#Which makes it so funny that they're this close to being in full agreement and yet so far!

[valeriefauxnom]

We were robbed of potential Nedrick and Leonidas interaction...

Hear me out, I think it would have been hilarious to see if the two of them had a genuine conversation about their goals, because they might be getting amped up and mutually excited that they could be powerful allies only for it all to go down in flames the second they give each other details on their dreams. Because they're so in lockstep with each other about so many of their views, and then they just go an entirely opposite way with them.

Even if I discount Leonidas' initial 'strong eat weak' vs. Nedrick's 'weak rise up' mentality, you still get hilarity all the same.

For example...

[h8aaz]

⋆ ࣪. — HOT COCOA — .࣪ ⋆

SUMMARY .ᐟ . . . you and sam make hot cocoa on a chilly day.

WARNINGS .ᐟ . . . none besides an established relationship . just good, loving fluff with sammy .

GABS YAPS .ᐟ . . . omg tysm for the love on my blueberry!sam post!! hopefully y'all like this, it came to mind literally bc i was drinking hot cocoa lol. likes, comments, + reblogs are very appreciated!! <33.

the wind blew against the two of you, sam's hand grasped firmly on your waist due to the 'chance that you might fly away', he excused.

you shivered from the cold and chilly air. you hugged yourself tighter into your sweater while leaning into your boyfriend's warmth. you heard him let out a soft chuckle at your state, which was immediately silenced at the pain of your punch to his side.

"shut up!" you scolded, though no actual anger lingered in your words. the two of you made it to the store by your shared apartment, immediately breaking free of sam's hand to run down the aisles.

"they're not gonna run away from you, y'know that, right?" sam smiled as he followed right behind you, watching you frantically grab a pack of marshmallows then circle around to another aisle in search of your favorite chocolate.

"you never know. i mean, with the shit we fight off every week, moving food doesn't seem too farfetched." you countered his tease while he nodded in fair agreement. "okay, but they aren't doing that now so," he grabbed the stacked chocolate bars out of your arms, snatching the ones your grabby hands were gripping as well. "let's not take their whole stock, yeah?"

you huffed as he put the sweet treats back into their box on the shelf, keeping two in his large hand. "see?" he waved them around, "better, right, baby?" he grinned while his puppy-dog eyes were on display.

"yeah, yeah, whatever." you grumbled, caving into his act. "can we pay and go now? the sooner we're home and out of the cold, the better." you grabbed onto his free hand, dragging him to the counter.

after paying and making the devastating speed-walk back to your apartment, sam unlocked the door to let you in. you frantically kicked off your shoes with a pleased sigh; taking in the warmth that the heater brought to your cozy place, a content smile playing on your lips. "thank god." you whispered.

sam had closed the door and locked it before taking off his shoes with a full grin. "feel good, baby?" he asked out with a small laugh as you simply nodded your head.

"y'know what would make it better?" you jokingly questioned back, being met with a hum. "a hot mug filled with delicious melted chocolate topped with marshmallows." you said as you walked towards him, slowly wrapping your arms around his torso. he stared down at you, your smile beaming up at him and making his heart clench at the adorableness you held.

he engulfed you in his arms as he began to lean down. "sounds perfect to me." he replied before placing a soft kiss onto your lips, being met with an equally gentle, yet slightly rough manner. 'i just love kissing you!' is what you'd say before kissing him so eagerly, it quickly turns into something more heated.

the two of you pulled away and began the process. sam taking out your mugs from the cupboard, you heating milk up on the stove, a movie already set up on the tv, and the dimmed lamps illuminating the apartment in warm, fuzzy lighting. sam broke the chocolate into pieces as you plopped an even amount into both mugs, stirring them until they were fully melted into the hot milk.

both you and sam topped your drinks with marshmallows before picking the mugs up and clinking them with smiles. you began to sip your hot cocoa, immediately letting out a squeal while sam laughed at you.

"OW! oh my god- that's so hot! why is it so hot?!" you shouted while sam doubled over. "stop! it's not funny, sam!" you shoved him lightly as to not spill his beverage. "i'm- hah- i'm sorry, honey, it's just-" he bellowed another laugh before catching his breath, "it's just that your face was so funny!"

"shut up! ugh, i hate you." you turned to make your way to the couch, settling down and draping a blanket over you.

"awh, baby, don't be like that." sam followed. "you know you love me." he leaned over from his new spot on the couch to kiss your cheek, pulling some of the blanket onto himself.

"mhm." you hummed in a sassy manner before sighing and turning to him, "i do. i love you." you said, seeing his eyes practically light up while he was sipping his hot cocoa.

"i'll never get tired of hearing you say it." he sighed happily. "and i love you too." he smiled before kissing you, you gladly reciprocating.

both of you turned your attention to the movie afterwards, laughing and talking about certain parts all while enjoying your fresh hot cocoas.

[puckleberryfinnie]

All to Be Revealed

summary: based on this request! sharky x fem!youtuber!reader

notes: sorry this took a little longer than expected, still hope you enjoy it a bunch pookie!! happy new year to you all! requests very open!!

Literally so understanding about your fear of revealing your relationship, he completely gets it, especially because he's got the same struggle with making sure to please a whole fan base.

Only problem is that this guys is SUPER affectionate- like he would definitely be holding your hand all the time if your relationship was public.

The second you both are away from the public eye, he'd all over you. The second you enter the house, he's grabbing onto your arm so you guys can cuddle together while watching something on the TV.

Let be so fr, his fans are pretty crazy, so it's very possible that they would blow up over him not being available. Therefore, also, whoever he was dating would get quite a bit of backlash.

Honestly it worried him that you were so worried about how the fans would react though. Like he knew it was bad that you felt so anxious about it all the time, he just wanted you to feel better :(

So when he started dropping little hints to his audiences, it was for your own benefit. It wasn't like he was even hinting at the fact that you guys were dating, either.

He was pretty much just giving them a reason to start shipping you two, which really worked in your guys' favor when you finally decided to reveal everything.

Smiling at you and staring at you a little bit too long during video shoots.

Talking about you on stream a bunch

liking and commenting on all your instagram posts

That sort of thing, OH wait and one more important one: making vague tiktoks that were definitely about you so that his followers could clock what he was talking about. "When you catch yourself smiling about her," "dance if you've completely fallen in love with someone," etc. etc.

And the tiktoks slowly started morphing into full on videos with you two dancing and whatnot, so fans definitely started to notice your guys' connection more and more.

Looking at all the positive feedback you were getting on both of your accounts when you were together, you finally decided it was time for you two to reveal everything to the public.

It was just a simple stream, something where the viewers can send in videos on his twitch, where you both had planned on saying something about the relationship towards the end of it

So many of the videos from the viewers were edits of you two, though. Like more than 50% it was crazy.

So you both just kind of gave each other a look of silent agreement before he slowly wrapped an arm around your shoulders, going "So funny story, guys.."

HE'D BE SO CHEESY ABOUT IT AHH

As soon as everyone realizes what he's doing, they go CRAY CRAY- the amount of edits of just that clip is insane!!

All your worries go away as you read chat- everyone is just so happy for you two and super duper glad that you found each other.

It's a little bit after that when more of your own fans find everything out too, and they have the same reaction about it all, they're glad you have someone like him so close to you <3

love ya!!

[osleeplessflowero]

Okay! I may have forgotten but I don't think you've done Underfell Papyrus yet? I'm curious how you would interpret him as a lot of people seem to make him very one note.

Could you do a First Impressions thing? Can the Reader be female as well? Up to you if this takes place on the surface or if Reader fell into the Underground. (Bonus points if you feel like including or just referencing Doomfanger!)

i have written him briefly before, but i am more than happy to write edge content again!! i love him dearly <3 thank you for your request! 🌸

🛍️First Meeting🖤

It's a warm, sunny morning. Barely any clouds are visible in the sky as a car comes to a stop, finding the perfect spot in a mall's parking lot. The moment the car stops, a child opens one of the back doors, sliding out and holding out their arms so a cat can jump into them. A skeleton closes the door beside the driver's seat, pushing up sharp shades over his eyesockets.

"Alright, Human, Listen To Me Carefully." He kneels down to be at eye level with the child. The two had gotten much closer when the monsters had finally surfaced two years ago, Frisk having found themself spending a lot more time with the skeleton brothers they'd grown fond of.

"This Is A Large Place Full Of Unfamiliar Figures. We Are Here To Pick Out Furniture That Doomfanger Herself Prefers, So I Am Tasking You With Keeping A Close Eye On Her. You Know Well How She Likes To Run Off, So I Am Entrusting You With Watching Over Her. Can You Do That?"

They nod eagerly, holding the fluffy cat in their arms happily.

"Very Good. Now, Let Us Head Inside, Hmm?" He smiles, standing back up and beginning to walk, Frisk following close by. "Do Not Walk Through Here Without Being Careful. There Are Lunatics Out Here." He narrows his hidden eyesockets and leans his hand down so they can hold it to ensure their safety, Frisk shifting Doomfanger to their other arm as they do.

"I'd Have Asked My Bonehead Brother To Watch Her, But..Well..He Worked Hard Yesterday. I'll Let Him Rest For Today. He Needs It, This Time." He holds the door open for them, letting them walk in first before following close behind.

They sign something to him, making him let out a cackle.

After a few minutes, they manage to find the store they're looking for. The skeleton carefully takes Doomfanger from Frisk's arms, holding her up to one of the taller shelves.

"Alright, Which Of These Do You Prefer, Little Miss?" He waits patiently until the cat baps one of the various beds that she likes best, nodding in agreement and putting it in a shopping cart.

Frisk gestures a silent chuckle, looking over some cutesy cat sticker sheets nearby. They look from left to right before taking a sheet out of their backpack, slapping a heart sticker on one of the shelves before rejoining him.

"Hold Her For A Moment, I Believe I Saw The Collars Over There..I Will Be Right Back. Stay Put."

They nod in agreement, a determined look on their face as they hold the cat that's currently trying to escape their hold. Once he's walked off, they shift their focus to some squeaky toys with funny jokes written on them, ones they think Sans would appreciate if he were present. They take out their phone and send some pictures to him for later, including one of them holding Doomfanger and making a silly face.

While temporarily distracted, the cat takes this opportunity to leap out of their hold, resulting in an almost silent gasp as they run to chase her down.

"Alright, I've Found An Exa- OH MY STARS WHERE DID MY CHILD GO-" He looks around hurriedly before seeing their silhouette running out of the store, sitting the cart aside and running after them.

The child darts across the hall, chasing after the cat that's rapidly speeding away into a clothing store. They look around worriedly once they lose sight of her, scanning the aisles before spotting her nuzzling against someone's leg.

You kneel down to pet the random, cute cat. "Oh my goodness, you're so soft! Your owner must be worried sick about you."

Frisk runs over, catching their breath.

"Oh, hello, is this cat yours sweetheart?" You ask, holding her in your arms.

They nod quickly, holding out their arms as you place her back in them.

"I'm guessing she ran away from you?"

Another nod.

"Well, it's a good thing she's in safe hands now." You smile. They feel a little more reassured, but then start to panic. They ran off, and they don't know this mall that well! What if they can't find Papyrus? What if they're lost?

Tears prick at the corners of their eyes as you hurry over to them, kneeling to be at eye level.

"What's wrong, dear?" You frown, reaching up to wipe their tears away.

They quickly sign: 'I'm lost, I need to find my guardian, I ran away from him trying to catch her. I don't remember the way back.'

"Oh.." You look around. "What store was he in? I can show you where it is."

They perk up at that. 'It was a pet store. It had a lot of stickers.'

"I think I know which one you're talking about! Yeah..I can show you the way. Would you like to hold my hand? You can stay with me until we find him. I wouldn't trust anybody else around here." You narrow your eyes, holding your hand out. They take it gratefully, following close behind as you lead the way back to the store. You're about halfway there when you see a tall figure running towards you, coming to a stop when he sees Frisk at your side.

"Oh, Thank The Stars, You're Alright-" He lets out a sigh of relief, kneeling as they rush over. "Don't Run Off Where I Can't See You! It..Worries Me."

Tears prick at the corners of their eyes again as they hold Doomfanger close. 'I'm sorry. She ran away.'

He lets out a quiet sigh, reaching up to wipe their tears away with his gloved hands. "I'm Not Angry At You. Just Please Be More Careful, Next Time."

They nod, reaching their arms up. He picks them up with relative ease, now turning to you. You smile once you're acknowledged, the same expression having been on your face the entire time.

"..I..Thank You For Taking Care Of Them, Miss. If Something Had Happened To Them, I Do Not Know What I Might Have Done."

"Oh, of course. I'd hate for something to have happened.. it's a good thing they found me and not somebody with more sinister intentions. I'm glad they're safe with someone they trust now." You hold your hands together in front of yourself.

"Yes..Precisely." He clears his throat. "I Would Like To Somehow Compensate You As Thanks For Watching Over Them. Anything You Need."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly-"

"I Insist."

