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apparentlynotreallyfinnish · 5 years

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Experiments - Part 2

If you missed it, you can read part 1 here.

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Have fun!

Jessie’s parting words rolled around in Rhett’s mind as he parked his car on the driveway of their creative house. She’d kissed Rhett’s cheek and waved from the door as Rhett pulled away from their house. The teasing grin she’d had on her face the whole morning had been a constant reminder that today was the day.

Link’s Audi was already parked on the driveway. Rhett turned off the engine and took a few deep breaths, fingers curled around the steering wheel just to hold onto something real. All week he’d felt like he was in a perpetual dream. The restless nights had settled into the lines around his eyes and painted them blood-shot and glossy. Rhett stared at his reflection from the rearview mirror and tried to forget the dreams that had haunted him ever since Jessie had—a bit too easily in Rhett’s opinion—agreed to loan his husband for Link’s sexual experiment.

Seeing Link in all manner of undress was normal to Rhett. It’s not like he purposefully sought for opportunities to experience his best friend in his birthday suit—it just kept happening. Since their teenage years and the muddy waters of Cape Fear River, skinny-dipping had been a thing they regularly and unapologetically did together. And nowadays, they changed clothes for filming in the same dressing room. So, Rhett had seen his fair share of Link.

But before Link’s request earlier that week, he hadn’t actually seen him. At least his conscious mind hadn’t. His subconscious seemed to have memorized every inch of his best friend’s lean and tight body. That had been more than evident every night after they’d agreed that the deed was to be done on Saturday, at their rented house.

Even that had gotten a chuckle out of Jess.

“I knew it,” she’d said, giggling when Rhett had shown him Link’s messages.

“Knew what?” Rhett had asked, confused and already feeling embarrassed about what she was going to say.

“The house! You got it, so you guys could get it,” she’d said with a silly eyebrow wiggle and a suggestive hip thrust that had made Rhett’s cheeks flush.

To Rhett’s horror, his wife had gotten way too much enjoyment out of his embarrassment over the whole situation. Rhett couldn’t help but wonder whether she knew about the dreams. He hadn’t told her—that seemed like oversharing—but every morning she looked at him with that certain kind of smile and asked a bit too innocently “did you sleep well, babe?”

Rhett shook his head to chase away the dreamy images of Link in a cavalcade of compromising positions and combed his fingers through his messy head of curls. He just needed to get this over with. Then they could go back to their normal life and their normal—platonic—friendship.

The house was not as silent as he’d expected. A slow beat and a soft male voice filled the space. Rhett found Link from the middle room, sitting cross-legged on the couch, bobbing his head in rhythm with the music coming from a Bluetooth speaker. He was scrolling on his phone, his recently trimmed salt-and-pepper hair falling over his forehead. Rhett stood at the doorway and worried his bottom lip, waiting for Link to notice him.

“And when your eyes catch mine, I know I talk too much. So give me your two lips and baby, I’ll shut up…” Link started quietly singing along with the song, his shoulders rolling with his words. A smile tugged at Rhett’s lips.

“Hey,” he said, making Link jerk and blush as if he’d been caught with his hand inside the cookie jar.

“Hi.” Link’s voice was hoarse and he pocketed his phone before getting up. Rhett stepped into the room and tried to not look at the bed in the corner. Jessie had insisted on it when they were decorating. “You’re gonna want a place to nap between all that fabulous creating you guys are gonna do,” she’d said and even though Rhett had tried to reason with her—”we can nap on the couch!”—she’d gotten her way.

“You came,” Link said softly, sounding almost surprised.

Rhett couldn’t help the nervous giggle that burst out of him. “Not yet, but that’s the plan, right?”

Link’s exasperated eye roll was comfortingly normal and the tension between them eased a bit.

“What are you listening to?” Rhett asked, hoping that a simple conversation would help with his nerves.

“Greyson Chance.”

“Never heard of him.”

“He’s good.”

A silence fell between them and the tension was rapidly building back the walls that they’d managed to bring down. Better to just get on with it, right?

“So, how do you wanna do this?” Rhett asked, trying to keep his voice level and matter-of-fact. Link’s gaze bounced from the bed to the couch and to Rhett’s infinite relief, he nodded towards the latter. For some reason, doing this on the couch felt less intimate.

Rhett walked past him and sat down. He slapped his hands against his thighs and smiled a bit too wide to hide his nervousness. Link was still standing next to the couch, staring at Rhett.

“Are we really gonna do this?” he asked, hands swaying nervously.

Rhett frowned and tried to ignore his gut twisting at the possibility that Link was gonna call off the whole thing.

“If you want to,” he said slowly. “It’s your show, brother.”

Link’s hand rose to his face and he started biting on his thumbnail.

“It’s gonna be weird,” he muttered, glancing away from Rhett.

“Probably,” Rhett agreed, stomach coiling into a tighter knot. “But when are we not weird?”

A surprised chuckle broke from Link’s lips and something seemed to loosen in him. His shoulders came down from his ears and his hand fell away from his mouth. “True,” he said with a smirk before continuing. “Okay. Let’s do this. Take off your pants.”

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Where’s the romance, Neal? I’m not just a piece of meat, you know,” Rhett teased but got up and opened the fly of his pants before Link had time for a snarky reply. His hands stopped, though, thumbs slipped under the waistband of his underwear. “Um.”

“What?” Link asked.

“I’m not… You know, ready to go. Should I—? I don’t know, like watch something or…” Rhett was suddenly worried about his ability to perform and unsure which would be the worse option: getting immediately hard when Link touched him or not being able to get hard at all.

“Oh. Umm. No, I—I think I’d like to try and get you there. If that’s okay? Get the whole experience, you know?” Link said, looking past Rhett with his cheeks flushed.

“Yeah, okay. Sure,” Rhett muttered and pulled down his jeans, leaving his boxer briefs on for the time being. He sat back on the couch, legs spread apart, feeling more vulnerable than he had ever felt before. Link sidled up to him and, in a move too fluid for a forty-year-old guy, got on his knees on the floor between Rhett’s legs.

Oh my fucking God.

Rhett’s breath hitched and he had to fight the urge to jump up and run away. Link’s hands hovered over Rhett’s bare thighs.

“Where can I touch you?” he asked, face tilted upwards to look at Rhett.

“Anywhere.” The word slipped out like an exhale—instinctive and needy. The truth of it terrified Rhett and he let out a fake, awkward laugh. “Maybe not poke me in the eye…”

Link huffed a short, humorless laugh, swallowed audibly and planted his hands on Rhett’s legs, bracing himself on them to reach up. Rhett’s eyes widened as Link’s face came closer and closer. Panic made his chest squeeze and his vision blur. If he kisses me I don’t… But then Link ducked under Rhett’s chin and pressed his lips on the crook of his neck. The kiss was soft and quickly followed by another one, that one closer to the collar of Rhett’s shirt. Link’s hand moved away from Rhett’s leg and grabbed the hem of his shirt. Link tugged on it and whispered against Rhett’s tingling skin, “can you take this off too?”

