#also he turned into a wolf in beast world
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typhoonquixol · 15 hours ago
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What do you mean they can see everything?
Tim: Jason. You have your tumblr profile set to public. People can see who you follow, and what you've liked.
Jason: No.
Tim: Yes.
Jason: So then everyone can see...?
Tim: Yes.
Jason: How many people know about my account.
Tim (smiling wickedly): Enough.
Jason: How to I make it private?
Tim: Why would I tell you that?
Jason glares at Tim with the hatred of a thousand suns.
Jason: Even if I deleted the account you'd recreate it by hand wouldn't you?
Tim: yep.
Jason, hands clasped together, leaning forward: I will pay you.
Tim: I could take over Wayne and Queen industries in a week if I wanted to, money doesn't matter to me.
Jason: Then what do you want?
Tim reaches behind the couch and picks up a black motorcycle helmet. He'd planned this interaction. Sonofa-
Jason: No.
Tim: no? Alright... Damien is going to love scrolling through so many-
Jason: FINE. Fine. Fine. You can use my bike.
Jason digs into one of his dozen breast pockets, pulls out his keys, and tosses it to Tim.
Tim: Cool. I'll give it back Friday night after I take Bernard out. You have until then to delete the account or set it to private.
Jason: Can't you just... hack the likes away?
Tim: That many? Not a chance. So either suck it up or delete it.
Tim walks away, satisfied and looking forward to driving the infamous Red Hoods bike into a brick wall.
Jason watches him go with pure hatred and respect. He opens his phone and checks. Sure enough he can see other peoples likes. He flicks back to his page and scrolls through his likes. 10,000 in just one month. How long had he stared at his phone on patrol?
He was never going to understand technology again was he...
Tim walks Bernard out of his apartment, promising him something really special. They finally get outside to the curb and Tim dramatically points to... nothing.
Bernard: Uh, cool. So are we walking to the surprise?
Tim: I left it right there what hap- I need to check Tumblr.
Bernard: Tumblr?
Tim: Yes.
Tim opens his phone and looks at Jason's page. He's posted a photo of himself driving in the middle of the street laughing like a maniac.
It is then followed by re-posts of several cutesy photos of animals hugging each other. Specifically of wolfs curled around their cubs, carrying them by their scruffs, and so on. Damian has already commented on seventeen, demanding why Todd would hide this from him.
Tim: That petty little...
Bernard: So what was the plan?
Tim: I blackmailed my brother into giving me his bike but he chose to expose the himself rather than let me use it.
Bernard: You mean that brother?
The six foot tall brick house that is Jason Todd appears behind Tim and slaps his brothers shoulder.
Jason: I said you could use my bike little bro. Not which one.
Jason sweeps his arm towards a vintage 1983 Honda Shadow he'd parked a few spots down.
Tim: Your kidding.
Jason: I'm not
Jason, leaning in closely to whisper: Because I know you wouldn't dare crash this one.
Jason, loudly chuckling: Have fun on your date. See you Bernard
Bernard: See you Jay.
Jason walks off cackling. He gets a ping on his phone. It's Grayson.
Grayson: Why didn't you tell me you liked wolves??? I could have been sending you wolf memes daily.
This is then followed by a tidal wave of adorable wolves.
Grayson: See? See i can give you memes. Jason let me make you happy!!!
Jason already regrets his decision.
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rosalinesurvived · 2 years ago
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Teen Wolf’s Mason Hewitt-while mainly a side character-undergoes a character arc which subtly conveys to the audience about the deconstruction of goodness and purity-perceived, internal, or real within him; both on a morality scale: such as his eventual murders of innocents and his acceptance of “with the bad guys Corey Bryant” but also on a deeply personal scale, as he is revealed to be the Beast–thus fully entering the world of supernaturals, something considered to be cruel and evil within his pack after being the only human within it-and hosts Sebastian Valet in his mind. Furthermore, the reveal of his absorption of his twin at conception, thus being a genetic chimera after they were considered by him to be a bad guys implicates him inside and shatters his code of morality as he previously states he would rather die than be with the bad guys and yet is revealed to be a so called “bad guy” proving to the audience that his arc is largely centred around the meaning of morality, and humanity and goodness, and yet also the darkening of a person however unwillingly. In this essay I will–
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rovermcfly · 1 month ago
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“vrolok” and “vlkoslak”—both of which mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either were-wolf or vampire. (Chapter 1)
But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow on the sand. (Chapter 7)
He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby [...] (Chapter 18)
and (were)wolves aren't just dracula's subcontractors. he is ONE OF THEM
There's something hilarious about how so much subsequent media has positioned Vampires and Werewolves as, like, binary opposite entities, and then you read Dracula (1897) and realize that wolves are that guy's preferred solution to every problem. You'd say something to Dracula about "ah yes, werewolves, vampires' great eternal enemies," and he'd just be like "you mean my subcontractors?"
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I’LL MAKE A HOUSE INSIDE OF YOU, I’LL GO IN THROUGH THE MOUTH ; SUGURU GETO
synopsis; what awaits you by the entrance to the woods is not a wolf, but a man. he thinks your grandmother can wait.
word count; 14.7k
contents; suguru geto/reader, gn!reader (’girl’ is used only in allusion to the actual fairy tale), fairy tale au, hunter/wolf!suguru x little red riding hood!reader, yan!sugu, captivity, forced caretaking, infantilization, excessive use of ’little one’, hints of stockholm syndrome, slightly suggestive in one part (suguru gets a hard-on, blink and you’ll miss it), noncon kissing but that’s the worst it gets, instances of gore (ie; descriptions of a corpse, horror-inspired imagery), depiction of cannibalism (not involving reader), violent undertones, suguru never physically harms you but it’s mentioned that he could. open ended + almost entirely from reader’s pov. meta narrative.
a/n; happy halloween <3 (i’m late)(it’s 2025) this au has been haunting me since last year so i’m happy to finally have it out …. i don’t dabble in yan!sugu v often but it’s . so so sooo easy to turn him into one just by tweaking him a little bit … if nothing else i hope he ended up awful & hot 🫡 + biggest shoutout in the world to my beloved mickey (@teddybeartoji) for all your help and encouragement w this fic :’< also my belovedest dilly for doing the same and supporting me always … i love u……
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[ once upon a time, there was a dear little girl... ]
the sun is stuck in vitro. 
a glance up at the sky, in tune with your rapid steps. you’re threading through a meadow, red hood over your head, a basket hanging off your arm; wine and apricots and slices of cake, covered by a crocheted blanket your mother made. the sky you see when you tilt your head is painted gray, a bottomless pit, cotton clouds sticking together like the light layer of mist laying its legs across the landscape. dewdrops stick to your bare ankles as you wade through tall grass.
everything smells wet, fresh, the heavy scent of leaves and dirt — the end of autumn. everything bursting and blooming and decaying all at once. 
and you’re all alone. threading through the grass and flowers, nearing the edge of the familiar woods, on your way to see your sick grandmother. it’s a force of habit; from the basket hanging off your arm to the pep in your step, a feeling like that of a page being turned. all of it familiar. this story is your home, you live within its walls. you know your lines, you always have. you know how it begins, how it ends, what it feels like to be swallowed whole — you know your steps will lead you right into the belly of the beast.
you know this story.
(you should know this story.)
only this time, it is not a wolf that awaits you by the entrance to the woods. it’s a hunter.
it’s a man, of tall stature, a shotgun slung over his broad shoulder and secured by a thin leather strap. poignant, a threat and a reassurance all at once, barrel pointing at the sky like a maw wanting to open wide. the first thing you notice. his hair is tied up into a bun, neat and tidy, charcoal strands tousled by the morning breeze, bangs swaying almost hypnotizingly under the hunter’s hat he’s wearing; your eyes drink him in, from head to toe. a dark-furred vest, engulfed by a coat that does nothing to hide the outline of his meaty biceps. his boots are stained with mud. 
it’s nothing new.
(but he isn’t supposed to be here.)
before you can look around, make sure you didn’t take a wrong turn, leave your mother’s cabin on the wrong clock-tick — the hunter turns to look at you. eyes like the bark of a tree, smudged at the corners with flecks of rusted gold, their warmth beckoning you forward. the jingle of a bell chime. and only then do you spot a splotch of red in his calloused hands, cradled closely, a poppy. young crimson petals.
he’s caressing them, and he’s smiling.
like he knew you’d be here.
molten, rainy clouds stick together in the sky, allowing no flicker of sunshine to seep through the gaps. once you step inside the woods, the mist will only thicken. a ceiling made of tree-leaves to obscure the world around you. it’s straight ahead, the main road that leads into their depths — the one you’re meant to follow. from where you’re standing, you can spot bugs on the mossy rocks, shimmering beetles, hear the buzzing of a lonely little bee busying itself with a honeyed tree trunk. shadows upon shadows. you’re right at the edge of the second act, but there is no wolf to be seen. no monster to fall into. 
only a man, parting his lips.
”and where are you headed, little one?”
his voice is deep. steady, sturdy, seeps into your spine. but tailored with silk all the same; a pleasantly raspy undertone. he’s speaking softly, and your heartbeat slows down, grows quiet as a mouse.
it’s only him, after all. 
(the ever reliable hunter.)
”… to my grandmother,” you answer, hands gripping onto the handle of your basket, a smile gracing your features. still confused, but polite, even sweet. he’s weak to it, you’re well aware. ”she’s sick, you see…”
he nods along, smile never changing shape — hand only briefly reaching down to his waist, slipping the poppy into his pocket. you wonder why he doesn’t just throw it away, but there’s no time to ponder on the smaller things; he speaks before you can try.
”i see,” he hums, a low buzzing in the back of his throat. ”and on such a lovely morning…”
the irony in his tone is evident, ripe like a peach. smiling along, you let out what could almost be considered a chuckle — it’s a little out of breath, your lungs constricting in wake of the mist-ridden air. 
”mm… it’s alright. i don’t mind.”
that makes him pause, for a moment. ”how kind of you.” it’s praise, sweetened by a roll of his tongue — the hunter tilts his head, honeyed eyes ripe for plucking. ”i’m sure your grandmother will be thrilled.”
”… i hope so,” you hum, blinking through the dew. ”it’s the least i could do, really…”
golden eyes seep through the gaps between his lower lashes, gazing down at you. a piercing stare. you wonder if he can tell you’re lying. a moment passes, and then he’s speaking again, with a click of his tongue— that same pleasing lull to his voice.
”and where does your grandmother live, hm? not too far off, i’d hope…”
”it’s… still a bit to walk,” you chuckle, adjusting your hood, picking at a piece of lint dangling off the fabric. ”her house is just under the three large oak-trees, with the nut-trees below… you surely must know it?”
