plate as you sputtered for words, he ate the dumpcake and continued staring at you.

Voice more quite than usual, " that's what you wanted right?" He said around the food in his mouth.

"I was joking." Luffy gulped the desert down and licked the cake crumbs from his mouth.

"Well then, forget I ever did that!?" He abruptly got up and rushed back to his cabin as your troubled expression started to crack into a shy one. Luffy just kissed you on the cheek for some homemade dump cake. Typical.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

@kikker-oma Happy birthday, my beloved frined! <3 Enjoy <3

Four hummed as he puzzled over the clues all around them. He, Hyrule, and Legend were trapped in a room with only their wits to get them out (or if they just asked the dungeon master, but there was no fun in that). It was a somewhat small space, but it was blessedly quiet, only with some gentle brain tickling music playing in the background. No beeping of monitors, no overthinking if something was going to be detrimental to someone's life. Just the thrill of puzzle solving with no repercussions if anything went wrong, and good company to boot.

The clues were obscure, to be sure. A clock with no pendulum and an upside down drawing of an elephant, a locked chest with three giant numbers, a table with a jewelry chest that had two drawings that could rotate, and three frames on the wall, one with a series of numbers, and the other two with symbols that resembled the Zora dialect, though Four wasn't entirely sure it was actually Zoran.

"There's an elephant on this chest, just like on the clock," Hyrule noted, immediately flipping the image of the elephant on the furniture to match the clock. That helped pop open the jewelry chest, which revealed the missing pendulum, but there was clearly more to be solved. Four eagerly added his own observations, how certain symbols had dots over them, which might indicate an order to a lock.

Legend, however, was silent.

"You notice anything, Ledge?" Four asked as he and Hyrule were stumped by the next step. "And, out of curiosity, is that actual Zoran on the wall? You understand their language, right?"

Legend glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, obviously distracted. "Hm?"

Four stared at him a moment. "The... the Zoran... are you okay?"

At the question, Hyrule immediately turned to face Legend fully, eyes analyzing him from head to toe, and then he relaxed a little, not finding any obvious sign of injury or illness. "Need another energy drink?"

"Another?" Four repeated. "You don't even work today!"

Legend huffed. "Still need them."

"Okay, but then what's wrong?" Four questioned again.

Legend shook his head. "Nothing. What part are we stuck on?"

Hyrule glanced between the nurses, a quiet resolve turning his face to stone, and then he looked back at the clock pendulum. "We need a code to get this out of the box. And Four was curious if the Zoran on the wall was legit."

Legend looked at the framed words and immediately shook his head. "Some of them are close, but it's just gibberish."

"How do you know Zoran anyway?" Four had been wondering about that, and maybe it would distract him.

"I've traveled a lot. Did an assignment in the Domain, picked up on some of it."

Well, at least Legend was talking now. Four wasn't quite sure what was up, but clearly something was. Maybe it was as simple as being tired; maybe Legend did need an energy drink. But still...

The trio got through yet another clue, managing to get the pendulum back on the clock, but were still puzzling over the the locked cabinet which held the key they would need to escape the room. Four found his stamina draining as he had been working all day, but Hyrule was poring over every item in the room, stubborn as ever to figure this out.

And Legend had zoned out again.

"Ledge... are you sure you're okay?" Four asked quietly, trying not to attract Hyrule's attention and put his friend on the spot. That was usually the quickest way to get Legend to deflect, after all.

"I'm tired, okay?" Legend fired back a little snippily. "Just tired."

"Let's get coffee afterward," Four offered.

Legend huffed good naturedly. "That isn't gonna cover it."

"Got it!" Hyrule shouted as he opened the cabinet. The key inside barely had an instant to glisten in the light before Hyrule snatched it and opened the door to the exit. He smirked at Legend. "Guess we'd better get that coffee, then."

The emergency nurse rolled his eyes.

