#Second something went wrong. The fact he's still supposed to take care of kids and maintain the whole place while running 24/7 in bright

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay on the topic of crack treated seriously crossover isekai with mdzs, I've been batting about the daycare attendant from fnaf getting reborn into... Someone.

My first thought was obviously wwx, cuz main character, excellent wild card. I considered lxc, all smiley with a heavy heart and too much responsibility trying to care for everyone even as it ruins him. I considered NHS or jgy for that manic rodent customer service energy, I considered xy for his demonic cultivation and intensity, even jyl if you really wanted to lean into the crack energy, and also Moon snapping would be Excellent crouching tiger energy.

I also considered jc.

The thing about the robot DA, if you don't know,

Half is Sun, a frustrated, overworked, sarcastic mf dealing with his alter ai going insane and trying to kill/kidnap the kids they protect. He's anxiety riddled, pithy to adults, a bit of a control freak trying to scrabble together a semblance of balance in a steadily collapsing situation while trying to maintain himself while being terminally neglected. His sanity is hanging by a thread.

Its alternate, Moon, appears whenever it's naptime - ie, when the lights go out. Moon is an uncanny security guard of the pizza plex (imagine a giant themed mall slash party venue that fails basically every osha compliance) that acrobatically hunts down anything that moves when the other animatronics (basically tortured androids let's be real) are in recharge. Moon is corrupted by a semi computer semi haunted magic virus that makes him evil. Sun is left the responsibility of keeping it locked up in his head by never, ever, resting, or by being in the dark.

By the end of the games, sun and moon, the DA, is a shell of his former self. Despite being a multi million investment as a highly marketed, one of a kind animatronic with a worryingly lifelike ai (or two), the DA is abandoned by its creators and left to rot in the slowly crumbling ruins of the daycare, along with the half destroyed and monstrous forms of its fellow animatronics who aimlessly, sightlessly roam the halls. Sun is huddled in the last beam of light from a jacked generator, and when that finally dies moon is reduced to little more than a manmade beast in the dark as they too slowly run out of power, their powerful battery long stolen and grafted into someone else. Their kingdom boarded up and half destroyed, their own private apocalypse they cannot escape, the DA begs the next person he sees for a total reboot. The combined personality, eclipse, is a gentle and naive thing unable to perceive the reality of its situation. Until it runs out of power, it will be placid and calm, lost in its illusion of the past. It is, essentially, requested euthanasia. It's the kindest send off anything else in the pizza plex gets.

So, a snarky, bitchy guy with huge abandonment issues sick of trying to corral unruly kids without reward, constantly overlooked and frankly neglected in favour of the more successful and popular siblings, with deep rooted trauma about losing his core, too much responsibility and no support, desperately trying to keep himself from lashing out and causing irreparable damage and kinda failing? Who just wants to play stupid games and stop having to shoulder everything himself? Fiercely protective of children but also not immune to pettiness?

Yeah, at that point it's not even a question. Let's give jc an identity disorder and a crippling fear of water.

[heartmix]

Injury Prone - Andrei Svechnikov

Pairing: Andrei Svechnikov x wife!reader

Word Count: 500+

Warning: Child injury, didn't care to proofread that much

A/N: I love this man so much. He and Freddie are why I love the canes to much.

Masterlist / Hockey Masterlist

"You know you're never going to hear the end of this right." You glared at your husband who slumped more into his seat, feeling the harsh glare you were throwing him.

Your son was at that age where he wanted to do everything his father was doing. Skating was the start of it. Turns out he had his father's skills because in no time he was skating with ease. The newest fixation was golf. Andrei constantly went golfing now that it was the off-season. It was only a matter of time before the mini version of him wanted to try golf also. 

Golf was supposed to be the way safer option which is why you weren't worried about an all-day boys trip. Unluckily for the boys, the need to impress the 5-year-old was a priority during the trip. That top priority resulted in your son falling out of the golf cart while being taken on a joy ride up and down the hills of the course. 

Normally a fall would have no effect on the little boy. The amount of times he's fallen while learning to skate and then getting back up one would think he wasn't human. That boy has been injuring himself since he could crawl. But when you saw the way he was favoring his arm when he got back home you knew something was wrong. 

"Oh come on, did you see how excited he was to get an x-ray? Little dude is charming all the nurses and his doctor in there." Andrei tried to make you feel better, feel less angry but it didn't help. No one liked sitting in the hospital waiting room waiting for their child to get out of the x-ray room. 

"I knew I shouldn't of had a kid with a hockey player." You grumbled making him groan. He knew that was a joke and that your grumbling was second nature, but he couldn't help but feel super guilty.

"Mr. and Mrs. Svechnikov?" The doctor called out to the both of you as you rushed ready to hear whatever news it was. 

"Well, the x-rays came back clean. Nothing is broken. He just sprained it pretty badly, but other than that he is okay. We put a sling on him and we recommend to leave it on for a few days. After that, you can take him out of it. If it still feels a bit sore you can easily put him back in the sling. We also will be sending you home with some pain medicine if it gets hard to sleep at night."

"Thank you very much Dr. Johnson." 

"My pleasure. I'll have the nurse get the discharge papers ready. He's back in the room waiting for you both. Have a good day." The doctor bid a farewell as you felt a sigh leaving Andrei. Of course for the fact that his son was perfectly fine (he knew that already) but for the fact that his wife wasn't going to kill him.

"You too doctor."

"See, our baby boy is perfectly fine." He smiled down at his wife whose glare didn't drop for a second. 

"You're still sleeping on the couch. Not even the spare bedroom."

"Are you serious?"

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

BNHA 430: This wasn’t very “My Hero Academia” of you I’ll be honest—

Okay, where do I begin? Uh. So the story reached its conclusion. Congratulations, and all the best to Horikoshi-san for telling the story he wanted to tell for ten years, loved the characters, the little world he created after the cancellation of his previous works, I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

... but in my opinion: the last seven chapters were so bad- I don't think I can see this ending as anything other than a contradiction of what we were shown. Like, I thought we'd get a twist, everyone would be fine, something would change. I'm wearing the clown shoes already.

So, I'm just gonna treat this as a normal chapter, and not a final one, because I'll be here for days if I open this can of worms, which, I will not lie, is very bad (I'll open it at some point, not now.) I'm posting this on the.. 6th? Because apparently there's an announcement in the 5th and I don't wanna spoil the fun.

So, uh, under the read more are my thoughts on the ending, be warned I'm very, very negative about it.

*sigh* Oh boi, how killing the League made this go from an "underwhelming" to a "tone-deaf" chapter- I mean. Jesus fuck, leaving things open-ended don't erase the fact they can't make a single appearence to prove me wrong. And if they were alive, the last five chapters (and eight years!) were a waste of emotions and keeping them hidden was a stupidly cruel move.

Funny, the narration is "people aren't equal but it's because of these differences that people find common ground to get along"- THE VILLAINS WERE KILLED OFF FOR BEING DIFFERENT BRO WHAT DO YOU MEAN- "if lending a hand and caring is being a hero then we all became the greatest heroes". Izuku, whatever you're drinking, I'm taking it and drinking it all by myself. You may have cared (which I can't even say for certain anymore). But Tenko died. On accident. Because you gave him OFA.

I liked the "Midoriya-Sensei" part. For 5 seconds. It's fitting, he loves learning stuff, he's good with kids... until you say "it's only because his embers are gone". Then why use it as a tease for seven chapters only to just get rid of them at the end? Is running to Ochako really the last we get to see him use it? Not even as a part-time hero? (not that it matters at the end-)

Ragdoll works with the WWP, Tsukuachi was head strategist in the final battle, Hawks is the (H)PSC president, Aizawa is Aizawa. Why wasn't Izuku hired at an agency? Intelligence was a huge part of his character, yet the moment he was fully Quirkless again, he had to leave? Men truly aren't created equal...

"Cursed power", "blessing", "special" — the only thing special about OFA was being haunted by a guy whose brother was insane enough to hunt it down for generations. A Quirk's a Quirk; having multiple people/powers in one body isn’t special, Tokoyami and Shoto exist. Izuku was supposed to make it special using it on his terms. But I guess "meant to save, not kill" was a lie, as eight out of ten people who had it died. Nine out of eleven, counting BNHA: HR. Tenko died because his body couldn't handle the Quirk, but I guess Izuku isn't gonna think about any of it? Katsuki was right, I guess. OFA is a curse.

Spinner wrote a book (not a comic, guess he took offense to Izuku. Fair, actually). Mr. Compress got a panel, but no real mention of the LoV? They broke the status quo for months (in-universe), and after all of that, nothing changes? Did Spinner know about Tenko, how he became Tomura? And the people who will read it and pull an MLA? TomurAFO had followers, now he's martyr a lá Re-Destro. I’m hoping Spinner didn’t commit suicide like Destro did.

Ochako’s expanding Quirk Counseling. Reform’s implied (it only said expansion), but Himiko still became what Curious wanted her to be: A cautionary tale. And I’m still asking how Ochako knows Himiko what went through, she only told Ochako she was hated because of her Quirk and how she loves. I wanna think she’s reforming it, but nothing else changed, why should I think she’s the exception? She might literally just think Himiko didn't get help, that's a cruel irony.

(At least she's seen as a hero on her rights… even if it took 429 chapters, messy writing, her face looking like rubber, and still being a girl recognized as a "caretaker", not a kickass hero).

Shoji's travelling through Japan to solve discrimination and got a prize for it. No foundations or mentions of Spinner being the main reason he did it, just "standing atop those who rose up eight years ago", just solving it peacefully, you sure are, buddy. Like, I'm sure you are being successful but how exactly are you solving this? I mean, you "solved" the hospital fight by fighting Spinner with Koda- Oh wait, time constraints, we can't elaborate how. I'm rolling my eyes

Shirakumo showed the noumu state could've been reversed, yet Katsuki, who never killed someone aside from AFO (and that guy was gonna die anyway), fatally exploded him. I hoped it was a misunderstood panel but no. He died because he wanted to save Tenko. Even fucking Gran Torino was alive by the end of this. Why.

I think Shoto is the only main character I’m not really having a problem with (Ochako's ending required Himiko for it to feel somewhat complete. Sorry, Ochako). I’m weirded out that they mentioned the billboard using the guy whose life was ruined by it as an example, but other than that, he’s doing fine. Wish we saw him talking to his siblings though. But alas. No mention of Fuyumi and Natsuo. And Rei's with Endeavor. Fuck I take it back Todofam still deserved better.

Inko got so sidelined when Mitsuki and Masaru were in 424 for half a chapter, by the way. Just one panel for her, the protagonist's mother.

Schedules not aligning is one thing (I get it, my friends and I can't align ours anymore), but Class A not opening an agency together? They survived the same two wars. And you're telling me they wouldn't say "WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER AND TAKING MIDORIYA WITH US"? Also, where’s the "world where heroes have time to spare" when they look so busy? Were they understaffed or working as celebrities? (if someone says it was for the suit I will point out to the three nepo babies of Class A + Momo's Quirk, Katsuki’s a dumbass if he forgot that detail).

We wasted pages on a kid that can throw plates from his hair. To tell him he can be a hero. Coming from the guy who had to stop working as a hero when he lost OFA. I'm not taking this parallel seriously.

I wish Izuku wasn't in "everything’s fine" mode until the end. We're really gonna leave him at "implied" mode, not confirm if his mental state's fine? Being open and emotional was an appealing part of him and now we just get “Yeah that’s just how it is”.

This one's petty and irrational, I know, but since I'm letting some of the steam out: I hate Izuku's new design; face scars (the constant "HE FAILED" reminder makes my eye twitch and I wish that was a joke, but also so many characters in BNHA got face scars, it doesn't even stand out), "perfect tie", normal formal attire- where's the character highlights? The things that make Izuku stand out?

But hey: He gets to be a hero again! Not with skills, heart, intelligence, strength, in spite of Quirklessness. No, he has an Iron Man suit! That Class A paid billions for. The government should be paying the child soldiers- sorry, Class A and B (and Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu) instead, but all they get is a pat on the back. If the suit breaks down, hurts or kills him while in it? I'll laugh (Hatsume and Melissa worked on it? Oh it's gonna happen, I'm hoping). And Toshinori, what happened to him, did he hit his head when he landed on that building!?

Went from: Smiles cover his fear and reassure people, believed saving is about saving body and soul, wanted to help Tenko, only didn't because Gran Torino said it wasn't a good idea. Disliked people were being heroes for fame and not because it's the right thing to do, only used support items as reinforcement and a precaution, never as a full solution, even Iron Might was so he’d have a chance to fight, not a solution.

To: If Tenko died smiling, it wasn't resignation, he was saved, even though he died. Didn't care AFO killed the Shimura - his mentor's - bloodline. Is fine with the billboards existing, even though it caused things like the Todoroki plotline. Now he's giving Izuku a suit, when the last time he did it himself, it didn't save him and his spine was almost snapped? Dude, what?

Also full disclosure, I thought he was paralyzed, but I guess he just had a bad back. Let's not discuss the trauma of almost being snapped in half and feeling your bones break so bad you set a record of how many screws were used, I guess.

... I hated BKDK's conclusion. It's actually so laughable how much I hate it. If it had another outcome, I'd probably be overjoyed as a shipper. But look at this mess:

Thematically, Tenko wasn't rescued, it wasn't a perfect victory because AFO still got away with what he did to him. Save to win, win to save were just nice words. "The End of an Era and The Beginning"? Nothing changed in the world they live in, and they don't stand out among other heroes (these are AM’s successors. And they aren't even important. How.) What new era is this, really?

Their resolutions, relationship rebuild? Offscreen, but Katsuki was the one with the Iron Man suit idea for Izuku and apparently that compensates for it. Because he’s the one who can solve all of Izuku’s problems now, not motivate him to be better anymore. It wasn’t even Izuku’s idea, it was Class A, and sure it’s a nice (condescending) gesture. We’ve seen Toshinori barely come out alive even with one. That's a support item for a reckless little shit who will get himself killed.

Izuku barely batted an eye to any of the things he went through - losing his arms and/or OFA? Seeing Spinner's breakdown? Lady Nagant!? Katsuki or Tenko dying because of Izuku and OFA!? SOME INTROSPECTION?! IT’S BEEN OVER 100 CHAPTERS SINCE YOU’VE BEEN THE EMOTIONAL MC—

Katsuki's insecurities were pointless by the way! Izuku's empathy and heart never mattered, a Quirk was more important to be a hero in the end. BULLIED HIM FOR NOTHING BUDDY- like. Shouldn't have done it at all, but now his character development means nothing because his previous beliefs were the right ones. Changing for the better was pointless. Like Twice's death. Or Katsuki’s own death, since “Control Your Heart” meant nothing as well.

Izuku still remembers Tenko, but has he done anything about it? No one wants to remember him, Himiko or Touya. Spinner's book won't be taken seriously except for Tenko's followers, Mr. Compress was sidelined, Twice's death was pointless. They didn't change society, they've returned to the status quo. Pointless as Izuku losing his arms.

That fucking suit- Wow, he really couldn't be a Quirkless hero, the casual rivalry was just erased for an easy way out of their consequences, there's no catching up because Katsuki paid for Izuku a way to be a hero. Izuku doesn't get there because he still believes Quirks make a hero. This isn't heartwarming or romantic or whatever, Katsuki just proved he also didn't believe Izuku in the end.

And it ends with Izuku seeing Tenko's... Ghost? Hallucination? Vestige? I guess we’ll never know, because Izuku’s following his dreams again! Let's ignore he's doing this during class hours and he definitely should be in UA but who cares, he probably quit, we'll never know. Aside for the BKDK/DKBK fics, being a teacher was clearly a inferior choice for him and he can't do both ignore Aizawa and Present Mic look at him being the world's greatest hero!

It just took 1 year of trauma, scars, following on his mentor's mistakes, losing the thing that "actually" made him be a hero, having the first (Katsuki) and the last (Tenko) people he tried to save dying because of his existence (one literally by his hands), proving anyone can be one! By ignoring the guilt of those you failed, give hands and sparing your thoughts, having superpowers and/or connections who'll give you a suit! And if they still "act out"? Then they deserved death no matter the valid points they've had and you gotta play jury judge executioner. Unless they decide to be quiet like a good entitled citizen.

Fuck this shit I swear- You could’ve had a BKDK proposal with a double spread handhold, and I'd still think Izuku's ending isn't earned. His "happy ending"— actually. BKDK crumbs are the fandom's consolation prize for this ending. I feel cheated out my OTP (like. I'm shipping the version of them in my head, not the canon one 412-onwards because it got worse from there-)

A story about hope bent itself over to give the protagonist an unearned happy ending, when it said it was for every character who wants to connect to that hope, who wants to give that hope. Izuku went from "wanting to be a beacon of hope and save people" to "talk about beacons of hope, but in the end, others are doing this better than you. You had none of the willpower to be one." He's not hope or unity. Act 3!Izuku is just a plot device, I feel nothing for his ending other than irritation, and I hate it because he was my favourite character. Lol, a very useless one in the end.

So. Yeah, those are my thoughts about the ending. I think. I don't know if these are all of them. I feel horrible about hating it, but I've sat on this chapter for days and right now, not a lot can make me like it, especially with the timeskip, which made this "open ending" a rushed and incomplete mess. If you disagree with me, honestly, that is very fair. I'm glad for you if you liked the ending. I'm just disappointed, and wanted to share my opinions. (and I do have more stuff to say about it but I think I've been negative enough)

But for the weeks I spent hoping this wouldn't slap a classic shonen ending in this catasthrophic mess and for making me feel like a dumbass after what we got in the end: Everything after 410 that isn't 421 and 422 is non-existent to me, this epilogue was a freaking waste.

Thank you for reading.

(EDIT.: Fixed some spelling mistakes and added a few more things because I can keep going on how bad this ending is. Also to clear stuff up: I am still a BKDK shipper. But only until 412, anything after that? Yeah, no, keep that shit away from me lol.)

[spacesapphi]

"Moving Forward, Spiraling Downward Chapter 8- Reset, Restart, Recover"

Sorry for making you guys wait so long for this! It's been a wild time between my jobs and life in general. This is a more mild chapter compared to the last two we've gotten, but I think we needed something small and nice to establish a new setting and characters! As always, thank you guys so much for your support :)

CWs include brief talks of death

Summary: The first day back in Pelican Town is eventful for sure. All Shane wants to do is curl up in bed and rot, but there's so much to do, people to meet, connections to make. After setting up a surprise for Jas, getting a new job, and meeting a future friend, Shane finds he has his own surprise waiting, one that cements the fact that he's truly home.

AO3 Version Here

Tumblr version below the cut!

If Shane had expected any rest or relaxation the next day, he would’ve been sorely mistaken. All he wanted to do was sleep, rid himself of his exhaustion and recoup from the second worst day of his life, but that wouldn’t come to be. There was so much to do, so much to get in order now that he was back in town. No matter how terribly he was doing, the world kept turning, and he needed to move with it. 

The morning had gone by as such a blur, so much happening all at once that he could hardly even remember the details. It was only vague flashes now. Waking up, taking care of the animals, seeing Jas get so excited to be back, eating breakfast, and sending her off for her first day of classes with Penny. He felt so disconnected from reality, like he was having some sort of out-of-body experience the entire morning. He needed a moment, at least a moment, to sit and process it all. So there he sat atop a bale in Marnie’s coop, curled against the corner of the building with a chick in his palms, staring blankly at his hands.

Being in the coop always helped him feel better as a kid. One could often find him holed away in its walls on a bad day, much preferring the company of chickens to people. But it did little to ease him now. Everything was just so heavy on his shoulders, feeling like they would shatter from the pressure. Wasn’t everything supposed to be okay now? Wasn’t he supposed to be happy, thriving even? Why couldn’t he do it? Life would be better now, his future would be better now. So why couldn’t he be happy? Everyone else made it look so easy to get back up on their feet after hitting rock bottom. It made him feel like there was something wrong with him, like he was born with a missing piece he so desperately needed.

“Figured I’d find you in here.”

He could hear Marnie's soft footsteps entering the coop, the touch of her hand on his shoulder, “How are you holding up? You didn’t look so good at breakfast.” 

Shane just shook his head, closing his eyes tight, “Miserable. I should be happy now, right? Everythin’ is okay now, it’s safe. But I’m just-” he cut himself off, exhaling in a frustrated, grumbly tone.

“These things take time, you know that,” Marnie assured, taking a seat next to him on the bale, “You can’t expect yourself to recover overnight, especially with all you told me…”

“But I need to.” he sighed, exasperated and weary, “For Jas especially… I don’t know what’s wrong with me… Everythin's okay now but I still feel awful,”

“I wish you listened to me from the beginning,” Marnie sighed, “You should’ve come home years ago, Shane…”

Shane didn’t respond, averting his eyes from her. He was just so tired, he didn’t have the energy to continue rehashing this debate that always went nowhere. He wished he could forget it all, or that he’d wake up any minute and the past few years would’ve been some fucked up nightmare. But this was reality, as depressing as it was. All he wanted to do was curl up under the covers and rot away. But Marnie wasn’t going to let him. She knew from experience that all it did was make things worse. She needed to break him out of this, one way or another.

“You know… why don’t we set up a room for Jas? It can be a little surprise when she gets back!” she mused, “I think she’d like that,”

“She’d love it.” Shane whispered. 

“Besides, it’ll get your mind off things for a bit, right?” Marnie asked, “I think you could use a distraction,”

“... I guess. Sure.”

Marnie had to all but drag him up off the bale, giving him a moment to set down the chick before they got going. She took a careful look at him, frowning at the sight. He looked so sullen, a husk of himself, even in one of his favorite places on the ranch. She hated seeing him like this, and wished it could be all better now, just as he did. But healing took time, and she knew that well. Today wouldn’t fix anything, but it could be that first step forward. She was going to make sure of it. She patted him on the shoulder, speaking softly, “Come on, now,”

As the two began to walk to the main house, Marnie caught a glimpse of the chick trying to follow them out, staying close next to Shane’s feet the entire time they walked. It refused to leave his side, looking up at him almost in a state of wonder. A little laugh escaped Marnie, “I think you made a good impression on little Charlie already!”

“Charlie?” 

“Cute, isn’t it?” Marnie smiled.

 “A little silly for a chicken, but yeah…” he smiled a bit, “That’s cute,”

Shane looked down, watching as Charlie circled around him, little excited peeps ringing out through the coop. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched the little chick run around, so happy and carefree. What a wonderful thing it must be to be one, to have no worries, no fears. 

Marnie was already well into the house, the door shut behind her to avoid risking any of the chickens running inside. They could be such little escape artists, the troublemakers they were. It seemed Charlie was just the same, intent on following her newfound friend inside. Shane stooped down for just a minute, whispering softly, “I’ll come back later, okay? I’ll bring sweet corn too. Promise,” That seemed to get the little one to calm down, finally sitting still in one spot and watching patiently as he walked through the door, finding his way over to Marnie.

“I couldn’t have both of you just staying in the guest room, it wouldn’t be right,” Marnie stated, opening the door to the space connected to the living room, “What kind of aunt would I be if I treated you just as a guest?”

Shane peeked his head in, immediately inhaling a cloud of dust that swirled inside and hacking up a lung. The room had once been a beautiful bedroom, bright paint on the walls and fancy decorations filling its space. But over the decades it had slowly been transformed to be used as storage, full of hay bales, barrels, lumber, and all sorts of tools. The walls were dull and dust-coated now, rendering it unrecognizable from its original state.

Marnie stepped in, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around the room, making mental notes of everything they could do to spruce it up, “It’ll take some work, but we can get it done before she’s back!”

“Where are we gonna put all this though?” Shane questioned, motioning to the piles and piles of stock. Marnie shrugged, “Living room, I suppose… Not many other spots, are there?”

“You’re gonna put hay by the fireplace? Is that safe?” Shane questioned, looking just a bit uneasy, “And what about the furniture?”

“Oh, we’ll figure it out later,” Marnie stooped down to grab a bale, hoisting it high as she could with a grunt, “Now are you going to help, or just stand there and ask questions?”

Shane rushed over, grabbing the heavy bale from her arms and pulling it through the door himself, feeling his arms strain at the weight, “You’re going to hurt yourself, aendi, let me do it,” he scolded. Marnie just rolled her eyes, giving him a wry smile as she snatched up another bale, “Oh please, I can handle myself. I’m old, not helpless.”

The two spent hours lugging everything out, dragging furniture into Jas’ new room, and cleaning the place thoroughly. It seemed like everytime they thought they were done, a new layer of dust would come to coat the walls again, erasing their progress. It was a struggle, but eventually the two of them had every surface bright and shining, the pink paint on the walls finally visible once more. The room was barebones now to be sure, filled with merely the most basic furniture, but it was a perfect template to build a space Jas would lose her mind over.

