#This situation stinks for everyone involved | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

johnwickb1tsch · 6 months ago

Text

bittersweet ~ a yandere!John Wick x fem!reader sunshine/grump coffee shop AU... Part 40 all chapters

WARNING: NSFW, SEXUAL CONTENT, VIOLENCE, YANDERE SH!T. Plz take care. I luv u all. 😘

40. parlay

At last the time has come.

On the roof, you are all sitting around Winston’s behemoth of a conference table. There’s an early fall chill in the air, but the sky is blue. The High Table’s Adjudicator sits at the head. Winston her opposite. John and you to her right, which you hope is significant. D’Antonio to her left, across from John, and the Camorra bosses across from you.

Earlier, Dante d’Antonio tried to make a stink about falling into the pool, claiming Wick struck him, but everyone with any authority ignored him.

In fact, all the adults at the table seem pretty fed up with young Dante d’Antonio’s loud complaints.��

The fact that his mother momentarily sat at the High Table doesn’t seem to help the kid out much. The two emissaries from the Camorra, who are not d’Antonios but rank highly in their clan, seem equally contemptuous. According to Winston, the twenty-something has proved more pain-in-the-neck than asset to his syndicate’s endeavors. Apparently they are honor bound to take care of the kid, but he’s not making it easy by half.

Maybe he’d thought to win some respect by being the one who finally took down John Wick while restoring his family’s honor, but it seems like his fellow Camorra are not having it. They glare at him from across the table, exuding annoyance. You don’t speak Italian, but you’re pretty sure they’ve told him to shut the fuck up at least twice. They clearly want to be anywhere but here.

“Normally the High Table would not concern itself with such petty squabbles such as this,” begins the Adjudicator, looking pointedly at young d’Antonio. “But due to the…incendiary potential of the parties involved…” This time they glare at John. “We would like to resolve this issue quickly, and peacefully.”

D’Antonio erupts, unable to contain himself. “He killed my mother! I have every right to seek revenge!”

“I was fulfilling a marker to your uncle, Santino d’Antonio. I didn’t want to, but I followed the rules of the Table. I should be absolved.”

The young man breaks out yelling in Italian, gesturing wildly, and the Camorra emissaries start yelling down the table at d’Antonio. It’s all you can do to just sit still and watch, doing your best to play it cool.

“Shut. Up!” snarls the Adjudicator, banging their hand on the table. The roof falls silent. “This situation is further complicated by the fact that Wick has won his freedom from the High Table. We are bound to honor that, and by we that includes you, d’Antonio.”

“I am honor bound to defend my family.”

“I understand that you’re in pain,” says John with surprising empathy. “Gianna was my friend. I was the bullet, but your Uncle Santino pulled the trigger. I killed him for it in this very hotel. I avenged us both. Let’s let it go.”

Dante glares across the table at John. His pupils are the size of saucers, and you wonder if drugs have something to do with young D’Antonio’s erratic behavior. “You wish it was that simple, old man. I will have my vengeance!”

That’s when it all goes to hell.

The idiotic man-child is so stupid as to produce a switchblade, going for John’s hand on the table. Maybe he thought the hitman’s legend was all trumped up hearsay. Maybe he thought he could beat Wick, jacked up on cocaine. Either way–he was wrong.

John has D’Antonio laid out across the table, being choked by his own tie and his own knife at his jugular, in two seconds flat.

One of the Italians across from you starts yelling–and produces a small gun.

There weren’t supposed to be any guns at this parlay, but honor amongst theives, and all that.

You do not even think, the maneuver drilled into you over and over by Mariko. You reach out, twisting the gun up and in the opposite direction of his fingers savagely, breaking one of them in the trigger guard. A shot pops off into the sky before you manage to wrench the gun from him, hitting him in the face with it. It puts the older man on his ass, back in his chair, cradling his broken hand with a bloody nose and a look of shock as he stares down the barrel of his own gun held by you, the seemingly innocent one of the group.

Ignoring the shouted warnings from Winston and the Adjudicator, John snarls down at the idiotic young man in his iron grasp, “You seem kind of stupid, so let me put it in terms you’ll understand. You attacked me, three times now, while in the company of the woman I intend to make my wife. If you keep this up I’m going to come for you. I’m going to kill you, and everyone you love. And then, I’m going to kill everyone you’re associated with. I’ll kill their families too, because I’m done playing. I will gut your entire operation for fucking with me, because that’s who I fucking am. All I want is to be left the fuck alone and I don’t know why that is so goddamn hard for you people to understand!”

It might be the longest speech you’ve ever heard from John, (what you can hear, through the ringing in your ears), and by the end of it he is positively vibrating with the urge to just break D’Antonio’s neck. The threat of murder hangs in the air like a volatile gas; one little spark and everything will explode.

In the interim, D’Antonio’s face has turned magenta.

Your arms are shaking with adrenaline as you hold the gun on the Italians and wait, your attention trained on John’s slightest move out the corner of your eye. If he kills the boy–the two of you will have to run. There will be no other option left to you. The High Table will come after him again–and you doubt the two of you will survive it this time. The two of you. There is not an iota of doubt in your heart in that moment, that you will run with him wherever he goes, to the end.

A tense silence has fallen over the table, the only sound D’Antonio’s strained gurgles as he struggles for some scrap of oxygen past his constricted windpipe.

You are so surprised, when the Adjudicator speaks up, their tone incredibly calm and level, considering the circumstances. “The Table rules that your demands are reasonable, Mr. Wick. Dante d’Antonio will cease acting upon his vendetta. For all our sakes. If he defies this order, we will consider it a direct act of defiance not only from him, but the Camorra. Do you all understand?”

Dante’s eyes bug wide, and it’s impossible to tell if it’s with defiance, or death throes.

“John…” you say softly, not wanting to spook him into something you’ll all regret even further. “Let him go. Did you hear them? Let him go, baby, and we can go home.” You continue to speak to him, trying to talk him down.

John is breathing heavily, with exertion–and rage. The few seconds that go by seem interminable. Time veritably stands still, in the tense showdown between you all. You count it in heartbeats, thundering in your ears.

Somehow, eventually, your voice gets through to John. Finally, he lets the boy go, putting the switchblade away in his pocket. D’Antonio gasps for breath on the table, his hands flying to his throat.

You pop the clip of the little Beretta, eject the bullet in the chamber, and remove the slide for good measure before setting most of the parts down on the table in a gesture of peace–you keep the clip.

Surely you won’t get in trouble for defending yourselves?

D’Antonio struggles to situate himself back into his chair, practically falling off the edge of the table clumsily. Oxygen deprivation is a bitch.

“No,” hisses D’Antonio through damaged vocal chords, glaring at John. One of his eyes is cherry red, a blood vessel popped in the strangulation.

“Chiudi la bocca! Stupido ragazzo!” erupts the other Italian boss, glaring at D’Antonio and his compatriot who produced the gun in defense of the idiotic boy. “We understand. If he does not give up this childish fixation, I will kill him myself. Capisce?”

“Excellent,” says the Adjudicator. “I will hold you accountable to that, Signor Barzini. I would like to consider this matter closed.”

They stand from their place at the head of the table, signaling that the meeting is over. Claudio, the Barzini whose hand you broke, glares at you while collecting the pieces of his firearm. “Nice trick, little girl. Give me the clip.”

You look at Winston, who unhelpfully gives you a little shrug, playing the unaffected gentleman amidst the kerfuffle. After a long stare, you decide to comply, on your own terms. You produce the thing and remove every bullet, putting the heavy projectiles in your pocket, before handing the boss the empty clip.

“Grazie mille,” he says with a sardonic nod.

“Prego,” you answer with a grimace.

Alluding to his annoyance with the man daring to bring a gun to the parlay, Winston sides, “Please let the front desk know, if you require a doctor to look at your hand?”

It seems like Claudio would like to say something more on that subject, but his comrade claps his shoulder, advising something quick in Italian. Claudio glares at you a final time, but makes to leave.

D’Antonio is the last to stand from the table. He manages to hold his temper this time, though there is still a raging fire in his bloodshot eyes. First he looks at John, receiving no reaction but a hard, dark stare.

Then, he turns to you, and you’ll admit it. You squirm a little in your seat. Always ready to make an ass of yourself when you’re nervous, you lift your hand in a flirty little finger wave, your engagement ring winking like a star in the sunlight. “Ciao, bella,” you say sweetly, winning yourself a nasty little smirk.

“Fucking Americans,” he says under his breath, but he goes, and the Camorra bosses with him. Only then do you feel safe to reach for John’s hand, and he squeezes your fingers in his, just this side of too hard.

“Can we go home now?” you ask hopefully, and you could have wept right there on the rooftop in front of Winston for the answer.

“I think so.”

#john wick #john wick x reader #john wick x you #john wick fic #keanu reeves #keanu reeves x reader #john wick x y/n #yandere john wick #bittersweet john wick imagine

122 notes · View notes

magniloquent-raven · 1 year ago

Text

I am once again plagued with thoughts that aren't 100% coherent so imma just ramble for a bit, pls gather 'round for some stuff about Billy and body image issues cuz I'm in my feels rn.

Billy spends a lot of time staring at Nancy.

Enough that Tommy's noticed and he starts ribbing him about it. "That's one thing of Steve's you might want to stay away from," bitter and pointed. Enough that Jonathan Byers gives him the stink eye whenever he's within glaring distance. Enough that a handful of the more desperate chicks still high off the fumes of his New Kid smell have started dressing like fucking librarians in hopes of catching his eye.

He doesn't give a shit about any of it, if anything the rumour mill is helping him out for once. Less work involved in keeping up appearances if everyone just assumes he isn't sleeping around because he's too busy sniffing Wheeler's granny panties.

As long as no one guesses the real reason, it's fine. It's fucking peachy. It's one silver lining in this shitstorm of a situation.

He's so tired of his eyes inevitably being drawn to her barely-there tits and tiny waist. Every time he's bored at lunch, his gaze wanders. When he's in the library pretending to study, there she fucking is, even smaller when she's hunched over a pile of cue cards.

The longer he looks at her the more sure he is that Steve will never really want him.

Steve's slept with plenty of girls. A variety of girls. He probably couldn't afford to be too picky in this shitty little town. But he's only fallen in love once. One time. The only time it mattered what he was sticking his dick in was when it was in Nancy Wheeler.

And Billy...will never be her. Not even close.

He'll only ever be a warm mouth and a convenient hand, he'll never matter.