The trio settled at a café nearby just as it started to rain, and between the water droplets sliding down the window and the dim, calm lighting of the room, Four nearly nodded off before he could drink his coffee. Hyrule sipped happily at his hot chocolate while Legend stared outside, his triple espresso sitting forgotten on the table.

"Does this have to do with the trauma patient?" Four finally asked, trying to confirm his suspicions. He himself hadn't taken care of the patient, but Legend clearly had since he'd asked about the outcome earlier in the evening.

Legend took a slow, weary breath, and turned his attention to his drink. "Shit happens. I'm just tired."

Yep. That was what this was about.

Four wasn't entirely sure how to address this issue. He'd been a nurse for a year now, and though he'd had a few patients die, he himself was still figuring out ways of handling it. He remembered when Sky had checked up on him after that one awful slew of shifts, how everyone had trickled through, stopping by his place, bringing him food, letting him rest and talk and cry and do whatever he needed. Four had felt well supported and loved, and he'd been eternally grateful for it.

But the weariness Legend showed, the shield of indifference he put up... it wasn't how Four coped. So Four wasn't sure what to do. He glanced uncertainly at Hyrule, who was watching Legend in silence. His paramedic friend could be equally distant, though not so cold. Four found himself wishing Dot or Sky or Malon or Twilight were here. They were much better at this.

"It sucks," Four acknowledged, feeling like that woefully underplayed it but not sure what else to say.

Legend looked at him a moment, and Four wanted to melt into the bench, but then the travel nurse smiled. He bit his lip, his gaze dropping back to his espresso, and he muttered, "Yeah. It does."

That was all the conversation Four could drag out of him, but when Hyrule started to talk about some funny stories from the ambulance, Legend followed along with calmer energy. Four gave in to the conversation, tossing jokes and inane topics back and forth, and Legend eventually started to chime in a little. By the time the three were preparing to leave, the atmosphere seemed less tense overall. Four offered to give Hyrule a ride home, but Hyrule said he could walk from there, and the three all parted ways.

Four hoped that somehow he had helped. The smile on Legend's face seemed to indicate as such, at least.

[dark-elf-writes]

What is your idea so I may be an enabler? Because I love your ideas.

Well I’m now thinking of two ideas because you said KHR and my brain went feral but the one I was originally thinking of:

Soulmate AU again. Harry has a soul mark he can’t read, that no one around him can read actually, and he has all but given up hope on finding whoever it is because no translation spells work on them (the closest he Ron and Hermione - who were lucky enough to have each other as their soulmates and Harry is so happy for them even if it sometimes aches that they get to have a family and a soul mate and he… doesn’t - are Norse runes but even those don’t match exactly. Hermione thinks it’s a different dialect or possibly the root language but that can’t be right… can it?) but with everything going on at Hogwarts he is more busy just trying to survive rather than try to find who is supposed to be his soulmate.

Then his name comes out of the goblet.

Then he gets cornered in a cramped room with so many angry adults yelling at him and the older students being the only people who are even trying to stand up for him and then someone is grabbing his shoulders too tightly and it hurts and he thinks he hears Uncle Vernon and —

Every piece of glass in the room explodes at the same time as the night outside is lit up in a blinding array of rainbow light.

Before anyone can figure out what the hell is happening two men just appear in the room brandishing weapons and magic making them step back from Harry. One of the men with dark hair and startlingly green eyes moves in from of Harry, speaking low and soft, coaxing him out of his panic with gentle words and which that doesn’t work swirling bits of magic to distract and center the boy. The other, blond with the scent of ozone hanging heavily around him even as a storm kicks up outside, places himself between the two and the rest of the room watching. Protecting.

Harry comes back to bright green eyes and magic that feels like home more than anything else ever has. He comes back to an Asgardian kneeling in front of him with another protecting him. He comes back to his soulmate who felt his need and came running with his brother in tow.

Like its obviously platonic at least until Harry is older but the amount of chaos Loki and Thor would bring to the triwizard tournament would be ✨unmatched✨