You think for a moment. "..How about..we go get coffee together? There's a place for it just a bit away from here. We can get something for them, too."

"Hmm. This Will Suffice. Does That Sound Good To You?" He turns to Frisk, who nods excitedly in response. "Very Well, I Will Return To Make My Purchases And..Meet You Back Here?"

"Sounds good to me. Ah, I forgot to introduce myself- my name's.." You properly introduce yourself to the skeleton.

"I Am Papyrus, The Great Papyrus. It's Been A Pleasure To Meet You, Miss." He grins, a sharp-toothed smile.

Soon after the both of you get your shopping done and move your things to your respective vehicles, you go to get coffee together (and a sweet drink for Frisk). You've found that he is very specific with his coffee tastes, something you can understand. He's quite witty, despite his intimidating appearance. And from what you can tell, he's..pretty good with kids, too.

Papyrus was..a bit wary of you at first, but still appreciative that you took care of Frisk when he could not. He makes a mental note to watch over them better, to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen again. Your kindness truly shines through, a warm atmosphere surrounding you right off the bat. By the end of the interaction, he grows to respect you.

"This was really fun, it was super nice meeting you both." You smile as you walk beside the two, looking between them.

Frisk gives him a nudge. "..Likewise, Your Company Was Pleasant."

"Maybe we'll see each other again sometime. That could be fun."

Frisk grins, perking up and walking over. You kneel to be at eye level as they hand you some stickers, a sign that they like you.

"How cute- thank you."

They smile as you pat their head, walking back over to their skeleton guardian.

"It Is Getting Rather Late, I'm Afraid We Must Bid You Farewell, Miss."

"Maybe I'll see you both around." You smile, waving at Frisk as the two walk out. You begin to walk out as well, halting when you feel something fall out of your pocket, picking it up and raising a brow at it.

Frisk has a bit of a skip to their step, leading Papyrus to where he had parked previously, him being a little surprised that they remember.

Once they get in the car, he looks at them via the mirror. "What Are You So Excited About, Hmm?"

They sign where he can see with a smug grin. 'I gave her your number.'

"You SLIPPERY SNAKE! I Must Admire Your Stealth Skills.."

They gesture silent laughter, petting Doomfanger, who lies comfortably in their lap as they begin the drive back home.

[rviner]

"Oh, da. A lot of Russian." Odessa nods cheerily, her grin slowly becoming mischievous as Beckett speaks about his attempt at Russian. She's already chuckling, gently nudging his arm. "I am patient! It is cute when you try. Maybe for magic, I teach Russian. And be patient...more patient than I am. Because I am patient." she suggests with a shrug, not sure if she can be as patient as needed but it's perhaps worth it to hear Beck's attempts which always make her laugh so easily. "You do it good." she gives the other witch a quick nod as she grins about his nature. "Like it is natural." Odessa adds simply, curious to always watch Beckett when she gives him the easy praise.

Despite smiling to his comment, Odessa can't control the slight wrinkle of her nose, wondering what spades and where and why do they have her confidence in them? The thought makes her chuckle. "You are so funny." Odessa sighs, certain then that Beckett is making a little joke. When it comes to Quinlan and Oskar, however, her hand is already waving with a dismissive motion. "Pssh. Net, no effect to me. Even if they are smart, they annoy." she states, ever unashamed of her opinion. "But with you, I will listen. I promise." Odessa's tune changes swiftly as she looks to Beckett, her smile instantly wider than her usual coy grin. Once again, Beckett's words stir a curious expression over Odessa's features and she's looking over him with a scanning gaze. Her smile lingers as she studies him for a beat, eventually giving a deciding nod in agreement. "Because you see many things, hm?" it's another way she thinks they're similar. Once a life is full of certain memories and experiences, there comes a time where some chaos can't quite compare. "You know how to deal with it. And people, so nothing ever big problem." Odessa adds, a touch of endearment in her tone for the trait she's noticed about him.

Her chin dips as she catches the teasing remark and Odessa quirks her brow in a playful sternness to Beckett. But her grin is amused to the comment. "Cope and like is not the same." she remarks, making herself chuckle even if the brief levity is gone in the next moment. The stirring of discomfort is a feeling she knows well. Having to brave a situations that she'd otherwise want to run from. Silently, she tries to read her own internal response. Why the thought of everything being slightly different is disturbing a sense of comfort she's fleetingly found. Beckett's question brings her to the moment again, even if Odessa continues to study him in silence.

"Maybe you are lonely in a way you not know." she finally answers with a softer tone, but the words still delivered like a statement. "When I was little girl, my мать and отец went to next village for goats." it starts as a little story as she reads the menu, half closing it to give Beckett a small smile. "Two days they need to travel and I love it because I can dance and sing in whole room." she explains and her shrug signals the very Slavic notion of how there's a lesson in every story. "For first day. Second day, I did not dance and sing as many times as first day. I clean so it was nice when they are home. But there is bad weather when they come home. Third day, I do not dance or sing at all." another shrug before her face is hidden by the menu again. "I learn that day that we think we like something until we have too much of it. But also...same the other way? We think we will not need something. But we do."

Before Beckett can even respond, Odessa's menu flops to the table and her hand softly raises to the other witch as her head turns to the sound of a piano. "They play Tchaikovsky wrong. Wait." she remarks, already rising to her feet to breeze to the sound where she interrupts the young musician with her corrections.

END.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me at all." Beckett laughs lightly. He's not spent much time in Felix's company but the Ranströms were known for their deep thinking minds. "Did you get to speak Russian? Y'know, I still think I could learn if you were just a bit more patient with me." He jokes, because he gets a bit tongue tied trying to say the few words Odessa taught him. Or he says them and she laughs. Neither result is what he's going for, but he doesn't mind the latter that much. Beck rubs the back of his neck, shrugging a little. "I guess? It's my job to...so yeah, I do. Means I'm doing it right." He nods. Even if it's taken a turn he hadn't expected with the recent deaths.

Beckett admires her natural self confidence and the belief she has in herself. "That's half the battle too." He admits, gesturing at her. "Belief in self. You've got that in spades...you'll learn fast. I've no doubt." And he's glad of it too, thinking she'll be better equipped to protect herself if she does.

He catches her eye and gives a slight laugh. "Yeah, they're not known for being the favorite teachers...but they're effective. You could still learn a lot from them." He's not one to put other teaching styles down, but he does like the notion Odessa feels she can learn from him faster. "But I'm happy to help how I can. We can practice what you learn there at home." Beckett catches the way he references it a second too late and clears his throat. "It's all about practice anyway."

Smiling softly at the compliment, Beck finds that he values the sincerity by which she gives them. There are never empty words where Odessa is concerned. "I try to be," he admits, "but in this city," a wave of the hand around them, "it's easier said than done. So guess I'm doing a decent job of looking calmer than I am." He jokes, because his mind is constantly churning, though he suspects the other witch notices that too.

There's something about being observed by Odessa that feels like she's able to see right through him. While he might mind if it were anyone else, even Beck has to admit that he likes the idea of someone seeing through him. Though he never thought it would be someone like Odessa. Someone who's upbringing and background and life is so different to his own and yet...who seems so similar at once. Familiar even. "I thought Russians liked the cold?" he teases gently, even if levity falls off a beat later.

"We can still walk together. I think it's the only way you'll be on time." The witch affirms, with a slight twitch of his lip, even if he refuses to pin down the reason why he's reluctant to see her go. It's good for her to have the option of picking her home. Beckett knows she's not had many. He glances at the menu before them once seated, and flicks his blue-eyed gaze over to her with a wry smile. "Did I seem lonely to you, Odessa?" It's an honest question, asked because he knows she'll give him an honest answer.

[goddessofroyalty]

Apologies if this is super niche, I'm a Mylo apologist and everything he does interests me. How are Mylo and Claggor in your Zaun family au? Cause like, a while back you mentioned that all of Silco's births were high risk/should have been C-section, so did the younger boys have any birth injuries/issues like Viktor did? Also, do you think Mylo gets tired of constantly getting asked what's up with the familial line cause he looks nothing like either of his parents, lol. I reckon most people just think at first glance he's adopted but nope, just funny genetics sorta thing

Not too niche at all.

And yeah Mylo is one of those genetic throwbacks. I feel like he looks EXACTLY like one of his grandparents though. Which doesn't help with random strangers wondering but Vander & Silco never have any doubts (not that they would seeing they made him but you know). I do think adoptions is pretty normal in Zaun so people so even if people assume Mylo isn’t Vander & Silco’s biologically they’re not going to comment because... he’s one of Vander & Silco’s kids (same applies to Vi & Powder). 

Mylo is actually worse off than he is in canon. Because he is the youngest biologically speaking, he SHOULD be the baby of the family (he WAS the baby for 4 years). But NO Powder is. Plus he's really awkwardly positioned age wise - Vi and Claggor are so close in age that they get along really well and want to play with each other. And Mylo wants to play with them but they don't want to play with him because he's ~2 years younger than them. And he doesn't want to play with Powder because she's... 2 years younger than him. And he tends to get into trouble the most because of that placing (Vi & Claggor will dob on him or pin things on him because they're older so can outsmart him and... Powder is the baby that can do no wrong in their parents eyes or if she does wrong than her older siblings should have done something to stop her). All of that just leads to a level of bubbling resentment and look I'm not surprised Mylo is kind of an asshole, especially to Powder. He's got it rough.

He does grow out of it (he finds his place in the family and world and what makes him stand out so he feels a lot less In Competition with his siblings) but as a kid he is a struggling and lashes out as a result. He goes more the trying to get Zaun into a governable state where people have the ability to live to their full potential. Because turns out spending his childhood feeling like he's at the bottom of the family hierarchy has left him pretty passionate about that kind of thing.

Claggor on the other hand is the happy middle child. He likes how he can somewhat fly under the radar and doesn't have the expectations/pressures the older two have nor the babying Powder gets. Funnily enough I think he grows up to follow Silco in the more political space - he grew up as the mediator within the younger four so trying to get highly passionate people to come to agreement or providing as impartial as possible advice doesn't feel all that different to him.

Some birth trauma stuff under the cut.

So Claggor was a BIG baby. Like 11 pound-something big (for reference the average baby weight at birth is typically between 6-8 pound with 7 pound-something being the sweet spot; the world record for vaginal delivery where both survive is 15 pounds 7 ounces from what I can find, apparently 1% of births are over 10 pound). And it was a long labour and delivery as a result - 2 full days of true labour (typically if you aren't close to being done within 24 hours you get a C-section in what I understand to be the modern convention), with at least 4-5 hours of pushing (3 hours is typically considered the max especially if you haven't had an epidural). So I do think Claggor has some breathing/oxygen issues at first just because of the prolonged face squishing and decreased blood flow through the placenta that happens with that long of a delivery but he did get through it and seemed fine. Probably has some long term health issues tied to it though (I want to say vision impairments and epilepsy) but nothing they can directly-directly pin on it.

Mylo was the deceptive pregnancy and birth. Everything was going fine and then Silco lost a bit more blood than he should afterwards. Like a worrying bit more blood with possibly an actual doctor involved (they did somewhat learn their lesson after the other two and probably have enough power/money to afford a doctor even if not a fancy Piltoven doctor with their hospital equipment). So Mylo was a perfectly healthy and fine baby. Just... Silco still ended up with a two-day-recovery-from-Shock afterwards. 

[abimess]

Move in and don't ever move out // Part 4

Leigh Shaw x Reader

Masterlist | Library Blog

Summary: After Leigh asks to spend a few days at your house, living together awakens unwanted feelings in both of you

Word count: 3.307  II  10.920 

Warnings: angst; fluff

You do NOT have permission to repost or translate my work on any platforms (even with credit)

All parts | Part 3

───── ⋅ ✮ ⋅ ─────

A few days have passed since you and Leigh had that intense moment together and there seems to be a silent agreement between you not to talk about it.

Not that you are complaining. Acknowledging that that moment happened also means acknowledging that your feelings for Leigh have returned and that was the last thing you wanted to do.

But things are going well, as they were before. You are, as usual, in the living room, enjoying each other's company in silence.

“Can I write about you in my column?” Leigh breaks the silence and you continue fiddling with your cell phone as you answer. “It depends, are you going to talk about how awesome I am?” You joke and she snorts, giggling. “Obviously.”

“What are you writing about?” You ask, putting your phone way and Leigh sighs. “Just about my life actually. Drew wants me to be honest about my life so that people can relate. So since you are part of my life now, it makes sense that I would write about you too. But only if you're okay with it, of course.”

Leigh explain casually, but you can't help the silly smile that invades your face when she talks about you being part of her life now.

“I'm cool with it, yeah. As long as you talk about how charming and funny I am.” You tease and Leigh rolls her eyes. “Oh yes, hilarious.” You’re about to play offended, but then you realize something and raise your eyebrows, an amused smile on your face. “You agree that I'm charming, then.” You say and Leigh frowns.