Rhett slipped the t-shirt off wordlessly and tried to reign in his wildly beating heart as Link’s feathery kisses moved down his chest. It had been laughable to worry that he might not be able to get hard. The moment Link’s lips touched his skin, all the blood in his body seemed to migrate between his legs. His dick was throbbing and ready in no time, straining against the fabric of his underwear. Link either hadn’t noticed or chose to ignore it as he concentrated on touching Rhett’s chest.

Both of his hands were now moving on Rhett’s body. He was sliding them up and down Rhett’s torso leaving little burning trails behind them.

“You feel so… sturdy,” Link mumbled, his voice filled with awe. One of his hands was circling up to squeeze Rhett’s bicep and then back down to feel his stomach. The other was concentrating its explorations onto Rhett’s nipple, drawing slow circles around it to coax it to perk up. Link hummed happily, pleased with his efforts before diving down to suck it into his mouth to lick and gently bite on it with such determination Rhett had to wonder how long he’d been wanting to do exactly that. The move dragged a garbled moan out of Rhett that made his cheeks burn and his heart kick up a notch. Link let out a satisfied chuckle and released Rhett’s nipple with one final bite. Rhett’s cock jumped in the confines of his boxers.

“Was that good?” Link asked, voice a little more breathless than Rhett had expected.

“S’fine,” Rhett mumbled and closed his eyes, desperate to find some kind of calm inside himself to survive the onslaught of all the new sensations. He couldn’t watch Link do this to him. He couldn’t even really think about Link touching him. He’d already gone from zero to one-hundred in seconds and coming just from this would haunt him the rest of his life. Link would never let him live that down.

“You can think I’m someone else, you know,” Link said, licking a wet stripe from Rhett’s clavicle to his ear. “If that helps.”

“Mmhmm,” Rhett managed to hum, trying to appear less than affected. It was hard, though. His hips wanted to buck involuntarily. His cock was aching for attention and the thought that Link’s perfect, wet mouth would soon be on it was making Rhett dizzy.

Link’s hand slipped below Rhett’s waistline and his knuckles dragged over the bulge in Rhett’s boxers.

“Oh,” Link breathed in surprise. His head whipped down—Rhett knew that because he could feel Link’s hair brushing against his chest. “You’re so hard,” Link marveled. Rhett didn’t know what to say to that, so he said nothing.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Link mumbled and pressed his palm firmly against Rhett’s erection. Surprised by the sudden change in pressure, Rhett moaned out loud and his hips rose to meet Link’s touch. Link gasped, snapped his hand away and fell backwards, landing on his ass with a nervous giggle.

Rhett’s eyes opened and he stared at the man sitting on the floor giggling like crazy. The watch on Link’s wrist started peeping to tell him that his pulse was too high. It made Link laugh even harder and he fumbled to silence the alarm.

Rhett was thoroughly embarrassed. His face was on fire, only barely won by the inferno raging in his stomach. He grabbed a decorative pillow to hide his erection.

“Stop that,” he snapped, covering his face with his other hand.

“I’m—sorry—But,” Link was having trouble speaking between the guffaws. “It’s just so weird.”

“Shit! This was a bad idea. I’m just gonna—” Rhett mumbled and shot up, trying to escape the torture that this moment had turned into. Link’s hand wrapped around Rhett’s wrist to stop him.

“No! Wait. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s not anything you did. I want you to enjoy it. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’m just…” Link took a long, shuddering breath, finally coming down from his laugh attack. “… nervous. I’m just so nervous. You gotta understand.”

Rhett had stopped but was swaying on his feet, still begging for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

“Please, Rhett. Sit back down.”

Rhett drew a ragged breath. He could just go. He could just go and say that it had been a mistake. That he couldn’t do this. That he didn’t want to.

That would be a lie.

Link’s other hand touched Rhett’s knee and started moving up, leaving gooseflesh in its wake.

“I won’t laugh anymore. I got it out of my system, I promise,” Link whispered, crawling closer to Rhett. Rhett let him gently pull away the pillow. He screwed his eyes closed when Link’s palm reached his crotch.

“I need this, bo. Please.” Link palmed Rhett slowly, dragging his hand up and down his length, making Rhett shiver. “You feel so good. Like… even just touching you. It’s so different. I want to know—I need to know what you taste like. How you feel in my mouth.”

Rhett opened his eyes and looked down. Link was sitting on his haunches, looking up at him with pleading eyes. It would’ve required a much stronger man than Rhett to say no to those eyes. He swallowed the last shreds of his pride, sighed and settled back on the couch.

“Okay,” he said to Link. “Show me what that mouth can do.”

#Appa writes fic #rhink #rhink fic #experiments fic #part 2 #mythical wives #Jessie mclaughlin #part 3 is in the works #awkwardness #polyamory

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eggoreviews · 5 years

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 13 - Until Dawn (#13)

“You need to listen to me. I don’t care if you believe me or not. Doesn’t matter because you will. You need to go down to the mines. I’ve seen what’s down there and I’d give anything to unsee it.”

Something I may not have mentioned on this countdown yet is that I am a pretty big fan of horror, whether that be sci-fi, supernatural or, in this case, teenagers being eaten by Wendigos. As someone who has always enjoyed slashers (particularly those that are unique, interesting and comment on the genre like Cabin in the Woods), Until Dawn came as a very welcome announcement for me, as previously unknown studio Supermassive Games came forward with a horror game that mirrored a classic slasher exactly, except it was entirely affected by your own choices. And so, Until Dawn became my favourite decision based game of all time.

Let’s talk for a minute about how Until Dawn treats its genre. In essence, it is a dizzyingly heartfelt love letter to the horror genre it so reveres, with its liberal employing of many, many tropes seen throughout its history. A group of eight friends return to the cabin atop a snowy mountain where two of their friends disappeared the previous year for a bit of a remembrance bash. But of course, everything is not quite as it seems and not everyone in the group is bein entirely honest with each other, along with the added threat of cannibalistic cryptids. Until Dawn tests your knowledge of horror, as well as your ability to act under pressure, by providing you with difficult and genuinely harrowing decisions to make that may well mean life or death for certain characters. If you’re looking to escape the usual conventions of horror by doing your best to save the stereotypes of the jock or the sexually liberal girlfriend, you’re going to need to be on the ball and keep your wits about you. This is what I love so much about Until Dawn; the fact that everyone or no one can survive depending on how well you play the game. It really is your own customised horror experience. And believe it or not, this game has a hell of a lot of replayability, even after you’ve discovered the majority of the endings. There’s just something about replaying this through and seeing what fuckshit you can do that keeps me coming back.