But with all that heavy lifting, Shane was already feeling incredibly spent. He was sitting on the floor, leaning his back against a barrel as he caught his breath. Oh, he hated this. He remembered back to his varsity days, how he could go through hours of grueling training and still have the energy for a fun night out on the town. What happened to him? He felt like such a weak old man now, something he shouldn’t be feeling at merely 30, especially when his aunt was still flitting about with a spring in her step. She noticed him sprawled out, a concerned look growing on her face as she stooped to his level, “Are you okay, schatz? You don’t look so good…”

He nodded quickly, waving it off, “Just tired… dunno what my problem is..”

“You’ve had a difficult few days, it’s understandable,” Marnie assured, “But once you’re ready, I could use your help in the attic. I have something up there that I think Jas would love.”

Shane furrowed his brow, forcing himself up, “Like what?”

He followed Marnie upstairs, finding the attic to somehow be impossibly dustier than the storage room, a thick cloud of it billowing in the air as Marnie opened the trap door. She waved it away from her face, stepping cautiously over the floorboards to a large tarped item in the corner. Removing it in one quick flick, she revealed a fancy old dollhouse sporting a bright purple roof. Tiny porcelain dolls sat atop the wooden furniture, posed as if they were stuck in time since they’d last been played with.

“I’ve kept just about everything of our family’s.” Marnie mused, “This was me and your mother’s, from when we were Jas’ age! It’s old, I know, but she’d like it right?”

“Yeah!.. But.. ” Shane took a moment to look around the room, seeing bins and boxes stacked all the way to the roof, “Why’s there so much up here? It’s… a lot.” Marnie was right, just about every item this family had owned had to be up here in the attic. It was a miracle the ceiling hadn’t caved through already, honestly. 

Marnie just shrugged, “You know I’m sentimental… It’s hard to get rid of memories when it’s all you have left,” 

Shane nodded in response, knowing all too well what that felt like. There was a silence between them for a moment, solemn and tense, before Marnie clasped her hands together, “Well… no use in dwelling on it right now. Let’s get this to her room,”

The two of them hauled the antique down the stairs and began filing in Jas’ belongings, watching as the barebones room slowly transformed into one any child would be jealous of. A closet full of adorable clothes, a canopy over the bed, shelves full of toys and dolls, and the grand dollhouse sitting against the back wall.

It was time for just the finishing touches now, Shane carefully arranging Jas’ plushes at the foot of the bed, trying to remember the way she liked to keep them organized. She was insistent that certain ones needed to be sat together or else they’d get sad, and he could only hope he remembered the right arrangements. 

Eventually it was ready, set up perfectly, and just in time! Shane felt a faint smile creep up on his face, one sourced from a sense of pride and accomplishment. After so long, Jas finally had a space just for her. Hell, the room was almost as big as the old apartment on its own. She deserved it though, truly. After all she’d gone through, all she put up with, she deserved to have something nice like this. 

“Do you think she’ll like how it looks?” Marnie questioned, looking nervously around the room, “I haven’t seen her in so long, I’m not sure what she’d like…”

“If it’s got anythin’ cute and fluffy, Jas loves it,” Shane assured, giving her a smile, “She’ll be so happy when she sees this… Thank you, for everything.”

Marnie wrapped an arm around his shoulder, holding him close, “Oh don’t you mention it… I’m just glad I could finally do this! You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this.”

“Yeah…” Shane trailed off. He looked up to the clock, seeing just how much time had passed since they started. It was well into the afternoon, just about the time he’d normally be picking up Jas from her old school, “You think I should go get Jas yet?”

“You still have some time,” Marnie thought for a moment, “Oh, maybe you can stop at Joja first, speak to the manager about the stockboy job! You remember what I told you to say, right?”

“I’ve been working with you for a few years now and they can call to verify,” he repeated, “I remember,”

“Good! Best of luck to you, schatz,” Marnie quickly fixed his hair, looking him up and down to make sure he was presentable, and walked him to the door. She felt just a bit anxious doing so, watching him intently as he walked into town. Part of her wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t just run off again, that he wouldn’t grab Jas and leave to Yoba knows where, cutting off contact yet again. Deep down she knew it was a silly fear, that he was here to stay and that was final. They just spent the entire day setting up a living space for Jas, after all. 

But she couldn’t shake the feeling even still. None of this felt real, or permanent. All night she had been checking the guest room, almost obsessively so, to make sure he wouldn’t run off again. Everytime she twisted open that door knob she was afraid she’d walk into an empty room yet again, and part of her feared she wouldn’t watch him and Jas walk back through that door today. She refused to leave the doorway until she was certain he was well into town, her fears just mildly calmed.

Shane wished he had better clothes to wear for this. Marnie had always harped on the importance of dressing well for an interview, or for anything to do with a job. A first impression was everything, after all! But the nicest thing he had now was an ill-fitting sweater and some black jeans, a pair of scuffed sneakers as his only footwear. He looked a mess, he knew that, but it was the best he could do for now, at least until he had a little cash to his name. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he kept his head down as he walked through town. He desperately hoped no one would pay him much attention, that he would be able to reach the store with little interruption. He was already feeling irritable, he didn’t need anything else to make it worse. 

As he trudged on, he passed the little blue house by the river, the one belonging to that sweet old couple in town who’d been living there as far back as he could remember. There was some tall young man he didn’t recognize standing outside, fumbling around with a gridball as he leaned against the wall, trying his best to look cool. He donned a bright green and yellow varsity jacket, one he recognized well as the one belonging to the local highschool’s team. After all, he had one just like it tucked away somewhere in storage. 

It was a good thing Shane didn’t recognize him. If they didn’t know each other, the less likely it was for him to be stopped, to be bothered. Unluckily, the man did recognize him. He couldn’t exactly place it just yet, but he just felt it, he knew Shane from somewhere. He racked his brain, watching as Shane lumbered further and further away, until it finally clicked. 

“Are you Shane Yoder?!”

Dammit.

Shane stopped in his tracks, looking back towards the young man with utter confusion, “Do I know you?”

“No, but I know you!” the young man was beaming, looking absolutely starstruck, “Man, I heard all about how you were on the field in highschool! The first guy from the valley to get a full-ride gridball scholarship for ZCU too, you were awesome!”

“I… I have to-”

“I just wanted to say I’m a big fan, huge fan actually! I really looked up to you!” he held out his hand expecting a handshake, a huge grin on his face, “I’m Alex, by the way! Alex Mullner. I’m gonna go pro too!”

Shane pursed his lips, looking very disconcerted. On one hand, he didn’t want to be an asshole to this kid, especially after all the praise that had been showered on him. On the other, he really didn’t want to be thinking about his gridball era right now. He tried his best to be kind, awkwardly shaking his hand and turning back towards the river. Jojamart was just over the bridge, he was so close. 

“Man, I watched all of the ZCU Hawks games in middle school, you guys were amazing,” Alex mused, “You and that team captain, just…. Wow… I can’t believe you’re back here, thought you both would go pro! Do you still talk to him?”

“… No.”

“How come?”

“I don’t think that’s your business, is it?” Shane snapped, shooting him a glare. Alex looked shocked, hurt even, stepping back cautiously, “Oh… sorry, I- sorry,” he sheepishly walked backwards, holding up his hands defensively and entering his house without another word. Shane was left on his lonesome in the yard, instantly feeling sorry for himself. 

“Yoba, I’m a fucking asshole,” he thought to himself, once again lumbering towards Jojamart. He had to break that habit, getting defensive over the littlest things, especially when someone didn’t even intend to upset him. He could be so quick to anger, another vice of his that he was well aware of. It wasn’t that kid’s fault, Shane knew. How the hell was Alex supposed to know Jay was dead? He just asked a simple question, a question aimed towards someone he looked up to. 

Huh. The thought was funny to him, honestly. The thought that someone might’ve looked up to him or want to be like him was… unbelievable to say the least. He didn’t think he was anyone special, anyone worth idolizing. Not anymore, at least. That version of himself died years ago, leaving whatever sorry excuse for a man he was now to pick up the pieces.

He finally made it into the store, hearing the little droning chime as soon as the sliding doors opened. Jojamart looked so… bleak inside. It was colored in that sterile off white and blue, smelling strongly of chemical cleaner, bright industrial lights on the ceiling. It looked almost otherworldly, in the worst way possible. The store was seemingly empty, only some exhausted red-headed girl at the registers and some overly chipper older man at the customer service counter. He was dressed in a full suit, round glasses perched on his nose, a large nametag reading “Morris” on his jacket. His eyes lit up the moment he saw Shane, waving him over wildly. 

“Good evening! Did you come in to get a Jojamart membership? Only 5,000g, no trouble at all!”

“I… no, sorry,” Shane apologized. Morris frowned, looking particularly frustrated, “I see… You know, Mayor Lewis offered to hand over that old community building to us if we got another sign-up, so if you ever change your mind…” he trailed off. 

“Nevermind, what can I help you with, if you’re not here for a membership?” Morris asked, raising a brow, “We have anything you could need!”

“I was actually wonderin’ if that stocking position is still open?” Shane asked. He couldn’t see it, but the girl at the counter made a face of such relief, looking like she was praying a thank you to Yoba. Morris grinned wide, “Well yes, of course!”

“I have a reference if you nee-”

“You’re hired!”

Shane blinked, completely not expecting that response. This felt too easy, like it was a trap. He didn’t even get to finish his sentence, he didn’t even get to tell Morris his name. Morris could sense his unease and distrust, immediately waving it off. 

“No one in this bumpkin town likes to work, it seems,” he sneered, his face bitter and resentful, “A lazy lot, they all are. I’ve only been able to get Claire over there and that boy Samson…Trust me when I say you’ve made me very relieved.”

Morris took one good look at Shane, peering up and down before ducking under the counter, “I’ll put in an express order for your uniform, have it ready by Monday. You can have this for now.”

He slid over a folded blue hoodie, giving Shane a well-practiced customer service smile, “Welcome to the Joja family!”

Eugh, that made Shane wince inside. He knew well that any company that referred to themself as a “family” was instantly a red flag, and Joja wouldn’t be any different. He tried to be grateful even still. He had a job, one that would likely be yet another shitty dead end, but it was something. It wasn’t like he was in any spot to be picky now, anyways. He attempted to give Morris an appreciative smile, as fake as it was, trying to make a good first impression on his new boss. 

“I’ll be in Monday, thank you, really,”

“First thing in the morning, bright and early!” Morris chimed, “We’re happy to have you!”

Walking out of the store, Shane stared down at the jacket in his hands. The material was awfully cheap and rough, an itchy feeling beneath his fingertips. Oh well, it wasn't like he could complain about a free hoodie, especially when it was getting cold like this. He just shrugged and slipped it on, silently cursing as the sleeve ripped at the shoulder the moment he slipped his arm inside. Of course. Just his luck. 

He didn’t expect that to be so… easy, though. In the city getting a job was one of the biggest challenges he’d ever gone through. Employers loved to make people jump through hurdles and hoops for the simplest positions. He felt like he was getting pranked now, not believing his luck. Having something good come to him so easily was rare, after all.

He made his way down to the museum where Penny taught, happy to find it was mere yards away from work, a perfect walkable distance. Penny stood outside chatting with some man he didn’t recognize, Jas running around and playing with a red haired little boy, their laughs echoing through the air.

“Good,” he thought,”She’s already making friends,” 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and lumbered his way over, leaves crunching beneath his feet. Jas immediately saw him, pulling away from her new friend to run towards him, “Uncle Shane, Uncle Shane!”

She ran into his arms, laughing wildly as he lifted her up, tossing her just a bit in the air, “It was the best day ever!” she grinned, kicking her legs in the air, “Ms. Penny ‘n Sam are so cool, and I got a new friend!”

“Sounds like you’re all settled in then,” Shane smiled, “Is Sam your friend?”

“No, Vinny is!” Jas pointed back towards the small group, directly towards the man Penny had just been chatting with, “That’s Sam!”

He looked to where she had pointed, seeing the man she called Sam begin to approach. He had to be in his early 20’s, bright eyes, a smile on his face that could make anyone’s day. His hair was styled into a mullet, spiked and wild, piercings dotting his ears and face. He could appreciate the style, recognizing it as something he’d wear when he was that age.

Sam held out his hand, somehow managing to smile even wider than before, “Hey, nice to see a new guy in town! I’m Sam, and this lil guy-” he reached down to ruffle the boy's hair, getting a laugh out of him, “- is Vincent! Glad he’s finally got someone his age to be his friend here!”

Shane reluctantly held out his hand in return, briefly shaking Sam’s before he resigned back into himself. He didn’t understand how someone could be so… cheerful like that. Not even Emily had that air about her. Sam tilted his head just a bit to the side, catching a glimpse of the embroidered “J” on Shane’s hoodie. 

Sam motioned to the same “J” on his own hoodie, “Oh no way, you’re working at Joja now?! Me too! I’ll see you there Monday probably! We’re gonna be great pals, right?” Sam spoke a mile a minute, nearly tripping over his words, “We’ve been hopin’ that stock job would be taken soon, me and Claire hate doing it. Not that you will! It’s just a lot, y’know?”

Shane blinked, nodding slowly as his mind finally caught up to the barrage of words, “Yeah… yeah sure, buddy.”

“Sweet!” Sam replied. He looked down to Vincent, “We should get back home though, huh Vince? Almost dinner time.”

“Aww…” Vincent winced, “But mom’s makin’ lentil soup again!”

“C’mon, you gotta learn to like it sometime. Let’s go!” Sam turned back to smile at Shane and Jas, “It was really nice meeting you two, though! See you at work… uh…. Huh, I never asked your name,”

“It’s-”

“Wait, lemme guess…!” Sam held up a finger, making a face as if he was deep in thought for just a moment. He smiled again, a look of pure triumphant confidence on his face, “... Gary!”

“... What.” 

“... Was I close?”

“Not even a bit.” Shane sighed, “It’s Shane… just- you can call me Shane.”

“Huh..” Sam shrugged, “Dunno, you looked like one to me… Shane’s cool though, I like it! See you at work this week, man!”

He motioned for Vincent to follow, the pair walking off towards their home with a spring in their step. Shane could only shake his head. What an… odd guy. Maybe he was just jaded, maybe Sam was normal and he was just some miserable asshole, but damn Shane hadn’t been used to that kind of genuine positivity and joy from anyone other than Jas. Maybe working with him in the future could allow for that positivity to rub off on him, make him feel a little less hopeless than normal. 

He looked down to Jas, motioning himself towards the ranch, “We should get back too, huh? Aendi and I have a big surprise for you!”

“Really?!” Jas’ eyes lit up, “What is it?!”

“If I tell you it won’t be a surprise anymore! Now why don’t we head back?”

“Okay…” Jas agreed, feeling just a bit disappointed she didn’t know the surprise just yet, “Can I tell you about today?”

“Don’t see why not!” a small smirk found its way onto Shane’s face as Jas immediately burst into a grand story about her day. 

Penny had spent most of the day finding what curriculum would be best for her, and Jas found herself very proud and boastful of the fact that Penny thought she was advanced for her age, bumping her up to a second grade course level already. Shane couldn’t help but feel that same pride. Jas continued to ramble about the day, about how fun Vincent was to play with. The kids at her last school were nice too, but he just seemed to understand her more, and she liked that! She could tell they were going to be good friends. 

Seeing Jas look so vibrant and joyful as she rambled made Shane feel so happy… but also so guilty. She had what she needed here, but she was only getting that just now. His own selfishness had deprived her of the experience she could’ve had in Pelican Town, and he was worried it hindered her in some way. She was already so advanced, so smart emotionally and intellectually, but could she have been better? Penny had recognized how smart she was so fast, and was already giving her a near one on one teaching experience that was sure to help her excel. Could she have been some genius if he had just admitted he needed help all that time ago? He tried so hard to not focus on the past, as hard as that was. There was nothing he could do about it now, after all. All he could change was the course of his and Jas’ future, and hopefully change it for the best. 

“Are you and Sam friends yet?” Jas asked, tilting her head just a bit. Shane laughed shortly and shook his head, “Not yet, no. I just met him, Jassy,”

“Why? Me ‘n Vincent are friends already!” she exclaimed, “And we just met too!”

“It’s different when you’re older, it takes more work,” Shane explained, shrugging his shoulders, “You’ll get it when you’re a grown up,”

Jas folded her arms and huffed, “Well I’m never gonna be a grown up! Then I can have aaaall the friends I want!”

“You do that!” Shane laughed. 

The pair made it back to the ranch, Shane fumbling with the door’s handle as he stepped inside. Marnie awaited the two of them in the foyer, the warmest smile on her face as soon as she saw them. She looked beyond excited, surely for the surprise they had set out for Jas. 

“What’s the surprise?!” she asked, scrambling over to meet Marnie, the biggest smile on her face. She was doing all she could to not bounce off the walls, especially with all the suspense that had built on the way over!

“Say hi first, Jas. Don’t be rude,” Shane scolded. Jas nodded in understanding, her expression slumping just a bit, “Sorry..”

“Oh it’s alright, sweetheart,” Marnie mused, stooping to her level to look her in the eye, “Do you want to go see now?”

“Yeah!” Jas all but screeched, following Marnie over to the door. She could only imagine what was on the other side. Maybe new dolls, bunny jewel slippers, all the craft supplies she could ever need. The suspense was practically killing her. Turning the handle and looking inside, she couldn’t believe the sight before her. 

“This is mine…?” she asked in a whisper, looking around the room in awe. It was perfect, beyond her wildest imagination. There was a cautious excitement about her, waiting for confirmation before she got her hopes too far up. Shane gave her a nod, and that’s all she needed to lose it. She burst out into excited laughter, running around the room to look at everything. It was more than she could have ever hoped for, her own space, just for her! 

Shane and Marnie looked on in glee as she ran around the room, pointing out every little detail and decoration that she could see. Everything excited Jas, the entire idea of just having her own room made her happy beyond belief. She felt like she was dreaming, looking at all the new outfits, toys, and the beautiful decorations that had been set up just for her. 

She ran back to Shane and Marnie, hugging them both and squealing out plenty of “thank you’s” to the two of them before running back to play with the dollhouse that stood in the back. Shane gave Marnie a smile, looking very proud of himself, “Told you she’d like anything if it was cute,”

Marnie nodded in agreement, letting an amused sound escape her, “I have something for you too, you know,” she nudged Shane’s arm, motioning for him to follow her, “Why don’t we go look?”

“You didn’t have to do something for me too, aendi,” Shane mused, following her to the kitchen. Marnie turned to give him a less than impressed look, placing her hands on her hips with an exaggerated motion, “Do you ever know how to accept a gift? I know I taught you better than this,”

“I-”

“The proper response would be ‘thank you aendi, this is very thoughtful and you’re my favorite aunt in the world!’... Do you want to try again?” her tone verged on joking, but had a tint of seriousness behind it. 

“You’re my only aunt,” Shane reminded her, a sheepish smile on his face. 

Marnie rolled her eyes, “Oh don’t you get smart with me now…” she pointed to the door, her expression melting into one of joy, “Just through here, come on,”

Opening the door to the guest room, Shane was taken aback by the scene inside. What was once just furnished with only 2 beds and a nightstand had transformed into a full room, one built especially for him. A tv set up with his old gaming console sat in one corner, his bed in the other. A vintage lamp sat next to a plush red couch by the door, a yellow glow basking the room. Decorations were sparse, only a collectors gridball near the tv, some memorabilia and photos on the wall, and the box of memories he cherished so much. It was simple, but it made him feel so emotional, his chest tightening from just looking at the sight. He hadn’t had his own space in almost five years now, there wasn’t anything that was just his. And though it wasn’t much, especially compared to Jas’ room, it meant everything to him. There was something that was his, and his alone, and he couldn’t ask for more.

“I worked on this as soon as you left,” Marnie chimed in, voice filled with pride, “I know it’s not much, but I tried to make it as nice as I could for you,”

She pulled a box from behind her back, an even wider smile on her face, “Then there’s this, of course!” 

Shane nervously took it in his hands, opening the lid to find that special jersey sitting inside, still neatly folded just as he left it a year ago. He placed a hand atop it, resting along the varsity number on its front. The note he’d left on top of it was long gone, but Shane still believed the message he wrote. He shook his head, feeling his eyes grow glossy.

“I still don’t deserve this… any of this.”

“Of course you do…” Marnie sighed, “You have to forgive yourself already. I did so a long while ago... Let yourself have som-”

Her words were cut-off mid sentence as Shane pulled her into a tight hug. He couldn’t make out any words, far too choked up to even try. Marnie knew that well, and knew exactly what he wanted to say if he could speak. She returned the hug, holding him tight as she smiled, “You’re welcome,”

It would take Shane quite some time to forgive himself, to learn how to care about himself again. But it felt possible now, as awful as things were. This room, this gesture of kindness, it was proof that things would be okay. Not today, but someday. It would be a long time until things were, but this was just the start he needed.

[practicingsmut]

I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off

work rival!minho x reader, 3k words, one bed trope, minho’s a bit of a perv but the reader’s kinda into it

Working for one of the largest law firms in the city wasn’t always all it was cracked up to be - the work you did may have been emotionally rewarding when things went the way you wanted them to, but there were still the long hours of wading through bureaucratic bullshit to get those results. On top of that, it was a much more social job than you had expected. At least you got along with your coworkers, or most of them anyway.

The best part of working at your particular job was that it dealt with many clients not necessarily from the city you were based in, so several times a year you got to take an all expenses paid trip as part of your job in order to meet with said clients.

Normally you would be over the moon to be put on one of these jobs, and while you were still excited to travel, you couldn’t help but be upset by the fact that you had been partnered with your least favorite coworker, the one and only Lee Minho. The two of you had joined the firm around the same time and were often given similar cases to work on, so it was no surprise that the two of you quickly became the fiercest of rivals, often trying to outdo each other.

Luckily you hadn’t had to sit anywhere near each other on the flight to your destination, but the troubles began when you arrived at your hotel, tired from the trip and wanting nothing more than to sink into your bed so you could wake up well rested the next morning.

“What do you mean, you’ve put us in the same room?” Minho shouted at the receptionist. You wished he wouldn’t take it out on the worker who was only doing their job and told him as much, but you could still understand his frustration.

“I’m sorry, but this was the only accommodation we had left when your employer called to make the reservation. We don’t have any other rooms opening up for several days,” the receptionist explained. You didn’t know how they managed to keep their cool - if Minho came yelling at you the way he was, you wouldn’t hesitate to snap back at him.

“There has to be something you can do,” he insisted.

“Weren’t you listening, you idiot? There aren’t any other rooms. Come on, I’m tired, and I would rather go to bed instead of arguing about things that can’t be changed,” you said with a yawn, thanking the receptionist before turning and walking off without waiting to see if Minho was following.

Your stuff was already put to the side and your pajamas on your body when Minho finally graced you with his presence once more. You had no idea what took him so long and you didn’t care. You were in the bathroom doing your nighttime skin routine when he came in, but you could hear him clear as day as he threw his stuff down and let out a groan.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he said.

“What’s wrong now?” you called out, not wanting to deal with his bullshit for longer than necessary. Your hands paused their ministrations when his head popped out in the doorway.

“There’s supposed to be a second bed,” he asserted, a look on his face revealing that he thought you were the stupid one in this situation.

You rolled your eyes, turning your head so he’d be able to see. “The couch pulls out to be the second bed. Honestly, do you even listen to people when they talk?”

Thankfully Minho didn’t even bother responding to what you had said and instead just walked back to the room to do whatever it is he wanted to do. When you finally left the bathroom, you found him struggling with the pull out portion of the couch. He was even grunting with the effort of it, something you found wholly unnecessary.

“Oh, move over,” you said, nudging him out of the way with your hip.

“You’re not going to be able to get it. It’s stuck.”

As much as you hated to admit it, he was right. There was no way to unfold the second bed out of the couch. After a quick investigation, you found one of the metal bars to be bent in such a way that it made the whole piece immobile.

“I’m going to call the front desk. Maybe they have a maintenance worker who can come fix it or something,” Minho said, moving to the phone on the nightstand. You rushed over and quickly placed your hand on top of his, keeping him from lifting the receiver.

“Minho. It is nearly midnight. I’m not waiting for some maintenance worker to come up and fix this before going to bed. We can deal with it tomorrow.” You tried your best to keep your voice even, but in your near-exhausted state you couldn't help but let some of your frustration through.

“I’m not sleeping on the floor,” he asserted.

“Then sleep in the fucking bed with me!” You threw your hands up in the air and turned away from Minho, nearly missing the shocked look on his face. “It’s a queen size, we’ll both fit for the night. Tomorrow we can get the couch fixed, alright?”

It wasn’t the best situation to be in, but you were ready to accept any compromise at that point if it meant Minho would shut his mouth and you could close your eyes. Without another word you climbed into bed, making a show of pulling the covers over you as you snuggled into the pillows on your chosen side.

Minho let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Whatever.” He moved over to where his bag had been tossed and started pulling his clothes off.

“Um, what are you doing?” you asked once his shirt was off and he began undoing his belt. “Can’t you get changed in the bathroom?”