She's flat, and thin. Willowy, narrow-shouldered. Petite. Inches shorter than him and nearly half as broad. Thin fingers and delicate wrists. She fit comfortably under Steve's arm, she could nestle safely into his side.

And it was all so fucking easy for her. She never had to try.

She never had to piss off her dad so she'd be forced to skip meals. She never did laps around her neighbourhood until she was lightheaded and doubled over, dry-heaving in someone's hedge. She was never forced to sign up for baseball as a child, poked and prodded and guilted into it because a couple shirts were starting to get tight across the stomach, and being a momma's boy was bad enough, being a fat, lazy piece of shit too was unacceptable.

He used to think he'd done well, maintaining the physique he has. He's worked hard for it. Scraping together his savings for a weight set and keeping careful track of his calorie intake and never skipping a single fucking day of exercise, hangovers and broken bones be damned. And it's fucking useful, truth be told. More than keeping away the echo of old insults bouncing around in his head, it's made flirting that much easier.

But the more he looks at Nancy Wheeler, the more he hates the things he can't change. It gets into his head. Digs in deep, leaving scars on its way down.

He thinks Steve might've noticed.

He knows Steve has heard the stupid rumours about Wheeler, and probably chalked it up to Billy being an asshole, as usual. But it's harder to explain away his sudden tendency to go extremely still whenever Steve puts his hands anywhere on his torso. A palm pressed to his chest, slipped under his shirt, or fingertips digging into his back, or a casual fucking pat on the shoulder—whatever it is, he can't help freezing up, if only for a second, a sick feeling twisting his stomach, cold and shameful and clawing at his lungs.

And then, eventually, they argue.

It's over nothing. And everything. Billy can't explain what his fucking damage is, and Steve can't stop needling in the wrong places. They scream at each other until their throats are raw and Billy leaves when his knuckles start to itch.

He cries all the way home and doesn't eat for four days. Not on purpose. Not consciously. He's just. Fucking. Busy. He's busy. He's always gotta drive Max somewhere or dodge Neil's thinly veiled threats or lock himself in his room when bile starts to bubble up in the back of his throat and his head pounds and he doesn't think about why he's snapping at everyone constantly, he just pounds back a couple beers and goes to sleep. And then it's four days later, and he's flying off the handle at Neil, too sluggish and lightheaded to see the hit coming, and...

Steve comes to see him at the hospital. He hasn't told anyone anything but they've got him hooked up to a banana bag and the nurses keep making sad eyes at him when they come to check his stitches.

He hates it, sitting around doing nothing, being closely monitored every fucking second, it make his skin crawl, and he hates it even more when Steve's standing in the doorway looking at him.

Not for the first time, he's overwhelmed wondering what exactly Steve sees.

He's a fucking mess right now. Greasy hair tangled at the back, bruises peeking out from under the collar of his gross papery hospital gown, one eye swollen shut and a dark tangle of thread holding his eyebrow together. It feels stupid to get stressed about all the shit that usually bothers him when there's so many other things to worry about, but he still finds himself shifting in place, hunching his shoulders, hiding his hands in the crooks of his elbows.

It's sort of a disaster. Worse than last time they saw each other. Billy's not in the mood for Steve's apologies and Steve's at a loss for what else to say.

They don't see each other again for months. Steve graduates. Billy avoids anywhere he thinks Steve might be, and lies awake at night haunted by stolen touches.

He catches a glimpse of Steve through the red haze of storm clouds and cold lightning, tears blurring his vision, the Mind Flayer wearing him like a suit. Their cars collide, and everything whites out for a second.

He's in the hospital again when they finally talk. Billy rolls his eyes at "We've gotta stop meeting like this," and tries not to think about last time he was here. Steve seems more than willing to ignore it. Move forward. Guess demonic possession puts some things into a different perspective.

When Billy's released from the hospital he's seventeen pounds heavier than he was a few months ago. Every time the nurses did their check-ups and put him on the scale they'd pat his elbow, smiling encouragingly, telling him how good he was doing while he watched his stomach get softer, his biceps get less defined, watched himself disappear beneath a layer of fat.

The first thing he does when he gets home is throw up.

He doesn't make it happen. It just happens. And he blames it on the meds they have him on. It's a plausible enough reason, and it means he doesn't have to interrogate the tiny spark of satisfaction he got from losing his lunch.

His second day back home Neil asks him when he's going to start exercising again. His expression is pinched. Cold. His eyes are ice chips freezing Billy's skin wherever they touch, lingering on the softness under his chin, and where the hem of his sleeve pinches his skin.

He pushes his dinner away and grits out an answer from between clenched teeth.

He doesn't need the reminder that he's gotten weak while he was trapped in a hospital bed, but Neil gives it to him anyways. Tells him all about everything he should do to get things back to normal. Push past the pain. Work harder. He tunes it out after a while, and watches grease congeal on his meatloaf.

Eddie Munson is the first person to bring up the things Billy's never known how to talk about.

They started hanging out after Billy's most recent brush with death. Billy's not sure exactly how the got here, from buying the occasional painkiller and letting the guy wax poetic about his dumb band, to spending weekends getting high together at the trailer park. But as weird things in his life go, it's barely worth questioning.

This particular conversation starts with Chrissy Cunningham.

Specifically, Eddie's massive boner for her.

Billy's been noticing it for a while. He hasn't been letting it bother him.

He hasn't.

Maybe he likes the way Eddie smiles at him when they pass a joint back and forth, lazily stretched out and wearing three less layers than usual, and maybe he thinks about closing the distance between them when Eddie offers to shotgun, but it doesn't fucking matter. Just like it doesn't matter that Steve hasn't touched him since before the Mind Flayer and things are fucking weird now that they're on speaking terms again. None of it matters, he's just a fucking idiot.

Because Steve and his new best friend Robin are attached at the hip lately and everyone can see where that's going, and Eddie won't stop talking about tiny, pretty, perfect fucking Chrissy and her stupid ponytail.

And Billy...Billy gets winded walking up the porch steps at his house now. And he pulled a muscle in his back trying to lift half the weight he used to press. And last week he burned three pairs of jeans in the backyard because he kept grabbing them out of his laundry pile, not realizing they don't fit anymore until he was struggling to pull them up past his knees.

He's lost the one thing people used to actually like about him. Never the people he wanted, he was never enough for that, but it was something. Now he's just...

Now he's just listening to a guy he likes talk about some goddamn cheerleader like she personally hung the moon just for him.

And he's drunk. They're both drunk. Eddie in a soppy, embarrassing way, with a sparkle in his eye and a flush on his cheeks, an arm across the back of the couch, outstretched far enough that the tips of his fingers almost brush Billy's shoulder.

He wants to move closer. Thinks about shuffling into Eddie's space, curling into the warmth at his side. But it twists in his guts, sours, sickens—he couldn't, he can't. And he hates himself for wanting to.

"What do you see in her?" spills out of his mouth, bitter on his tongue and sharpened by anger he has no right to feel.

She's pretty. He expects it. She's pretty, she's perfect. She's a fucking angel even though her and Eddie only know each other because she buys drugs off of him. But she can do no wrong because she looks like a little china doll with sad eyes and everyone would be devastated if a single hair on her tiny delicate head was harmed.

Eddie only looks thrown off for a second. A moment. But he shrugs it off, leans his head back against the couch cushions and grins at the ceiling. "She likes my music."

Since fucking when.

"So, what, it's just an ego stroking thing then."

"Nah, man. I mean. Like. She's got this whole good-girl thing going on, but you should see her when I pull out my guitar, it's fuckin'...magic. When she lets herself just. Live." He wiggles his fingers in the air, arms spread, then drops them back down.

Billy's heart clenches, squeezes. It hurts and he doesn't know why. "Bullshit."

"Nah, nah. Seriously. The guy she's dating is a fucking asshole. And her mom..." he trails off, and rubs his eye. "She's just got all this pressure to be perfect, act a certain way, look a certain way, be a certain way, and I hate seeing what it does to her, man. I hate it. No one should have to deal with all that. So. I dunno. I like helping her cut loose. Sorta, find herself, I guess." He cracks a crooked smile, casting a glance in Billy's direction.

And his smile drops.

"Billy?" He sits up, cautious, eyebrows up and his eyes wide.

Billy turns away, shocked into motion, wiping at his face with his sleeve. "I'm fine. Fuck off."

He didn't notice he was crying until Eddie looked at him like he'd seen a ghost.

"Yeah, obviously."

"Fuck you."

Eddie doesn't get much more out of him that night. But he starts watching Billy like a hawk after that. Checking in on him at random. Calling if they haven't seen each other in a few days. It should be irritating as fuck, and he acts like it is, but he still basks in the attention.

Doesn't hurt that it seems to annoy Steve to no end.

Especially doesn't hurt when, in a fit of apparent jealousy, Steve shoves Billy into a wall and kisses him like his life depends on it.

The hurt comes when Steve starts to unbutton Billy's shirt and Billy reflexively shoves him away, when he wants to keep going but wants it to stop and can't tell Steve either of those things because he doesn't have the words.

So he gets angry. At Steve, for pushing it, crossing lines he can't even see. But mostly at himself, because it might be easier than standing there heartbroken but he knows it's the worst thing he could do.

And at Steve, again, when the he doesn't respond the way he should. Doesn't punish Billy for doing the wrong thing, reacting wrong, being wrong. He doesn't withdraw and save himself, he tries to understand, tries to talk it out, like this is something Billy can just say out loud and it'll all be fixed.

He doesn't explain. Not that day. But he lets Steve hold him while he cries, ugly gasping sobs into the front of Steve's shirt, curled up in his lap, collapsed on the floor and tangled together. Because despite everything he's told himself, he does fit comfortably in Steve's arms.

💜tag list ppl💜 @spreckle @growup-thatbeautiful @prettyboy-like-you @suddenlyinlove

#stranger things #billy hargrove #harringrove #mungrove #a raven's writing desk #tw disordered eating #tw body issues #body image issues

431 notes · View notes

springstarfangirl · 7 months ago

Note

hi spring! i'm writing an orthodox jewish character and had a few questions for you.

how does a synagogue work? as in. what does a service look like, and is it possible to visit a synagogue outside of set "service" hours? is the rabbi available for discussion etc outside of those hours?

my character's dad died when he was very young, so his (jewish) mother would take him to the synagogue. would he have to sit on the male side of the synagogue as a child? or would that start after his bar mitzvah?

thank you so much!

Thank you for trusting me with these questions!