On top of that, the characters themselves, while being massive tropes, still feel unique enough that things don’t become boring and predictable. Every horror trope is here; the funny, hapless guy, the studious one, the jock, the girlfriend who talks about sex a whole bunch. But each and every one of them still have nuances. The studious Ashley seems fairly mellow on the surface, but there’s a layer of dark that seemingly lies under the surface that comes out in a few instances depending on her choices. Jess seems confident and overtly sexual on paper, but reveals herself to be a highly insecure individual later in the game, albeit in a scene with some incredibly ham-handed writing. And Matt, the ‘dumb jock’, who is very subtly being manipulated and abused by his cheating girlfriend. All of these add subtle nuances to these normally completely undeveloped characters, which engages you much more in the horror they’re being put through and honestly makes you want to save them. Alongside this, the standout and often underrated performances of Hayden Panettiere as Sam, Rami Malek as Josh and Peter Stormare as the mysterious, hallucinatory Dr. Hill are properly, properly good.

The horror in this game, as well as the characters within it, is excellently realised. Many different aspects come together to form a genuinely horrifying experience. The overall writing is stellar, specifically within the late game when the tension begins to boil over, and less so in the early game when the writers are trying to write realistic young people. For the most part, they seem like real humans, but every so often they’ll drop an odd phrase here and there that will remind you that both the actors and the writers are not teenagers, but it honestly isn’t that distracting and doesn’t detract from the overall horror at all. The visuals, of course, are dazzling as perfect motion capture was used to carry over the subtleties of the actors’ body language and facial expressions, as well as the highly detailed graphic style used for the setting is excellently immersive. The snowy cabin, the ancient and rusted fire tower, the snow flying in front of the camera when you’re traversing the mountain; it all adds up to create a wonderfully horrific experience. And last of all, the soundtrack, an all important part of any game for me, is consistently suspenseful, with the combination of the sounds of the heavy wind and the soundtrack that slowly builds from subtle instrumentation to shrieking violins and drums once the action kicks off. And while the opening cover of ‘O Death’ is a little on the nose, I honestly don’t hate it and I think it adds brilliantly to the atmosphere of ‘oh boy this is tropey horror’.

To wrap up, for horror to be effective for me, it needs to blend effective use of many different aspects, both in the background and the foreground, especially in an interactive medium. The story and characters, the visuals, the soundtrack and the threat itself all need to work together to create effective horror and I think Until Dawn manages this brilliantly, with the added challenge of making the horror immersive with its gameplay. Until Dawn is an excellent example of interactive horror meeting decision-based gameplay and I am really looking forward to the future of Supermassive Games. Standout Moment Award: The last quarter or so of the game, when the group finally realise the extent of the true threat and all that suspense pays off is endlessly satisfying to me. I’m love this game.

Standout Character Award: Sam. While I nearly gave this to my soft boi Matt, the strong and capable Sam is yet another love letter to the slasher horror genre of the 80s, as well as to the ‘final girl’ trope that still sticks around today. Even putting aside how well-placed she is thematically, she’s just a cool-ass character with a good sense of humour, visible flaws and tangible relationships with almost every character, as well as being played brilliantly by Hayden Panettiere.

Tomorrow: No. 12; A tragic tale of halting an arranged marriage and finding oneself through travel.

#gaming #eggoreviews #best games advent #until dawn #ud #until dawn sam #ud chris #ud josh #until dawn chris #until dawn josh #ud sam

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epic-potato-crisp · 7 years

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“Camaraderie.” - Ajin Secret Santa 2017

This is my second contribution for AjinSS2017. Dear @lairn, I’m your pinch writer for this occasion.

Platonic KeiKou, bird imagery, Kou trying his best, Kei and Kou learning to communicate and being (antagonistic) friends, horror and gore stuff with the IBMs, very intense/ruthless Kei were the points I wanted to incorporate.

I hope you’ll enjoy the story! :D

Merry Christmas!

Title: Camaraderie

Pairing: Nagai Kei & Nakano Kou (Platonic)

Fun Fact: Manabe goes shopping for the group

The scream comes from a mile away. It sounds very much like Kei. Kou, having searched around the area for the last fifteen minutes, jolts up at the distressed noise. What the hell, he thinks, panic already clouding his mind, what happened? He takes off towards it without any second thought, forcing his legs to run even faster, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. The trees rush past him, white noise in his ear as he charges on.

“Nagai!” he yells yet again, but once again, there is no answer, only the later-afternoon chirp of birds in the branches, the grass and branches crunching underneath his feet.

It’s still so hot, so very hot. Kou stops for a moment, sides aching from the mad speed that not even the training with Hirasawa could hold up against. Not yet, he thinks, making a mental note to train even harder from now on, not yet.

“Nagai!”

“I’m here, you dumbass.” The sullen voice mixes into the surrounding noise, and even though Nakano Kou is surrounded by nature in all its glory, it’s this very moment that brings him the most joy. Nagai Kei steps out from the clearing. He’s limping, Kou notices, brow furrowing, and he can’t stop his mouth falling agape in shock when he realizes Kei is missing a limb. “What the hell, man!” he cries out, hysteria ripping into his casual tone, and he breaches the last meter between them to kneel down on the ground in front of Kei. His hands reach out in confusion and shock, unable to yet understand the truth his visual senses are presenting him with. He reaches for Kei’s legs or rather, what remains of it. A stump. Dried clots of blood mark the area where the rest off it had been – Kou whimpers at the thought -violently torn off, or so it looks like. Crimson blood keeps leaking out, splattering the ground.

“I-“ Kei says, and to Ko’s utter disbelief, there is a confident smirk lining his mouth, “I was training with my IBM. Since I wanted to practice attacks, and there was no-one else around, I-“ Kei’s voice cuts off, body jerking as he sinks to the ground.

“Shit!” Kou curses, drawing away his bloodied hands, wincing as Kei’s head hits the ground right beside him. Kei’s shirt, once white and spotless, has been torn to bloody shreds. There are gashes everywhere they shouldn’t be, work that only the most enraged of Black Ghosts- and Kei’s counts among them, for sure- would manage. Kou turns his head away from the horrible sight.

“I’m going to die anyway.” The slurred words leave Kei’s mouth, ”Dumbass, there’s nothing you can do about that.” There’s a tone of satisfaction in his statement that has Kou’s blood boiling.

“What on earth is wrong with you, Nagai?” he barks, “I thought you knew all the painless methods to die!” At that moment, Kou almost swears that Nagai is rolling his eyes at him. “W-wouldn’t make for effective…attacking methods.” Kei says, the last words no more than a mumble, and it’s almost peaceful, the way in which his eyes flutter shut, in which he draws a last breath before sinking to the ground.

“Nagai! Nagai!” Kou yells out, his initial mortal instinct gearing up at the sight of a death right in front of his eyes, before he remembers that Kei will come back. Probably. Kou exhales in relief once the particles- thick and in mass quantity for Kei – rise in the air, and amid the process of regeneration, finally, Kei stirs. “Welcome back.” Kou says, feels his hands tremble.

“You still didn’t tell me why the heck you did something like that.” Kou grumbles.