“You’d still see me like this even if I took my clothes off out of sight,” he answered. “I normally sleep naked. You’re lucky I have some sense of decency and I’m keeping my boxers on.”

And what a pair of boxers they were. Boxer briefs, to be specific, a black pair that hugged his hips and thighs, outlining every curve of muscle and… other features. Was he always so fit? How had you not noticed before? You peeked at him through your eyelashes as he walked around to the other side of the bed, hoping he’d think your eyes were closed.

“Besides, you’re not much better, parading around in your underwear. Why is it okay for you to do that but not me?” he questioned as he slid under the covers.

“I’m wearing shorts!” you protested. They were small ones that barely covered more than the panties you left off when you slept, but you weren’t about to let him win any sort of argument. And the sports bra you had on held your breasts firmly out of his view.

“That’s a very liberal use of the word for what you’ve got on, but it doesn’t even matter. Can you just shut the light off already?”

You wanted to respond that you were the one who had been waiting for him, but decided to pick your battles. The need for rest overruled the need to get under Minho’s skin, and soon you were lulled into a dreamless sleep despite the distracting sound of Minho’s deep breaths just feet away from where you were.

Something was different when you woke up in the dark a few hours later. It took you a minute to register what it was, but once you heard it you couldn’t forget it - Minho’s breathing had changed. Before falling asleep they had been long, slow, and deep, but now they were much more shallow and sharp, interrupted every few seconds by a slight gasp and once by a deep moan he had to stifle, probably by biting his lip.

Oh.

You had no idea how to react. Even once you’d resigned yourself to the fate of having to share a bed with Minho, you were completely caught off guard by the fact that you had woken up to him touching himself next to you. Your mind raced with ideas of what to do, settling on the decision to do nothing and pretend you were still sleeping.

“I know you’re awake,” he whispered, the calming of his breathing giving you the idea that he’d stilled his hand. So much for your plan.

“Did you have to do this in the bed? You couldn’t at the very least go to the bathroom?” you questioned, though your words didn’t have the bite they normally did.

“Then I wouldn’t be able to see you.”

Your eyes snapped open at his admission, meeting his gaze immediately. You must have flipped while sleeping to face the middle of the bed. Even in the dim light from the moon shining through the gap in the curtains you could see the aroused blush that spread across his face, highlighting the cocky grin he had.

“You’re a fucking pervert, Minho.” The covers fell from your torso as you sat up, the cool air sending a chill racing across your skin.

“You say that like your eyes weren’t glued to my bulge when you saw me in my boxers earlier,” he countered. Now it was your turn to blush. “Besides, I’m not as bad as you make me out to be. My hand stayed outside my boxers the whole time. I just needed a little friction to work me through the distraction so I could go to sleep, promise.”

You eyed him suspiciously. “You really think I’m hot enough to keep you up at night?” He nodded. “Please tell me this isn’t one of those cliche moments where you tell me you’ve been in love with me since we met.”

Minho let out a mean-hearted chuckle. “Oh, god, no. You’re the most annoying coworker I’ve ever had to deal with, but I do think you’re fucking gorgeous. That’s something I’ll admit to having thought since we met.”

Something about the way he complimented you had heat pooling in the pit of your stomach. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t thought him insanely attractive as well, but you weren’t crazy enough to masturbate while sharing a bed with him.

“So what now?” you asked, not willing to put into words even in your mind what you hoped he was going to say.

“I could go into the bathroom and fix my issue while you settle back into bed, then the two of us could pretend this never happened.”

“Or?” you prompted, sensing there was more he wanted to say.

“Or you could help me out by fulfilling my perverted little dreams.”

It wasn’t quite what you wanted, but you loved negotiating.

“So what, you want me to give you a blowjob and call it done? Don’t I deserve to get something out of the deal?”

That cocky grin was back. You wanted to smack it off his face, or kiss it off. Either way would work.

“Oh, I could definitely give you something in return.”

His hand touched your arm almost tentatively like he still expected you to run, but when you showed no signs of stopping him he pulled you over to him so that you were hovering over his crotch and your mouth could meet his.

Minho was a fantastic kisser, setting up a steady rhythm of nipping your lips with his teeth and licking into your mouth. His hands slid down to rest on your hips while yours found the hard muscle of his chest.

Then, without warning, he pulled you down so your core landed directly on his clothed member, forcing you to let out an involuntary gasp. He laughed in response, the sound coming out hot on your cheek.

“You did that on purpose, you asshole.”

“Of course I did.”

Wanting to even the score and catch him unaware, you shoved him down onto his back, staying seated above him so you could grind down on him. An almost pornographic moan slipped through his lips, spurring you to continue the motion. A curse escaped your mouth as your clit caught on the tip of his cock, the now soaked layers of clothing between you two both a blessing and a curse as it added to the friction.

Then suddenly you were on your back, Minho pinning your hands on either side of your head while his lips and tongue traced patterns along the column of your neck and his hips bucked against yours. He moved quickly at first, but then seemed to come up with a better idea.

Moving your arms so that he could pin them both above your head with just one hand holding your wrist, he then used his free hand to pull the waistband of his boxers down, freeing his erection and letting it slap against his stomach.

“Careful there, you look like you’re about to start drooling,” he joked.

“Just shut up and fuck me,” you groaned.

“Shh, princess. We’ll get there.” Princess? Where did that pet name come from, and why did it have you clenching around nothing?

You didn’t have time to question it out loud, as Minho’s thumb began to rub tight circles over your clit through your shorts. A moment later his thumb was replaced with the tip of his cock. He slid it through your folds as if there wasn’t a fabric boundary there at all, taking his time to tease your most sensitive part before bringing it back down. He pressed into you, the shorts keeping him from making anything but the most shallow thrusts that barely allowed his tip into you.

“Minho, please.”

You hated how you whined, sure that he was going to tease you for it, but instead Minho just adjusted his position so that he didn’t have to guide his cock with his hand. It came up to cup your cheek, thumb grazing your bottom lip.

“Let me have my fun. I promise I’ll take care of you.” You nodded, trusting this soft side of him you’d never seen before.

From his new position he could rut against you, letting his member catch against you for a moment before springing free. It kept from forming a steady rhythm, something that would have helped you climax faster. Your only consolation seemed to be the fact that Minho was teasing himself as well, if his labored breathing and leaking cock were anything to go off of. At this point you weren’t sure if your panties were saturated from your arousal or his.

“Minho, please, I need you.” Your squirming was making it hard for any purchase to be made, a fact that finally pushed Minho to give in.

“Fuck, princess, okay.”

He let go of you completely and sat back on his knees in order to pull your shorts off, throwing them somewhere else in the room. They were soon followed by his boxers. With tingling hands from being held down for so long, you took the moment to pull your sports bra off, leaving you fully bared beneath Minho.

“Can you hold your legs open for me?” he asked. You obliged immediately, leaving Minho to groan as he saw your cunt already dripping with excitement.

His mouth was on yours again before anything else so he was able to swallow your gasp when he finally pushed his cock inside of you. It wasn’t so big that it hurt, but with your only prep having been some grinding, it was definitely a bit of a stretch. You struggled to keep your legs held open as the head hit your g-spot over and over; Minho clocked this and pulled your legs over his shoulders so your arms could flop back onto the bed and pull at the sheets.

“I’m going to be honest here,” Minho groaned in your ear, “I’m not going to last much longer. Can I come inside you?”

You nodded for a moment before realizing he probably couldn’t see you in the position you were in. “Ye- yes.”

Moments later he was filling you up, the warm and sticky substance coating the inside of your cunt entirely. You could only begrudge the fact that he came first for a moment before he was pulling out of you and sliding down your body, his mouth on you before a single drop could leak out of you.

“Fuck!” you cried out as his tongue buried itself as far into you as it could go while his nose nudged against your throbbing clit. You didn’t think it was possible to be even more turned on than you already were, but something about the fact that Minho was eating his own cum out of you seemed to do the trick. He had your legs shaking in over a minute.

Your hands found their way into his hair to tug sharply on it, though whether you were trying to pull him closer or push him away, even you couldn’t tell. Moments later you hit your peak. If Minho’s face hadn’t already been drenched in your juices, it certainly would have been then. He continued to lick at you, stopping to suck on your clit until you cried out that it was too much.

At that moment, seeing him look up at you from between your legs with eyes full of lust and awe, you couldn’t help yourself. You pulled him up so that you could kiss him, tasting the both of you on your tongue as the mess spread all over your face.

“I told you I’d take care of you,” he whispered against your lips.

After another kiss you answered, “You’re lucky that I really do need my sleep, otherwise I’d be back on that cock in a minute. You better be ready to put it to good use again tomorrow.”

You could feel him smile from the way his face moved against yours. “I guess we don’t have to call for maintenance about that couch.”

[sage-nebula]

STH - Finalizing the Pre-Departure Checklist

Notes: I actually have another fic that I've been intending to have finished today, but partway through writing the conclusion of that fic I got distracted by the idea for this one, so here is this for now. I will clean it up later. Spoilers for the ending of Sonic Frontiers, as well as for the Sonic 1 ending cutscene from Sonic Origins.

- - -

Filled water canteens, check. Canned food and energy bar provisions, check. Instant coffee canister, check. Miles Electric, check. Wooden comb, check. Dry shampoo, check. Blankets, check. Magnet gun, flash bombs, emergency grenades—check, check, check. Everything he needed for at least a few days of travel was ready and accounted for, packed in a backpack. After looking through the bag for a third time, just to make sure he was absolutely ready, Tails tossed it into the cockpit of the Cyclone. He had her parked outside for once, behind his Mystic Ruins workshop, ready for takeoff. It had been so long since he’d flown her; she was a solo-craft, not suited for multiple passengers, and so she saw much less use than the Tornado did. But this was a solo trip, and the Cyclone provided him with land travel as much as she did air. She was much better suited for this journey. With one last look at the back door to his workshop to make sure he’d locked it, Tails spun his tails so he could jump into the cockpit—

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna leave without saying goodbye.”

His concentration broken, the rhythm of his tails halted just enough for Tails to land back on the ground with a stumble. Sonic’s hand caught his arm before he had a chance to topple over, and Tails turned stunned eyes on his big brother’s teasing smile as Sonic eased him back onto his feet.

“I left a note,” Tails said, his mind still catching up with the fact that he’d been alone behind the workshop not a second ago. Trust Sonic’s speed to—

“A note? All these years, and that’s all I get? A note?” Sonic put a hand over his heart. “That hurts me, Tails. Right here.”

Tails rolled his eyes. He knew played up theatrics when he saw them. “You already knew I was leaving. We saw each other a day ago. And you hate goodbyes anyway, so—”

“You’re right. I do. And I’ll probably leave this one before it’s over, but . . .” Sonic shrugged. “I still want to see you off. Make sure you’ve got everything you need.”

Sonic cared. Of course he did. And Tails understood, because he cared about Sonic, too. How many times had he made sure that Sonic had all the tech he could possibly need before a dangerous mission? How many times had he used a drone to deliver a forgotten canteen or extra aqua bubble powerup just in case something went wrong? This is what they did—they looked out for each other. That’s all Sonic was doing now, and Tails knew that.

But he was supposed to be proving his independence, proving that he could stand on his own. And that meant not needing someone to look through his provisions like he was a kid going on a field trip. Tails ran his tongue along his teeth and looked away, turning his eyes up to the sky. Cirrus clouds—a good sign. Just what he needed for an easy flight. “No worries. I’ve got everything covered.”

“Good.” Sonic leaned against the Cyclone, and after a moment, tapped her side with his knuckles. “Not taking the Tornado, huh?”

Tails blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden topic change, and looked back over. “No, she’s yours.”

“Pft. I’ve been meaning to give her to you for ages now. Should’ve done it a long time ago.” Sonic crossed his arms loosely over his stomach, an easy smile on his face, but there was something different about it Tails couldn’t quite parse. “You can take her if you want. You should take her.”

As—touching? weird? confusing?—as it was that Sonic was suddenly handing over ownership of the Tornado, Tails couldn’t let it distract him. He shook his head. “Even if you want to give her to me, that doesn’t change the fact that you can fly her, and you might need her. Besides, she’s got a double cockpit now, and I’m flying solo. It’s better for her to be here in case you go on a trip where you need to take someone with you. Amy, or Knuckles, or someone.”

“. . . Yeah. You’re probably right.” Like with his smile, there was something off about Sonic’s tone. And Tails couldn’t identify exactly what it was that he was hearing, but whatever it was, it told him that Sonic probably wasn’t going to be taking the Tornado out of the hangar any time soon. “So. You’re all set to take off, then?”

“Yep.” Tails patted the Cyclone’s side, ran his hand over her freshly dried coat of paint.

“Got a destination in mind?”

“Nope. I’m just gonna go wherever feels right. See where the wind takes me, you know.” Not unlike what Sonic himself always did, meaning that Tails was following in his example yet again, but he was going to try very hard not to think about that.

“Sounds like my kind of adventure. And everything’s in working order—GPS, comms . . . ?”

Tails felt the fur along his back stand on end, and when he turned to look at Sonic, his agitation must’ve shown in his face, for Sonic held his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Hey, I know you can take care of yourself,” Sonic said, and for what it was worth, he did sound sincere. “I just want to make sure—”

“I know,” Tails said, and honest to Chaos he didn’t mean to sound so terse. “I can handle it. I’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Sonic said. “But you know, if something came up—there’s nothing wrong with calling in a little backup. Heck, if it wasn’t for you, Knuckles, and Amy, I’d still be a cyber-zombie back on the Starfall Islands. We all need a little help sometimes.”

“If it wasn’t for us, you wouldn’t have been corrupted in the first place,” Tails muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Tails forced a smile as he met Sonic’s eyes again. “Look, I know this is a bit . . . different. And I know you’re just trying to look out for me, and I appreciate it, I really do. But I’ll be fine. That’s what this whole journey is about, right? Proving that I can make it on my own? It’d be disappointing if it turned out I couldn’t, so—”

“Nothing you do could ever be disappointing,” Sonic said, and something uncomfortable wormed in Tails’ gut at the look on Sonic’s face. He turned away again, his tails swishing around him. “But that’s not . . . having your own adventure doesn’t have to mean cutting yourself off from everyone, you know. So you don’t need to call for backup. So what? Doesn’t mean you can’t call just to say hey.”

Tails frowned. “I never said I couldn’t.”

“Great.” There was a smug grin in Sonic’s voice—one Tails had heard so many times over the years, usually right after one of Eggman’s plans had just been ruined. “Then I look forward to hearing from you at least once a week.”

“What?” Tails looked over, aghast, and was met with the exact smile he knew he was going to see. “You can’t be ser—”

Sonic held up his hand. “Doesn’t have to be a phone call. You know I hate talking on the phone. And it definitely doesn’t have to be every day, because we both know I suck at keeping track of what day it is. But just, you know. An email. Once a week. Doesn’t have to be long. Just a couple lines to say hey, let me know how you’re doing, if you’ve seen anything cool in your travels. Just enough so it’s not like you disappeared off the face of the earth.”

It was— Tails wanted to scream, just a little. Because it wasn’t an unreasonable request. It wasn’t like his plan was to disappear off the face of the earth. It’s not like he was trying to cut himself off from his friends. But that also—it wasn’t the point. He wanted to be independent, wanted to prove that he was more than the burdensome little brother that Sonic always had to look after, and if Sonic was still looking after him via weekly check-in emails, then didn’t that defeat the point?

“You never sent weekly check-in emails when you were traveling,” Tails muttered, and he hated how petulant he sounded.

“Yeah, well. That’s big brother privilege,” Sonic said, and perhaps sensing the argument even before Tails opened his mouth, added, “And not the best example set, fair enough. That’s my bad. But I’ll send emails too, in response to yours. We’ll keep in better contact this time. Deal?”

It wasn’t what Tails had had in mind, when he’d decided to go off on his own. But it wasn’t an unreasonable request. Sonic was actually admitting that something he did in the past maybe wasn’t the greatest idea in the world. And from the look on his face, Tails could tell that this really mattered to him.

And for some reason, that made Tails’ throat feel a little choked. He nodded, in lieu of being able to say anything, and Sonic’s posture finally relaxed.

“Okay. Good. Glad we got that sorted.” Sonic stood up straight, free of the Cyclone. He considered Tails for a moment before a half-smile curled his muzzle. “And—one more thing.”

Tails tilted his head, his throat still a little too thick for him to trust his voice. Luckily, Sonic took his head tilt for the cue to continue that it was.

“I don’t think I ever told you this, but—you remember how we met on West Side Island, right?”

Tails nodded. He didn’t know how he could forget.

“Well . . . did I ever tell you why I was on West Side Island?”

Tails blinked, the confusion he felt enough to finally unstick his throat. “No. But it was because Eggman was there, right? He was harvesting animals to use as batteries for his badniks, and so he could build the Death Egg.”

“Well, yeah. But also no.” Before Tails could question what that was supposed to mean, Sonic continued. “Eggman was on South Island before he went to West Side. It just so happens that I was also on South Island, and so I freed the animals there and chased him off.”

“Yeah, I kn—”

“I chased him off as Super Sonic. With the Chaos Emeralds. And before the Chaos Emeralds scattered, they showed me something.” Sonic grinned, his eyes bright. “Wanna know what they showed me?”

“I . . . guess?”

“You. Well,” Sonic waved a hand through the air, “not you exactly, but they showed me West Side Island, so that’s how I knew to go there. And that’s where I met you.” Sonic grinned, and lightly poked Tails on his forehead. “So what I’m trying to say here is, even if you decide to skip out on your weekly email, you can rest assured that the Chaos Emeralds won’t.”

Tails stared at Sonic for a second as he put the pieces together, and then blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Are you saying the Chaos Emeralds are going to snitch on me?”

Sonic laughed, and ruffled the fur atop Tails’ head, heedless of Tails’ attempts to swat his hand away. “Bro, you have no idea how fast they’ll snitch on you. They were snitching on you before we even met. So if I were you, I wouldn’t give ‘em a reason to do it again.”

The fur atop his head now thoroughly ruffled, Tails blew his bangs in a vain attempt to get them back out of his eyes. “The only thing I’m thinking about giving them a reason to do is mind their own business. Do they seriously have nothing better to do than spy on people?”

“Who can say? The Chaos Emeralds work in mysterious ways.” Sonic shrugged, but his expression softened. “But that’s just a backup plan. Just in case . . .”

“I know. And they won’t be needed. I’ll be fine,” Tails said, and added, because he knew Sonic needed to hear him say it, “and I’ll email. Once a week.”

Sonic smiled. And before Tails could say anything else, or could think to turn to the Cyclone, Sonic darted forward and pulled him into a hug. For a split second, Tails wasn’t sure how to respond; one arm thrown around his shoulders was one thing, and not too uncommon a thing at that, but a full-on hug was a different story altogether. Those were so much rarer. But Sonic’s hug was secure and warm, and knowing that it would be the last time for a long time that he’d have the chance to hug his brother, Tails hugged him back just as tightly.

But the hug was over as quickly as it happened. Sonic stepped back, his hands on Tails’ shoulders. He was still smiling, but—Tails was sure he was imagining it, but it looked like it was wavering a little.

“Take care of yourself, partner,” Sonic said. His voice sounded a little tight. “I’ll . . . see you later.”

Tails nodded. “You too, Sonic. I’ll be in touch.”

Sonic nodded, and gave Tails’ shoulders one last, bracing squeeze. In the next second he was gone, and Tails was once again standing alone beside the Cyclone.

[tellerluna-stories]

episode 07: away from home and back again

CONTENTS: 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. m.list!

TW/CW: none!

A/N: annnd welcome to the final chapter, dear readers! thank you for following this storyline to the very end :''))) I'm happy you all enjoyed thoma and mc's shenanigans, and i hope that you keep the message of this story close to your hearts <;33

Your legs flew faster than light, carrying you across the field in a flash. People stopped and stared as you rushed past, but what were they gonna do, stop you?

You ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. 

(Meanwhile, you were only one millimetre away from having a complete meltdown over… whatever had just happened. Listen, it wasn’t your fault that you had zero knowledge about how to deal with this!)

The only time you slowed down was to briefly scratch Taroumarou behind the ears, for he had been waiting outside of the gate. Hey, you still had your priorities, even when you were supposed to be running away from all of your problems.

But no matter how fast you ran, your racing thoughts swiftly caught up to you— you could no longer tell if your heart was pounding because of the complete overload of cardio or if it was thanks to Thoma and his way of words. Perhaps it was both.

‘As more than friends, in fact.’

Gritting your teeth, you ran even faster, no longer caring about where you were headed. Anywhere would do just as long as you could ignore how your heart threatened to burst out of your chest to take flight, or those ridiculously impractical butterflies that swarmed in your chest cavity like a swarm of hopeful pests. Really, just what were you they hoping for?

You slowed to a stop, the dead leaves crunching under your feet.

There you went again, running away from Thoma. Why did you always run from him? Why were you so afraid of him, of allowing him to treat you gently and cherish you so?

Overhead the branches rustled, sending scattered shafts of sunlight and falling leaves tumbling down from above— in contrast to your muddled state of mind, the world around you was serenely peaceful. And to top it all off, your legs had brought you to the crosswalk where you and Thoma had apparently first met. Talk about the irony.

“Unfair.” Crouching down next to a nearby lampost, you buried your burning face into your knees. “…So unfair.” 

When you had promised yourself to support Thoma’s decision no matter what, you had not anticipated this. Everything was wrong, wrong, wrong— your armour of rationality was long-lost, leaving you to face your raw emotions alone and defenseless. The only sliver of comfort you could find was in the fact that there would be no cars using this road today, because the last thing you wanted was for the whole world to see you curled up like a disgruntled millipede beside the road.

The butterflies swarmed in your chest again, fluttering with the promise of hope; somehow you’d achieved the impossible and actually won the fifty-fifty percent chance of having your feelings returned. For some inexplicable reason, you… actually had a shot. At something. 

“It was so much easier to think rationally when I wasn’t the one going through it,” you complained to the sky. “Can I take back all of my previous complaints, please?”

The sky remained helpfully quiet— well, you supposed that that was what you got for asking for change without even considering whether or not you were prepared for it. However, it did not make the situation any less frustrating.

“I never even expected to get this far! Now what am I supposed to do?!”

Woof!

“Taroumarou, wait for me!”

Your head snapped to the direction where that all-too-familiar voice came from— oh, you just couldn’t catch a break, could you?

Briefly you contemplated your options; the first one was to continue running away. And the second was to actually face your problems like an adult.

(Just kidding! You only technically had one option, because if you ran any more you were pretty sure you would keel over and die from overexercising. Shame on you for not giving your all in P.E. class.)

“Taroumarou…” The footsteps slowed to a stop, that voice of honey-sunshine trailing off into silence. You didn’t need to see him to know what was going on.

Taking a shaky breath, you silently accepted your fate; just like that, Thoma had found you once again. 

You whirled around to meet a masterpiece straight out of the Romantic period– a work of art with golden hair gently tousled by the wind, his emerald eyes brimming with surprise. Faintly-flushed lips that had just barely managed to form your name before trailing off into reverent silence, and a school uniform in colours that matched your own.

(Somehow, the picture before you gave you a sense of deja vu.)

“I, uh– hi.”

“Hey.”

You both stood there awkwardly for a minute or two; the silence was so thick that you could’ve heard a pin drop.

(Well, except for the faint sound of whining that could be heard from behind Thoma– most likely the sound of judgement from the Boss Dog. Sorry, Taroumarou!)

“If it’s about what you overheard me say earlier, I…” He swallowed thickly, averting his eyes. “Well, it’s uh- that’s definitely not how I wanted to tell you. But if you’re uncomfortable with it—”

“No!” Your voice comes out louder than you anticipated. “I mean– no. It just…”

Oh, nothing. Just that you found out that all your unrequited pining wasn’t so unrequited after all. You, the former matchmaker who knew how to counsel any sort of relationship except your own and now had absolutely zero knowledge of how anything worked anymore because according to your predictions for yourself, something like this was statistically impossible to happen and now all of your calculations were now aflame and burning to ashes thanks to one singular puppy-boy—

Something cold and wet rolled down your face, the salty taste lingering on your tongue; with horror, you realised that you were crying. 

“Wh–” You swiped at your face hastily, trying to catch the falling tears before you embarrassed yourself any more than you already did. “Please don't misunderstand! I’m not mad at you or anything!”

“Then what’s going on with you?” Thoma pleaded. “Just tell me what’s wrong, please.”

“I…” Your voice cracked, the tears not stopping even when you willed them out of existence. Stupid tear ducts. 

The look in his eyes was so simple, so honest that it made you want to crumble right into his hands, and you hated it. Every cell in your body yearned to finally yield to what you'd been keeping under lock and key for so long— speak up, you coward! Running away will only hurt him!

“Since when?” 

He swallowed hard. “I’m not really sure, but I think… since the beginning.”