Now, a large portion of these questions might be highly dependent on where the characters live, since Israeli shuls tend to be rather different than ones in America, but I'll answer what I know and tag some other people here to offer a more diasporic perspective.

So, Orthodox Jewish prayer service happens three times a day. Morning, afternoon, and night. The morning service is the longest of the three in general, and the special additional Shabbat service is generally hooked on to the end of the morning service, making it quite long depending on the length of the Torah portion that week and how fluently the members of the shul speak Hebrew.

A service will generally be entirely in Hebrew with snippets of Aramaic, though there are places in between the prayers (mainly Shabbat night and morning) where people will sometimes stop and give a dvar Torah, which will usually be in the local language. Shabbat morning service in Israel can be as fast as an hour and a half and I've heard tell of diaspora services that take three or four hours. The length also depends on how much singing you do, and this is a different type of singing than you'd see in a Christian house of worship- we prefer to avoid choirs in our worship (I think it stinks too much of Christianity) and so singing is generally all melodic, involving everyone in the shul.

Whether you can visit a shul outside of service hours depends on the shul. Most community shuls will be locked up, but there are shuls meant to service workers in various jobs, and those will often remain open all day. The rabbi should be available outside of prayer hours for questions and advice, since as the Jewish law expert, that's what he's there for.

Specific people acting as a paid cantor isn't something I've experienced in Israel, since most people are somewhat fluent in Hebrew and the position of cantor will get passed around from week to week, but I've heard it's a thing outside of here.

Children do not have to sit on the appropriate side of the mechitza until they come of age (13 for boys, 12 for girls) but most communities will prefer having them start around the age of 10, with exceptions made depending on the situation. Depending on the style of mechitza, your character could still sit next to his mother then- if they're mobile wooden barriers or curtains, then there will be seating either side of them, and your character and his mother could sit next to each other either side of the mechitza. If the women's section is an elevated section accessed separately, then that's rough on the kid, but the mom might ask a friend to help him get used to it.

Tagging @slyandthefamilybook @daughterofstories @resplendent-ragamuffin @theskyvoid for more specific diasporic stuff.

#jumblr #orthodox judaism #modern orthodox #orthodox jews #writing advice #feel free to join in on the advice becaude i do not know everything

79 notes · View notes

archivalofsins · 1 month ago

Text

I will say one thing it's always so impressive to me how most analysis of Futa's behavior end up playing directly into his mentality and on his terms while seemingly being unaware that they are doing so.

By that I mean most fans tend to met Futa on his level because it's the only level they know. They only know how to critique him from his playing field because they've failed to recognize his playing field are the spaces they frequent every day.

I think this is due to no one being comfortable with critiquing the issues Futa and Mu as a pair represent. So their stories get reduced to bullying instead of the structural and societal issues that incentivize the mindsets they have.

Usually analysis of their behavior never gets further than Mu is a bully but it's fine because she had a hard time as well what was going on directly impacted her, Futa is a bully but it's wrong because nothing these people were doing ever impacted him personally he just inserted himself into the situation so that he could feel superior.

The level of proximity between Futa and his victims makes it easy for people to judge how rational his actions were.

Because to an extent a lot of people consciously or subconsciously recognize if something isn't impacting them they don't have to get involved or up in arms about it. Many have realized that just because someone is doing something wrong doesn't mean they have to swoop in and be a hero.

This is why his takeaway from his guilty verdict was this,

Q.02 What do you think of Haruka?

Futa: I can’t afford to be worrying about other people at the moment. Anyway, he's not a little kid.

Q.04 Would you make the same mistake again?

Futa: I don’t think so- I don’t think I could take this kind of pain again.

Q.18 Do you regret anything?

Futa: I do. What was I even doing that stuff for in the first place? What other people are doing doesn’t have any impact on me.

It's better to sit back and do nothing than try to do something then wind up getting hurt too. Other people are hurting who cares I'm trying to take care of me. They need to figure it out on their own. What happens to others isn't my problem I need to worry about myself. It doesn't matter if what someone else is doing is wrong, harmful, or can end in their death I shouldn't intrude, mind my business, and take care of me first and foremost.

That's right. You know those people who just wanna convince themselves- So, they intrude on other people's affairs even though it's not their place?

20/05/26

Kazui: Ahh, this old man’s gonna go and smoke in the corner a bit. I checked with the guard, and apparently we can use our free time however we want. Man, I’m glad this place is so relaxed.

Shidou: ……! Are…… we allowed to smoke……?

Kazui: Huh…… Shidou-kun, was it? You smoke too? That’s kinda unexpected.

Shidou: Ah, yes. ……I only started fairly recently though. I’ll go with you…… to smoke.

Futa: Ahh, those old men really stink of tobacco. Are they idiots or something? They should know better at that age…… If they really can’t cope without relying on something like that then I worry about their sanity.

Yuno: ……it doesn’t really matter does it? They’re making sure they’re staying far away from the people who don’t smoke. Personally I quite like the smell anyway.

Futa: Huh!? What are you talking about? It means you’re more likely to get sick, it costs money, it’s a nuisance for everyone around you, what’s even the point. Our tax money is being wasted going towards paying for that, you know? If you were really smart, you’d know not to smoke at all!

Yuno: I see~

I despise them. That's what I was saying. They only do that to make themselves feel better, don't they? Those people don't actually end up doing anything.

Q.09 What do you think about the first trial’s results?

Futa: You and me are the same, aren’t we?

You and you, throwing around rules for fun, hoisting up morality and feeling good. (Backdraft)

Don’t weigh me measure me against your morality. - Who needs your self-righteous pardon? (Tear Drop)

Just shut it, will you? You know it all - I ***'t *e b**h**ed... (I won't be bothered. or I can't be bothered.)

Q.16 Do you have anyone you hate?

Yuno: People who like to lecture you.

21/07/05 (Mu’s Birthday)

Mu: Yuno. Don’t you have something to say to me?

Yuno: Huh? To you? Me? ……ahh, uh? Your birthday, right? Happy birthday~

Mu: How mean… Since it’s my birthday, I really wish you’d said something before I had to come and tell you myself.

Yuno: Right, right, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in future~ Later! Haha… things have become even more of a bother… ……so was that Mu-chan’s real personality, then? It’s probably because the guard did something, right?

22/07/05 (Mu’s Birthday)

Mu: Hey~~~ Isn’t everyone a bit gloomy lately? I get that this situation isn’t ideal, but you’re really bringing down the mood for my birthday.

Yuno: Haha, surely even you can tell now’s not really the time for something like that right. Nobody’s really in the mood, or rather nobody has time time to deal with something like that.

Mu: Boo, how boring. You seem to be free, you can celebrate for me. Go on, celebrate.

Yuno: Wow, what a pain. I’m reading the atmosphere properly and keeping quiet. Well, you just go and have fun with Haruka. In the corner somewhere so you’re out of everyone’s way.

We are just the same. (It's Not My Fault)

I see~ I’ll be more careful in future~ Later! Wow, what a pain.

Futa and Mu both impose themselves on others.

They insert themselves into situations they shouldn't be in for attention. They make drama where there is none. They do it to feel good about themselves. All because they were bored.

So to me when people meet the prisoners on their level and take everything they've presented at face value they're extending them a lot of good faith. Good faith I frankly believe none of them deserve. Whenever someone talks about the situations they present in their music videos regardless of how much these characters are shown to lie the authenticity of their recounts are rarely ever questioned.

For example with Futa none of the incidents illustrated to us in Bring It On are scrutinized fully.

Except possibly the incident with replicating the stores hat which is something that is mostly scrutinized for how far he took the incident and not on the basis of the incident itself. In fairness with two of the incidents, the hat one and the one with the person who laid down in freezer both parties took pictures of themselves doing the thing and posted those online of their own volition.

Yet, with the incident involving the teacher Futa took that picture.

There's discussion around taking pictures with out the consent of the individual of course. Yet this is meeting Futa on his level. People are playing into Futa's way of thinking by trying to find a more ethical way to create a callout post. When Bring It On implies in a few ways that Futa only cared about getting that teacher fired.

The music vide even starts with him complaining about the teachers at his school and his university classes in general. The first tweets we're greeted with in Bring It On is him complaining about school,

流＠しずくと読みます: School work has really been a pain lately… I don’t want to type another word るめりえ＠D_T: Know any good games? キマ注意＠ダークトラ…: Nothing’s happened lately, it’s boring まっすMAN（強化中）: …wait, it’s Monday? Which means uni today??? I haven’t… done my homework… Storm Pazuzu（＝Futa）: A L L M Y C L A S S E S A R E S O D U L L . W A S T E O F M Y S C H O O L F E E S Storm Pazuzu（＝Futa）: Everyone else there is an idiot so it’s boring YU-TA:Let’s go to the arcade then!!!! Storm Pazuzu（＝Futa）: The people in charge here are shit. I could do a much better job Avyxs@D_T: Uni is so much fun! It can be a pain depending on your subjects but my friends and teachers are hilarious

He's still heading to the arcade during this exchange. He seems to be leaving school. So he can't be talking about the service at the arcade yet.

They even transition to the arcade center when he arrives.

So he's still very much talking about school when he says the people in charge here. When he gets to the arcade they're talking about a completely different thing.

I'm not understanding how his music video can starts off showing the audience him complaining about his classes being boring and his teachers being stupid. Yet when the same audience is shown him initiating an attack for the first time against a faculty member at the school he just complained about it goes unquestioned.

Instead people accept his framing of events immediately.

Similarly to how many would accept any other callout that they see online without question. It's fine to discuss the girl not consenting to allowing her photo to be used. The fact that he posted an individual in appears to be a vulnerable moment without their consent. Yet, we don't even know if this is what he was presenting it to be and there's more evidence that it wasn't then it was.

Certainly this teacher may have been committing sexual harassments or misconduct and Futa just got super lucky he was in the area and able to get a picture to bring attention to it online under some anonymity. Yet, if this was really the case why not just report it? Why didn't anyone else in the area hear or say anything. Why do students from the same university as him respond with fear, shock, and confusion?

♡MANA♡: Mr Inoue……? That’s scary……

Why doesn't the girl in the photo he provided ever step forward for it to be taken down or say anything about the incident? Especially if it's already reached other students at the university who know this teacher by name and have probably seen her.