After his regeneration, Kei had, under quite a bit of groaning, risen to his feet, and yanked off the soiled remains of his shirt, buried it under a ground with a few kicks. Then, in a tone as casual as no one who had shortly before survived a death by blood loss should be using, he suggested they made their way back to the hide-out.

“I don’t have to tell you, do I.” Kei swiftly replies, “It was for training. It’s not like your IBM is of much use, yet, or ever-“ the thinly veiled insult has Kou’s fingers clenching – “and so mine should be optimally prepared to wreck as much havoc as possible.”

It sounds logical, so far. But what Kei had done back there could not simply be classified as training. Kou shudders at the memory- the boy standing before the clearing, a stump instead of a leg, and so much blood. He has no doubt it will surface in the form of a nightmare in one of these restless nights.

“That was intentional suicide.” Kou insists, throwing an inquisitive glare in Kei’s direction, and almost tripping over a particularly thick branch in their way, one which the other skillfully evades. “Intentional.” he repeats, once he’s gathered himself, “And the violent kind, you know? When you don’t even need to do it, you can already make perfect IBMS. I’m pretty certain this is not the kind of training that Tosaki meant.”

“And I’m pretty certain he won’t learn about this.” Kei interjects. Kou halts in his tracks as the other levels a glare back at him. “Neither him, nor Izumi, nor Hirasawa. None of their business. It’s the only way to insure a violent fighting force, and I’m not about to explain myself to anyone considering my own training. Got it?”

He sounds intimidating enough as it is. Kou knows the other is to be reckoned with- he poisoned him already, the grim reminders comes forward immediately- and he is not about to argue with Kei about something that he obviously feels intensely about.

“Fine.” he says, taking a deep breath, “They won’t hear it from me.” That is obviously good enough for Kei. He nods, and then turns away from him. They don’t speak for the rest of the way to the hideout, and Kou doesn’t make another attempt.

It’s lonely back in his room. Also, it is a little boring. Kou sighs, pondering his options as he stares at the bare ceiling that is in dire need of a renovation. He could join Hirasawa’s crew back in his room, He knows they’re currently engaged in a drinking session, from the sounds coming from further down the hallway. And as jovial as the lot is, and as much as Kou enjoys spending time with them, he knows that his thoughts would keep drifting back to the one thing at hand that he had wanted to do, since this very afternoon. Current circumstances have forced him to reschedule, that is his excuse for the soft bundle remaining in his trouser pocket his entire time, but there is no point on procrastinating on it further. If only it wasn’t so difficult.

With Kei apparently, every single thing is another hurdle to yet overcome. Kou remembers how downright hostile he was to him at first, and even after joining Tosaki’s group, the other has kept speaking with him to a bare minimum.

That was when first turned to Izumi.

“You want him to become your friend?” she asked

If she was amused, at least she was courteous enough to not show it.

“Well, yeah.” Kou said, scratching the back of neck, “I mean, he’s the only one around my age here, right? And he’s an Ajin and I feel like we’re going to spend a long time together from now on.

It just sucks that he’s such a jerk most of the time.” The corners of her lips curved upwards.

“I see.” she said, “Then, Nakano-kun. I have a suggestion. Presents open hearts, they say, so perhaps, why not try gifting him with something he likes?”

Kou, for his part, was a little thunderstruck.

“You’re telling me to give him a present?”

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” she said, and then, before Kou could properly protest, a few bills were placed into his hand

“Give it to Manabe, once he goes for another errand, tell him to bring you whatever it is you think he’d like.”

“I can’t accept that.” Kou stammered, but she waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t tell Tosaki-san about this.” She put a finger to her lips. Kou laughed, and thanked her from the bottom of his heart.

Kou reaches into his pockets and pulls out the by now severely crinkled shirt. It is Kei’s size, burgundy red, and has several black birds flying across it.

“For Nagai?” Manabe asked, with a surprised laugh, “Sure. So what do you want?”

“Something that he…well, something he can use, I guess.” Kou said, indecisively, “Perhaps…with birds.”

The thought had come to him in the middle of the night. Pondering what things Kei liked had taken up longer than he had estimated it to. The problem was, Kei, apart from not being human, was not normal like other people, either. Kou didn’t think he had any hobbies to begin with, if you left out sarcasm, arrogance and an alarming amount of sadistic tendencies. He liked to read, but then, apart from schoolwork, Kou didn’t exactly know what kind of book Kei would be happy with. Something scientific, surely.

But what topics was Nagai interested in? It was then that he began to consider perhaps gifting Kei something that was symbolic, meaningful. Perhaps it would impress Kei a little. Perhaps it wouldn’t, but either way, the thought behind it counted, Kou decided. And that’s when he arrived at birds. Kou had never been a fan of long, tedious reads and analyzing literature. So, to be perfectly honest, he didn’t have a clue about flower language or why the sky was a certain shade of a blue in poetry.

But birds…Birds were different. They were something that existed, beside them and yet independent of them. They symbolized freedom and independence. To make extra-sure, Kou had run a google search and discovered they happened to stand for eternal life, as well. And since freedom and a long, eternal life where they wouldn’t be hiding from the government or fighting Satou was hopefully in the cards for them a long the way, Kou decided they were the perfect gift.

“I hope you don’t mind it’s a boring shirt.” Only a few days later, Manabe handed him an inconspicuous looking plastic bag.

Kou peered inside, and felt elated at the sight. The colors were perfect – just the kind Kei would like. The birds were splattered all over it, no more than strokes of a brush, soaring upwards in a flock.

“Thank you!” he replied, “It’s great! I bet he’ll really like it.”

Now, standing in Kei’s doorframe, he isn’t so sure anymore. “What do you want?” The other asks, with a sigh, as though Kou is being a bother by intruding in on his precious space. Kei had been sat at his desk, reading a book with a cover that promised fatal boredom the second the other had walked in. Kou tries his best to not let the words get to him as much as they could have.

“I got something for you.” Kou says, closing the door behind himself- he certainly doesn’t want any of the other members walking in on him making a fool of himself – and brings forward the gift hat he has been hiding behind his back all this time. Kei raises an eyebrow, and comments:

“That could use some ironing.”

“Hey.” Kou snaps, defensively, “Aren’t you happy at all, you ass?”

“Wait, this is for me?” Kei rises to his feet, and reaches out in bewilderment for the gift. Kou hands it to him, nodding. For someone who’s a self-proclaimed genius, Kou decides Nagai Kei can be slow on the uptake.

“Yeah, it’s…” Kou feels the back of his neck heat up, “A present.”

Why is he feeling so embarrassed at the situation?

“For me?” Kei repeats, putting emphasis on the me part. He stares at Kou as though he’s grown a second head.

“Yeah, for you.” Kou says with emphasis, “So, what, do you like it or not?”

He waits, more anxiously than he thought he would be as Kei examines the shirt with his scrutinizing eyes.

“It’s actually nice.” he finally admits, the gift having obviously passed his examination. Kou breathes a sigh of relief.

“Great.” he replies joyfully, “Then please accept it.”