“What?” You nearly choked on the air mid-sniffle, which was not an ideal situation to find out exactly when your long-time crush had been reciprocating your feelings. “Like, when we bumped into each other in front of the classroom?”

“No, here.” Thoma chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Since… ever since we met here. I didn’t realise it back then, but…”

He trailed off in silence, the rosy flush of his face speaking for him. 

If you were going to be completely honest, you gaped at him like an idiot. This guy had had a crush on you ever since he first met you – an event that you barely remembered – and he… he…

You needed to clear your head and be sincere, or else you’d really lose your mind.

“...If I'm gonna be honest, Thoma…” You say softly, every ounce of honesty pouring into your words. “I'm terrified.”

No words could describe how afraid you were; you, who no longer had any more armour or defenses to put up. Like a reckless, well-meaning dog in a china shop, all of those had been destroyed by the gentle heart of the young man before you, leaving you in complete surrender. And no words would ever capture the absolute joy running through your veins when he chose to be with you over anyone else, when he chose to care for you even when he didn't have to.

…Which was really frustrating, considering that now you actually wanted to verbalise your feelings. Just where did your gift of speech go when you needed it most?

 “I’m… really not the best with words. Or feelings. Or—”

“Hey.” Thoma interrupts you mid-sentence, raising his eyebrows in his signature ‘don't you dare start self-deprecating’ expression.

“Right. Sorry.” You cleared your throat. “I don't— I'm just…”

“... It's okay, you know.” 

His eyes softened, that bittersweet smile spreading across his face like sickness. “Like I said, I didn't want you to find out that way because I didn't want you to be pressured. You don't have to be considerate of me.”

Eh…?

Your eyes widened— what was he saying? 

“Once again, I'm sorry for tangling you up in all this,” His words sounded distant and murky, reverberating through the thick fog of your clouded mind. “Please forget about anything I said—”

Horror and panic flooded your entire mind as you realised what he was saying; no, no, no, no, wait that wasn't what you were supposed to tell him wait wait wait—!

“I don't want to!” You practically shouted at the top of your lungs and buried your face in your hands miserably, crouching down once more in dead millipede position as you cursed your terrible communication skills– why, why, why did you have to be so bad at this?! “I like you too, for crying out loud!”

Absolute silence. 

“...Thoma?”

He didn’t reply.

Several minutes passed, and still no response; you mustered your courage to peep through your fingers and nearly choked on your spit. You really, really didn’t want to laugh in this scenario, but… Thoma looked like he had just gotten hit with a shovel.

Taroumarou silently padded towards Thoma and gently tugged on his pant leg, but the puppy-boy remained unmoving. No amount of tugging or nipping would budge the golden statue no matter how hard the Boss Dog tried– but from the way he seemed too familiar with the procedure, you got a feeling that this wasn’t the first time that Taroumarou had to deal with this.

Finally, Taroumarou gave a resigned whimper and raised one of his hind legs– your eyes widened in horror as you realised what he was about to do.

“Taroumarou, don’t!”

Thoma nearly jumped a foot in the air at the sound of your voice, snapping out of his daze at a most admirable speed; the Boss Dog retreated hastily, giving a reproachful sneeze as he skittered back to a safe distance. The miserable expression on his face had you silently apologising to Taroumarou for what must’ve been the hundredth time that day. 

“Um.” Thoma blinked owlishly, a confused (and hopelessly adorable) expression on his face. “I- I didn’t mishear you, right? You said that…”

“...Yeah. I did.”

“Oh.” His eyes somehow widened even further. “Oh.”

“I- look.” You began, ruffling your hair in frustration. “I can’t word it properly, so I’ll be borrowing some of your words here. Do you remember the last time we were here and I asked you what it meant to be in- in…” 

‘Thoma, what does falling in love feel like?’

Your spit caught itself in your throat again, nearly choking you to death from the power of sheer embarrassment. What had you been thinking?!

“In…” Thoma’s voice trailed off, a rosy flush gracing his cheeks– why was he the one blushing like a young maiden here?! “Ah. I remember.”

“Right! Anyways!” Your hands flailed around nervously till they found their place on the lamp-post, your nails digging into the metal. “I- I kinda get what you were talking about now! The whole flying-but-falling, afraid but not thing…” Your voice trailed off as you accidentally made eye contact with Taroumarou, who had slowly walked up to hover behind Thoma’s ankles. 

Kill me now, said the Boss Dog’s expression. Please. Death would be more merciful than having to sit through this.

That death stare alone was enough to make you rethink every word that was about to come out of your mouth; no, you didn't want to admit that you were doing this thanks to a dog, but… he had a point.

You were hiding again, hiding behind words that Thoma had already used like the wretched coward you were, all because you were too afraid of taking the leap. But it was time for you to grow up— if he could manage being blatantly honest about his feelings (the horror!), then so could you.

Yes, you decided, squaring your shoulders and looking Thoma directly in the eye. The time had come for you to suck it up and say what you really meant.

“...Do you remember the day we became seat-mates?” You asked quietly. 

“Of course,” He replied almost immediately. “How could I possibly forget?”

In spite of yourself, a soft chuckle makes its way out of you; it only felt like yesterday in your memories, but so much time had passed between then and now.

“I still remember how confused I was to see you there,” You continued, a wry smile working its way up your lips. “Back then, I didn’t care who or what would sit beside me in class. I just wanted peace and quiet.”

You thought of how lonely and grey the world had felt when you had attained your desired empty seat, completely lacking in the warm hues that you had become accustomed to. Fiery yet gentle red, a warm sunset orange, and yellow that shone like sunlight– for someone who had experienced such vibrant hues, returning to black and grey was a torturous existence. How could you ever return to a normal life when you had already experienced it in colour?

“...Yeah, I definitely didn't get any peace and quiet after that.”

Thoma winced visibly. “Sorry.”

“Hey, don't be sorry. It was a good thing because…” You hesitated for a moment. “...I was happy.” 

You could admit as much, though that sentence alone would never be able to capture how elated you were, the dizzying joy that rushed through your entire being when you realised that someone genuinely went out of their way to spend time with you. That somebody saw you standing in the shadows and went to stand with you, slowly walking with you till you stood side-by-side in the light. 

To you, the forgotten extra, the afterthought who was only remembered when needed— there were no words that could describe how precious that feeling was.

(Man. You had fallen even harder than you originally expected. )

“Even if I’m bad at showing it, I was really happy. The times we ate lunch on the rooftop, or when we'd walk home and laugh about what happened during the day…”

Your fingers twisted in the hem of your shirt as you chuckled, shaking your head in resignation. “And that's why I didn't want to say anything about it. Because I was so happy I was afraid I'd mess it all up.”

That didn't even capture one-fourth of how terrified and confused you felt; the concept of someone finding genuine interest in you as a person was so alien to you that you tried to push it away, running as fast as you can till your legs gave out. But all the same your heart yearned and bled for the opportunity to be cherished, for something to change in your closed-off, wretched mindset, for someone to see through your armour and understand. 

“I’m scared, Thoma. It feels like I’ve been reborn, and it all started when I met you.” Your eyes prickled dangerously, warning you of the tears that threatened to spill any moment now. “Everything is so new to me, and it scares me so, so much— I’m terrified of change.”

Good job, whispered a part of your brain— and in spite of being on the verge of tears, the uncomfortable feeling in your chest slightly loosened, leaving you with your raw emotions. Your mind flowed freely, recalling so many precious memories and feelings that you had accumulated over all your time with Thoma; all were so dear to your heart that you wished you could hoard them away forever. In complacency you had hoped to preserve them in a state of eternal tranquility, but…

“...Me too, actually.”

“Hah?” You blinked owlishly, your eyes coming back into focus just in time to see Thoma flush pink. 

“I mean– uh, well, I get you there!” He sputtered furiously, rubbing the back of his neck with the same charmingly awkward air that he always had. “I really, really cherish all the time we spent together, but I didn’t know if it was the same for you, and I was– I was…” 

I was afraid, just the same as you.

For a moment you're struck with the sheer irony of it all— this all could have been very easily avoided if you had actually just communicated with each other and weren't actual boneheads when it came to subtle cues. 

Was it still too late to launch yourself directly into the sun?

“...Looks like we were in the same boat all this time, huh.”

“Yeah,” Thoma replied. “I guess so.”

That's it?! You wanted to scream at yourself. You had wasted so much time dawdling because of your fears, and now you didn't even have the energy to say anything anymore. 

Thoma didn't deserve this, no– this was why you had thought he deserved better. He shouldn't have had to carry the burden of a coward like you who couldn't even say anything when it mattered most—

“I… You should go.” You sniffed most unbecomingly, dabbing at your eyes with the stiff fabric of your uniform. “Sorry– sorry for just bursting out like this all of a sudden. It’s not like me.”

But he didn’t turn away; instead, Thoma stepped forward to the edge of the curb. The dead leaves rustled around his ankles restlessly, parting themselves to make a path for his feet. 

What on earth was he doing?

“Thoma, didn’t you hear me?”

“I know.” His emerald eyes fixed themselves solely onto you, soft yet steady— the intensity of his gaze sent heat flushing to your ears and your face in a most unwelcome manner. And then Thoma stepped even closer, blocking you from view with his body. "Sorry, I’m- I just…”

Your grip tightened on the lamp-post, instinctively trying to steady yourself for whatever he was about to say.

“I…” Thoma cleared his throat, the faintest trace of pink colouring his cheeks. “I just want to be a bit selfish, even for just a little while. I want to keep this moment for myself."

His voice is barely above a whisper, one softer than the dreams of a sleeping child, yet those words rang louder in your ears than a thousand school-bells. If — and only if — your intuition was correct, then this moment was a secret meant to be shared with only two people, one as well-kept as a hidden gem of a bakery. 

(The sudden recalling of a certain memory made you flush even hotter— was that what he had meant to imply that day?)

“Do you know how happy you’ve made me?” He asked, a gentle smile gracing his lips like no other. 

“No, not really,” You managed to force out, your voice wavering from all the tears you choked down. “I have no idea what I’m doing. Please send help.”

Behind Thoma, Taroumarou put a paw over his eyes as if he couldn’t bear to watch (well in his defense, you wouldn’t have wanted to watch this either.) But Thoma did not cringe, no— he threw back his head and laughed.

His was a light, airy laugh that sang of freedom, of joy, and of release; this was the laughter of a boy who’d been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders but was finally released from everything that had been holding him back. It was the joy of a young man who now knew that there was no need for him to hide any longer, that the truth of his heart was one reciprocated.

And then when he finished laughing, he gave you a smile that said, 'Don't worry. I'll help you, no matter how many times it'll take.'

Your hands trembled, your nails digging into your palms as you struggled to process what he just said. 

You were… messy. Inconvenient. A violent delinquent who couldn’t control your temper, someone who pushed away affection at every opportunity and ran away when confronted with your emotions. So why did he keep reaching for you? What about you made Thoma want to keep coming back?

“I’m not perfect either, you know.” Thoma smiled ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck. “I get stressed out when I can’t live up to everyone’s expectations of me, and I can’t tell when I’m allowed to say no and be myself. But I’ve learned a lot, all thanks to you.”

Why are you the one saying that to me? You’ve taken the words out of my mouth, you wanted to cry out. Unfair, unfair, unfair.

“It always feels like home when I’m with you. Studying with you, eating with you— even if it’s just walking with you, I feel like I’ve finally come home.” He continued, fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. “Even if I feel nervous and unsure of myself, at the same time I’ve never felt safer. And it sounds rather selfish, but… I want to be able to give you that same sanctuary.” 

The leaves fell to the ground silently, all the world quiet as if holding its breath to hear your response; Thoma shifted nervously, clearly more flustered than you’d ever seen him before.

His flush deepened. “If- if you’d let me, of course. Is it okay if I keep doing that, even when we’re old and grey?”

The tight, uncomfortable feeling in your chest suddenly released without warning, and your weary heart cried out in relief. You didn’t have to run away anymore.

You… didn’t have to run away anymore.

There was no reason for you to swallow your feelings down till they bloomed in your lungs like poisonous flowers; no, there had never been any reason for you to suffer in silence at all. You had worried for nothing when apparently he had always, always been looking at you– all this time you had been someone special to him, someone more than a funny sidekick or someone to set him up for his next character arc.

Tears ran down your face undisturbed, the warmth reminding you that this— all of this, was real. Thoma was real. 

(And there was also that obnoxious little part of your brain screaming “VICTORYYYYYYYY!!!!” at the top of its lungs, so yes, this was definitely real. You would never have daydreamt that annoying shriek up, whether deliberately or not.)

Your legs ached to run away once more— but not away from Thoma, for the first time in this entire time period of knowing him and liking him. You wanted to run towards him and be caught up in his arms – or catch him up in yours – and cry. Or laugh. Or anything would do, just as long as it was with him and him alone. You wanted to make up for all the times you ran away from his sincerity out of fear, mistaken his kindness for some ulterior motive thanks to your never-ending paranoia.

Let’s go home, whispered your prodigal heart.

 

"Wait, stay there." Your voice trembled. "You're always the one who comes to find me. This time- this time…”

I want to be the one who goes to you.

His eyes widened slightly in confusion, but the puppy-boy nodded in acknowledgement.

Taking a shaky breath, you eyed the wide stretch of asphalt that stood between you and Thoma— a divide that you had put there in the first place, but who was to say that you couldn’t remove it?

Your foot trembled as you took one faltering step forward, planting your shoe in the center of one white stripe of the crosswalk. Courage, that was all you needed.

I’m not good enough for him, said a nasty, hateful inner voice. Three steps and not a single reply, for such folly was beneath your attention.

This won’t work out, said another. You ignored it and took another two steps forward.

I don’t deserve to be loved like this. Ouch, that one hurt— four steps forward, because you were feeling petty.

He waited patiently, just as he always did; the fading sunlight danced in his eyes of emerald, dazzling your world with the light of a thousand unshed tears. For a moment you remembered an old film based on a true story, one that told of a loyal dog who also sat and waited for someone special in his life.

You’re almost home now, said the look in Thoma’s eyes. Don’t give up yet, please, please, please.

A small part of you sighed and wondered what you had become— someone who was practically wrapped around the finger (the paw?) of an insolent puppy-boy, a reserved individual whose heart melted and now yearned for someone who shone like the sun. Realistically, you could have just run away once more and avoided dealing with this.

But the reason why it was called falling in love was because it meant that the other person would catch you, knowing that you would do exactly the same for them. And you wanted to become someone who could do exactly that for Thoma.

You prayed for strength, for bravery to see this through to the end; if you wanted to be that person for Thoma, then you would need courage. No matter how many times your legs trembled on this road, no matter how many people tried to tell you this and that, you could not run away. You didn’t want to run away this time.

One step, two steps— just a little further, you told yourself. You just needed a little more courage to brave your journey to its end. 

One last step forward, and you held your breath, hardly daring to breathe as you allowed him to envelop you in warmth. A part of you still wondered if it was a dream, but that faint, familiar scent of laundry soap, the unprecedented warmth that bubbled up in your throat… you could never have dreamt that up in a thousand lifetimes.

“…I’m here, Thoma.” Your voice trembles ever so slightly.

He smiles and buries his face into the crown of your head, stroking your hair with a tenderness that you now knew was reserved only for you. “Welcome home.”

From a distance, Taroumarou watched as his subordinates embraced in a mess of tears, a satisfied almost-smile on his fluffy face. This entire ordeal had been ridiculously drawn out and could’ve been avoided if they had just communicated properly, but… the Boss Dog supposed that all was well if it ended well. You could only be a pup once, and as long as his subordinates were happy, then he was satisfied too.

[stickers-on-a-laptop]

the promised thoughts about wblue

okay so i DID very much go and rewatch it lmaoooooo so first half is like thoughts i was thinking last night and then a liveblog-ish with different subs than the ones i watched yesterday. also i tried to write out the lyrics of the song but there some parts i definitely missed

when your entire infrastructure apparently rests on one (1) laptop working and your fucking president destroys it (instead of the alien who is causing brainwashing) for his little retainer

said retainer put a fucking shoe in your president's face the first time he met him, btw

said retainer was also like a TOUGH GUY once upon a time, with a real life of crime where he made counterfeit money, but he saw a man so beautiful (that was into a cashless society) and went "okay time to be silly :3"

also when you have a filter on your flashback that starts lifting only when you decide to follow this nerd who can build tech really well

also also when the sparks of a VERY IMPORTANT LAPTOP just have this cherry blossom feel instead of what was probably supposed to be bad-assery. was that just me? might have just been me. anyways.

BUT LIKE. YANMA DECIDED THAT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. THE WHOLE THING. LESS IMPORTANT THAN SHIOKARA. i dunno if the other kings would make that decision. like i think himeno, rita, kaguragi, and jeramie would go for defeating hilbil. but also i'm not sure if the other retainers would use the lie detector like that. gira MIGHT destroy a country for like the orphanage kids tho.

i wanna see the history books of this like what is jeramie gonna WRITE for this. "so the bisexual yanma gast, against the uchu jester hilbil, chose his retainer shiokara over the country"

not that jeramie would know this but the fact the hacker gang instantly transferred loyalty to yanma was very funny, considering that they were yelling at shiokara after the time skip

something something yanma being more presidential (think that gira hype scene) is in a coat of a similar style to yankii!shiokara's

i did legit think they had known each other since childhood but i guess toei wanted more homoeroticism than that. cause like. this would have been about say…7 years of knowing each other? 2 years of timeskip, let's say yanma was president for about 3 years cause he DID know racles before the show started proper, and 2 years or so to be able to TAKE that president role cause i DOUBT they beat up that old man and immediately started running the country

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

when KAGURAGI says to prioritize taking back n'kosopa and then like. no

no seriously why is your ENTIRE FUCKING INFRASTRUCTURE dependent on ONE LAPTOP not breaking i don't think that's even how it WORKS don't you have to destroy cables and stuff too like if this computer goes does it self destruct the internet cables or did the n'kosopaians have no internet for three seconds and go on a rampage

when yanma is the wise king supposedly but also uses his face instead of i dunno his HANDS to block shiokara's stomping foot on the laptop. you know. that laptop he will break FOR THE GUY WHO WAS GOING TO BREAK IT

MY NERD ASS WILL BEAT YOUR YANKII WAYS, says the guy who will become more yankii and for the most part less nerdy over the years

yanma doesn't even fucking move. he KNOWS shiokara won't hit him

hey not to be dark cupid AGAIN about this. but. maybe if you had KISSED HIM HERE you wouldn't have needed to destroy your country

shiokara gives very "shoves nerd against a locker" vibes as yanma keeps resisting the other guy

the song "zero to hero" but like "zero to one" instead

ENGLISH LYRICS (GUESSING): no one can change destiny, (yeah?) but life is all uncertain(ly?) and we must be bullshit. i can tell you a to z [FIST PUNCH SOUND] turn on the radio tune into your heart(?) oh, i don't care(?) my life is gone, so take it back and away(?) what's wrong? (or won't you run) so what i'm still alive [hilblil talking] hard times coming [more talking] i'm still alive and the music's coming [talking] i'm still alive and {???} tonight {???} you can't go

shiokara has MADE HIS DECISION and it's following yanma watching someone go super gay in front of your very eyes

the way hilbil is like "ew. yaoi. cut it out"

THE MUSIC FOR ALL OF IT THO

yanma will not go to the top without shiokara. at all. his loyal slack-jawed tanuki MUST be by his side

gira: …………i guess i can understand being that gay yeah

YANMA HAD TO DO IT. FOR SHIOKARA. HIS SILLY RABBIT yeah i'm normal about this mhm

when you're like OH NO THE WHOLE COUNTRY. FOR ME.

when you were moved by something you couldn't see……..I UNDERSTAND YOUR SUBTEXT

THANK YOU AND SORRY SOMEDAY YOU'LL SAY THOSE WORDS THROUGH TEARS AGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

[peter-pantomime]

Stranger Things Fic Recs, Part 4

Part Three | Two | One

Gen

Let Me Just Hold You Now (Steve and Robin)

Steve has a routine for nights like this. A routine for the times when his world gets flipped on its axis. Just four simple steps to keep his body alive while his mind tries to sort through whatever fucked up thing he just went through. Steve has a Routine. Robin breaks that Routine.

i'm right up the road (Steve, Max, and Eddie)

“Well—“ The guy flounders for a second before taking another very brave and heroic two steps into the room. “Does he have like, medication or something? Are you supposed to call someone?” “I don’t know! That’s why I asked you to help me!“ “Well I don’t know!” He nearly yells, more stressed than angry. This is definitely not what Steve meant when he’d advised them to stay calm and not panic. Don’t bring in a random guy who’s only going to fuel the panic.

A Heart Whose Love is Innocent (Wayne and Eddie)

Eddie hadn't spoken a single word to him since showing up on his doorstep with nothing but the clothes on his back and a single, half-empty backpack, about a week ago. Wayne had never considered himself to be a particularly patient person, but apparently he wasn't too old to learn something new about himself, because he was. He was so very patient with the boy. When he talked to the kid and received nothing but vague head movements or the occasional grunt for an answer, Wayne didn't press, didn't push, didn't do anything but accept that this was how they communicated for now, and it wasn't fine, exactly, but Wayne could wait. 5 times Wayne had a conversation with Eddie, and 1 time Wayne had a conversation about Eddie.

Steve/Eddie

the shame is on the other side

Steve wants to go to a place where monsters aren't real and people don't care about him, and he wants to drink and dance and stop thinking for once. Just once. He lands in a gay bar. And then he keeps landing there.

it would be surrender to let me see

[...] The point is, no one has ever done this much for Eddie in his life. (Well, he knows some very scary people in suits did something to get the murder charges against him dropped, but that happened while he was mostly unconscious, and he still doesn’t know or want to know the details.) As far as he can tell, Steve has spent every waking moment since dragging Eddie’s bleeding skin sack out of the Upside Down trying to make sure Eddie never wants for anything again. And that just makes the wanting so much worse.

A Gem Beyond Counting

The wrong feeling pitches and dives toward nausea again. Steve folds in half, eyes squeezed shut. The room spins, and his skin goes clammy. Behind the rush of white noise in his ears, he thinks he hears Eddie’s voice, calling to him, saying his name. There’s a soft pressure on his back that moves up to the back of his neck, and — Gone. Everything’s fine. He feels fine. He feels good, even. Eddie has a hand on the back of his neck and one clutching his forearm. Eddie looks frantic, eyes wide, a sheen of sweat on his face and stray damp curls stuck there. Steve’s gaze is drawn to his mouth, taut and worried and always in motion. He wants to lick into it. OR - Eddie falls first, Steve falls harder: sex pollen edition.

My Four Leaf Clover

“Do you wanna tell me?” “That depends, on if you’d wanna know,” Eddie replied in his most seasoned theatrical voice. Sometimes it was hard to remember Eddie played pretend almost for a living, and other times it was impossible to forget. “Doesn’t matter,” Steve said. It is June the ninth, 1986, and Steve Harrington has now lived through four world-shattering and world-saving events. The most surprising development of his life this summer, however, is the fact that he's currently lounging around outside with Eddie Munson listening to him prattle on about who knows what. The most surprising development of his life is that he's enjoying it.

sir stephen strider finds his suzie

Dustin watches Eddie's face as everyone else giggles. He's retained his typical intimidating smirk for much of this encounter, but as Steve stumbles through his fictional seduction, Eddie's eyes soften. His smirk slowly turns to a small grin. [...] Nancy presses a hand over her mouth, but it does nothing to hide her smile. Usually, this is the point where Eddie would make them all roll initiative. Dustin has his D20 ready. But Eddie smiles. Eddie fucking smiles, and not in that maniacal way he does before siccing something horrific on them, he fucking beams, and says, "You're gonna scrape your neck on his mace doing that, just so you know."

keep me in your glow

“You want me to apply this liberally to your hair from root to tip?” Eddie offers, shaking the bottle, trying to convey to Steve that he won’t make fun of him. Although maybe he still sounds like he’s making fun of him. “It’s just, uh–earlier you told Robin that raising your arms hurts so I thought…” Steve looks at him, expression unreadable. It’s probably weird, what Eddie’s doing. Standing in Steve Harrington’s bathroom is weird enough without the additional presumption that Steve would want him prolonging this experience. He really should’ve left the second Steve proved himself capable of showering alone, but – “Well we can’t use that one until my hair is damp, not wet.” Steve plucks the bottle from Eddie’s hand and promptly swaps it out for a smaller white one. “We can’t really do anything with my hair right now, it just needs to air dry. Um, I do kinda need it out of the way, though. If we’re gonna fix my face.”

getting lost in the dark is my favorite part

“Nice to meet you, Eddie,” said Nick. “It’s rare that I find someone else here who shares my interests.” “Interests?” He remembered he was wearing his battle vest, Nick’s hand lingering right in the middle of the giant Dio patch. “Oh, you like the heavy stuff too?" “I really do.” “Fuck yeah,” Eddie said before he could stop himself. His face got hot. Shit, that sounded way too eager, a totally excessive level of enthusiasm just for meeting another gay metalhead. He had given himself away as a clueless virgin, and Nick was going to stop smiling, walk away, and find someone with the ability to maintain his cool for the length of half a conversation. But Nick didn’t stop smiling. Instead he said, “I know you just got a drink, but do you want to get out of here?” Or: After his near-death experience, Eddie decides it's time to get rid of his pesky virginity and heads to a gay bar. It leads to some... realizations... for both him and Steve.