Storm Pazuzu（＝Futa）: Please spread this around. Some sexual harassment I came across from a university teacher. Don’t think he realised someone was watching lmao. Please report to the uni 恐縮です: I’m amazed you were able to get a photo 自由（��きゅうじん） My uni is done for now wwww ♡MANA♡: Mr Inoue……? That’s scary…… io :Sexual harassment is pretty much the worst thing a person can do. How are you gonna explain this??? 毒門第一号: Oof lmao she looks like she’s gonna be sick kakikukeko@ド: What an idiot, you should just (…) already まっすMAN（強化中）: Super gross, thanks for exposing a lowlife sexual harasser AAA@DT: Has he got no shame!!! Go to hell!!! That’s so gross!!! るめりえ＠D_T: What a fucking pig, that’s just gross lmao

I'm fine with walking down this bridge with anyone willing to interrogate this.

Let's go over the facts that would make this situation true. Firstly, Futa would have to have been the only one in that area that day. Something incredibly unlikely because this is a college on a school day. He also conveniently shows a map of the floor he's on with all the people on it.

Including himself as the blue arrow. Yet there could be more people on this floor and these are just the people he knows about given as many will be able to see here the people he sees in the room aren't on the map. So basically the green dots are more than likely Futa's friends at school or people who he associates with online who go to the same college. I speculate this because when he's complaining about uni he's immediately invited out to the arcade by someone else online.

So he wasn't just friends with these people online but irl as well. Which would explain why some people are on the map and not others.

This is the ground floor of a university on a school day. There are fourteen people on this floor outside of Futa himself. Two in the room right next to the one this incident takes place in.

None of those people heard or saw anything? They just never left those rooms after Futa went to class. No one had to go the same route he was going to get to their classes. I don't know like one of the two people in the hallway behind him.

They were just going elsewhere I suppose that's convenient. Though maybe they all wanted this teacher fired if they are affiliated with Futa it would explain his glitched voice line trial one,

"Everyone else was having fun weren't they? What about them? Why is it just me?"

Well, I guess no one could have done or heard anything besides him. That's why no one else from that school corroborates what he was saying in all of those replies we're shown.

Alright, that may be possible.

I do have a question though... If this was really the teachers intent by isolating this student why was door wide open? Like not even cracked just ajar making it more likely for them to a be overheard and get seen.

Like he couldn't close the door? Also we only see one half of this room which from the map we're given appears to be quite large. How do we even know that no one else was in here? He never shows us the count of people within this room specifically. Even again he does show counts for everywhere else. However, as I just said those dot's may just represent his team members within the school.

As these are the same dots that indicate his comrades within the game map as well,

So there's that. Didn't think I would be proving that Futa had so many real life friends through this but uh fuck it we ball- Either way you know who is angled perfectly to see the rest of the room and not just the side we're seeing?

Futa.

I mean not to quote Blue Lock but if we all bothered to pick up a book on how the human eye works we wouldn't keep falling for this shit now would we?

But fuck all that- Again let's look at what this bridges foundation is.

This bridge we're walking wants me to believe that this teacher had the intent of sexually harassing a student, got her into an isolated/unused room within the college during school hours- At a time that they are just starting in fact, then did not close the fucking door to said room. He just had zero concern of anyone walking to class at that time or even just needing to use that room at all? A time he would know there are classes because he fucking works there?

That's the bridge we're walking and it's mighty flimsy.

I gotta admit that bridge is as sturdy as Jenga tower right before the last move. But let's keep walking it regardless we haven't fallen yet. Because for this to actually collapse we would need a much sturdier alternative bridge to cross over to because I refuse to die on this one.

So, what we know is Futa had complaints about his school environment. He thought his classes were boring, beneath him and implied the people in charge were inept at their jobs. Considering all of that I feel like he viewed this incident more as a way to get rid of a problem of his own than actually help someone else or do the right thing.

It wouldn't be a stretch to me for him to just not like that teacher. Beyond that it wouldn't a leap to believe that he may have assumed and jumped to the conclusion he wanted instead of fully checking out the situation.

It certainly wouldn't be the first thing he has lied about. Though to be honest I personally don't believe he's in here for any of the things he showed us and like Kotoko he is deflecting by highlighting situations where he is more likely to look in the right than in the wrong. This is something both of their first trial songs have in common.

Personally I don't believe that someone as online as Futa has only engaged with three callouts. Though I also believe that Milgram is highlighting the instances he had the most prominent roles in. I just believe he did something offline as well which goes past just taking pictures of things. Something this online incident and the hat girls have in common.

In both instances Futa was the one to take the picture,

Now, I've made it clear I don't think Futa was responsible for the doxing. Yet there is precedence for him to do something like this. Given that he did post the picture of this teacher and student.

It would make it easier to believe that he would dox someone because that's technically what he's doing here. Releasing this teacher's face and place of work. All while telling people to call in and report him for sexual misconduct that we have questionable proof of at best.

It wouldn't be hard for people to believe that Futa would do this again with the hat girl after this situation. This is another one of the reasons I believe it was highlighted as well. It gives a good idea of Futa's online reputation and contextualizes the aftermath of the hat girl incident a lot more.

Lending more credence to his statement in Backdraft of,

"Me, the result of blame-shifting, no, can’t find that funny." - "Flames closing in, are both sides losers?"

It makes sense to me that a lot of people were willing to believe that he would take things this far again because he already had. This would make it much easier for another party to shift all of the blame on him because he'd already have a bad reputation. It wouldn't matter if it was true or not as long as it made sense to the most people.

We're also never told how the situation with the teacher resolves. It looks like Futa had won but the teacher was only knocked down. It would be more accurate to say he was stunned for the moment. Unlike the last incident he didn't die. So, this incident may have come back to bite Futa in the ass too. Especially if it was proven later that what he said wasn't true. Even more so if that happened around the same time the incident with the middle schooler was at it's peak.

Now do I think this incident is important to Futa's murder not exactly. I don't feel like it's the most important thing. I think it contextualizes how he wound up in this position where it was easy for someone to convince others that he's the sort of person who would dox a student. Regardless of if he did or didn't I personally think he didn't and there are more allusions to it not being him who did that than there are of it being him. Which I've gone over in other posts.

However the fact remains that Futa is suffering the consequences of his past actions even before he gets into Milgram. If he had never done this with this teacher and gotten into the habit of taking pictures like these maybe things wouldn't have escalated to this point. If he didn't get into the pattern of doing anything for just a fleeting bit of attention maybe none of this would have happened. In my eyes though none of this is murder it's negligence and a complete disregard of people whom he shared a space with.

It's a disregard his schools staff, classmates, and online peers who he viewed himself as better than in some way. I personally feel like trying to find a way that he was somehow morally flawed on his own standards makes it appear as though there was a right way for him to do these things. That there's a morally correct way to make a callout post and broach this behavior.

It's the same as him going,

"Now let’s be reasonable. We are the ones that blow the horn for justice. We will punish you down, this is a warning."

But the bitter truth of the matter is their is no completely peaceful way to have a conflict. There is no one hundred percent moral way to bring a wrong to light. There are always going to be people who act with ill intent to take advantage of the modern tools that have been made to discuss the exploitation and abuse of others.

There are always going to be people who lie who know for certain that their are going to be good people out their who instead of fact checking them will go better safe than sorry. Because they don't want someone else possibly getting hurt. People who lie bank on people who care about others doing just that so they can keep getting away with it. We saw this with Shidou trial two,

"There are lives that need safeguarding- So hey, prolong my life, I’m indispensable."

People who are intent on doing harm will always be secure in knowing people who care will want to avoid that harm. This is something that some individuals will always be willing to use to their advantage. They know that their opposition doesn't want anyone getting hurt and leverages that over their heads.

So, when people make allegations like the one's Futa did about people in positions of authority,

They're taken at face value.

People are treated as though they're guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. Because no one likes when it feels like individuals are being taken advantage of. Regardless of if they're a student or small business owner. When people see someone being put through a difficult time for no reason or ripped off it upsets them.

They immediately think,

"That's not fair. That's not right."

Something that tends to outweigh the question of is this true. Especially in an age where so much information is thrown at people daily. It's easy for us to fill in the blanks and go well of course another teacher is a pervert. He probably didn't close the door because he's just so used to getting away with at this point. He probably did it while classes were going on and people were walking around the halls because he was just so certain he'd never face any consequences. He didn't think that some good samaritan would be walking past and get proof of his transgression and share so now he can't get away with this anymore. See this is the problem with the school system they just keep hiring teachers like this disgusting glad to know now though.

We don't question the how, why, when, or where anymore. It doesn't matter that there's a giant crack in this door and this is at a

It doesn't matter that the door is in the shot. It doesn't matter how he managed to take this picture. Why the door was cracked when this took place. Because most people would rather engage in good faith and assume that no one would lie about something like that. Than assume Futa who has shown every reason he has to lie and misrepresent facts about the faculty in his school was in fact just blatantly being dischonest. That he saw an instance that would look bad out of context snapped a picture of it and posted it online.

From an audience perspective we actually have more reasons to believe Futa than disbelieve him here. For one the other two instances covered in his music video are represented fairly. The two others he calls out took those pictures of themselves and posted them of their own volition. That's what they decided to do with their day and there's no debating that.

So, since this guy was put in here as well most of the audience is primed to believe well we saw her admit to making the hat, the first guy posted that himself so why would Futa ever lie about any of these cases. Sure he took the picture himself but that doesn't mean he fabricated the entire incident I mean why would a teach need to be that close to a student anyway. He's practically pinning her against the wall. They're talking near a bookshelf in the photo he's not even touching her.

The thing we see before this is Futa vision. The thing online is actually just the fucking picture. That is the picture in reality.

Futa actually has no way of seeing this from the angle it's presented to us in because again he's outside the room and he never goes in it.

I mean not to quote Blue Lock but if we all bothered to pick up a book on how the human eye works we wouldn't keep falling for this shit now would we?

We literally see his perspective of the incident from the picture he posted. Yet each time this particular case is engaged in it's always under the framing that Futa is telling the truth. When this motherfucker introduced himself by lying about not committing a crime to begin with!

Q.09 Do you want to apologise to the person you killed?

Futa: I didn’t kill anyone. Listen to me- Aren’t you supposed to be a guard?!

To me taking everything the prisoners present at face value isn't always the most helpful. Sometimes it could be lowering oneself to seeing things their way. When in honesty there is no ethical way to make a callout post. Even if what Futa was presenting was the truth regardless of how little since it makes when one takes in the whole environment presented to us.

At a point it becomes less of an individualistic issue and turns into a systemic one. The fact of the matter is even with evidence many sexual crimes remain unresolved and pursuing them can further isolate and retraumatize the victims of them. A lot of sexual misconduct by teachers and students within universities goes overlooked everyday. Just as often as bullying gets overlooked.