“What?” She asks and you giggle amused. “You made fun of me when I said I was funny, but you didn't say anything about me being charming.”

Leigh raises her brows, trying as hard as she can to ignore the heat on her cheeks “Are you hunting for compliments?” She teases and you chuckle, resting your back comfortably. “Sure, they're always welcome.”

Leigh rolls her eyes, trying to ignore the way this conversation has stirred her.

-----

Leigh has a meeting with the people from Basically News today and should be gone for the rest of the afternoon, which gives you the perfect opportunity to organize the office. With luck, everything will be ready for when she returns.

You hired a painter to fix the mess you and Leigh made on the room and when he glances you a shocked, judgmental look, you just shrug your shoulders feeling slightly ashamed.

While he paints the room, you build the furniture you had bought, laughing lightly as you read the instructions, remembering when you and Leigh built the bookcase a few days ago.

The room is small and it doesn't take long for the painter to finish. So you pay him and thank him for his services, and after waiting for the paint to dry a bit, you start carrying things into the room.

You organize everything in the best way you can, making everything as beautiful and cozy as possible. When you finally finish, you feel exhausted and sweaty, but you smile proud of the result.

Soon you hear the front door opening and you rush your way out of the room, closing the door behind you.

“God, I'm exhausted, I can't wait to take a shower.” You hear Leigh grumbling as she closes the door and when she looks at you, she frowns. “God, you're rotten. You clearly need a shower too.”

You chuckle and look at her teasingly. “Is this an invitation to take a shower with you, Shaw?” She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, shaking her head annoyed and feeling her cheeks warm up on her face. “You're full of crap these days, aren’t you?”

You chuckle again and tilt your head towards the room. “Come on, I wanna show you something.”

You lead her into the room and stop in front of the door with an eager smile on your face. Leigh frowns, but your joy is contagious so she smiles too. “What did you do?” She asks, one brow raised, but instead of answering, you just open the door.

Leigh observes the room with an expression of complete surprise. What was once a room with walls completely ruined by your mess is now an office. A very nice office, by the way, with a desk, a small bookshelf and some discrete decorations. Leigh smiles, noticing how everything is just the way she likes it.

“What is this?” Leigh turns her attention back to you, astonished, and you smile shyly.

“Well, I've been thinking... Maybe it would be nice if you had a place to work. You always write in the living room... And I'm not saying you can't be in the living room! You can stay wherever you feel most comfortable. I just... I don't know... I thought it would be a good idea to have your own office.”

Leigh listens to your embarrassed speech with a mixture of amusement and tenderness. A loving smile emerges on her face as she watches your cheeks blush.

She is about to thank you but she stops suddenly, raising her eyebrows at what she has just realized. "Why did you set up an office for me in your house?"

You massage the back of your neck shyly as Leigh looks at you with eyes full of expectation. “I've been thinking... And it's okay if you don't want to, but living with you has been a lot better than I thought it would be, and I would really appreciate it if instead of staying here for a few days you would move in for good.”

You admit it and the way your cheeks are burning makes you even more nervous but Leigh looks at you with a happy smile on her face and a silly giggle escapes her lips. “I’d love to move in with you.”

You widen your eyes in enthusiasm at the answer and Leigh laughs even harder. "Are you serious?" You ask excitedly and Leigh replies in the same tone "Of course I am!"

Without thinking too much about it, you hug her around the waist and spin her around, and Leigh wraps her arms around your neck. You both laugh happily and foolishly at the idea of moving in together for good. None of you really thinking about what this might entail.

-----

After several days of living together, you imagined that Leigh actually moving in with you wouldn’t change things that much. But turned out you were very wrong.

Soon enough the decorations in the rooms, especially in the kitchen and living room, changed. Not that you were complaining. Leigh was clearly better than you at this sort of thing, and the house was much nicer and cozier now.

Besides, Leigh made a point of buying a lot of healthy foods and kept a daily diet of what to eat, which you were not too keen to follow. But considering that Leigh was way more stubborn than you, you didn't have much choice. But you’re also very stubborn yourself, so you would never admit that your well-being has improved a lot since you started eating better.

You were helping Leigh carry a box of her things into her room one day when she suddenly stopped, looking at the door next to you. You frown in confusion, but before you can ask, she speaks.

"I don't think I've ever seen that door open." She tilts her head toward the door and you assume a thoughtful expression, but then slightly widen your eyes in surprise. "Gee, it's true.”

"Is that your play room, (Y/n)?" She looks at you with her brows raised mischievously and you grimace. “Please tell me you did not just make a reference to 50 Shades of Grey.”

Leigh laughs amusedly as you two put the box you were carrying on the floor. "Jules made me watch it."

"That must have been quite an experience." You joke and she assumes a sarcastic expression. "Oh, a lot. I spent half the movie wanting to kill Jules and the other half wanting to kill myself."

You laugh and put your hand on the doorknob. "Ready to see my play room, Ms. Shaw?" you ask in a mocking flirtatious tone and Leigh giggles but replies in the same tone. "Dying to, Ms. (Y/l/n)."

You open the door, revealing several shelves with comic books, action figures, and various other pop culture items. "You're such a nerd," Leigh sneers, but she looks at everything with great enthusiasm and you smile, crossing your arms and leaning your shoulder on the side of the door.

"After I came back to LA and put my new stuff together with the stuff I already had here I realized that I had a lot of nerdy stuff" You make quotation marks with your fingers and Leigh chuckles. "I didn't want to go spreading them all over the house so I figured I'd leave a separate room just to keep them."

Leigh nods in agreement, admiring your collections and smiling fondly at things you had mentioned before and things she already knew. But as soon as her eyes land on a specific item on the wall, she freezes.

In a simple but beautiful frame, you had one of the copies of the comic Matt wrote framed. Leigh runs her fingers gently across the frame, feeling her eyes burn slightly as tears form.

You walk slowly and stop beside her, also admiring the comic on the wall. "It’s a great comic. It deserved a special place." You speak slowly and Leigh looks up at you, her eyes full of tenderness and laden with tears.  

"It's a very sweet gesture." She speaks softly, trying to hold back the tears and you just smile, preventing tears from forming in your own eyes.

You both look at the frame again, and when Leigh rests her head on your shoulder, you close your eyes, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt that begins to take over you.

-----

You've been distant for a few days now and that bothers Leigh quite a lot, but at least the distance is helping her deal with her conflicting feelings for you.

You’ve been distant, so when you invite Leigh to join you for dinner with some friends from work on Friday, she’s surprised, but accepts without a second thought.  

In the middle of the night of that day, you wake up with a thirst and go to the kitchen, drink some water and walk back to your room, all in zombie style.

But then you hear some noises coming from Leigh's room. You move closer to identify what it is and your heart squeezes when you realize that it’s the sound of crying.

Without hesitation, you lightly knock on the door and the noise stops immediately. A few seconds later, you hear the rattling of the doorknob, and the door opens next.

Leigh's swollen face and red nose and eyes make you want to cry too. Or to hold her tight and never let go. But you control yourself not to do either of those things.

"Hey" you say softly, unsure of what to say next. You want to ask if she’s okay, but she’s obviously not. You also want to ask what happened, but besides being too intrusive, it doesn't take a genius to know it's about Matt. Leigh murmurs an almost inaudible "Hi" and your heart hurts even harder.

Before you can figure out what to say, though, Leigh speaks again. “Sorry, did I wake you up?” she asks worriedly and you immediately shake your head. "No, no. I just went to get a drink of water and ended up hearing.... Is there anything I can do for you?"

A dry laugh escapes her lips. "I don't think there's anything anyone can do for me." You just nod slowly, unsure of what to say next. "I get it... Well, if you need me, you know where to find me." You say, pointing to your room and smile lovingly at her. "Good night, Leigh.”

Leigh is silent, so you figure she won't say anything else and you turn around. As you walk to your room, Leigh calls your name.

When you turn to her again, Leigh runs her hands on her arms anxiously. "Can you... Can you stay with me tonight? Please."

She sounds so fragile and hurt that it’s impossible for you not to walk up to her and hug her tight. Leigh doesn't hesitate to hug you back either, burying her face in your chest and trying her best to hold back the tears that threaten to fall again.

"Of course I can." You say after you move apart and Leigh gives you a grateful smile. You walk slowly into the room and you lie on the bed, unsure of what to do next but Leigh lays her head on your chest and wraps her arm around your waist.

Without a second thought, you hug her back, one hand hugging her and drawing small circles in her back, and the other running your fingers through her hair.

Having you so close, feeling your touch in such a new and intimate way only increases the conflict within Leigh. On one hand, she wants to allow herself to open up to you, to let you in and never let you go. On the other hand, the weight of guilt is overwhelming, and just the thought that this might be a betrayal to Matt already makes her want to run away.

Still, even for one night she lets you comfort her, feeling your touch and smelling your scent until she falls asleep.

You have no idea how long you stayed there, but as soon as you realize that Leigh has fallen asleep, you allow yourself to do the same.

-----

It’s been a few days since you slept in Leigh's room.

And even though she thanked you with a tender hug the next morning, you both seem to avoid the subject the same way you avoid talking about the day of the dancing in the living room.

But there’s no tension of any kind between you. In fact, it seems that things only get better every day. It just seems that Leigh doesn't want to talk about it, and you obviously don't pressure her to do so.

"Drew is organizing a costume party for Basically News" Leigh says one day, when you two are having ice cream in the kitchen.

"Um, that's interesting. Is that an invitation or a comment?" You ask with a raised eyebrow and Leigh smiles mockingly. "It was just supposed to be a comment, but since you invited me to dinner tomorrow I would feel guilty about not inviting you to the party."

You make a hurt expression. "Gee, what an honor then." Leigh laughs and shoves another scoop of ice cream into her mouth. "Of course it's an invitation, you idiot. I want you to come."

"Okay, then. Since you want me to come." You say trying to avoid the silly smile that wants to escape your lips and Leigh rolls her eyes, a shy smile forming on her own lips.

"Have you chosen which costume you’ll wear?" You ask after enjoying some of the ice cream and Leigh shakes her head. "Not yet. I was wondering if you had any characters from your comics neerdy stuff to recommend."

You think for a moment and hum as an idea comes to you. "There’s the Scarlet Witch." You suggest and with Leigh's confused expression you pick up your cell phone and start looking for a picture of the witch to show her.

"There's not the slightest possibility of me wearing an outfit like that." Leigh declares with a mixture of astonishment and offense on her face and you laugh, putting the cell phone back on the counter.

"And what are you going to dress up as? A tree?" She scoffs and you force a fake laugh. "Wow, Leigh, how hilarious you are. I think you should dress up as a clown." You retort and Leigh makes a fake offended expression. She throws the dishrag in your face and you laugh.

-----

The night of the dinner has arrived and you decided to dress up nicely.

After you were ready, you went into the living room to wait for Leigh. It didn't take long for her to join you, and as soon as your eyes fell on her, your brain stopped working.

"It's not nice to stare, you know?" she says with a mocking smile and flushed cheeks. You chuckle softly, admiring her. "Well, it's not my fault you look so pretty." The words escape your mouth and you scold yourself as soon as they do, but Leigh giggles shyly so you don't worry too much.

"Shall we?" You say indicating the door and trying your best to pick up the pace of your breathing. "We shall." She says with a smile and you two walk towards the door.  

Dinner is going pretty well, although you have to try very hard not to stare at Leigh all the time. It is inevitable the way your gaze searches for her even if you do everything you can to avoid it.

It's beautiful to see the way Leigh is allowing herself to have fun tonight, talking and laughing with your colleagues and if you could, you would stand there just watching her.

"You didn't tell us your girlfriend was a lot more fun than you, (Y/n)." Your colleague who is sitting in front of you, Jennifer, sneers and you almost choke on your drink.

You and Leigh exchange embarrassed glances and you turn your attention back to Jennifer, your cheeks burning. "She's not my girlfriend. We're just friends." You explain and Jennifer quickly begins to apologize.

An uncomfortable atmosphere forms around you. Freaking out too much, you don’t notice the slight expression of hurt that flashes across Leigh's face.

Trying to bring back the pleasant atmosphere from before you joke. "And there is not the slightest possibility that she is more fun than me. She's just pretending to be a nice person.”

Jennifer giggles and Leigh taps you lightly on the arm. The conversation soon becomes as light as before, but neither of you can avoid the tension that has arisen.

-----

It’s late when you and Leigh return home. You chat and laugh about some of the evening's events until you stop in front of her door.

She turns to face you and you both stare at each other for a few moments, silly smiles on both your faces.

"I had a really good time tonight." You admit and Leigh's smile widens. "Me too." And there it was again. The twinkle in her eyes that you've noticed a few times before and that always makes your heart beat a little faster on your chest.

But this time you can't help yourself and you put your hands on her waist and pull her close, connecting your lips to hers next.

Leigh freezes, completely surprised by your sudden action. You notice, and soon come to your senses as well. You widen your eyes and move quickly and awkwardly away from her, mumbling words of apology.