He presses the shirt firmly into his hands and takes back a step.

Kei visibly hesitates. His eyes flick back between the shirt, Kou and his desk.

“What do you want in exchange for it?” he asks, and Kou can’t fault him for the reasonable amount of suspicion in his tone. After all, he might be expecting an act of revenge for the mushroom onigiri, even though Kou would never go that far.

“Ceasefire.” Kou proclaims with a broad grin. He rubs the back of his neck, gesturing slightly as he explains. “Look, I know we started off on a bad foot. Really bad. But this mission here, against Satou…this is serious, and this is going to go on for long. And I don’t want to see you as my…enemy” Kou laughs, embarrassed at the overexaggerated term, “Or something like that. How about…how about we call it a ceasefire, and try to be…friends?

He winces as Kei’s right brow travels to unseen heights the second the word leaves his lips.

“Friends.” Kei deadpans.

“Friends would be nice, yep.” Kou laughs again, and feels like slapping himself for it. This isn’t a joke, and he doesn’t want Kei to take it as one. “I mean…yeah, I want us to be friends.” He says in a more serious tone, looking the other right in the eyes. “Will you accept my gift as promise of…camaraderie?” He’d learnt the expression from Hirasawa, and immediately taken a liking to it. Camaraderie, that’s what Hirasawa’s squad practices among themselves, that’s how they have come to be so close. One day, Kou thinks, even though it will be highly unlikely, one day I want to be able to have the same kind of relationship with Kei.

“I didn’t know you were knowledgeable in such difficult words.” Kei says mockingly, but before Kou can jab something back at him in response to that new verbal injury, he shrugs his shoulders.

“Well, perhaps.” he agrees, sighing as he does. “If I accept your offer, I can have this gift and I’d need a new shirt anyway, after today. It’s a deal.”

“That’s your kind of logic?” Kou can’t help but exclaim loudly, and only the smirk on Kei’s lips tells him the other might be joking. Partially.

“Honestly though…thank you for the gift.” Kei voices, right when Kou isn’t expecting it anymore. But Kei isn’t looking at him- his eyes are focused on the shirt, and he is tracing the birds with his finger. “They look like tiny IBMS.” he mumbles, and Kou vows that it’s a genuine smile he sees, for once.

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neen-writes · 7 years

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Iron Legends: Reforged -- Chapter 12

Series: Fairy Tail

Characters: Gajeel, Levy, plus appearances from Natsu and Lucy.

Genre: Hurt/comfort, Sci-fi

Summary: The old lab had always been fuel for a good story, something you would half-heartedly joke about going to sometime. Some did, and when they came back they never talked about it again. The legends circulated, telling of ghosts, monsters, and anything else someone would be likely to conjure up about an abandoned building. But even with all the stories meant to keep everyone away, there are still those for whom the intrigue is too tempting.

Read the Reforged chapters on FF.net here, Ao3 here, and read the entire original story here!! AND find this fic’s soundtrack here!

Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9 Ch.10 Ch. 11

It had been nearly a week and a half since that night in her kitchen. The first few days after the incident, the skies had remained clear and she had been able to make her way out to the facility to keep looking for him. She hoped with everything she had that one day she would find him there as she had before. Levy was relentlessly determined to find him, so much so that she considered fanning out her search, looking past the facility with the idea that he might have had some other shelter to hide in. But even with the let up in the weather, she couldn’t safely go farther than the grounds. She didn’t know the area at all, didn’t have the equipment, and with the snow layer everything looked the same.

She had tried, on one of the earlier days, to follow the service road at the back. She hadn’t forgotten the fresh destruction that led a trail to the demolished gate. It hadn’t been like that any other time she came to the grounds, and it was worth following the only trail he left. It helped that it was easier to walk on the buried pavement, but she lost signal on her cell phone after walking for about ten minutes. What she did gather, was that the trail Gajeel left was very deliberate. Because once past the gate, there was no sign of him except the hint of old footprints, which eventually veered off into the woods and were lost entirely. She couldn’t reasonably follow such an unreliable trail, and with no way of communicating, she was forced to turn back.

The next day, the snow returned with a vengeance. Still, she tried, but made it less than halfway there before her sense urged her back home. She’d suffered over the incredibly difficult moment, trying and wanting to push herself, but she had started to lose sensation in her fingers and up to her knees. It did no one any good, least of all Gajeel, to be lost in the snow. She had to concede to the fact that she couldn’t make it out there anymore, as much as it tore her up inside.

The following days when she was trapped between her home and work were even more excruciating. There was some solace to be found in visits from Lucy and adjusting to her sudden new pet(which was fun to explain to Lucy), but with no further sign of Gajeel and the cold trail left by the sinister scientist, there was little peace for the booky bluenette. She had read through the journals more times than she could count, but no more answers came to her. They had no real proof that anything was starting again, and she was too afraid of risking Gajeel’s safety to go straight to Natsu’s father for help before they had anything concrete. There had been absolutely no sign of Jose, and thus they were left with nothing.

All she could do was keep rereading and telling herself she had missed something.

At one point, somewhere after the one week mark, she finally had to force herself to stop and reel herself back into her own life. She was skipping meals, she’d been late to work... just because she was so unfocused. Only when she paused did she realize how out of touch she was.

Levy looked up from her book, nestled on the couch with Lily lying across the top, and stared absently across her living room. What do I do? What if he doesn’t want to be found? What if I need to just move on? The girl frowned suddenly and shook her head, lifting her book to rap herself on the forehead with it. The thought felt like a betrayal. That was not something she could live with. Call her a bleeding heart, but she couldn’t just give up like that. Neither her conscience, nor her dreams, could ever let her.

And oh, the dreams. Nightly she dreamt of him, and Levy couldn’t settle on whether it was a gift or a curse. It was usually the same thing, reliving that morning in her living room. She saw him smiling at her, felt him holding her hand. She would watch him speak, grin at her, but never heard anything that he said. The dream was always silent; like that was the best way her subconscious could capture it. Pure peace; silent ease. The tenderness shared between them and the safety she felt next to him weren’t the worst things to revisit. But waking up, cold and alone save for a black ball of fur at her feet, definitely was.

Then, every now and again, there were the dreams that reminded her of what she had done. The horrible thing she had said, the information she didn’t give to him fast enough, the things she didn’t say in time. These dreams were dark and loud. She was on her knees every time, struggling to get up but her legs wouldn’t obey. He was there, fully iron, standing in darkness and roaring her name. Asking her why, always asking her how could she. She would fly awake, the roar in her ears indistinguishable from her racing heart.

She tried avoiding sleep, but it made no difference. When darkness crept in, and the lights extinguished for the evening, the dull ache set in. He made the house smaller, less quiet. Now, more than ever, the dark was more foreboding, knowing there was a true beast out there that knew her face. The quiet made it hard to breathe. After the taste of what a fuller home could feel like, she couldn’t bear the solitude. She didn’t want to beg Lucy to stay, because she had stayed so many times already, she had home sometime. The only comfort for her now were locked doors, caring for the small cat, and her books.