”… that i do.” for a moment, his smiles laces itself with sticky nostalgia; something warm.
then, suddenly, he’s taking a step forward. boots crunching against the ground, clicking against the gravel underneath his feet. like he’s walking on a frosted lake. aside from the low buzzing of tired bugs, and solemn whooshing of the morning breeze, it’s all you can hear. when he gets close enough for you to see the mole just below his jaw, he’s towering above you — shielding you from the wind, broad shoulders obscuring your view of anything but him. his eyes, his smile, the shotgun over his shoulder.
and he parts his pretty lips.
”would you do me a favour, little dear?”
a tug at your heartstrings. your eyes gaze up at his, wide with curiosity, rising up like bubbling foam in the sea of your iris. a request, something to do; it’s hard for you to ignore its call. always has been. 
so you speak before you think.
”sure.”
a pleased hum. ”… i’m on the hunt for wolves, you see.” his eyelids flutter, but you don’t think he misses the way your smile evens out, your grip on the basket growing tighter. ”i know your grandmother needs you… but would you let me treat you to a cup of tea?” 
”… tea?”
your baffled inquiry pulls a soft bout of laughter from the depths of his throat.
”tea,” he nods. ”any kind you’d like. i couldn’t sleep at night, knowing i’d left you all alone here with those beasts roaming around… and my home is close by.”
a pause. you inhale the earthy air, taste it on your tongue. a sense of delirious foreboding settles into your veins, a call from deep within your gut. 
your mother told you not to let anything distract you.
(… then again, when have you ever been the type to do as you’re told?)
”i don’t know… i’m not really supposed to,” you try to convince yourself, fidgeting with the strings of your cape. you can feel the hunter’s gaze, heavy in a comforting sense; like a mother wolf gazing at her cub, making sure no harm befalls it. intimidating in the sense that you don’t know what he’s thinking.
”… how very well-behaved,” is all he says, adjusting the strap of his shotgun. he sounds like he wants to say something else, but he takes a moment too long to speak. then; ”you seem a little out of breath.”
and you are. your breathing is all out of sorts, your throat shivering under the force of your chilly inhales. it’s cold, and your legs feel sore. the fabric of your cape is too thin to shield you from the chilly autumn breeze, and your bones yearn for some respite. 
your mind, however, yearns for something different. something new. a different story, another chapter.
(… you shouldn’t, but…)
”it was awfully reckless of your mother to send you off alone,” he mutters, a low click of his tongue, voice slipping down an octave— something rough gnawing at his vocal chords. ”a little thing like you…”
(… he shouldn’t be here at all.)
”i’d like to rectify that.”
there’s a stability to his words, something self-assured. he personifies a security you’ve never had, an absent smile that warms your numbed-out hands; there’s a warmth to it you couldn’t find in the woods, in the dark and gritty path carved out before you. it makes you think a cup of tea wouldn’t be so bad. 
(maybe two wrongs do make a right.)
you stop to think, for a moment.
you could walk into the woods, down the main road, like you supposed to. one step after the other, right until you reach your grandmother — or a hungry wolf. you could wait by the flower meadow, and pick poppies until your hands grow weary, until you have enough to bring home to your mother. alternatively, just until the beast remembers his curtain call.
… or, you could follow the hunter. follow him, like a pliant lamb, until you reach his cabin.
(ultimately, only one of the choices entices you.)
”… alright, then,” your breath turns into white smoke. ”i’d be glad to. sorry for the trouble, though…”
his eyes gleam, suddenly; a honeyed whisper on his tongue. a sense of contentment in the sigh that slips past his lips, the sway of his bangs when he shakes his head. ”believe me — it’s no trouble at all.”
two sparrows take off from a branch ahead of you. 
a breeze brushes past your cheek. he holds his arm out, ever the gentleman; waiting for your fingers to curl around his bicep, cling to it for stability. and you do, if only just to please him, because you know the hunter needs to be needed in the same way your grandmother needs pie and wine. the same way the wolf needs something soft to sink his teeth into.
his eyes crinkle, like autumn leaves on golden trees. pats your arm, once, then twice, and says;
”let’s get you warmed up, hm?”
and you follow his lead.
you know this man. that’s why you aren’t afraid. why you can’t help but match his step, as he guides you away from the road you’re meant to take, slowing down his strides just so you can keep up. the sun is still obscured, a slob of amber in the middle of the sky, engulfed by sticky clouds. the woods sway in a solemn waltz, bugs scatter away like ravens from the moss-ridden rocks, and when you pass the bushes on your far left you swear you catch a whiff of iron. 
before you know it, he’s led you away from the woods — across a field of poppies, beyond the bridge of a river, down to a cabin with a freshly-painted fence.
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his home is as warm as his smile.
the moment you step over the threshold, a scent of sandalwood invades your lungs — thick like you just fell into a bag of sawdust. it seeps into your nostrils and burrows itself deep inside your chest, curls up and sleeps there. rich, earthy, firewood and basil from the living room and kitchen, liquid comfort in your veins. warmth, peace; even with the butterflies pinned to the walls, gleaming behind glass. a deer mount watches you from across the hall, its antlers curled up proudly, eyes dumb and dead and animal. 
all you can think is respite. rubbing your chilly, frostbitten hands together, blowing hot air on the interior of your palms. the hunter leads you inside, hangs his coat and puts away his shotgun, takes off his hat and steps out of his heavy boots — waits for you to do the same. you leave your crimson coat as is. gently, he takes hold of your basket, gives your shoulder a break. it comes to him naturally, this sense of service; a perpetual motion machine.
you think him a dog, finely trained. it puts your heart at ease. 
”make yourself at home,” he smiles. 
an absent nod. you’re still busy glancing around, following just behind him as he moves towards the living room. it looks cozy. knitted blankets thrown over chairs, books gathering dust on the shelves, a lit candle by the windowsill. there are carnations in vases, all smelling of spring, the same colour as the eager fire crackling by the chimney — sparks of ember against freshly cut wood, fireworks for only you to see. an axe catches their angry flicker of light with its dull edge, where it lays against a pile of logs, leather sheath curled around it; serpentesque.
already, your eyes have strayed too long. he doesn’t seem to mind. when you raise your head he’s looking at you, standing by the threshold to the kitchen and waiting, lips curled into a soft, ikebana-like smile.
a flicker of amusement passes through his low-lidded eyes. and then he’s turning on his heel.
you follow him. 
”take a seat,” he hums, dragging out a wooden chair for you to sit on; and you do so without putting up a fuss, absently scanning the walls and shelves, jars of honey and jam and spices, cloves of garlic hanging in a happy row. a kettle rests idly on the stove, white little petals soaking in a bowl of sweetened water right next to it, reminds you of a bleeding bride. the kitchen table is small, just big enough for two. cozy.
”thank you, mister hunter,” you offer him a smile.
”— suguru.” he pushes the chair forward again, makes sure you’re all sorted, and then steps away. ”just suguru is fine. no need to be formal, little red…”
his voice comes out as something like a purr, interwoven with a morning residue of smoke, fatigue. you can hear it, though, the tender hint of happiness beneath it. he faces the stove, lifts his large hands to open the cupboards above him, and you spot a vast assortment of tea bags; dried yellow leaves, petals and stalks, silken bags and paper wrappings, an earthy scent that pervades the air. cuts into it, forces its way through the thin gap. you inhale, deeply, and feel it take root in your kidneys — no exhale makes the feeling go away. chamomile, rooibos, earl gray…
a cacophony of remedies pulsing in your ribs.
as he busies himself with boiled water and strainers, you gaze out through the window to your left. all you’re privy to seeing is a field, speckled with ghostly pale flowers — barely visible under the shadow of a sky yet to be broken through. in the distance is your destination, the murky woods, tall pinewood trees and willows and clusters of dried up leaves. you wonder if your grandmother will worry if you linger here for too long, if your mother will be disappointed. if they’ll even notice. the basket of goodies you brought rests on the kitchen counter, unassuming. 
”here you are,” suguru hums, setting down a mug for you. pure white ceramic. he slips in a teaspoon’s worth of honey, and fills it up with water from the kettle, piping hot, orange in colour, tiny calendula buds swimming like fish in the sea. ”drink up, little one,” he croons. ”we don’t want you catching a cold.”
when you reach out to touch the rim of the cup, you’re stung by the warmth — it sparks against the tips of your fingers, spreads throughout your veins. gives way to a soft smile. ”thank you, suguru.”
his eyes gleam under the dim lights. 
”have a sip,” he encourages. ”tell me how it is.”
and you do. you bring the mug to your lips, feel the warmth of the tea seep through the ceramic, steam rising from it and tickling your skin. when you drink it’s an assault on your senses, like the flowers snuck inside your throat and bloomed along your windpipe. hot enough to burn your tongue, rich and sweet. 
a sigh leaves your lips. laced with contentment.
”it’s delicious,” you compliment, still feeling the sting on the tip of your tongue. putting the cup back on the table, just to hear the clink against wood.
a warm smile.
”i’m glad.” seamlessly, casually, he leans forward; curling his fingers around the handle, bringing it to his own lips. you watch, owlishly, as he blows on the tea — quick to slide it back towards you. ”… there.”
he must notice your bewilderment, at his familiarity. but he only exhales a soft breath; grazing the surface of a chuckle. resting his jaw on the heel of his palm.
”… go on. have as much as you’d like.”
he doesn’t pour himself a cup until you’ve finished your first. watching you, from across the table, eyes melted into something fond, glimmering faintly.
enamored.
(in every version of this story, the hunter is in love with you.)
that’s why you aren’t worried. that’s why you can’t help but tune out everything except the faint glow of his kitchen, the budding warmth of his home, the tea he keeps on pouring you, cup after cup. the feeling of something deliriously new. listening to the purr of his voice, allowing time to slip you by — sinking into a state of dizzying comfort, slick with safety.
before you know it, he’s shown you around the house, told you all about the lilac-coloured flowers growing in his backyard, coaxed you into warming yourself by the fireplace — he insists. it’s already well past the time you would have made it back home after your outing. your grandmother’s basket is still resting on the counter, untouched, wine and pie and peeled apricots that have probably begun to grow stale. she won’t tell the difference, but you will.
with decision, you rise from the armchair you’re seated on, closing the book he lent you. feeling the stir of a pep in your step, like the kick of a rabbit.
a shallow breath — ’duty calls,’ you muse.
(perhaps it’s for the best; you were beginning to bore of the silence, anyhow.)
suguru makes a low noise, in the back of his throat, seated on the armchair to your right. sleeves rolled up; a light patch of dark hair running from his wrist to his elbow, muscles embraced by the flame-slicked shadows of the fireplace. he gazes at you, silently.
”thank you for letting me stay,” you smile, picture perfect, easy and polite; curling your fingers together as if praying. ”but i really should get going, now.”
the wind whooshes, sharpens its claws against the windows behind you. the sky still dark, rain drizzling down, nothing a cluster of trees can’t shelter you from. the hunter stands up, to his full height.