But Leigh moves toward you and brings her hands to the back of your neck, connecting your lips once more. You melt instantly at her touch, and don't think twice before putting your hands on her waist again and corresponding to the kiss.

You run your tongue gently over Leigh's bottom lip asking for passage, and when she gives it to you, you waste no time.

You both sigh as your tongues meet, and when Leigh pulls you into her room you don't stop her.

───── ⋅ ✮ ⋅ ─────

And that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed it, thoughts and comments are always welcome ツ

Part 5

Taglist: @yuhloversxx @madamevirgo @an-evergreen-rose @helloalycia @wandas1mp @cantcontroltheirfear @diaryoflife @ironscarletwidowsoilder @cristin-rjd @ensorcellme @aimezvousbrahms @natasha-danvers @purplemeetsblue @randomshyperson @thegayw1tch @peggycarter-steverogers @causeitswhatjesuswouldfreakingdo @b0mbdotc0m @yourtaletotell  @ethereal-pxradise @stephanieromanoff @tomy5girls @justagaypanicking @gingerbreadcookieforlife @imapotatao  @musicinourlips @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @tsmukanii @likefirenrain @allfiguredout @olsensnpm @magicallymaximoff @am-just-a-cosmic-joke-to-me @imapotatao @ledollarbean-em @speedycookieeggsnerd @obsessed-with-wandamaximoff @themultiimagines @fayhar @upsidedowndanvers (let me know if you wanna be tagged)

[unloved-cadillac]

hey!!! hope u've had a great day 💖 can I ask for a smut/nsfw of levi with a stern, cold, and equally terrifying co-captain (basically a girl version of levi HAHA) with a very deep monotone voice that can sometimes be mistaken as a man, which makes levi laugh to himself because when the doors are closed, shes very clingy and affectionate (sub who likes choking, edging, nipple sucking and daddy kink) with levi and one time they fucked, her very-- uh how do I say this,,, very "feminine" moans were overheard by the squad. they all thought levi was having sex with a prostitute but once they're ~ done ~ they went out to drink tea and they were all suprised to see the other captain dressed with captain levi's shirt with tons of hickeys on her neck? LOL sorry if it was too specific I just thought it would be funny. thank you!!

C/n: oh this a HELLA spicy request👀 and is this me??? Because it sounds like me. Anywho, thanks for requesting and I hope that you enjoy🤍

Warnings: look at the request.

———————————————————————

Behind Closed Doors.(Levi x Reader NSFW Oneshot)

Levi was known as the worst Captain. Not because he was a bad person, because he was ruthless. He never gave anyone an easy way out nor did he give a fuck. Nobody thought that they would find someone like him.

Until you came along.

You were the new Captain for the squad that was second to Levi’s. Nobody got it. You looked so sweet but when you spoke it was like listening to a female Levi. And it terrified them.

Erwin laughed at how everyone compared you to Levi. Now he had two tea-loving, blunt, stoic Captains to attend to. Hange loveddd you. You were weirded out by her at first, but grew to love the four-eyes weirdo. Levi found it enthralling. You were so strong and so independent and he liked that.

One day on the training grounds, a male cadet was verbally harassing a female one and you saw this and groaned. Cadet Mason had been trying to get the poor girl for months but it was when he grabbed her arm did you step in.

“Oi! Mason! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Your deep, monotone voice yelled out and you saw Mason physically stiffen. “C-Captain Levi. I don’t know what-” he turns and sees you. He straightens up and salutes. “CAPTAIN Y/N! I-I’m sorry I didn't know it was you.” “Tch. Forget that. Leave this girl alone. Actually, the stables need cleaning. The horses shat everywhere so clean it all up. I don’t care how long it takes. After that, I want you to write an apology to this young lady and apologize to her. Maybe then you’ll learn some manners. Now GO!” Your voice roared through the base and the boy ran with his tail between his legs. You made the girl take a day off and started to walk to the Mess Hall when you saw Levi. “Mason being an idiot again?” He asks and you scoff. “When isn't he?” You retort and he chuckles. He looks at you and you share a heart full glance with each other. “Have some tea with me. My office.” He says and you smile and nod. “Sure.”

And it was then that sparked a beautiful, loving relationship between the two of you. Nothing really changed in the first few weeks but he did see how you acted in private. Clingy and loving. A complete 180 from your usual demeanor and he loved it. Something nobody else saw except for him.

Another thing nobody else saw or knew about was how subby you were. He was surprised the first time you two fucked and how kinky you were. You made him have a kink he didn’t even know he would enjoy so much.

After a particularly hard and long mission, Levi came back to his office to see you there. You saw him and leaped into his arms, wrapping your legs around his torso. “Thank god you’re okay.” You whisper into his shoulder and he hugs you tighter. “I’m fine.” He responds. You turn your head and begin to litter his neck with soft kisses. “I’ve missed you, daddy.” You seductively say and push your hips into his, making him groan. “Oh really? Well I’ve missed you too, princess.” You moan at his pet name and he captures your lips in his. Levi turns you around and pins you against the wall as he moves his lips to your neck. He bites and nips everywhere, finding all of your sweet spots with ease.

“Daddy~ I need you.” You moan out and he bites your earlobe. “I know, my baby. I need you too.” He says and walks the both of you to his room and throws you on his bed and kisses you again. You both separate for a quick second to shred off your clothing before you both dove into each other again. You rub his clothed cock making him groan. “Don’t be such a brat, Y/n. I won’t be able to hold back.” He sighs into your neck. You kiss his cheek and say, “Don’t.”

That one word made him snap. He quickly took off his underwear and shoved his fingers into your soaking cunt. “So fucking wet. Coating my fingers already. Look at you.” Levi fingers you until he felt you clench around him and your body tensed. He quickly pulled out, making you groan. Levi hovers over you and catches your nipple and sucks harshly on it. “Ahh~ Daddy. Just like that.” You moan out and his tongue swipe your nipple and he moves to your other one. He pinches and bites your nipples earning delicious moans from you. You become a bit louder when he bite a bit harder. He pulled away with drool all over his mouth and kissed you harshly. “Tell me what you want, princess. Tell me how badly you want it.” He says as he trails kisses along your neck. “I want your cock in me, daddy. Fill me up with your fat cock and make me come. Please~” you whine out and he hums in approval. “Then take it.”

Without warning, Levi shoves into you making you yell out. He takes both of your hands and holds it above your head while slamming into you. The headboard hit the wall and your wails of pleasure filled the room. “Ah! D-Daddy! There! Right there! Harder!” You moan and he leans up and let’s go of your hands and places his hands on your hips, all while still thrusting into you. “So tight. All for me? Of course it’s for me.” Levi self praises and you take his right hand and trail it up your body to your neck. He smiles and wraps his long digits around your neck, squeezing gently. The angle made him hit every inch of you and you couldn’t do anything but scream out as you started to get to your release.

Outside of the office, Jean and Connie stood as they listened. “Holy fuck, Jean. Captain Levi must be fucking her really good if he’s making her scream that much.” Connie remarks. “Who is she? A soldier?” Jean asks Connie as he presses his ear to the door to hear better. “Nah. I haven’t heard anyone with that voice. Maybe he hired a prostitute! It would make sense since the mission was a success and he wanted to celebrate.” Connie explains and Jean nods in agreement. “Who would’ve thought? Well let’s go. I don’t want to seem like a creep.” He says and drags Connie to the Mess Hall to leave their Captain to his intimate time.

After you both finished for the second time, Levi collapsed next to you as you both caught your breaths. Skin was coated with sweat and the room was filled with the sounds of heaving pants. “Holy...shit.” Levi breathes out as you chuckle and lay on his chest. “I know. That was amazing.” You say and he plants a sweet kiss to the top of your head. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Was I too rough?” His consideration made your heart soft. You lean up and kiss him. You move his hair out of his face and shake your head. “You were perfect.” You whisper and he hugs you. “Good.” Was all he said before it was silent again. “Want to go have some tea?” You ask and he chuckles. “Can you even walk?” You playfully slap his chest at his question. “But yeah. Let’s go.” Levi says and you both wake up. You take Levi’s shirt and your shorts and put it on. You left four top buttons undone and Levi puts on his black long sleeved shirt with his matching trousers. “Ready?” He asks and you nod. You both walk out his room and make your way to the Mess Hall. You sat as you waited for Levi to make the tea since there was no one else around. It was late so you didn’t expect anyone to be awake. Well, there was.

“Oh there’s Captain Y/n.” Armin says to Jean as they pass the hall. Jean pulls Armin behind a wall and looks at her. She seemed tired as hell and her hair was all messed up. She propped her head on her hand and sighed. Jean eyed her. “Something’s wrong.” He whispers to Armin and Armin looks back at her. “Why?” As Jean was about to answer, Captain Levi comes to her with two tea cups and sets one by her. He sits next to her and she sips her tea. When she does, Jean sees her neck covered in hickeys as well as Captain Levi’s. Jean gasps and pulls Armin away from there. “Jean! Hey!” Armin whisper shouts and Jean let’s go of Armins shirt. “Guys! Get in here before you get caught!” Connie calls them back to bed and they enter with a shocked Jean. “Connie. You know that woman’s voice we heard earlier from Captain Levi’s room?” Jean asks him and Connie nods. “A woman’s voice? Captain Levi? What are you talking about?” Reiner asks and Jean looks up at Connie. “It was Captain Y/n.” He says and holds his head. Connie’s eyes widen and then starts laughing. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jean. Captain Y/n’s voice doesn’t sound like that!” Connie remarks. “But it was her!” Jean suddenly says. “Armin and I just saw the two of them having tea together in the Hall. And her neck was covered in hickeys as well as his!” Jean continues and Connie whistles. “Whoa. Captain Levi and Captain Y/n. Goddamn.” Connie didn’t even seem the least bit concerned that it was hers. The boys continued to talk about it while Jean covered his face as he sat on the bed.

The worst part was that the next day, he had training with Captain Y/n. How the hell was he going to concentrate?

———————————————————————

🖤🤍Thanks for reading🤍🖤

-Caddy.

[beelovesnct]

𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩 [𝐞𝐩. 𝟑]

— episode 3

The episode begins with the introduction of the two trained professionals who will be evaluating the personalities of the members; Aiko could be seen bowing and clapping respectfully together with the boys.

They began by introducing what the HEXACO test was, and when asked if they had any idea of what it could be, Jisung answered that it might be related to the MBTI, while Jaemin and Jeno revealed they thought it was for psychopaths (with Aiko scoffing and commenting, "You're both crazy," under her breath.)

Before proceeding with their assessment, both professionals put out a disclaimer that the test was not one hundred percent accurate, rather simply something that a person could relate to and say, "Oh I feel that way sometimes,"

Jaemin's assessment: Mr. My Way

They first examined Jaemin's character, explaining that he's someone who abides by his own rules and standards, and makes it clear whenever those are not met. In short, he's a character who does things his way.

Immediately, the dreamies reacted with subtle shock, amazed at how close the results were to his actual personality; even Aiko was nodding her head along with their explanation, especially about how he was such a complicated character overall and had a hard time dissecting what he was actually like.

The host noticed this, and asked why she was nodding so much; Aiko then stated that "Even I'm surprised by Jaemin every time; he's like an onion that can reform its layers, sometimes he shows everything and other times nothing at all."

The professionals and even Jaemin himself were surprised by Aiko's specification, "That's exactly how we would point it out." They complimented her use of words.

Jeno's assessment: A scholar who gets hurt easily

For Jeno, they revealed that he's the type of person who holds everything in; so when asked about his infamous nickname, "Jeno-jam", he revealed that he was actually hurt the first few times when he was teased as such, only getting over it when he finally viewed it as a positive thing—something that was unique only to him.

When asked who called him that name, Renjun admitted that besides Aiko, everyone called him that even way back in their trainee days to which Jeno then confirmed.

Aiko was suddenly asked why she didn't tease Jeno, she replied with a stutter, "H-He was funny then," to which Haechan immediately responded with "Don't lie," bringing laughter to everyone.

Regaining her flustered composure, Aiko tried explaining again, "Just, he's reminded by them anyway, me teasing him would be a waste of time," She shrugged her shoulders cooly, but it failed to conceal her true emotions as the tip of her ears started turning red; especially with Mark's revelation,

"Actually, Aiko came to me one night when we were preparing for debut, she told me if I could tell the kids to stop teasing Jeno because she was worried his confidence would decrease,"

A bunch of oohs and aahs came after the confession; Aiko rolled her eyes but covered her face after, earning a "Tsundere!" comment from Jaemin.

Jeno simply smiled and side-hugged Aiko who was still crouched over with her face in her hands.

Ako was once again complimented, making the host joke if she was doing this to get more screen time, to which the boys denied altogether, "Aiko is really like that, she's observant. She knows when we're having problems without us having even to tell her, she has like a detector of some sort." Renjun said with much sincerity, making everyone nod in understanding (and Aiko embarrassed again so she settled on putting her entire face on Jeno's shoulder).

