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inky-duchess · 17 days ago

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Fantasy Guide to the Army

I have been asked to do this post for quite a long while and I finally got around to it. This guide is a basic guide, you may need to do further research into specific armies across the world. Armies are a necessary part to any world building, so what do we need to know about them?

(PS I had planned to include air force and navy but I am just one person and I cut myself, and the read more link, some slack)

Ranks

Field Marshal (FM) The Field Marshal is the highest rank of within the Army. The rank of Field Marshal was often granted in times of war (a general must have committed an act of valour, i.e. a victory). The rank can sometimes be used as a divisional command rank or brigade command. The UK, Austria-Hungary, Afghanistan, Germany, India, and Pakistan use the rank as a reward for achievement. Spain and Mexico use it for divisional command while countries such as Portugal, France and Brazil for use it for brigade command. The rank of Field Marshal is a "five star" position. The rank does not exist in the US army. They are addressed as Field Marshal Surname. Their insignia is two crossed batons surrounded by yellow leaves set under a crown.

General (Gen.) A General is the commanding officer of an army or army corps. It is currently the highest rank granted in most armies today, it is a 4 star position. A General is in charge of commanding large units, they are in charge of making strategic decisions for the army, oversee major military operations, manage the needs of the army. They are addressed as General Surname. Their insignia is four stars (US, France, Germany, Russia) and a sword and baton crossed under a crown and a star (UK). Lieutenant General (Lt.Gen) Lieutenant General commands an army corps or a division (tens of thousands of soldiers). They are also involved in strategic planning. They also hold positions within the Ministry of Defence/Equivalents. They would often serve as advisers to the government and aid Generals. It is a 3 star position and they addressed as Lieutenant General Surname. Their insignia is three stars (US, Germany, France, Russia) and a crossed sword and baton under a crown (UK)

Major General (Maj.Gen) Major General is a general officer in the army, responsible for leading and operational roles. They would command divisions of tens of thousands of soldiers. They support the officers above them, helping with strategy, executing the strategy, oversee the training of their units. They are addressed as Major General Surname. They are a 2 star position. Their insignia is a crossed sword and baton with a star (UK) and two stars (US, Germany, Russia, France). Brigadier General (Brig.Gen) Brigadier General is a one-star general officer in the army. They command brigades (3,000 to 5,000 soldiers), assisting Major Generals in tactical planning and coordination of operations. They are addressed as Brigadier General Surname. Their insignia is one star (Russia, Germany, US,), two silver stars (France) and s crown and three stars (for the UK, stars are known as pips). Colonel (Col) Colonels command brigades of about (3,000 to 5,000 soldiers), they are senior staff officers who both provide leadership to their units which are sometimes specialised agencies, such as task forces. Colonels are addressed as Colonel Surname. A silver eagle (US), a pair of diamond pips under a crown (UK), three silver pips upon shoulder braid with silver braid (Germany), three gold pips on a shoulder board with golden braid (France and Russia). Major (Maj) Majors command units of around 120 officers. They are in charge of the training and welfare of their soldiers, administrative duties within the barracks and within their unit. They are the primary staff officer in brigades. They assist superior officers in planning and executing missions and tactical plans. The Major is referred to as Major Surname. Their insignia is 2 gold stars on a shoulder board with golden braid (Russia, France) 2 silver pips on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), a crown (UK), a golden oak leaf (US)

Captain (Cpt) Captains lead companies usually around 50-200 soldiers. They are often the second officer in a company working alongside a superior officer. They are responsible for operations in the field such as ensuring equipment is kept up to date and in good condition, offering logistic support, and managing their troops. Captains are addressed as Captain Surname. Their insignia is two silver bars (US), three pips (UK), three silver pips on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), three golden pips on a shoulder board with gold braid (France, Russia) Lieutenant (Lt) Lieutenants command a platoon (about 30 odd soldiers). They are in charge of overseeing the training and discipline of their soldiers along with ensuring their welfare. They will participate in missions under the command of a superior. Lieutenants are addressed as Lieutenant Surname. Their insignia is two golden stars on a shoulder board with gold braid (Russia, France), two silver pips on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), two pips (UK), one silver bar (US) Second Lieutenant (2/Lt) The Second Lieutenant leads smaller units, working with enlisted soldiers. They are crucial in the training of soldiers, they maintaining personnel records and manage the resources needed for a mission or the units welfare. They would be addressed in conversation as Lieutenant but referred to as Second Lieutenant in dispatches and in correspondence. Their insignia is one gold bar (US), one pip (UK), one silver pip on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), one gold pip on a shoulder board with gold braid (Russia, France)

Enlisted Men

Warrant Officer 1st Class (1/WO)This is the most senior non-commissioned rank. They focus on discipline, prisoners, ammunition supplies and various technical and non-combatant services. In the UK, they often hold the rank of Regimental Sergeant Majors (RSMs) and are appointed by the Secretary of State Defence while in the US, the Secretary of the Army appoints them. They are addressed as Mr/Ms/Mrs Surname or Chief. Their insignia is one silver bar and a black square (US), the royal coat of arms (UK), four silver pips on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), three gold chevrons and a gold star (France), two gold stars on a shoulder board with golden braid (Russia) Warrant Officer 2nd Class (2/WO) The Warrant Officer Second Class would do similar jobs as the WO1, but they handle the below regimental section. Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1). WO2s can be referred to as Company Sergeant Majors (CSMs) or Squadron Sergeant Majors (SSMs) (depending on their unit). They take roles within training, discipline and aiding the Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1). Addressed as CSMs/SSMs and as Mr./Mrs/Ms. Their insignia is one gold star on a shoulder board with gold braid (Russia), Three golden chevrons (France), three silver pips on a shoulder board with silver braid (Germany), crown (UK), silver bar with two squares (US). Sergeant (Sgt)The Sergeant are responsible for the soldiers under their command. They oversee their team, acting as mentors and supervisors to their soldiers. Sergeants are over a squad of 10 soldiers. They are responsible them, from performance, prepare them for combat and their needs. They are addressed as Sergeant Surname. Their insignia is three chevrons (US, UK), two silver pips on a shoulder board with silver pips (Germany), two golden chevrons (France) and three golden chevrons (Russia). Corporal (Cpl)Corporals lead small squads of soldiers, no more than . Corporals are in charge of the training of their soldiers and ensuring that they are up to standard. They handle all the paperwork for their squad such as records. Corporals will accompany their soldiers on missions, leading patrols and overseeing their soldiers in the field. They are usually responsible for large pieces of equipment. They are addressed as Corporal Surname. Their insignia two chevrons (US, UK), one silver pips with shoulder board with a silver braid (Germany), two gold chevron (France, Russia). Lance Corporal (L.Cpl)Lance Corporals help Corporals lead their teams, acting as their second in command. They are in charge of disciplining, mentoring and leading their squads. They are also in charge of large weapons. They are addressed as Lance Corporal Surname. Their insignia one golden chevron (Russia, France), none/one silver pip (Germany), one chevron (UK) and one chevron with crossed rifles (US) Private (Pte)Privates are the lowest rank in the army. They will have just come out of training with the basic skills of a soldier. Privates are given tasks by superior officers, must obey the orders given and are usually given the more hands-on tasks, such as maintenance of weapons and their camp. They are addressed as Private Surname. Their insignia is one chevron/none (US), no insignia (UK, France, Russia, Germany).

Non-Commissioned Officers vs Commissioned Officers

You may have often heard the term "non-commissioned officer" if you have ever watched any war media. The difference is that Commissioned Officers receive their rank via a formal document signed by a high-ranking official, such as the monarch or a political leader. The Commissioned Officers are usually Lieutenants, Colonels, Generals, Captains, Majors. They are responsible for giving orders and making decisions. Non-Commissioned Officers are promoted from the enlisted ranks, gaining their promotion on skills alone. They are in charge of discipline, training and carrying out orders. They are usually ranked among Corporals and Sergeants.

Jobs within the Army

No army is just made up of officers and their soldiers. An army is like a town on the move, there are hundreds of different tasks that must be undertaken to ensure the army is fed, transported, kept in line and kept equipped.

Medic: Medics are the first responders for wounded soldiers, they administer first aid, medication and medical care to the soldiers in their unit. Medics are usually NCOs.

Chaplain: Is a soldier with some religious or spiritual calling that administers last rites, confession, spiritual guidance and solace for soldiers. They will see to soldiers of all creeds and faiths.

Artillery Crew: The Artillery Crew handle the maintenance and inventory of artillery weapons and related equipment. NCOs with training in the handling of artillery.

Military Police: The Military Police are force within the army that keep soldiers in line, maintain order and arrest any soldier caught doing a crime on the job. Always NCOs.

Intelligence: This is the information post, which involves fact gathering, recording and study of information needed by the army to mobilise.

Quartermaster: The quartermaster manages the distribution and gathering of all the things needed for the army from uniforms to equipment for the soldier's packs. Usually NCOs.

Mess Officer: The Mess Officer oversees the Mess Hall, managing the staff as they cook and prepare the army's meals. The Mess Officer would also be in charge of budgeting, inventory, health and safety and providing meals timely. Usually an officer, Captains and Lieutenants.

Adjutant: Is an officer who acts as an assistance to a superior officer taking on secretarial duties such as paperwork and arranging their diary. Usually a Captain or a Major.

Combat Engineer: The Combat Engineer is in charge of maintaining and building fortifications. NCOs with specialised skills in the field.

Logistics: Logistic Specialists handle the supplies, equipment and arranging transportation. NCOs.

Armourer: The armourer is in charge of weapons and ammunition. They handle any repairs needed and see to the safe storing of these valuable items. NCOs.

Communications Specialist: These Specialists handle communications, the communication equipment and its maintenance. NCOs usually with previous experience or training.

Mechanics: Mechanics are in charge of the maintenance of vehicles and machinery. They handle repairs, do check ups, offer support in the field and ensure everything is in good shape. NCOs with training and skills in the area.

Equipment

The soldiers will not be going into any situation without equipment - at least, not at first. Equipment is like gold dust in the field, especially if a unit is within enemy territory or the supply chain cannot be relied upon. Soldiers may often turn to thievery in order to resupply themselves with ammunition, weapons, supplies and even boots. In WWII, the newly formed company the Special Air Service - the SAS - actually raided their allies for supplies.

The soldier would carry essential supplies when they are first deployed. These would include (may vary):

Flasks/Canteen: Or some sort of drinking container. A soldier will need to hydrate if they don't wish to die-dydrate on a long march. They may also carry water purification chemicals such as iodine.

First Aid Kits: All soldiers will carry the basics of a first aid kit. This would include bandages, gauze, burn ointment, tourniquet, pain relief (not the good stuff), scissors and tweezers.

Knife: It is always handy to have something to cut things with.

Gun Cleaning Tools: Soldiers will have the equipment to care for their weapons. An uncared for weapon is an invitation for death.

Ammunition: A soldier would carry ammunition with them.

Entrenching Equipment: Something to dig with, usually a collapsible shovel.

Rations: Soldiers may often carry some sort of food with them, usually of the preserved kind.

Some form of shelter: Soldiers may carry something to shelter themselves such as a sleeping bag, a tent, a blanket.

Signal Mirror: Soldiers carry signal mirrors to send visual signals to communicate with others.

Toiletries: Basic hygiene items.

Weaponry

Soldiers will not only just need equipment to survive on the field. Soldiers will carry all sorts of weapons on them. It was up to the soldier to care for the weapon and ensure it is up to scratch. Ammunition, of course, doesn’t grow on trees and nor do weapons. Weapons and ammunition like supply I mentioned above could often be “liberated” from the enemy or even unwitting allies. Every soldier will carry:

A rifle: This is the long-range weapon carried by almost all soldiers. They will use this in combat, especially if fighting from a fixed position.

A handgun or a pistol: Most soldiers will carry a secondary gun. These guns are useful in tight spaces or close combat.

Bayonet: A knife or blade that is attached to the rifle. This allows a soldier to stab the enemy with their rifle.

Combat Knife: A knife used in combat.

Mortar: This is a short-barrelled artillery piece. It is used to fire shells at steep angles.

Hand Grenades: These are handheld explosives carried by soldiers. They have a delayed fuse, meaning that they are useful as both a long-range weapon and as a close-range weapon – one could leave one behind as a present. They are typically activated by pulling the pin, flinging it away from the body, toward the enemy and denoted.

Uniforms

Above in rankings, we went through the insignia which is the symbols on one's uniform that denotes your rank and place in the hierarchy of things. Soldiers will be inspected every day to ensure their uniforms are up to standard and will face the wrath of superiors if their uniforms are unkempt and their appearance not up to the mark. Every private learns how to shine their own boots, sort out their own uniforms and are responsible for looking their best. There are different kinds of uniform for a soldier.

Casual Uniform: This uniform is comprised of a more casual uniform, made up of a tunic/shirt, trousers and boots. Certain units will wear caps and berets denoting their unit and rank as well. Combat Uniform: This is worn on the field. It will often reflect the climate the soldier is going into, so will be light and heavy depending on the weather. A soldier would wear a combat jacket, trousers, wear a helmet, wear their identification tags/dog tags. These would be in mute colours, usually khaki or camouflage. Service Dress Uniform: This is worn during official duties and formal events. It comprises of a dress shirt, tie, peaked cap/beret, creased trousers and a jacket with their insignia, unit symbols and medals. Dress Uniform: This is worn during very formal ceremonies. A formal jacket pinned with ribbons, embroidered insignia and the medals of their achievements and commendations, creased trousers, dress shirt and tie, polished shoes and a formal hat cap/beret.

Life of a soldier (On Base and in the Field)

Soldiers on active duty will be expected to manage many tasks, not just firing at the enemy or storming enemy beaches. Soldiers are expected to fulfil maintenance work, defence, offence, administrative duties (if needed), engineering and communications.

On Base: A soldier’s day will be planned right down to the second. They will get up at a certain time, have an allotted time to get ready and tidy up their bunk, report to various drills and participate and have a list of duties to undertake within the day. These duties involve maintenance on base, helping with any office work, guarding and patrolling, doing specialised tasks such as helping in the infirmary. Most privates will do the grunt work, anything hands on or labour intensive while officers will see to training soldiers or paperwork or supply management.

In the Field: The life of a soldier in the field wasn’t as regimented as on base – it can’t be, since most soldiers won’t have the exact same day especially in battle or marching from place to place. But every soldier will have certain duties to undertake. Of course, fighting will be included, some soldiers would take it in shifts to man a fixed position or to engage the enemy or to participate in missions into new or enemy territory. Soldiers would take their place “out on the line”, patrolling the edges of their camp to ensure they can’t be crept up on. Soldiers will erect camp every night they aren’t marching which includes the putting up of tents, digging of latrine pits, building fortifications. Soldiers not out on the line or engaging the enemy will spend their time at camp either helping in the mess hall, in the infirmary or keeping the camp ship-shape. Soldiers may often be sent out to “forage” (*cough, cough* steal) whatever they need such as food.

The Realities of the Army

Good vs Evil. Yes, sometimes the army are the heroes. But in reality, war is a grey area. No army in the world is wholly bad or innocent. Every single army on earth has committed war crimes and every army has had to make decisions which some would find morally reprehensible. The point is that painting an army as the good guys or the bad guys in your narrative can’t work because it isn’t realistic. You can of course highlight these issues by the actions of a few soldiers while still retaining the antagonists and the heroes. You can of course pit the ideals of both sides in a war together, to firmly push your reader toward the good guys vs the bad guys. But the reality is a simple one: all armies kill, all armies steal and all armies destroy.

Civilian vs Soldier: The Reality Civilians suffer at the hands of their own army as well as the enemy. Civilians often had to deal with soldiers taking their crops, livestock and overtaking their homes in searches for food, shelter and resources. Enemy civilians would also put up with pillaging, looting and in some cases death, assault and sexual abuse. It is of course against protocol to harm civilians but things do happen in theatres of war.

The Army vs the Soldier

While the army expects a lot out of the soldier as an induvial, the army can often fall short of their duties to that soldier. This can be unintentional, for example supplies can get lost or stolen. But there are instances where soldiers and their needs are sacrificed for the greater good. They maybe passed over for supplies or reinforcements for another unit. They may be placed in difficult circumstances without any hope of relief. They may not have the equipment needed to fight their battle or stay alive. Sometimes, armies even shot their own soldiers for insubordination, ex. In WW1, many soldiers on all sides were shot by their own for “cowardice” – this may have been the case, but some cases involved soldiers who were suffering from PTSD.

Choice vs Obligation vs Threat Why do soldiers fight? What makes somebody join the army? Sometimes it is the search of opportunity, of a place, of rank and a purpose. But sometimes, going to war isn’t the choice of the soldier. Drafts and conscription make military service compulsory for certain age groups and genders. In peacetime, soldiers are enlisted voluntarily in most armies while some countries have compulsory service time even in times of peace. In some wars, criminals in prison were offered the chance to serve in the war as penance for their crimes. There are of course instances when one is threatened or forced into an armed force.

The Effects of War on the Soldier War changes people. The things soldiers see and have to do within war and training will inevitably change them as people. Sometimes, the change is positive, the army has been named by many people as the thing that straightened them out and have them structure. The army sometimes allows soldiers to travel and gain access to opportunities and education that they may never have had access to before. But undeniably, war has negatives effects on soldiers and civilians. Soldiers may suffer from PTSD, depression, suicidal thoughts and feel a disconnect between themselves and their old lives. Soldiers often find it hard to return to their life after the war, especially in radically different settings with people who don’t understand what they have been through. This can lead to substance abuse issues, alcoholism, problems with the law and troubles within relationships among family and romantic partners. Soldiers of course can get injuries while in war or even in training. Loss of limbs, damage to the brain and other organs, broken bones, burns, shrapnel injuries and of course gunshot wounds are all common. Soldiers often get ill while in the field, such illnesses including typhoid, hypothermia, trench foot, dysentery, malaria, pneumonia etc. These are caused by the close living quarters and the often-sub-standard living conditions. Soldiers would often be at risk for pests such as lice and fleas because of their living conditions. Soldiers may often face problems with nutrition, might suffer from dehydration and starvation especially if supplies are scarce.

The Geneva Convention

Your world may not include the Geneva Convention, may pre-date the Geneva Convention or Geneva may not be a place within your WIP, but I include this here so you might have a fair idea about the “rules” of modern warfare. This is just a brief version.

Medical personnel are not to be specifically targeted in operations.

Medical facilities and equipment is not be targeted in operations

Any wounded soldiers or civilians are to be treated, despite allegiance.

Prisoners cannot be tortured or harmed in any way

Prisoners must be fed, well-kept and treated for any injury

Prisoners are not under obligation to tell their captors anything but their name, rank and other personal information – this is so they can be recorded and all information must be recorded and sent to the captured soldier's officers

Prisoners must be allowed to communicate with family and friends.

Prisoners have the right to receive any packages or mail.

Prisoners have the right to access the services of the Red Cross, who cannot be prevented from visiting and inspecting them

Prisoners who are seriously wounded or ill must be released

Any religious figures are to be captured and released as soon as possible

Soldiers cannot take hostages, they cannot pillage, they cannot take slaves.

Soldiers must abstain from humiliating and degrading any captured soldiers or civilians.

Reprisals against civilians and other soldiers are forbidden.

Group punishment is not permitted (Yes, that one teacher did break the Geneva Convention)

Prisoners can be tried by their captors, but they are entitled to a fair trial.

All POWs shall be released at the end of conflict

At sea, hospital ships cannot engage in war.

Any shipwrecked crew on a ship must be rescued despite allegiance.

Children, pregnant women, mothers with very young children, the elderly, the sick and wounded who are imprisoned for a long time, must be released as soon as possible.

Surrendering soldiers, civilians and civilians who participate in acts against an army cannot be harmed and must be taken alive.

The use of weapons to cause suffering, say a non-fatal wound or mutilation is prohibited.

It outlaws indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations and destruction of food, water and other materials needed for survival.

The destruction of resources that could affect the population such as poisoning the water supply is not permitted.

Certain infrastructure cannot be destroyed or targeted. This includes dams and nuclear stations. Cultural landmarks and religious landmarks are also to be spared.

Recruitment of children into the armed forces is prohibited.

The use of certain symbols such as the Red Cross in order to deceive the enemy is prohibited.

Civilians who do not take part in combat are to be treated respectfully. They are protected from violence from soldiers.

Children and vulnerable people are top-priority to be evacuated to safe havens as soon as possible. All efforts will be made to reunite them with family.

The targeting of civilians and anything that sustains their well-being such as food sources is prohibited.

Military Terminology

This is by no means a full list but these are the most commonly used terms.

Boots on the ground – to physically be in a location

Inspection - a superior officer takes formal note of appearance, condition of living area and weapons.

Drill – a practise in various manoeuvres, marches, procedures

Pass - leave to have some free time, sometimes off base.

Off base - away from military barracks

Tour of duty – the period of time which an action is completed in.