Like Strangers Laugh and Like Subways Feel

Hoisting his bat in the air, Steve unlocks the door and wrenches it open. Eddie Munson falls into him, up against his legs, half sprawled out across the step. Steve drops his bat with a clatter. Or: Eddie shows up on Steve's doorstep, hurt, panicked, and in need of a helping hand.

he's begging babe stay, stay

The late June heat lingers with a slow sort of stretch that envelops the two amid the sleepy safety of dusk. Steve’s sleeves hastily rolled and shoved haphazardly onto peeling, sunburnt shoulders in accommodation as they aimlessly walk empty neighborhood streets. Bathed in the golden lamplight of suburbia. Steve distracted enough to allow the older boy to lead him this far along without so much as a question of their destination since leaving the hotboxed confines of Eddie’s Uncle’s trailer. “Hey,” He begins conversationally. Eddie’s eyebrows lifting expectantly, though he goes on smoking. “The element of surprise and I don’t mix so well these days, you know? Not that consideration exactly comes to mind when I think of you, Munson. But — “Steve’s face softens as Eddie’s eyes roll theatrically. “Could be nice to clue me in now.”

in breakable heaven

Eddie leans out of the window on crossed forearms. Steve’s next projectile, thankfully, goes right over his head. “Hello." “Hi,” Steve says, “can I come in?” Eddie Munson and the terrible, no good, very bad, actually pretty alright summer.

Shame on the Night

[...] There’s a story Steve remembers about looking back, a punishment in salt. He’s got his key in the ignition and there’s something brackish in his mouth when he turns to see the shadow in the window. “We can’t…he’s alone,” he says and no one answers because they know he’s right but they don’t know what comes next. It’s Dustin who finally breaks the silence, a quiet, “where can he go where no one would look?” Eddie hides at Steve's house. There are consequences.

Ace of Spades

Eddie comes back. Steve helps.

the feeling that you give me, wanna give it right back

[...] Every time Steve comes over to Eddie's to smoke up, they end up in some kind of stupid argument. Usually it's about music, or movies, or whether Dustin should ever be allowed to have a pet again. But tonight, somehow – Eddie can't remember exactly how it got started, but he definitely blames Steve – they're in each other's faces about which of them gives better head.

Hard to Learn

[...] Realization dawns, then it’s quickly followed by anger and… hurt? The first quickly eclipses the latter, and Eddie flings open the car door. “See you around, I guess, Harrington,” he spits, beginning to limp away. [...] “Oh, for the love of-,” Steve mutters, then runs the couple of hobbled steps that Eddie has managed to put between them, grabbing his arm to spin him around. “Your home is half portal, idiot,” Steve says. “You’re staying with me.”

man's good faith and will to perservere

Eddie Munson's birthday is in November

600 Square Feet

There’s no response from Steve and Eddie is contemplating swapping out his bun for donuts when Steve starts laughing. A full bodied laugh that has him pressing his wrist to his mouth to keep from losing his lunch all over the car and Eddie finds himself smiling despite his confusion. “Are you— Are you experiencing a medical event? What’s happening here?” Steve chokes down some water and sighs, “My parents really sold me on this idea that I was gonna get out of school, go to college for business, take over for my dad, live in some— some mansion on a lake.” He gestures between them, “And now i’m waiting on tourists and sharing table scraps with Eddie Munson.” Eddie huffs out a small laugh, “Bit of a downgrade, huh?” “Are you kidding me?” Steve shoves his fingers through his hair, “This is— kind of perfect, actually." Falling in love on a shared mattress.

defrost

“So what’s the plan?” Steve shoots him a look. “Why do I have to have a plan?” “Your car.” Eddie shrugs. “Your call.” "I think..." Steve sighs. "It would be safer to wait for the snow to stop, and then go from there. I don't want to actually crash into a ditch or something." He glances at Eddie, nervousness on his face. "What d'you think?" "I'd say we're fucked either way but if this means I don't have to walk in the snow, I'm all for it." "That's the spirit." (Eddie hates Steve, for the most part. And now they're stranded in the middle of nowhere. And it's snowing.)

sloe gin fizzy, do it till you're dizzy

[...] Steve doesn’t flinch away from the closeness. Just breathes and blinks. And then his eyes flicker down to Eddie’s lips and right back up, so quick that Eddie’s hazy brain would have missed it if he hadn’t been paying attention, hadn’t been anticipating it. Eddie takes it as the invitation it has to be, and slowly, slowly closes the distance. His nose does bump into Steve’s as he enters his space, but he pauses, hesitates with his mouth hovering a hair’s breadth away from Steve’s. He waits for the rejection, for the brutal shove away, for the disgusted “what the fuck man?”. But they don’t come. What does come is Steve’s mouth, pushing forward to press against Eddie’s.

so destiny has brought us oh so close together

When Steve inhales he shuts his eyes and lets his head fall back, exposing the line of his neck, sending the smoke upwards on the exhale. Eddie watches because he can’t help himself. This is another strange thing. He’s always known that Steve Harrington is attractive, but it had always been in an almost clinical way, like the way he could look at Nancy and know she’s pretty. It was objective. Simply an observation that Steve’s features formed a pleasant arrangement. He understood why all the girls in Hawkins tripped over themselves for the pleasure of King Steve’s attention, but it had never affected him personally. Eddie knew better. Or he was supposed to know better, anyway. Or, 5 times Steve and Eddie have sex with no strings attached +1 time it actually means something.

[mcgnussen]

So I'm a bit frustrated with people's drivers ratings right now. I know it's personal and people can have different opinions, but I honestly look at most of them and can't help but go "Kevin will never be good enough for you, will he?!" I mean, I can admit that he has made mistakes and he definitely haven't been perfect, but the way people talk about him is just making me frustrated and angry.

I don't understand, Kevin has basically beaten all of his teammates (except Jenson) but every time the season ends, the narrative is: "his teammate wasn't very good anyway". Or like this year, where people say he should have beaten Mick with more, because he is "basically a rookie", which I find to be completely nonsense, but anyway.

Now I dread Nico coming in and Kevin beating him, so people will just say that it's because Nico is too old and past it. It seems like he can never win. Maybe he should let Nico get a few wins against him to prove that he still got it 😭🤷‍♀️

Sorry for the rant, i love your blog. Have a nice evening ❤

welcome to the pain of being a k-mag stan ❤️

but no, i totally get your frustration. it's the same frustration that i've dealt with at the end of almost all formula 1 seasons since 2014. for example, watching tommos video on qualifiers and him rating zhou, albon and sainz as faster qualifiers than k-mag. like are you actually kidding me? the man just got a fucking pole in a haas, beating 8 out of the 10 drivers in q3, all in much faster cars and he beat his teammate like 4 to 1 in qualifying - and he is being put in the bottom lower half of the grid in terms of qualifying 🤡

unfortunately, this has kind of always been the case with kevin. when he does something extraordinary, people praise him that day and then they forget entirely. even when his stats show that he is beating his teammate in so many different ways, people completely disregard it, yes, and it's so annoying. for example, with jenson then they basically went 50/50 on qualifying, but kevin was on average 0.2 faster than jenson in qualifying for the whole season. and he was a 21-year-old rookie against a former world champion who had been in f1 for 14 years. kevin had not even driven a f2 car before being put into a f1 car. and he did that - and people still treat his 2014 season as some kind of huge disappointment. they also completely disregard that mclaren wanted to continue with kevin, but because of infighting then jenson was retained instead.

it is the same we see with mick now where people are like "oh, mick has been faster than him". like look at the graph below. when mick has beaten him, most of the time, they have not even been near top 10. and it doesn't even include sprints where kevin has scored points every single time, which means he has been in top 8 three times more from what you can see below.

it's the single stat where mick has done better than him (and yet some people only focus on this irrelevant fact), but it also completely disregards the races where kevin has been forced to take another pitstop, spending close to 40 seconds in pit to get his front wing fixed, or when he has had car issues or when haas has fucked up his strategy like putting the wrong tyres on his car (oh no, not even making the wrong call, but actually putting the wrong tyres on him). also by the way, no one is talking about how the fia has basically admitted to them being wrong about the use of the meatball flag and them having admitted that to haas. imagine if the fia had ruined charles' race three times in a season. it would be the greatest scandal of the season, but no motorsports media sites give a shit because it's just k-mag and haas🙄

people did not even care when he could keep up with, and even beat in some cases, a former world champion with 14 years of experience as very young rookie, so i suppose they will never care about who he beats. but of course, if nico beats him then i'm sure they will all care and make fun of him despite the fact that nico is a good and respected driver. but yeah, it's the curse of being a kevin fan. i think most people agree that he is deserving of a f1 seat, but they sort of just shrug their shoulders and then throw their love at the usual drivers.

i do not know what more kevin should do to be considered for teams higher up the grid. i know that ferrari had their eyes on him in 2018 when they had doubts about charles, and that red bull offered him a toro rosso seat, but i just wish people would respect him more. and he is still improving. whenever he has a season where he has a flaw, he usually corrects it by the next season. once, he was not considered a super good qualifier, then he fixed that. he was criticised for killing his tyres too quickly when at renault, he fixed that for next year in haas and became known for it. he was criticised for crashing too much and doing too much damage to the car, this season he is the third "cheapest" driver on the grid when it comes to the cost of car damage.

and i'm confident that if kevin had been french, alpine would have given him the seat instead of pierre 🤷🏻‍♀️ i think being danish is one of the things that kinda counts against him since we have no ties with motorsport and formula 1. and that shit matters as proven by the fact that everyone is already saying mick to audi just because he is german. but yeah, my best advice is just to roll your eyes at it and ignore the "experts" who spend 80% of the time only watching the top teams without doing proper research on everybody else.

[karaspal]

"Also, did they SAY that was the only reason she was being sent along?"

yes, actually! they did!

as they are about to send her, her mother tells her "you'll journey to earth to look after your baby cousin, kal-el." her father doesn't even tell her he loves her...

later in the season, kara has a talk with her sister where she expresses sadness over the fact kal had to save her because she still feels like it was supposed to be the other way around and she failed him. what happened to her (getting stuck in the phantom zone) was not her fault, but she still felt guilt well into her adulthood because of the fact her parents drilled into her she's saved only to look after her cousin.

kara: it wasn't supposed to be this way. this is the reason my mother and father sent me to earth.

alex: they wanted you to live, kara.

kara: no, it's more than that. i was supposed to be the one saving him, not the other way around.

in fact, here is something kara said in the season one finale that proves my point - "but my mother didn't send me to earth to fall in love with a human, have children, live in a house with a white picket fence. she sent me here to protect kal-el. and now, i will use my powers to protect the earth. and if i die achieving that, I'm at peace with it."

even in season six, after she's healed from most of her trauma around krypton, she still says the reason they sent her was to protect her cousin. "my father sent me to earth to take care of my baby cousin who went before me..." so it's not her interpreting it wrongly when she was younger. she was sent to earth to look after her cousin, not just have a second chance at life. and that's so so wrong.

"You want to show me what they could have done that would still ensure those kids safety?"

they are kara's parents. their main concern should be kara. instead, they sent her as a scapegoat to ensure kal is fine. i don't understand why you don't see that as wrong. sure, they can tell her to stick with her couisn, but not make it her entire mission.

here are some examples of alura and zor-el sending kara to earth where they are actually being good parents:

supergirl: woman of tomorrow #6

legion of super-heroes (2023)

notice how alura made it a point to tell kara how much she loved her instead of telling her she's only saving her so kara could watch over kal? notice how she said "find" instead of "take care" as to not put pressure on her child? yeah...

"This just sounds like you don't understand parenthood, or the dire situation they were in."

again, kal is not their child. kara is. they shouldn't put this baby over their own daughter but to each thier own i guess.

#funny how she valued it after Lena took advantage of her

why is lena da bus driver all of a sudden?

#alura's gratitude to Alex for what her family did for Kara shores up my argument btw

alura was alive and never bothered to look for her daughter. it's really not helping your point of "alura and zor-el are good parents" here...

also, you could make the argument "oh, she saw kara getting sucked into the phantom zone. she thought kara was dead." which would be wrong because she knew people don't die there, but whatever.

overall, i don't know why you're acting like this is a bad thing. in terms of storytelling, it's quite good. it adds layers to kara's character and makes her much more complex. a main character having bad parents is nothing new and is used a lot when writing a story to make a characters more interesting.

honestly, it's really crazy how kara's parents (in the show) saved her only so she can watch over kal. "you'll journey to earth to look after your baby cousin, kal-el.", "my father sent me to earth to take care of my baby cousin who went before me..." don't you just want your daughter safe? don't you just want her to live? is her life not worth that much to you? her happiness? why must she be spared only to look after some boy? why must you drill into the head of this young girl her life's worth it only if she's giving it away for others? are you not ashamed? ... fucking assholes!

[all1e23]

Let Go [One-Shot]

Pairings:  Bucky  x Reader 

Warnings: Smutty smut. 18+. Be cool kids. 

A/N:  Surprise I actually wrote something. I am in fact not dead. I wrote this months ago and I’m finally posting it, but here ya go. My terribly written smut for all to enjoy. un’beta’d cause I’m too lazy to care tbh. I am no longer doing taglists. 

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are my jam, though!***

You've been in an awful mood all day. Everything was setting you on edge and it had everything to do with your boyfriend turning your seemingly good mood from this morning sour and you couldn't shake your frustration. Bucky left with Sam four weeks ago for some mission that was supposed to be a quick in and out. One of those ‘home in a few days’ missions. It dragged out much longer than that as all missions did. A month later Bucky was finally home, sneaking in late last night and slipping into bed after you fell asleep. You were elated when you woke to your boyfriend kissing you and whispering in your ear that he was home and missed you something terrible. He was out of bed before your alarm went off claiming he had to go debrief with Sam. You knew that meant he came home before he was supposed to. As sweet as it was, he was still gone before the sun came up after being gone for a month and it was entirely unfair. Your frustration only grew with every hour that passed with his absence.  

So much so that by the time Bucky got home you were aching to fight and he knew it the second you spoke. The sharp edge your tongue held, the short answers you gave him and the way you slammed the fridge looking for the wine you set on the counter only a few moments before. Even your walk was angry. Usually light in your movements, your steps were heavy and your hips didn’t have their usual relaxed sway. Bucky watched the way your fingers gripped the stem of the green tinted wine glass in your hand and he wondered how many you broke over the last months. He wasn’t going to ask. At least not tonight. He didn't say anything at first. Simply watched you as you walked around the six hundred square feet apartment you share. 

By the fourth time you snapped at him Bucky stopped what he was doing and came to find you in the kitchen, glaring at the fridge as if it had personally attacked you in some way. He stared at you for several long and torturous breaths, fully taking you in and then he nodded made some decision. He jerked his head back towards your bedroom, his voice soft and low when he finally spoke, “Why don't you come talk to me for a minute.”

“What?” You snapped. “What do you mean come talk to you?” 

What did he think you were doing right then?  

“You're in a bad mood. Frustrated with somethin' and I’m guessin’ you need to let go,” he explained gently, pressing himself against your hip and you realized right away what he meant. Talk didn't mean talk. Without question, you wanted what the release he was suggesting, but that would sour your sour mood and the dark cloud hanging over you wasn't ready to let go, despite how much you liked feeling his soft lips press a gentle kiss to your temple. 

“That doesn't always fix my bad mood,” you countered.  

Bucky raised a brow and tilted his head to the side, looking slightly amused by your brush off. You've been together long enough that he knew you very well, so the idea that he couldn't read you well enough now to know what you needed was laughable. He wasn't going to laugh as much as he wanted to. He didn't want to hurt your feelings when they were already vulnerable and he also wanted to live to see tomorrow. 

“Not always but most of the time. More times than not.”

You huffed and shook your head. It wasn't that he was wrong. You were frustrated. It was a terrible day. Sometimes (most of the time) you needed some help letting go of your frustration and it almost always helped to ease your tension. You were still too cranky to let Bucky help you and Bucky knew that the second you didn't respond. so, he let it drop. If it wasn't going to help he wasn't going to push you. He wanted to help, not make you feel worse by pressuring you to do something you didn't want to do. "What do you want to do for dinner? We can order pizza? Pasta? Whatever you want, baby doll.”

“Pasta?” You repeated with the faintest smile and Bucky only hummed in conformation. You weren’t stupid.  You knew what he was doing. Dangling warmth and comfort in front of your eyes until you caved and gave into him, allowing him to bring you out of the darkened hole you were burying yourself in. Whatever he could do to make you feel better, he was going to do it. He had a look on his face that said there was a suspicion he was partly at fault.  You fought to keep your frown but your cheeks hurt from the force it took to stop your smile. 

“Come on,” you said abruptly. Bucky held the fridge open, staring at you with uncertainty in his eyes. You turned towards your bedroom and waved for him to follow you. “Come on,” you repeated again. 

Bucky was slow to follow. You heard him kick his boots off and creak of the bathroom door as he moved through your apartment. You felt him before you realized he had made it into the bedroom. The heat coming off him was burning your now naked back and the cool touch of his left hand on your hip made you shudder, instinctively leaning back into him. 

There were no words between you. You both said enough already. He brushed a soft kiss to your shoulder blade and he urged you towards the bed in front of you. With his hand pressed into the center of your back, he pushed you forward until your cheek pressed against the cool teal blanket covering your bed. There was a brief squeeze to your hips before you felt his lips pressing a kiss to the small of your back. It was a gentle, soft reassurance that he had you and was going to make sure you were taken care of. 

A cool rush of air came over you and you knew he was no longer standing behind you, but your confirmation came when the bed dipped behind you. You pressed yourself back against him and Bucky chuckled, “Impatient. Can’t I take a second to enjoy the view?” You didn’t answer and Bucky didn’t expect you to. He knew you well enough to know when you were in the mood to play, to be silly in the midst of all the heat and that wasn’t your headspace tonight. Bucky understood that better than anyone. He had nights like this, too. 

You glanced back just in time to see him giving himself a few lazy jerks and your mouth watered at the sight. There was something about watching as he stroked himself, the veins in his forearm and his bicep flexing just enough to tense. It left you dripping every time and in this position, Bucky could see exactly what it did to you. Your gaze flicked up and you knew Bucky had caught you drooling by the sinful smirk and sparkle in his eyes. He winked and you couldn’t stop your grin, turning your head you buried your face in your sheets. He didn’t need to see the embarrassment on your face, nor did he need to see the way your mouth fell open when he pushed into you without warning. Your hands gripped the sheets in front of you and pulled them taut. 

A low, throaty moan left him as he filled you, inch by inch, until you felt the front of his thighs pressed against you. Three breaths. Bucky gave you three long breaths. A moment to collect yourself. He waited until you raised your head and wiggled your hips. Bucky bent down to kiss right below your ear, his right hand pressing into your shoulder blades and he let go. Pinned to the bed and helpless under his hold, all you could do was hold on. 

This wasn’t one of those times when Bucky was gentle, easing into you and bringing you to the edge over and over before he finally gave you the release you’ve been begging for. You loved when he took his time drawing out every whimper, but you also loved this. There was no need to label it as anything other than a quick fuck. A desperate need for each other as you chased your highs together. The only sounds filling the room were your moans and Bucky’s heavy pants as his hips slapped against you. It wasn’t going to take much for either of you. You haven’t felt his hands on you in a month and after how tightly you’ve been wound all day, you were ready to fall apart. You could feel the tension you’ve carried all day finally break as you came hard around him, every inch of you trembling when you felt Bucky still behind you. 

You peeked back over your shoulder to catch the sight of him, jaw slack and brows furrowed as he came back down. He looked beautiful like that and you told him so, earning a teasing smirk in return. His red cheeks held your attention more than the cheeky grin because under all snark and brooding, he was soft and a little shy. He slowly pulled out of you and collapsed onto the bed, burying your face in your pillow. Bucky was only gone for a few minutes before you felt him curling up behind you in bed, snaking arms around you and whispering in your ear that he ordered pizza and pasta because he wasn’t sure which you wanted more. You couldn’t help but grin and rolled over in his arms, burying your face in his chest and humming happily when he kissed the top of your head. 

Bucky ran his fingers down your back and sighed heavily, a hint of anxious energy spilling into his words, “You okay?” 

“Mmm, yeah,” you replied in a soft whisper, shifting in his arms enough that you could press a kiss to his chest. After moments like that, he needed reassurance that he didn’t cross a line and you were still okay. “I don't know. It was one of those days. I guess I needed to let out some tension.”

Bucky gripped your chin and forced your head up from his chest so he could look in your eyes. "Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked again. “I don't want you to not talk to me when you're upset and think that I want to solve our problems with sex-" you kissed him before he could continue, smiling softly as you pulled away. The fact that he was worried you would think that made your heart ache in the best fucking way. 

"I don’t think that. It wasn't really anything. A bad day and I guess I missed you more than I realized while you were gone. Sam needs to learn to share," you pouted playfully but Bucky's loud chuckle made you grin.

"I'll tell him you said so. What if I take some time off and we go away for a few weeks?" 

Your eyes widened dramatically and Bucky playfully ran his right hand over your face to wipe the look of shock off your face. You giggled and pulled his hand away, kissing his palm and placing it on your chest, “A few weeks? What about Sam though? You can't leave him hanging and what about the city? What if someone needs you?”

Bucky snorted in response to your unnecessary panic. As if he was the only superhero in New York. It was almost laughable to think that the city needed him more than he needed you. “There are probably twenty enhanced individuals, at least, in this city at all times. I think it can get by without me for a couple of weeks.” 

“If you’re sure, Buck,” You hesitated. Your doubt must have been easy to read because Bucky pulled you close and bumped your noses together until you laughed making him grin that sappy grin he reserved for you and you alone. With your foreheads pressed together he pressed a chaste kiss to your lips and hummed contently, “I’ve never been more sure, Y/n. Sides, I put you second long enough. Steve got to be selfish, it's my turn.”

[kageyuji]

shortening his name except he thinks you called him another guy’s name

⤷ oikawa, bokuto, atsumu, suna, mattsun ; [gn!reader]

GENRE/WARNINGS: comfort(?), angst if you squint hard enough, mild swearing

NOTES: i will literally offer my hand in marriage if you reblog. and thank you to @/sugawaaras for giving me the idea for mattsun’s <33

━━ OIKAWA

even though he tried to be confident, in reality, his self confidence sat on a throne built from things he told himself in the mirror and compliments he never believed

so its not a surprise that his first reaction just... isn’t one. he’ll stop and replay it over and over again in his head to make sure he’d heard you correctly

and then his heart breaks — it actually hurts him, makes him feel like he can’t breath, and before he even knows it theres tears in his eyes

of course, he knows you’re never supposed to let the reason you’re crying see you crying

so he attempts to act like he’s more annoyed than that he just had his heart just obliterated

it’s not a secret though. through the pain in his eyes, anyone can see the shattered remnants of what was once his heart

“ru, can you grab my phone for me?” you called to your boyfriend from the couch, remembering that you’d left your phone in the other room.

it was quiet for a moment; not long enough for you to ask if he was okay, but long enough that the silence was odd. you heard heavy footfalls again, then saw oikawa standing just inside the room with a clear look of betrayal on his face.

“what?” you asked him, wondering if he was kidding around. you hadn’t done anything, there was no reason why he’d actually be upset with you.

as he stepped closer to you, you could see the tears whelling up in his eyes, and you were left to wonder what was wrong.

“what’s wrong? tooru, hey, are you ok?” your voice was much softer when you spoke this time. your heart dropped when you saw him step back at your step forward.

“so now you can call me by my name?” you think his voice was meant to be low and hostile, but in his struggle not to cry it came out strangled and cracked.

“what did... do you mean ‘ru?”

“yes! who the hell is that? if you wanted to-“

“no no, babe, your name is tooru. the last syllable of your name is ru. it’s just a shortening of your name, not someone else’s.”

you watched his lips form a smile and he let out something like a laugh, seemingly at his own confusion, and then the tears finally fell.

he’d walked into your arms soon after, with his arms wrapped tightly around you and his face buried in the crook of your neck

“sorry... sorry for not trust- trusting you, i just-” his sentence was cut through with sharp breaths and hiccups, and then finally stopped with your own voice.

“it’s alright, i didn’t mean to scare you. we can cuddle if you want, hm?”

he was already struggling to keep himself from fully breaking down. but when one of your hands came up to pet his hair, a whine left him — you think it was supposed to be an ‘mhm’ to your offer — and his hands gripped tightly at your shirt, his arms around you getting tighter.