I’m not giving up on him. He deserves more than that, she thought to herself, looking up to Lily. He had opened his dark eyes to look down at her, calmly, from the top of the sofa, the tip of his tail swaying quietly. “I’m sure you miss him too,” Levy said softly. The quiet stare persisted. “I’m going to get your friend back, Lily. Don’t you worry.” Levy put on a small smile, grateful for the live-in reminder of the mission she had set for herself. Crazy as it was, she found more comfort than she would admit aloud from talking to the cat. He seemed overly interested in her and was always on her heels around the house, so she found herself talking to him more and more. As distressing as his arrival had initially been, she was now grateful for it.

A knock at the door roused her suddenly from her spot on the sofa, and she glanced at the time. It was mid afternoon, so not a bizarre time at all for someone to be coming by. Levy brushed some hair from her face and set her book aside on the way to the door, “Just a moment!” she called, clicking open her locks and pulling the door open as a cold wind bit at her cheeks.

Levy felt the blood drain from her face when she saw the man on the other side of the door.

“Hello, Miss McGarden.” A sickening smile spread on very sharp features, both hands clasped behind his back as he leaned forward slightly and tilted his head. “I don’t believe I need to introduce myself?”

In that moment she felt like she might lose the contents of her stomach. He found me. He. Found. Me. her thoughts spiralled for a few seconds, before her instincts caught up with her, and her grip tightened on her door and she willed a calmness onto her likely colorless face.

Jose furrowed his brow, “What? No words now that I’m finally here? You’ve been looking for me, haven’t you?” He knew the answer to that. She could hear it on his voice, he was playing with her already and she wanted no part of it. Not an ounce.

Levy inhaled, steadying herself. “I don’t know what you’re,” on the last syllable, she swung the door shut mid-sentence with everything she had. Defiance, fueled by survival adrenaline, sung through her.

But it was short lived.

To her horror, the door hit resistance hard enough to send her staggering backwards: he had already inched his boot into the doorway to stop it. She hadn’t even noticed.

The man chuckled gleefully and took a step forward. “Now now, we don’t need to be so rude,” he tsked, wagging a chiding finger at her. “I am just looking for something of mine. Something I lost some time ago. Something I’m fairly certain you can help me find?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finished what she had started to say before, “and I don’t know who you are. You have the wrong house, and my parents are going to be home any minute,” Levy said, tight-lipped. She backed away a step, having lost her hold on the door.

“You can abandon the clueless act, it’s unbecoming. I’ve had time, and I know all about you, Levy. No one is coming home.” Jose, standing a step inside her doorway, gripped the doorknob and leaned on it slightly. “You’re going to tell me where he is,” he commanded, a shadow falling on his face, “Or you will help me find him. Your choice.”

“Never.” With fiery determination on her face, she grabbed the hallway table and pulled it over as she sprinted back to her room. She slammed her door shut and locked it, looking frantically around the space. Finally, she grabbed a pen and one of the notebooks from the nightstand, opening it to the front cover. Crudely, she scribbled, ‘He found me’ and shoved her insurance under her pillows. She kicked her bag with everything she had taken from the lab under her bed as far as she could. One more time she swept her eyes around the room and cursed under her breath; her phone was in the living room still. Running, it seemed, was her only option.

The woman turned her attention to her window as her doorknob started to shake violently. “Miss McGarden!” Jose drew out the last syllable of her name, sounding more pleased than made her comfortable. ”Please don’t make this any more difficult than necessary,” his voice called from the other side of the door, chilling her. She pulled her icy window open and desperately forced herself though with far more ease than the last person she had tried to squeeze through there. Now was the only time her size had been a blessing.

The chill assaulted her as she fell face first into the snow, freezing the bare skin her t-shirt didn’t cover. At the very least she had on thick, cotton pants to protect her legs, hopefully, long enough for the sprint she was about to make. She only needed to make it to town, to anyone. Surely if they had witnesses he would back off for his own secrecy, and then, then she would go to Igneel.

Levy scrambled to her feet, looking at the window behind her as she started to run. Inside, she saw Jose in her doorway, but he wasn’t running for the window. No, he just smiled at her.

She tried to run as best she could through the snow, and the moment she turned to face forward she slammed straight into a wall, knocking the wind out of herself. Levy fell backwards, right back into the snow, blinking the stars from her eyes. She gasped for the air she had lost, looking up to see a man with short, black hair in front of her. He gave her no time to make out who he was, before something dark lashed out and struck the side of her neck, sending pain shooting through her like an arrow. Everything went black, and Levy went limp in the snow.

A quick, double-knock at the solid wooden door stirred the fiery redhead from the papers at his desk. He removed the glasses from his scruffed face and leaned forward on his elbows, “Come in,” Igneel called tentatively, hazel eyes watching none other than his son come through the door. It was uncommon enough that Natsu would come here at all, but the obvious shallowness of his breaths set him on edge immediately. Still, he kept his tone calm, “Natsu? What brings you here?”

The boy wrung his hands together nervously, the words he needed to say heavy on his tongue. “Hey dad,” his slow, uncertain tone was one Igneel was more than familiar with. But it still worried him no less.

“What did you do?” he asked, frankly. Natsu bounced on his feet a little, and it was then that his father noticed the paleness on his face. The jitter in his hands. “Out with it, Natsu,” Igneel ordered firmly.

Natsu gulped, making solid eye-contact with the police chief. “Pops, Levy is in trouble.”

There was a moment of pause, and a flash of concern finally slipped onto the older man’s face. “What kind of trouble? That’s unlike her.”

He took a deep breath, and when he opened his mouth, everything came out in a rush. “Look, I know what this sounds like but I need you to listen to me. And I know I’m in trouble for even going there, but Levy is missing. We went there that one night and we found something weird there but we thought we had put it to bed. But then she told us about this guy that she found there. And these powers he has because of some kind of experiments, and she only told us what she knew about the place--”

“Natsu,” his father stopped his rambling son with a low warning, “Stop, you’re not making any sense. Where did you go? How long has she been missing?” Igneel kept a dangerous calm in his tone to try and offset the boy’s shock, and though his son had a penchant for mischief, he now had his full attention. It was clear that he was shaken, trying to get all the information out at once, but putting it in order was a challenge.

“The old lab,” Natsu finally clarified, and Igneel went stiff. “Levy said it was called Jupiter something, and she was looking into it a lot after we went,” Natsu spoke as quickly as he could, and the more he said, the darker his father’s face became. “And then she told us about this guy named Jose that she saw in town, and I think he might have something to do with–”

The chief’s chair scraped across the wooden floor as he stood abruptly, both palms resting on his desk. “Who?” Igneel snapped, cutting the boy off. “Did she give you a last name?”

Natsu blinked, choked a little by his reaction. “In the notes, it said Jose Porla.”