”… i don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
a twitch of his brow. covered up by a smile. for the first time since meeting him this morning — you catch a flicker of distaste dance inside his pupils. 
you aren’t sure what to say.
it doesn’t matter, either way. he parts his lips to speak. ”it’s dangerous… and it’s already getting late. surely, your grandmother can wait until tomorrow?”
”i’m… not sure i should,” you try, fingers idly slipping into the pockets of your red coat. mustering a cheery voice. ”besides, i wouldn’t want to trouble you!”
”i insist.”
crackle, crackle, wood splintering into ash. the silence is deafening, thick like a slab of butter on bread. it makes a lump form in your throat, hard to swallow, though you aren’t sure why.
”… tomorrow,” he continues. smile a little stale. ”wolves roam around in the evening. it’s not safe.”
something in his tone tells you he’s already made up his mind. something staggeringly aware — like he’s stating a fact, something unquestionable. 
it’s not safe out there. 
(he’s right, of course, but…)
(when he opens his mouth, you swear his teeth look just a little sharper than they should.)
a kick to your heart makes you cough up a response, a string of jumbled words. it comes to you almost like an instinct, an unsteady voice. ”if it’s really okay…”
he perks up, at that. 
”of course,” he smiles, a little wider. ”of course it is.”
a warm voice, and a warm home, the crackling of a warm fire behind you. it should feel peaceful — yet you can’t help but gaze out the windows, nervously, watching the faraway trees sway. if you squint you could almost make out those golden, piercing eyes, the black fur of a beast in a bush; unease settles in the base of your gut and gnaws at your flesh. 
just until tomorrow, you think.
his cabin is a safe zone, of sorts. you’re well aware of that. nothing can get to you, as long as you’re here, with his shotgun close by. suguru is tall, reliable, the only one you can trust — at least he should be. even if he isn’t where he should be at the moment.
it’s in his nature. he looks out for you.
he loves you.
(it’ll be fine.)
”it’s about time for dinner, isn’t it?” he breaks the shaky silence, stretching his arms out, craning his neck with a quiet crack. a clean break of bone. his gaze is kind, attentive. ”time flies… let me make something for you. what would you like?”
”… anything is fine.”
”anything…” a low chuckle. ”what would you say to some warm stew, then? is that alright?”
it is. after a nod, and a moment’s pause, you sit back down; just to feel the soft fabric sink beneath your weight. suguru hums, pleased, makes his way over to the kitchen. the axe gleams under the glow of the fire, and the deer on the wall watches your every move. the butterflies, too. wings for eyes.
(just for the night, you repeat to yourself.)
a hearty dinner, a warm bed to sleep in, and tea with honey in the morning — it doesn’t sound so bad at all. your mother probably won’t be worried, and your grandmother probably won’t die. no repercussions, the script already broke. staying one more day is fine.
… except he doesn’t let you leave, the morning after.
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it starts out small. it always does. 
(creeps up on you like a bug in a carcass.)
“it’s too early.”
“it’s too cold, you’ll get sick.”
“don’t you want to stay for dinner?”
a warm smile, a smooth voice, a face with sharp lines and soft skin; tailor-made to put you at ease. suguru is beautiful, familiar, eerie in a sense that only makes you feel at home. he’s always been stubborn, you recall. some part of your body remembers.
but never like this. never, ever like this. 
never as suffocating.
“you’re too small to know what’s good for you.”
— there’s that bite. it sneaks up on him and grows teeth. he pats your head, with a calloused hand, and you relent. only gnaw at your bottom lip, jutted out into a frown you hope won’t rouse his anger. you’re still not sure he can even get angry, but he’s scary enough when he makes these choices for you; makes you think you have control over your own actions, all the while stealing it from underneath your feet.
(soon, he’s outright denying you.)
“i— i really need to leave,” you try, almost pleading, on the third night. your lungs are constricting, from the heavy scent of peppermint in the kitchen air, and he’s watching you like you’re nothing but a child demanding candy before bed. “please.”
a sigh, and a shake of his head.
“you aren’t listening, little one.” he turns around, clinks a teaspoon against the edge of a porcelain cup. “it’s safer here. your grandmother can wait.” 
nails paint crescents on your inner palms.
“… she’s waited long enough.”
frustration sneaks into your tone. bubbles up into your words like venomous pores. you think he must notice, because his smile is especially gentle when he turns to face you again, all lips and no teeth, still as composed as ever. he steps forward, curls an arm around your waist; he’s starting to lose all pretense of caring about your personal space, of not appearing too familiar. pulling you close. steady, steady, steady.
so much stronger than you. 
even when you stir, he doesn’t budge an inch. only lets out another mellow sigh, that fans against the side of your face. you think it sounds a bit amused.
“she’ll be okay,” is all he says. “she doesn’t need you.”
“she needs you to be safe.” he must have noticed the crestfallen look on your face. “as do i. you’re staying here, for the time being — it’s no trouble at all.”
he gives you a smile, to ease your nerves, honey-slicked and sweet; but something rotten settles in your gut. bile at the base of your throat, sour. it feels constricting, to be held so close, to be forced to inhale the scent of oakwood and musk on his skin. he’s warm. squeezing you firmly, and you’re sure it’s meant as a comforting gesture, but all you can think is burly arms, solid muscles, the crack of a bone. all you can think is that you’re well and truly powerless.
”believe me.”
when he lets you go, lets you scamper upstairs, you feel as though you can finally breathe again. leaning against the door to the guest room — gazing out through the window at the end of the hall, finding comfort in the swaying of the jade-dyed curtains.
something is very, very wrong. wrong with the hunter, the story, wrong with the home you’re in.
(you think you’re beginning to realize what.)
the hunter’s name is suguru. he appeared right by the edge of the woods, seven pages too early — or four, depending on the edition. he hasn’t let you leave his home, despite his initial offer to shelter you for no more than a day. his voice is deep and smooth, gravelly in the mornings or late at night, like an axe dragged through rugged grounds; or the bark of a tree yet to be cut in half. rough. the pieces dig a grave inside your brain, start to reek of decay.
the hunter is trustworthy.
in the story you call home, this is code of law; a black-and-white truth.
(but hunters don’t smell like wolves.)
hunters don’t watch your every move, or keep you locked against their chests, or make you sneak out in the middle of the night when everything is silent. hunters don’t will you to run away.
but on the fifth night, that’s exactly what you do.
once you’re almost certain he’s asleep in his own room, just two doors down from across the hall, you crack your eyes open and slip out from underneath the covers. shivering, shielded only by the flimsy nightgown suguru lent you to sleep in, sheltering you from the cold seeping in through the windowpane. it’s big on you. every step you take is slow and calculated, soft enough not to make any noise; you hold your breath as you crouch down to pick your coat up, lying in a pile on the floor, stretching your arms out through the gaps and pulling it over your head. then you walk to the door, the window behind you leaking in the faintest strings of moonlight. 
the sky is dark, the room you’re in cocooned by its shadow. you can barely even see your own hands when you reach for the doorknob and twist.
no noise. no creak.
a soft sigh slips from your lips, just under your breath. your fingers pull it open, and you step out into the hall— not bothering to close the door behind you. paintings line the walls on the second floor, all depicting landscapes, fields of poppies, sheep in circles, a house on top of a windy hill. watercolour on canvas. you wonder if he painted them by hand.
out of the corner of your eye, you gaze at his bedroom door — you can’t help it. under the light of the moon, it gleams like an omen. sealed tightly shut.
your heart strings together a tale of worry.
(it’ll be fine, you tell yourself. he’s asleep.)
and so you venture down the stairs. placing one foot in front of the other, gripping onto the handrail with all your might, trying not to put too much weight into your steps. heart stuck in your throat. one steps, two steps. you can see the fireplace from here, though the flames have long been stifled. pieces of coal gleam under the light streaming in through the windows, blue flickers that disappear when clouds devour the moon. red carnations painted indigo.
eight steps. nine steps.
when your foot meets the rug on the living room floor, soft under your bare soles, a pang of relief squeezes your veins; a moment where you allow yourself to simply breathe. inhale, exhale, because the hardest part is over. almost there, almost free.
your next couple steps are hungry. burning with delight, moving towards the front door, still careful not to stumble over or into anything — but really, all you can think is that the crispy midnight air is just beyond your grasp. it’s all you can think when you fumble for your shoes in the dark, glance up towards the top of the staircase every other second. anxious, despite your excitement. it all bleeds together.
it’s all you think when you pull up the rug by the front door, grab the key you knew would lie beneath it. all you think as you stick it into the keyhole and twist.
freedom. that’s what the air smells like, as it floods your starving veins — as you move your feet to cross the threshold. floods your lungs, as you gaze up at the moon, smiling in the sky like nothing’s wrong. welcoming you back to the narrative. the wind feels cold on your cheeks, streaming into his house when you push the door open, wild and untethered; swaying the field of flowers just beyond his fence. 
freedom. freedom. freedom.
you take a decisive step, leaving the boundary of his home — 
and the door slams shut behind you.
(a betrayal of the wind.)
it rings in your ears. you stay frozen in place.
the light flickers on, behind the window right above you. casts a glow on the frosted landscape, on your figure — and you know he’s watching. you feel it.
so you run.
it’s sudden, the spike of pure adrenaline rushing through your veins, completely flooding your senses and numbing your legs — you do not feel the cold of the air, barely see the way your breaths turn into mist as you inhale and exhale. you only think to leap towards the fence, fumbling with the lock, your shaky fingers pushing and pulling until you finally decide to simply climb over — placing the sole of your shoe on the picket and tearing your nightgown on the way down, tripping over your own feet and landing on your palms, scrambling to get back up again. the bruising doesn’t ache, the drag of your skin against gravel — you don’t even hear the tear of fabric. you only hear the pounding of your own heartbeat, feel it crawling up your throat like a snake suffocating on the rabbit it just swallowed whole. 
it pitters and patters, against your windpipe, and you run. sprint. everything in front of you is dark, mist thick enough to drown in, clouds devouring the moon again — you don’t really know which way you’re going, only that it’s away from here. 
your lungs feel on fire, the air gasoline.
and you hear the door slam shut behind you. 