━━ BOKUTO

he doesn’t miss a beat, immediately looking up at you to wonder if he’d heard you correctly

it’s just a small spike of anxiety at first, but the more he lets the foreign name resonate with him, the more it makes him worry

he has to build up the courage to ask you who the other guy is, because he can’t do it right away, he’s way too nervous

he looks so sad as well, puppy dog eyes looking at you, seemingly just slightly worried

unbeknownst to you, his heart is pounding in is chest and with each passing second, it runs the risk of shattering

“‘taro!” your voice was a giggle as he left little kisses all over you. they weren’t nearly enough to leave hickeys, just little pecks across your face, your neck, your chest.

as soon as the name left your lips though, he stopped, golden eyes snapping up to look at you with a pain you’d never seen in them before.

you could tell he was definitely upset about something, but you had no idea what it could be. hell, the way he looked at you, it was almost as though you were the reason.

of course, you were unaware that bokuto’s first thoughts went to rintaro, middle blocker from the famed inarizaki. suddenly he was thinking of every time you’d ever spoken about the team, said how many fan girls they had, how many games they’d won.

he wanted to say something. he really wanted to ask what you’d meant. but the words seemed caught in his throat.

it wasn’t long before he couldn’t take it though, and he pushed the words out, despite the alarms going off in his head and his heart immediately jumping to his throat.

“who is ‘taro?” you didnt think you’d ever heard him sound so small. so timid, so close to his voice cracking with the tears he was holding back, so... scared.

“you? who else? i can call you kou if you’d prefer that though. you don’t have to look so upset.”

bokuto smiled then, relaxing the weight on his arms enough so he was on top of you. he supported himself enough not to crush you, but there was nothing more he wanted in the world right now than to be held by you.

━━ ATSUMU

he liked to consider himself a tough guy. he liked to.

but there were times whenever his support fell, leaving his world to crumble in his hands, slipping through his fingers no matter how hard he tried to hold it all together

and when thought he heard a guy’s name that isn’t his own come from you, it felt just like one of those times

he was asking what you’d meant before his mind could even properly register your words

and by that point he didn’t care enough to replay the name in his head, his mind already caught up looking for the things he’d done wrong, the things he hadn’t done.

“oh, ‘umi, if you want to we can go to th-”

“what the hell?”

it surprised you how much venom laced his words, despite the fact that you’d done nothing wrong. the thought that he was being sarcastic or joking with you crossed your mind, but atsumu wasn’t exactly the best actor.

he couldn’t fake the look on his face, couldn’t fake how his heart had seemingly stopped just from the look in his eyes.

“what do you mean?” your voice was soft when you spoke now, no longer so nonchalant.

he lips pressed into a thin line and he set his jaw in frustration. it took him taking a deep breath to finally say, “you called me ‘omi.’ if you like-”

“tsumu.”

“no, i heard you, you called me omi. if- if theres...” he never finished his sentence. there was already a lump in his throat and he knew that if he were to say anything more, he’d cry.

“no, no. i called you umi. like your name just a little bit different.”

his face was drawn in a look on confusion. his eyes studied you, trying to look for any sign of you lying. but he trusted you, of course he trusted you.

he came over to hug you, his arms wrapped tightly around you. you heard him sniff, but you knew he’d deny crying if you asked him.

“i love you,” his voice made him sound so small, it was a level of weak and vulnerable you’d not seen from him.

“i love you too.”

━━ SUNA

the words “stay calm” had never been repeated in his head to himself so much

well, it was more like a string of curse words with “stay calm” thrown in occasionally, but he’d never felt so scared

the look on his face is annoyed at first, but it quickly starts to shift into one with a little more worry

he’s terrified, in all honesty. but he’s already told himself he’s not going to let you see that

“taro, can we stop by a corner store on the way home? i need something.”

your voice had been so calm. so why did it feel like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest?

he knew you hadn’t meant to. but why you’d even slipped and call him by another name in the first place worried him. it took him only a few seconds for his mind to land on bokuto koutarou.

bokuto koutarou, one of the top aces.

“well fuck you too i guess.” his tone may have been confused with one of anger at first, but you could tell that wasnt it. anger is a secondary emotion, you knew in reality he was hurt.

the only problem is, you didn’t know what. from his words you knew it was something you’d done. but there was nothing that came to mind.

“sorry? what did i do?”

suna hesitated for only a second before asking why you’d called him by another name. he took a deep breath immediately after speaking, your silence only breaking his heart more. as though it wasn’t already destroyed.

but your silence was born from shock and confusion, not being caught like suna had assumed.

“taro. like rintarou. like your name. who else would i be talking about?”

“uhm. koutarou? i don’t know, forget about it.” he’d never felt like a bigger jackass before; he never swore at you.

you smiled a little at his words and walked over to hug him. he hummed at that and pressed a small kiss to your temple, then buried his face into the crook of your neck.

“i didn’t mean to-”

“it’s ok, rin.”

━━ MATTSUN

he had to stop for a moment to let it sink in before he could react

after that there were too many emotions rushing through him to do anything for another few moments

in fact, his silence coupled with the distant, betrayed look on his face was somewhat unsettling

it takes him longer than he would like to question you, but it’s because he’s already preparing to collect his shattered heart after one of his worst fears becomes true

“why are you here?” mattsun heard iwaizumi’s voice and he smiled a little to himself, knowing that he must have been talking to you.

he’d been waiting for you all day, it seemed like forever since he’d last seen you. the only thing he wanted right now was to hold you.

“oh, i’m here to see ‘kawa!” you said happily. mattsun could hear the smile in your voice without even seeing you.

you were here for oikawa. of course you were here for starboy oikawa tooru, of course your boyfriend was just a stepping stone.

he was still frozen when you rounded the corner. the look on his face was concerning, you couldn’t remember the last time — if there ever was one — he’d looked absolutely terrified, the last time he looked so hurt.

“mattsun... are you ok?”

he didn’t answer you. it took him a few moments before he could finally speak, and even then his voice was different than it usually was. it was... pained? betrayed? whatever it was, you knew it wasn’t mattsun.

“did you really come here just to see oikawa? what happened to me being your boyfriend?”

it took you a few moments to try and understand what he was talking about. you’d never said that. hell, you always came for mattsun, not once had you ever spared oikawa a thought.

“no, babe. i said ‘kawa’, as in matsukawa.”

he seemed to melt at your words. that expression disappeared from his face, his body untensing. he moved to pull you into his arms, holding you close to himself with a desperation he’d not had before.

him thumb rubbed soothing circles on your back. you could tell he wanted to say something. but then he stopped right before the words left him, instead opting to make a joke to lift the mood.

“good, i was about to kick oikawa’s ass.”

“...we were having a moment.”

[elvisabutler]

Hi!! Congrats on 500! Would I be able to request the prompt “are you drunk? i thought you stopped drinking?” from angst with austin!elvis! Thank you so much 😘😘

thank you anon! 💖 you definitely can! general note, elvis did not really drink all that often due to the fact that he was a mean drunk and generally speaking, let's be honest, his mother was an alcoholic and he was at least aware of the possibility of him becoming one. why he couldn't apply that knowledge to pills is a fascinating case of well it's prescribed so its fine vs it's illegal/not given to me by a doc. but i digress. so that means it's austin!elvis x reader time though i could make a case for 50s austin elvis asking his mama that.

angst, "are you drunk? i thought you stopped drinking?" - austin!elvis ( see also: it's never safe for us not even in the evening 'cos i've been drinking )

tw: unhealthy relationship tbh. drinking, obviously. codependence. mention of elvis's drug use. a slight age difference. better than his normal but still oof.

it wasn't always like this. it wasn't always like this until it was always like this. it wasn't always like this until your husband proved time and time again you made a mistake. you made a mistake marrying him when you were 20 and in love and he had just come back from war, "oh please daddy, say yes, all he wants to do is marry me and we can have a family."

what you have is a daughter born too long into your marriage for everyone to not think there was something wrong with you and elvis. no, that hadn't been it, but to make a kid you have to be in the same room together. it wasn't always like this until your husband's affair with ann margret was splashed all over the tabloids.

"a pink bed, elvis? are you kidding me? this is humiliating!" you shouted.

"it ain't like that baby!" he roared back crowding you. "you know i wouldn't do that satnin."

truth is, you didn't know what he'd do anymore.

it wasn't like this until you were left alone at graceland for two movies and jerry tried to keep elvis on a leash but "it's getting bad." so you come to hollywood and elvis- he's exhausted but it's always that he's fine, he's got his medication just go back to sleep. as if you've been able to sleep worth anything without a glass of wine or five since the ann margret incident. it wasn't always like this and it wasn't like it at all when you found out about lisa. you had all his attention and every second not on set filming was spent touching your belly and singing songs to it. hell, he had even tried to regain some semblance of a sleeping pattern. it wasn't like this for the blissful year until it went back to being like this.

you drink heavily after she's born, enough that elvis hires a nanny because he can't wake up all the time with her and go on shoots and "goddammit woman, she's our daughter, stop this and take care of her."

he makes you quit right before the 68 special, something about how he has plans to reinvigorate everything in his life and that includes you and him. but there's something about those eyes and him looking like he has all the hope in the world that makes you do it. and so it stopped being like that for a while and you were happy. you both were so happy and lisa was trying to walk and seeing him tell her "up up up" has you blurting out "you should call it the lisa marie."

but then the colonel did exactly what you said he would and clipped everyone's wings. this was supposed to be the new beginning and now- and now it's ruined. elvis is strung out on god knows what any more. and you drink. and you worry. and you drink. and you worry. and you drink. and you have to leave, your parents will pay for another round of rehab or you'll make elvis do it in the divorce but its clear you can't stay here. your liver can stand being here any more.

you're drunk already. it's 11 in the morning and you know your words are mildly slurring when the driver asks you if you think this is a wise decision. it's the wisest one you're ever going to make you think. you're drunk already and it means you slame things a little harder than you should when you're packing up the last bit of stuff from the room you share- ha, that's a joke- with elvis. between that and the curtain opening up his eyes blearily blink at you.

"baby? y/n? what're doing?" his own words come out a little slow but you can't tell if that's from whatever downer he took to sleep or from his half asleep state. you figure it's both.

you take a deep breath and stand up a little wobbly. you can do this, you can tell him what's been on your mind and what you're doing. "i'm leaving you, and i'm taking lisa wit' me."

your own accent betrays you throwing away whatever training your mother instilled in you to try and be more more southern belle and less poor trash. it angers you to your core and has you half tripping in your heels before you catch yourself in the bathroom.

the noise your stumble makes has elvis up in a heartbeat like he wasn't just passed out not even five minutes ago. his legs carry him to the bathroom where he crowds you against the counter.

"are you drunk? i thought you stopped drinking?" he growls, grabbing your chin, forcing you to look him in the eyes. "you're not taking lisa like this. you're not goddamn going anywhere like this."

"i am." you spit back, actually letting a bit of spit hit his face. "and i've been drinking again for months you just haven't noticed. strung out on whatever those leeches have you on."

he shakes his head and lowers his voice to a whisper. "no i'd- i'd have noticed you drinking like mama again."

"not when you're not here. or when you're here you're a ghost. lisa's cried for you and i have to tell her daddy's passed out or daddy is in seattle or across town but can't visit because he's doped up." you whisper back, grabbing elvis's wrist in an attempt to force him to let your chin go.

he grants your request and once again shakes his head. "satnin. darlin'-" he stops himself and you can see his eyes tearing up. "i let you get that bad again, didn't i? i did- i'll stop. don't leave. we'll- go together. we'll go to that place you went to together."

you fell for this once, you think, back before the 68 special and you know quite well the colonel won't give elvis enough of a break to actually do what would need to be done for both of you to get healthy. you put your hands on either side of elvis's face and shake your head. "no, honey. i'm not- i'm goin'. my parents are taking lisa and i'm goin'."

there is no room for him in this equation and from his sigh he knows it. "come back when you do, please. i can't- i need my girl. please. i'll do something just come back when you're better. please don't leave me like mama. please."

you know he won't let you go if you don't say yes. you shouldn't say yes but you can't stop it coming from your mouth. "i won't, handsome. but you gotta let me go right now."

his hands drop to his sides almost like you were a general and he gave an order. he places a kiss on your forehead before wrapping you in his arms. "promise."

"i promise." you say.

you're not sure if you were lying or not.

[cinnamonest]

Yandere Profile - Link (Legend of Zelda)

ABSOLUTELY YES. MY BOY. LOVE OF MY LIFE.

As some of you may know, today is the release date of Skyward Sword HD for Switch!! So I decided to release this one now in honor of that :3

NOTES:

I went towards the idea of a Princess!reader because that just opens the gate for sooooo much potential. I'm leaning heavily towards the ZeLink interactions in BoTW and Skyward Sword just because those games have the most interaction between the two.

Also! This is great bc it gives me the opportunity to explore an idea I've actually had a long time! I've always thought about how many opportunities there have been across the games for Link and Zelda to be kinda like "haha well seeya later" and just... bolt, run away from everything, abandon their roles and responsibilities and all that. Like, if OoT kid Link got her before Ganon did and ran, if SS Link just decided to get her on the bird and bolt before everything went down, if botw Link was just like haha what if we ran away from everything together... jk... unless...?

And final note, Link is a great pick for the very traditional yandere -- sweet and : ) but can snap into darker personas. I really liked writing this bc I tend to have more self centered yans and less of the "worships the ground you walk on" type of yans like I think Link would be, so it's a nice change.

As usual now the nsfw section is divided by a ---- line.

TWs: fem reader, heavily implied Zelda!reader, stalking, murder, very brief mentions of gore/dismemberment of rivals, manipulation, very brief suicide mention, themes of reincarnation (I’ve been told this can be triggering to some people so just in case)

TWs (nsfw section): noncon, somnophilia

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

Severity Scale

Intelligence/Perceptiveness: 4 Brutality: 8.5 Physical capability: 8 Mental/emotional instability: 7 Restrictiveness: 6 Sexual sadism: 5 Stubbornness: 8

What are they generally like? Lucid, aware? Obsessive? How do they behave?

The primary trait of Link that any darling -- any person, really -- would notice is that he is, well, quiet. He has always been a man of few words, and really, he often doesn't know exactly what to say. On his own, at a first glance, he really does seem like a gentle, humble spirit, someone who blends into the background pretty well, who isn't particularly prideful or reckless or aggressive.

Which is why, to be honest, he might sort of evade the gaze of most people -- he doesn't stand out. You remember him as the boy that smiled at you now and then, it's a soft, gentle sort of smile, one that you feel conveys nothing but the utmost innocence and contentment with the world. You know he's pretty good at fighting, but doesn't get into fights needlessly, he's accomplished and respected, but has never been the guy everyone is talking about -- he's in the background, against the wall. Never speaking, always looking out, sometimes at the sky, sometimes carefully watching people. Sometimes you see him, gaze blank and tranquil, and wonder what he's thinking about. Whether he's the village boy in the time of Twilight, the trained and honored warrior that slept for many years, the boy that came down from the sky -- you can't help but feel at ease around him, safe, you can't help but find him endearing and pleasant.

Yet, you always seem to notice him. Other people... forget he exists, sometimes, he's so quiet. You never do, for whatever reason.

When he needs to get something across, he prefers to express himself through actions, not words. If you lived in Skyloft, or Ordon village, you might find problems mysteriously solved, work suddenly done that you don't remember doing. That fencepost outside your home that broke has been replaced overnight. A village child went missing and he comes back a few hours later with them in tow. Always humble, never demanding or expecting thanks, he tells you in his quiet voice that he's happy to help you.

And should you ever ask him for anything, he'll drop whatever he's doing to help. Anything for you, he says with a smile, which makes you feel a bit guilty when, honestly, you're not even sure you're remembering his name right.

And yet, sometimes, you feel so at ease around him it seems unnatural. He seems so easy to trust. You feel like you've known him forever. And sometimes you feel... for just a split second, less at ease. You find yourself randomly stiffening at his calm, sweet voice. You find yourself looking around when you're alone, as if you feel someone is there, and for some reason, his face flashes through your mind. Sometimes when he looks at you, you feel sort of cold. It's almost like invoking a memory you don't have, like some kind of learned instinct you can't recall a reason for. But those moments are fleeting, they come and go before you can even process them, replaced by warmth and comfort.

If you do spend time with him, if you find yourself gazing out your window when he's training, the next thing you notice besides him being quiet and sweet is that he's strong. It's almost ironic, how all the other knights or village boys are so aggressive and rowdy all the time, many of them taller or bulkier, and yet, none of them could ever dream of defeating Link. Not one can match his agility, speed, prowess. Such a pleasant, calm person, with so much skill, strength, and power, but that power is so rarely seen exerted. People marvel at his talent, they say it's as if he has the experience of lifetimes and lifetimes of battle in his blood.

And it's why you feel at ease when he's assigned the task of guarding you. His capabilities are unmatched, and yet you'd never fear any harm to you from him. Both of those traits put together make him the best candidate to protect you.

Of course, you do find yourself doing most of the talking. Sometimes you find yourself rambling to fill the silence, and you fear you're annoying him, but when you stop he raises an eyebrow and asks why you got so quiet. Did he do something wrong? He seems to worry about that a lot -- has he done something bad? Has he made you upset? Are you mad? At first you think he's worried about his position security, but after a while you realize he genuinely worries about it.

And when you do continue your ramblings, you're surprised to find he remembers your words -- every little thing you say. Things you don't even remember telling him. He asks you about that relative you mentioned one time, his eyes light up and he walks a bit to the side because look, it's your favorite flower over there, he'll get it for you. It's impressive, really, how he manages to remember such things. He must take his job very seriously.

He does enjoy giving you such things -- he loves giving you gifts. It's usually things he finds, wholesome little things -- makes a crown out of the flowers you like so much, finds something interesting here or there, while he was off-duty he saw something in the markets he thought you'd like and got it for you. You almost feel guilty, it's so constant that he's giving you things.

Sometimes you ask him about himself, you realize he knows so much about you and you so little about him. He blushes, he rubs the back of his head, he insists there's nothing interesting about him, he wouldn't waste your time like that. It takes time to get him out of his shell, but eventually, he tells you this or that, little stories from his life.

Sometimes you take long walks, you like to get out of the stuffy walls and have fun outside, he accompanies you across Hyrule. Sometimes it feels familiar, you pass places you've never been that give you a feeling of nostalgia, deja vu, a sense that you've been here before.

He’s protectiveness incarnated. Insanely so. He can spring to his feet at a moment's notice and deals with anything that comes for you before they can even get close.

It makes you feel safe, but there's something else there. It's a ferocity that is so contrasting to his normal self, different even from the times you've seen him fight as he trains. It's a glint in the eyes, an aggression in his expression, that almost makes him seem like a different person. And it lingers for a moment, once the creature is dead and his sword hand falls to his side, he turns and glances at you to his side, a hand raised to wipe the blood off his face, and for that lingering second, it's still there, his blank expression and wide eyes -- a ferocity so intense it starts to look like bloodlust, chaos, destruction. And then, it's as if you imagined it. Smiling and telling you it's gone now, you're ok. You're glad he's so truly devoted.

In fact, he's so dedicated to his job that he starts... doing it... outside of his job hours...? Well, today he was given the day off, and you were told to stay inside because you didn't have to go out. He comes knocking on your door, says not to be startled if you hear someone outside your door move or shift or anything, but he just wanted to let you know in case. He'll be right here. Keeping watch. So don't worry. You're safe.

And likewise, he was supposed to have a day off when you were supposed to enter the town. You were assigned two other guards to watch you, since it's a special trip, so you're surprised to find just Link waiting for you. He took care of it, he says, he didn't feel right leaving your safety up to someone else, he doesn't trust them. So they agreed to let him take over for today.

All of this said, he doesn't have to grow alongside you, he doesn't have to be the childhood friend, the knight who guards you. He doesn't even have to have met you. Fate works in odd ways like that. There's a sort of inexplicable instant attachment he takes to you, almost as though it's some kind of destined, divinely inspired sort of thing. He would describe it as saying you feel familiar to him.

He's also, notably, prone to a more traditional trope of what you might call humility whiplash. For the most part, he's got that overly humble, worshipping, "I don't deserve to even stand in your presence" sort of mentality. However, although it's rare and requires a lot of wearing down his mental state, if pushed far enough, he can have brief moments where he snaps into more or less the complete opposite -- entitlement, arrogance, aggression, getting mad at you for the behavior he'd normally take with a smile on his face. Thankfully, unlike some yanderes that have a whole snapping episode towards their darling, his are very very brief, usually only a matter of seconds or a single snarled sentence before he snaps back to normal, wide-eyed and apologetic and telling you I don't know what came over me. It’s... a little frightening to say the least, but you blow it off, tell yourself that hey, everyone has moments like that... Right?

How likely are they to kidnap their darling? How quickly will they do so?

For the most part, he doesn't need it, he can pretty easily cling to your side well enough to be assured of your safety, and he manages to scare off the undesirables not with a glare, but a smile that's just a little too sweet and far too persistent -- it unnerves people. You hear a lot of people say that something about that guy rubs me the wrong way. Or that he gives me goosebumps for some reason. Even the people he scares away themselves can't pinpoint exactly what it is, all they know is that, despite being reputed as kind and quiet (and maybe a little dense), somehow a lot of people agree that something about him puts people at unease, and that's all he needs. Because they stay away from him, and if he’s by your side all the time, that means they stay away from you too. Why keep you trapped when you can just be isolated?

An aware Link is a a unique scenario. One scenario that's rather... interesting to imagine is a Link that defies fate itself, a Link that decides to be selfish in one of those rare snapping moments of his. Perhaps he makes a decision when everything starts going down, when the chaos is beginning, or perhaps he has somehow managed to gain knowledge of the bigger picture at work, the reality of the nature of your existence and his.

Perhaps he begins to think it's unfair. To suffer again and again. To prove himself again and again, and not always even to reap any benefits, to work so hard and yet still -- still -- you slip out of his grasp. He longs for a life with no tribulations, no struggle, no fights to be fought. He begins to feel like it's what he wants the most. He begins to feel like maybe it's what he deserves. So many lifetimes of struggles, if the higher powers won't give him a reward, he'll take it himself.

And perhaps, for all their higher power, not even the great goddesses themselves would have ever predicted it -- humans are ultimately creatures of will. To defy fate and to run away from destiny -- it wouldn't be the first time a human has tried such a thing. Sure, Hyrule may be destroyed. The people may all die. There may be nothing left. But you know what? He's stopped caring. If you're alive and he's alive, tucked away in your little corner of the world where you've found respite, well, that's all he needs. Even if you're on the run from forces that would want to find you, even if the threat of the final third of the triforce owner looms over your head. He'll ignore it, he'll look away.

You'll live a quiet little life together, a happy life without suffering, without quests and enemies, without strife, without worry. That's what he tells you when he steals you away, lifts you out of your bed one night. Says to be quiet, there's danger outside your door, he's rescuing you. You have no reason to not believe him. He waits until things go down, a castle under siege, but rather than taking you to where you're supposed to go, he climbs onto the horse and starts... riding away. It gets further and further into the distance, and you might ask why, what's going on? You have a job to do, he has a battle to be fought. But he says you're going far, far away, someplace you'll be safe.

But what about the divine beasts, the seals, the Twilight, whatever threat runs in this world in this time, what about the threat of Ganon, you ask? He says it doesn't matter anymore. You were doomed to fail, he thinks, it's either stay here and die, or run away. All that matters is you. And he'd like you to feel the same way for him. You will with enough time, don't worry.

He just wants this happy, quiet life with you that he’s been denied time and time again. It’s all he wants. If fate won’t give it to him, he’ll make it happen himself, and carve out the life he is determined to have, defying even the will of higher power.

How difficult is it to escape from them? How do they keep you restrained? How do they deal with attempted escape? 

He gets it. Really, he does. "Stop following me!" You yell. Well, he understands why you might feel that way, but this is kinda his job. He thinks you're naive. Not that he would ever, ever have a thought that you're imperfect, of course! It's because you're so perfect and pure that you're... less aware of the dangers all around.

He'll let you think you're free, perhaps. He's more than capable of being quiet, quiet is kind of his thing. Watching you from a short distance is easy. Of course, his horse might make a noise, he can't really help that, or he might misstep on a branch or something. And then you turn around and get all mad again. Now you're even more angry. Well, he can also tell your guardians/father, who will encourage you to accept it. You can't help but feel a little bad -- he's just doing his job.

Now, our aware, runaway Link, well, does he really need to keep you restrained? What would you go back to? Certain death, a land destroyed? Sometimes you mention home, and he's quick to remind you that home doesn't exist anymore. His home is where you are. Can't you feel the same way? You found peace here in this little place -- a village far far away. Travelers, you call yourselves. What's the point in going elsewhere? How would you ever survive without him? He's not very good at being subtle or skillful about the psychological manipulation, it's obvious he's trying to scare you into not leaving, but... it still works, because really, he has a point.