Sometimes the only time that victims of such crimes can get justice or perpetrators be held accountable is through the means illustrated here.

It sucks but that is one of the many realities of the modern era. The reality of the power of the internet and news outlets.

Something Yuno touches upon way before Futa comes onto the scene.

For example, news outlets. They always make a big fuss about adultery, inappropriate comments, immodesty and so on, right? And then they start criticizing the people who make an appearance there. Don't you think it's all so ridiculous? There's no end to how much people punish one another outside of the law.

"Found one…! Countdown till I make you say sorry!"/"Don’t you think it’s wonderful to control them with my gentle sting."

The mindset that allowed Mu to get away with all her mistreatment of her peers just because she was bored. Is the same mindset Futa and Kotoko use as an excuse to do the things that they do. Mu takes advantage of the fact that most schools do not intervene when it comes to matters between others students such as harassments and ostracization to have fun at other people's expense fearing that eventually one day she'll be on the receiving end of everything she's dished out.

Meanwhile Futa and Kotoko weaponize the frustration of the masses at the ills of society to excuse their own mistreatment of others regardless of the size of the transgression. It's easy to discuss Futa's victims more than the rest of the casts because people involved in the series see individuals like them every day online.

Those sorts of stories are common place in the environment fans tend to frequent. It's easy not to question any of Futa's allegations because the internet has a guilty until proven innocent mentality. So people take everything Futa and Kotoko present in their stories as fact without a second thought. Because why would someone lie about that and of jeez but what if it is true.

Never really realizing that's exactly where bad actors want people to meet them at. Bad actors expect considerate people to care more about the possible harm than the chances of them being dishonest. Because allegations like this can and have ruined the lives of many people who never did anything.

Because people who act in bad faith don't care about the problems they discuss they only care about it getting the right people in the wrong spots. Something highlighted with Mikoto someone who comes out the gate consistently complaining about people making up things about him to ruin his reputation and possibly make him lose his job.

It's not a topic that Milgram has shied away from. It's definitely not a topic that Yamanaka has shied away from either. In Caligula Effect there's a whole side quest where you literally have to prove a student is lying about a teach committing sexual harassment/assault. I'm not saying this to say that's definitely the case.

We don't know anything about this teacher and at best this is simply a petty thing that Futa did seemingly because he was just bored like Mu. I'm just saying when someone starts complaining about their classes being boring, a waste of money, and their teachers being shit than posts something like that maybe question if they may have some vested interest in doing that.

I still have mutiple other posts to do but no one can say I've forgotten my roots talking a shit ton about Futa.

#milgram #fuuta kajiyama #yuno kashiki #muu kusunoki

20 notes · View notes

icycoldninja · 9 months ago

Note

Headcanons for the Sparda boys and V with a s/o that got turned into a demon? (As for how: My best guess is something like the Ascension ceremony from DMC4.)

Reader shows up to the Devil May Cry one day after healing from a cooking related injury (burned hand, knife slipped and cut them, whatever), because they were kinda hoping the people at Devil May Cry could help. They'd probably be hesitant to tell anyone they're a demon right out- if that's even what they are, because they're not really sure themselves- but the lads could probably piece it together. Or just sense/smell the other demon nearby. Reader probably just thinks the shop and the shop employees stink, but if trying to be polite about it.

Not sure if humans/human blood would smell tasty to a new demon, but maybe? If so, that's another horrifying change they'd have to deal with and ask for help on.

Very interesting concept, hope I did it justice. Enjoy!

Sparda boys + V X Demon!Reader headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-Your transformation was relatively recent, but terrifying. You'd managed to keep it a secret from everyone since the day you discovered your sudden change, but coping on your own was hard.

-You were constantly anxious about hurting the others unexpectedly, as demons are known to do, and couldn't concentrate on most of your tasks.

-You ended up burning your hand on the stove one night while trying to heat up some dinner, and in your panic, decided to head to Devil May Cry to see if someone could help you.

-At the same time, you hoped someone would notice your situation and help you out, though how could they? You had no physical changes, just internal ones.

-When you set foot into Devil May Cry, your heightened sense of smell caught the scent of something oddly appealing. You had no idea what it was, or why it smelled so good, but it did, and following the scent led you to the staff.

-The girls didn't think anything of it and assumed you were just disoriented because of your burn, but the boys--Dante specifically, noticed your behavior and thought it was weird that you were behaving the same way as demons did when they were tracking their prey.

-After your burn was dressed, he pulled you aside to ask you if anything was wrong. The concern in his eyes as well as the unusually grim timbre of his voice proved that he knew something was wrong. There was no other choice than to come clean.

-And so you revealed your secret, explaining how you'd been forced to take part in some sort of dark ritual whose side effects manifested days later. You broke down in tears, sobbing over your changed state, expressing your worries that you'd never be able to turn back.

-Dante took your hands and pulled you into his chest, pressing kisses to your head as he assured you everything would be fine. He'd help you find a cure, no matter what it took.

-He told you that no matter what you turned into, he'd still love you, and he'd be more than happy to offer up some of his blood if you need to feed, as some species of demons do.

■ Vergil ■

-The day you noticed your transformation, which came in the form of scales breaking out all over your body, as well as sharp fangs that replaced several of your teeth.

-You tried to hide it, but Vergil was a very observant man. He knew something was wrong, but chose not to say anything because he wanted you to come to him on his own. Also, there was a chance it was just you being moody, in which case, he didn't want to get involved.

-Your scales soon spread to your hands, making it hard for you to feel things with your palms and fingers. This made chopping food with knives very difficult because you couldn't feel the knife or the food in your hands.

-At one point the knife slipped, cutting the back of your hand. Swearing like a sailor, you bundled your hand up in a rag and stumbled off to Devil May Cry for someone to heal the injury.

-The moment you got there, you smelled something awful. It was worse than rotting food; it was beyond putrid. Just what was that smell?!

-Then you walked into the kitchen, where everyone was gathered at the time, and the smell got worse. It quickly became apparent that the smell was coming from the staff.

-While the girls helped fix up your wound, you did your best to keep your disgust from being expressed upon your face. Despite your best efforts, Vergil noticed that something was definitely wrong with you.

-He approached you, hoping to inquire about your strange behavior, but the proximity between the two of you resulted in the horrible smell getting worse, untill it was too much to bear.

-You started coughing and gagging, your hands flying up to clutch your throat. When Vergil saw the scales on your hands, he instantly realized what was wrong with you.

-He immediately stepped back into the next room and spoke to you from afar. You confessed, begrudgingly, that you'd been turned into a demon somehow and that you were able to smell human blood, which was disgusting. You expressed your fear and discomfort, to which Vergil assured you he would find a cure.

-In the meantime, your task would be figuring out how to grow accustomed to your demonic sense of smell--and the stinkiness of human blood.

□ Nero □

-Nero was actually present when you turned during the ceremony, and therefore was more involved when the aftershocks began to surface.

-You grew a tail, your eyes changed color, and your pupils dilated to slits. You also became noticeably more hungry for raw meat.

-Nero started to freak out over your erratic behavior and was very reluctant to leave you alone, but you insisted, and so he complied.

-Unfortunately, Nero's fears became more justified after he learned you tried to grab a steak off a steaming hot frying pan, burning your whole hand in the process.

-When you reached Devil May Cry to ask him to patch up your burnt hand, you smelled the unmistakable, extremely appetizing scent of human blood.

-Had Nero not been physically holding you back, you might have leaped forward and tried to devour everyone in the shop.

-After tying you down to a chair and dressing your burns, Nero made a vow to search for a cure for you as soon as possible--before the transformation got any worse and turned you into a full on, bloodthirsty demon.

-He would be gone for a long, long time, leading you to lock yourself inside your own home and give Nero the only key so you couldn't break out and wreak havoc while he was away.

-The next few months, or maybe years, would be trying times, but the both of you were strong--you'd get through this, no doubt about it.

● V ●

-When you noticed your transformation, it was already too late. You suffered from violent muscle spasms, headaches, and pain in your joints as a result of the dramatic changes your body was undergoing.

-You never reached out to anyone, especially V, because you had no idea what was happening to you.

-You were afraid, and feared dragging anyone else, including your beloved, into your problems.

-Sadly, your body had other plans. It decided to force you to undergo a seizure in the middle of your kitchen, during which you temporarily sprouted an extra limb. All the flailing and trashing you were doing caused you to bash several of your body parts against the counteracts, hard.

-By the time the seizure was over, you were throughly and entirely bruised.

-Casting aside your pride, you dragged yourself to Devil May Cry to reluctantly ask someone to bandage your aching limbs.

-It was there where you ran into V, who noticed your bruises and exhausted appearance, which made him worry. He pulled you aside, pressed ice packs to your aching bones, and gently requested you tell him what was wrong.

-It took a lot of convincing, but V managed to get you to confess your issues. You explained how something was making your body change, and with teary eyes, described the pain you went through because of it.

-V had no idea why this was happening to you, but he was sure you two would figure things out together. The first step was to deduce what was afflicting you, then, to find the cure.

89 notes · View notes

lokisprettygirl · 1 year ago

Text

Close Ties (Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Modern AU) (Non canon) (18+)

Read Chapter 6 // Series Masterlist

Chapter 7

Summary : A confession leads to another confession.

Warning: 18+, dad's best friend trope, canon (we don't know her..don't like don't read), feeling of hopelessness, familial uncle niece sort of relationship but he's not really her uncle, there will be more smut later, significant age gap but reader is in her mid twenties, mention of infidelity, divorce, smoking and alcohol drinking, physical violence implied

You didn't know how slowly time could move until you started to work for/with Daemon. It's been just a month but it felt like years of torture already as you watched him treat you as if you were just another employee working under him.

He treated you the way he treated everyone, well except Madison of course, sweet Madison, you couldn't really hate her because she was really one of the sweetest people you have ever met in your life, this was like Stella again but definitely less worse because he didn't seem entirely obsessed with Madison as he was with Stella and well Madison wasn't really a bitch to you.

“Y/n?” His voice snapped you out of your day dreaming, you were in his cabin currently to discuss the weekly budget report he has asked you to make,

“Report?” he asked you as he raised his brow,

“I sent it to you in the mail sir” you answered him so he sighed.

“I asked you to print it out on the paper so I can have an immediate look, didn't i? Time is of the essence in this business, do you see that?”