(— the hunter begins his chase.)
tall grass melts around your ankles, ice-cold drops of dew and frosted flowers whipping your bare skin, but you don’t feel it, only feel the fear in your heartbeat as it threatens to make your ribcage burst. fear, fear, the primal kind. everything ahead of you is dark but it doesn’t matter, you’re only focused on running as far as your legs can take you — you’ve never felt a rush like this before. never felt so much like an animal being pursued. the wind tugs your hood away.
distant woods beckon you closer, closer still, swaying and waltzing on a moonlit night. you think yourself mad, to follow that shimmer, but you’ve never been quite right in the head, never really. frost, mist, harsh nips at your skin. the sky above is wide and vast, and everything is silent. everything except for you — a litany of frightened whines tugging at your tongue. 
you don’t need to look to know he’s after you. yet you still cast a glance over your shoulder, shuddering suddenly, a gasp pushing past your lips —
he’s stares back at you. 
golden eyes, sharpened in the night.
you’re knocked off your feet. thrown forward, with an almost brutal lunge, your body hitting the ground of the flowered field beneath you — it knocks the air from out your lungs, and for a moment you can’t breathe, can only feel the wet earth under your cheek and the sickening weight upon you. he’s pressing you down, with all his body weight, and he’s panting into your ear. holding your wrist so tightly you’re scared it’ll break. the fight doesn’t leave you. the rush is still there. but it has nowhere to go, with your legs stuck, it’s just wasted blood sugar. 
you can do nothing but wriggle like a worm. fruitlessly. feeling his hair tickle your neck, hot breath leaving goosebumps in its wake, you want to cry, the fear is coursing through every narrow of your bones and you’re completely out of breath. you trash and trash, a sparrow with broken wings, but it’s futile. 
(he caught you. he caught you. he caught you.)
”i caught you,” he finally pants, like a wounded dog, collapsed on top of you. but you hear his smile, that sickening sound of relief. ”silly, silly little thing.”
it hurts. he’s heavy. your knee is pressing into the soil, uncomfortably, you feel the moisture seeping through the fabric of your nightgown, his pulsing heartbeat against your spine. now the adrenaline is leaving you, sinking out of your body, leaving you boneless. like an animal about to be devoured. 
resigned. surrender.
suguru presses a kiss against the side of your neck, teeth just barely grazing your pulsepoint— and the fear inside you spikes like the snap of a mousetrap.
”what were you thinking, hm?”
he doesn’t sound upset, only gently reprimanding. fondly exasperated. somehow, that scares you even more — the shift, the dichotomy, his voice a soothing thunderstorm as he keeps you pinned against the flowerbed. his overwhelming strength, in contrast to how relaxed he sounds. like this is nothing but the natural consequence of your actions.
”… you never change.”
the vice grip on your wrist begins to loosen, as he lifts himself up, no longer crushing you. it’s easier to breathe, but you’re still too rattled to try. still playing dead at your instinct’s demand, eyes pried open as you stare into the eyes of bugs above your nose. you can’t do anything but go limp, as he scoops you up, holds you against his chest, stands up straight. one heavy hand on your head and the other on your back. 
he turns around, begins to walk back to his house, and your stomach fills with dread.
”n-no…” is all you can muster, too exhausted to make anything other than a quiet whimper, a weak weep of a protest. but he hears you, and he croons.
“shhh,” he soothes, as you whine into his neck, panting softly. rubbing your back. as if shushing a child that just had a temper tantrum. “you’re okay. i wouldn’t hurt you, little one, you know that.”
but you don’t.
(you don’t know anything anymore.)
”you’re my baby,” he continues, another sickening coo, and it sounds like a death sentence. giddy. he leans down to kiss your throat and you can only think of his teeth. ”only mine. my silly baby.”
a final glance at the sky, before he’s closing the door behind you. you see darkness, only darkness, a page being sewn shut. worms crawling out of the moon. 
your skin itches from the burning cold. 
suguru wastes no time in seating you by the fireplace, cocooning you with knitted blankets, murmuring something else about how you worried him sick, doing something so reckless. you barely hear him, there’s still blood on your palms and bruising static in your ears, everything stings and you’re still shaking from the rough fall.
he apologizes for that, too.
”i’m sorry i scared you,” he smiles, cupping your chilled skin, the slightest tufts of hair running down the tops of his fingers. ”but you needed the lesson.”
maybe you did.
he can hurt you. he’s capable of it.
you’re sure of that, now, no matter how much he’d insists he wouldn’t — no matter what he says. he’s fractured any dream of a cohesive narrative.
the tea he brings you smells of cinnamon, hot and sweet, but you make no move to drink it. just kind of sit there, as he tries to comfort you, rub salve into your bruised skin, assure you that he isn’t mad. you vacantly stare at the butterflies pinned to the wall, until he says something that catches your attention.
“once i’ve found the wolf, you can leave.” he promises, rubbing your shoulders, your already aching muscles. as if it’ll soothe you, as if telling the truth. “it’ll be okay… just let me handle everything.”
you raise your head to look at him, to meet the river of gold inside his eyes, weaving webs of silk. holy grails are always hoaxes, that’s how the stories go.
”… do you mean it?”
his lips curl up, just a bit, at the sound of your raspy voice, at the sight of you taking shaky sips from the cup. and he nods, silky, only slightly tousled hair swaying tenderly with the lull of his voice. ”i do.”
when he kills the wolf, you can leave.
if only it were that easy.
this is what you know; the hunter’s name is suguru. he appeared right by the edge of the woods, seven pages too early — or four, depending on the edition, give or take. he won’t let you leave his home, never runs out of tea to pour you, his voice turns raspy when it’s late and his arms are hairier than they were yesterday. this past week, you haven’t heard a howl echo from the woods at night even once.
it always starts small. small, decaying pieces, molding together and creating something bigger, more rotten. more than just a carcass.
it’s a corpse.
(and he’s inside it. playing hide-and-seek.)
he’s still smiling at you, making his hands useful, throwing wood into the fireplace when the angry flicker begins to sputter out. you recall your mother’s words, her many warnings. wolves are dangerous. wolves only want to do you harm. wolves don’t know how to love, they only ever show it with their teeth. always the same old stories, the same monsters at the end of every book. wolves, wolves, wolves.
always a wolf, never a man.
when you glance up at the hunter, his ever so softly parted lips, his keen eyes — you think to yourself that you can scarcely tell the difference. that even if you could, it wouldn’t matter. rot is rot, it still decays. you’re still at the mercy of it, of him.
(you’re beginning to think that’s all there is to it.)
you make no move to protest, when suguru pulls you into his lap. holds you close and kisses your wounds until you’re all warmed up, his honeycombed eyes never leaving your face, lit like a slowly sinking sunset. like a man who finally has what he wants. 
by the end of the first week, a pit has opened up inside your gut. it smells of a freshly doused fire.
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the more time passes, the worse he gets. 
the more comfortable. 
(he must have taken your resignation as an invitation.)
every morning, when you walk into the kitchen, he pulls you in for a kiss — always just his lips, no tongue, as if he’s afraid of what he’d do to you if he parted them. his big hands squeeze your hips and even if you struggle, try to push him away, he brings you back in, keeps your wrists locked in a steady grip if you’re really putting up a fuss. purse your lips and he’ll pry them open, as simple as peeling an orange.
he’s sweet, about it. gentle.
”let me say hi, little one.”
all you can do is turn limp. just give in, let him take what he wants — which usually isn’t a lot. a kiss, and he’s satisfied, a kiss and he beams like nothing about this is wrong even in the slightest. a kiss, and then he’ll make you tea, and then he’ll watch you drink it.
it’s been just shy of a month since he lured you into his home. you know what he expects of you, by now, you’ve settled into some semblance of routine; one that mostly consists of you being doted on, coddled. suffocated by his presence. he makes you tea every morning, every night, homemade meals of chestnuts and berries and meat. right now, he’s making lemon tea; slicing them with the blade of his knife, dipping them in honey, coating them in sticky-sweet residue. it does nothing to get rid of the sour essence, bitter on your tongue — only makes it bearable.
there’s a gentle smile on his face when he fills a tiny cup and hands it to you, watches you gaze into it. watches as you put your lips against the porcelain and sip, sip, sip. he doesn’t look away until there’s nothing left, his stare like a dagger to your throat.
it’s rare that he lets you out of his sight.
during the day, you’re free to do as you please — anything that doesn’t involve leaving his home, which isn’t a lot. you spend most of your time reading through the books on his shelves, tracing their spines, writing stories on the walls with sharp marker, painting animals and forests on the canvases he lends you. there’s joy to be found in captivity; you think of the rabbits your mother used to own when you were little. anyone can find comfort in a cage.
and it’s not like he never lets you push the bars a little. you may not be allowed to step anywhere near the woods, or outside his field of vision, but he’s taken to letting you play in his garden when he deems the moment right. just to give you some fresh air, as much sunlight as this time of year offers. of course, even then, he has his eyes on you — watching from the window, cutting wood just beyond the fence, each swing of the axe ringing in your ears like the drop of a guillotine. steady hands, toned muscles and arms, broad shoulders and those sharp eyes, sharp like his teeth when he smiles too wide on accident. you can always feel his gaze, and it keeps you from running away, even though the animal inside your chest screams at you to do it already.
but you’re sure you’d fail again. 
and were he to catch you — you’re sure he’d no longer be able to resist. the temptation would be too much for him to bear. you were lucky, last time.
(lucky that he still hasn’t realized what he is.)
you’re stuck here, for now. forever. stuck with a man who seems convinced that what he feels for you is love, and not possession, something to hang up on his wall. love like hunters have for headless deer. 
or a wolf for a stack of bones.
anyone can find comfort in a cage. it’s true, it’s true, you repeat it to yourself every night, try to find the silver lining in the home he’s made you. he does make it comfortable for you — a soft bed and fluffy pillows, warm food that settles nicely in your stomach, arts and craft to keep you happy. silken bags that never seem to run out. there are always more dried petals to pour into boiling water, a flavour you haven’t yet tried. he always expects you to drink it all. then, when the moon hangs itself in the air, and you’ve tired yourself out — he tucks you into bed. gentle, doting, his voice like a lullaby when he drags the covers up and sits by your bedside, or curls up beside you and reads you bedtime stories until you’re fast asleep. like you’re his grandchild. it’s never easy to relax with his hands on you, but the stories help. 
that’s typically when it happens. when you’re lying in bed, when he’s unguarded, his own mind beginning to drift into slumber. he flips through the pages of a dusty fable, smooths your hair down with a steady hand, and his voice loses an octave; a noise that curls around the base of his throat, rumbles through his chest. deep, raspy, gravelly. just shy of a growl. it comes suddenly, reverberates through you, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.
suguru clears his throat, and you pretend not to have noticed it. he rewards you with another page or two.
that’s how he is, you’re well aware. what he does best. he tells you things without opening his mouth, shows you his teeth without letting you see them. he knows you know they’re there, and he rewards you for pretending otherwise. keeping him content is in your best interest — he hasn’t hurt you, doesn’t seem like he wants to, but you know that he will. 
no one can fight against their nature, and he has one set of teeth too many.
for now, playing into the part he’s made for you is your safest bet. the fire inside your eyes has dwindled, he’s suffocated it, and the rabbit in your chest is pretending to be dead. every morning, you drink the tea he makes you, go pliant as he kisses you, and every night you let him lull you to sleep. 
a comfortable cage is exactly right. 