He doesn't want to have to use physical restraint, in any case. And for the most part, it's not needed, because one important aspect of your relation is that his job kinda revolves around you (in some incarnations), or, perhaps you live in the same little village, but either way the thing is that his presence does the job well enough -- he's always there, perhaps more so than almost any other yandere. Even when you think you've managed to get away from him for a moment, somehow his face pops up out of nowhere. How he manages to pull it off is a mystery, you swear he manages to find you so well and predict your movements it's inhuman.

But if you really, really pose a problem, a smarter and sneakier darling that somehow manages to keep slipping out of his grasp and running off (you never get away for more than about 20 minutes or so, but nonetheless), you keep trying to run off when he's sleeping (he wakes up in approximately 25 seconds if your presence is absent from the bed, but that's still enough time to run out the front door), every time he turns his head (which isn't often) you're trying to disappear... well, in that case, he can reach a point of deciding more straightforward measures are necessary. He hates to do it, really, at least when he's not yet at a snapping point. But it's for your own good. And he says so, quite apologetically.

But it's not so bad, it's not like you're being chained to a wall or anything. For one, he got leather ties so you'd be more comfortable, but more importantly, as your guardian, he figured the best thing for you to be tied to would be... himself. Think of it like friendship bracelets! It's just... got a 5-foot chain connecting them. This way you can't sneak off at night, and you won't get too far when he's distracted. It's a safety measure.

How easy are they to trick, deceive, or manipulate?

He's a learner. At first, it's easy. Honestly, he is a rather naive, gullible boy, sometimes he reminds you of a happy dog with his bright eyes. He likes to believe the best of people, give them the benefit of the doubt in all circumstances, and that goes double for you, who he believes can do no wrong.

And even when you do lie to him, it's still not wrong. You didn't do anything bad. Clearly there has simply been a misunderstanding, and you thought you had to lie. Or perhaps you simply forgot a detail or were confusing something with something else. It wasn't malicious on your end, he knows that.

He's actually significantly smarter than he lets on in practical knowledge, though. Those dungeon puzzles pay off, you know? He's got pattern recognition down. So over time he learns how to distinguish when you're lying to him or attempting to deceive him, and sees through it increasingly well.

And yet, he doesn't really... get mad over it, most of the time. Again, he's just capable of deluding himself into believing there's a reason. He believes so strongly in your goodness that he finds a way to interpret everything you do as out of benevolence. So you snuck out the window and didn't tell him you were going for a walk because you just wanted to get away from his suffocating presence for once? You were just thinking of him. You didn't want to burden him and wanted to give him a break. Well, that's thoughtful, but don't worry, he doesn't need a break. He thinks it's precious you're so considerate of him though!

You don't tell him you were talking to that person, and you lie and say no when he asks, because you don't want him to worry, and because you underestimate how dangerous others can be. He's told you a million times and you don't listen, but that's ok, it's because you're just so pure you see the best in everyone. Everything you do is good.

Because he perceives your lies, he will still work against and around it. He won't confront you on your lies, he'll just make sure to deal with the situation -- you lied about sneaking out, well, he'll just keep watch and be ready to meet you outside next time. You lied about talking to a person, well, he'll just have to make sure they stay away from you instead.

If you're trying to trick him, he just plays along until necessary. Smiles and nods. He gets the suspicion you're planning a break-out when he told you he was leaving to go get something from town... rather than saying so, he just decides, you know what? Why don't you come with him? Oh, you're feeling sick, you tell him it's ok, go without you? Well, he can't leave you alone then! Because you're clearly not and just trying to get him to leave... or, as he says, he can't just leave you alone. He'll go another day.

He's fairly manipulable when it comes to praise and affection. You can easily Pavlov him into certain behaviors or patterns with just the slightest words of praise and affection. He's not a very outwardly expressive person, tends to stay quiet, but you can tell how he feels inside when you give the slightest praise, a hug, a kiss on the cheek -- you can see that soft hint of a smile and tell that inside, he's basically melting, even if it's not obvious to most people. And, much like the lying, he’s honestly often aware of it, but he just can’t help it.

How lenient are they? What privileges can you have, and what will you be denied?

He tries to get you the things that he feels will make you happy. Your happiness is incredibly important to him, and he usually thinks about how any action he plans to take might affect you, spends a lot of time debating choices of things to do or say and try to determine how each one will affect you and choose accordingly.

As such, he goes out of his way to support the things you want to do. Have a hobby? He'll find the best materials available. Want a book or a food? He'll obtain it through some means. Even if procuring it involves a side-quest-y set of mundane tasks or scouring the world for 70 of this and 50 of that to exchange it for the item from an obscure specialist, it's all worth it.

The only thing he just doesn't give up on is the constant vigilance and insistence on being by your side more or less every waking second. And every sleeping second. And just every single moment you're alive. It's for your safety.

This is actually one of the things he can get a little nasty about when it comes to how he deals with it, because he quickly has the bright idea that if you don't get it, he'll make you understand. Of course, he can't actually risk you getting hurt, so he stages it. Allows you to sneak off, or at least think you have, and walk right into the path of those monsters he lured, or the people he hired to intimidate you. Of course, it's only natural that he shows up at the last possible second, right on time to save you. You should expect that, after all, it's his responsibility to protect you, of course fate works out perfectly like this. See, he was right, it's so dangerous, and without him you'd be dead. Hopefully you grasp that now.

What kind of rules do they have? What kind of punishment would they use?

His is mostly related to vigilance. Where are you? Who have you been talking to? Who was that person you were talking with just now? What did they say? He's not nosy. He just cares about you. It’s in the job description. You ought to understand just how much certain bad people would love to find you and hurt you. That's why he has to know.

This isn't our modern world, so there's no phones or tracking devices to speak of, just himself, which, well, might as well be a tracking device since he never seems to have difficulty finding you. Sometimes you're not sure how he does it.

He tells you that you don't have to be with him 24/7, but you will be, even if you don't realize it. He's aware enough to know that you'll feel suffocated and get mad if you're aware of his presence all the time, so he gives you your "alone" time, aka, the "follow her quietly from a 20+ foot distance" time. It all feels the same to you. Well, sometimes you feel eyes on you, but you shake the feeling off as paranoia.

So it's not so much that he sets rules and reacts when they're broken, but rather, he works his way around anything you might do so well that he doesn't need you to follow his rules, or really, you take them more as suggestions. But honestly, that's kind of worse. It's enough to drive a darling to the brink of a mental breakdown very quickly. With Link you will inevitably become paranoid, nervous, you feel like you're going insane because he manages to pop up everywhere, he always knows what you did when you did it and you have no idea how it is even conceivably possible for him to know some of the things that he knows. He confronts you very plainly and quietly, often sweetly, asking why you did this or that or telling you it's ok, you don't have to hide anything, surely there’s a good reason, and if not, he forgives you anyway. In a way, it's worse than an angry confrontation. You begin to feel like he's omnipresent, like he can read your mind, and it truly takes a mental toll and affect you worse than any normal yandere's concept of punishment.

This ultimately works out well in his favor. The more you just do what he wants, the less it feels like a violation or intrusion that he knows these things, since he was there with you, it makes sense, and you continuously get bent to his will.

How do they deal with rivals, or perceived rivals? Will they get rid of them? Will they kill them themselves, or find another way?

Ah, and thus we get to that brutality rating.

It would be unthinkable to think that any sort of scum would even dare. Even he isn't worthy of being with you, and someone else thinks they could be? So, he more or less views "rivals" as an offense. When they're threats, well, he's allowed to deal with them. When they're not, well... he has a wonderful reputation. If he says he overheard that person planning usurpation or assassination, that they realized he was listening in and wildly attacked him, everyone will believe him. Even if the death seems a little... non-immediate. And uh... frankly... overkill. How exactly... did those limbs get perfectly severed during equally armed combat? And was it... really necessary... to kinda spill entrails all over like that? He'll apologize, of course, he was just so outraged by the thought of someone hurting you or your family, you know? You notice his eye twitches a bit as he says it.

He has a lot of... bottled up frustrations, which we'll touch on in the nsfw section as well, but it tends to manifest in those two ways: sex and violence. Rather than exerting stress and anger and frustration as it comes, he lets it fester. He tries to maintain being the noble, humble, self-sacrificing person he feels he should be. That is... difficult to do for a long time. People expect a lot from him, even in timelines where he's not necessarily realized as the hero quite yet, he usually has a lot of responsibilities. But then you tack on the whole hero thing? The weight of the world is sometimes, quite literally, on his shoulders. Do you have any idea the kind of stress that comes with that knowledge? It's not pleasant. And it quickly bottles up, a very very fragile bottle set to eventually shatter in a matter of time.

On a longer sort of quest, he just kinda... leaves a trail of destruction in his wake. Enemies don't actually just poof out of existence the way they do on-screen, you know. Anyone coming across an area he's just been through is met with literal piles upon piles of corpses, sometimes monsters, but sometimes people. He takes a very scorched earth sort of policy when it comes to dealing with things.

He's able to easily get close to people, with that sweet face and puppy eyes and lithe body, people don't really feel on guard around him nor intimidated. That makes it significantly easier to infiltrate enemy hideouts, earn favors, and work his way in to be able to commit mass murder more easily. Granted, no one thinks too much of it because they *are* truly enemies, after all, they *did* need to be taken out and well, if the rulers can choose to either send a group of ten soldiers or just one guy and get the job done equally well either way, they'll go with the latter option. No one thinks anything of it, except the occasional person who laughs and says something to the effect of remind me to never get on your bad side, haha! He gives that sheepish, sweet little smile, and jokingly tells them that yeah, better not.

How easy is it to make them mad? What does their anger look like?

For you, nearly impossible. For others, at a hair trigger.

For the most part, he conceals anger well until, as aforementioned, it bottles up and bursts. The truth is he gets irritated virtually all the time by other people. People who talk to you. Look at you. Smile at you. He’s actually rather easily annoyed even when you’re not involved, but again, he’s good at hiding it until it builds.

His rage has a commonality with his calm -- it's quiet. At least, at first. When it's directed at others, his eyes narrow. It's the telltale sign that someone has ignited his rage. It burns on the inside, it starts off as a spark that builds and builds and grows larger and larger until it's a blazing fire that consumes everything in his path. It's a loss of composure, a rare moment of complete loss of self-control. From his own perspective, it feels like he's not in control of his own body, it's all a blur happening in front of him and when it's over he's looking down at his own hands, unable to process his own actions, sometimes unable to remember them.

But it's violent, merciless, unforgiving. It does not yield to begging, it does not leave anything alive unless forced to. You remember the first time you realized how unnatural it was, how shocked you were at how he did something that certainly went against the code he was sworn to follow, the very first time you felt truly afraid of Link. It was a walk in town -- someone called out to you, spitting obscenities about you and your family, your lineage, threw something at you -- he caught it in his hand and crushed it, and quickly, without a word, advanced on the offender. And, to make a long story short, you had to prevent him from beating a man to death in public in broad daylight. He was forgiven by his superiors, but even they seemed shocked. You had to pull him off, and when he jerked his head around to look at whatever was stopping him -- before his face softened as he recognized your own face -- the split second you saw the burn of hatred and fury in eyes that were normally so soft and loving, was nothing short of unsettling, you still recall the chill that ran down your spine.

And honestly? It's terrifying. And the first time, it's shocking. Sure, you knew he could fight. You've seen him fight off monsters, bokoblins and lizalfos and the like. But something is different about seeing the blood of a human being run down his sword, dripping onto the ground, to see the bodies and the blank, numb gaze on his features he always has after it's over. The absolute lack of hesitancy he has to run human enemies through before they even have a chance to explain themselves, how unbothered he seems by the carnage left in his wake. The way he turns back to you, drenched in red and smiles, tells you it's ok, you're safe now. There's no need to look so scared.

And it changes how you view him, in the long run. Less of a guardian angel, more of a guardian dog, one that defends your name when you never asked him to. Pleads to tell him not to fall on deaf ears -- you just don't understand why it has to be this way, he says, you can't comprehend the threat they posed. From the sweet boy that leaves you flowers and repairs and instead leaves a wave of destruction in his path you would not have thought possible.

Directed towards you, though, it's entirely different. He tries his best to have patience with you, no matter what. He smiles, he tries to make excuses as to why you'd say this or do that, why you'd feel a certain way, and he's rather good at deluding himself to give you the benefit of the doubt.

But when it reaches an end, when he can no longer lie to himself, when you push it to a point that you truly make him mad, it's more of a snap. The times he'll lay hands on you in a truly violent way are rare, and as aforementioned, very brief. It's usually not so much of actually a blow, so much as a grab. He just can't get what he's trying to tell you through your thick head, so he stresses it, trying to make you understand as he grabs you by the upper arms, shaking you with each word, and he only stops when he sees the pain and fear in your eyes, drawing his hands back at lightning speed. He saves you from some danger very narrowly, one of the few times he lost track of you for a moment and had to frantically search before coming across you being attacked. What would I have done if something happened to you? Don't you understand that? He's so lost in the relief it takes him a moment to feel you beating on his arms in the embrace, choking and wheezing that you can't breathe, that his grip is so tight it feels like he'll snap you in half. He draws back again, and he apologizes, but it will certainly happen more than once.

So they see you as above them, beneath them, or equal to them?

Above. Like, so, so, so far above. He feels like he doesn't even deserve to look at you. Of course, neither does anyone else, so he's just, you know, stepping up to bear the burden of wrongdoing to keep people even worse than him away from you.

So it's less that you're just above him so much as you're above everyone. He's actually, perhaps surprisingly, a little bit of a pessimist about the world. The world is full of so many terrible people and so many horrible things happen that he's borne witness to. It's a "world cold and hard, (y/n) soft and warm" sort of thing. You're the one good thing, the thing that makes him happy, the ultimate source of comfort he has, and he has to prevent you from being defiled by the evil of the world, keep you innocent and sweet (even if he's just deluding himself to think you are those things in the first place).

This ties into, again, how he interprets every action you take as good and benevolent -- he has the "you can do no wrong" mentality. Even very blatantly malicious things, he'll interpret in a way that makes you somehow still come out a perfect, innocent angel. If you do harm to others, well, they simply deserved it. You did something technically wrong, but you knew no better, or you were desperate. You can't be held responsible for any of it. And if you're mean to him, well, he probably did something to make you upset.

How determined are they for you to love them? How hard will they try to make it happen? Or are they content just having you?

Sort of a duality. Yes, he's very persistent. He thinks about it all the time. Every time you yell and try to run and hurl nasty insults at him, it hurts far more than you realize. He doesn't let it show on his face or in his voice, but it really does, and it gets to him sometimes. He's hyper observant of every little thing you do, your body language, your tone, the way you look at him, and the slightest of differences can change his mood internally, although it tends to look the same outwardly.

He makes little mental notes of it -- today she didn't flinch when I touched her shoulder. Today she didn't frown when she saw me coming. Little things like that will make his entire day. Likewise, the inverse kills him inside. He aims to make every day one of the former days, where the littlest signs of acceptance or even kindness and affection give him a sort of high that makes him feel like he's floating.

He tries his best to do things that he thinks will, well, earn love. Every opportunity to do something for you, he takes it. Everything he sees he'd think you'd like, he buys (or steals, or... loots from a dead body) for you. On and on that idea goes. And although he doesn't say too much, when he does speak to you, he usually has something nice to say. He views it in a formulaic way -- ironically, think about it like those collectibles in overworlds. You get enough of this or that thing, and once you have enough, you can go talk to this or that person and donate them all and get a reward, right? He's accustomed to viewing things that way. Love should be the same way. If he just completes enough tasks and gathers enough items, eventually he'll unlock your love.

That being said, even if it doesn't happen, much to your despair, he just... doesn't. Give. Up. He doesn't quit. No matter how many times you tell him, it doesn't make a difference. You can tell him you'll never love him, and it's like it goes in one ear and out the other. He keeps trying. And he never, ever, ever stops trying. What did you expect? The boy's been fighting the same enemy over and over across lifetimes, needless to say his spirit has build up some persistence.

Bonus: Is there anything that makes them unique, in comparison to other yanderes?

Bonus: Zelda/Triforce of Wisdom Darling

And don't worry. If it all goes wrong, when he fails, those divergences in time where the hero is vanquished and evil wins out -- it's not the end. Somehow, that's the feeling he gets, holding your little lifeless body up, running hands across your cold skin. Somehow, he feels oddly calm. Like it hurts, but it's ok. Like he'll see you again. Maybe not soon, but one day. This time didn't work out. But the next one will.

And that's the feeling you'll always have. Every time you meet him and you feel like you've met before, the lingering memories when you wake from your dreams -- flying through skies and sailing on oceans, a child, an adult, a boy you've never met, or one you've known all your life, but it's always the same face, the same voice, the one right beside you in the waking world. You sometimes wonder if he has the same feelings, the same dreams, the same sense of something greater than yourselves at work, the sense of being just smaller pieces in a much bigger picture.

The sense of permanency, that each other is all there will ever be -- regardless of how it makes you feel, regardless of how that scares you, sometimes you feel like you can never be free. Sometimes, when you think of running away, those dark moments when you think of even escaping from life itself, it feels futile. It's as if you know it would never hold him away forever. As if death is insignificant. Perhaps in this lifetime, you'll become aware of why that is, or perhaps not.

With other obsessive lovers, just the idea of til death do us part is a terrifying thought. But, for Link, not even death can keep him away from you. Your suffering is already determined by the will of higher power, for the sake of a greater good. 

In truth, it’s the goddesses who made him this way intentionally -- it’s designed to ensure your safety, even at the cost of your suffering. Again, for a greater good. Sure, you may live one lifetime to the next desperately locked in the same cycle in which your freedom and will is stripped from you, but in the end, it serves a purpose. 

Nor will he change -- perhaps this one this time is a bit more spirited, more calm, more pessimistic, more optimistic... but in the end, at their core, they're the same soul, with the same will deep, deep down. The same drive to find you and protect you. The same love for you, an all-consuming love that destroys everything in its path to you and leaves ruin in its wake.

And if fate should one day keep you apart, should things change, for whatever reason, it’s unable to change him. There's another force even more powerful than fate determined to keep you together. The only thing more unavoidable, inevitable, and unescapable than fate, is Link himself.

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

General perverseness: how sexual of a person are they? What’s their drive like? How touchy do they get? Do they have any reservations about sexuality?

In moments of passion, he changes a bit, unlike other more submissive yans who stay consistent in their reverence and desire to please.

You see, after a while, being as lenient and tolerant and flexible and completely devoted as he is... constantly self-sacrificing in so many ways, to you, to Hyrule, to the world... some frustrations build up. It's a big, big bottle of emotion, all tucked away and festering, getting greater and greater and eventually it has to explode somehow.

His reservations and inhibitions fall away. Perhaps a darker, more selfish side comes out. Perhaps that's why he's so rough. He knows he'll regret it later, the bruises from how hard he grips, the marks from the bites, but the hormones and the heat takes over. He'll feel bad for defiling you. He'll apologize. And he'll do it again. And again. And again.

But once the resolve crumbles, it topples. That is, he can't partially maintain it -- if it's partially gone, it falls apart completely. He lets go, so to speak. And when he lets go, you find that underneath that carefully constructed resolve and willpower that holds him back, he can be a very, very rough and possessive lover. In his normal state, he wouldn't dare think of you as a possession, or as something he's even worthy of. He would like so, so much to think that, to feel like he's allowed to -- but he doesn't. He chastises himself for even having such a desire. But in those moments, when his resolve is gone and his brain isn't thinking quite too clearly, he might even have to audacity to say "mine." Even if it's not true, not now, maybe it will be. He would like that so much. His and his alone.

And in a moment of clarity, he might even throw away the inhibition on purpose. The more selfish side, the same Link that drags you away from your destiny -- he's already forsaken his responsibilities, hasn't he? Why care anymore about the structures that no longer exist, your status and his, if there's no kingdom left? He likes that it happened, even. This way, this time, you can throw off those titles, those roles. Without your status, your title, there's nothing stopping him from making you his. And you will be his, and nothing more. It's all you need to be. So he doesn't have to care anymore about any of that, he doesn't have to stop himself from going wild. Biting into every little spare patch of skin, covering your body with marks that make him feel comforted to see.

As far as drive it's a bit of a two-sided duality. Outwardly he's not a very sexual person at all, blushes and stutters and averts his gaze at the slightest mention of suggestive topics, tries his best to be Respectful(tm) by always looking away when you're in a compromising position, or your skirt flies up, etc etc. Given how constant his vigilance is, he has a tendency to accidentally walk in on your changing or bathing, except unlike with many yanderes, it's genuinely an accident. Not that the image doesn't stick in his mind, nor does he wish he hadn't gotten to see, but he does feel guilty, and it was genuinely unintentional. He kinda freezes up, so it takes a moment for him to actually snap out of it and run out.

That being said, he quickly develops something of a masturbation addiction when he's younger, it starts as more of a stress reliever than anything, He's so sweet and always feels bad about talking about his problems and feelings, so that and, well, violence are the only ways he can get it out. Thus he learns to channel stress and nerves into sexuality, and once he has a real living body and not just his hand, that dependency on cumming to relieve it doesn't change.

How forceful are they? Do they care about your willingness?

Particularly so, yes, cares quite a bit. And it takes a while for him to feel comfortable. Even consensually, the first few times he touches you for several months, he's got trembling hands and stays quieter than ever, constantly freezes up every time you move or make a noise because he thinks he's done something wrong. He has to be coaxed into feeling more comfortable before he gets used to it, but he will build confidence over time.

As addressed before, though, if he's pushed and pushed and pushed long enough, you can get a darker side to come out. This is most likely something that would only occur post-kidnapping in a distant time, once he's far away from any possibility of consequence and destruction has set in to the world around you. He starts to get a little bitter, if you've been mean to him. It all builds up. Don't you get that he's literally saved your life? That he devoted every waking second to you? Isn't he kinda entitled to some thanks? The cycle of time never rewards him. Even the figures he helps over time rarely give him more than a verbal praise and thanks, maybe an item here or there, and then disappear. His role feels thankless. He starts to feel like he deserves something, something tangible, in return.

Surprisingly, though, he actually does not take the route of guilt-tripping or emotional manipulation or gaslighting his way into it like a lot of the sweeter yanderes when he does have that snap. His snaps/breakdowns are rather extreme in terms of how much of a polar opposite they are to his normal state, rather than just a slight bend of his normal personality. Rather than taking the route of most yanderes like himself, he just gets directly physically forceful. Still somewhat sweet, though, reminds you he loves you, he'd die for you, you're his entire world. You'd argue that doesn't really change the actions, but considering how frightening he is in that state, you're not dumb enough to vocalize that.

The guilt consumes him alive afterwards. Like, immediately afterwards. He's still panting and twitching and buried inside when it sets in. That being said, he doesn't get to stuttering and profusely apologizing, like he does over smaller offenses. It's all done and he can't take it back, so he just kinda collapses and says nothing. He's not the best with words, you know. It's an odd mixture of guilt and, honestly, a bit of satisfaction and relief. It feels like letting go of some self-imposed burden, that feeling of finally surrendering to some deep want, even if it comes with a lot of remorse, the relief of finally letting go does have a good feeling as well... and because of that, it’s another one of those barriers that, once broken, can’t be built up again.

What sort of kinks or fetishes do they have, or would they fill?

In all honesty the boy is, for the most part, a fairly gentle and vanilla lover. He doesn't really need anything special to get off -- he's easily excited and cums very very easily too. Just the prospect of getting to stick his dick in you in any capacity is enough to make him nearly burst at the thought honestly.

In general, as aforementioned, he's very very cautious and gentle to a point, but has a tendency to get actually kinda rough once he gets into it. The thing is, the roughness aspect is actually unintentional. He's one of those boys that is a little bit unaware of his own strength, doesn't process exactly how hard and fast he's going. He just gets lost in the feeling, kinda enters a dazed lusty haze where he's less aware of his actions. Doesn't realize he's literally got an iron grip pressing your head down on his dick or into the bed until you start flailing your hands because you can't breathe. Doesn't realize how hard he was gripping until he sees the bruises on your arms and hips later. That sort of deal -- poor thing is just unaware and doesn't have enough blood in his brain to think straight.

Biting

Surprisingly a really big one for him. (Remnants of a past life cycle with some lupine experiences perhaps?) In all seriousness, he could not explain exactly why if asked, it's one of those "I just like it" sort of things. It feels like yet another way to conjoin the two bodies, pulls you close. The marking aspect is also nice. Granted, he feels guilty afterwards, tries to help it heal. He has that same duality where moments ago he was this intimidating beast of a human being, rough and growly and jerking you like you were weightless, and now he's back to this bright eyed softie stuttering while he apologizes.

The guilt is mixed with a bit of enjoyment, though. It's constantly conflicting -- sure, part of him understands it's embarrassing and will help you cover up, but part of him doesn't want to, he wants people to see. Part of him looks at the marks and tells himself internally to never do that again, and part of him sees them and just wants to give you even more. It's a constant internal conflict, poor thing.