“Yes sir I'll go do that as soon as possible”

He sighed as you got up and turned around to leave his cabin, didn't even flinch anymore because you were getting used to his tough behavior, sometimes it really turned you on in the most inappropriate of ways but there were times like this when you just felt incompetent, you knew that wasn't how he was intending to make you feel but you did nonetheless, you didn't want to disappoint him.

You passed by Madison in her cubicle so she gave you a smile. She totally seemed to be his type- super tall, fit and overall just good looking and her personality didn't stink either but that didn't mean you were ready to give her your blessings.

The other day you were in Daemon's cabin working on another report when Madison entered his office, they used to have lunch together at times and the other times he'd just take you to the cafe downstairs so you'd eat especially on those days when he thought you were being extremely hard on yourself. Today wasn't one of those days apparently.

“Call me when you need me Sir” you faked a smile as you got up and his eyes locked with yours,

“You can stay and eat here y/n” he mumbled softly but you shook your head.

“Yeah I don't mind at all you know that” Madison intervened as well so you smiled a little wider this time which obviously seemed unnatural.

“Trust me it's fine ..I already told some people out there that I'd join them for lunch so..enjoyyyy” you mumbled politely and turned around to leave his cabin.

What people he thought..did you mean a guy? Were you seeing someone from the office?

As Madison sat down she smiled at him, he had been wanting to take this thing slow between them but last week they took the plunge and had sex after the thanksgiving party at the office even though he had tried his best to not get involved in another Cassandra type of situation again.

Sure Madison was a mature woman but he was still conflicted, mainly due to his attraction towards you and the fact that at times he still thought of Stella even though he shouldn't, she didn't deserve any more of his attention but it was definitely for most parts because of you and you only.

“Is it weird at home? I mean you and y/n?”

She asked him to make a conversation so he chuckled in response,

“Not really, we all work together, her father and me and now her, you just have to learn to keep it separate”

“Mmm well people have been noticing that me and you are.. .. i mean I just hope they won't think you're favoring me just because we are dating"

“I am not favoring you..you know that”

“I do but people tend to assume things”

He hummed as she said that, he had had a similar interaction with you a few days ago as well. People in the branch were hesitant to befriend you because they all thought of you as their immediate boss’s niece and worst of all the CEO'/Owner’s daughter.

As the lunch hour ended she got up and walked across the desk to reach closer to him, then she sat down on his lap, he smiled even though deep down he felt slightly uncomfortable, he feared that things were moving fast enough from her side and he wasn't there just yet, he also feared that he'd never be there, at least not with her and that saddened him because she seemed like a perfect woman.

If he wasn't so damaged from his previous marriage and wasn't obsessing over his niece he probably could have developed deeper feelings for her but a part of him knew she wasn't what he craved or desired.

“Are we up for our date tonight?” She asked him as she caressed his cheek with her fingernails and made him look at her.

“Yeah..can I ask you a question?” He asked her so she nodded “We aren't exclusive, you know that right? Don't get me wrong I do enjoy your company but.. I'm just not ready for a serious relationship” he told her in a straightforward manner, he didn't want to keep her in the dark.

“Of Course I do, I know how hard it is, I have been there, it takes time so don't worry" she smiled as she kissed him before she got off his lap and made her way out of his cabin. As he found himself alone with his thoughts he pondered over his messed up life, at times he felt completely overwhelmed by everything and his thoughts in those moments always scared him, he wanted to give up at times because he didn't think anyone would miss him if he disappeared again. Except you perhaps.

He wasn't like this before, he was a confident charming man in his youth but his marriage to Stella had stripped away that part of him slowly. The constant betrayal had hurt his self esteem the most.

At the end of the office hours as he stepped out of his cabin he found you having a conversation with Aaron, of course he was a bit jealous but more than that he was concerned for you.

Aaron wasn't the type of man you should ever date, he knew you well enough and he also knew that you were the type to always go for a long term loving relationship but Aaron was the male version of an office slut, he had been with almost everyone at that point.

He decided to drive you to your place that day because he needed to warn you about Aaron, usually you drove yourself back home since you didn't want everyone to gossip about it at the office.

“I am twenty five uncle, I can tell what kind of guy he is, you don't have to worry” you chuckled amidst your words and it made him feel as if you weren't taking him seriously which irked him a little.

“I just don't want you to get hurt or have to deal with another Dylan in your life” he mumbled softly so you sighed, things have been weird between you and Daemon lately, especially since you started this job, as much as he had hoped that you two could just switch between the professional and familial relationship it was a lot harder for you to do that especially since you go the first row seat to his and Madison's relationship..

“Thanks for your concern sir but I can make my own decisions”

“Are you upset with me or something?”

“I'm just tired and I don't need a lecture at the moment” his jaw clenched as you said that, he wasn't lecturing you, he was just trying to look out for you but maybe you didn't want that so he stayed quiet, he wasn't your dad after all.

In the last few weeks you were trying to avoid Cassandra as much as you could and your friendship with Rhaneyra was getting stronger everyday, she just understood you really well and she was starting to pick up that you still fancied her uncle, your uncle, everyone's uncle Daemon.

For the next few days in order to distract yourself you continued your chats and dates with Aaron, he was hot and handsome and a very good distraction and perhaps this fling was what you needed to get over Daemon. However you hadn't slept with him yet, you couldn't bring yourself to do that, you really needed to be attached to the guy to cross that line, you didn't really understand how Cassandra or Daemon did that so easily, mindless fun wasn't something you were good at even though you had convinced yourself that it was what you needed.

You have been deluding yourself you knew that, so when you found out that Aaron was only interested in you because you were the owner's daughter you felt completely dejected, you had no right to feel that way, he wasn't your boyfriend and you weren't putting out for him but it still stung a little. As you sat in his cabin with a sullen little face all day long, as your boss he didn't say a word all day but as 5pm arrived he asked you finally what has been bothering you.

As you shared your troubles you thought he'd comfort you or perhaps he'd feel bad for you but your answer just infuriated him,

“What were you expecting anyways..I warned you about the bloke but you didn't listen” he said as if he was happy that he was proven right so you glared at him.

“Yeah soooo? He wasn't my boyfriend but I can be sad about it if I want to be”

“Oh really? Why don't you just admit that you wanted to be a brat because apparently that's something you really enjoy being these days”

Your eyes teared up as he said that, maybe he wasn't entirely wrong, a part of you definitely did it to spite him and you were trying to see if he'd feel jealous.

“Maybe I did, what is it to you…you're not my fucking father alright?” You raised your voice and cursed at the same time so he walked towards you, his jaw was clenched, eyes teary, nose flaring like a bull,

“And i wouldn't want an insolent girl like you to be my daughter either, i thought of you as a good girl that understood the right from wrong but you're just another spoiled little princess aren't you?” He walked past you and left his cabin to get home, that's not how he wanted to end this day, maybe what he said to you was uncalled for, he had no right, sure he was family in a way but he shouldn't have spoken to you in such a manner. He wanted to deny that he was angry because you went against his warning and got yourself hurt but he couldn't.

He had no idea how much his words would affect you.

You cried for ten minutes in his office before you fixed your face and went out drinking at a nearby bar with a couple of your colleagues. Fuck Aaron, fuck Cassandra, fuck Dylan and most of all fuck Daemon, they could all go fuck each other for all you cared.

The more drinks you had in your system the more you lost control of your thoughts, how dare he tell you that you were spoiled for doing something he had been doing since he came back.

You were completely inebriated as you drove towards your dad's house to confront your so-called uncle, you shouldn't have driven in such a state but your brain was such a frenzied mess that you weren't even thinking clearly.

Thankfully your parents were out of town so you didn't have to see them.

When Daemon heard a knock on his door he was confused because your parents weren't home and staff members never interrupted him at this hour. He was getting ready for another date with Madison even though that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

As he opened the door he found you looking absolutely out of your mind, you were still in your work clothes, your face was swollen from all the crying and he immediately felt like a jackass for hurting you like that

“Y/n are you drunk?” He asked you as you faked a smile and walked towards him.

“How dare you tell me that i wasn't a good girl” you whimpered suddenly and your voice choked on your tears.

“Answer me…did you fucking drive yourself here in this state?”

“You're not listening to me" you raised your voice so he grabbed you by the shoulders in order to calm you down.

“Just relax ..alright?”

“Shutup…how dare you tell me that I was spoiled?” You broke into a fit of cries so he cupped your cheeks and wiped your tears before he kissed your forehead softly, if he thought that his actions were influenced by his drunkenness then watching you right now was like witnessing a car crash.

“I shouldn't have..I'm sorry”

“Ohh you're sorry after you said such things to me…after ..after–” you couldn't even finish your words as your hiccuped sobs kept coming in between but you had to let it all out "You always told me that I was a good girl..your good girl..i never wanted to disappoint you” his eyes welled up too as you said that. He was wrong, so completely wrong, he should have comforted you because you were obviously hurting already but he allowed his jealousy to influence him instead.

“You didn't disappoint me sweetheart, I'm sorry, i was just upset that you didn't pay any heed to my warnings and got yourself hurt” you sobbed even more as his sweet voice infiltrated your ears, this outburst you were having wasn't just about one thing but culmination of every time you had felt hurt or frustrated by him in the past few months .

“Do you not think of me as your good girl anymore, have I disappointed you uncle?” you asked him again between your broken cries so he shook his head.

“I do..i absolutely do, you'd always be my good girl ..you're my most favorite girl..I'm sorry okay? Forgive me please?” He mumbled softly as he wrapped his arms around you and allowed you to cry as much as you needed to, your arms wrapped around his neck and you placed your head between the crook of his neck, his scent was comforting, he shivered as he felt your lips rubbing against his skin, you weren't kissing him but he still felt the heat from your touch.

He felt the spark he had been missing.

“I miss you, I miss talking to you and sharing my problems with you” you mumbled between you cries and his hold on you got tighter

“I'm right here darling, you have me ..I told you I'd be here whenever you need me Pixie”

He mumbled softly and you didn't pull away from him until your sobs had diminished but as soon as you stopped crying all of a sudden you felt weirdly sober and completely embarrassed by your outburst.

“I…i should go home” you mumbled as you tried to step away from him but he didn't let go of your arms.

“You're home…this is your home, stay here okay?”

You nodded as he said that, he held your arm as he walked you towards your room then he made you sit down on the bed.

“Do you need to shower or change? Or you want to sleep, hmm?” He asked you softly as he got down on his knees in front of you.