With such timing, the professionals intervened that that was exactly what they got from Aiko's personality test as well, and so the segment moved to Aiko's examination.

Aiko's assessment: Individualistic Tsundere

After seeing Aiko's HEXACO results, the members let out a sound of surprise, as much like Jeno's, Aiko's chart was very unconventional.

"As we can see, Aiko-nim's results were a 3-3 situation; her humility, emotionality, and conscientiousness were very high, but her extroversion, openness, and agreeableness were all lower than what is of standard."

"This is the reason why we gave you the title, 'Individualistic Tsundere'", they continued, and once again, even just from the title, the members gasp and showed their agreement.

"You are very individualistic, and that simply means that you enjoy being alone, and you actually value your alone time. For that reason, you are very independent and often won't turn to others for help." They began their explanation, the set quiet as all of the dreamies paid attention to what they were saying about their precious member, only nodding whenever they agreed with what was revealed.

"Wah, why is that so accurate," Renjun commented, his voice low as he glanced at Aiko who has kept silent right from the start when her results were shared.

"I've heard that you're lazy, right? Fans call you a cat because you laze around too much," The comparison brought a smile to Aiko's face as she nodded, confirming their thoughts.

"But I think that you're not lazy at all; as a result of your low extraversion and high conscientiousness, you're very picky with what you put your efforts in. In short, you're practical. You share the same 'My Way' attitude with Jaemin-nim, that if something does not interest you, you tend to back off completely."

The dreamies, once more, portrayed an appalled expression; this time, even Aiko was not excused as she felt immensely exposed to that particular revelation.

"Yah, this is so crazy," Mark chimed in, shaking his head in disbelief.

The professionals continued, seemingly pleased with the reaction, "There were some essay portions in the test, and Aiko-nim answered some of them—which I assume was in line with your interests, with essays that were good enough for college applications."

"Like with the David Statue, she made references to the art of human anatomy, and even stated possible reasons as to why Michaelangelo sculpted it; it was an amazing read,"

"But for those that she might have not found so interesting, she simply stated some simple phrases that weren't at all expounded."

"One question asked if you would steal money in the instance that you would never get caught, Aiko-nim simply stated, 'I'm rich enough, so no thank you.'" The disclosure didn't fail to bring smiles and laughter to both the members and hosts, finding Aiko's savage response too amusing. Aiko simply shook her head as she hid her face behind her hands once again, only regaining her composure once the topic was changed.

"It's also because of your lack of extroversion that you tend to hide how you care for others. You have really high emotionality, which means you have the tendency to be an empath—detecting whenever a person is down even if they don't show it; so you help them in any way you can—especially if they're important to you, but often would brush it off as nothing, hence we gave you the title, 'Tsundere'"

Jaemin nodded vigorously, displaying full-on his 'my way' attitude as he screamed his thoughts, "That's RIGHHHHHT."

The dreamies, though amused with Jaemin, sided with his thoughts, with Jisung declaring one particular story from their trainee days.

“Noona always sees right through any of us. She'd buy medicine from across the street during break times just so we won't have to suffer. She would then always lie that she already had those medicines with her, but she didn't know that we could see her right from the window."

At Jisung's confession, everyone visibly cooed; adoration in their eyes as they looked at Aiko (who waved her hands in front of her, trying to deny the accusation, but the dreamies won't let her have it). Jaemin, who was beside her, ruffled her hair fondly.

"With that, there are a lot of benefits with having you on the team, one of which is making sure that everybody's doing okay behind the scenes, but I do have a tip for you, Ms. Tsundere." The laughing seized, as the professional's tone was somber; Aiko listened intently, her face morphed into seriousness.

"Since you value independence, you have a tendency to keep all your problems in. You have no problem helping others, but you have a problem with them helping you. Remember that you are never a burden, so you can lean on others too."

For the nth time, all the dreamies portrayed an immense gesture of agreement, either commenting, "That's right, Aiko, stop holding everything in," "Be more like Jaeman"; or simply nodding their heads as they glanced at the neko-member, relieved that she heard those words outside of their own team (which means she'd probably take their advice since she views that there are no biases).

Aiko simply showed a smile, "I'll take that to heart, thank you." She responded politely.

The personality examination finished for Aiko and then continued to the other members until the host told everyone that it was the time for the next activity.

[malfoymania]

LOYALTIES | 4 | D.M

masterlist

CHAPTER FOUR

LILY KINGSLEY

The next morning when I wake up, I feel the sting of sleeplessness in my eyes. It took me hours to get to sleep, and once I did all I could dream about was Malfoy.

I slowly get ready for the day, not bothering with any makeup. Nothing is going to cover these bags even if tried. I slip on my robe and grab my wand before collecting the books I needed for todays classes. My first period was a new class that I hadn't yet been to since the start of the term: Potions with Professor Snape.

When i'm heading down the stairs into the common room, I hear the clatter of voices that fill me with dread.

"Morning Slytherdor! I'm surprised you still live in these dorms" Blaise shouts, earning a laugh from the rest of the boys. I don't respond but just huff in disgust and carry on down the stairs.

"I know, it's a shame they don't just put her in Gryffindor. No one wants her here anyway." Golye adds.

If I said their words didn't hurt me I'd be lying. Yes, i've never actually wanted to be in Slytherin, however my father was in this house and I have never actually done or said anything to hurt anyone. I swallow back the lump in my throat and head to breakfast, trying to ignore the immature giggles from behind me.

"Morning" Harry smiles as I take a seat next to him. Hermione and Ron are sat opposite, tucking into what looked like egg on toast.

"Bloody hell Lily, did you sleep last night? You look awful" Ron asks, mouth full of food.

"Wow thanks Ron, you look lovely too" I grimace, grabbing a slice of toast from the centre of the table for myself.

"What's up Lils?" Harry asks quietly, but both Ron and Hermione are listening.

"Malfoy's what's up" I mumble.

"Is be bothering you?" Hermione pushes, getting slightly angry at the possibility of him making me upset.

"He always bothers me, but it's as if he's trying one hundred times harder to make my life hell this year and it's only Wednesday."

I proceed to tell them about what happened last night. How he cornered me and called me by my first name. How he threatened me with his new prefect position and whispered in my ear. Harry and Hermione couldn't believe it. Ron however, lets out a laugh and nearly spits toast everywhere.

"Sounds like there's some sexual tension there if you ask me" He grins. I scoff and so does Hermione.

"Well nobody asked you Ronald" she seethes, giving him a glare to which Ron raises his hands up in surrender.

"It was not sexual tension. I loathe the boy. Everything that comes out of his stupid mouth makes me want to vomit." I roll my eyes and continue to eat but I have a horrible feeling deep down that Ron might be right. Sure, Draco Malfoy is the school bully, the asshole. But he's also the school fitty. He's gorgeous.

"Well I say you take the high road Lily, carry on ignoring him and you'll be fine" Hermione says, and I nod in agreement. I just need to stay away from him and keep myself to myself.

That plan didn't last long.

We're stood in a huddle at the back of Snape's class as he seats us for the next academic year, and he puts me next to none other than Draco Malfoy. Why wouldn't he? Out of all the students in the class he seats me next to him. It   would be crazy to think I could have been seated next to anyone else.

"Ignore Goyle, he doesn't know what he's talking about." Draco interrupts my thoughts.

"What?" I snap, not wanting to have a conversation at this moment in time.

"Earlier. It was kind of mean." I look at him to see if he's joking, but to my surprise it doesn't seem like he is.

"Since when did you care about what people say about me?" I retort, looking back down to avoid his stare.

"I don't" he quickly answers. "But I thought it was uncalled for that's all."

I don't respond. Mostly because I don't want to but partly because I don't know how to. I glance over at Harry who sends me a sympathetic look. Lucky bastard got seated next to Cho Chang, and we all know how Harry feels about Cho Chang. I raise my eyebrows back at him, directing my gaze to Cho and then back to him with a smirk. He blushes immensely and shakes his head before turning back around looking down at his desk.

"Potter got a crush then?" Malfoy asks, making me scoff.

"Gutted it's not on you?" I quip back, making him scowl.

"Shut up Kingsley. You think you're so funny."

"I know i'm funny." I respond.

"You're full of shit." He grumbles, opening the pages of his book. "I hate how you have an answer to everything."

"I hate how you have to comment on everything." I say, still not looking at him.

"You're a bitch."

"You're an asshol-"

"Good morning class. I will be your Potions teacher this year. Misbehaviour will not be tolerated." Snaps begins, putting a stop to mine and Draco's bickering session. "Turn to page 412."

We spend the lesson mainly in silence. Snape's lessons are often in silence, which isn't a bad thing considering who i'm sat next to.

When the class is dismissed I gather my things and leave the room as quickly as possible, trying to not spark another spat with Malfoy. Harry meets me by the door and we head off to our next class together.

The day continues as normal. Each lesson we slowly get back into the routine of school life and quickly forget about the real world back at home. I make a mental note to owl my dad this evening and let him know that i'm okay. He worries, and I promised him i'd keep in touch like I always do.

"How's your dad Lily?" Neville asks over dinner.

"He's fine thanks. Busy with work like always." I respond.

"Does he think Lord Voldemort's back?" Luna asks with pure curiosity. I try to swallow the food I just put in my mouth, but it goes down slowly and painfully.

"He um- yes he does." I say quietly, not wanting many people to hear.

"He can't say anything just yet though Luna, or he'll loose his job in the Ministry" Hermione adds, saving me from answering.

My father works along side the Minister of Magic, gaining his position there a few years after my mother passed away. He always told me how mum would have wanted to carry on making good in the world, so he's doing his best to do it for her.

"Well any way that we can help, let us know" she smiles, turning back towards her food. I look at Harry and I know he can tell what I'm thinking. He sighs and nods, giving us the all clear to start recruiting students to learn defensive spells. I look at Hermione and I can tell she's trying so hard not to combust on the spot, and i'm mirroring her actions too.

"Never mind her dad, I want to know how potions with Malfoy went" Ron grins, taking a mouthful of food.

"Why do you care so much?" I ask, annoyed at his constant obsession with the topic.

"Why have you gone so red?" He fires back. I immediately look away and touch my face.

"I haven't" is all I manage to respond with. "Besides, I spent the whole lesson arguing with him."

Thankfully the topic changes, and I finish my meal in peace. We manage to create a list of people who would be willing to join Harry's lessons and discuss where we will hold them. A productive meal time if you ask me.

After a few more hours of planning and discussing, I say my farewells and head back to the Slytherin common room just before curfew.

I'd prepared myself to be greeted by Malfoy yet again, but tonight there was no sign of him. I sigh in relief and lay on the sofa in the empty common room. I barely ever spend time in here, and when I do it's almost always empty. I don't have many friends in Slytherin. My roommates are okay, but they don't speak to me much. They're usually too wrapped up in their own conversations to even notice I'm there.

"Potions was fun." I hear from the doorway. I don't bother looking. I know exactly who it is.

"What do you want Malfoy?" I huff, closing my eyes to try and block him out.

"I'm having a conversation with you. What's wrong with that?" He responds, making his way over to where i'm lay.

"What is going on Malfoy? You hate me, and I hate you. What's with the sudden spark of interest?" I ask, now opening my eyes to see him peering over from the behind the sofa.

"You don't hate me Kingsley. I see the way you act around me. You don't know what to say half the time" he smirks. He's full of shit.

"I don't know what to say because you're a cocky, arrogant prick who thinks he can get whatever or whoever he wants. You're awful behaviour leaves me speechless" I scoff. He leans forward on the back of the sofa, so he's closer to me.

"Don't flatter yourself Lily. I would never want someone like you."

That's when my hand reaches up and smacks him right against the face. The sound of his skin against my hand echos around the common room, haunting me once I realise what I've done.

"Don't ever talk to me like that again Malfoy" I growl, the emotion laced within it clear that i'm holding back tears. I'm fucking furious, and I cry when i'm furious.

"Lily-"

"Don't call me that name. You don't deserve to" I snap, getting up and leaving towards my dorm, no longer being able to hold back the tears.

I hate Draco Malfoy, but what I hate even more is the fact that he's all I can think about.

-

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hey! thanks so much for all the support so far! it really means a lot☺️ let me know what you think so far in the comments!! there may be some draco and lily action in the next chapter ...👀

[chlorophyii]

Life for villains isn't as peaceful and stress free as everyone makes it out to be. It’s fucking stressful and boring, like imagine not being able to go out without looking over your back and trying to hide your face. Though I’m not on a wanted list, you still have to be suspicious because of the people I’m affiliated with.

Pulling on my white coat and washing my hands, I pull out a tablet and start doing my rounds on the Nomu. This fucking job is boring, but the only reason I’m still here is because of him.

The man.

The one who stole my heart.

That fucking crusty ass.

I swear he didn’t even know what lotion or chapstick is. Well he was practically raised by potato lookin ass One for All so it's reasonable.