(but the temptation to rebel never truly leaves you.)
it’s already been a month. a whole moonspin. that thirst for freedom is lingering, festering, pushing up against the walls of your throat. makes you nauseous, makes the thin thread of your patience tear at the edges. you yearn for the woods, the flower meadows, the squirrels and bugs of the forest grounds. willows and chestnuts and silky splotches of sunshine, fumbling fawns. your grandmother’s sickly stench, your mother’s striking hand. anything but this stasis. 
you miss feeling alive. 
(you’d cut your skin open to feel it again.)
you know running blindly would prove futile, but that doesn’t halt the desire. you’re trapped, one foot in a bearclaw, and you want out. he’s stronger than you, faster— and he’s always, always watching. you can’t outrun him, he’s always making sure you’re near.
the only advantage you have is this:
suguru believes himself to love you. 
maybe, if you just beg enough — beg again, when the moment is right… he’ll let you go. maybe he’ll take pity on the pitiful, defenseless baby he caught.
(maybe if you hide your contempt, but show your desperation— you can win.)
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the pot boils over with the stench of rotten apricots.
they’re still in the basket you brought with you, under the knitted tablecloth, discarded in a storage room linked to the kitchen. you just wanted a quiet place to read, but now you feel too sick. sick with the stench of rotting fruit-flesh. you can smell it even without removing the cloth, and you know what you’ll see if you do — a bottle of wine, molded slices of cake, and sticky, sickly-sweet decay. dirt-brown in colour.
you’re reminded of the day you came. reminded of how long it’s been, who these apricots were for.
and suddenly, you can’t take it anymore.
(no one can fight against their nature. that includes you, too.)
with a start, you stand up straight, and leave the rotting basket behind you; opening the door of the storage and making your way to the living room. a wreath of bluebells is hung above the fireplace, crackling and sputtering, snowflakes falling softly from the skies beyond the windowpane. suguru is right where you knew he’d be, seated on an armchair and knitting a sweater, looping two needles through thick thread. his hair is down, and his eyes are closed in pure contentment; formed into thin crescents. 
the air smells of chestnuts and incense.
you inhale it, walk up to him with a plea on your tongue — your voice a desperate push of air.
”please let me leave.”
his smile falls. before he even has a chance to open up his eyes, caramel spilling out through slits, before he can usher you into his lap and knead his hands into your body, ’warm you up’ the way he likes.
it’s rare, to see him without it. it makes him look naked.
(it makes him look unsettling.)
but he’s still gentle, when he breathes out a sigh, places the needles on the wooden table to his left. 
”… this, again?” he clicks his tongue, sounding disappointed in a way you don’t like, a quiet lull. ”and i here i thought you’d finally decided to behave.”
his tone makes you shiver. something about it feels final, like you’ve pushed too far, reached some kind of dead end he’d been keeping concealed until now. there’s a barely noticeable crease between his brows, and his jaw is tense, lips formed into a tight line. not rough enough to be truly reprimanding, but it’s close. you’re suddenly aware of how small you feel, like this.
how powerless you are against him.
but you push through.
”… i just —” you try, gnawing at your bottom lip even though he’s told you not to bruise it. ”i’m just tired. i don’t want this, i — i’m not happy.”
a slip of your tongue, and a twitch of his jaw.
(his lips curl into a scowl.)
”you are,” he exhales, strained, like you just struck a narrow nerve. ”you’re happy. i take care of you.”
a shuddering breath. you inhale, shallow, trying to stay your ground, trying not to falter after snapping on the twig of his patience. you know what sleeps inside him, and you’re afraid of it. terrified. the hunter is one thing, the wolf is another. but there’s a line between the two, and you can tread it through — 
tread it through and through and through. 
”… you take care of me,” you concede, watching as the muscle of his jaw slacks, softens, ever so slightly. ”but i’m still not… i’m not happy. i want to leave.”
the fire crackles behind you, logs of wood splintering and snapping, budding heat easing the tension in your bones. silence settles over the scene, stretches out and lays itself to rest there like a wounded animal. suguru just watches you, with smothering eyes, like he knows something you don’t; gaze focused, expression set in stone. knitting your features into his mind with a broken needle.
and then a grating sigh. 
”… how many times have we repeated this, little red?” he asks, his voice thick with anger, though you’re unsure as to who it’s aimed at. his eyes burn with something devastating, something that smells of a forest fire and wails like a bleeding dog. ”how many times will you make me go through this?”
suddenly, he’s standing up from his armchair. rising to his full height, towering over you, lifting a hand up to caress the apple of your cheek. it makes you flinch, and his lip twitches, and suddenly his fingers are trailing down to the very base of your throat. as gentle as if he were handling one of the butterflies on his wall. you’re worried he’s going to squeeze down, but he never does, just keeps a hand there like all he wants is to feel the rapid thumping of your pulse.
and his eyes burn you to cinders. 
”how many times have i had to watch you be swallowed down… by someone other than myself?”
the question hangs in the air like a noose. grates your ears, heavy with an anguish you couldn’t hope to understand. a skip of your heartbeat — except it feels more like a crash. his fingers never move and your body turns to ice, accepts the hand that feeds it, if only because he looks like he could swallow you whole and still not feel satisfied.
”… far too many,” he seethes. palm finally moving from your throat to cup your cheek, and you exhale a breath you didn’t know you were holding. ”you’re too frail, too — naive. i can’t trust you to be good.”
a gasp pushes past your lip, when his other arm curls around your waist and tugs you closer, keeps a possessive hold on your hip. his body heat is suffocating, it only makes your heartbeat sputter. 
”… you can’t keep me here forever,” you murmur, the words laced with fear. spoken carelessly.
(and this time, you can practically hear the snap.)
a dangerous flicker, through his earthen eyes. it’s there and then it’s gone, and it’s enough of a warning on its own, a spark of fury that has you biting your tongue, squirming where you’re held against his steady frame. his grip around your waist morphs into something almost painful, just a pinch away, not quite enough for you to get away with pulling back.
you hear the words before he says them. they rattle against the back of your teeth.
”i can.”
spoken in a whisper, through gritted teeth, an echo from deep within his stomach— he practically spits them out, eyes burning into yours, an overwhelming density in how he carries himself. the words are heavy like lead, and you can tell he believes them. 
he can keep you here. 
(forever, and ever, and ever.)
a shiver claws against your spine, drags its nails down your back, and you think he can tell, that he feels you shudder against him. like a frightened fawn in front of a headlight. it’s enough to have his pupils dilating, his fingers loosening their grip, a breath of shaky air escaping his lips— like he’s finding it hard to keep his composure. to be tender and merciful. 
once the silence has stretched on for a beat too long, and your breathing still hasn’t mellowed— he speaks. 
”don’t you think it hurts me?” he asks, just above a tender whisper, brushing a thumb against your cheekbone. just barely grazing your lower lashline, streaks of black hair framing his burdened eyes. ”watching you be deceived, again and again…”
suguru exhales a bated breath, chest moving in tandem, pressed flush against your own. for a moment, you think he looks rather sad.
”… i’m tired,” he admits. ”i’m tired of having to cut you out of his stomach. you did this to yourself.”
when you empty your thoughts, you can still feel it. the warm embrace of succulent flesh.
(you never asked to be devoured.)
”you can’t protect yourself,” he tells you, with the same tone that he always has, the tone that tells you he knows best. ”so i will do it for you.”
a twitch of his fingertips. you feel it, as his hand slides down the expanse of your face, tips your head up with a finger underneath your chin. you’ve gone pliant, again. he leans in, until you can’t tell who the breaths you’re exhaling are coming from.
”do you understand?”
every bone in your body wants to move, pull away, but you’re worried his nails will sink into your skin if you dare to try. he’s positively suffocating, like this. demanding a response. you want to flee, you want to fight, you want to grab the axe behind you and drive it into his skull. you’re terrified of him. you loved him, once. the hands that are keeping you locked away are the same that dug through blood and guts to drag you out of your grave. he’s never letting you go.
never again. 
no matter how much you beg. 
you can see it in his eyes, the trail of ash they leave behind when he blinks. the carnal desperation in his voice. there is no ’leaving’ him — the fire that burns in him is brighter than yours, far more damning. 
so there’s no point.
his lips are inches away from your own. golden eyes peeled open, palm covering the expanse of your jaw, arm like a bear trap around your waist — snapped shut. suguru awaits your response, and you give it to him with a voice that barely sounds like your own.
”… i understand.”
(obedience and ignorance, you echo inside your mind. obedience and ignorance is all he asks.)
a moment passes, and his muscles finally go lax, eyes softening like melted snow; a sigh slipping past his lips. closing in, claiming your own. you can taste what he’s feeling, but it’s too much to bear. 
”… good,” he smiles, against your lips. ”good baby.”
the praise does nothing to soothe the pit inside your stomach, but it doesn’t matter. he’s not angry, anymore, and that’s as good as anything. you let him kiss you and it doesn’t even make you want to vomit.
it doesn’t make you feel a thing. 
”if you just stay here, you’ll be fine,” he continues, breathing you in and out again. ”you’ll be safer.”
safer tucked between his ribs, or lodged inside his throat. so much safer playing dead all year.
(you think of rotten apricots, and bile rises in your throat.)
a moment’s hesitance. you find the will to speak. ”just… my grandma,” you murmur, pulling away from the kiss by a hair, not that he’d let you go if you tried. you look up into his eyes with a pleading gaze, voice a little broken. ”can you at least… give her the wine?”
suguru pauses. 
then sighs, a rock from out his heavy chest. pulling back and giving you space to breathe, cradling a lock of your hair with greedy fingers. ”you don’t have to worry about her, anymore,” is all he says. ”believe me.” he’s smiling, just barely, voice meant to soothe you out of making a fuss. but there’s really no need. 
you’re well aware of what he means.
(and that’s the end of that.)
”… okay,” you answer, the words pulled out of your throat by an invisible string. ”i won’t, then.”
the smile you muster is strained at best, but suguru glows in its light. looks proud, eyes crinkled at the edges, burning pages of paper on an open fire.
a coo on his tongue that he wants to let out.
”sweet thing,” he purrs, sweltering. ”you were just feeling a little cranky, hm…? must be hungry.”
his hand caresses your stomach, rubbing the skin just beneath your navel, and you feel the beginnings of nausea swell up in the very back of your throat. but you stifle it, lean into it, you have no choice.
you nod, and he smiles.
”i was meaning to use that wine for something, anyway…” he lets out a hum, thinking for a moment. ”coq a vin, perhaps? would you like that, little dear?”
”… mhm.”
he seems content, with that response. 
the snow outside the window mocks you with its shimmer.