“Sleep” you mumbled meekly so he took your work heels off your feet and laid you down on the bed before he tucked you under the covers, he watched you roll over and grab the dragon plushie he had gifted you before you rolled over again and clutched onto it, a small smile formed on his features at the sight. He didn't think he'd find that plushie on your bed like that.

He brought a bottle of water and placed it on the bedside drawer. He also put a bucket right next to your bed before he turned the lights off and left your room.

He dialed Madison's number on his phone to tell her that he would have to take a rain check due to a family emergency, it just didn't feel right for him to leave you all alone in this state.

It was Saturday the next morning so he didn't really have to go to work but he had plenty of things to do so he decided to go anyways, as he opened his door he found you right outside. How long had you been standing there he wondered to himself.

“Morning pixie..how are you feeling?” He asked you, his voice was gentle and that made you feel worse about last night. It was easier to pretend that there was no weirdness between you both but you were done pretending. Enough was enough.

“Well to begin with.. I'm absolutely mortified” you looked away as you said that, he could see you fidgeting with your fingers in nervousness.

“You don't have to feel that way”

“I know I just…can we talk please?” You asked him and his brows furrowed, so he stepped to the side to invite you in.

“Something wrong?” He asked you as you turned around to face him again.

“Noo…I just” you took a long deep breath before you continued.

Whatever you were going to say would probably change things, make things worse even but you knew you had to tell him “I'm tired of trying to deny and unsee this thing between us–”

“Pixie–” his heart beat sped so he interrupted you, he didn't think he was ready for this just yet or ever would be.

“Uncle ..” you paused for a few seconds as you looked him in the eyes, his eyes were teary already.

“Daemon just let me finish alright, it has taken me all morning to build up this courage..no wait that's not right" you shook your head and he tilted his in response,

"It took me fourteeeen years to tell you this that i…have had a crush on you ever since I saw you..i know it's stupid, it was stupid, I was just a kid and the night you got married i had cried myself to sleep because I felt as if I had lost the only love of my life ..it felt like the end of the world because honestly I have never had an actual problem in my life before that..i was such a blessed child” you steadied yourself as you could feel the emotions building up again, you couldn't even look at him anymore so you just looked down and let the tears fall before you quickly wiped your cheek with your hands.

“But I was okay..i was just a kid with no actual understanding of what I was feeling back then, and I still had you as my sweet uncle and you were so generous all the time, so supportive, so gentle, so kind, and so very much perfect”

He wiped the lone tear that escaped the corner of his eyes, he didn't want to interrupt you anymore, even though a part of him wanted you to just stop speaking because he knew things would never be the same after this but then he realised that they haven't been the same for a few weeks now, and another part of him wanted you to keep going so he could learn the extent of your feelings for him.

He had no idea you had a crush on him even as a child, why did you though? He wasn't anything special.

“And then you left to never look back at us again” you sniffled so he walked a step closer to you, normally he always cupped your face or kissed your forehead or hugged you to comfort you but it didn't feel appropriate at the moment when you were confessing your feelings for him so he just stayed still.

“Took me a while to stop thinking of my sweet protective uncle Daemon, took me years to accept that I'd probably never have the privilege of seeking your comfort again but miraculously you're here now and the last thing I want to do is screw everything up again" you sniffled between your words again and his heart rendered for you, he had never felt so conflicted in his life before.

He knew his feelings for you felt right to him but for the world he'd always be a monster who corrupted a young, sweet, beautiful woman like you that could have had any man she'd put her eyes on but had to settle for someone like him, someone so much older.. he knew you since you were twelve and he was thirty, he was older than what you are right now when he met you first.

"You were right yesterday..i have been acting out because I was jealous, it just hurts to see you with someone else” his eyes flickered with several different emotions as you admitted to that.

That's how he felt too but admitting the truth would make this thing real from both sides. Was he ready to do that just yet? He needed time to think about it.

“But I'm not a child no more uncle..when you taught me to evaluate risks last week, thisss is what I evaluated first” he chuckled as you said that between your tears.

You always found a way to make him smile, even amidst such a heavy moment “I know how complicated this is..it's not an ideal situation or could ever be between us, but i need you to know that i don't wanna be a problem anymore, I don't want to act out or hurt you in anyways, I want to be your pixie that you'd be proud of so from now on i promise I'd never ever let thissss thinggg between us ruin the bond we share..that's all I wanted to say”

You placed your hands on your face so he wouldn't see your ugly crying face but then you felt his arms around you as hugged you tightly. It's not as if the confession was shocking to him, sure he wasn't expecting one from you so soon or ever really but it wasn't exactly surprising to him that you felt this way because he did too, he had felt the sexual tension between you both ever since that night he had seen you walk down the stairs during your parents' aniversary party.

“I don't want to lose you again..I need you uncle..here with me.. dad needs you ..we all need you but me more than anyone else” you sobbed into his arms so he caressed your scalp tenderly and kissed your temple.

“You won't lose me i promise ..you'd always have me..unless of course I die”

“Shut Up” you hit his chest so he cupped your cheeks to make you look at him.

“I won't run again..no matter what happens, I'm tired of running away from situations that no longer serve me..I am giving you my word sweet Pixie I won't ever leave you again” you nodded as he said that, his voice was barely above a whisper, sure you felt mortified before you had this conversation, but now you felt so much lighter, it was as if a heavy weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

You stepped away from him because the proximity was starting to mess with your head again and you had just promised him that you'd be his good girl.

“I'll see you tomorrow then uncle..I need a day off.. I'm a bit hungover” you said to him so he smiled.

“Absolutely ..it's Saturday anyways “

“Ohhh I almost didn't remember “ you let out a small laugh and it made him smile too “Ummm why are you dressed for work then?"

“I have got stuff to do.. especially since your dad isn't here at the moment”

“Mmmm okay..I'll see you on Monday then”

“Going back to your place?”

“Yeah”

“Alright Pixie ..call me if you need me.. anytime”

“I will” you smiled and walked past him quickly, your heart was racing thousand miles per second thinking about what you had just done. Sure he must have had an inkling that you had hots for him but now you had made it very apparent in very clear words, you felt worried that everytime you would look at him now he'd just think about how you wanted to fuck your uncle..

As you left he found himself clutching onto the empty space where you stood just now baring your soul in front of him. He couldn't stop pondering over the situation, what would your dad and his friend would think of this? He didn't call Daemon here just because he missed his friend, there was one other reason, he trusted Daemon with his truth so what would happen when he finds out about your feelings for each other? For the next two days he thought about you constantly and he had finally come to a conclusion.

Monday morning you were kind of terrified to face him, you hadn't seen him since Saturday so this felt even more awkward, however as you reached his cabin and he smiled that sweet smile it didn't feel so awkward then.

During lunch hour you noticed that Madison was in there for an hour long. Were they fucking? Right in the office? Luckily his office was soundproofed so you couldn't hear anything. Your heart broke as you thought about him all naked, giving it to her on the couch so you groaned and tried to distract yourself, he can't ever be yours and you didn't expect him to be celibate all his life.

However as you saw Madison coming out of his cabin with tears in her eyes all your thoughts went haywire, you didn't want to show your desperation and go speak with him almost immediately so you waited for hours and as the clock hit four thirty you made your way to his cabin and he seemed absolutely fine, albeit a bit sad.

“Sir, are you alright?” You asked him so he gestured for you to close the door and sit down.

“I'm all good y/n ..did you send those mails I asked you to?”

“Yes sir”

“Good girl” your face flushed and ears felt hot as he said that but luckily he spoke again so there was no room for awkwardness “I don't enjoy break ups especially if I'm the one to initiate it”

Your eyes widened as he said that. So they were not fucking but breaking up instead.

“I'm sorry about that, i hope she's doing alright”

“Me too..she's a good woman”

“Mmmhmm ummm why didn't you want to continue if I may ask? “ you asked him sheepishly so he finally looked at you.

“It would have been selfish, my heart wasn't in the right place..still not over the divorce and–”

“Stella..I get that” you finished his sentence so he looked at you briefly before he turned to his laptop again.

“Mhmmm” he hummed so you gave him a smile.

“Umm do you need something..a scalding cup of tea maybe? That would cheer you up” you giggled as you asked him and the smile on your face warmed his heart.

“Would love that.. thanks” you nodded as you got up to go bring him his tea, as you were about to open the door you heard your name again so you turned around.

“That wasn't the only reason why I broke things off with her though” you gulped as he said that, the intensity in the way he seemed to look at you made you feel bashful, suddenly the air around you felt different.

“It wasn't?”

“No ..I also don't want to keep hurting you now that i know how you feel Pixie” your face flushed even more but this time from embarrassment.

“Please don't feel responsible for that..I am alright…I mean I'd be alright sooner or later--” you mumbled quickly but he interrupted you

“It's too late, you're already seared deeply into my heart and I have made countless futile attempts to shake that feeling off so by the time you come back with that tea, the office hours would be over and then I need you to sit down here like a good girl and we are going to talk about this unspoken thing between us.. It's inappropriate i know..it's sick, it's even a little bit pathetic but it is what it is..just the same as you I'm also tired of denying this”

Your mouth stayed open as his words started to make more and more sense to you. Every inch of your skin was tingling with anticipation..

“Go on now..do your job” he smiled so you quickly turned around to leave his cabin.

“Ohhh God oh my god..ohhh godd” that was all you could manage to say after that. His words frightened you but also felt exhilarating at the same time.

This thing between you two might just be the end of everything but you were going to watch your world crash and burn if it meant that he was there with you, by your side, holding onto your hands, being so completely yours.

☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️

Taglist

@serving-targaryen-realness @annoyingsweetsstranger @anukulee @mcufan72 @insertsomethingsillyhereple-blog @silentf @ajthefujoshi @stupidthoughtsinwriting @ammo23 @shuichiakainx @daddylokisqueen @ipostwhtifeel

#daemon targeryan #daemon targaryen x female reader #daemon targaryen x reader fluff #daemon targaryen x reader angst #daemon targaryen x reader smut #non canon au #modern day au #age gap relationship

143 notes · View notes

tsukimefuku · 11 months ago

Text

Right, wrong and the in-between (Epilogue)

Previous chapter

You and Higuruma were assigned to investigate the disappearance of women around Shinjuku. This led to a dicey situation regarding what place Jujutsu sorcerers occupy in this world and what is their role to play when non-sorcerers get involved.

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". There is currently a sequence of short stories and random drabbles for a fic I'll eventually write (eventually). To see the ever-growing list of one-shots, please visit my masterlist :) The "Right, wrong and the in-between" will be a 4 (maybe 3) part short-story set in this AU. I hope you enjoy! The tags below will be applicable to every chapter.