After doing all the rounds on the inprogress Nomu’s, I go and place the tablet on the table next to the doctor sitting in his chair. I swear ive never seen him anywhere except in that fucking chair, like does he even know how to walk? Or take bathroom breaks? I don’t know he’s a strange dude, and the exact reason he doesn’t know much about me.

“Done already?” He questions.

“Yeah, I wanted to be there when Shigaraki gets back.” I say pulling my purse onto my shoulder, then walking around collecting medical supplize.

“What do you need that for? I would think a woman of your capabilities wouldn’t need that.” He says, turning around slouching in his chair adjusting his glasses.

“Yeah but you know they're all stubborn assholes so.” I say chuckling.

He laughs back in agreement, “I would get moving if I were you, they should be back any minute, Ms. GAY(this some gay shit).”

I look at my watch, “Shit.” I speed walk to the door, “Night, Doctor.” He responds with a night but I’m already out the door. “Creepy old man.” I say under my breath.

I hurry down the street, not wanting Shigaraki to return to an empty house after his first real “outing” since the USJ incident. I show up to an empty bar and take off my shoes and walk behind the bar and start making myself a drink. I throw in some ice and pour the whiskey in. I slowly sip the drink as I look around the bar slowly realizing it. This place fucking sucks.

Why did I have to work with them? Fuck. If I wasn’t I would be in some fancy schmancy hospital helping people. Not hurting them. Fuck how did I get myself into this, and I told myself not to let me feelings control me and yet here I am, fallin for a man adamant on destroying the hero society. The door creaks open and in walks a group of misfits that would soon call each other family and fight side-by-side. Doing a quick assessment of them it looked like Toga had the most injuries out of all of them. Toga had blood on her dripping from her head and what probably is some else's blood, one of Dabi’s staples got ripped out and his skin separated, Twice looked fine but he was out of it, Splinter didn’t look hurt but under his scales he probably was, and Compress and Magne didn’t look hurt just tired.

“How did it go?” I question.

Then Shigaraki walks in, holding a kid.

“Uh, w-what do you have there?” I question why he brought a CHILD here.

“A KID!” Twice responds so happily. I stand there and blink in fucking shock then it fucking hits me like a train. “WHY WOULD YOU BRING A KID IN THE HERO COURSE TO OUR FUCKING BASE/HOME?” I ask in so much disbelief and shock.

“Were going to convert him to our side.” Splinter says.

I just sigh and put my head into my hands,” Jesus you sound like MIke Pence. Ok there are so many things wrong with this plan, but I don’t have enough time to discuss that, First question, is anyone seriously hurt?” I say as I grab the bag I packed from the Doctor’s office rummaging through it for a sedative.

“Toga has a slight head wound, Splinter might have fractured or bruised ribs, Twice needs the comfort blanket™ and one of my staples ripped.” Dabi states having taken a roll call of sorts on their way back.

“What happened to the kid and Muscular?”

“The kid we knocked him out when we got out of there about an hour ago; Muscular got captured, nothing we could do.” Dabi finished filling me in, keeping in details almost like he’s dealt with medical injuries, which he inevitably had because of the scars. I clean a part on the kids shoulder and inject him with it.

“K. Dabi, Toga, and Splinter stay here; the rest of you guys and girl go clean up, the kid won’t be up till tomorrow. And Shigi, me and you are going to have a talk after this.” I say looking Shigaraki directly in his eyes just so he knows how mad I am.

~Time skip cuz im lazy af and this is boring affff~

“Thank you.” I say after tucking Toga and Twice in.

“No problem.” He says quietly walking away.

“You must of been a good big brother.” I say carefully watching his body language though i didn’t have to look closely to see him stiffen up like a cutting board.

“What?” He says trying to play it off.

“You don’t have to talk about it now but I know you were good, you looked out for them.” I state cleaning my hands.

“Yeah. I tried to at least.” He says quietly.

“How many?” I question wiping my hands off.

“2 brothers, 1 sister.” Ah I knew that he had at least one sister cuz of how he braids Togas hair.

“Ah a full Brady Bunch I see.” I say jokingly trying to break some tension.

“How many do you have?” He asks looking at me.

“1 brother and a bunch of cousins.” I answer truthfully against my better judgement.

“I guess it takes one to know one, huh” He says breaking up shit.

“Yeah it does.” we sit there for a little bit, then he gets up to leave, “Hey Scarface, if you need someone to talk about them to, big sibling to big sibling.”

“Got it, Katara” He says, chuckling a bit.

“Haha real funny, go get some sleep.” I say smiling a bit. He leaves quietly, and I move to Shigaraki and I’s room. I see Shigaraki’s form laying in the bed sleeping, I grab some Pj’s and turn on the shower.

I get out and just want to lay in my bed with Shigaraki in my arms. I lay down with his back still towards me, I lightly draw patterns on his back thinking of all the different possibilities if we had just ran away when I told him to. He turns over and looks at me.

“Hey.” I whisper to be prompted with a hi back.

“Do you wish that we ran away when we were planning to?” I question.

“Maybe.” He responds, I bring my hand up to his face and starts glowing as it slowly heals his chapped lips and scabs that cover his face and neck.

“I love you so much, but sometimes you have some dumbass ideas.” I giggle as I say that, and even he chuckles from it knowing it’s true.

“Yeah but that's why I have you. Cause we both know there's no one in the League that has some common sense.” He says smiling, I laugh at it and I could swear I saw his smile widen.

I pull him more into my arms, him resting his head right on my clavicle, his nose rubbing against my neck.

“I love you too.” He responds finally. We each pull apart a little and attack each other with our lips.

this ending is SHET IM FUVKINH TIRED THO SO HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY LMAO -LOVE CHOLE

[the-firebird69]

One other companies we are acquiring and Sherry is on the way see if it was funny and Burger King it was so if you want a drag queen and a son says you're putting it away it makes me think the clones might be influencing it somehow. We would like you to race and for the honor of the crown mac daddy says your old and her position as a different name but the same girl and she's pleased and it means that they probably are taking over women's bodies. So she accepts and she says I am her daughter. And ppl agree. Were pleased your requesting to race. The dragster that the actual Queen was using is made and designed by Ford so you'll be working with Hera we're going to build a new one only because the other is historic and some people think it's bad karma unless Mac Daddy disagrees and he does so you going to be racing her drag car. We are acquiring other automobile manufacturers and quite a few of them have signed over along with the two huge ones

AMC automobile and that includes Jeep and a couple other vehicles that are not well known but in military vehicles and yes what is Oshkosh the other is Humvee they're all made by Jeep cuz asking us and asking us and we didn't tell him we are acquiring this companies this week and but they have signed all the preliminary agreements we hope to close today

**along with other companies comes Chrysler is a huge company and it's being signed over to us today and John reborn sold his shares ages ago but a month ago sold the last few shares and we purchase them these companies are being mentioned because they are signed over to us recently and we finalize with Chrysler today. We have many new designs and new line and kind of where all pitching in on this company. And we revamped the line because it was not making any sense we cleaned it up there aren't that many SUVs and we have the original lineup and redesigned vehicles and we kept the minivans and they are heavy duty still and we added back in civil cars and there's no truck and that's pretty much it so much better line

Genesis automobile is owned and operated by Tommy f and he is an enemy combatant and we have instructions for the military to commandeer his plants and we're doing that already but 50% of them are in and he's the one making his Genesis cars into hot rods and they're not really hot rod Worthy it's just a regular sedan is it more like the sux 2000 type of vehicle and that's exactly what they are by the way she does says cars they didn't modified. We have several other companies were acquiring

What signing today we have quite a few and probably just list them here Pontiac which the guys are handling and that's our son's cadre and along with the AMC and Jeep there's another company is that grouping and we almost forgot it and there's some companies that Tommy Allen used to always mention he's trying to remember the damn name of it it's international and they make trucks and they make pickup trucks too and they make like a bronco type vehicle and he's going to make them because doesn't really have hey heavy duty truck and Hera might try and make her company stocks of again which is Coleman and she wants to call them Pullmans. But he's intended on releasing a line of pickup trucks that are all heavy duty and he's going to do that with GMC again and they might sell a lot less vehicles but it's embarrassing because most of them are weaker than the Chevy so why do that and a lot of fleet companies drop them because they don't provide any anything on his reintroducing them as well but these trucks will be truly heavy duty and internationalism is a big trucking company it's going to have some really big trucks in it and hefty and a lot of them are going to be big and powerful there won't be that many there's a smaller stop doing any small full-size trucks with international is doing it with his GM company and Hera was Ford and that's who's going to be doing that

There's a few other companies that were acquiring that are automobile manufacturers and is global Toyota is one and they are cited today, Honda another and that's today and he wishes his father her mother well as did Hera. And it's going to be greatness and he says it too. And there's a few others at Nissan and a Kia and Mitsubishi and many more in Asia and there's a whole bunch of companies try to voters and all these vehicle companies are going to sign over coming tonight but in Eastern Time it is the final siding answer headquarters and we're going over the transfer

Along with these huge transportation manufacturers are other items like shipbuilding and trains and the ships are gigantic right now to try issue and a whole bunch of people are looking for them and we're not providing them with ships.. and we mentioned this like 20 huge ones and 200 medium and 500 small and we will acquire those later today and until tonight. The trade companies are going to site over today and that's half of them it will be out to men's all of it and monitor all of it very quickly okay we're doing that. Today it's not that maybe you oppose it but we can supply especially in Florida.

We publish

Thor Freya

[fates-factory]

Could you please write a post Revelations fic with Ryoma x Camilla, Xander x Charlotte, and Beruka x Saizo. Ryoma, Camilla, Xander, and Charlotte ask Beruka and Saizo to look after baby Seigbert and Shiro while they're in meeting to discuss trade. When they come back they find Beruka and Saizo have their kids and Asugi baby sized foam weapons and trying to have them attack baby sized training dummies. Their excuse, "A warrior's training can never start to early."

This one was pretty fun to write, and omg, I didn’t know how cute Saizo x Beruka could be until now. I hope you enjoy!

Words: 1641

“Saizo,” Ryoma summoned, knowing his retainer would appear at the sound of his name without fail.

“Yes Lord Ryoma,” the red-haired ninja appearing just to his right.

“I'd like to make an unusual request,” Ryoma said thoughtfully, “King Xander and his wife will arrive soon, and we will be having a meeting. Usually, my sisters are here, and uh,”

Ryoma was cut short by the door swinging open to reveal Camilla with Beruka just behind her.

“I still don't understand the stuffy formalities you take, but Beruka has already agreed so spit it out already,” Camilla flipped her hair and crossed the room to stand behind her husband, threading her arms around his shoulders and placing her head on one of them.

“Yes darling,” Ryoma sighed, “Can you watch the children tonight, Shiro and Siegbert,”

“I'm forever in your service to do whatever task you deem fit for me to perform,” Saizo bowed his head.

“Then it's settled, Now Beruka dear, make sure you feed them, they're growing boys and the trade agreements will likely take all night,” Camilla straightened, allowing Ryoma to stand from his desk.

“I'm sure you can keep them occupied, and I'm sure little Asugi will enjoy having playmates his age,” Ryoma nodded.

“Saizo, his name is Saizo,” Saizo corrected.

“I know, and he will grow into the name I'm sure,” Ryoma sighed, “But for now, it's a little confusing to me, calling you both Saizo, and Asugi is his second name, so I think it is easier this way,”

“Whatever My Lord wishes,” Saizo said with a note of annoyance in his voice. Ryoma and Camilla left the room, leaving their retainers.

“I know you gave him that name as an honor to your heritage, but it really is confusing,” Beruka told him gently, “Did you not have a nickname growing up to differentiate yourself from your father?”

Saizo looked at her and smiled, pulling his mask from his face as he did, “I did, but only my mother ever called me by that name,”

“And you wouldn't dare tell anyone, even your darling wife,” Beruka did her best impression of Camilla's teasing drawl. They both laughed together, finding ease in each other's presence.

“Mark that down as a secret from another time,” Saizo told her.

The two of them, having led lives full of secrets, many of them soaked in blood, had agreed that they would keep only those secrets from before their marriage. Anything from their past was off limits unless they really wanted to share, no matter how small. Ryoma and Camilla knew of their agreement and supported it, leaving their discretion to themselves.

“We better prepare, if Prince Siegbert is anything like Prince Shiro,” Saizo said going to exit the room.

“Camilla was surprisingly unhelpful on the subject of her nephew,” Beruka nodded, “That can mean one of two things, he is the same, or he is the complete opposite,”

“Then let us hope he has inherited his father's personality,” Saizo nodded.

“Here you are Siegbert, now be good for Saizo and Beruka,” Xander knelt in front of his son, talking to him at eye level, “I want you to remember what I taught you, that if you don't want to do something, try it first, then decide if you want to continue,”

Xander stood after pushing Siegbert towards the other boys who were stacking blocks on top of one another, trying to make as tall of a tower as they could.