Civvies – Civilian clothing

Detail - a specific task undertaken by a unit or soldier

Mess hall - dining facility

Latrine - toilet

Latrine duty - digging a Latrine pit or cleaning the facility

Flanking - Attacking an enemy formation from the sides

Envelopment - surrounding the enemy from multiple sides

Penetration - breaking past the enemy’s front lines

Reconnaissance by Fire - Firing at positions that may be occupied by the enemy to provoke them into returning fire (so you know where they are)

Ambush - Attacking from concealed position

Retreat - go back the way you came (DO NOT COLLECT €200)

Feigned Retreat - Pretending to retreat and then attacking the enemy

Perimeter - boundary of fortified area

No Man's Land - the space between front lines

Contact line - where opposing sides meet to fight

Supply line - the route the supplies get from base to the field.

Front line - the furthest out troops are place on the line, this is where the most intense fighting happens

Barracks - sleeping quarters in base

Foxhole - a dug position in the ground

Combatant: A person actively engaged in fighting.

Non-combatant: A person not engaged in a conflict.

Civilian: Somebody who is not a member of any military unit.

Militia: Civilians who are armed and trained to fight.

Guerrilla: Small, independent units that takes up arms against an armed force. Very effective.

Saboteur: Somebody who deliberately sabotages equipment and supplies.

Spy: Somebody who gathers information about the enemy.

Operative: A soldier who carries out a specific task.

Mercenary: A soldier for hire

Contractor: A person or a group of people who are hired to provide advice, services and additional support to the army and their operations.

Conscription: Compulsory enlistment.

Enlistment: Joining the army.

Exercise: Simulated military practises or manoeuvres for training.

War game: Simulated war fare for training.

Mission: The operation.

Objective/Target: The objective of the mission.

Campaign: Multiple operations.

Down Range – being within the combat zone

In-Country – being within in a war zone

Quarters – can mean one of two things either it is a medic's order to stay in the camp or barracks or military family housing.

Squared away - to fix

Siege: Where one army sits outside a fortified town or position and tries to claim it.

Convoy: A large group of vehicles such as trucks, jeeps and tanks travel together. It is harder to target more than one vehicle.

Escort: More vehicles and soldiers who accompany a convoy.

Strike/Assault: Attacking the enemy.

Counterattack: An attack to respond to a previous attack

Rear: Behind the formation

Front: Before the formation.

Line: The formation.

Column: The formation in a line.

Formation: The arrangement of soldiers

Deployment: Soldiers moving to a position.

Redeployment: Sending soldiers to another position.

Mobilization: Readying soldiers, their supplies and equipment for deployment.

Demobilization: The disbanding of soldiers after an operation.

Reserve: Soldiers and equipment held back. This is usually to conserve soldiers and supplies for emergencies or shortages.

Reinforcement: More soldiers and equipment sent to the soldiers on the line to bulster their efforts.

Casualty: Death, injury, missing.

KIA: Killed in action.

MIA: Missing in action.

Surrender: Yielding to the enemy.

Ceasefire: An agreement to cease hostilities.

Armistice: A temporary stay of fighting.

Battalion: A large unit of soldiers. Usually in the range of 300 upwards to 800 or so soldiers.

Regiment: A unit made up of several battalions.

Division: A military unit (10,000-20,000)

Corps: A unit, (20,000-50,000)

Theatre: The place where military operations are undertaken.

Engagement: A battle or a conflict with the enemy.

Manoeuvre: Planned movement.

Logistics: The planning of moving soldiers and equipment to soldiers.

Ordnance: Supplies.

Artillery: Large-calibre firearms.

Infantry: Soldiers who fight on foot.

Reconnaissance: Gaining information about the enemy and their positions.

Tactical: Planning and implementation the military strategies.

Strategic: Planning and directing strategies.

Operational: The following through of military operations.

Command/Control: The authority to direct military operations.

Communications: The passing of information between units, base and HQ.

HQ: Head Quarters

Intelligence: Information about the enemy

Counterintelligence: Preventing the enemy from gaining information about the army, such as the famous Operation Mincemeat.

Camouflage: The use of material or paint to hide oneself from one’s enemy.

Fortification: Defensive structure

Entrenchment: Digging trenches or foxholes.

Garrison: Military station.

Bivouac: A temporary camp, but this camp is without no cover. This means no tents or shelter.

Dog Tags - Metal identification tags worn by soldiers

Patrol: Soldiers will leave camp or their positions to walk within their boundaries

Raid: Attacking on the enemy’s position.

Zero Dark Thirty - Early as fuck, from 0100 hrs to sunrise.

Copy - I understand

Unit - can mean any organisation in the military

Platoon - a section within a company made up of 30-50 soldiers

Contact - Engaging with the enemy

Tactically Acquired - Stolen

Squad - a smaller faction of a company

CO - Commanding officer

XO - second in command

Hang Fire - wait for the next set of orders

Demilitarized Zone - a place that is no go for military equipment, weapons and soldiers

AWOL - Absent without leave

PT - Physical Training

Skivvies - ones undergarments

Active Duty - Full time duty in active service

As You Were - Go back doing whatever you were doing or standing how you were standing

BOLO - Be on the Lookout

CP - checkpoint

Bunk - Bed

Ruck - backpack

Smoked - physical punishment for an infraction.

Zone of Action - a specific part of the tactical area.

About face - a manoeuvre where a someone or a group turn to face the opposite direction.

POW - Prisoner of War

POW Camp - facility to house POWs

Halt - stop marching/moving

Present Arms - salute, typically by presenting one's weapon or raising the right hand to the forehead

Parade Rest - stand with one's feet shoulder-width apart, hands folded behind their back

Fall out - break formation

Fall in - get into formation

At ease - stand in a more relaxed position

Attention - stand upright, heels together, back straight, shoulders back, arms at the sides.

Books and Media I recommend

Band of Brothers (HBO, Limited Series)

Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose

M*A*S*H

The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich

Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper by Lyudmila Pavlichenko

The Six Triple Eight

Some Desperate Glory: The First World War the Poets Knew by Max Egremont

Poems of the Great War 1914-18

Poems of the Great War by Wilfred Owen

Poems of the Great War by Siegfried Sassoon

Poems of the Great War by Robert Graves

Poems of the Great War by Rupert Brooke

Poems of the Great War by David Jones

SAS Rogue Heroes (BBC)

SAS: Rogue Heroes: The Authorised Wartime History by Ben MacIntyre

Saving Private Ryan

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front

Private Peaceful by Michael Mupurgo

War Horse by Michael Mupurgo

Road to War by Valerie Wilding

The Trenches by Jim Elderidge

D-Day by Byran Perett

D-Day by Ben MacIntyre

Japan's Pacific War by Peter Williams

Operation Mincemeat by Ben MacIntyre

War Nurse by Sue Reid

Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie

With the Old Breed by Eugene B Sledge

Hacksaw Ridge

D-Day Through German Eyes: How the Wehrmacht Lost France by Jonathan Trigg

Platoon

Britain’s Secret Defences: Civilian saboteurs, spies and assassins during the Second World War by Andrew Chatterton

If You're Reading This...: Last Letters from the Front Line by Sian Price

A Bridge Too Far

Firepower in Limited War by Robert Scales

Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger

Dunkirk

The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won't Tell You About What They've Seen, Done or Failed to Do in War by Kevin Sites

1917

On Artillery by Bruce Gudmundsson

Letters From Iwo Jima

Das Boot

The Longest Day

Come and See

War Horse

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aeth-eris · 3 months ago

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★ indicators of financial gain in solar return ★

★ jupiter in the 2nd house is one of the strongest indicators of financial expansion and growth. jupiter brings abundance and optimism to the area it touches, and in the 2nd house, it can suggest an increase in earnings, unexpected financial windfalls, or opportunities to grow one’s wealth. jupiter in this position often reflects a year where money flows more easily, and there’s a general sense of financial luck or support.

★ solar return venus in the 2nd or 8th house can also signal a year of financial gain. venus is associated with wealth, luxury, and resources, so its presence in the 2nd house (earned income) or 8th house (shared resources, investments) often brings favorable circumstances for increasing assets. venus here may reflect a more comfortable financial situation, opportunities to attract money, or support from others, like inheritances, gifts, or financial partnerships.

★ solar return sun in the 2nd house places the individual’s focus on finances and self-worth, which can often lead to efforts or decisions that boost income. with the sun shining a light on financial matters, there’s an increased drive to improve one’s material situation, sometimes resulting in higher earnings or improved financial strategies.

★ pluto in the 2nd or 8th house can indicate transformative financial shifts, often involving significant changes in income or resources. while pluto can bring intensity, it also has the potential to amplify wealth through deep focus and strategic transformation. in the 8th house, pluto might point to gains from investments, inheritances, or other people’s resources, though it often requires careful handling to maximize potential.

★ 2nd house ruler in the 10th house or aspecting the midheaven suggests that financial matters are linked to career and public image, indicating potential gains through professional achievements. when the 2nd house ruler is connected to the 10th house, it often reflects a year where career success or advancement directly impacts income, potentially bringing raises, promotions, or recognition that translates to financial rewards.

★ jupiter in the 8th house can bring financial expansion through shared resources, inheritances, or investments. the 8th house is often connected to other people’s money, so jupiter here might indicate gains through financial partnerships, business investments, or family resources. it’s a favorable position for those looking to grow wealth through collaborations or long-term investments.

★ solar return moon in the 2nd house places emotional focus on financial security and material well-being, which can lead to proactive steps in managing and increasing income. this placement often reflects a year of increased financial awareness, and there may be a tendency to save, budget, or invest wisely, leading to better financial health.

★ venus aspecting jupiter in the solar return chart is a classic indicator of luck and financial gain. both venus and jupiter are benefic planets associated with abundance, so when they’re in positive aspect, it creates opportunities for prosperity, whether through work, investments, or unexpected good fortune. this aspect often points to a financially supportive year where money feels easier to come by.

★ solar return mars in the 2nd house can bring energy and motivation toward building wealth. mars here often reflects a drive to increase earnings and work hard for financial gain. while it may not directly signify a windfall, it suggests a proactive approach to improving one’s finances, often resulting in a higher income due to increased efforts or new ventures.

★ north node in the 2nd house points to a year where financial growth and security are part of one’s life purpose. the north node brings karmic significance, and in the 2nd house, it suggests that financial independence or material success is aligned with personal development. this placement can create opportunities to learn about wealth-building, often resulting in a more prosperous outlook.

★ solar return ascendant in the natal 2nd house often emphasizes a personal focus on income and self-worth. when the solar return ascendant falls in the 2nd house of the natal chart, it’s a strong indicator of financial focus and motivation, often leading to proactive efforts that enhance income or savings. this alignment can suggest a year of prioritizing financial stability or growth.

★ solar return 2nd house ruler in the 1st house suggests that personal identity and self-confidence are linked with financial success this year. when the ruler of the 2nd house is in the 1st, it often reflects a sense of empowerment and drive to improve one’s financial standing, resulting in efforts to attract more resources or build self-sufficiency.

★ solar return 10th house ruler in the 2nd house can indicate a link between career advancements and financial growth. with the 10th house (career, reputation) ruler in the 2nd house (income), it suggests that achievements or progress in one’s public life directly impact finances. this placement can often bring professional recognition that translates to higher earnings or bonuses.

#astrology #astrology observations #astrology aspects #astro observations #solar return #astrology solar return #solar return observations

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novlr · 3 months ago

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Could you please give some tips to maintain flow and pacing in fiction writing?

Before diving into the tips, let’s briefly define what we mean by flow and pacing:

Flow

Flow is the smooth progression of ideas, scenes, and events in your story. It includes:

Logical development of ideas and themes.

Seamless transitions between scenes.

Natural event sequencing.

Organic character development.

Well-timed information reveals.

Appropriate emotional progression.

Getting the flow right immerses readers in the story so they can easily follow the narrative. It’s the invisible thread that unifies all aspects of your writing, ensuring each element contributes to the whole.

Pacing

Pacing refers to the speed at which your story unfolds and how quickly (or slowly) you reveal information to the reader. It’s a vital element of any narrative that affects the rhythm and tension. Effective pacing keeps readers engaged, controls the emotional impact of your story, and helps maintain momentum.

The most important considerations in pacing include:

Story rhythm: The overall tempo of your narrative can vary from fast-paced and thrilling to slow and contemplative.

Information reveals: How and when you disclose plot points, character backstories, and world-building details to your readers.

Tension and release: The balance between building suspense and providing resolution or relief.

Scene and chapter length: The structure of your story at both micro and macro levels can affect how quickly readers progress through your narrative.

Narrative focus: What you choose to emphasise in your story and how much time you spend on different elements (e.g., action, dialogue, description, introspection).

Both these elements play together to create an immersive and entertaining experience for readers, so it’s important to get them right. But how, exactly, do you do that? Here are some tips!

Vary sentence structure and length

One of the most effective ways to maintain flow and control pacing is by varying your sentence structure and length. This technique helps create rhythm in your prose and prevents monotony. Here’s how:

Mix short, punchy sentences with longer, more complex ones.

Use sentence fragments for emphasis or to quicken the pace.

Use compound and complex sentences to slow things down and add depth.

Start sentences with different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives) to keep things interesting (academic writing will tell you not to start a sentence with “and” or “but”, but I’m here to tell you it’s fine to break those rules!)

Use paragraph breaks strategically

Paragraph breaks are often overlooked but are a powerful tool for controlling the flow and pacing of your story. They provide visual cues to the reader and can be used to emphasise certain story points or create suspense.

Use shorter paragraphs to increase tension and quicken the pace.

Use longer paragraphs for descriptive passages or to slow things down.

Create single-sentence paragraphs for dramatic effect or to highlight important information.

Master the art of transitions

Smooth transitions between scenes, ideas, and events are essential for maintaining flow in your writing. They help guide the reader through your story without jarring interruptions.

Use transitional phrases or words (e.g., “meanwhile,” “later that day,” “across town”) sparingly. Clarity is best, but it’s easy to overuse them and turn them into crutch words.

Use sensory details to bridge scenes (e.g., describing a sound that carries over from one scene to the next).

Let your characters’ actions or thoughts link different parts of your story.

Create thematic connections between scenes or chapters.

Balance action and downtime

A well-paced story strikes a balance between action-packed scenes and moments of introspection or character development. This balance helps maintain reader interest while giving your narrative necessary depth.

Follow intense action scenes with quieter moments of reflection.

Use introspective passages to build tension before action sequences.

Weave character thoughts and feelings into action scenes for added depth and character development.

Avoid long stretches of either pure action or pure introspection, as it can be either overwhelming, exhausting, or boring for readers to have too much of the same tone.

Control the flow of information

How and when you reveal information to the reader is a critical aspect of pacing. Carefully controlling the release of information can create suspense, maintain mystery, and keep readers engaged.

Use foreshadowing to hint at future events without giving everything away.

Employ flashbacks judiciously to provide backstory without disrupting the main narrative.

Reveal character motivations gradually throughout the story.

Create mini-mysteries or subplots to maintain reader interest between major plot points.

Use dialogue effectively

Dialogue always seems easy, but it’s difficult to do well. But when it is done well, it’s a powerful tool for controlling pacing and maintaining flow in your story. It can quicken the pace, provide character development, and convey important information.

Use short, snappy exchanges to increase tension and pace.

Write longer conversations for character development or to slow things down.

Intersperse dialogue with action beats to maintain flow and provide context.

Vary dialogue tags and consider using action instead of tags to avoid repetition.

Create a rhythm with scene structure

The structure of your scenes can greatly impact the flow and pacing of your story. By varying scene length and intensity, you can create a rhythm that keeps your story moving smoothly.

Alternate between long and short scenes to create variety.

Use scene breaks or chapter endings to create cliffhangers and maintain suspense.

Vary the intensity of scenes, following high-tension moments with calmer ones.

Consider the overall arc of your story when structuring scenes, building towards climactic moments.

Show, don’t tell

It’s the most common writing advice for a reason. And it all boils down to using sensory language to enhance a reader’s experience. It turns a list of plot points into a story. Sensory details can enhance flow and pacing by immersing readers in the world you’ve created. However, it’s also important to use them wisely. It’s not about showing everything but showing what you need to at the right time for the best effect.

Use vivid sensory details during important moments to slow down time and increase impact.

Use brief sensory descriptions to quickly set the scene without disrupting pacing.

Choose specific, evocative details rather than providing exhaustive descriptions.

Vary the senses you appeal to, not just relying on visual descriptions.

Mini info-dumps work

Knowing when to summarise events or passages of time is often overlooked, but it’s an important part of pacing your story. While in general info-dumping is frowned on, sometimes it’s a necessary part of plotting. Not every moment needs to be shown in real time; sometimes, a brief summary can help move the story along.

Use short info-dumps for less important events or time passages.

Info-dumps can bridge gaps between key scenes.

Combine an info-dump with scene-specific details to make it feel more natural.

#writing tips #writeblr #writers #writers of tumblr #writing #creative writing #writing community #creative writers #writing inspiration #writerblr #writer stuff #writer #writing advice #writing resources #writers on tumblr #ask novlr #writing blog

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green-with-envy-phandom-event · 1 month ago

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Welcome to our third consecutive year of Green With Envy!

Open for first timers and the obsessed, we welcome all skill levels to this art based event. Just like before, the event comes in two parts with a few minor changes to spice up this year's competition.

Anyone Can Enter a Line Art!

Love to line but hate to color? This side is for you! Part one is the slow build up, where artists create this year's line art. Over the course of two months a form will be open and waiting for anyone to drop a Danny Phantom themed line art in. Crossovers welcome! Unlike our previous years, we will be keeping all the 2025 line art a secret until the drop date!

Color To Compete!

During Part Two of the event, things rev up and turn competitive. If you sign up for this half, you better be ready to color! When the line arts drop, the fighting begins. For those who want nothing more than to go crazy over a brand new, Danny Phantom themed coloring book, this part is for you. The goal is to color as many of the line arts from the first half of the event as physically possible with the rest of your small team. Unlike other DP events, GWE will have 10 whole coloring teams, so expect to get cozy with your new mates while you strategize!

And when we say strategize, we mean it. >:3 Green With Envy is unique in that the points you earn can be snatched away! How many your team gets depends on when you complete a coloring, how you complete a coloring, and to whom the line art was assigned. (Don't worry, you can color any line art, including unassigned ones!) Trickery is just as important as the speed and skill of your artistry here! Drop the ball and your points just may be Poached right from under your pencil tips!

~~~~

GUYS, THE 2024 ZINE IS DOOOOONE!

@englandamericaitaly NEARLY DIED MAKING IT BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT! Check out the 358 page masterpiece here!

Welcome back to the gremlin enclosure! Thanks everyone in the Phandom for showing the event so much love!

Big shout out to @ecto-stone for letting us use their kick-butt line art from last year's event to make this year's banner! And to @furiarossa, @ovytia-art, @ecto-stone, @breakfastatmiles, @jamiethebeeart, @half-deadmagicperson, @ectoblastfromthepast and @cakeractuallyarts for coloring it!

This year's Links, Info and Important Dates below!

The official hashtag for the event this year is #greenwithenvy2025

In-depth Rules can be found here!

Tutorial can be found here

FAQ can be found here

The discord server for this event is here

~~~~

Line Art and All Sign-ups Due: Friday, February 28th (02/28/25) 11:59 pm, Pacific Time Zone

Coloring Starts: Friday, March 7th (03/07/25) 8:00 pm Pacific Time Zone

Coloring Due: Sunday, April 6th. (04/06/25) 11:59 pm Pacific Time Zone

Sign-ups for line artists are here

Sign-ups for colorists are here

Line artist submissions go here

Colorist submission form can be found in the Discord.