As far as a place, he likes the neck and shoulders best, simply because it's the most visible and it's the most passionate ones to create, when your bodies are tightly locked together. That being said, though, he also has a thing for biting at the insides of your thighs. It's another one of those I just like it sort of things.

Sometimes, when you're asleep, or pretending to be, you can feel him trace the bite marks with his fingers, softly running them over the circular pattern, just enough to barely ghost over your flesh.

Somnophilia

It puts him at ease. This one is particularly prevalent towards the beginning of your relationship, before you really know... how he is. He has this image of you as so pure and he couldn't bear the thought of defiling you with his horrible horrible thoughts. The guilt eats away at him for a while, but eventually he just can't hold back, but how could he ever do anything to you and risk consequence? So... the solution he comes up with is waiting until you sleep.

He tests the waters to see how heavy of a sleeper you are. Calls your name at increasing volume, lightly runs his fingers over your hair, pokes your face, whispers in your ear, runs his hands over your arms. Just to see what makes you rustle, if anything, so he knows the limits. If it turns out you're an incredibly light sleeper, well, unfortunately that means he's limited to just jerking off to your sleeping form, but that's ok. Just seeing your soft face and the cute way you breathe, the slightest way your lips open, that's enough for him.

If it turns out you're a heavier sleeper though, well, he tries to fight the temptation, but ends up going further. Slowly climbs onto your bed, careful to make the weight shift as gently as possible. Slowly pulls the covers back. Runs his hands up and down. It's a lot better when he can actually see your body as he jerks off, honestly. If he's feeling particularly risky, he might press your thighs together, feel how soft your skin is to his cock, how nice the squeezing pressure between them is.

He gets easily lost in a haze, though, so he inevitably ends up accidentally cumming on you and has to frantically find a way to lightly dab it up without waking you. He panics quite a bit, but that doesn't stop him from doing it again the very next night.

Overstimulation/Forced Orgasm

It just means he's doing a good job, really. Sure, you squeal and kick your feet back and forth and tug at his hair, but that's just because it feels good. Orgasms equate to love and feel good, right? Sure there's a little bit of pain when you go overboard, but then it just leads to feeling even better, right?

It's kind of an irrational compulsion rather than a logical goal, though. He just has an impulsive need to feel you quiver and spasm and clench, it basically gives him a chemical high hit and a wave of reassurance, makes him feel good in both the physical sense and the emotional sense. The first one sends him into this compulsive need to feel it over and over and over again, as many times as he can. It's another one of his internal conflict things -- sure, he knows it's hurting, but he just has to get one more. Just one more. But of course, every time turns into "just one more" when he's been saying that for half an hour now.

And, to be honest, it kind of gives him a pride boost to think he can make you cum against your will. How many people struggle to achieve that even when both parties are trying? It makes him feel good in an adequacy sort of way, he feels needed.

Size Kink/Distension

You know, there's a well-known thing among the male-lovers in this world when it comes to size. It's never the arrogant, loud guys, it's never the social butterflies, it's never the tall guys, it's never the beefy muscly guys. No, they're not the ones that end up somehow bestowed with absolute monster cocks. It's always the soft, lean boys who don't talk much. And they're always painfully unaware of it, too.

He's no exception. Not to the size or the complete lack of awareness. He hasn't spent a lot of time around guys his age too much, he's always been the one sent for some special task and ends up out in the wilderness by himself on journeys, or, in some lifetimes, accompanying you most of the time. He doesn't know what the average dick looks like, so he has no idea he's far above average.

This might sound like a plus, and of course in some ways it is, but also he doesn't think about the fact that the average body isn't properly equipped to handle it. You're supposed to just kinda put it in, that's how the sex works, right? Poor thing, especially if it's entirely consensual sex, he's just kinda ???? because why are you in pain? What is he doing wrong? You have to eventually explain it's literally just his body, not something he's doing.

That being said, naturally, he's a humble person, but hearing you say that does kinda... make him feel good inside. A little bit proud. He's not a person who takes a lot of pride in many things, so he likes having this one thing, and quickly notices you can visibly see it through the bulge it makes in your stomach. Especially if it's in a position where your back is pressed to his front, every little movement creates the bulge, so expect to get a lot of that.

He doesn't really bring it up much or talk about it when he's actually fucking you, it's more like, as with many things, something he's quietly aware of and silently enjoys a lot internally, even if it's not voiced.

How do they feel about pregnancy or babies? Do they want them?

Yes and no. It has to do with his overactive protection instinct. What if something happened or went wrong? He couldn't take that. He couldn't lose you.

At the same time, he likes kids, and he's very good with them, very patient. And over time, realizes that a kid would be the perfect tool of manipulation, and besides that, isn't it a beautiful thing, an ultimate manifestation of love?

So how to work around that... Ultimately, what he decides to do is have a kid... Just not by blood. There are plenty of orphans in Hyrule, wandering the streets and the wilderness, picking one up is easy. ...You wouldn't leave this poor child to suffer out there, to fend for themselves, would you? Nor would you leave him to take care of it by himself... Right?

What kind of (nsfw) punishments would they use?

Oh, it's not like he thinks of it that way. He would call it... a reminder. You put yourself in danger again? You tried to go back again? You were gone and for ten whole minutes he didn't know where you were? What could the solution to this issue be? The only thing his brain can really come up with is making sure you need him. Making sure you're content and satisfied here with him so you don't go running off.

Thus we return to the forced orgasm thing -- see, you do need him. It feels good, right? You say it hurts, and maybe it does a little, but ultimately you wouldn't be cumming if it wasn't good. No one else can ever do that. No one else knows you like this. No one else was made for you like this. You can't replace him. You need him. And he can keep going as many times as it takes until you see that, too. Even if he gets milked dry, he has a mouth and hands for a reason.

And by "until you see that," I mean until you say it. In his more... emotionally intense moments, he gets a bit insistent. He needs to hear you say it. Admit it to yourself. And to him. That you need him, that you depend on him, that you'll never leave again. And don't think your patience and tolerance can stand a chance of outlasting his -- it will keep going until you say it.

What body parts of their darling do they like the most?

He's one of those wholesome type of boys who goes with something sweet. He says maybe your hair, your face, your skin, your eyes. It's all so comforting. So familiar. Of course, not to say that he doesn't like your less wholesome mentionable parts, but he wants to be chivalric about such a question, and feels answering that way would be too disrespectful.

In his unspoken thoughts, though, he likes the hips. It's a part of you he can grab onto and hold you close with. He puts his hands there a lot and holds tight, like he feels like at any moment you could slip out of his grasp. And, I mean, it's nice to look at, can't forget that.

[jeoniius]

Next Life | kth (m)

☆ summary:  Although you and Taehyung didn’t believe in first and second lives, you both wished you’d find each other in the next life as you both looked at the sky that night.

☆ pairing: husband!tae x wife!reader

☆ genre: angst, smut.

☆ warning: sexual content, angst

☆ word count: 4k

☆a/n: Finally this is done. Thank you so much @jkiddingjeon for beta-ing the fic, it meant A LOT. I really love this fic and I hope you enjoy it too. ngl it's a pretty heartbreaking fic so get ready for some ANGST.

Love. Hate. 

It’s always adjacent to each other. Something that’s always there when the other is present. It also changes people. How it makes people go from loving someone and being best friends with someone to trying everything they can to pull them down, to take them out. 

You’d say you can relate to it. In more ways than one. You had seen your fair share of people going from loving them unconditionally to talking shit about them the next day. Divorce was one of them. All the promises and vows made of staying through health and sickness, through good and bad, thrown out of the window. 

You thought of it as one of the most heartbreaking things and now you were here. Doing the exact thing as you watched the clock tick by, thinking of ways and excuses to get you out of this marriage. This marriage that ended everything. It hadn’t always been like this. No, you were in love. You were so madly in love that if anyone had told you you’d stand in this place today you’d not believe it. 

You are still in love. So madly in love but the difference being you want it to end. Maybe that way you’d find each other again.

As time went by, you stood by the railing of your balcony. The bright light of the city shined underneath you as you thought Tomorrow would be it. The end of what once was seen as a beautiful love story by not only you but by many others. The final chapter.

Maybe love and hate stood adjacent to each other but you could never hate him. 

And so you stood there, taking it all in, you thought about where it went wrong.

7 months ago

“I can’t believe you think that!” you shouted, hands up in the air as you walked back into the apartment, him following you behind. 

“Well I wouldn’t if you kept your distance!” he said, raising his voice.

“Oh my god. One hug. It was one hug. And that too because he was leaving.” 

“It didn’t look like one,” he argued back. 

“Are you freaking kidding me right now? Nothing happened, you know that.” you said trying to calm yourself down. 

“Stop trying to argue with me all the fucking time.” he bit back. 

“Oh, I am arguing? You were the one who started it.” You took long strides towards him. 

“You were the one who accused his wife of cheating although you have no proof whatsoever” you gritted through your teeth as your finger poked his chest. 

He let out a loud groan as you run your hands through your hair. “You know what, Taehyung? You can stay here. I’m leaving.” and with that you grabbed your purse and keys and strode out the door, slamming it behind. 

Kim Taehyung. 

The love of your life. You met him in college. As cliché as it sounds, he was the heartthrob with his extremely good looks and his unbelievable flirting skills. You weren’t supposed to know him at all if you thought about it. 

Your college held its annual fest, and you were the head of the management. You had stumbled across him when he had come to drop off some supplies instead of his best friend. You got into a small quarrel when he commented on how you were the head of the management when you were only a freshman and questioned your ability to pull the entire thing off when it was only three days from the fest and not even one percent of anything was done.

You got into a bet with him as you made him promise you that he’d treat you to something of your choice if you pulled it off. Nevertheless, you pulled the entire thing off within the next two days, proving him wrong. As a promise, he treated you to something really expensive(of course you had picked it) and then swore to never question your ability.  

You started seeing more of him, with his surprise visits to your class (which usually ended up with girls surrounding you asking how you knew him) or him coming to your seat in the cafeteria just to give you some new juice he got for you. Sometimes he’d ask you to come to one of his basketball matches and then took you to dinner afterward. 

You felt your heartbeat increasing every time you saw him or heard his name in fact, and before you knew it, you were confessing to him, putting your heart on the line. 

The day you confessed, you ran out before he could even reply. Too scared to be rejected. But Taehyung did something you’d never expect. He brought you to an amusement park, took you to dinner, and then confessed to you with thousands of chocolate (literally). 

You both had your fair share of arguments and then makeup sex. Mind-blowing sex to be exact. 

Your relationship with Taehyung was built on trust. He’d be there waiting for you every time you came home late and vice versa. You’d be at all of his games. You’d go to every party, hang out with your friends.

Once he graduated, he’d wait to pick you up every day. Every day you’d go to your favorite café, with your friends, complete assignments and projects, argue about who won the last UNO game, girls vs boys. 

He spent every hour with you when you struggled with your dream job and you did the same. When you finally did get the job, he asked you to marry him. You nodded then and there. Tears escaped, phone calls were made. Everyone came to the engagement party and then the wedding and you truly thought everything you ever wanted was there. Your family, your friends, his friends, him. 

But what you didn’t know then was what followed after. Just like promises are made, they are broken. Trust is broken and the bond doesn’t stay. 

The first two years were bliss. You went to Paris for your honeymoon and then to New York. Yes, New York for your honeymoon. You experienced the love in Paris and the rush in New York. 

You spent most of the days in Paris, going to spots of attractions, enjoying the food in the café, walking around the streets drunk and completely in love, having late night sex, morning sex,  just lots of sex to be exact. 

But in New York, you spent your days going to Times Square, Bars, and Pubs had ‘the’ New York pizza and cheesecakes and hotdogs and whatnot. Went shopping and sightseeing. Roamed around the streets at night, met so many people.

You believed you had found what you had been looking for all your life. Someone to go to romantic dinners and the craziest parties with.  

But what followed was something you didn’t think would happen. Every marriage has its ups and downs. You had to. But then it started.

Every party would become an excuse to start arguments, every late night at work would lead to assumptions. At first, you thought it would be fine. Talking would help, it was always the key for the both of you but lately, every time you spoke or tried to solve the issues, it would end in huge fights, sometimes followed by sex, or even if not sex, you’d stop talking to each other and then one day pretend nothing happened. 

Although in heels you walked around the park near your apartment. ‘It will be fine’ you told yourself as you tried not to break down. Deciding it would not be a good idea to go anywhere at that hour, you sat by a bench.

The cold wind hit you as a shiver ran down your body, the thin wine slip dress doing nothing to stop it. The screen of your phone lit up as you saw multiple texts from Taehyung. A part of you was happy that he cared enough to text you. You clicked on his profile as a series of texts came up.

Tae: where are you?

Tae: come on Y/N, don’t be stupid. 

Tae: it’s really late. where the fuck are you?

Tae: baby, you’re scaring me. 

Sighing you got up and made your way out of the park. Since you lived in a complex, it didn’t take you too long to walk. As you opened the keys, you saw Taehyung pacing around the living room. “Where are my keys?” he muttered to himself, not noticing your presence. 

A clinking sound made Taehyung look up as the keys hit the ceramic bowl on the kitchen top. “Where were you?” he asked, trying to control his anger. You didn’t answer him as you took off the heels, internally sighing when the cold floor hit your barefoot. “Are you seriously gonna ignore me? I asked where the fuck were you?” he pulled you by your wrists stopping you from going further. “Don’t do this.” you gritted through your teeth as you harshly pulled away before going inside your shared bedroom. 

You slipped out of the dress and you got inside the shower, the hot water touching your skin as you stood there. No matter how much you tried not to think about it, you always went back. Where did it go wrong? 

You changed into shorts and one of Taehyung’s oversized shirts as it reached mid-thigh. Getting inside the covers, you relaxed, the cool sensation of your bedsheet and covers calming you somehow as you turned towards the glass wall. 

You heard a sigh as Taehyung got inside the room. He got inside the covers and stared at your back as you tried to keep calm. You felt an arm wrap around your waist as he pulled you closer, back colliding with his chest, nuzzling his face at the crook of your neck. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” his voice came muffled as you felt the vibrations on your neck. 

“I really am.” he said, taking a deep breath pulling you closer if that was possible. You sighed, turning to him. 

“I felt really cheap, you know” you said, hands reaching to cup his face. “I’m so sorry baby.” he sighed, closing his eyes as you ran your hand through his hair. “I know.” 

He pressed a kiss on your lips as you pulled him closer, hands wrapping around his neck. You sighed into the kiss as his lips trailed down towards your collarbone, sucking and nipping then. Soon enough he was inside you as he went on an animalistic pace. “Do you think he can fuck you like this?” he growled. You ignored him as you knew you were close, focusing on your climax. You came within the next few minutes as he rubbed your clit while thrusting.

Later on, he lapped up the spilled contents lazily as you screamed his name, your cries stroking his ego.

He wrapped an arm around your naked waist as he fell asleep on his stomach, head on your chest, legs tangled over your naked ones. You stroked his hair as you stared at the ceiling, his words ringing in your ear ‘Do you think he can fuck you like this?’

A small realization crept inside your head. He was never gonna trust you.

He stirred in his sleep, pulling you closer, he pressed an open-mouth kiss above the swell of your breast in his sleep. Releasing a long sigh, you kissed his head, quickly pushing the thought aside. 

That was the first mistake. 

“I love you so much,” you said. 

You pulled the robe over your body tightly, a coffee cup in your hand. Picking up your phone you looked at the time. 3:08 am it read. The city still buzzed with life. The cold breeze hit your face soothingly as you closed your eyes. Only if you had done something before, things wouldn’t have gone wrong. 

4 months ago

Your phone buzzed as you frustratedly rubbed your face. You dreaded picking up the call, not wanting to have to shout again. Things had been gradually worsening between you and Taehyung. Late-night fights, coming home drunk, not talking to each other for weeks had become a common thing nowadays and no matter how hard you tried, no matter how many times you both tried to co-operate, you didn’t seem to escape it.

“You should talk to him.” Ae-ra said, handing you a cup of tea. 

Tea. 

You never liked tea. You were more of a coffee person. You preferred the rush, the adrenaline. But nowadays, you were tired. Tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Having the same quarrels and fights over and over again. Tea seemed to calm you. 

“And then what? Get into another fight?” 

“You know what I mean, babe.” She said as she rubbed your arm soothingly.

“Maybe later. I cannot deal with him now.” you sipped on the cup.

What you didn’t know was that “later” would come that fast. You went back to your apartment to get more of your clothes. You planned on going at night, when he was most probably out with his friends or whoever kept him busy nowadays. But to your surprise, he was there. 

You opened the main door, using the key you had with you to meet with his laying figure on the couch. His head shot up at the sound of the door, eyes meeting each other. He looked drained, hair messy and bags under his eyes. You cursed under your breath, debating if you should just go back to Ae-ra’s place and come later for your clothes. 

“Look who’s here.” he scoffed as he got up from the couch.

Deciding on the former, you walked past him without taking another glance, into your shared bedroom. Taking a bag out, you shoved as many clothes as possible wanting to stay away from this mess. “Are you gonna ignore me now?” you heard him as he entered the room. 

You zipped up the chain as you walked towards the door wanting to leave. He grabbed your hand before you could go any further. He felt so scared when he saw you packing your stuff, so much that it suffocated him. “Fucking answer me.” his voice raised as he stared at you. 

Taehyung’s eyes softened as he saw the dry tears on your cheeks and he wanted nothing more than to pull you close and never let go. To talk to you and tell you it would be fine, that you would figure it out together. 

As he saw your tired eyes, glossy as you tried to keep your composure, he wanted to kiss you so badly and keep you tucked away from every bad thing; ever, even himself if he was bad for you.

And maybe he would have done that. Hugged you and kissed you. Kept you in his arms if you didn’t start talking. 

“Leave me the fuck alone.” you pulled away harshly. “You know what? Yes, I am ignoring you and gladly will.” 

“What is wrong with you? You cannot just come and go like that.” he said, hands gesturing to your bag.

“I can and I will. You cannot stop me” you clarified.

“ Yes, I can. I am your husband for god’s sake.” a frustrated tone laced his words.

“Husband?” you scoffed. “When were you a good husband? Where did this go when I stayed up till dawn every day waiting for you?” 

“You know how hectic things have been at work.” he looked at you knowingly. 

“That doesn’t mean you’d stop spending time with me!” you yelled.

You knew you were being unreasonable. Things really were hectic at work for him. But you couldn’t help but feel lonely when you came home after a long day to an empty and cold apartment and then stayed up every day almost all night for your husband. You felt so neglected when he’d come home and go to sleep straight away without saying anything. 

All the doubts about your marriage slowly were coming true and you wanted nothing more than to prove it wrong. But talking about it led to arguments with Taehyung. So you decided to stay away from home, so that you didn’t have to think about it, to begin with. 

That was the second mistake. 

“You are going nowhere.” Taehyung took the bag from your hand and walked towards the bed. “You’ll stay at home.”

“Home?” a humorless chuckle left your throat. “I will go anywhere I want, but home.” 

“I mean it Y/N. Stop acting like a kid. Go wash up and come to bed.” he sighed. 

“I’m not staying” you concluded, ready to leave your stuff behind as you turned. 

You felt a pair of hands wrap around your waist as he stuffed his face in the junction of your neck and shoulder. A tear left your eyes, followed by streams, and for some reason, your heart broke, it felt like he was pulling you apart from inside. 

You felt his warm breath as he mumbled something. He pressed you towards him as you silently cried. 

Later that night, as he fucked you slowly, something different than his usual dominating aura, your heart ached, but you couldn’t pinpoint why. He kissed you ever so passionately, that you cried. 

Something told you that it would be over soon, so you hugged him as close as you could when he slept. You cried as he hugged you in his sleep like you would go away if he didn’t have you in his arms. 

“I love you so much,” he mumbled in his sleep.

That’s when you realized how bad the entire situation was. How bad you were for him just like he was for you. How bad this marriage was. 

And what followed after confirmed everything you ever doubted. 

2 months ago

“You think I didn’t see you?” you yelled. 

“What are you talking about?” he looked curious. 

“Oh sure, play the good guy, make me look bad, why don’t you?” you scoffed.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” he repeated. “How would you? You thought you were good enough to keep it away from me.” you said. His eyebrows crashed as he tried to understand. “I saw you with her. Maybe that’s why you were always late. You were too busy fucking her.” a bitterness stayed in your mouth. “Are you kidding me?” he said as he raked his fingers through his hair. 

“You are accusing me of cheating, Y/N? You?” he scoffed. “Don’t think I forgot about the party.” 

“Oh my god. You were never going to believe me, were you?” you looked at him with a glint in your eyes. 

“You are being paranoid Y/N,” he said calmly. 

“You know what? Maybe I will go to him. The guy you accused me of cheating. Maybe I will let him fuck me. Clear all your doubts and make it true!” you were screaming now. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” he said, voice so calm maybe you would have been scared if you were thinking straight. 

“Neither can I.” you said as you walked out of the house. 

The next day when you woke up, you felt bad for yelling at him. So you decided to go back and talk to him. And maybe you would have if fate didn’t have anything else planned. 

As you walked into the house, you saw a man sitting on your couch, Taehyung at his side as paper lay in front of him. The man looked at you briefly before turning back to Taehyung. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr. Lee.” he said as he shook hands with the man. The man nodded. 

Before leaving, he looked at you, “See you in court.” 

You furrowed your brows before realization hit you. “Tae, what did he mean by that?” 

He kept quiet as he gathered the papers. “Baby, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” you tried again. Taehyung got up as he handed you the papers, then went to the bedroom. You stared at them as you couldn’t process anything. 

You cannot get divorced. You cannot live without him.  

You walked inside the room as you saw him looking out. “Tae, we can talk, right? You don’t mean this.” your voice shook. 

Walking up to him you wrapped your arms around his, face buried in his back as you mumbled “This is a joke, right?” 

You heard his sigh before he turned to you, eyes glossy. “We can’t keep doing this.”

“We won’t. We’ll figure it out. We don’t have to do this.” you went on. 

“Y/N-”

“No, no, you don’t understand. You are out of your mind. We can’t get divorced.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot do this anymore.” he said,

You looked at him. “Why are you saying it as if it is all my fault?” 

“I don’t mean that.”

“You absolutely mean that. Your face says it all.” you gestured toward him. “Oh. You really are gonna do this?” you said as he rubbed his face. 

“Well, fuck you, Kim Taehyung. You can do whatever you want. You can blame me all you want but you and I both know the minute I walk out, you are going to regret this.” 

“You can keep going for my heart and put all this on me, but you will miss me to your bone the minute this is over.” you said as you stormed off. 

That night, you went back to Ae-ra’s place. You screamed at the sky pretending it was him while he stayed awake that night as he looked at the sky. “I’m so sorry Y/N. I love you so much” he said, tears freely falling.

It really was over. All your doubts came true. Your marriage ended. Maybe it was for the better. ‘You’re being paranoid’ he said. He was right. You became paranoid.

You wiped the single tear and looked at the sky, soft light spread across as the birds sang. 5:00 am

You picked out the attire you were going to wear to the court. Your phone buzzed as you picked it up. It was Ae-ra. It’s gonna be okay. You’ll get through it. she said.

You went to the court that day. You watched him as he entered the room, a black tux hugging his frame. He had become more buff than he was the last time you saw him two months ago. As he ran his fingers through his hair, his shoulder blades flexed. The same shoulder blades that had your nail marks reminding the night before from every morning you’ve spent together. You smiled at that memory. 

Soon the judge walked in and the process went on. 

At one point in your relationship with him, assuming was something you both picked up. Long gone was the trust which was the key in your relationship. Maybe it was for the better. You both were paranoid; assumptions feeding more into it. 

But what you both gradually became, was bad for each other. Not at the beginning of your relationship, but somewhere in the middle, it went out of hand. Maybe if you spoke to each other more, maybe if you hadn’t pushed your thoughts the first day it came, then maybe you wouldn’t be here. But everything happens for a reason. 

Kim Taehyung was the heartthrob of the campus. Kim Taehyung was the first person you confessed you loved. He was the first person who heard ‘I love you’ from you. He was your first love. 

As the saying goes, some people are in our lives, just to teach us a lesson. Good and Bad. Kim Taehyung was that for you. You were still in love with him. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and yours did. You loved him more than you did before. And so maybe letting him go was easy. You were bad for him and he was bad for you. But that didn’t stop you from loving him.

And that didn’t stop him from loving you as you sat at the courthouse, as he looked at your face when it was over, as he lay in his bed alone that night.

Maybe you weren’t meant to be. Or maybe you were, but you didn’t know-how. But it was fine. And maybe as time goes by, it would hurt less. 

Although you and Taehyung didn’t believe in first and second lives, you both wished you’d find each other in the next life as you both looked at the sky that night. 

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