“He is shy and has trouble socializing sometimes,” Xander indicated much to Saizo's relief, “If he seems reluctant to do something, encourage him, but if he continues to resist, give him a book to read and he'll sit quietly with it,”

“I will make sure to account for that,” Saizo nodded, “Don't worry Lord Xander, we will keep your son safe,”

“I have no doubt of that,” Xander affirmed and left to go rejoin his wife and the other rulers.

Beruka was seated off to the side eyeing the now teetering tower the boys were working on. She also watched as the blocks finally tipped off to the side, coming down on Shiro's head. Saizo stiffened, waiting for the boy to cry, but instead, the boisterous youth laughed and suggested they try again.

“Children are more durable than you might think,” Beruka grinned, “even the royal ones,”

“Am I wrong in looking out for their well-being,” Saizo grunted.

“Not at all,” Beruka shook her head, “But some things are best left for them to learn on their own,”

“Like things hurt when they fall on you?” Saizo snorted.

“That and axes are sharp,” Beruka suggested.

“We are not giving them axes,” Saizo said flatly.

“Not real ones,” Beruka grinned with a glint in her eye.

“What did you have in mind,” Saizo asked curiously.

“Give me an hour,” Beruka got up and left the playroom.

“Where is mommy going?” Asugi dashed over to Saizo, tugging on his pant leg.

“I'm not entirely sure, but she will be back little one,” Saizo reassured his son, patting his ice blue hair, the one thing he seemed to inherit from his mother, that and his tendency to move silently without so much as trying. Saizo had learned the hard way that silence meant trouble was more likely afoot.

Beruka came back right on the hour with a big box in her arms.

“You missed Shiro trying to balance Saizo on his head,” Saizo told her flatly.

“Wow such a feat for a toddler to lift an adult,” Beruka joked.

“You know what I meant,” Saizo sighed, “Anyhow, Asugi thought it was funny until Shiro's arms got tired and he dropped him,”

“You caught him right?” Beruka glanced quickly at her son, a protective look gracing her face.“You doubt my skills that much,” Saizo said smugly, “Of course I did, don't look at me like that,”

Saizo eyed the box she held as she set it down next to the children, the three of them taking an interest. Shiro bounded up eagerly, Asugi followed suit, and Siegbert came tentatively after the others, peering over Shiro's shoulder.

“Have you boys started your weapon training yet?” Beruka asked them holding the box closed.

“Dad says I have to wait till I'm older,” Shiro rolled his eyes, “Me and Kiragi tried sticks one time, but then our dads yelled at us,”

“Mommy, you told me I needed to be older,” Asugi said with all the accusatory tone a six-year-old could muster. Beruka giggled, a rare sound that Saizo reveled in.

“Father lets me watch,” Siegbert said in his quiet little voice.

“Well, I say it's never too early,” Beruka smiled, “Of course I've modified things a bit for you,”

Beruka finally opened the box revealing cloth covered weapons. There was two swords, a naginata, a few daggers and some disks with shuriken painted on them.

“I will admit, that is clever,” Saizo nodded.

“I padded the smallest training weapons I could find, the swords are actually large daggers,” Beruka smiled watching the boys choose their weapons.

Siegbert was actually the first one to claim a weapon, taking one of the swords. Shiro held both a sword and the naginata, eventually dropping the sword. Asugi contemplated for a few more seconds before grabbing the other sword that Shiro had dropped.

“Now boys, before we start just swinging them around and hitting one another we need to practice swinging them,” Beruka snapped her fingers. She brought out another training weapon, sized to her stature, a wooden axe.

“But our weapons are different!” Shiro called out raising his weapon, “Oh except Asugi and Siegbert,”

Asugi frowned deciding that wouldn't do and went back to the box and grabbed a dagger, “I'm different now too!” he raised his dagger.

“Well, there are basic swings that you can use for anything, you just need to hold your weapon different,” Beruka instructed.

Beruka took care with each of the boys, teaching them how to hold the weapons, and how to swing them. Saizo managed to keep them far enough apart to avoid them hitting each other, as he had vetoed setting them against each other. Saizo brought in training dummies later on when Shiro had decided he really wanted to try hitting something. Siegbert was content swinging his sword slowly and carefully, eventually just doing different things on his own the adults supposed he had picked up from watching his father. Saizo had completely taken over teaching Asugi, showing him different knife strikes.

“Okay Siegbert, Shiro, now hit your dummies as hard as you can,” Beruka ordered. Both boys wound up.

“I think we did well today, but I'm sure our sons-” The door opened and in the doorway with his hand still on the door stood Ryoma, Xander coming up just behind him as Shiro let out a mighty battle cry as he and Siegbert hit the training dummies with muffled thuds.

“Don't just stand there, Xander darling, what's going on?” Charlotte pushed her way into the room with Camilla following her, giving her brother a quick pat on the shoulder. Charlotte paused as she saw what exactly was going on. Her face scrunched in confusion, and she turned from Xander to her little sword-wielding son.

“Beruka, why do the children have weapons?” Camilla was smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes which betrayed her apprehension.

Beruka looked at Saizo, and the two of them answered at the same time, “A warriors training can never start too early,”

[tachinanabananase]

Ooohh how about haru being possessive of makoto while they're hanging out with friends because kisumi is there being clingy with makoto (if you're comfortable with it)

Jealous Haru is ALWAYS my pleasure to write. Thanks for the prompt! I’m going to take the liberty of making this pre-confessions because I think it’s way cute when Haru pretends Makoto is his bf to ward off other predators. Hope you like it!

Rating: T (for brief adult topics)

-

Tokyo was the last place Haru thought he would ever have to deal with this. 

In fact, one of the best benefits of moving there (aside from having Makoto’s attention entirely on him a majority of the time), was the fact that the very person he wanted as far from possible from his best friend would not be there. He hadn’t ever even taken into account that someone like Shigino Kisumi would also want to attend the same university that Makoto had chosen to go to, and which Haru had loyally chose as well. 

His worst nightmare had manifested into this reality a week into their first semester at school, when Makoto had, to Haru’s displeasure, excitedly bragged about running into on campus the very headache of a pink-haired man that Haru now saw at least twice a week. Unwillingly. It was Makoto’s idea to start having “Iwatobi Reunions” to ward away the homesickness, to which Haru had insistently reminded him that without Rei and Nagisa and with the inclusion of someone they hadn’t hung out with since middle school for christ’s sake it didn’t really count as any sort of reunion. Makoto, bless his poor, unnecessarily friendly soul, disagreed. 

And that’s how Haru ends up sitting across from his best friend at a ramen shop, glaring at the long, playful arm that belongs to Kisumi wrapped around his broad shoulders. He huffs, shrinking even further back into the booth and tightening his crossed arms over his chest as he half-listens to Kisumi tell another story about his younger brother. 

“I can’t make this up, Makoto. He seriously asked if you and I would get married!” He laughs a little too loudly for Haru’s comfort, drawing the attention of several other tables to them. “I said, ‘Hayato, what makes you say that?’ and he goes- he says, ‘So Coach and brother can teach me all the time!’” He leans into Makoto, pressing a hand into the chuckling brunet’s chest as he howls, “I couldn’t stop laughing, it was too cute.”

Makoto grins good-naturedly, but can’t quite hide his concern for Haru’s disposition as he glances in the raven’s direction. “I can’t believe he really wants me around that bad,” he shakes his head in disbelief. He looks at Haru and grins, “Maybe I’m in the right Major after all.” 

Haru hums his stubborn agreement, but only because he knows it will make Makoto feel better and not because it will validate Kisumi’s entirely un-funny story.  

Kisumi gives Haru a sly look, grinning that sneaky fox smile that he has whenever he’s up to no good, and by that he means when Kisumi’s doing anything that he knows will piss him off. “Hope you wouldn’t mind standing up at the wedding, Haru. Probably safe to say you’ll be Makoto’s best man.”

Stubbornness taking full reign, Haru can do nothing to hold back the annoyed comeback, “He can’t say yes if he’s already dating someone else!” 

Suddenly the crowded restaurant feels a lot quieter than it did a second ago, and the heaters keeping away the winter chill must have doubled their output because Haru feels hot. In the embarrassed way, specifically.

“H-haru,” Makoto half-laughs, but is giving him that raised eyebrow that reads What the heck are you talking about?

Kisumi’s brows raise in surprise as well, but his mischievous smirk remains as he coos, “Ooh, so Makoto is dating someone then? Who? You have to tell now that Haru gave it away!” He leans forward eagerly, looking between the two best friends for who will cave first. 

“Uh- I… Haru, why don’t you tell him. Since, um, you know…?” Makoto tries to lie, really tries his best but it’s beyond unconvincing. 

Kisumi’s attention is now fully on Haru, determined enough that he doesn’t notice the helpless shrug Makoto gives him along with his panicked do something! expression.  

“Makoto and I are dating,” Haru says it like it’s the most natural fact of life. Like it’s something he’s been saying for months now. Like it’s the God’s honest truth. 

Kisumi jolts out of his seat and slams his fists onto the table, rattling the dishwear on it and giggling delightedly, “I knew it! I knew it would happen the moment you two left Iwatobi!”

“Haru and- US? You- ME? Wait, WHAT-?” Makoto shrieks through gritted teeth, frantically glancing between the two other boys who are locked in a challenging staredown that suggests there’s a bit more than just the shock settling between them. Kisumi’s eyes scream his doubt as he begins to drill Haru with questions, ignoring Makoto’s confused and faint whining.

“How long?”

“A month and a half.”

“Who asked who?”

“Makoto confessed first.”

Makoto shrieks dismally again at that, his face a shade of red that almost has Haru concerned. “I did??” Kisumi continues his onslaught mercilessly though, ignoring Makoto’s embarrassment in favor of asking a question that leaves the brunet groaning with shame and slamming his forehead into the table with defeat.

“So have you done it yet?” 

Kisumi’s challenging gaze is infuriating, to say the least, but Haru knows just how to piss him off back. 

“I probably shouldn’t say, but I think you can guess why we were late to dinner tonight.”

Haru takes Makoto’s silence as his sign of surrender, his face thoroughly buried in his hands and the only visible skin of his neck terribly flushed. Kisumi sits back finally, apparently showing his surrender as well, and shrugs nonchalantly, “Huh. Well I’ll be damned.”

Haru just smirks the tiniest of smirks in reply. Check mate. 

“Well, sorry for separating the lovely couple,” Kisumi gestures towards the empty seat besides Haru. “Hopefully I didn’t break up any thrilling games of footsie.”

“Don’t worry,” Haru shrugs back, “we’ve been doing it this whole time anyway. Easier when you’re across from each other.”

Makoto shows his despair with a weak kick under the table to Haru’s shin, which Haru catches with his own feet and locks him in place.

“Haarruuuu,” Makoto moans through his hands, shaking his head in dismay. “Y-you didn’t have to go that far.”

Haru assumes Makoto means that regarding his lie, but insists flatly, “He asked.”

“TMI is a thing. Am I the only one who thinks that?” He sighs, finally lifting his head from hiding. His cheeks are still a pretty shade of pink, enough that Haru takes pride in being the reason why they look that way. 

“No worries, Mako-chan,” Kisumi grins reassuringly, then gives Haru a much less soft look, “I would have found out eventually. I just wish you all had told me sooner! I wouldn’t have interrupted so many of your dates then.”

Haru interjects, “It is pretty rude.”

“Hey, be nice,” Makoto barks in that Mom way that doesn’t actually hurt anyone’s feelings. 

“Sorry, honey,” the name slides off Haru’s tongue easier than he expects. He intended for it just to annoy Kisumi, but he actually enjoys the way it makes his fake boyfriend stammer and glance away, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt to hide his flustered reaction. 

“I-it’s okay,” he concedes, and Haru has a feeling that means he has Makoto on his side with this lie now. 

The strawberry blonde annoyance seems to drop the subject after that, apparently satisfied enough with the investigation, and continues to talk about nothing in the kind of way that makes Haru wonder if he just likes hearing the sound of his own voice. After a few minutes and now close to finishing their meals, Haru notices Makoto still looks slightly rattled and has the sense to feel a little guilty about it. He really did put him in an awkward situation, mostly due to Haru’s own selfish fantasies, so he tries to think of a way to make it up to him. That idea’s thrown away though as Haru notices the way Makoto’s fingers anxiously tap on the table before him, even though it looks like he’s fully listening to the guy next to him, and gets a better one instead. One that will also drive Kisumi up a wall too. 

The brunet makes no move away when Haru’s fingers dance against his for only a moment before sliding into his palm. In fact, he takes it rather gracefully when he clasps Haru’s smaller hand as if this was a common occurrence. The only thing that gives him away is the side glance that he shoots Haru a second later, his furrowed brow not angry, but certainly intrigued by something. Kisumi, on the other hand, stutters noticeably in his sentence and glares at the interlocked hands for only a moment before continuing on, his smile a little less pleasant now. 

The rest of dinner goes by without any comparable disturbances, and before Haru realizes it (he sort of lost track of time once he realized he and Makoto were actually playing footsie under the table) Kisumi is excusing himself, thanking them for having him at dinner. 