P.S. Remember when looking at the dates to account for your daylight saving's time. What day it happens on depends on where you are in the world!

~~~~

Looking for links to last year's stuff?

2024 Free-To-Color Line Art

2024 Masterpost

#danny phantom #dp events #greenwithenvy2025 #phandom event #danny phantom event #2024 zine #2025 dates #2025 links #2025 masterpost

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acosmicventure · 2 months ago

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Your Dispositor Is The Key To Your Success | Birth Chart

DISPOSITOR IN ASTROLOGY

Dispositor is the planet that rules the sign where another planet is placed.

DISPOSITOR = FOUNDATION ON WHICH THE OTHER PLANET IS EXISTING

It links the energies of the planets involved, creating a flow of influence between them.

Example: If your Venus is in Aries, Mars (the ruler of Aries) is Venus' dispositor.

DISPOSITOR DYNAMICS

The strength and placement of a dispositor can either amplify or moderate a planet’s expression.

For example, a strong Mars as the dispositor of Venus in Aries could make one’s love life more assertive and direct.

Understanding your dispositors helps you see where your motivations come from and how different areas of life are interconnected.

SUN AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Leo

Promotes authenticity and staying true to oneself in the planet’s domain.

Energizes the planet’s pursuits with purpose and determination.

Amplifies the planet’s ability to shine and attract recognition.

If afflicted, it still supports the planet in finding strength in adversity, promoting inner transformation.

MOON AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Cancer

Encourages nurturing and caring actions aligned with the planet.

Amplifies intuition and inner wisdom in the planet’s decisions.

Boosts sensitivity and empathy, improving close relationships.

If afflicted, it still helps develop emotional resilience and intelligence in difficult situations.

MERCURY AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Gemini or Virgo

Promotes intellectual growth and curiosity within the planet’s domain.

Supports decisive and clear decision-making aligned with the planet.

Amplifies networking and social connections in the planet’s influence.

If afflicted, it still helps clarify scattered thoughts and encourages adaptability to deal with things.

VENUS AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Taurus or Libra

Enhances artistic expression and appreciation for beauty.

Supports financial growth and material comfort in life.

Boosts love, affection, and creativity in the planet’s influence.

If afflicted, it still encourages the healing of relationship issues and emotional wounds.

MARS AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Aries or Scorpio

Promotes taking bold actions and seizing opportunities.

Enhances confidence and leadership in the planet’s activities.

Supports proactive decision-making and pursuing desires.

If afflicted, it still helps in overcoming fear and hesitation in difficult situations.

JUPITER AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Sagittarius or Pisces

Enhances wisdom and philosophical insight into the planet’s matters.

Supports growth through education, travel, and new experiences.

Boosts opportunities for expansion and success in the planet’s influence.

If afflicted, it still helps the planet in learning from mistakes and finding wisdom in setbacks.

SATURN AS DISPOSITOR, if planets placed in Capricorn or Aquarius

Enhances strategic planning and disciplined actions for success.

Supports building strong foundations and enduring achievements.

Boosts ambition and drive to achieve goals effectively.

If afflicted, it still helps the planet in addressing limitations and working through obstacles.

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mindless-existence1 · 5 months ago

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Request: "Can you write a oneshot featuring Aizawa Shouta with self bondage and gags please? In the fic, he gets the idea to try out self bondage in his apartment. You can decide on how he ties himself and with what toys. But I'd like it if he used a tape gag and was unable to escape his bonds, meaning he'd be stuck in bondage and orgasming the whole night."

Authors note/info about the story: This is male reader who works as a teacher at UA and is a prohero. You have a crush on Aizawa and he has a crush on you. I fear I'm obsessed with submissive men 😔😔Enjoy~~

Word count: 1,611

Masterlist Link

REQUESTS OPEN PLS SEND!

Warnings: Self bondage, super overstimulation, sex toys, multiple orgasams, dry orgasm at the end (I fear om obsessed with them 😔)

Aizawa knew this was a bad idea, he knew this was kind of a terrible idea. But he couldn't push down his desires, plus he knew it was mostly a safe plan...mostly. All he had to do was be as careful as possible.

He had finished school for the day about an hour ago and was finally headed home (yeah ik it's technically a dorm but let's pretend it's a bit more like an apartment complex type situation) He just wanted to...spice things up tonight.

All day it felt like you had been teasing him and he couldn't get the thought of you out of his head. Why did your hero suit have to make you so fucking sexy? It drove him out of his mind.

You had been way more touchy then usual today and he almost had to rub one off like a teenager in the staff bathroom. So now in the privacy of his own home he can take care of the erection that's been forming all day.

He took off his shoes at the door and instead of taking off his hero clothes like normal he kept them on. You always said you hot he looked in uniform so he wanted to keep it on.

He went to his drawers and pulled out one of his sinful toys. He bought it in an act of desperation years ago and only used it when he really needed to, like right now.

It was a vibrating cock ring that wouldn't stop him from coming, it was a win win and he always felt a little guilty about buying it. Even so it did come in handy in times like this.

He put some lube on his hands and jerked himself to full hardness before slipping on the ring. He let out a low groan and pumped himself a few more times. He kept the remote in one of his hands so he could change the setting even when tied up.

Now on the bed Aizawa expertly tied his legs first and arms later to the bed posts, with a swift motion he wrapped it around his mouth as well. He strategically kept the end peice hanging next to one of his hands. This was so when he was done he could pull on the end and free himself from the binds (idk how knots and stuff works so pretend this makes sense).

With a deep breath through his nose Aizawa clicked the first setting of the ring. A soft buzz filled his ears and his hips jerked slightly at the feeling. He quickly turned it up a level to give him more stimulation. He moaned through the gag and closed his eyes.

He let the feeling wash over him. "Mmmh hmnnn" he whined through the gag, turning up the vibrations to a faster pace. Aizawa choked on a moan at the intense change. The feeling of vibrations felt foreign but oh so good.

Aizawa changed the level up again finally reaching the highest setting. The moan he let out was borderline pornagraphic, bucking his hips upward into the air he whined into the gag.

It didn't take long for him to reach his climax, the orgasm building up in his gut. He came with a low groan into the cloth. Aizawa felt extremely messy as the cum got on his hero suit. After a second of riding himself through the intense pleasure he went to turn the ring off.

In an instant he was washed over in a wave of panic when the remote fell from his hand. He tried calming himself by reaching for the end of his binding cloth but when he pulled there was no give. Why was there no give??? Aizawa must have used this cloth hundreds of times without mistakes. So why now of all times did he mess it up????

He couldn't think straight enough to get an answer with the relentless abuse of his poor cock. The ring still pulsing at its high level, he let out a broken sob, all of it muffled by the damn binding cloth wrapper around his mouth.

His hips were moving on their own accord as best they could. Aizawa tried tugging and pulling at the cloth but to no avail. His wrists were starting to get sore and his legs ached at the position he tied them in.

After coming again he could feel pain seeping into the pleasure. There was nothing he could do, he wouldn't be able to handle the embarrassment of screaming into the gag as best he could in hopes someone would hear.

The only people he lived by were his coworkers/friends and nothing would be worth having to face whoever came to his rescue the next day.

An image of you flashed in Aizawa's mind and he let out a whine at the thought. You lived close by, just a door down the hall. He gave you a key to his apartment (I know it's a dorm don't come after me), along with Mic. You were probably up right now, grading papers or watching TV.

He knew about your bad sleeping habits, he knew there was a good chance you were up right now. He imagined you touching yourself to, just down the hall. He imagined you waling in and seeing him like this. The thought was all it took to push him over the edge for a third time that night.

There was dried and wet cun alike on his clothes, he felt like a gross mess. All he could think about was you and how he wanted it to be you giving him all this pleasure and not just some toy.

Aizawa was now fully sobbing into the gag, it was wetted with tears. The vibrater kept going, and with each pulse he knew he was a goner.

~~~~~~~~Time skip to later that night~~~~~~~~~

His body felt like it was on fire, everything hurt and the pain was overtaking the pleasure. Every pulse of the vibrater brought a new flow of tears to his eyes. Despite what he wanted he felt the burning sensation of another orgasm building up in his chest. He let out a hiccuping sob into the cloth covering his mouth.

The overwhelming pleasure from his orgasm made him throw his head back as best he could. It was dry and raw and was ripped out of him. In his blessed out state, despite the continuous stimulation to his aching cock, he didn't hear the knocking at the door.

He also didn't hear you coming in, "Hey Shota, sorry to barge in but can you-" the words you were trying to say were lost as you took in the sight before you. He looked so pretty, tied up and clothed with just his cock out. Sweating and covered in his own come, you were so tempted to take a photo but assumed that wouldn't go over well.

"Shota...what?" Again the words died in your throat when Aizawa looked up and saw you gawking at him. He whined a high pitch moan, desperately squirming. He wanted to cover himself and preferably go die in a hole, never to be seen again by specifically you.

"Ummm tphh mmmm" He tried begging to you through the binding cloth but couldn't make anything sound coherent. "Shota, do you need help?" You hesitantly asked, not wanting to overstep. Aizawa quickly nodded his head praying you would get the message. You dropped the paper in your hands and rushed over to the bed.

After a minute of fiddling with the cloth, along with trying to ignore the moaning man under you who was still having his dick abused by the vibrater. Also trying to ignore your own growing erection.

You finally got the cloth completely undone and off of him, he immediately went to take the vibrater off his leaking dick. Aizawa was panting and breathing out light "Thank you"s. He wanted to say more, to explain himself, but he couldn't find the words. Even if he could his throat was scratchy and he desperatly needed water.

You were now sitting on the bed facing each other, maybe a bit closer then friends should be but neither of you wanted to move. The tiered man rested his sweaty forehead on your shoulder, to weak to keep it up himself.

After a second of silence you spoke up "If I was a bit more greedy I'd think you put on this show for me." You leaned forward slightly to whisper in his ear. His breath hitched at your tone. "I-" He didn't know how to explain himself so you kept talking.

"Didn't think you'd be this kinky Shota but I guess it is always the quiet ones. Plus i mean you did come up with a weapon called a 'binding cloth' so maybe I should have expected this." Your voice teasing but filled with lust, hot breath blew over his ear making them tinted red. M.

"I always hoped I could see you like this but that was mostly just wishful thinking." You laughed again, this time at Aizawa's reaction. In his blessed out state he leaned back and looked you in the eyes. His face was flushed and his eyes seem glazed over but they were fixed on you.

"What?" Is all he asked, it made you chuckle and take his face in your hands. He half hoped expected you to kiss him but instead you leaned in to his ear, you gave it a teasing nible before whispering. "Shota I've been wanting to fuck you since the first day I started working at UA."

#mha #aizawa shouta #mha aizawa #bnha aizawa #aizawa x reader #aizawa shōta #aizawa smut #bnha smut #smut #mha x reader #bnha x reader #my hero academia #Sub mha x reader #Sub shota aizawa

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teshadraws · 4 months ago

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 63]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

AO3 Link

Tobias, Nia, and Junie travel back to the Lexym Guild with Fidel in tow, where they update August and reunite with an unexpected face.

The next morning is thankfully clear for their flight back to the guild. Tobias is the first one up, as usual, but Nia and Junie only grumble a little upon being woken up, since they can’t sleep in with Fidel and the flight ‘mon waiting on them.

By time they’ve grabbed breakfast and their gear and left the inn, Fidel is already stationed near one of the empty bonfire pits. Behind him, perched on the wall surrounding the cliffside village, two large flying types are perched.

For a split-second, Tobias thinks the bulkier silhouette is Fliss, but as they get closer he can see that there are a few differences. This Pokemon’s plumage is a different color, a stark white layered above a gray undercoat. And the crest above his face is definitely different, too—an almost eye-like pattern of bright blue and purple. No scar, either. A shiny, maybe? Or the psychic type variant if braviary that Fliss had mentioned before?

Whatever the case, he’s massive, possibly even larger than Fliss.

Next to him is a slightly smaller Pokemon—a pidgeot. She gives them a calm smile as they approach, the long yellow and red feathers atop her head streaming behind her in the wind.

Fidel turns to greet them as well. “Ah, good morning.”

“Yeesh,” Junie says. “You sure it’s a good morning? You look rough, dude.”

Tobias had thought the same—the zoroark’s voice is duller than usual, his smile worn and tired—but at least Tobias had the tact not to say it.

“Junie!” Nia quietly scolds.

Fidel laughs. “I’m aware I’m not at my finest, Nia. It’s been a long morning. And night. Asher was not pleased about my leaving on such short notice.”

Nia makes a sympathetic sound in her throat. “Understandable. You two do seem close.”

“We are. I hate to leave him so suddenly, but I know Will and the rest of the settlement will look after him.” The zoroark shoulders his large pack, looking them over. “You’re all ready to head out? You picked out some snow gear from Florence’s shop?”

“Yup!” Nia says.

“My coat makes me look like a lemon,” Junie’s adds cheerfully.

Fidel’s smile curves into something a bit more genuine. “That’ll make you easy to spot on the mountain, I suppose.”

“Yeah! See, Toby? Strategic advantage.”

“Strategic stupidity.”

“Hey!”

Fidel interrupts the brewing squabble by introducing the two flight ‘mon who will be flying them across the Obsidian Sea, back to the Metreja continent and the guild nestled within Bethoc’s Haven. The braviary, Cato, greets them with a nod, and the pidgeot, Auretta, ducks her head with a polite, “Pleased to meet you all.”

Since Fidel is heavier than Tobias, Nia, and Junie combined, he boards the braviary alone. The rest of them crawl atop the pidgeot, who crouches low to ease their climb.

Nia sits behind Tobias as has become the norm, so she can hold onto him and hide her face. By now, Tobias is almost used to the way she wraps her arms around his torso, though he still has to will his face not to burn with embarrassment.

“Ooh, cozy,” Junie teases. “Where do I sit?”

The flying types decide to have Junie settle in front of Tobias, and she wastes no time leaning back against him like her own personal seat. She cranes her head back, grinning. He flicks her forehead. She snaps her beak at his fingers with a playful clack clack.

Shortly after, they leave the human settlement with a powerful beating of wings, lifting into cool dawn air and higher into the sky, until the collection of stone buildings lining the cliffside look more like toys than an actual city.

And then they’re off.

———————————————————————————————

Junie, of course, can’t stay quiet for long, so they’ve only just reached the ocean when she finally stops trying to talk to Tobias (who is busy enjoying the flight) and Nia (who is busy being terrified) and instead strikes up conversation with the pidgeot.

Luckily, Auretta seems content to chat as they glide over open water, and it doesn’t take long for the conversation between the two to turn to flight.

“Yeah,” Junie says. “I’m not, uh, a real strong flier yet. I get freaked out flying too high on my own. But I wanna be a mail ‘mon one day, so I’m working on it! And riding on your back doesn’t scare me or anything.”

The pidgeot hums in response. Then she turns her head to catch Junie’s eye. “Have you ever flown over the ocean?”

“Nope!”

“Would you like to try?”

It takes a moment for Junie to understand what Auretta means. Then she squawks, “Right now?! What if I crash?”

“I’ll watch you,” Auretta soothes. “I helped my little sister learn to fly over these very waves, once. And she was a pidgey at the time, so not much larger than you.”

“Aren’t the winds unpredictable nowadays?” Tobias asks, dubious.

“They are,” Auretta confirms. “But they seem calm today. Would you like to try? Your wingspan isn’t made for soaring like ours, but we’re here so you can always take a break.”

Junie still seems unsure, leaning over to peer down at the waves far below. But after a long moment of silence she shakes herself and says, “You know what? Why not! Just, uh. Don’t let me die, okay?”

The pidgeot trills a sound somewhere between amused and encouraging. “Of course not. I’ll be here.”

For the next few minutes, the pidgeot gently coaches Junie, teaching her how to keep her wings steady and ride the air currents, as well as how to seek out thermals to elevate.

Eventually, Junie works up the courage to leap from Auretta’s back. The rookidee’s wings snap out and beat furiously, and for a heart-stopping moment Junie is swept back head-over-heels by a powerful gust of wind.

But Auretta is quick to tuck her wings and drop back with her, calmly buffeting the wind in front of Junie so she can regain her balance.

Still, Tobias can’t help looking back to make sure Junie just didn’t plummet into the ocean. Nia, whose arms had tightened around him, squeaks, “I-Is she okay?!”

She is. Her little face is screwed up with determination as she listens to Auretta calmly explain to keep her wings steady and to soar with the air current instead of working against it.

It takes a few more minutes before Junie seems to have the hang of it, only a little shaky as she coasts along behind Auretta.

“I think I got it!” Junie shouts.

Fidel, who had been watching from atop the braviary off to the side, yells, “Good work!”

“Stay calm, even when the winds shift,” the braviary adds, watching as well.

“I’m going to elevate,” Auretta calls over her shoulder. “The wind will feel stronger for a moment, but just let it take you, all right? We’re on a wide current, so you shouldn't be lead astray. Don’t panic.”

Junie calls, “Got it!”

The pidgeot tilts and flies higher, out of Junie’s path.

Junie looks overwhelmed for a moment, flapping once before stopping herself and straightening her wings. She wobbles, but then she’s quickly picked up like a leaf on the wind, moving forward at a brisk clip.

Before anyone can ask how she’s doing, Junie whoops a loud, joyous sound. Auretta dips so she can fly right beside her, and Junie turns to face them with a beaming grin.

“Toby, look! I did it! And it feels awesome!”

Tobias can’t help smiling back, something sharp and warm in his chest. He always wanted to be there when his sister evolved and got to fly herself for the first time. This isn’t that, but it’s close enough to have him choked up.

“You did it,” he says, trying not to make it obvious that he’s feeling stupidly emotional.

Luckily, Junie is too distracted by her own joy to call him out on it, simply turning her face up to enjoy the sun.

Of course, it’s not five minutes later before Junie starts begging Auretta and Cato to show her how to do some “cool flight tricks.” Tobias is relieved when they gently shoot down her idea of learning how to barrel roll.

————————————————————————————————

The rest of the trip is largely uneventful, thankfully, no rogue winds to disrupt their journey across the sea. Nia stays hidden in Tobias’ shoulder most of the time, but she makes muffled comments occasionally, so she must be listening to their conversations.

At one point Tobias thinks he catches a glimpse of Giratina checking in on them in the reflection of the sky below, but the titan is gone too quickly for Tobias to be sure.

They’d borrowed a cup of water the night before to update Giratina on their findings about Yveltal and Xerneas, and their plans to go to Silenfroar. Giratina had seemed to approve, apparently deeming their guess a valid possibility.

However, he’d also seemed more exhausted than usual, expression flat and his subdued gestures lacking their usual bite. Nia, being Nia, had of course asked if he was all right.

Giratina had straightened up, walls visibly rebuilding as he nodded. Nia clearly hadn’t been convinced, but without a way to hear Giratina speaking through the reflection it wasn’t like they could even understand anything he said except a yes or no answer.

Regardless of what was actually wrong—if anything—Tobias figures that Giratina just doesn’t feel like wasting valuable time and energy to monitor them today.

Junie takes to resting periodically on Auretta’s back, but she still leaps back into the air as much as possible, rambling about how impressed Bo will be by her new skills.

Hours pass peacefully this way, and it’s nearly noon, the sun high and bright overhead, when the braviary calls out, “Land ahoy!”

Tobias squints, ignoring Nia’s quiet, “Thank goodness.” Sure enough, the shore of the Bethoc Bluffs and the forest of the Haven lie on the horizon, faded blue with distance.

Tobias is startled out of his search by a high, unexpected voice coming from Fidel and Cato’s direction.

“Finally! I thought we’d never get there!”

Cato falters, and everyone else’s heads snap over.

From the pack still strapped to Fidel’s back, a tiny gray and red head is poking out with a devious grin, clearly enjoying their stunned reactions.

“Asher?!” Junie yells.

“Asher?” Fidel asks, half shocked and half concerned. He quickly unstraps his pack to pull it in front of him. Seeing that his son is unharmed, his brows lower. “What are you doing here?”

The zorua sinks low into the bag at his father’s upset tone, until all Tobias can see are golden eyes and lowered ears. He can barely hear the zorua over the wind as he says, “I didn’t want you to go.”

Fidel’s anger softens. He sighs. “I didn’t want to leave you either, but that does not mean you are allowed to disobey direct orders. What if we were going straight to the mountains and had to stop to find somewhere safe for you to stay?”

“I’d be okay!” Asher says. “I’m tough! And I can always hide in your hair to stay warm.”

“You are not coming to the mountians,” Fidel says, voice hard. “And I will be double-checking that you haven’t decided to sneak along again before we go.”

Asher pouts. “But—"

“No. You will stay at the guild’s nursery until we return.”

Asher perks up again. “Does that mean you’re not sending me back to the settlement? Please tell me you’re not. It’s so boring there!”

Fidel sighs, glancing over at Tobias, Nia, and Junie. “…No. we can’t afford to turn around simply to drop you off. You’ll come with us to the Lexym Guild, as long as Team Scarlet thinks you’d be welcome there.”

“Of course he would!” Junie chirps, despite having never been to the guild herself.

Tobias squashes her down with a hand, ignoring her offended cheep. “I’m sure Asher can stay in the guild’s nursery while we’re gone. Honestly, the shinx kids will probably be thrilled to have a new playmate.”

Asher almost wiggles out of his father’s hold in his excitement. “Ooh, are they fun? How old are they? I bet I could turn into a shinx!”

“Don’t sound so thrilled,” Fidel admonishes. “We will be talking about this more once we settle in. You’re still in trouble.”

“Right. Sorry,” Asher says.

Tobias doesn’t think he sounds all that sorry at all, but it is clear Asher doesn’t like upsetting his father, even if he doesn’t really regret stowing away.

Despite the scolding, Fidel doesn’t stop his son from joining in the conversation after that. Some part of Tobias thinks the zoroark is actually relieved to have his son nearby where he can keep an eye on him.

Half the remaining journey is spent with Asher yelling questions across the sky about the Lexym Guild, which Tobias answers patiently. Junie wastes no time jumping in with questions of her own.

They must’ve taken a different flight route than usual since they came straight from the human settlement, because today they pass over a beach town near the bluffs on the edge of the continent. It’s a fairly small place, bigger than Stonebrook but much smaller than Ghatha. Closer to Fort Asra’s population than anything. Tobias thinks he remembers visiting once or twice with Maggie when he was younger.

As they fly over the bustling town, the braviary carrying Fidel suddenly jerks, strong enough to cut off Asher’s rambling with a yip. Fidel pulls his son closer.

“Cato?” Auretta says, tone concerned. She flies closer, as if to steady him.

The braviary doesn’t answer for a moment, frowning down at the quiet activity of the town below. “I’m fine. Just…thought I felt something strange in the air for a moment.”

Tobias frowns, eyeing the braviary’s crest. Fliss said that braviary variants were psychic types, right? Psychics do tend to be a bit more sensitive to certain things.

But after a tense moment of observation, the braviary shakes his head. “Probably nothing. Likely some psychic types playing with their powers. Apologies for the scare.”

The rest of them take the dismissal for what it is, slowly relaxing again. Asher and Junie resume their questioning after a minute or two.