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time continues to pass. the cycle repeats, the same as always.
you think you’re finally starting to get used to it.
suguru grows more wolfish by the day. there’s more hair on his arms and chest, his teeth are longer, when he kisses you he sometimes starts to drool. his voice is deep, his meals taste about the same, he still never runs out of lullabies or bags of tea. wolfsbane, lupine, ipomoea alba — he tastes them on your tongue, drinks them from out your mouth. you’re beginning to forget who you were before him. every day, he tells you that he loves you. you think you could believe it if you tried. maybe, you could even love him back.
if only you didn’t know the truth.
it’s more than a suspicion, now. no longer an if, but a when, a question you don’t dare ask — but there’s no need to. when the hunter falls asleep, the wolf makes tea in the kitchen. you live with them both. they’re a duo, a pair of lovers; never one without the other. 
(one of these days, you’re sure they’ll eat you.)
the book you’re reading feels weighty in your hands. you’ve already read it before; you’ve read nearly all of them, fingers far too familiar with the dusty shelves. suguru promised to go get more, though you have no idea from where. you’re not sure knowing would do you any good. he’s upstairs, in your room, scrubbing at the walls to get rid of all your scribbles. it’s bound to take a while — if you dashed out the door now, maybe he wouldn’t notice. but the key is in his pocket, and he’d hear the crack of window glass.
it’s nothing more than a temporary comfort— something to indulge in, roll around and around in your head until you realize how silly you’re being.
you’re broken down, plain and simple, and winter is gnawing itself into the world. ice-cold teeth sinking into the ground beneath your feet, and eating the baby hares buried there. suguru chops wood for the fireplace every single day, just to keep you warm, made a sweater for you that smells too much like him. you sneak a glance out the window, admiring the heavy blanket of pure-white snow draped around the woods; a red fox scurries across your vision, yipping joyeously, skeletal trees shimmering faintly in the distance. a whole world just without you.
it’s comforting. the air smells slightly toasted and your feet are warm, clad in fuzzy socks. you haven’t been outside in some time; suguru’s been reluctant since you sprained your ankle on a sheet of ice in the backyard. you wish you’d hit your head instead. 
(you miss the cold sting of the wind.)
each turn of a new page drags you deeper into your own subconscious, sinking into a fragile illusion of peace. paper-thin, falling upon your thumb, your eyes scanning the inked letters tiredly. stories aren’t worth reading more than once, you think, the magic fades away eventually. you can barely taste the citrus the protagonist eats, fingers dipping between the ridges, teeth sinking into the tender flesh. rinse and repeat. boring, boring, you want something new — a thriller, a romance, even something like —
a noise, echoing from the hallway.
rap, tap, tap. 
(knuckles against wood.)
it rings in your ears. rattles down your spine. two seconds, eight, ten — all thoughts disappear from your brain and leave only misty foam behind them. a blank slate. rap tap tap, curling inside your ear canal. 
when you come to, your heart is pulsing.
a moment of silence. the house is quiet, so very quiet, you’re afraid suguru will hear your breathing from the second floor. everything feels frozen solid and suddenly you want to hurl, get the sickness out of your gut — watch it spill out all over the floor. but you remain planted in front of the fireplace, watching flames flicker and lick a stripe from coal to wood, waiting for something to happen. 
(it already has.)
another knock.
this time, you shoot up to your feet — like your mind just realized it wasn’t an auditory hallucination, another mass of hysteria seething in your frontal lobe — your hands clammy as they try to find solace in the fabric of your clothing. gripping onto the wool.
on shaky legs, you move forward. making your way towards the hall, slow and steady, soles against soft flooring. eyes blown wide, skittishly peeking around, out the windows and towards the stairs. suguru. you picture him on his knees, tail wagging behind him, dragging wet cloth against faded tapestry, salvaging his ruined walls so you can ruin them again. you picture him hearing the knock, rushing down, pinning you against the floor until your knees ache. 
you picture him none the wiser, and inhale the air like you haven’t in days — gathering courage, dragging your feet towards the source of the noise. 
pitter, patter, pitter, patter. 
your heart throbs inside your chest, flexes its legs until it knocks against your ribs, makes you jolt — your lungs holding onto every breath you take with shaky fingers. the deer mount on the wall gazes at you, antlers pointing towards the front door, and when your eyes land on the handle you swear you can feel it. the presence of a living, breathing thing.
just behind the door.
and you can do nothing but stare. unblinking, heart still crammed at the base of your throat, scraping at the walls like a squirming bug. you feel like a deer trapped in headlights. your mind crackles, halts, comes to life again, the pages coming undone from their bindings and spilling out over the floor — smudged with ink, a seven-letter word.
freedom. freedom. freedom?
(hope.)
a third knock, more curt. it sends a tingle down your spine, down your bones, makes your hand twitch, as if eager to twist the doorknob. finally, someone is here. someone came to get you. no one forgot. 
no one forgot about you. 
you move your leg, and — 
”keep still.”
… a breath brushes against your neck.
(ba-dump. ba-dump.)
only stillness. only silence, strangling you. there’s someone behind you and you didn’t even notice, there’s a hand on your hip to keep you in place, another latching itself onto your mouth to keep you from making any noise. your heartbeat spikes, collapses in on itself, but he is there to catch you.
he’s always there to catch you.
suguru has you enveloped, his scent like a heavy pelt tossed over your shoulders, familiar tones of earth and musk polluting your senses. you’re wrapped up in it. you feel so small, small enough to disappear into the dip between his chest and stomach, right between his ribs. he’s keeping you so still you barely remember to breathe, can only pant shallowly against his big hand and pray he isn’t angry at you.
too frightened to do anything else, you gaze at him out of the corner of your eye.
and ah, there it is. black hair, golden eyes, a silent quiver of his jaw; like he’s trying not to snap it, trying not to bare his teeth. they’re sharp. when he kissed you this morning you felt them nip at your skin.
(you think he was trying to control himself.)
his pupils are sharpened, eyes blown open, staring straight ahead. he’s making no noise, no sound, only the most subtle of breathing patterns — like a hunter in waiting, like he’s got one finger on the trigger. 
yet another knock, impatient, and his grip around your waist grows tighter. a barely audible growl rumbles in his throat, you feel it against the back of your head, let out an involuntary whimper that has something growing hard behind you but you refuse to acknowledge it, refuse to think about it, you’d rather die. he’s immobile and you’re just as paralyzed, only able to watch the door, watch your salvation slip away. again. again and again and again.
one, two, six, nine. the seconds tick on in time with your mismatched heartbeats, and nothing happens. 
then, the sound of boots against gravel. 
moving farther, and farther away. 
(they’re leaving, they’re leaving, they’re leaving.)
”… there,” he rasps, finally, lethally deep, as if culling a calm to your nerves. it doesn’t work, only makes your heartbeat pick up in speed, another tiny whimper muffled against his hairy palm— 
you swallow down a sniffle.
and he loosens his grip, sharp eyes melting into liquored honey. a coo, as he spots the beginnings of tears at your lashline, glistening like morning dew. 
(you can’t take this, anymore.)
”… my poor baby,” comes a croon, a voice thick with fondness; shushing you softly, brushing a stray tear away with his thumb. ”poor little thing.”
you’re still pressed against him, chest to back, he’s warm and suffocating and you’re reliant on his thrumming heartbeat just to find your own breathing. he’s cradling you like a mother to her child, and it makes you feel anything but safe— makes you feel like a bird in the maw of a rottweiler, like your clothes are soggy and dragging you underwater. your chest is caving in, hot tears burning at your eyes, and god, you’re just so fucking tired.
you’re tired of this. tired of him, tired of the story you’re in. tired of having to hope again and again.
(no one’s coming to rescue you. no one at all.)
”must have been so scary,” he continues, rubbing his cheek against your head, leaning down to smear a kiss against the side of your neck, ”’m sorry. i’ll handle everything, you hear me? don’t be afraid.”
another sniffle, you can’t help it. you bite down on your lip to stop it but all it does is make you taste iron, hot and heavy, a burning sting. your voice feels wobbly, forcing it into shape feels like trying to turn water into ice with your bare fingers; yet you try.
it comes out pitiful. 
a broken, battered whisper.
”… i wanna go home…”
more of a whimper than a sentence, it pulls a sigh from out his lips. ”you are home,” he tells you, softly.
you struggle to withhold a bubbling sob, one you know will have you stuck in his arms for the rest of the night. your limbs feel limp but you still dig your teeth into your bottom lip and wipe at your eyes with frustrated humiliation, refusing to let him see you crumble. suguru stays still, just watching, waiting for the ripe moment to pluck your tears and comfort you, but he won’t get it. you won’t give it to him.
when he noses at your pulsepoint, something like an animal whine rips from your throat, scratchy and dry. you squirm, scratch at his forearms where they’re wrapped around you — panicked, feral — and he lets go. he lets you glare at him, through eyes wet with freshly spilled tears, only gives you a look you know means he’s feeling sorry for you. something like a silent oh, look how you’re trembling, look how much you need me, poor thing. it’s demeaning, but all you care about is pushing him away, storming up to your room. for once, he lets you. must think it’s best you deal with your little tantrum on your own for now.
you’re sure he’ll come knocking when it’s time for your bedtime story, but for now you’re alone. free to close the door behind you, collapse against it.
a weak, gurgling sob.
home. this is home.
(if you accepted that — would it hurt any less?)
all you can muster is the strength to smush your snotty face against your elbows, knees against your chest, curling in on yourself. choking out hitched little breaths, all broken and bruised and wrecked into bits. a marble bashed against concrete, over and over and over again, there’s nothing there but glass-splatter. you’re glad he isn’t here to see it. glad he can’t force you to seek out his body warmth, his steadying heartbeat, that you won’t have to hear him coo out reminders that you aren’t needed out there. 
(nobody out there needs you. not your mother, or your grandmother, not the story you’re in.)
(you’re a lousy protagonist. better off in the ground.)
if only you could bring yourself to believe it. if only you were capable of swallowing down hope without spitting it back out again. if only you knew better than to trust a wolf, or a hunter, or anyone at all. 
if only you weren’t you — 
maybe this wouldn’t have happened. 
broken, broken, a crack in the middle of your heart.
suguru comes knocking at your door, eventually. there is no lock, you have to let him in, but by then you’re fast asleep. faded into a dreamless slumber.
(you won’t feel it, won’t see it, won’t have to kiss him back. he’ll tuck you into bed without waking you.)
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it happens, at last. a long overdue curtain call.
but not to you.
the smell of rot sticks to the walls, bleeds out against the carpet and wails like a dog. the stench of flesh, suffocating ever narrow of your cells, the marrow of your bones. he probably thought you’d be asleep. he probably doesn’t know how thin the walls are.
you stand by the threshold to the kitchen, and peek in through the gap left by the storage room’s open door.
pale moonlight spills in through the window, casts a dim-lit blue across the floorboards and shatters on suguru’s back. illuminates him, where he lays, hunched over like a dog. eating something.
someone.