Tags: oc/f!reader, soft/implied Higuruma x reader, soft/implied Nanami x reader, slow burn, DARK HUMOR AHEAD, SO MUCH FLUFF AND HURT+COMFORT HERE, just characters being themselves driving the plot (and me) insane. Some philosophical debate will be in place.

WC: 1.9k

Ijichi took Higuruma to Jujutsu Tech, and you and Nanami decided to hit a bar before going back. You were both seated beside each other at the main counter. After using reverse cursed technique on your face, you stood there, pathetically, holding a bag of ice to your swollen cheek. Everyone that walked past the both of you was giving Nanami the stink eye as he downed his glass of whiskey.

"Nanami, are we in a domestic dispute situation, or are you my pimp?" You asked, looking at him with a wide grin on your face, just waiting for the show that joke would certainly elicit.

He almost choked with his own drink, and even if he usually had the same stoic expression to his face most of the time, something about it right now said flabbergasted. "There are times you're incredibly inappropriate. Your jests are quickly becoming worse than Gojo's". He scolded you, and you chuckled.

"My trauma, my coping mechanisms." You retorted, taking a big gulp of your beer. He sighed heavily.

"What happened while you were captive?" He asked, lowering his voice. He knew you were prone to shove things deep down and never letting them out, covering it all with sarcastic commentary about your own life.

"If you're asking me if that happened, no, it didn't. They just hit me in the face pretty fucking hard." You scoffed, looking at your reflection in the mirror that sat behind the bottles of liquor. "Pieces of shit."

"I see."

"Hey, Nanami." You spoke lightly. "I want to thank you."

He didn't turn his face to look at you, but you could see his eyes rolling your way now that he had his glasses off. "What for?"

"For saving me. I mean... Saving me from myself." You completed, downing your own beer. "If it weren't for you, I mean-" you choked up a little, "just, thank you."

" you must be aware of the fact that I won't be there to guide you most of the times you see yourself in a similar situation. Therefore, you cannot expect me to be your moral compass. You need to learn to do that by yourself, and for yourself." He added, matter-of-factly.

You grunted. "Ugh, I know!" You put the ice bag back on the counter. "It's just that... The job description was exorcising curses and fighting curse users. There was none of this ethically challenged shenanigans in the tiny disclaimers."

Nanami ordered another whiskey. "Exorcizing curses comprises most of the job description, but things tend to get dicey when we're dealing with curse users and victims." He sighed, now turning his face to look directly at you. "You were one of my dicey cases, and it definitely took a toll on me years ago."

Gazing back at him, you felt your heart break all over again. "I know."

You both locked eyes for a while, and stayed like that until your gaze involuntarily drifted to his lips. He seemed to notice and started to say your name, but you quickly looked down at the counter and grabbed the bag of ice, putting it over your flushed face as your heart began pounding in your ears.

“Nanami, come and have a drink with me and Higuruma. I really think you guys should get along.” You interjected, out of the blue, shoving the discomfort away.

He scoffed. “It’s an offer I’ll happily refuse.”

“Come on, it’s important!” You started pouting.

“Oh, how unfortunate then.” Nanami retorted.

“Nanami, please, I’m really trying to be serious here. The man saved my life.”

“And then proceeded to endanger it. Twice.” He said nonchalantly taking a sip of his whiskey.

“Well, this time it wasn’t entirely his fault. I’m the one who decided we should go in the club to follow the curse user. There was no way we could’ve known she had a cursed speech technique.”

Nanami sighed heavily. “If my thinking is correct, you’ll keep persisting until I go with you?”

“You thought correctly!” You replied with fake enthusiasm.

He grunted. “Okay, but you’ll be paying for tonight’s drinks.”

“Eh?! Seriously?!”

“Yes,” he bottomed down his whiskey, “terribly.”

***

You were wearing a backpack to make the beers you were sneaking in more discreet. Nanami walked directly behind, not believing he let himself be dragged into this tomfoolery by you. As both got to Higuruma's room door, you knocked excitedly. He promptly opened the door, smiling at you. The glow and smile on his face disappeared, however, as soon as he saw Nanami.

"It was her idea." Nanami said, instantly.

"Come on, guys. Truce, unity, peace, just for tonight. We all had a terrible day." You said, waltzing into the room, followed by a hesitant Nanami. Higuruma had to hold his impulse to close the door in order to only letting you in.

You sat on the bed, and Higuruma sat beside you. Nanami pulled the chair from the desk and settled down comfortably, crossing his legs. You pulled your backpack and opened it, revealing multiple cans of beer stuffed inside. After giving one to Nanami and another to Higuruma, you grabbed your own beer and opened it. "Here's to not getting fucked by curses, curse users or Jujutsu High!"

"Preach." Higuruma said, as he clicked his can to yours.

Nanami silently lifted his can and took a sip, making a disapproval grimace. "It's warm."

"You surely drank worse." You said.

He sighed and looked sideways. Nanami might not have been pouting physically, but spiritually, he surely was.

***

A few beers in and you all had flustered faces, feeling more at ease after that dreadful day.

"Hey, Higuruma. I have something funny to tell you." You told him.

"Brace yourselves, here we go." Nanami noted, putting his empty beer can away and grabbing another.

"What is it?" Higuruma questioned.

"Did you know Jujutsu High absolutely hates my family?" You said.

"Do they? Why?" He asked, genuinely interested.

"No fucking idea. Something about two people killing each other many centuries ago, and now it somehow became my problem. Can you believe it?!" You answered, chuckling.

"Well, isn't that the entire history of humanity?" He retorted. You laughed harder.

"Oh, they tried to pin some mishaps on me, then Gojo had to come and save my sorry ass!" You cackled.

"How about this: two months ago, I was ready to begin planning my retirement, and now I'm fighting demon looking creatures and have a death sentence hanging over my head?" Higuruma said, as he started laughing himself.

You both were silent for a few seconds, and then began to cackle hysterically. Nanami covered his face, but he wasn't sighing. He was trying to contain his own urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"We shouldn't be laughing at this!" You said, in between cackles, nearly out of breath, drying the tears that were streaming down your face.

"No, we shouldn't." Higuruma had his face covered by his hand. There was a certain desperation to his own laughter.

"You are both completely insane." Nanami said, uncovering his face. He did not notice yet, but he was smiling. It was amusing seeing you and Higuruma sharing a single brain cell, after all.

As the laughter subsided, Higuruma looked at Nanami, with a loose mouth from alcohol.

"Why are you such a rule follower?" Higuruma asked, pointing at Nanami.

Nanami sighed and grabbed another can of beer. "Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of the way they run things here. But having some order with a proportional amount of sacrifice is better than to have nothing at all." He sipped on the beer, not feeling the off temperature anymore. "Many times, they fall into unfairness, but the system in place has helped save countless people."

Nanami then paused and pointed at the other man. "You, Higuruma, for that matter, is one of those people. You could’ve been arrested and tried for the judge’s and prosecutor’s murders, and even though I’m not an attorney, I believe you wouldn’t be sentenced lightly. Yet, you’re here, looking directly at the prospect of future freedom just some weeks later."

You and Higuruma were silent, for Nanami was absolutely correct.

"The rules aren’t perfect, but they’re what we have for the time being, until something better comes along." Nanami completed.

"Those same rules, however, turned my life into a living nightmare, Nanami." You noted.

"I know. I remember it all very clearly, and that was when I decided that whatever we had in place was simply not good enough if it lead to such injustice against people we should be protecting." He sipped on his beer again. "Your case was the reason I left years ago."

Higuruma was curious, but didn't ask about it.

"I remember." You replied, holding yourself to not go into that dark place of your mind. "I’m glad you came back, though. You’re a fine jujutsu sorcerer and a good, decent person. We need more people like you in the world of jujutsu."

The corners of Nanami's mouth perked up slightly, as he put his last empty beer can on top of the desk. He then got up and looked at you both. "I have to go, it's late, and I have not only drank way more than I'm accustomed to, I also need a decent night of sleep."

"Weakling!" You said, pouting, as he began exiting the room.

"You’re starting to sound like Gojo." Nanami retorted.

"Aw, thank you." You sarcastically replied.

Nanami sighed. "It was not a compliment. Good night, everyone." He concluded as he left, closing the door behind him.

"Good night." Higuruma said, waving Nanami away.

"Wait a second." You told Higuruma as you got out of the room right after. Nanami turned back to look at you, waiting for you to say something.

"He’s not a bad person," you said. Nanami sighed. "Do you hate him a little less, at least?"

He inhaled deeply and looked at you. "Give it time." Nanami answered.

"Fine." You smiled at him. "See you tomorrow?"

He properly smiled back, which was a rare occurrence. "See you tomorrow." Nanami finally said as he made his way out of the building.

You went back in the room and sat on the ground, trying to fish inside the backpack for any can of beer that could still be untouched. Higuruma eyed you up and down, and decided to scratch the itch that had tormented him ever since he knew you asked Gojo to have his death sentence suspended.

"Why did you give me the benefit of the doubt then? Why did you tell me to escape and decided to save my life?" Higuruma asked.

You sighed, disappointed to learn the three of you had drank all the beers, and started talking. "Because if I found myself in the same circumstances you were in when you killed those people, I can’t say I would’ve done any differently than what you did. I mean, hell, this was evident today." You shrugged. "I needed Nanami to hold me back, or else... Or else I might’ve become the next Higuruma they’d put a death sentence on the head."

"Nonsense!" Higuruma said, jokingly. "You’re much prettier and my nose is much bigger."

You laughed and gave a little bump on his shoulder with your fist.

"We, the rebellious, need rule abiding people in our lives to keep us from tripping over the edge, huh?" He pointed out.

You chuckled at the irony of it. "Yes, we definitely do. And I guess they need us to remind them that some rules need to be overturned, every now and then."

"What a delicate balance to achieve." Higuruma said.

"Yes. But it’s worth it." You replied.

"I hope so."

End notes: I was so OBSESSED writing this one short story I literally could not sleep until I finished it. Well, here we are, 8.3K (!!!) words later. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it (it was a blast!).

Fuku-chan 🦉

#jujutsu kaisen higuruma #higuruma x reader #jjk higuruma #jjk hiromi #hiromi x reader #higuruma hiromi #jjk imagines #jjk drabbles #jjk x you #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu nanami #nanami kento #jjk nanami #jjk fanfic #nanami x reader #nanami x you

44 notes · View notes