The two chatterboxes only fall silent once they reach the Haven in earnest, and the giant tree that houses the Lexym Guild towers in the distance, far above the other trees of the forest.

“It’s huge!” Junie says. “You guys didn’t tell me you lived somewhere so cool!”

Tobias shrugs. He’s lived at the guild for over eight years now, so it’s long since lost its novelty. It’s just…home, nowadays.

Auretta and Cato find the mail ‘mons’ flight floor with easy familiarity, alighting on the wooden platforms with gentle thumps.

Fidel and Asher slide down from the braviary’s back, and Auretta crouches for Tobias, Nia and Junie to do the same. Tobias tries to help Nia soften her landing, but she still winces as she lands, paw going to her ribs.

The two flight ‘mon were paid in advance by Will, so they give their goodbyes and head off to the flight outpost. Junie hops after them, calling out her thanks for the impromptu flight lesson.

It’s not long until the two flying types are out of sight.

“So what now?” Junie asks, eyes sparkling as she takes in the open, windy interior and wooden walls. “Gonna give us the grand tour?”

For once, Tobias wishes they could do something so laid-back, but he knows they need to get something else over with first.

“We need to talk to August first. Update him and see if he found anything out about Xerneas while we were gone. Plus, we need to get his approval so we can travel to the mountains. He might have some tips for us.”

“And…” Nia adds, looking nervous. “Um. We have to tell him about the whole Kaleido Bay thing, right?”

The mark on their record, yeah. As their guildmaster, August will find out about it sooner or later, so Tobias would rather the rillaboom hear it straight from him.

Tobias nods, ignoring Asher’s curious look and Junie’s sympathetic grimace.

“We’ll join you, if that’s all right. I need to make sure it’s okay for Asher to stay here while we’re gone,” Fidel says, giving his son—who is happily sniffing circles around the room, probably tracking an old scent—an unimpressed look.

Decision made, Tobias leads their little group up the few flights to August’s office. He just hopes the rillaboom is free so they can get this over with.

The whole walk, Junie and Asher take turns eagerly pointing out different parts of the Lexym Tree’s construction, peering through the lattice windows they pass and asking how they built a whole guild inside of a tree.

“I think it’s magic,” Nia whispers conspiratorially, leaning closer to Asher and wiggling her fingers.

Asher grins. “Has to be. Even with lotsa grass types around, this tree is humongous! Like, weirdly so. Right, Dad?”

“It is impressive.”

“Hm. Magic and lots of love and care?” Nia jokes, glancing at Tobias.

Tobias snorts. “I’m sure that’s it.”

Tobias is glad they don’t push for actual answers, at least, considering he doesn’t have them. As far as he knows, the Lexym Tree has been like this for over a century, since the guilds were first formed and Bethoc herself founded this branch.

Still, their good mood nosedives as they reach August’s quarters at the top of the guild. The stone doors are closed tight, vines wrapping around their surface, and bright autumn foliage wreathes the corners of the doorframe.

Tobias takes a deep breath and knocks. He’s both relieved and disappointed when August’s deep voice can be faintly heard in response.

Verene is the one who opens the doors. The lurantis scans Tobias and the others with mild surprise, but she opens the door wider without hesitation, silently ushering them in.

August seems just as surprised to see them, though his expression quickly turns to warm relief.

Tobias stomach churns. For a second, he considers not telling August about their transgression in Kaleido at all.

…But no, that’ll only delay the inevitable. And August would be even more disappointed in them if they tried to hide it.

Tobias takes another breath to calm his nerves.

“Team Scarlet! I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. And I see you’ve brought company?”

Tobias nods, gesturing first at Junie. “Juniper the rookidee. You might remember that we met her in Ghatha on our last trip East.”

“Junie,” Junie corrects, hopping forward with a dramatic bow. “I live in

Stonebrook! I’m just here to help these two knuckleheads stay in one piece.”

August chuckles. “Pleasure to meet you. And you two?”

Fidel steps forward, his usual friendly demeanor stiffening as he bows as well. “Fidel the zoroark. Second in command at the human settlement south of Ghatha. This is my son, Asher.”

“Hiya!” Asher chirps. In a flash of light, he morphs into a grookey to bow just as dramatically as Junie had.

Junie snorts, but Fidel almost looks panicked as he nudges his son. Asher glances up at him, sighs, then transforms back into a zorua to bow more respectfully.

August watches the exchange with a strange expression, half-amused and half…sad, almost? Still, his smile is warm when Fidel looks back to him. “You and your son are welcome here, Fidel. Worry not.”

Fidel’s tense posture doesn’t relax, but he does nod, murmuring his thanks.

“Happy as I am to welcome you all to the Lexym Guild, am I wrong in assuming you have a purpose in mind, coming here with Team Scarlet? Have you news on your search for Xerneas?”

Tobias nods. “Will’s team did some research, and we think we have a place to start looking.”

He glances at Fidel, and the zoroark takes over.

“Xerneas and Yveltal rest within a certain proximity of one another during their sleep cycles.”

August nods, not looking surprised. He must’ve found similar claims in his own research here at the guild.

“As such, we only need to find one before we have an anchor point to find the other,” Fidel continues. “We can also assume from the legends that their resting places display specific qualities. Namely, that Xerneas will rest somewhere lush, and Yveltal somewhere barren. In addition, the crystals forming their cocoons typically spill over into the environment around them as well.”

August narrows his eyes, a thoughtful hand coming up to his chin. “That makes sense, considering the role of each legendary in regards to the ecosystem. I’m assuming you believe one of the two legendaries to be nearby since you followed Team Scarlet all the way back to Metreja?”

Fidel nods, looking to Nia.

She startles, but hurries forward to continue. “Y-Yes! Do you remember the sableye we rescued in that dungeon on the river, along with Team Aqua Jet? Carnelian?”

August smiles. “I do. A nervous little fellow, but very polite.”

“Yes! Before he left the guild, he mentioned that he was going somewhere to investigate some strange crystals.”

“The Silenfroar Mountain range,” Tobias adds.

August straightens, brow furrowing with understanding. “Which would certainly be a barren landscape, yes?”

Fidel nods. “We’re thinking that Yveltal may be resting there. However, we want to investigate and confirm for sure so we can use his location as a tether to find Xerneas, considering they should be within sight of one another.”

August hums, thoughtful, his gaze locked on one of the branches snaking its way through the walls of the room and bringing a burst of autumn leaves with it.

Tobias frowns. He knows August well enough after all these years to guess what that look means. “You found something out while we were gone, didn’t you?”

August blinks back to the present, and laughs. “That transparent, am I? We have been performing our own research in your brief absence, but let me confirm my suspicions with Alistair and Tawny first before I share what I suspect. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop.”

Tobias doesn’t doubt that August is telling the truth, despite how much grief he’s given his guildmaster over the years.

Another jab of guilt in Tobias’ chest.

“You trained up in those mountains once, right?” Tobias asks, pushing past the feeling. “Did you hear anything about Yveltal while you were there?”

August looks faintly surprised that Tobias remembers that little tidbit, probably since it was shared so many years ago. The rillaboom shakes his head. “No, I heard nothing of the sort while I was there. But though they welcomed me on a surface level by the end of my training, I was never truly one of them. It’s likely they would still keep important secrets from me, and a legendary hidden in their territory would certainly qualify.”

“Oh,” Nia says, wilting. “Does that mean you wouldn’t be able to put in a good word for us?”

August’s brows raise. “You mean to travel up the mountain yourselves? All of you?”

“Will would like to work with ‘mon he personally knows he can trust,” Fidel says. “And I could help to assure their safety, if you permit it.”

“And Giratina asked US to look into Xerneas,” Tobias adds. Well, he asked Nia, but still—they’re a unit. “And we know Carnelian, too. He trusts us. It makes sense for us to go.”

Nia and Junie open their mouths to add their own input, but August lifts a hand to stop them.

“You don’t need to try so hard to convince me. You’ve already proven yourselves worthy of missions far above your ranking, and you aren’t the worst option in the guild, type-wise.”

Verene, who had been silently watching the exchange off to the side, steps forward for the first time, pink and white claws crossed politely but voice firm. “All the same, August, if time is a pressing matter, should we not send someone who could make the trip faster? I know we don’t have many upper-level Seekers on hand who are great in the cold, but someone like Team Sequoia could adapt well.”

Andyn’s parents? Oh, absolutely not. Tobias is not trusting the fate of the world to two sawsbuck who can’t even raise their own kid properly.

Before he can protest, August shakes his head. “You know as well as I do that Team Sequoia would make enemies of the village sooner than they’d find any answers, Verene. Trust me on this. We need someone non-threatening who already has a connection with the sableye researcher at the very least.” He smiles at them. “As I cannot go myself, I have a feeling this group is exactly the team for the job.”

Tobias is going to die from the guilt. A glance at Nia shows she’s feeling the same, wincing under the praise.

Verene doesn’t seem thrilled by August’s answer, glancing over Nia, Tobias, Junie and Asher doubtfully, but she dutifully steps back.

August looks back to them. “You have my approval for Team Scarlet to investigate the Silenfroar mountain range for signs of Xerneas or Yveltal’s presence. I do want you to wait a day or so for my confirmation before you depart, though. I need to draft a letter to the matriarch of the village if you want to bypass any initial suspicion. Additionally, I want you to prepare properly—the mountainside can be brutal, especially if you run into any bad weather. Make sure to get some snow clothes from Vera before leaving.”

“Already done!” Junie chirps. “Will hooked us up.”

“We didn’t grab shoes, though,” Nia frets. “The ones at the shop looked too thin, so…”

August bends over his desk for a moment to scribble a note to himself. “In that case, make sure you grab some snowshoes before departing from the guild. I believe Vera has a few pairs in storage. I’ll send word so she can dig them out.”

Nia gives her thanks, looking relieved.

“What about me?” Asher asks, head craning back to look up at his father.

Fidel falters. “Right. Guildmaster, would it be possible for my son to stay here in your guild’s nursery while we journey up the mountain? He was not supposed to join on this trip, but…”

“Of course,” August says, clearly catching Fidel off-guard with such easy approval. “Arlo and his assistants can handle one more bundle of chaos, I’m sure. Just be sure not to cause them too much grief, little one.”

Asher perks up with a radiant smile. “Of course not, sir!”

Junie and Tobias snort in unison.

“Does that mean I’m cool to crash with Nia and Toby while I’m here too?” Junie asks.

August nods. “I expected as much. You should have more than enough room in Team Scarlet’s quarters.”

Junie whispers, “Mission accomplished!” to Nia, making the riolu smile.

August makes a sound in his throat as if he just remembered something. “Speaking of which, you actually have another guest who requested to meet with you. They’ve been staying in the guest quarters the last few days, but I’ll send word for them to meet up with you right away. I’m sure they’ll be interested in joining you on your journey to Silenfroar.”

Tobias blinks, surprised, and exchanges a confused look with Nia. A guest?

“You and your son will also have guest quarters for the duration of your stay,” August says to Fidel, quickly writing down some details on a slip of paper before holding it out to him. “Though Asher is more than welcome to sleep in the nursery while you’re away.”

Fidel takes the slip of paper after a beat of hesitation, murmuring his thanks. Asher clambers up his father’s side to perch on his shoulder and read it too.

“If that’s all,” August says, “I’m sure you’re all hungry after your travels. Feel free to go to the cafeteria—they should still be serving lunch at this hour.”

Nia and Tobias hesitate, exchanging a reluctant glance. Part of Tobias just wants to leave and deal with the mark on their record later, especially if August could potentially rescind his permission for them to investigate the mountains, but…

He can’t just lie to August, not after how welcoming he’s been to them. Today, and for Tobias’ whole life, honestly.

“We have something else to tell you,” Tobias sighs. He glances uncomfortably at Fidel. “About, uh…an incident we were a part of in Kaleido Bay.”

August straightens, his smile curving into a concerned frown.

Fidel must pick up on their discomfort, because he smiles awkwardly and dips his head. “In that case, Asher and I will go find our lodgings for the night and grab some food. I’ll come to speak with you tomorrow, Team Scarlet.”

“Can we go see the nursery first?!” Asher asks, shaking his dad’s shoulder. “I gotta find those shinx kids!”

“We can,” Fidel agrees with a wry look. “But you’re also helping me draft a letter to poor Will to let him know you’re safe. He’ll be in a fuss over your disappearance.”

Asher winces. “…Whoops. Didn’t think about that.”

“Yes, ‘Whoops.’” Fidel turns back to August with another formal bow. “Thank you again for your hospitality, Guildmaster.”

August nods and dismisses the father and son, and they take their leave to slip quietly from the room.

In their absence, a heavy silence falls.

August turns back to them, looking more concerned than anything. “What exactly is this ‘incident’ that occurred in Kaleido Bay?”

Tobias takes a breath and steps forward. “It was my fault. We found out that one of the Pokemon responsible for the death of my family was being held in the prison there. I wanted to talk to him.”

August recoils, clearly not expecting that answer. The rillaboom surely knows the vague details of how Tobias came to join the guild years ago, but even Maggie doesn’t have the full story. And Tobias has certainly never willingly divulged details like this to him.

It helps to say it like a report. To keep a clinical sort of distance from the event itself.

Verene is staring at Tobias with uncharacteristic emotion, pink eyes wide with shock. Tobias wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first time she’s hearing about his circumstances at all, considering she wasn’t at the guild when he first arrived.

August could’ve told her at some point, of course, but Tobias realizes suddenly that he’d always just trusted that August would keep it as quiet as possible out of respect for his privacy. After all, from the very beginning, August was one of the few ‘mon at the guild who treated Tobias with respect. He has always showed a deep, honest sympathy for Tobias’ circumstances, rather than pity.

August has always been on Tobias’ side, even if Tobias didn’t recognize it until recently.

Which is why Tobias is going to keep his lying to a minimum, here and now. They can’t implicate Rosalind because Arceus knows what she would do in retaliation, but…

“We blackmailed a guard to get into the prison,” Tobias admits, lifting his chin and locking eyes with August. “I had to know.”

August’s expression becomes more somber. He leans forward to rest his chin on interlaced fingers. “I see. And did you find what you were looking for by speaking with this outlaw?”

Tobias swallows down fresh grief. “…In a way, yes. I don’t regret doing it.”

He does regret getting Nia in trouble too, and of course the danger of the whole situation in the first place, but as far as tarnishing his own record? He’d do that a thousand times over to find answers. To get some closure.

“Nia didn’t want me to go alone, but it was entirely my idea.”

“I went along with it,” Nia protests, stepping up to his side. “I-I…I should bear any punishment you give, too.”

August hums, looking between them. “And you two are telling me this out of the goodness of your hearts? Or were you found out?”

“Dismas made an escape attempt while we were there,” Tobias says, lifting his arm to show his still-bandaged side, finally almost healed. “We delayed him until reinforcements arrived, but that did bring attention to the whole incident. One of the wardens came to talk to us afterwards and explained that due to our help we would get a lighter punishment, but we’ll still have a mark on our record. You should be receiving notice of that soon.”

August is silent for a few moments, looking to Verene as if to gauge her reaction. She looks troubled by the admission of wrongdoing, but strangely uncertain, too. Likely still reeling from the revelation about Tobias’ family.

Finally, August sighs, making a note on a slip of paper on his desk. “Well, I certainly can’t condone you both engaging in such unsavory activity, not to mention where you received the knowledge to blackmail a prison guard in the first place—"

Here, August pauses to give them a stern, knowing look that makes them wince.

“—But I can also understand where you are coming from, Tobias. I suppose my next question must be whether you plan to repeat such behavior in the future?”

“Not if it might hurt someone else,” Nia answers first. Tobias looks at her, surprised by the passion in her voice.

“The Pokemon we blackmailed got in trouble, too,” Nia continues, quieter, voice shaky. “I-I can’t do that again. Hurt someone else for personal gain.”

She peeks at Tobias as she says it, expression both hard and pleading, as if begging him not to put her in such a situation again.

Tobias feels fresh guilt worm its way into his gut. He hadn’t thought much about Jude’s repercussions at all. Of course Nia has been stewing in guilt over them the whole time.

“Agreed,” Tobias finally says, crumbling under Nia’s expression. “I…can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted in the future if information about the outlaws who killed my family was on the line, but I’ll go with Nia on this. I promise no one else will be caught in the crossfire in the future.”

August gives them a tired smile. “As much as I am pleased to hear that your hearts are in the right place, as your guildmaster I need to remind you both that you should not admit to planning to break any rules to Verene and I.”

Nia and Tobias both wince, Nia murmuring a quiet, “Sorry.”

August chuckles, shaking his head.

Verene looks torn, as if unsure if August should be taking all of this so lightly.

Tobias swallows, pushing forward. “Do we still have your permission to investigate the Silenfroar Mountains?”

August quirks a brow. “Would it stop you if I said no?”

Nia and Tobias exchange an uncertain look.

August coughs, though it sounds suspiciously like he’s covering a laugh. “Don’t answer that. Typically, teams with infractions for suspicious activity would be put on leave while the issue was investigated, but seeing as you came to tell me your reasoning directly, that step of the process is complete for now. I do truly believe you all are the best choice for this mission, so I’ll keep you as the assigned team.”

Tobias releases a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, hearing Nia do the same next to him.

“However,” August continues, pinning them both with a stern look. “This is still a permanent red flag on your record. Accumulate more than two and your team will be put on leave indefinitely. Do not put me in that position. Got it?”

Tobias straightens up with a nod. “Yes sir.”

“Y-Yes sir!”

August holds the look for a moment longer, then waves them out. “In that case, you three are free to go. I’ll send your other guest to your quarters soon. And I believe you had a rather large delivery as well during your absence.

Tobias blinks. News of a “guest” is strange enough, but they had a big delivery, too?

Tobias doesn’t question it aloud, though. He, Nia and even Junie bow and say their thanks before scurrying out of the room.

Just before Tobias crosses the threshold, August calls out, “Tobias?”

Tobias stops, looking back at the rillaboom.

His face is soft. “Circumstances aside, I’m glad you found what you were looking for in the prison. I hope it bring you some measure of peace.”

Tobias swallows against an unexpected wave of emotion, nodding and mumbling his thanks before following Nia and Junie out of the room.

As soon as the door closes behind them and they’re alone in the hallway, Junie sags to the floor. “Whew! Well that was nerve-racking. No wonder you don’t like to get in trouble, Nia.”

“Who does?” Nia asks, aghast.

Tobias just points at Junie, who proudly fluffs out her chest. She’s an impidimp under all those feathers, he swears.

“Well, I certainly don’t enjoy it,” Nia murmurs. But then she perks up. “Oh! But what do you think August meant by us having a guest? And a delivery?”

“I want food and a tour soon, but I’m curious too. We could go to your room first to check it out?” Junie suggests.

Tobias doesn’t see any issue with that. They’re likely not going to get much done today aside from settling back in and checking on Maggie and Nia’s friends, so they might as well quell their curiosity and take their time.

Tobias leads the three of them to the floor where the Seekers’ quarters are housed, then down the hall and to their room. Along the way, Nia tells Junie about where and who they need to visit while at the guild.

“Oh, you’ll love Maggie! She’s Tobias’ mom and she’s the sweetest person alive. And you’ll probably meet Fen and Sage during that visit, too. And I need to introduce you to Xander’s team! They’re a few years older than us, but they’re some of our best friends. And Andyn’s—"

Nia cuts herself off abruptly.

Tobias rolls his eyes, not even looking back to see his partner’s crestfallen expression. “If Andyn is still in a mood a week after our little tiff, that’s her problem. And don’t you dare go to apologize to her when it’s her fault for having such an awful attitude.”

“I-I know,” Nia says quietly. “But…I do miss her.”

“If you’re worried, you could always check in with the sensible members of her team.”

“Wait, hold up. What’s the drama here?” Junie asks, fluttering forward to perch on Tobias’ shoulder. “Who’s Andyn?”

“One of Nia’s friends. We did a joint mission with her team before we left and she was being an insecure little brat the whole time. She was still acting huffy when we left.”

“She was being a brat to Nia?” Junie asks, aghast. “Oh, she’d better be a bug type. I’m gonna peck some sense into her.”

“Junie, no!” Nia says.

Tobias smirks. “Grass type, actually. So you’re good. And I think her teammates might just cheer you on at this point.”

“Tobias!“ Nia says, louder.

Tobias and Junie ignore Nia’s protests from behind them on the staircase, the two of them instead making more and more ridiculous attack plans. Tobias knows Nia isn’t actually upset with them since he can hear the growing laughter in her voice with every protest. After Junie threatens to stalk Andyn around the guild and drop berries on her head in some kind of psychological warfare, Nia doesn’t even try to protest anymore as she giggles.

The teasing continues until they reach their room. Tobias opens the door, expecting their delivery to be something too large for the mailbox but still manageably small.

Instead, the three of them stop cold in the entryway of the room, staring at the supplies lumped together into a pile taller than them.

“What in the..?” Tobias says.

Nia gasps, pushing past them. “It’s a bed!”

“For real?!” Junie yells. She flutters forward to join Nia, eagerly knelt next to a bundle of…wooden posts?

Tobias frowns, joining them as well. “I thought you didn’t buy a bed from Hazel because it was too expensive.”