“You guys have to promise not to bail on me all the time now that you’re dating,” he teases, and Makoto actually laughs while Haru just stares. Unamused. 

“We’ll always make time for you, Kisumi! It’s nice to see a familiar face every now and then,” Makoto’s grin is almost as warm as his thumb that brushes over the top of Haru’s hand soothingly. 

“Ah, I think you have a pretty familiar one with you already,” this time, the sentiment sounds more genuine as Kisumi nods to their connected hands. Makoto looks down with a faint smile on his lips, then glances up at Haru with a gaze that stops the raven’s heart momentarily. 

“Yeah, I do,” he agrees, but his eyes stay on Haru’s the whole time. 

Kisumi leaves with a final goodbye after that, and Haru suddenly realizes that if he doesn’t move his hand away soon, he’s going to look pretty suspicious and Makoto’s going to have even more questions about his stunt then. He starts to slide his hand away as inconspicuously as he can, eyes locked on the empty ramen bowl in front of him to avoid any more gut-churning looks from his friend, but the hand around his only tightens and holds his in place steadily. 

His head shoots up, unable to stop the hopeful glint in his own eyes as he meets Makoto’s. The brunet smiles at him, warm and bright and perfect as usual, but the feeling it gives Haru in the pit of his stomach is something new, and something that he hopes to feel more often. 

“It’s kind of nice like this, isn’t it?” Makoto says softly, his other hand joining the ones already on the table, cradling Haru’s gently as if it’ll break in his grasp. “I… think I could get used to this. If we have to pretend, you know,” he shrugs noncommittally, but Haru can read his tone better than anyone else. 

He can only hear Makoto above the pounding of his own heart in his ears, but that doesn’t stop him at all. Nothing could stop him at this point, not even a sneaky, pink-haired intruder. 

“Yeah, it is nice,” Haru murmurs only for Makoto to hear, and squeezes his hand just a little tighter into his friend’s.

He’d have to remember to grudgingly thank Kisumi for this later. 

[xtruss]

U.S. Cyber Tools Are Being Turned Against Americans, Limiting Biden's Options on Russia

— By Naveed Jamali and Ton O'Connor | June 9, 2021 | Newsweek

Cyberwarfare capabilities originally developed by the United States are being turned against it, threatening infrastructure and limiting the offensive options available for President Joe Biden, as retaliation runs the risk of exposing more tools within the digital U.S. arsenal.

"Technically, a lot of these tools that are being leveraged for ransomware are tools that were leaked from our own organization," a cybersecurity official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Newsweek.

"One of the challenges that I look at is, these tools are not tools that are generally created by other nations," the official added. What's funny is other nations are using the tools that were developed by us."

At least two major ransomware attacks have struck U.S. infrastructure since Joe Biden took office in January vowing to shore up the nation's cyber defenses against foreign foes. He particularly singled out those tied to Russia, which he has blamed for another massive hack involving software firm SolarWinds.

Two ransomware attacks, one which led to the temporary closing of the Colonial Pipeline, one of the country's largest, which provides about 100 million gallons of gas a day to the southeastern U.S., and the second which led to the halting of production at all U.S. facilities of the world's biggest beef producer, Brazil-based JBS, have proven to be a major headache for the new administration just a few months into its tenure.

While the Justice Department said Monday that the FBI was ultimately able to recover much of the $4.5 million dollar ransom paid in Bitcoin to DarkSide, an Eastern Europe-based hacker group that claimed responsibility for the Colonial Pipeline, the risks associated with retaliation limited the president's choices of response.

According to the cybersecurity official with whom Newsweek spoke, part of the problem in mounting such an operation is that utilizing such weapons allows them to be more easily manipulated against the U.S.

"It's that challenge where anytime a tool or capability is used, it's pretty much considered burned," the official said. "Because, for an offensive portion, you have to deploy processes and technologies to adversarial systems to be able to reach out and touch somebody, right? So, once they're uncovered, they can reverse-engineer it."

While some groups like the Russia-based Kaspersky Lab have opted to leak to the general public such programs as those belonging to the so-called "Equation Group," which was widely suspected to have been tied to the NSA's own global cyberespionage and warfare operations, others "can keep it close held, and just reverse-engineer it, turning it against us," the cybersecurity official said.

The 175th Cyberspace Operations Group of the Maryland Air National Guard monitors live cyber attacks on the operations floor of the 27th Cyberspace Squadron, known as the Hunter's Den, at Warfield Air National Guard Base, Middle River, Maryland, June 3, 2017. J.M. Eddings Jr./Airman Magazine/U.S. AIR Force

J.D. Cook, a former senior CIA official, said the proliferation of ransomware using U.S. software served as a lesson to carefully guard U.S. cyber tools.

"Sometimes it gets used against you," Cook told Newsweek. "That's why you have to protect your stuff, and there's a point that I think people should really make about that. It's true. A lot of things get repurposed, whether it's an American cyber tool, France, British, Russian, Chinese, etcetera, and that sucks, because some of these tools have gotten out. There have been security issues."

And while it wasn't only the U.S. experiencing this dilemma, the recent focus on major targets stateside has highlighted the vulnerability the country faces from programs it created, along with the difficulty in identifying the perpetrators behind them.

Among the more infamous organizations is Shadow Brokers, which also targeted the allegedly NSA-linked Equation Group. While it's never been established conclusively if Russia itself was behind Shadow Brokers, Cook said the result is that "those are tool sets that were exposed."

"You start trying to target cybercriminals in Russia, you have to be careful of the kind of infrastructure you use, the tools you use," he said. "Because the Russians they're going to be trying to watch to see who's going after the cybercriminals more so from the intelligence perspective of, 'Hey, can we unravel some more of their kits, some more of their tools?'—and so there's a kind of intelligence aspect if you're going to target those groups."

A sloppy operation, he warned, could prove a major boon for U.S. rivals.

"You have to think about what you use, think about what your signature looks like," Cook said. "And if you just do it ham-fisted, you may be giving a gift to the Russians that may hit you in some of your other technical operations, that you may be doing as well."

But experts agreed that something had to be done, even if it meant the U.S. essentially taking on its own tools.

"Adversarial groups have access to U.S. tools and put them into the public domain," Shawn Henry, president and chief security officer of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, told Newsweek. "Are they being repurposed or are they being re-engineered? The answer is yes."

"I think that the government has a responsibility to protect its citizens. And if the government creates a tool that's being used to exploit U.S. companies, then that needs to be remediated," Henry, a former FBI executive assistant director added. "If somebody stole a tank off an Army base, then the U.S. military needs to go back and get the tank."

The Biden administration has not directly accused the Russian government of sponsoring the Colonial Pipeline or JBS ransomware attacks, the latter of which the FBI blamed on REvil, another suspected Russia-based hacking group using similar techniques to those of DarkSide. At the same time, the White House has said the Kremlin bears responsibility for not cracking down on such activity allegedly conducted on Russian soil.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the issues of cybersecurity and ransomware specifically would be among the topics to come up when Biden met for the first time in his presidency with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva.

At that same press conference, Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, accused Russia of "harboring or permitting cybercriminals to operate from their territory," and said he considered the issue of ransomware to be "a national security priority, particularly as it relates to ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States."

Putin and his administration have rejected any responsibility for the attacks. Instead, they have stressed the need for stronger cybersecurity cooperation between the two nations.

Reached for comment on whether Moscow might act on Washington's call to crack down on alleged cyber attacks emanating from the country, the Russian embassy in Washington referred Newsweek to a statement issued by Putin in September in which he appealed to the U.S. "to agree on a comprehensive program of practical measures to reboot our relations in the field of security in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)."

The four-point plan involved proposals to restore a regular full-scale bilateral interagency high-level dialogue regarding international information security (IIS), fostering bilateral communication between the two countries' Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers, Computer Emergency Readiness Teams and high-level national security officials in charge of information security matters, the signing of bilateral intergovernmental agreement on preventing incidents in the information space such as that reached nearly five decades on the high seas, and a mutual pledge of non-intervention into one another's internal affairs, "including into electoral processes, inter alia, by means of the ICTs and high-tech methods," as Putin relayed at the time.

"We call on the US to greenlight the Russian-American professional expert dialogue on IIS without making it a hostage to our political disagreements," Putin said.

Such measures, he argued, "are aimed at building up trust between our States, promoting security and prosperity of our people," and "will significantly contribute to ensuring global peace in the information space."

The Russian leader also suggested reaching a "global agreement on a political commitment of States on no-first-strike with the use of ICTs against each other."

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry International Information Security Department Director Andrey Krutskikh reiterated this appeal in an interview with the International Affairs magazine, to which he conveyed growing calls to develop "transparent and understandable 'rules of the game' in the digital space."

The absence of such treaties on the cyber front leaves the world dangerously exposed to a slippery slope toward an unbridled series of escalations—and miscalculations—especially as the U.S. considers its next moves.

For this reason, Henry echoed the need for international talks—something for which he's been advocating for years.

"We need to find what the red lines are, this continues to escalate, and we can't allow it to escalate," he said. "It's the exact reason we had nuclear arms talks, because we realized things couldn't continue to escalate, they couldn't spiral out of control."

This combination of pictures created on June 7 shows Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaking with NBC news at the Kremlin on March 1, 2018 in Moscow (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden delivering remarks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware on January 15. Cybersecurity was among the key topics both men sought to discuss in their first meeting since Biden took office in January. Jim Watson/Alexey Nikolsky/Ria Novosti/AFP/Getty Images

It's been decades since the U.S. and Russia began to invest in their cyberespionage and warfare capabilities, but the digital battlefield remains a murky one when compared to the use of more traditional weapons of mass destruction. With the domain becoming increasingly popular today and multiple threat actors multiplying, there are still no clear rules of engagement.

Resilience CEO Vishaal Hariprasad said the debate on the use of nuclear weapons was relatively "easy" as compared to the current challenge to define the boundaries of cyberwarfare.

"You could understand the red lines in your warfare, and it was easy to have deterrence theory against that," Hariprasad, who previously conducted cyber operations in the U.S. Air Force, told Newsweek. "With cyber, there is no red line and it's amorphous at best, so you can't even have deterrence without the red line versus establishing the red line."

He does, however, see signs of progress. Hariprasad praised the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for its engagement with the private sector in order to shore up the shield against such attacks, which CISA Executive Assistant Director of Cybersecurity Eric Goldstein said "must serve as a wake up call for every American."

"The threat of ransomware continues to be severe and can impact any organization across all sectors of the economy," Goldstein said in a statement sent to Newsweek. "Organizations should urgently review our available resources and implement best practices to protect their networks from these types of threats. Regardless of the ransomware actor or strain, good cyber hygiene is highly effective in reducing the impacts of an intrusion."

Even with cultural improvements, though, Hariprasad sees a need "to make it more expensive for the bad guys to operate." This has begun to take form with the relatively recent emergence of concepts such as "defend forward" and "persistent engagement," two proactive strategies adopted by the U.S. Cyber Command in order to detect and degrade hostile capabilities.

"U.S. Cyber Command's role in the Defend Forward strategy is the employment of the persistent engagement methodology. We enable and act," a U.S. Cyber Command spokesperson told Newsweek. "Persistent engagement guides our operations, allows us to lean forward, enables partners with unique insights, and when authorized we act against adversaries in cyberspace."

"We view every mission as an opportunity to contest our adversaries in cyberspace," the spokesperson added. "With that focus on 'persistent,' we acknowledge that with a single action, we do not degrade our adversaries' cyber tools and tactics."

But assessing how far to go when acting—preemptively or in retaliation—remains a key component of establishing a solid deterrence.

Identifying and pursuing the right level of response comes down to "proportionality," Raj Shah, chairman of cybersecurity insurance firm Resilience, told Newsweek. "What is proportionality in the cyber domain? I think we're still figuring that out as a nation."

As it appears is Biden himself, who has sought a "stable, predictable relationship" with Russia, but has so far experienced anything but. To make sense of things, Shah produced four points of his own.

"One, this should be taken very seriously, it will affect the American way of life and free nations around the world; Two, the private sector is not going to be able to do it by itself, certainly not just security people, it will take government support; Three, we do have to understand the economic side of this, and how do you put cost down; [and Four], we have to find the right tools of protection, of security, the right financial protections of risk transfer insurance, we need to find the right level of law enforcement to prosecute, and then the right amount of information-sharing from our intelligence agencies to help companies be aware of what's coming down," Shah said.

He added that "each case will have a slightly different mix of those four," but emphasized that the current approach was clearly not working. "The status quo of our pipelines going down every week is not tenable."

"If we just do what we're doing," Shah said, "the ransomware epidemic is going to just get worse and worse."

Cars line up to fill their gas tanks at a COSTCO at Tyvola Road in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 11. Fears the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline due to a ransomware attack would cause a gasoline shortage led to some panic buying and prompted U.S. regulators to temporarily suspend clean fuel requirements in three eastern states and the nation's capital. Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images