(a man with a shotgun over his shoulder.)
you can barely make it out, seeing only shadows and shapes. hell on earth, hell permeating the world and forcing it down your throat. you can’t see his face, only his ears, his tail, beautiful blood pooled underneath his knees and glistening in the light. can only hear the noises of him chewing, the sickening crack of a bone being split, gnarls and growls like he’s having trouble fitting it all into his mouth, taking too-big bites all at once. they make you nauseous, make your stomach twist with panic and disgust. desperate to quell your terror-struck breaths, you keep a hand clasped over your mouth— willing your guts to stay unspilled. you’d rather not have him clean it up; rather not owe him any favours at all.
rather not interrupt him in the middle of his meal. 
the stench is excruciating. iron and molding meat, damp clothes and patches of wet fur. thick. it makes tears sting behind your eyelids, burn at your lashline, your entire body shaking, skeleton rattling under your skin— panic wailing in your shuddering veins.
it’s happening. it’s happening, but not to you.
(and isn’t that a blessing? to play the role he always has. always just watching everything go wrong.)
(maybe you’ve always hated him. maybe you just couldn’t tell.)
it takes effort to keep yourself upright, to force your knees not to buckle. you’re scared, you’re scared, whatever rabbit made a nest inside your heart is trying to gnaw its way out and it hurts. you’re cold and hot all at once. you think you might pass out, like this; clutching onto the wall with unsteady fingers. 
suguru seems to be enjoying himself, feasting on god knows who, tearing through veins and muscle tissue, carving a path that reeks of rotten fruit and guts. it’s horror incarnate. you pray it’s all a dream, a nightmare. you pray you’ll wake up soon. but you’re still frozen when you squeeze your eyes shut, and he’s still hunched over in the storage room when you open them. shallow breaths scrape against your throat, and you swallow down the bile building up at its base. taking a wobbly, wobbly step back.
you thank your lucky stars he does not peek over his shoulder. tip-toeing towards the stairs, leaving the blood and the grit behind before he spots you. you are gone by the time he’s finished, gone by the time he licks the entrails from between his teeth and cranes his head to look behind him.
golden eyes violating the dark.
when you crawl back into bed, fruitlessly trying to gain control over your trembling limbs, wipe the sight from your mind — you are sure of only one thing.
this is the tipping point. this is where the cup runs over. it has to, or it’ll break into pieces, bleed open. you’re never going to forget this; the buzzing of fleas, the smell of rotten apricots. the smell of death, hot and heavy, iron seeping into the back of your tongue and tearing out your teeth. warm, hot blood. gurgling up at the base of your throat with steady thumps.
(your story wasn’t supposed to be like this, a voice echoes in your head. not like this.)
terror. terror. desperation, a silent crack in the night. something in your gut settles, right when you feel so faint you’re sure you’ll pass out — a cold calm.
suddenly, you know what you have to do. you know exactly what the story is about to demand.
(keep that fire burning. even if you burst aflame.)
you stare at the ceiling until dusk turns to day.
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a tentative sip.
you hold onto the rim of the cup with steady fingers, warm skin against cold porcelain, and drink slowly; one gulp after another. it tastes good. mellow and vibrant, makes a home on the roof of your mouth, sticks to the back of your teeth. there’s a nutty aftertaste that you can’t help but savour.
he’s trying out something new, today; a bundle of golden leaves, simmering in the liquor-like water, a trail of sweet-smelling steam wafting up into the air. beautiful, if nothing else. flickering softly.
it’s a wonder you still haven’t grown tired of tea. a wonder he keeps finding new ones for you to try.
(he’s fond of flowers, you’re well aware. fond of plucking them by hand, while they’re young and pretty, robbing them from the ground, putting them in hot water and vases and paintings on the wall.)
(yesterday, he asked if he could do your portrait.)
it’s time for your bedtime story. you’re curled up in bed, on freshly washed silken sheets, buried under a fluffy blanket with suguru to your right, sitting on a wooden chair with a fable in his lap. paintings of rabbits and foxes, girls and goats. they’ve grown more childlike, over time, the books he reads to you aloud; the ones he keeps on his shelves. he doesn’t like it when you indulge in anything too graphic.
a nightlight keeps you company, shines a light on the pages in the dark of your room. a small comfort.
in tandem with his words, the curtains sway, tender as the lull of his tongue— window barricaded just behind them. he’s wearing a blouse, with puffy sleeves that barely reach down to his elbows anymore. he’s gotten bigger. there’s a rasp in his throat when he speaks but the softness is still present, the silent turning of another page, he holds them in between his fingers before letting them fall. looks at peace. it’s raining outside, a quiet drizzle, warming up the earth from the frost and snow — a gentle pitter patter against the windowpane. you can almost smell the damp earth, the moss and worms, content to imagine it as tea trickles down your throat, pumps its way into your heartbeat.
content to watch your captor playing house.
(soon, this’ll all be over.)
(soon.)
”… your arms are hairy, suguru.”
your words cut into the silence, shatters the illusion of peace and quiet, spill into the open air. the wolf by your bedside looks surprised, for a moment; a silent series of blinks, raven lashes taking flight. usually, you’d be nothing but silent during this routine. 
”do you not like it?” he asks, letting the page flutter shut, fall over his thumb. ”i can shave.”
you pay no mind to his response. only push yourself up on your elbows, sluggishly, reach your fingers out to curl around his roughed up knuckles.
”and your hands are big…”
a flicker, in his ashen eyes. he lets you trace along his hands, dip your fingertips down the valleys and across the bumps, the callouses and scars. 
(and oh, he knows what you’re doing now.)
so he plays along.
”… the better to hold you with,” he whispers, low and sweet — bringing your hand to his lips, smearing a kiss against the inside of your palm. you feel the curve of his smile cut into your skin.
a beat. your hand slips away from his touch, travels down to his jaw, tips it up with a thumb beneath his chin. suguru eyes you. hungrily, your instincts tell you. he’s pliant, though, a domesticated thing — doesn’t bat an eye when your fingers tug at his upper lip and expose a row of white teeth. pink gums.
a silent intake of breath.
”… and your teeth are sharp.”
silence. you can see your own reflection in the gleam of his canines, watch it waver like great tides in the sea. you look nothing like you remember.
and suguru looks conflicted.
”the better to…” he whispers, latches onto your wrist and cups your palm— keeps it in place as he nuzzles against it, closing his mouth. ”protect you with.”
something in your chest tightens and coils, at that. he smiles, almost sheepish, and you want to kill him, want to drag his own axe through his stomach, hear the clanking of metal against the bone of a rib.
a voice like no other rings in your ears.
(at least have the gall to say it out loud.)
the fwhip of a book being shut. his thumb slips out from between the pages, comes to rest against the spine, and you know it’s time for bed. you feel a tentative lick, against the skin of your palm, before he’s letting go of your wrist. it makes you shudder, and his eyes crinkle like you just did something cute. 
(it’s nearly over. it’s nearly over.)
you feel as if you might throw up.
”… goodnight, sweet thing.”
his voice curls into your mind, around your neck, wriggles like a worm inside your ear. you don’t say it back. you stay silent, as he pulls away. 
the nightlight flickers off.
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once upon a time, you’re sure your story had an ending.
it’s a distant memory, at this point. a bundle of blurry memories, a sense of knowledge about what goes where. but you can still recall the catharsis.
at its core, little red riding hood is a tale about foolishness. a tale about girls who stay snug in the bellies of beasts, curl up close to their intestines and wait patiently to be rescued. this is no surprise to you. you’ve been devoured thousands of times, it’s in your nature, what you were born to do— there is no version of the story where you aren’t tangled up in meat thread or being swallowed whole. no version where you aren’t a victim, born to wait your turn.
you’re well beyond accepting that.
all children must exit the womb, and all little reds must escape the wolf’s stomach. neither cage was meant to keep you, even if he’d disagree.
but now you really are trapped.
(trapped in the cage he made you, a bookmark glued to paper-skin.)
you sit in his armchair, and gaze into the fireplace. waiting for a cue. suguru is in the kitchen, as always, the sound of a whistling kettle seeping through the air, chattering with steam. gusts of wind claw against the windows, wail and whine against the glass. the woods sway in the distance, mocking shades of green shimmering faintly; beckoning you closer, closer still, into their depths. winter is about to end. 
the sun is stuck in vitro.
the deer mount on the wall looks at you with dead, glazed-over eyes. dead like the pinned-up butterflies, dead like every single thing in his home. dead tea leaves, dead men in storage rooms, dead little reds.
the axe glimmers by the fireplace. 
an inhale, inflating your lungs. it has to end. the story hungers for it — there has to be some way to reach it.
(everything’s already broken, anyway.)
crackling, splintering, wood on fire. ash gathers at the bottom of the hearth, tears itself into pieces and crumbles into a lifeless heap. your eyes watch the flames lick into each other’s mouths, make a home there. they’re consuming each other. getting their fill. you think of his tongue, his teeth, his voice— you think of the shotgun over his shoulder and the glint in his eye, his greedy hands squeezing at your midriff. you think of the axe, just resting there, leather sheath snug around the steel. waiting, waiting, waiting.
”the tea is ready, honey.”
— and you stand up.
his voice carries across the living room, a jumbled growl of syllables — you scarcely hear them, eyes fixated on the gleaming steel in front of you. fingers hungry for contact, eager to rip the sheath right off. 
it’s time to choose an ending. 
you could live in his belly, if you wanted, just like this. forevermore. could tuck yourself between his teeth and grow comfortable there. that, or you could cut your way out — stain the last page red yourself, before he gets the chance to. lick the excess off your wrist and tear the binding in half. it’s all or nothing, this or that; an axe in his stomach, his teeth in your neck. your choice, yes, but it’s time to make it.
you know which one you want.
(”and little red riding hood reached for the axe.”)
— it feels right, in your hand. feels right to hold, have it weigh you down, become part of your skeletal structure. everything finally feels just right.
an inhale. your breathing turns more shallow, quiet breaths seeping from out your throat, lips parting silently. a flicker, your gaze darting in the direction of the kitchen, zeroing in on the shadow cast across the threshold. heart, liver, lungs. you can feel them all, count them all. they’re all clambering up your esophagus. worms in your throat, under rocks.
(now. now. do it now.)
hunger. hunger. hunger.
you don’t care what the consequences are, anymore.
a moment of silence. you hear not the whooshing of the wind, the whistling of the kettle, or the sound of tea being poured into cups. you hear neither his voice nor your own footsteps — only the steady beating of your own heart, a bunny about to break into sprint. one step forward. two. his back is visible, the hair at his nape, he’s pouring tea into porcelain cups. he’ll never know what hit him, what he brought into his home. ba-dump. ba-dump. the floorboards split apart, and the binding comes undone.
his guts will spill out just the same.