“Oh.” Nia pauses, blinking. “I didn’t.”

Junie brings their attention to a little note tied to one of the posts, plucking it free with her beak to hold out to Nia. Nia skims through it, and a peek reveals that it’s written in that strange scrawling script from Hazel’s last letter, completely illegible to him.

Nia’s expression softens. “It IS from Hazel. She says she wants to thank us for returning her ‘silly husband’ to her and her family in one piece. No charge.”

“Her husband?” Junie asks.

“Yeah! He’s super nice. I think he’s called a floatzel? We saved him and his crew from a mystery dungeon on the way back from Shivergleam.”

“No charge at all is pretty generous of her,” Tobias says, raising a brow.

“I know! I almost don’t want to accept.”

“Hey, don’t look for the hair in the soup and all that,” Junie says, hopping from one bundle of crisply cut, polished wood to another.

“Do you always have to make it yourself?” Tobias asks doubtfully. It looks…kind of complicated.

With a grin, Nia flips over the letter to show him the back, where more is written along with some little doodles to help illustrate. “Nope, but there are instructions! It doesn’t look too bad.”

Tobias still doesn’t get why the two of them are so excited. He’s having a hard time figuring out what this weird bed will even look like by the time they’re done. What’s wrong with a simple nest on the floor?

Junie must sense his doubt, because she hops over the wood and says, “You’ll understand soon, Toby. Come over here and feel this!”

Tobias rounds the pile of materials to find a giant rectangular…something? It looks thick but soft and it’s covered in cloth. It sparks a long-forgotten memory on the edge of his thoughts, of waking up somewhere impossibly soft after Team Zenith’s attack.

Oh. Maybe he has slept in a similar kind of bed before. He thinks the doctor in the village had one? Maybe there was a human living there that Tobias was unaware of at the time.

Trying not to look too intrigued, Tobias follows Junie’s order and sits down on the edge of what she calls a “mattress.” It feels like more of those springs might be inside, but it’s heavily padded by fabric and other stuffing, so he sinks comfortably a few inches before lightly bouncing back up.

Okay, maybe Tobias is starting to see why they’re so excited to sleep on this. He hesitates, knowing Junie will likely comment on it, but eventually decides to flop back onto it fully.

“Nice, right?” Junie asks, her smug expression audible. Tobias doesn’t give her the satisfaction of responding, instead closing his eyes.

…It is pretty comfortable.

Nia snickers, but thankfully doesn’t comment. The sound is followed by the clatter of wood and shuffling as Nia starts putting together whatever the rest of the supplies are for.

“Okay, looks like it’s just a peg system, so I don’t think we’ll need tools…”

“Should we grab food before you get lost in construction mode?” Junie pipes up, looking between them. “I’m starving.”

Nia is clearly reluctant to part with her new project, but Tobias is hungry too. They compromise, heading down to grab lunch and bringing it back to their room to eat.

Tobias and Junie dig in with relish, the little rookidee praising the cooking’s quality. Nia just takes bites of her meal here and there while organizing the materials and lining up pegs in their proper placement.

After he’s finished eating, Tobias peels himself from the mattress to help Nia hold the supplies in place, since her muttering has only gotten more frustrated in the last few minutes.

The two of them are only halfway through building what is apparently a frame to hold the mattress off the floor when a quiet tap tap comes from the doorway. They all turn to look, just as a familiar head pokes into the room.

Oh. That’s the second time this afternoon that Tobias has been thrown completely for a loop.

“Samir?!” Nia gasps, practically throwing down the materials in her paws to scramble up and greet the skiddo.

Samir looks just as they’d left them in Fort Asra, albeit a bit more unsure in this new environment. Their nerves visibly lessen in the face of Nia’s enthusiastic greeting, but the skiddo still holds themself stiffly as ever, legs locked and chin raised. Across their back, a satchel like the one Maggie wears when gathering herbs is draped over their spine.

So the mystery guest August had mentioned before is Samir. After hearing about the skiddo’s terrible partner back in Fort Asra, and Nia offering Samir a place in the Lexym Guild instead, Tobias can take a wild guess for why they’re here.

He’s just not quite sure how to feel about it.

#pmd seekers of soul #pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #pidgeot #rookidee #tesha draws #tesha writes

141 notes · View notes

amoristt · 15 days ago

Text

trust i seek, and i find in you. | pt2

part 1 (x) part 3 (x)

「 ✦ seong gi-hun / reader ✦ 」

tags: sfw // mild violence, reader is having an existential crisis, gi-hun is baby girl as always, lots of fluff but like also some slight angst lol a/n: i tried to keep readers backstory vague enough to be kinda relatable but also clear enough to understand their motives/struggles LOL i loved writing this chapter i hope u enjoy

Tug-of-war was like hell.

Almost all of you had died, that bottomless pit taunting and swallowing anyone who fell over the edge whole in the blink of an eye. Your team had clear disadvantages much to Sang-Woo's dismay, who struggled to hide the disdain in his eyes as he watched other teams build muscle whereas yours seemed to build... Outcasts.

Player 244 made you uneasy like a sinking boat in murky waters. Trepidation built up within you like a simmer into an inferno as the elevator climbed up to the planforms. You'd seen group after group perish and tumble over the edge, dragged down like sacks of led before the ropes were cut short, their lives along with it.

It was a close call. Even with Il-nam's strategic placement, even with Ali's strength combined with all of your own, it was close. Watching Gi-hun dangle over that cavern made your entire world stop.

But perhaps 244 had spoken some truth, because when you begged the Lord above to save him, he provided. Dragged Gi-hun right back to that platform and sent the other team spiraling to their dooms.

Your team managed a sour win.

It was hard to forget the look on your opponents faces as they fell, link by link.

Exhausted beyond belief, slick with sweat and heavy with your aching muscles, you were more than ready to get a nights sleep. Everyone was silent on the ride back down on the elevator. Silent during the walk back to the dormitioties.

This heaviness tainted your morale. You knew you shouldn't torture yourself over it- it was your life, or theirs. There wasn't a choice. But between your own rapidly crumbling resolve and 244's ramblings you were struggling to keep your composure.

You missed your neighborhood- which was funny, because you swore you spent years cursing it with your every breath. God, you missed your bed. Shitty as it was, it was yours.

Or maybe it was less longing for your bed and more missing the way you used to be able to sleep with both eyes closed. Staring up at your stained and leaking ceiling, you remembered being so miserable, telling yourself one day things would be different. You would come out on top. Now you'd give anything for it.

It was decided (much to your dismay) that you and Gi-hun would be the first pair to watch over your sleeping comrades. Your hearts were heavy. Your arms feel even heavier. Sore and aching. Gi-hun didn’t say much for a while afterwards. The woman with the long curly hair, Player 212, really put a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Before the game had even started you were already fed up with her. As you were sitting with your friends, debating who to invite to your team,

"You need some real muscle on your team, not these skinny girls," She'd harped. She'd plopped down beside you and slung an arm around your shoulder despite the way you grimaced and bristled. "You look pretty tough. The two of us could make a good team, yeah?"

She had nerve to do it after everyone witnessed the way she clung to 101 until he'd discarded her like trash. It made your skin crawl. And she didn't stop there, following you and your team around like a lost dog going on and on about absolutely nothing. You really didn't have the energy for it. No one did.

Even Ali had a snark up his sleeve, taunting her for being so unwilling to cooperate with Sang-woo’s quick thinking idea. You didn't think it was possible.

By the time lights out had come, everyone except you and Gi-hun were quick to fall asleep. It had been such a dreadful day, all you could do was pray tonight was different than the last.

You both sat side by side watching. Waiting.

Gi-hun’s eyes were farther away than you’d seen so far. The moment the lights went out, he’d stared off into the darkness, blinking every few seconds in an empty glare. It was odd to see him like that, and honestly sad to know a little bit of that warmth that had drawn you in so intensely had been distinguished. You could the games starting to weigh him down, the lines in his face growing deeper with each passing day.

Just before bed, everyone began to move their beds, forming barriers around every entrance of their forts. And your group did the same. During so, that man, player 101, approached Gi-hun. Taunted him, threatened him. Though it wasn't the first time they'd both had an intense interaction, something was different about the way Gi-hun spoke to him. He wasn't defensive, or apprehensive as 101 approached. He merely stared him down, unfaltering. Glared right into the barrel of that gun.

“Can you really trust your team?” He asked, voice low and grave. “If that was me there, once the fighting starts to happen, you’d be the first person I’d go for.”

You’d never heard him sound like that before. It’s intimidating. And it worked. 101 stared hard as his team over his shoulder, watching them wrestle like buffoons while the rest of the room prepared their defensives. There was this dubiety in his eyes you hadn't seen yet, his usual sneer falling flat.

Gi-hun had changed, even if just by a little. Hard not to after everything. But you hate seeing the difference. Not so trusting. Not so naïve.

But… he was still good. Still Gi-hun.

You suppose you’ve changed too. Maybe in the opposite direction, though. You’d come in so confident and ready to take on anything and everything in your path. A train that wouldn’t stop for anybody. But for some reason you’d found yourself derailed. Whether if it was because you’d clearly overestimated your abilities, or something else entirely, you weren’t sure, but your priorities were shifting right before your own eyes.

In moments of great, great terror, your first fear wasn’t that your life was to be cut short. It was that someone else’s- one of your friends, would meet their demise.

Even the fact that you were considering them your friends at all was a problem, and you knew it. But you couldn't help it. You valued them. It made you sick to your stomach with worry.

Why was letting people in so fucking hard? Granted you survived this somehow, would you always suffer like this?

Love, even platonically, was foreign. You felt like you couldn't cope, sometimes.

And it was all thanks to Gi-hun. Him and his heart. It was contagious, infected you like a sickness you couldn’t quite shake. Changing and manipulating the very core of your DNA.

He’s still staring forward, unfocused and lost in thought and tense when you speak.

“You alright?”

He damn near jumps when your voice cuts the silence. He stammers, recollecting himself from something you couldn’t place.

“Hey.” You reach out, and you hesitate first, but you touch his arm. He turns to look at your hand, resting faint and unsure on his bicep.

“This barricade,” he starts, with a shake in his voice. “It reminds me of… an old job I worked at.”

You tilt your head, a little piece of his puzzle shifting into place.

He told you about his old job. How he'd sank over a decade into it making car parts, had a baby on the way, when suddenly a majority of the crew was fired- dropped off like trash. So naturally, they’d held a strike.

It takes a moment for him to get it all out, but when he does, his eyes fall downcast.

So much violence.

Your words betray your thoughts, soft coo’s of comfort even though the smart part of your brain demands you stop right there.

It was becoming too real for you. Makes you squirm in your skin- you shouldn’t be learning all this about him. He’s crossing your barriers. But you can’t stop yourself.

You realize, after he shares with you, that the weird disquiet in your gut isn’t brought on by conflicting feelings. It’s guilt. Guilt over the fact that he was so transparent, and raw with you. Meanwhile you lied about something as little as what dish of food you like. After all he had done for you, too. Took you in with a bright smile and never once led you astray. Saved your life during the night attacks. Held you when you couldn’t break yourself from the hysteria.

Trusted you even when you didn't deserve it. That alone drove you do better, just for him.

He falls quiet again.

“I lied.” You blurt suddenly. Gi-hun glances at you from the corners of his eyes. You chew the inside of your cheek, guilt eating away at your conscience. Man, he had really fucked up your game plan. “I, uh… I don’t really have a family. I never did.”

He looks at you with an expression you can't quite read. Not anger, or confusion. It’s softer than that, but not quite happiness either. It makes your stomach roll.

“I know.” Is all he says, nudging you with his elbow.

He knew? This entire time?

You blink at him. “How?”

“Everything you’ve said about your childhood has just been so… Unclear.” He sighs and leans forward, elbows on his crossed legs, eyes still scanning the room. “You’re so vague about your dad. You don’t even call your mom mom, just my mother. And- and, in the first game, you were one of the first to cross the line. And you already knew how to play tug-of-war! So I thought to myself, she doesn’t seem like she’s never played games!” He paused briefly, you stared at him slack jawed. Then, he smiles, and he laughs and it rings through your ears. He turns towards you. “And if you really stayed inside reading and coloring all day, dalgona would have been a breeze for you.”

For a long moment, you’re bewildered. He was so observant and you hadn’t even noticed it. The gears in his mind were always turning, eyes always watching.

“You never tried to trip me up.” At first it’s supposed to be a question, but it leaves your lips like more of a statement, or more of an appreciation.

“I'm sure you have your reasons.”

You stare at your lap. This level of consideration and thoughtfulness was new to you, and you weren’t sure how to navigate it. Your cheeks warm up, your breath quickens. He had such a way of drawing you in, even despite your brain warning you to do otherwise. To keep him at an arm's length.

But you don't want him at arms length. Sometimes, when you're lost in thought in the quiet moments that grow more rare by the day, even an inch seems too far away.

“So why are you here, then?” He asks.

You have this knee jerk reaction to lie through your teeth again. But then you see the way he's looking at you, studying you, taking in every curve of your face, and suddenly you can’t bring yourself to.

“To prove to myself, and to everyone else, that I’m not worthless.” Your voice is so small.

“Who is everyone else?”

You shrug. You honestly don’t even know the answer to that, yourself.

“Are your parents even alive?” He suddenly asks, and the abrupt question almost knocks the wind from you.

“No.” You answer plainly. Then, you start again. “Well, I don’t know. My dad died when I was a baby and my mom…” You chew the inside of your cheek, ignoring the sore spot you’re starting to create. “She may as well be. I haven't seen her in years. We don’t talk.”

You expect him to sneer at your answer the same way almost everyone else does. You never talk to her? you can already hear him saying. What kind of daughter cuts contact with her own mother?

But, once again, he shocks you. He seems to do that a lot. After a beat of silence, he says, “Ah, So it’s like that, huh? I get it. Relationships are hard. You try to do your best, but…”

Your heart rate picks up again. He gets it. The end of his sentence falls off and you’re sure you could finish it for him if you had to. The same boat.

Relationships are hard.

“Do you talk to your mom?” You ask quickly, trying to hop away from the topic of your own mother before that annoying lump forms in your throat as it always did when you actually put thought into the whole ordeal. He nodded.

“She lives with me. Er, or, well, I live with her. She’s been struggling with some medical issues over the weeks but she’s still just as stubborn as always.” His eyes are far away now, somehow softer than before. You feel like you’re at the edge of your seat. “That’s why I came here. She needs surgery but, well… I’ve been… A lousy son, I suppose.”

He tells you bits of his life in bite sized moments. You learn about his issues with gambling, his struggles with finances. The up’s, the downs, the rock bottoms. How the strike, the violence he’d seen that day had been a catalyst for years of struggling. Stealing money from his own mom to fuel his addictions, losing custody of his daughter. Missing her birth.

She’s moving to America, He’d sighed, forlorn with fleeting tears soaking his waterlines.

It's shocked how much he's willing to tell you. It's almost like he'd been waiting for someone to ask. Or maybe, waiting for someone to actually give a shit.

For some reason, your heart hurts for him. This was his shot to really make it up to those he’d wronged in his life. To spoil and give rather than to cheat and steal. It made your reasoning feel so much less… Worthy. Petty. The moment your mental scale begins to teeter in his favor, your brain tries to fire off the flares all over again.

You shouldn’t be doing this- bonding with him.

But it’s hard. You want to know everything there is to know.

There could only be one winner.

And suddenly, the thought that used to bring you comfort, pains you.

Only one.

Unease planting seeds in your chest, the vines worming their way through your resolve. How cold you’d felt when he was in danger, how you threw yourself in harm's way to help him without even thinking. It was beyond survival. You liked him. Felt for him. Put his life above your own, even if it was just for a second.

You were supposed to be the one to make it. You, not him. But, oh god, the way he looks at you. Like you’re something actually worth giving a damn about. Someone worth listening to. The way you want to spill every last secret to him. The way you want to know every last bit of him down to the minute detail.

Fuck, you dont want him to die.

You were screwed.

You should sit in silence, and stop this conversation dead in his tracks and get some sleep trying to fight away the conflicting thoughts of him you harbored. But you don’t.

He tells you stories of his time at bootcamp, with his best friend, Jung-bae. Some were funny, some were a bit scary. At least the way he told it, anyways. All of them successfully blanketing you from the harsh reality that was the games momentarily. You giggled and leaned towards him subconsciously, opening up to him. Letting him in, bit by bit. So you give just a little more of yourself. Tell him stories of your days spent playing in the afternoon sun. Ball, tag, wrestling, tug-of-war. Always covered in bruises and scrapes and always running on an empty stomach, but never really giving a damn. Once you broke your foot jumping from the top of the swings, trying to land farther than your friend had. You did, in fact, draw a farther line in the sand. It was too bad your ankle had to bear the consequences for it.

Gi-hun couldn’t help but laugh at your wild stories growing up free. That’s what you preferred to call it, anyways. Free. And definitely not neglected.

That’s when he also told you a particularly funny story. One that he didn’t find funny at all but it made you have to cover your mouth while he went over the details. While he was learning to dance for his wedding, he once fell on his instructor, a woman, and he’d fallen just right and broke the poor lady's arm. He remembered how she cursed at him as she was taken to the hospital, demanding he find a new instructor.

“Guess I didn’t miss out on anything, then.” You snorted, quietly, trying to keep your voice down. He shook his head, trying to shove the bad memory out of his mind. His eyes settled on you. Low, forbearing.

“Missed out?”

“I never learned to dance.” You chirp, leaning back on your palms, like it’s something to be proud of.

“You really don’t know how to dance?” He asks, incredulous, eyebrows raised high on his forehead.

You shake your head. “Nope. Never had a reason to.”

He faces forward into the vast span of the dormitory, nibbling his lip in thought. You wonder what he’s thinking. Probably mulling over the fact that you laughed at his not-so-funny-but-also-super-funny story. You almost worry you’d offended him somehow, but then he finally speaks up.

“You should learn how to dance.”

Wow, he’s really stuck on that, isn’t he?

"I'm fine." You scoff. “Not like it matters, any. Look where we are.”

“I can teach you.”

You freeze.

“What?” Now it’s your turn for your eyebrow to raise.

“I’ll teach you.”

You’re sputtering for a reply, unsure what to say, or even do, next. The room is suddenly uncannily silent, your friends breathing in tandem around you. The next thing you know, the option is being stripped from you. He stands up and grasps your hand, drags you up with him. He looms over you, and for some reason it only just now strikes you that he’s got almost a full head of height over you. He’s standing so close that you can feel the warmth of him through his tracksuit, hands finding your shoulders.

“It’s easy,” he hums, like you aren’t on watch for your lives. Carefree as a child. He makes it easy to forget your lives are constantly at stake. “Hold, here.” He brings your arm up over his torso, rests it on his neck. You flush a furious red. Was this seriously happening? Right now?

Why are you just letting him do this?

You try to keep your breathing under control when he runs his fingers down your other arm, captures your hand in his and brings it up. His hand is warm and soft. Fitting for him. You feel like you’re going to combust. It gets even worse when snakes his other arm around your waist and bumps you against him, nearly chest to chest now. Surely, he could hear your heart hammering away in the cage of your ribs. And surely you’re gaping up at him like a awe-struck fool. He, on the other hand, beams with a sort of tender glee you've never had the pleasure of witnessing until now.

“Follow my lead. It’s easy. Take a step back when I take a step forward, take a step forward when I step back. Like this, see?”

You’re barely even registering what he’s saying. Too caught up in how you can hear his quiet breaths and the way his thumb is making idle circles into your waist.

He’s killing you. He’s killing you.

And he’s leading you. Tugging you along with every step. Backwards, forwards. You’re fighting to keep your breathing under control but he captures almost all your attention, eyes on yours. It feels like time isn’t real. As if it’s just you and him. He’s humming something, just barely audible, but there none the less. You don’t recognize the tune, but you realize he’s following the rhythm of it, stepping in time with the tune. You chest feels full. You imagine him from years ago, nervous and misaligned and anxious for his wedding. You imagine his eyes so full of life and shining with love.

Carefully, he starts to turn, guiding you by your waist. You can’t believe it’s this simple- you can’t believe you’d never had this before. Always on the sidelines, never under the spotlight. Never having anyone's arms wrapped around you. You always told yourself it never bothered you- you didn't need anyone but yourself. No one would ever understand you, no one would ever be worth changing for.

A fugacious life full of loneliness so profound you wore it like armor.

But now that you’re here, following Gi-hun’s every little movement, leaning into him, flushed tomato red with shaking hands and racing thoughts, you don’t know… Maybe you have been missing out. The way he looks at you like you’re the only person in the room is so alien it feels almost wrong. Like this sort of intimacy wasn't made with you in mind. It takes your breath away.

You wonder how you're supposed to go through the rest of your life without it.

Ali rolls over in his sleep.

You're supposed to be watching.

It’s like being thrown into cold water. Your heart lurches as your line of sight snaps at the sound, suddenly acutely, painfully aware. The façade is broken.

Gi-hun could die at any moment.

You suddenly feel sick to your stomach.

“Where’d you go?” His voice drags you back to him. You meet his gaze once more, concerned. “There you are. What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? What’s fucking wrong?

“I-...” Your gaze flickers anxiously between him and the wide open space just outside of the bunk bed barrier. Anyone could just show up, anytime. You wouldn’t be ready.