The name seemed to strike a blow on Igneel and he flinched. After a moment, he leaned forward, narrowing his eyes considerably. “Are you sure?” his deep voice rumbled. The recognition was not the reaction that Natsu had expected, and for a moment too long he stared slack-jawed at his father. “Natsu!” Igneel snapped impatiently. “You need to tell me right now how you have any of this information. Any of it. This isn’t a joke: how do you know any of this?” Something else seemed to catch up to him as the gears turned, processing the information. “How long has she been missing? How deep was she in all of this?”

“I don’t know, maybe a day,” Natsu answered, his voice wavering as urgency settled onto his father’s posture “We saw her last night, and Lucy went over tonight after work and says she left behind her phone, her bag, everything. She found a note under her pillow, all it said was ‘he found me,’” Natsu explained. “She definitely told us that name. She was in deep. We only know all these details because of Levy. All this time she had been trying to find out whatever she could, because of the guy we found there: Gajeel. She’d had him staying with her. Levy said he took off after she had run into Jose.”

Igneel cursed, “She had who at her house?” Every word out of his son’s mouth was more kindling to the fire in his head. He shook his head quickly, “You should have come to me with this immediately.” The edge in his voice looked like it struck the boy with each word. But there was little he could do about it now. Because he had a much bigger problem. “Damn it.” He turned from Natsu, stepping back to one of the many filing cabinets lined up behind his desk. “I thought we were done with this. That it had gone cold. To think he would be as brazen as to…”

“Pops?” Natsu called to him, but not immediate answer. “Dad, you know about all of this?”

“Of course I do,” he barked back over his shoulder before resuming leafing through several folders. “Magnolia had a massive missing person’s crisis years ago. It was one after the other, all of them were young adults and all of them had no connections: no family, few friends. It took forever for us to even get wind of their disappearances and it was usually through landlords. Who knows how many more we never heard about, some were just speculation: residents we knew lived here in cars or alleys, but just stopped being seen years ago.” Igneel’s tone dropped slightly, “The disappearances stopped when the lab was destroyed and we found some evidence that some of the missing people had been there, but none of them were actually found. It was the only solid connection we could make. The building was condemned, half of it we could never get to. Though it seems Levy found the cracks we didn’t.” Igneel finally seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled out a thick file and dropped it onto his desk. “I never wanted to touch this again,” he muttered under his breath. “Levy may not have family but she still doesn’t fully fit the bill of their usual targets,” he mused, flipping open the manila folder and glancing up to Natsu, “You said she found someone in the facility? A Gajeel?”

Natsu nodded, “We all found him, just before Halloween. He chased us off but she went back after. She said she’s been taking care of him since, but like I said, he disappeared after she met Jose.”

For all he knew about Levy, none of it was surprising. Neither was the fact the three of them headed out there to snoop to begin with, as frustrating as it was to a father. He flipped through the stack of papers on his desk, knowing he had read the name before. Finally, Igneel dipped his head and tapped the print, “Right here. Gajeel Redfox. He was one of the unconfirmed, but he was well enough known around town that people noticed when he left. No surviving family, more enemies than friends. We had no proof of a connection to the facility, so we thought he left town.”

Natsu swallowed hard, not quite expecting to have dug up this much. “She brought a whole bunch of notebooks from the place after he left, that’s why she wanted to go when we went the first time. She thought she might find something that would help her find him, but it was all just details on what they did to them.” The boy paused, heavily, “They’re not human anymore, dad.”

“She knows things she shouldn’t,” Igneel stated ominously, “And she’s gone ahead and got herself way more involved than she should be. From Porla’s perspective she’s the only link he has to valuable property. And she loosely matches up to just the type of person they used to target. It makes perfect sense that he’d take her.” Natsu tilted his head in questioning. “They were going to sell the procedures for a fortune, that’s likely why we didn’t find any of them after the close-out. That’s not something they are going to let go easy, but they all just disappeared after.”

Natsu swallowed hard, dread turning his stomach, “She’s in more trouble than we thought.”

“Much more,” he responded lowly, paging through the file. “Her life’s in danger and if we ever want to see her again we need to work fast.” Natsu watched him move past several photos of men and women, presumably the people who had gone missing.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to. We need to get her back,” Natsu announced, determination slowly replacing his shock.

“You will do nothing, you’ve already done what you can,” Igneel replied quickly, shooting Natsu a warning stare to show him he meant it. Natsu frowned, but backed down as Igneel turned his attention back to his case file. FInally, he hummed a little, “When we were conducting the investigation, we found evidence of another facility they planned to relocate to, in Hargeon. But none of the original staff could be traced there, nor did we find any evidence of illegal or even related activity. None of the locals knew anything. The case was closed and went cold about a year ago. That’s our best lead right now,” he slammed the folder shut and tucked it under his arm as he marched across the room and pulled open his door. “I need to get some people on this. I’m not letting this slip away from us again.” Catching sight of the sick worry on his son’s face, Igneel strode around the desk and placed a firm hand on Natsu’s shoulder. “We’re going to get her back. I’m going to do everything in my power.”

#gajevy #ftfanfics #fanfiction #iron legends #fairy tail #gajeel redfox #levy mcgarden

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gwenore · 8 years

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Beneath the Skin. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: More tail fluff. Belle learns a bit about Mr. Gold’s past.

Synopsis: Mr. Gold is feared by the population of the small town of Storybrooke north of Milton in queen Victoria’s England. Known as the Crocodile for his cold blooded nature and his cruel actions, Mr. Gold knows the true horror he can become if something set a fire in his blood. However no one has been able to do so, but then he runs into a young woman who owns a bookstore and something he thought long buried starts clawing its way to the surface.

“We need to do something about your pants,” Belle said as she had finished cleaning the long tail, looking with fascination at how the scales gently gleamed in the light.

“What?” Mr. Gold asked confused.

“Well… since…” Belle decided that there was no real reason to keep walking around it as it was really no chance of it ever going away, decided to simply say it as it was. “Since you have a tail now, we will have to adapt your pants to it. I hardly think it should be hard to do, I could simply split the seam that goes down the middle and add a button to the top. I think that should be comfortable enough to wear… and it would keep your pants from sliding down.”

Mr. Gold simply continued to look absolutely mortified. There was however little he could argue against this.

“I suppose you are correct,” his voice was low.

“Usually am. I will do it quick, I just need to measure it,” she stood up.

“Measure it?” Mr. Gold sputtered in surprise.

“Around the base, so I know how big to make the hole,” she explained, Mr. Gold wondering about her tone and just how naturally she was taking all of this. Then the realization hit him. To measure the tail she would have to put a measuring tape around the base of it. It was still immensely sensitive, but it was drastically more sensitive around the base than the tip. That was something that he was not certain if he would be able to handle, the tip simply curling slightly at the thought.

“Is that absolutely necessary? Can you not have a guess?” Mr. Gold asked with a nervous tone in his voice.