Have you always been this neurotic?

You misstep.

Your stomach drops at the feeling of losing your balance, but he’s quick to catch you, jumps forward and you fall into his chest, your gasp muffled in the fabric of his top. With your ear pressed to him, you both hear and feel the rumble of his quiet laughter.

It’s soothing in the way you imagine car rides are for infants, a wave of tension leaving you in one deep breath.

“It’s okay. I did the same thing.” He murmurs, and he says it so delicately it makes you nearly recoil.

“H-” You flounder in your attempt to speak, having to settle yourself before you try again. “Hopefully no one breaks an arm this time, right?”

His grip, even if he doesn't realize it, tightens around your waist. He shakes his head. “Not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.”

“Is not.”

“...A little bit.”

Gi-hun sighs into the crown of your head. You realize, with a stuttering heave of your chest, that he’s pressed his lips to your scalp. And he’s smiling- you can feel it. He’s swaying back and forth with you tucked against him like you’d done it a thousand times before. Your mind races and stills all at once. Your heart can’t decide if it wants to drop in foreboding gloom, or if it wants to flutter. Maybe both.

Nothing makes sense anymore.

You aren’t sure how he’s managed to worm his way under your skin like this. Even more so confusing, why you’re letting him. God, it was so easy to let him. There was something different about him- like, if light were to be a person, it’d be him. If love were to be a person, it had to be him.

Long ago you’d told yourself you’d never be vulnerable for anyone, ever.

But. It had to be him.

Back, forward. Left, right.

You can’t help the way your lips upturn when his pets his hand down your lower back comfortingly. He drags it out of you like a snake to a song even when you’re upset. Even when you’re scared- and god, have you been downright terrified over the days.

You wished you could dance like this forever.

Back, forward. Left. Right.

Ali stirs again from the floor. Him and Sang-Woo would soon take over, and you’d be given the grace of getting some real sleep in before tomorrow came and you’d find yourself faced with-

Don’t think about that right now.

Your brain puts the breaks on your spiral. You’re not sure when it learned how to do that.

Just focus on right now.

Gi-hun’s gentle breathing, ghosting over your hair. His hand on your waist, the other clasped with yours oh so sweetly.

Back. Forward. Left. Right.

You shut your eyes and press your face into his chest. This could be the first, and the last time.

You let yourself have this.

Time slows again. It’s just him. He begins to hum again, and you teeter on every note.

“Ready for the best part?”

His voice is just a whisper, but you’re confused, because how could it possibly get any better than this?

Your conjoined hands are brought down between your chests, gently pushing you backwards. Without his arm wrapped around your waist, you try your best to not stumble, watching him with a strained expression, unsure what to do next. His eyes crease at the corners in excitement, and then, he spins you.

It’s slow, and it’s choppy as you struggle to not topple over, but you spin. Once, then twice. The dormitory is just a nonexistent blur of darkness, Gi-hun’s hand the only thing in this world truly anchoring you. It feels beautiful. After the third spin, it feels dizzying. Then you’re fished right back into his arms, his lips pressed against the top of your head once more. And that… That feels perfect.

Meant to be.

“Woah.” You say into his chest, partially referring to the light feeling in your head, partially referring to the way you’re in active motion of understanding the true depths of your feelings for the man before you. He chuckles at your amazement.

“Pretty fun, right?”

You wished you could stay right there. Prayed that somehow, tomorrow wouldn’t come. Or that it’d be different. Anything but what you know is coming. You don’t know if you could bear to see him get hurt. At this point, you weren't sure if you could handle seeing any of your little rag-tag group get hurt. The night everyone had slaughtered one another like animals… the way you felt knowing their lives were on the line.. It was like nothing you’d ever felt before.

You’d never cared before. It’s a difficult feeling to navigate- a concoction of adoration and trust blending and twisting with non-stop anxiety for their wellbeing.

To have is to lose. You never had much in your life. But, the things that were yours, you were so tired of losing.

You can't lose this.

When Gi-hun separates from you, it takes all your willpower to not chase him. He sets his broads hands on each of your shoulders, and you gaze up to find his line of sight. You can’t read his expression- something far away, or maybe something close, at the tip of his tongue. His thumbs brush the sides of your neck.

You'd never had the urge to kiss someone, but it's there now.

But then, Ali sit’s up and yawns with a wide, broad stretch. Gi-hun’s hands leave you- and you’re suddenly aware how cold you are. Everything just feels wrong, disappointment dragging a frown out of your previous smile.

But you greet your friend regardless, crouching down in front of him as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

“Your turn?” You breathe. He nods. There’s no mistaking the let-down that thrums at your heart.

Gi-hun leans down to tap at Sang-woo’s shoulder. The sleeping man rises in silence and he's quickly sitting up without so much as a groan. The moment his eyes opened, he did a head count, his eyes settling on you afterwards.

“It’s been quiet.” You already know what he’s going to ask, so you beat him to it.

He nods once, eyes passing between you Gi-hun quickly. “Good. Get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

So cynical.

Even if he was right- you found the taste in your mouth always so much more bitter when Sang-woo spoke than when Gi-hun did.

Despite it, you agree.

Gi-hun lays down before you do. Practically throws himself on the ground with an oof. You take more care, kneeling down before you plop onto your side and let out a breath of content.

Ali’s voice is low from where you had been moments before, murmuring something to Sang-woo. You can barely see the outline of them sitting side by side. What you can see, however, is Gi-hun rolling onto his side to face you. His expression looks deeper, eyebrows furrowed in thought like something was truly eating at him. You tilt your head and prop yourself on your elbow.

“You okay?”

He stares at you.

“Is your favorite food really Bulgogi?”

“No.” You snort. There he went, surprising you again. He was such a strange man. A strange man that really gave a damn about your likes and dislikes. The thought of food makes you hungry, and you remember your favorite dish your friend's mom would prepare now and then. It was one of the few warmer memories you’d stored. “...It’s grilled fish.”

His eyes light up. It makes your heart swell. “Mine too. Grilled mackerel.”

“I can’t say I’ve had mackerel.” You murmur, eyes starting to slip shut.

“Yet.” He’s quick to retort.

You blink at him. Something bittersweet and knowing blooms in your belly, but you echo him regardless.

“Yet.”

It's a promise of some sort. You're sure of it.

He smiles again, something real and dear, before he rolls on his back and hums. That same little tune he’d played in the soundtrack of his mind while he brought you to himself and danced like there wasn’t a care in the world. It makes you happy. Content.

He’s the last thing you think of before you fall asleep. You don’t even try to force the reoccurring lovely thoughts away, either. In fact you’re almost too happy to welcome them in, allow him to infect your dreams and hurdle over every wall you’ve built to keep yourself safe.

Only one winner gnaws at you from somewhere deep and buried in your brain.

Your eyes crack open to stare at the high ceiling overhead that seems to be lost in the darkness.

You were so damn screwed.

#gi-hun x reader #squid game #seong gi-hun x reader #seong gi hun #WAAAA I LOVE THIS MAN HELP MEEEE HELP MEEE #part 3 comes out tomorrow stg

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ken-dom · 7 months ago

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hiiii first off i wanna say i love your work!!!

what r ur thoughts on six and body worship, both receiving and giving?

Hello anon! Thank you, that's very kind, and thank you for the tasty ask! Hope you enjoy my thoughts...

As well as for anon, this is for @heresthestorymorningglory aka Mrs Six. Thank you for everything 💖 and good morning 😈

Six and body worship

∘₊✧ NSFW, gn! and afab!reader, specific tags listed above each scenario

∘₊✧ SIX RECEIVING x GN!READER —

Hand job, praise, mentions of Six’s trauma and scars, aftercare

For Six, body worship would require a high level of trust; such an intimate act wouldn't come easily to him without it. You'd need to understand his boundaries and needs to help him feel safe. He’d need to let you in. But once you're there, it's the easiest thing in the world for you to worship his body.

He might find it a little overwhelming at first, blushing and whining at how good you can make him feel whilst he's so exposed. The way your fingertips tenderly trace over each twisted scar and raised mark on his body, while you whisper with lips that graze his shivering flesh between strategically placed kisses, how he is loved, handsome and strong, taking your time to ensure every last inch of him has been adored.

As hard as it is for him to hear it at first, while you caress the parts of him he previously only linked with trauma, his instinct to fight against your praise lessens the longer you go on until he starts to believe it himself.

He’s a puddle beneath you as you lavish him with affection designed to make him feel worthy, to show him just how sexy and strong he is. You’re so sure of it, and combined with your softness and the care you’re taking he wonders if you’re fixing him, somehow, somewhere deep he never wanted to explore.

He’s never needed you more, never whimpered for you before you even touched him. By the time you finally wrap your fingers around his throbbing cock he's bucking his hips up into your touch, desperate little pleads of, 'Please... please-' slipping out from between trembling lips, and you watch his muscles flex and tremble as he grips the headboard hard and unravels, hot and loud, to the sounds of your sensuous praise.

Aftercare is just as delicious. He dozes, wrapped safe in your arms listening to your soft voice pouring into his ear like warm honey, telling him how good he was for you, how you know he needed that, and how he deserves to feel good. How eventually, when he looks at his reflection in the mirror, he will be reminded of how strong and loved he is, and not of his past.

∘₊✧∘₊✧∘₊✧∘₊✧∘₊

∘₊✧ SIX GIVING x AFAB!READER —

Fingering, edging, praise, overstimulation

Six is nothing if he isn’t thorough in bed. He can have your knees weak in seconds with just a few whispered words, and have you begging to come undone in only a few more. He can spend hours between your thighs, worshipping you with his tongue, or his hands, without saying a word. And he fucks you good, like you’ve never been fucked. Each time, you wonder how it could be better than the last, but it is, somehow, and you’re hardly in a position to question it.

Six just loves to give you pleasure, to make you feel a fraction of what he feels when he thinks of you and what you share together, so you’re never left wanting. He keeps you satisfied easily and eagerly, and he can ignore his own needs for as long as it takes, which is rather dangerous for you if you think you’re getting any rest while he’s around.

So if he was going to really show your body the worship it deserves, you would know about it.

He starts slow, and continues on in very much the same vein. Hot breath misting against your skin and teasing touches cover every inch of your bare body, shivering but far too hot under his attentive gaze, building tension that he snaps without a beat the moment you interrupt. And then he will start again, right from the beginning.

If you disagree with his praise, if you fight what he’s telling you in any way, or if he feels you’re getting too close to release and haven’t had enough worship yet, he stops dead and just kisses you instead to keep you simmering. It’s languid and sensual, the slowest, most tender kiss you could imagine, while the rest of your body is burning up with need.

Only when you stop writhing and clenching your thighs together beneath him will he begin trailing his fingers over your wanting flesh again, begin repeating the phrases he wants you to hear and believe. And he takes you in, his eyes dragging hungrily over every last part of you as his fingers and palms explore, and he notes out loud every bit of you he adores.

He eventually will touch you where you crave him the most, strokes through your folds until you’re dripping, pumps his fingers and massages your clit just as frustratingly slowly as every other touch he’s given you, whilst spilling all the delicious, filthy praise you could ever wish to hear. And only then will he will let you unravel on his fingers, holding your trembling body close to his as he beckons you to orgasm and sees you through your bliss while you cling to him, fingertips biting into his muscles…

… Only to start over again the moment your breathing returns to normal. And he will keep going until you see what he sees, no matter how long it takes. Six doesn’t rest.

#not s f w 💀#sierra six smut #sierra six x reader #sierra six #sierra six imagines #ryan gosling #ryan gosling x reader #the gray man #ken-dom answers

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stanfordsweater · 8 months ago

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hello i'm new to the supernatural fandom and you have been in my recommendeds for a while, reasons to ship wincest???

i thought for a long time about how to respond to this so imma link catherine tosenberger's excellent analysis of the first few seasons where "the most resistive aspect of Wincest fan fiction is that it gives the main characters a lasting happiness that the series eternally defers."

to begin with, there are a lot of people who will argue for the toxic codependency and i love them and also love it but the reason i've been here for well over a decade is because of the way that wincest offers you two paths: you can follow the path of those who write endless meta about how one or the other brother is abusive and how toxic it is and eventually brainwash yourself into being unable to ship it, or you can follow the path of love and light and perspective and recognize 1. these are fictional characters and b. there are no two characters in genre tv who are as devoted to each other as sam and dean. there is no plotline that follows through fifteen seasons of being obsessed with each other.

by choosing the incest pill, you grant yourself access to fifteen seasons of generally good tv ABOUT YOUR SHIP EXCLUSIVELY. sam and dean are the main characters and you will always know, opening up an episode, that they will be there, doing their weird-ass jealous obsessiveness, and you will never despair about not having them present, together, even if they're fighting or struggling or depressed. that is a very special thing!

now, beyond that, assuming you've watched the show, there's many reasons to cross the incest line. FIRSTLY, everyone involved was well aware of what they were doing. we have a few choice quotes i've collected below about their relationship that ramps up the intensity:

"Ultimately, they are pathologically dishonest with each other because John Winchester was pathologically elusive to them," consulting producer Ben Edlund says. "They learned that the truth is this dangerous thing, and that you shouldn't speak it. He even taught them to keep secrets from each other for strategic purposes." With all of the supernatural, apocalyptic, tragic drama woven into the show, Sam and Dean's relationship is rooted in human emotion. "When you look at the dysfunction that they show to each other, it comes directly from how they were brought up, and that's a kind of dysfunction that people in this world continue to face. 'Why didn't my dad tell me that he loved me yesterday?' We're just people sharing the same kind of thing," Edlund says.

"Why do you think Dean has had such a hard time forgiving Cas when he did forgive Sam for a similar betrayal?"

I think the easy answer is blood, I think the easy answer is family, even though if there was a family in this show it would include Bobby, it would include Cas, it would include these-- these-- kind of, broken war-torn heroes we've come to know, and you know, Bobby has that famous line, "family don't end with blood," but it is his brother, at the end of the day, that's the closest he has to a companion, and has had for a companion for many years, so I think with Cas there was always, "he's unnatural, he's an angel," and I think that for Dean, relating to someone like that, it's tricky, relating to monsters, relating to anything supernatural, his brother is flesh and blood, it's tangible, he can touch that.

Obviously the relationship between Sam and Dean is central to our show but we’ve been building this rift between Sam and Dean all season, so that led to the idea of having this young male character that sort of idolizes Dean and does all the cool stuff that Sam won’t do, and that’s Dean’s perfect mate.

(the thing sam won't do is literally swapping spit with him. tell me i'm lying)

in the hunt, page 37

Not all fans are content simply to attend conventions. Some of them want to take a hand in the story, and their fan fiction can explore areas mostly untouched on the show, like the latent homoerotic suggestiveness of the Winchesters’ intense relationship.

-THE NEW YORK TIMES

"eyefuck" became a well-known script shorthand because of how intense j2 looked at each other as sam and dean

it's a terrible life draft script:

Note B) They are supposed to be together

Note C) each been all alone in separate life finally found kindred spirit

in the hunt, page 158

i haven't included any eric kripke quotes because he has so much wrong with him that i don't want to enable it. this is a compliment. it is one of the highest i can give.

SO-- what these quotes tell us:

sam and dean are relatable because their relationship is intensely human

sam and dean have shared secrets they cannot voice to one another but that nonetheless make them inseparable

people have been writing motherfucking essays about sam and dean's homoeroticism since the show aired

within the mythology of the show, sam and dean are meant to be together above all other relationships

...oh, you need more? i didn't think i'd get this far. um... okay... look at them???

if you choose to walk this path you will find yourself crying and taking screenshots every time they look at each other or touch each other or hold each other and you will thank the lord in heaven that we were granted this intensely wild and beautiful homoerotic relationship back in 2005 and praise jesus that you can always return to their raw sexual chemistry-- "In fact, much like the early X-Files, the show is fueled past its failings almost entirely by the chemistry between the two principals, the boys who, like Mulder and Scully, generate enough sexual tension to power a small city" as quoted by whitney cox in 2006 in an article that otherwise fails to bring anything to the table, sorry if you love it for your meta but also literally just go read the catherine tosenberger essay

you still need more????? jesus, what have you shipped prior to this? well, go watch the pilot and enjoy the fact that the first scene these two have together they are wrestling on the floor (sexually) and getting all romantically silhouetted against this beautiful lighting

and then go watch a few fanvids like this or this and then watch the pilot and watch this and then read this post about how supernatural happily wields incest as a tool of horror and as comedy and then scroll through my entire family horror show tag to understand more and then watch this immaculate video that deals with the whole thing and think about how all these things were happening in 2005 and remember the fact that sam and dean are the main characters of the universe... and then maybe just watch the show and please do not become an annoying shit poster who just talks about how they hate it🙏

#if you become a poster who just talks about how bad the show is or how abusive one of them is to the other i will hunt you down and put bees #in your house #wincest

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benpilehvar · 17 days ago

Text

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#rozhinadevelopment builders development community rozhinadevelopment Torontobuilders

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soobadnoonecanstopher · 5 months ago

Text

Rat Bastard - Part 6

Pairing: You x Kyungsoo

Rating: M (Mature)

Word Count: 11200

Warnings: There were too many beds, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Idiots to Lovers, Fear, Spiders

Tag: @ilovemyapopbaby

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

You’d expected some downtime; some boredom. It simply wasn’t possible for these three desperate employees to keep the two of you entertained for every minute of the day.

You had to admit you were both surprised and shocked when you actually saw the giant crate of activities and games; there were tons of board games, even more possibilities with the decks of cards you saw. There were even a whole slew of movies and a small device which you were told was a projector which would show the movie on any blank white wall, of which there were many to pick from. Mr. Chen was unpacking what seemed to be an endless bottomed box and you weren’t the only curious observer lightly touching the things that interested you the most.

You’d been instructed to grab items and make a stack of things you were interested in doing. You’d reached for one of the word games, one of the ones involving strategic spellings of words which you remember playing as a kid with your Grandmother and you placed it in front of you. This was your pick.

“Oh that one is fun, I haven’t seen this in years,” Kyungsoo’s fingertip touched just on the corner of your game and he picked up another classic with a grin, “this one too,” he said under his breath. It was like he was speaking to himself but he seemed to be adding things to your personal pile.

Did he think he was involved in your pile?

Did he take this, like the cooking exercise, as a team activity? The instructions implied that you were to build your own pile but Kyungsoo had just added Uno to the top of the stack he was building with your first choice board game trapped on the bottom.

You reached for the deck of cards because there was always poker and it also was vital for the backgammon game you’d just grabbed. You slowly began to build a smaller, separate pile beside the one he had commandeered, removing your first choice from underneath his and moving it to your own side.

“Ooo,” his eyes widened and he plopped Monopoly down right on top of your second stack, “I'm gonna kick your ass at that one.”

You lifted his game off of your stack and plopped it roughly down on top of his own stack.

“These are my picks, those are yours,” you mumbled a rhetorical, “who even wants to play monopoly?” You remembered the game being long and tedious. He looked at you and laughed once, grabbing another game, this one a music themed game similar to charades but with musical guesses and you’d heard through friends that he actually had a great singing voice. You never thought you’d actually get to hear it. He pointedly ignored your stack separating attempts and plopped this game on top of your stack.

“You're gonna sit all alone in a corner and play Scrabble by yourself? Come on, quit being stupid.” He ignored the small sound you made and grabbed your games, placed them in the same stack as his games and lifted the whole stack and walked away from you to set them on another table. He was already pulling the lid off of one of his games to start playing it and the other three people in the room quickly followed suit and began to pull chairs out of the table he was setting up. Those traitors. Why did his game get to be played first? You’d been standing at your original spot with your arms folded over your chest when he looked up from the money he was counting and separating to speak to you.

“Come and get your ass handed to you like a good little princess.”

You rolled your eyes harder than you’d rolled them before. You rolled them hard enough to really sell your annoyance at his antics. You rolled them desperately and very convincingly. Inside of your chest there was the most annoying little tickle brought on by his choice of words. This nickname of his for you sure had a way of making everything he said sound just a tiny bit suggestive. Or maybe you had just read too many trashy romance novels in your youth. God, you were lonely.

But more than lonely, right now you were bored. You pulled up to your chair for the game. Javier was the last to sit down after bringing over some snacks and some drinks. You were handed a champagne glass with orange juice and the first sip told you it was heavy on the champagne. It wasn’t even noon yet. He was back to his old tricks when you looked up into his eyes and caught the secretive smile.

Kyungsoo was sipping on a Bloody Mary with a celery stick in it and you braced for the first round of the game. You had always figured he was the competitive type. He had to be in his line of work, to have reached the levels of success as he had reached in such a cut-throat industry. And nearly every interaction you’d had with Kyungsoo had told you such. This man simply had to win. The way he wouldn’t back down from his story and lie against you and that level of stubbornness, well, he basically pitted everything he had against you. This translated into something entirely insane when playing a board game against him.

The first round of the game, when someone would usually settle into the groove of things, rolling their dice and moving their pieces, was unlikely to buy the property they landed on in the very first round — Kyungsoo’s first round came after the rest of the players had had a go around. Mr. Chen had purchased his property, Sara had landed in a space that gave her a few bucks, Javier didn’t buy anything and neither had you. You weren’t particularly interested in the cheap ones at the start of the board. Kyungsoo’s turn came around and he landed on one of Mr. Chen’s neighboring properties and immediately purchased it. Then his deals started. He was making a deal with Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen was accepting. He was grinning widely and spending money like there was no tomorrow. What about the future Kyungsoo? What would you do if you simply went broke? He was buying housing for his land. He was putting up buildings and you watched this crazy man go full tilt into this stupid game.

You figured you needed to do something on your next round and you bought whatever you happened to land on. Not really paying too much attention to deals and such, you weren’t a big negotiator.

The game progressed and every single one of Kyungsoo’s rounds felt exhausting. He was doing quick math, making deals with everyone else at the table, but weirdly he never once tried to make any deals with you. He was putting up more property every single time. You were sure he was nearly broke. There was no way this was sustainable. The deals grew more intricate with each round. There were even loans passing around between Mr. Chen and Kyungsoo who seemed to have developed some sort of a partnership in this.

Again and again, you were overlooked by the man who seemed to be setting up some sort of a scheme. He was the owner or partnered with the owner of nearly every single space in this game. It felt unfair. There should be some sort of a law against this kind of thing, it was like a monopoly — oh god, oh god that was the name of this game. He was an expert at it. He had been planning it from the start and he showed you in particular absolutely no mercy. In every single round, you lost money to him.

His fat stacks of bills grew to obscene amounts and he had to cash in some 5s, 10s, 20s for 100s or 500s. He was relentless with you. But only with you. You noticed he had a lot of leniency on the other players at this table. He giggled and gave Sara a discount with a sweet smile on his face during one of her stays at his fancy property, and when you pointed out that he wasn’t allowed to do that he just shrugged and told you he could do what he wanted with his own property while you sat in jail for four whole rounds, unable to roll doubles to get yourself out. You actually began to enjoy being in jail as you sipped on your third mimosa because at least you weren’t putting your precious money into that man’s demanding palm.

It all came to a head when you had just gotten out of jail and landed in one of his places. You did have enough cash to cover rent but just barely and he sat beside you flush with his cash, property, even get out of jail free cards, which he had traded Javier for a free stay at his most expensive resort for.

You looked at him and he looked at you with the smallest lift of a single eyebrow because he knew you were screwed. You had a single property card left that you had been holding onto to keep him from owning every single space of that color. You swore you wouldn’t give it to him but at this rate you might end up homeless with only this to your name. It was a miserable sort of existence. You couldn't afford not to be in jail and you missed the peace and quiet and free meals of those metal bars that protected you from this mad man.

The more you replayed the entirety of this game, It was becoming more and more evident that his entire game plan had been to bankrupt and ruin you. He made no efforts to partner with you, make deals with you and only ever seemed to create situations that would affect you negatively. He was so good at it too you wondered if he’d been training for years on how to be a grade-A asshole to his friends.

“Can I have a discount?”

“You don't deserve a discount.”

“You gave Sara a discount.”

“Sara isn’t a four-time felon. I might have to charge you even more for a security deposit. Who knows what sorts of sordid things you’ll be up to in there. I know your type.”

Sara’s little metal train play piece had been sitting in the jail space and you watched as she carefully moved her piece to the outer edge so it clearly sat inside the ‘just visiting’ space around the incarcerated section.

“Excuse me, I was not convicted of any crimes. I never even had a trial.” You couldn't help the actual offense you took at his words. Your type? What type? The poor, marginalized, under-educated, school to prison pipeline, falsely accused and incarcerated type? This society has been set up to see you fail. The entire system was against you from the start.

“That’s what they all say,” he laughed out loud, “Everyone in jail swears they are innocent.” His outstretched hand moved closer to you and you hmph-ed back in your chair with your arms crossed over your chest.

You were annoyed. You couldn’t help it. He was such a jerk and he was ridiculously against you in this game and in this life. You dropped your voice to a whisper and you leaned in closer to where he sat on his mountain of gold. “Kyungsoo, do you remember when we were cooking breakfast together? Do you remember how well we got along—”

You had his attention. He watched your face with a little lift of his eyebrow, no doubt his mind flying through a multitude of possible things you were about to remind him of — the embraces, the gentle and slow touches between the two of you, the pride in his eyes when you’d done something to please him — he looked down the length of your face as if he was compelled to and when his eyes bounced back up to look into your eyes once more you inhaled to continue speaking, “—when you weren’t allowed to talk?”

He lifted a hand to cover over his mouth and he snorted out a quick and silent laugh. It burst free from him and no amount of steely resolve could have kept that laugh inside of him. His eyes rolled closed with it and then back open and he lifted a hand, palm up and opened and closed his fingers twice. You hadn’t expected any other outcome. Not after basically telling the jerk that your favorite part about him was when he wasn’t speaking.

“You’re mean,” you said with a grumble and a severe pout of your lips, feeling actually upset deep down inside of you at how badly he had been picking on you during this entire game. The others at the table just giggled. “He’s crazy,” you heard Javier and Mr. Chen say to each other. His greedy fingers were leafing through your bills as he grabbed enough money to cover your rent, leaving a few small bills left behind.

By the next round you were bankrupt and out of the game.

You were only his first victim. It wasn’t long before partnerships were quickly abandoned in the name of record-breaking profits and long-time friendships were severed by filthy greed.

You just shook your head each time it happened, adding a loud “I told you not to trust him. Didn’t I warn you? He’s evil!” which was quickly countered with his overly defensive and judgmental rebuttal.

“This is how you play the game, Princess. Don't cry just because you’re bad at it. Think of it this way, you survived for six whole rounds and you even bought and sold property, which is much more than some incredibly stupid people do in their entire lifetimes.”

The group was imploding around you. A heated discussion about loyalty and friendship was being held over the sounds of crinkling bills and plastic clanking as properties were sold off to pay the man who was evil enough to become an actual billionaire if only this game had printed enough fake money to make that happen.

He won the game by crushing everyone else around him. You swore then and there that if you ever had the chance to see this man again, which was unlikely once you left this emergency shelter, if by some twisted nightmare of fate you ever had the misfortune of spending any amount of time with him and you were presented with the invitation to play this game again with him, you would throw yourself off the roof, you would hurl yourself into the sea, you would rather literally watch professional golfing marathons on tv. Never again. Not this game, not with this man.

Everyone needed a break after the game was over. You retreated to your space for a small while, laying down under your comfy down blanket and quickly deciding that you were simply too sick of sleeping to be in here. It was late morning and you’d had a few drinks by now and after leaving your room you wandered through the hallways, finding a space where one too many spiderwebs touched your skin that you just had to turn around and head back toward the kitchen.

It was mostly peaceful and empty here except for one person who stood at the stove. Kyungsoo was doing something in the kitchen and instantly, like a magic potion had been cast you felt all of the hard feelings about that game fade with the possibility that he might be cooking something tasty.

You slinked up by his side and he turned to the sounds of you coming, quickly spinning around and stepping to his ‘interior’ side to block your view of the pot he had on the stove. You didn’t smell anything delicious in the air and his hands were out the moment you arrived, grabbing you by the arms and holding you at a clear distance.

“What are you doing? Go back to your bed.” Your suspicions were raised. He was hiding something delicious. He was about to have ramen, maybe even two packs from the communal goods that Roxy and Jun had left behind and the filthy cheater was about to eat them both all by himself. You didn't see any piles of ingredients anywhere on the countertop

“What are you making?” You were direct with your words. You pushed your shoulders forward, trying to free yourself from his hold. He held on tighter. Behind you on the stove you could hear the bubbling of the water starting to boil. He would have to tend to his secret dish soon to keep from overcooking it. From the few times you’d cooked with him he was a stickler for cooking times and temperatures and doneness levels. He was insane about it.

“No, no, just go away,” you were being shoved backward with the two steps he took foward. His words didn't sound too serious. Whatever it was that he was hiding from you was fair game. You heard the soft grunt as he struggled and you tried to peer your head around his shoulder. He countered by tilting his own head to block you again.

“What are you making? Let me see. You’re sharing with me, I caught you so half is mine.” You were already giggling when you lifted both of your hands like claws and quickly began to stab him with your fingertips right on his ribs. “That makes no sense. Are you a squatter?” He said through a gasp and he yelped and let out some quick giggles with the tickling.

His hands moved from your shoulders to your hands. He was grabbing them and you felt spun in place, suddenly looking at the door with one of his strong arms wrapped around your chest. Your two hands were trapped behind your back and he held on tightly to both of them with his other hand, in an instant he had you trapped and you were facing away from the bubbling pot. Your hands were bound between your two bodies but you could totally still get him from here. You reached again, lower this time, feeling the lower part of his abdomen. You could hear his giggling from beside your head and you swear to God you felt a euphoric sensation pulsing through your entire body to hear it. You felt like you weren’t quite in your right mind, not with the alcohol, not with the desperation for a win against him. You were pressed right up against his body again and why the hell was he so strong? Why did every single touch of his hands feel like it would consume you from within?

“Stop, stop,” he was begging but still refusing to let you go. If he wanted you to stop, wouldn't he have let you go first, his strong hand still held both of yours tightly behind your back and you moved your hand lower, feeling the very real and sudden danger of reaching for a part of him you should never, ever touch. You felt the waistband of his denim shorts, the leather of the belt he wore there and his shirt shifted and you felt the warmth of the bare skin of his belly that surged with each of the heavy breaths he took against your neck. The rough but steady exhales seemed to change when you touched him. Something was changing and you slowed your hand, still pressed up against his skin, your fingertips lightly touching the leather of that belt. His hand that held onto yours moved too and you felt the soft tips of his fingers move just over your hand there. You felt the trembling and staggered touch of his hand. Why was he trembling? Why was his touch more gentle than the previous rough gripping?

“I’ll stop if you stop,” you exhaled into the space in front of you, “besides, I already caught you. There’s no use delaying this.” Curiously, you had both stopped laughing but his arms were still around you, although the tightness of his grip he held you with had let up. You could escape quite easily if you wanted to. You could leave his embrace and you should. You really ought to put a healthy amount of space between the two of you, if you knew how an enemy should be treated, if you knew what was good for you, you would.

You took the smallest step forward, thankful for the drop in temperature that brought just a little bit of sense back into your brain. You took another step forward and his hand that had been holding your hand still gripped along your palm as you moved. You weren't quite sure why you did not feel compelled to let his hand go, you held on to him with the same amount of pressure as he held you and you turned to take one look behind him at the stovetop with the pot that sat bubbling and dancing behind his back.

You saw something green, something green and white standing up inside of that boiling pot of water. Something plastic.

Something hilarious. The crazy man was boiling his toothbrush. You saw it and you covered your mouth to keep the snort from escaping. It didn’t help. You snorted in laughter and you could feel the shift in his body as he sagged his shoulders in defeat.

Kyungsoo was frozen. He made no attempts to stop you from looking just as he hadn’t made any moves to let go of your hand, and when you looked up into his face he was standing with his free hand covering his closed eyes. He was pink.

You were openly laughing and you shook his hand that you still held as you did it, “did you seriously boil your toothbrush, Doh Kyungsoo?”

“Shut up,” he whispered through clenched teeth, “this is why I didn’t want you to see.”

You lifted a hand to lay over his pink cheek and you were almost laughing too hard to get any real words out, “d-did you want to get r-rid of my foot germs, Kyungsoo?”

“Shut up,” you felt the smallest push against your hand away from his face, then another push against your shoulder and he was quickly spinning, letting go of your hand as he did it, as if he hadn’t also been the one to hold onto you for much longer than necessary even long after you’d both swallowed down whatever might been happening with your hands behind your back a few seconds earlier.

“God, you’re so mean to me. I can’t believe you did that. I asked everybody and nobody has any extras. You know the worst part? I can't even tell if you’re telling the truth about it. Did she really use my toothbrush to clean her foot? Did she really scrub between her toes or is she just fucking with me again. You make me feel crazy. All I want to do is brush my teeth…but feet…toes,” he was whining now, full on whining half mixed with giggles because even he knew how insane he sounded. He was using the handle of the toothbrush to stir it into the boiling water. You could feel the spasms of laughter build up again in your belly. You had to hold onto yourself to keep from doubling over.

“Oh so I’m guessing you’re not one of those guys with a foot fetish then,” You joked as you busied yourself now with gathering things so you could make your own damn ramen.

“Sorry to disappoint you but I do not. Even so, a foot fetish is not an ‘ancient bacteria from the dirty floor of an 18th century, spider infested, bunker in my mouth’ fetish. What if you single handedly brought back cholera?”

“I don't think cholera is gone. I think it still lurks.” You still couldn't help the giggles even if you absolutely did not like the idea of your sleeping space being spider infested. You hadn’t quite worked up the courage to inspect all of the dark spaces around your bed for fear of what you might find.

“Great. That’s great news. How long do I need to boil this to kill cholera?” His face was exasperated now, half laughter mixed with a hopelessness that was absolutely adorable on him.

You found yourself staring at him. You came to when he’d long stopped giggling and his eyes bounced a few times over your face, his eyebrows lifting up with the tiniest bounce of his cheekbones, lips lifted in the corners slowly flattening out with the tiniest flinch of his face. It was the winding down of his laughter and he licked his lips, leaving them behind wet.

He cleared his throat. You closed your eyes, unable to keep them completely closed, your eyelids fluttered, fighting you to open back up and look at him for longer, and the breath you inhaled didn’t seem to help with any of this.

You needed something to do. You’d gathered some packs of ramen and the camping stove and fuel from the communal table and you plopped it all down on the countertop beside his boiling pot o’ toothbrush.

“Make me ramen,” you said with a little lift in your voice and tilt of your head. Not quite a request, not quite a command, more of a sweet suggestion. “Think they’d let us eat outside on the patio? I think the wind has died down a lot. It’s just raining now”

He’d finally reached some imaginary bacteria killing length of boiling time and he was tapping the toothbrush on the side of the pan to remove the excess water.

“You’re not going to try and commit suicide again are you?”

You shook your head back and forth, placing your hand over your heart, “I won't even go close to the edge, I promise.”

“Your promises mean nothing.” He deadpanned, but he was reaching into the fridge for some eggs, reaching into the shelves for the cans of spam he’d put there and stacking it all up on top of the the stove as he made his way toward the patio door.

“Bring the water bottle there,” he pointed to the countertop and you grabbed the big bottle and brought it along with the pan for him to cook in, and some chopsticks and spoons for both of you. For the first time since this trip started you cautiously began to feel a little bit happy to be here with him. He would make you delicious ramen and maybe you’d get to steal some more glances at his pretty face without getting caught.

He’d already been out on the patio to drop off the supplies by the time you came to the door with your arms full, he held the door for you. He seemed to be going back inside for something and you heard him call back toward you, “Hey! My batteries. You never gave them to me. I’ll bring them with the radio.”

So much had happened since then that you had just forgotten about them. You simply nodded as a response and told him they were in your luggage by the bed; wondering when in the hell you began to feel so comfortable with this man and you felt no qualms about sending him rooting through your luggage to find the batteries himself. You knew he’d have to get through many items such as the underwear you’d brought, the bikini he had already seen you in, the personal items such as your perfume, makeup, and your deodorant. All of those things were right there for him to witness. Little human things that had no business being embarrassing but were nonetheless.

A sudden panic built when you remembered a particular pack of items that you had brought along to this retreat that you’d all but given up on getting the chance to use here, the box of condoms you’d stuffed into your bag at the last minute. They would have been within touching distance of your big pack of batteries. There was no way he wouldn’t see them.

He took a while to return. You used that time to build up a thoroughly deep-set sense of embarrassment for what sordid conclusions you were sure he would have jumped to about you. Perhaps he’d find you to be some easy or cheap floozy. You were an adult. You were allowed to partake in and enjoy sex. You were healthy and alive and you had regular doctors appointments and you took your sexual health seriously. Why did it feel so weird though? That he might know this about you when he saw them; that he might have an opinion on the quantity of condoms in the box, a generous 20 pack, not because — not because you intended on having sex 20 times in a single week but, but because — Well … well, what if? The packs they had at the store came in 3, 10, or 20 and what if you had met the love of your life here and what if you just had to close up shop after 10? What if time number 11 was going to be the best time? You were thoroughly overthinking this. You were an expert at this, overthinking things and making yourself feel embarrassed for no reason especially when it came to Doh Kyungsoo. It was practically your default setting with him.

The door opened and you jumped in surprise; halfway through the scenario you’d imagined in which you hadn’t brought the brand new pack of 20 condoms and instead had just tossed in the already open box of 5 with one missing because you were curious about just how stretchy they actually were and you opened it to blow it up into a balloon. It was actually very stretchy and you might have just kept on blowing if you hadn’t been gagging from how awful the spermicidal liquid that filled it tasted when it got on your lips. Imagine if he found the open box with one missing already! Who had you used that one condom on at this stage in the game?! What would he think then?! You felt dizzy.

He was pushing through the doorway with a six pack of beers he’d swiped from Javier’s stash and he had his radio in one hand and in his other he gripped the batteries he’d found in your luggage right beside the big box of your stupid condoms.

He sat down on the bench beside you and you watched as he opened the little flap on the back of his radio and inserted each battery carefully, bringing it to life and switching between staticky radio stations until something clear sounded through with easy to listen to pop music playing. When he moved down to sit on the floor where the stove was set up, you quietly moved down to sit beside him.

You watched him work, feeling the very real remnants of the embarrassment you’d tricked yourself into feeling earlier still lingering in the warmth of your cheeks. He was setting up the stove and filling the pan with water, he was opening the packets of ramen and setting the flame to the right height below the pan.

You felt the need to do something too so you reached for the bags of snacks you’d brought, opening the bag and laying it flat, then reaching for the beers, pulling two off the plastic ring and opening them. You met his eyes briefly as he grabbed the beer you offered and after he took a sip of it he set it down and stared down at the pan full of water, just waiting for it to boil. He was quiet for a while until he inhaled to speak to you. You knew he had inhaled because you’d been staring at his face when he did it, when his pink lips parted and he pulled the breath in through his mouth and those lips stayed open enough for some words to come out.

“You alright?”

It was a small and quick question. He lifted his beer and tilted his head for the drink, a small stream of the liquid pooled inside his mouth and he dropped the can as he closed his mouth and swallowed it.

“Yeah,” you whispered just barely loud enough to be heard over the rain, “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

He shrugged, half of a shrug really. Barely even a shrug. “You’ve gone quiet,” he said and after the words his lips stayed open and you could see the tip of his tongue touching along the edge of his teeth for a moment. His eyebrows ticked above his eyes. “You’ve gone pink, too.”

You lifted your beer and took a big drink of it, holding the can up to lay over your cheeks. You could feel the heat in your face and the cold can helped just a little bit.

Not that he deserved it, but you felt weirdly compelled to fess up. You knew you were acting weird.

“I feel a little,” you started, turning your face away from him to continue, “weird…about something.”

“Weird like what? What about?” You hadn’t felt quite this disarmed around him before. It felt dangerous to let yourself speak so easily with him.

“Weird cause you hate me?” His next question came out very quietly and you pulled your eyes away from the raindrops steadily falling over to look at his face.

You opened your mouth to speak, finding the denial ready and heavy on your tongue. It was stuck there though and you closed your mouth back up and lifted the beer to take a long drink instead. The best you could do was the small head shake. You inhaled a breath and found he’d looked up from his boiling water to watch your face for your response.

Did he really want to ruin this nice moment to get into all of that right now?

“The water is boiling,” you said, meeting his eyes that still watched you without moving for two more swallows from this beer can you’d held onto for dear life.

He seemed to let it go. He was adding noodles and cracking eggs all fancy and one-handed, adding sliced spam and green onions on top. He was lightly prodding it all with the tips of his chopsticks and handing you the lid to use to catch the dripping noodles when they were done cooking.

You both grabbed noodles to eat at the same time and after he’d slurped up a particularly hot and noisy bite he sighed heavily while looking out toward the rain storm.

“Ramen really is the perfect food,” he remarked with his cheeks full of noodles.

Your nose was running a little from the steam and the spiciness of the broth but you held a ball of chewy and delicious noodles in your cheek and nodded your head earnestly. They were delicious and followed with the beer was even better than anything any 5 star chef could possibly whip up in the fanciest of kitchens.

It was when your mouth was filled with another bite some time later that he inhaled again, satisfied with his belly full of noodles, he turned to you and opened his mouth. His eyes narrowed at you before he said it.

“Twenty feels like a lot, though,” he said it so abruptly and you choked on the soup you were swallowing and started to cough, which he ignored, “logistically, I mean. This was originally a 5-day retreat.”

His eyes were still narrowed in your direction and you lifted a handful of the chips you’d opened up and threw several right at his face. His lips pulled into a teasing smile and he lifted a hand and swatted a few of the chips away. Two of them hit him in the face. His lips were pulled into a grin. You were still coughing and trying to keep your laughing from making you choke any more.

“No, no, listen,” he was laughing a little bit through the teasing, “that’s five times every single day, including day one. That means on day one, you have to have sex five times. Is it five different guys, or maybe two times for one guy, three times for another one? Or — god, is it one guy, five times in one day? Isn’t that too much pressure?”

You couldn’t breathe. You were laughing that painful laugh that takes every ounce of your oxygen away from you and never gave you a moment to pause for an inhale. You might just die right here, teased to death because Kyungsoo found your condoms.