“Do not be silly Mr. Gold. It is far better that I get it right it the first time. It will not take long. Just sit there for a bit longer and I am going to get my measuring tape,” she put her hands on his shoulders, smiling gently towards him. He just glanced up at her before giving a short nod with his head.

“Alright… I suppose that you are correct… again…” he said, but it did not make him anymore comfortable with what was about to happen. Belle nodded her head, she knew that Mr. Gold was a prideful man despite it all, not used to anyone helping him and in truth receiving help from anyone still made him uneasy.

“It will be fine, if I can be so bold… I actually think you are looking quite fetching with a tail,” Belle said, a blush creeping up on her face. He glanced up at her, unsure of what he had just heard her say. He was only greeted by her smile and as those reptilian eyes continued to look at her in utter confusion, she bent down and placed a gentle kiss upon his cheek.

‘What was she…?’ he was about to ask those words out loud but before he had gathered his senses long enough to be able to regain a measure of control over his faculties to be able to do that, she had already walked out the door.

Shaking his head he then met the eyes of his large imp that cocked its head slightly. Mr. Gold then narrowed his eyes at it, before resting his head in his hands.

“Yes… I know,” he muttered as it climbed onto his lap and curled up, Mr. Gold’s clawed hand running over its raised spine gently.

Belle did not take long before she came back, measuring tape in hand as well as a sewing kit which she held under her arm.

The sight of Mr. Gold sitting there, imp still in his lap was one of the sweetest things that Belle had ever seen.

“He seems comfortable,” she stated as she got down on her knees. “Why… why is he so much bigger than the rest?”

In truth she had wondered this for a while about the imp, but as she knew that Mr. Gold was still not comfortable with the fact that he had a tail she thought it might help him to be able to think about something else.

“He is older, guess that is the explanation,” he said looking back at her. Belle smiled as she reached out her hand and also gave the large imp a gentle pat on its head, it nudging against her palm and letting out a chirp towards her.

“Do you… do you know how old he is?” she then continued asking discretely taking out her measuring tape, moving it closer to the tail. Mr. Gold just shook his head.

“No... not exactly at least. But my guess… he is as old as I am… if not older,” Mr. Gold then said. Belle had to blink at this.

“Truly?” it was not an answer that she would never had expected.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised… I am not that old,” he quipped towards her, smirking slightly.

“It was not what I meant,” she said firmly, he was older than her, but she certainly did not find him too old for her. He simply shrugged.

“But yes… I have known him since I was a child… always been there, one way or the other. I played with him as a young child, a secret of mine. Then… when I grew up, he remained close, though I then tried to convince myself that the imps were not real, but he was always there… gaining new friends every couple of years. And no matter how far away they were… they were always in here,” he pointed at his own head. Belle was listening with rapt attention to what the man was saying, sitting there on her knees and gazing up at him, her mission for now forgotten. She had never heard him talk about his childhood before… Belle had never asked either, feeling how guarded he was. He was deep down a very untrusting man… She feeling that she might be the only one he had ever really placed any trust in. Something had made him like that. A memory between them that she hardly ever thought about was the first morning she had spent in his house, when she found out what was happening and for a moment had recoiled from him… his reaction in that moment. That look in his eyes still broke her heart. She vowed that she would never make him feel like that ever again, because she was so certain that although no one could fault the way she reacted… he had been hurt like that so many times before. He had only spoken of his parents once, that they were human, but he had expressed a hatred for them which Belle could never fathom fully.

Still… now he dared to share with her… speaking about a familiar… a friend. She smiled as she once again petted the imp, which returned her affection.

“So… if he was the first… where did the rest come from?” she had to ask. Mr. Gold simply shrugged his shoulders.

“I do not know,” he murmured softly. “They just show up.”

“Have you ever… wondered?” Belle was choosing her questions carefully. Mr. Gold simply gave a slight shrug.

“Certainly… but… haven’t dared to find out. Before… it happened… I tried to suppress it, everything about it. I never let my thoughts even venture close to such considerations and questions. Then… it was after the fire in the bookstore. I called them too me. I don’t know when, but… I did. And they came. So I took them home, thought about keeping them hidden… that part did not really work out,” he had a slight amused smirk upon saying that, the imps had become a much bigger part of his life than he had imagined… and her ease around them. Even upon first meeting them and learning that such creatures did in fact exist… she had readily accepted them, her first request having been to pet one.

After that, she had only taken more and more care of them, the creatures which had survived so long on their own was now being taken care off and given affection. He was not really different from an imp was he?

“I am certainly happy that you chose to share your friends with me, they are very friendly creatures in truth… well perhaps not to cats, but it does feel nice to walk through the door and be greeted by exciting and happy chirping,” she let out a laugh.

“They only chirp around you. With me they don’t have to, so I have never really heard them make noise before they started living with you. As I have said, the concept of speech is very foreign to them, where they come from there is no such thing, but as you kept talking to them… and they could not communicate normally with you… they started to chirp. They think they are speaking and since you act happy when they chirp… they think they are doing it correctly and you are having a conversation,” Mr. Gold explained to her. At this Belle let out a laugh, shaking her head slightly, looking at the imps which were gathered around them, stroking the head of a couple that was close to her.

“That is actually quite adorable,” she smiled gleefully. Mr. Gold found himself once more in her thrall, feeling that nothing could make him happier than simply seeing her smile.

“Well… they are not the brightest of creatures… and you did not find them adorable when you found out they ate sheriff’s Nolan’s horse,” he reminded her. Belle had to shake her head at that one.

“I don’t get it… with all that we feed them you suspect it would be enough for them not to hunt. Certainly to keep them from bringing it into the house!” she shuddered, thinking back to a particularly nasty discovery she had made behind one of the couches. Luckily Mr. Gold had been on hand to toss the half eaten remains of the unfortunate cat out. Belle did not notice how abashed Mr. Gold grew upon her indirect mention of that event.

“It is instinct…” he muttered. “I doubt we could manage to rid them of it.”

“I guess…” Belle now remembered the task that was at hand. It seemed that Mr. Gold was now at least somewhat distracted, so she thought she would be able to get the measurements without his knowing and it would be easier for him.

This turned out to be a mistake on her part.

Quickly she wrapped the tape around the base of his tail. Mr. Gold, who had not been prepared by something touching a very sensitive area of his body, startled, and that long tail lashed out, its strength easily knocking Belle over.

Both remained there in shocked surprise at what had just happened, Belle slightly rubbing her side where the tail had struck her, but there was a look of pained amusement on her face.

“I am sorry Mr. Gold… I thought it would be better if you weren’t aware by what I was going to do,” Belle explained herself. The look in Mr. Gold’s golden eyes told that he did not at all think that was a good idea.

“I promise… it won’t happen again,” she assured him as she sat herself up again, a bit in amazement at how strong the tail was. He then gave a nod, and although he continued to make quite the fuss, not able to sit still… Belle eventually got the measurements she needed to start work on modifying his pants.

#rumbelle fic #beneath the skin #rumbelle fanfiction #tail fluff #imps

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