“You just met them! I mean, I know that you’re obviously a beautiful woman. I will admit that,” his hand was lifted to his chest as he spoke, “and it’s much easier for a woman, especially one like you, to get laid; but five times? bam-bam-bam-bam-bam,” his hands were up and he was hitting one off the other one, a visual representation of the insane amount of sex you were having in this hypothetical scenario he was describing and you were trying your absolute best to breathe through your laughter. You felt tears running down your face from it.

He wouldn’t quit, “Sex. Straight away. No names, no facts about them, no rest because there’s no time. Right from day one, just … fucking. And then you have to keep up that momentum. Every single day, five times. It’s insane! How would you have time for anything else? Do you eat? Sleep? Shower?”

You’d moved at that point in his speech. You had leapt toward him. You needed to end this once and for all. This was what you feared might happen. You were laughing too much at his ridiculous analysis of the logistics of you bringing twenty condoms with you to be able to speak at all, you simply moved closer to where he sat on the other side of this pot of noodles and you reached up for him with both of your hands. You needed to stop him. One of your hands landed over his open mouth and you covered it tightly, the other one you wrapped around his shoulders trying to give yourself some leverage to stop him from talking about it.

He lifted a hand and pulled yours down from his lips, managing to eke out another giggle and a few more words, “t-twenty c-condoms,” he managed to get out and you struggled to pull your hand free so you could cover his mouth again. He was shaking with his laughter and you squeezed as tightly as you could, finding yourself practically sitting in his lap in the efforts to silence him. If he died from this he deserved it.

“Shut up, shut up, oh my god, shut up,” you cried through the horrified giggles, squeezing him tighter to try and end everything embarrassing that was happening right now. You hardly even felt the other hand of his that wrapped around your waist pulling you closer to him to keep you from falling into the hot noodles and burning yourself. It made your thighs part up high on his lap, right near his waist. The shorts you wore were so short you could feel the scratchiness of his jean shorts against your bare inner thighs. You could feel the warmth of him between your legs and you tried not to imagine how very tightly you were actually pressed up against his body, the warmth between your legs embracing the warmth of him. His grip around you was tight and this was probably only to keep you safe — the liability that you were, afterall.

You couldn’t have been the only one. There was just no way a single adult would come to something like this and not come prepared. When you managed to stop laughing enough to talk, you asked him.

“How many did you bring? And don’t lie to me and say you didn’t bring any.”

You released his mouth just so he could answer you and you watched his lips from up close as he licked them and opened his mouth to speak. You caught motion from his free hand and he held up his five fingers and his mouth silently spoke out the number.

“Five?” You flinched on top of him and his hand tightened around your waist, immediately pulling you back into him when you sagged away. You were slowly becoming more aware of how very close you were to him right now. The smallest shift of your hips and you would easily be straddling his waist. There was a growing humidity that built between the two of you where you connected with him here.

“Five,” he said with a slip of his eyes down on your lips, “a completely normal and reasonable pack of five.”

He bit down on his lips after the confession and you felt the muscles in his thighs below your ass shift, he wiggled just a little bit and with the wiggle you felt the slight change in how you sat on him. With that wiggle you could feel just a little more of his lap that you sat on and you could make out a definite flush in his cheeks, his ears, and the back of his neck. His lips in particular looked pinker when he bit down on them again and you struggled to pull your eyes up from them. You shouldn’t stare so long at his mouth. It brought up memories of the way he felt when he kissed you.

You could hardly make sense of his number though. You pulled your face back and shook your head in disbelief. You didn’t buy it.

“Just five?” You argued, “but — but what if you met the love of your life here and you’re both crazy about each other and wanted to just lock yourselves in a room for the whole week?”

He was giggling. You could feel it in his abdomen next to your inner thigh. Below your legs he felt firm and tense and his hand shifted as he adjusted his grip on you. His fingertips slipped beneath the fabric of your shirt and he felt even warmer than your burning skin felt that he now touched. His eyes were down on your lips again.

You couldn’t do this. You had to do something to stop this. This had crossed some sort of a line already.

“Well, maybe she’d be that one psychopath that brought twenty condoms with her.”

His words came out so quickly and they hit you like an electric shock.

The reality of this was back. It was an uncomfortable and dangerous feeling. It was splashing you in the face with cool water and you could feel the wrongness in it. This funny joke had gone too far. You saw it in his own severe reaction to what he had just said to you. He’d meant it as a joke, ultimately it had just been a funny joke.

After he spoke it, his lips flattened and the pinkness in his cheeks grew. His eyes which had been so playful suddenly dropped and he cleared his throat at the same time as you allowed gravity to take your balance and shift it away from him. His hand left your waist immediately and you scooted back and away from him, retreating to the other side of the noodles, off of his lap and out of his arms, where it was in your best interest to stay for good.

You had a renewed interest in your beer can. The brand was something local that you’d never had before and you read the back label from top to bottom without skipping a single word and without digesting a single word either. You could make out his movement from your peripheral vision and you heard the click and hiss of another beer can being opened, followed instantly by a second. It pulled your attention up from your own empty can and Kyungsoo was leaning forward with the beer in his hand for you to take, his flighty eyes not quite meeting yours except for the briefest of touches.

Without him perceiving you so closely you could feel yourself relaxing a little bit from the earlier humiliation and laughing fit turned inappropriate and stifling closeness that nearly suffocated you both with the unexplainable thickness of the air that had built up between the two of you.

Halfway through this beer Kyungsoo inhaled deeply, opened his mouth and asked you a silly question.

“Zombie invasion or Vampires?” he asked and you swallowed what was inside your mouth and looked into his face. He was looking down at his beer can absentmindedly while he clicked the tab with his thumb. It took you only a few seconds of thought and you shrugged, “Vampires, I guess.”

He nodded his head once and shrugged his face, “they’re only a problem at night,” he said in agreement. It was the same thought that you had about them. Zombies seemed like an all the time problem. Vampires would be solved with a curfew.

”Watching sports or playing sports?” You asked suddenly, figuring that this game involved taking turns. His eyes were lifted up into the air above his head and he pursed his lips, “playing sports, I guess.”

“Same.” You were nodding in agreement, finding sports on TV too boring to handle you much more enjoyed playing them even if you were never really great at any one sport in particular.

“Singing or Dancing?” It was his turn to ask.

You really enjoyed singing when you were alone, but you weren’t the kind of person to be able to do it in front of anyone. Still, if you had to pick one, you’d pick singing. You answered as such and his head ticked to the side with a cute eyebrow lift and a smile.

“Singing,” he said in agreement with you and you nodded your head, hoping he wouldn’t expect you to actually be any good at it. This was about enjoyment, not talent.

“Win the lottery or find your soulmate?” This one had him thinking. He had been such a crazy person while playing Monopoly you figured he would pick the money but after a few minutes of thought he shrugged and took a sip of his beer giving a soft “soulmate,” as his answer.

“Ohhhh, I didn’t expect that from you.” You teased and you swallowed more of your beer emptying the can completely as he watched your face for a few moments, probably expecting you to answer this one. You only nodded your head as a response. He lifted his eyebrows in question and you nodded again, confirming without words that you had the same response as he did. It was kind of spooky how many answers you both shared. Even weirder still that he understood what you were saying without you having to actually speak with him. It was something you’d noticed during some of the cooking challenges, the odd unspoken communication that just came easy with him.

“Right or left?” He asked very suddenly with a wide smile and you lifted up your right hand, shouting “exterior!” proudly and instantly. His eyes widened and gave you a round of applause before he asked another question, “East or west?” This one didn’t work. You lifted your hand and scratched at your lip, avoiding his eyes and pointing a finger in some direction that you’d just picked at random.

“That’s South.” He shook his head and furrowed his brows, “boooo,” he jeered at you and you shrugged in a hopeless sort of way with a giggle. “It moves around,” you whined and he shook his head slowly at you. “It absolutely does not. You move, it stays where it is.”

The sound of the patio door opening startled you both and you turned to see Sara sheepishly peeking her head out through the opening.

“Oh, here you are. I thought I heard laughing,” she said in her sweet voice, “we’re just starting a movie marathon, do you both want to join?”

It sounded fun actually. You’d wondered how much longer you two could play this or that before running out of ideas and you were nodding your head enthusiastically, pushing yourself up to your feet before Kyungsoo even had a chance to register the question.

“Oh, uhh — alright,” he said softly as if he’s only just now realized that he had been spending all of this time with you alone, the enemy — out of what, pure love for ramen? Need for fresh air and a distraction from the tedium? There was a movie marathon happening now, that was real entertainment. Not just a crazy girl who he could make fun of for packing way too many condoms for a 5-day trip, who doesn’t know directions, and who does awful things to him like call him mean names, attack his ribs because that’s where he’s the most ticklish, tries to suffocate him any chance she gets, and does terrible awful things to his toothbrush.

You were already cleaning up the space and gathering trash and used utensils to bring inside. Kyungsoo was only now standing up and picking up the last few beer cans and the remains of the delicious ramen he had made for you.

Inside of the kitchen the others had brought over some spare mattresses and pillows and laid them all out on the floor — they had turned out the lights and they were projecting a movie on the big blank wall.

It was something you hadn’t ever seen before, something grand and epic with a large sweeping universe, action, adventure and romance all in one. It honestly felt perfect for a movie marathon.

You could smell the microwave popcorn and you already had a cold beer waiting for you on one of the floor mattresses. You had a pile of pillows at your back and someone, god bless them, had gone into your room and brought your lovely winner’s blanket.

You eyed the rest of the group as they settled down in spots around the space, specifically leaving the space right beside you open for Kyungsoo. You noticed a cold beer next to his side as well. Normally you’d have gone out of your way to find another spot to sit. Or even drag a big heavy mattress over to use instead of having to share the same one with him. But now the movie was starting and there was really not enough time for all of that. You scooted closest to the edge of this mattress and out of your peripheral vision you saw him come up to the other side of this mattress and he sunk down into it, grabbing the beer and sitting a lot further away from the edge than you had done.

He wasn’t going out of his way to put as much space between the two of you as you had been. The lights were out and the movie began playing and soon this sitting at the very edge of this thing was becoming a bit too uncomfortable so you scooted yourself just a little bit closer to where he sat.

When you scooted though, you could suddenly feel the warmth of his thigh next to yours and as you adjusted you leaned against some of the pillows propped up behind your back, finding a bit more support when you leaned just slightly against his arm. You’d pulled your blanket up over your legs and pretended not to notice when his hand pulled the blanket over his legs too.

The movies were long and involved. Occasionally your mind would drift too far from the plot and the small whispered questions like, “wait, who is that guy again?” Would be met with whispered responses, “that’s the admiral’s son,” and your follow up realizations like, “ohh my god that’s why he’s being hunted,” got a white little hum as a response from him.

While you tried your best not to interrupt his movie watching experience you felt strangely comfortable asking him every single question that popped into your head and based on his calm responses you didn’t think he even minded it all that much.

The movie gave you whiplash though. It was quick with the surprises and it had reached a point when you’d already jumped four times from the dramatic twists and turns and you could feel some very real danger for the main hero when he found himself down in a dark pit, seemingly at the end of his luck. You could feel a creepy crawling sensation slipping up your back when you first saw them; it was spiders. Spiders. You felt a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach and you felt your breath feel sticky in your heavy lungs. There were so many. You were gasping. You were desperate for air but your lungs wouldn’t cooperate. Hundreds. Thousands of enormous, hairy spiders with thousands of legs and fangs; the sounds of their skittering feet and chomping jaws — the rooms filled with their webs, and human sized bodies trapped in those webs, wrapped up and wriggling and screaming. You felt your hands shaking and you had to close your eyes. You couldn't breathe. You couldn’t stop it. You were going to die right here without oxygen. You couldn’t stop it. You could feel their legs crawling all over your skin and you could feel their fangs sinking down into your skin. Ripping out chunks of your flesh. Burrowing under your skin. You had to dip your head down under the blanket and you were trembling all over and you couldn’t breathe.

“Hey,” you heard his low voice whisper out into your ear over the sound of the screaming, “hey, hey. Shh… you’re okay.” He was talking to you. You felt his arms rubbing over your back, you felt his arms wrap around your shoulders and he was rubbing you up and down in long slow pressured passes over your skin, shushing into your ear and willing you to calm down with the warmth of his cheek pressed up against your cheek.

“Shhh…They’re not real.”

“They can’t hurt you.”

“You are safe here.”

“You’re okay, honey, you’re alright.”

“Breathe in slowly,” he mentored the deep and slow breaths he urged you to take. You felt the slow rise of his chest as he did it. You gasped and your lungs stuttered as you tried to copy him.

“And out, slowly.” You felt the slow exhale he let out. He was so close, his breath warmed your face.

It took a long while. Your breathing was the first to begin to settle.

You’d lifted your face from where you’d been hiding against his chest and you found that you had been crying. It took you a few deep breaths to get your breathing to actually start to settle down and his words began to really sink in. You’d had some sort of a panic attack at the thought of all of those spiders and you must have been so stressed out lately being here with all of those bugs around you constantly, you’d simply lost your touch with reality for a moment.

“A-Are they gone yet?” You had it under control. You understood what had happened and you simply lost your mind for a short while but he brought you back. It was just panic. It happened occasionally and on those rare times when it took you over so completely, it took you hours to finally calm down. But here, here with him; he had been so quick to understand what was happening and he had been so steady and strong with his words and his distracting comfort. You felt taken aback and stunned.

It took him a few moments to lift his head out of the blanket and when he came back to you he gave you the smallest squeeze on your hand that he was holding and you knew it was over.

“They are gone,” he leaned his forehead against yours under this blanket and whispered the answer to your question.

“T-Thank you,” you whispered and you wiped your face with the back of your hand. You felt the small hum from his chest as a response and you held your breath when you felt the soft pads of his thumbs wiping the wetness from your cheeks. You felt like a mess. What a ridiculous human being you were. Unable to handle a little bit of fake spiders in a fake movie, you felt like an idiot. The shame from this was next to flood through your body and you whispered out a quiet word to him, “sorry.”

You felt his head shaking back and forth and he had already pulled both of your heads out from under the blanket that was quickly growing stuffy from the heat from both of your bodies.

“Don’t be. You’re fine.” He said it in such a matter of fact way, it felt so very true and finite. Don’t be sorry. You are fine. Then he squeezed down harder on your hand which he still held down somewhere under this blanket.

He wasn't letting you go. Was this just you being a liability again? Was he trying to keep you from weeping and screaming and causing a scene? You felt so caught off guard and nervous with him holding your hand like this that you felt too scared to move.

This fucking movie though, the whiplash continued because in front of you now, unfolded a sensual romantic scene. With you and Kyungsoo sharing this blanket with you on the same mattress and with your hand held tightly within his own, his fingers intertwined now within yours and the heavy weight of his bare knee resting atop of your bare thigh. They were kissing now. He had just walked in on her in the shower and he had shoved her roughly against the marble wall of the fancy hotel room and his hands moved to cup her bare breasts. The camera zoomed in on her nipples and his hands roughly gripped her ass. You stared ahead with your teeth biting down hard on your own lips when you felt the loosening of Kyungsoo’s hand as he straightened his posture and cleared his throat, and unwound your fingers from his fingers, your hand from his hand, he unceremoniously dropped you entirely and pulled his own hands together securely onto his own lap.

You felt oddly slighted but the scene had been too close to your first kiss with him for either of you to withstand.

The pair on the screen were fucking on a bed now. Seeing the quick progression of the love scene made you slightly thankful that he had let go of your hand when he did, even if you did feel a strange twinge in your throat for having been dropped like a hot potato by the man, his timing was spot on.

The second movie had finished. This was a trilogy and you’d all been watching this for hours now. You felt the need to get up and move your body some as a few of the others had done throughout the film.

You’d managed to untangle yourself from the blanket. Kyungsoo didn’t move when you left. He had taken on a more relaxed posture on the blankets and only the very slight reflection of the screen on his eyes gave you any indication that he was awake. But now when you looked at him, you no longer saw the reflection. His eyes seemed to be closed. You’d woken him up so early this morning; already it felt like ages ago.

In the back of this big room you caught sigh of Sara who had been pacing with an odd posture. You noticed she hadn’t laid down much on the mattresses during the films and she had opted for sitting up in a chair. She’d mentioned with a smile that if she got all the way down there she might not be able to get back up. Still, she was no longer seated but just doing slow and careful walking exercises here in the far back wall.

She caught your motion to join her and her shoulders straightened out as she greeted you with a smile. You noticed her hand fell down from where she had been touching her belly. Her smile was so bright that you figured she had just been absentmindedly touching her baby rather than feeling any sorts of discomfort.

“Are you here to join me in my walks?” She reached for you and linked elbows with you the moment you were within touching distance and you giggled beside this sweet woman and fell into step beside her.

You both took several slow and steady steps in a big lazy circle around the large open space. After a few moments of walking she squeezed a hand around your forearm and giggled into your ear beside you. “Has he kissed you yet?”

Always straight and to the point. You looked into her face with wide eyes and you could feel the heat filling your cheeks with the answer basically broadcasted with your reaction and her smiled widened further with the quiet little yelp of excitement that erupted from her chest.

“But he didn’t mean it,” you said in a whisper. She was still smiling and she nodded her head up and down, “Sara, he was just drunk.” She was giggling with her hand covering her mouth to keep her volume down.

“Oh psshh…” she waved a dismissive hand. “They never mean it,” she whispered, “until they do,” she added with a slow rub over her belly and a wild giggle and you gasped scandalously and tapped her arm to get her to cut that out. Your wordless denials had absolutely no effect on her. She had long ago left reality and now resided deep in la-la land.

“I am so serious,” she whispered with her head dipped down beside your face, “you don’t see the way he looks at you — no, the way he stares at you. If I didn’t know for the fact that he was terribly, hopelessly,” she inhaled and leaned into the dramatics with a suggestive whispered groan, “desperately in love with you, I’d think he was trying to set you on fire with his eyes.”

She lifted her head and touched the tip of her index finger to her chin, “actually I think it might be that too. He wants you to burn for him the way he burns for you. Gahhhhhh—” she was squealing again. You had to shush her to remind her to keep her voice down. Strangely she quit squealing quite abruptly and her hand was touching over her belly again with the smallest gasp.

This couldn’t have been a coincidence, you’d seen her touching her belly many times at this point with a sort of pensive look in her eyes.

“Sara, are you okay? What’s happening?”

Her mouth was shaped into an o and she exhaled slowly through her mouth.

“Just, normal aches and pains involved with growing a person inside of your body. It’ll pass,” she was assuring you of this but you couldn’t help but notice the light sheen of sweat that covered her forehead.

“Come sit down,” you pulled lightly on her arm, urging her to relax now but she pulled you back.

“The walking helps,” she said with her eyebrows furrowed together and her slow and steady exhale leaving her chest in a purposeful rhythm.

You felt a surge of worry with the realization that you had been watching her walking in slow and steady circles for the better part of three hours now. The walking helps, helps with what? Was she in labor?

“How long are the pauses in between?”

“It was — hours but they’re getting closer. It’s probably nothing,” her smile was back. She’d straightened out her shoulders and shrugged lightly, as if having a baby right now in the wake of a strong hurricane while not in a hospital was no big deal at all.

“We have to tell someone,” you said, moving through the large space of this industrial kitchen until you reached the space where the movie was playing. You found a sleeping Javier and a groggy Mr. Chen who noticed your movement. You kneeled down and whispered into his ear. He caught the important words, namely ‘Sara’ and ‘baby,’ and he was standing up instantly, tapping Javier roughly on the arm who woke up with a start.

“Javier, get up. Your wife is in labor. I have to call her sister. Oh my god, I’m going to be an uncle.”

Wife? Javier and Sara are married to each other? Uncle? Were all of these people part of the same family? The words came at shock to you and their quick movement woke Kyungsoo who sat up and rubbed his eyes.

The movie was turned off. There was a flurry of activity and movement and Mr. Chen and Javier were arguing with an impossibly stubborn pregnant woman who was so clearly in labor that she had to pause every ten minutes for breathing exercises before she would continue with her denials.

“I just don’t want to miss them,” she whined with a deep frown on her face and she motioned toward where you and Kyungsoo stood, “they got so close, it almost happened. And you’re telling me I can’t just cross my legs and go later? I think I can hold it.”

Sara was crying. She was irrationally invested in You and Kyungsoo’s story and she was in pain.

You assured her that there was nothing important here that she was going to miss and she needed to go with Mr. Chen and Javier now. She needed to go meet her new baby. They were headed to the hospital. Mr. Chen assured us that he was an expert at navigating the treacherous weather worn and flooded roads of this island and he would deliver her there safely. He even promised to return tomorrow as soon as he was able to and Kyungsoo got everyone’s phone number so they could send updates.

The big heavy door to the front of the building closed shut tight with a heavy bang and you found yourself standing in absolute silence opposite an equally quiet Kyungsoo. For the first time since you’d met him you were really completely and undeniably alone with the man who — against every single desperate and gasping breath and scream as evidence of your stubborn denial — alone with the man who you were in love with.

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

#exo smut #exo fanfiction #kyungsoo #exo fic #kyungsoo fic #exo story

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