[ … and ▇▇ ▇ne did ▇▇▇ing t▇ harm h▇▇, ▇ver again. ]
you creep up behind him, stealthy as a fox —
and swing.
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minas-linkverse · 2 months ago
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[Warning for a lot of headcanons]
[Dont tag as L/U]
I'll never be normal about how Link in Twilight Princess is shown to be both super beloved by the community but also someone who seems to have the insecurities of an outsider– His house is at the side of the village after all. It's implied he feels out of place due to his pointy ears and not being blood related to anyone in Ordon. They all love him SO MUCH and YET...
AND THEN he gets turned into a WOLF. An animal that is seen world-wide as the villain to farmers. There is no way Ordon hasnt lost goats to desperate wolf packs. Likely other animals as well. Link has likely mourned those animals.
And there he is: a wolf. His home is in chaos, the kids are gone. He cant approach those he loves because all they see is a beast that'll just try to take more after they've already lost so much. Not only is he an outsider, he is the enemy.
Even when he turns back, the divine beings tell him that the wolf form is a part of his very being. That is his god assigned fursona and there's no changing that. At his heart there will always be a beast.
BUT ALSO? I dont think Link hates being a wolf. He wags his tail, sniffs around excitedly, awoowoos and and– Gets to talk to animals. This boy LOVES animals and is getting to both be one and talk to them. Its wonderful!
The animals in Ordon recognise him. They're confused by his form but not afraid. Ah! That's Link! Hi dude! In a way, no matter how much he may feel like an outsider, there will always be someone to welcome him home. It was never about where he came from or what he is, Link belongs because he takes part and is loved.
One day, post-game, I like to imagine he comes out about his adventure to the others in Ordon. Likely slowly to Uli and Rusl first, and then when he's ready: to the others. Him being a beast was only a miscommunication... He's more so a dog, their dog. A part of the pack and welcomed for all he is.
And that is why I think Link's wolf form is a metaphor for him being lgbt+, thanks for coming to my tedtalk– 🏃‍♀️
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marksbear2 · 1 month ago
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Can i request Kraven x male reader headcanons? 🤭 also seen you were sick, hope you’re feeling better. 💗
Kraven the hunter x male reader
Dear anon you probably don’t even remember requesting this from how long it took for me to post this 💔����. I hope you don’t mind and enjoy the fic.
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1. Wilderness Dates – Instead of typical dates, Kraven takes you on hunting trips, teaching you how to track, set traps, and survive in the wild.
2. Protective Instincts – He’s fiercely protective of you, always keeping a watchful eye when you’re in dangerous areas, even if you insist you can handle yourself.
3. Animal Affection – Kraven’s pets, especially his lions and leopards, are unusually affectionate toward you. He says it’s because they recognize you as his mate.
4. Trophy Gifts – Instead of flowers or jewelry, he brings you trophies from his hunts—like a beautifully carved bone knife or a rare pelt he insists would make a good cloak for you.
5. His urge for dominance – He treats you like his equal but has a deeply ingrained need to prove himself as the strongest, often challenging you to arm wrestling matches or sparring sessions.
6. Soft for You – He may be a ruthless hunter, but when he’s alone with you, he becomes oddly tender, brushing his fingers through your hair and pressing soft kisses against your temple.
7. Cooking Experiments – He insists on cooking meat he hunted himself, sometimes with questionable seasoning choices. You once had to pretend to enjoy an overly spicy jungle stew.
8. Jealousy Issues – Kraven doesn’t handle jealousy well. If someone flirts with you, he looms behind them like a predator, silently daring them to back off.
9. Old-School Romance – He believes in grand, dramatic gestures, like carrying you bridal-style over a river or slaying a beast in your honor.
10. Hunting Together – If you show any interest in hunting, he takes great pride in teaching you, even letting you lead small hunts to boost your confidence.
11. Battle Couple Energy – If you’re a fighter, he adores the idea of battling side by side, reveling in the thrill of combat together.
12. Survival Training – He believes you should be able to survive in the wild without him, so he occasionally tests you by disappearing for a few hours and watching from afar to see how you handle yourself.
13. Affectionate Nicknames – He calls you things like "Little Wolf," "My Lion," or "Prey-Turned-Predator" depending on his mood.
14. Body Worship – Kraven is a man who appreciates strength, whether it’s his own or yours. If you work out, expect a lot of lingering hands and admiring glances.
15. Animal-Like Comfort – He’s not above curling around you like a big cat when you’re resting together, nuzzling into your neck as he dozes off.
16. Tattoos and Scars – If you have scars, he traces them with fascination, praising you for being strong enough to earn them. If you have tattoos, he asks about their meaning and if he can add one to your collection.
17. Loyal to the End – Once Kraven has claimed you as his, he is unshakably devoted. Betrayal is unthinkable, and he would cross the world to find you if you were taken from him.
18. Drunken Boasting – After a few drinks, he brags loudly about your strength, intelligence, or cunning to anyone who will listen, making sure the world knows you’re worthy of standing beside him.
19. Traditional Courting – He has an old-fashioned view of romance and might insist on proving himself to you through trials, like hunting a beast in your name or bringing home an impressive prize.
20. Predator and Prey Dynamic – Sometimes, just to mess with you, he’ll playfully “hunt” you in the jungle or around your home, only to catch you in his arms and whisper, “You are mine.”
THE END
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mandalhoerian · 1 month ago
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I want to pick your brain more about Caleb being the livestock guardian and the wolf at the same time. That part haunts me. Canine imagery for him >>>
That contradiction — the livestock guardian and the wolf — is at the very heart of Caleb. Emphasizing his duality aside, it’s a paradox that exists within him, one that he’s aware of, one that he chooses to live with rather than resolve. Because at his core, he is both the devoted protector and the ravenous beast, and both of them love you. Both of them serve you, in their own way.
The livestock guardian dog is bred to protect the flock, to dedicate its life to something weaker, something soft. It stands between the sheep and the wolves, fangs bared, willing to die for the creatures that will never understand what it’s doing for them. It is gentle with them, careful, soft-mouthed, lowering itself to their level so they will trust it. Do not fear me. I am here for you.
He was raised to be good, to be devoted, to be steadfast. A creature made to guard, to serve, to dedicate himself to something more important than his own desires. A dog trained to protect the flock, to live among the sheep, to love them with a quiet, patient devotion. His purpose has always been clear: keep you safe. Keep you fed. Keep you warm. The world is full of danger, full of wolves with their snapping jaws and greedy eyes, and it is his duty to keep them at bay.
He is yours. He always has been. If you told him to sit, he would. If you told him to stay, he wouldn’t move from that spot until his body gave out. If you told him to die for you, he would do it without hesitation. And he doesn’t think of this as a burden — it’s his purpose. He finds fulfillment in it, in watching over you, in being something you trust. You call his name, and he comes to you. You rest your head on his shoulder, and he stays still so you won’t move away. You let him linger close, let him take care of you, and it is enough. It has to be enough.
But a guardian dog is still a dog. Still a thing with instincts, still a thing that can be pushed. If the sheep do not trust it, if the shepherd does not guide it, if it is alone too long — if it's left hungry for too long, if it's is abandoned, if it loses the reason — then something inside it shifts. It begins to realize that it does not need a flock. That it has teeth for a reason. And then, with time, with neglect, with just the right set of circumstances—
The guardian turns feral. The thing that once protected the sheep remembers that it is, at its core, an animal with hunger, with wants, and it turns on the very things it swore to protect.
Caleb is the dog that never turned. He is the one that still guards you, still waits at your side, still lives with his body between you and the world, because that is what he chooses. But—
There is a wolf inside him. He wasn't born tame. This is the reason why you think he's changed.
It is not a corruption, not a failing, not a sickness. It is simply there, as much a part of him as the loyalty, as the tenderness, as the quiet way he looks at you like you are something holy. The wolf is not cruel. It is not mindless. It does not wish to harm. But it wants.
You have never had to see it because he never let you — but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. You think his hands were made to shield, to soothe, but that is only because he has never let you see the way they were also made to hold, to grip, to take.
He is the thing in the woods. The thing that lingers just beyond the firelight, just past the safe glow of home. He is the thing that wants to rip and tear, but not to destroy — not to kill. No, that would be too easy. He does not want to ruin you. He wants you to remain by his side forever.
And he knows that if he ever so much as breathes wrong, if he ever lets you see the way he looks at you when your back is turned, you would run.
So he stays where you left him. He plays the part he always has. The good boy. The guardian. The one you trust.
But when you press your cheek against his shoulder and sigh, when you curl your fingers around his wrist without thinking, when you whisper his name in the dark, he knows. He knows.
You do not understand what it means to press yourself into the waiting jaws of something that would never bite you but still wants to.
You do not understand that when you lean into him, when you trust him, you are feeding the very thing he is trying to starve.
And the thing is — both the dog and the wolf want the same thing.
To have you.
The dog wants to guard you, to protect you, to keep you safe in the way that all guardians do — by being a silent, unseen force, by waiting in the shadows, by letting you feel free while ensuring you never truly are. It does not control you. It does not take. It is patient, gentle, enduring. But it belongs to you so entirely, so thoroughly, that if you asked it to die for you, it wouldn’t hesitate.
The wolf? The wolf does not beg. The wolf does not ask permission. The wolf sees what it wants and takes it. The wolf does not serve, it claims. It sees you as something that belongs to it — not because it is entitled, not because it is cruel, but because it loves you the way hunger loves flesh. Because the wolf understands something the dog does not:
The only way to truly keep something is to consume it. To take it into yourself so fully that it can never be separate from you again.
But Caleb — Caleb — is the bridge between them. He has the wolf’s instincts and the dog’s discipline. The dog will heel when you tell it to, the wolf will wait because it chooses to, and Caleb is both. It would be easier if these two things were separate, if they hated each other, if they battled for control inside of him. But they don’t. They exist in harmony. They want the same thing.
The livestock guardian watches over you, protects you, ensures that no one lays a hand on you. The wolf ensures that no one takes you away, not even yourself.
The livestock guardian follows you, obeys you, kneels at your feet. The wolf is the reason he wants to.
The livestock guardian loves you. The wolf does, too. But love — real love — is not just something that gives. It is something that takes.
And you know what?
You never had a choice in the matter.
Not because he took that choice from you. Not because he forced you into anything.
But because, from the very beginning, from the moment you met him, before you even understood what he was—
You made him yours.
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leighsartworks216 · 2 months ago
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Sweet Mindless Love
werewolf!Sylus x gn!Reader
Part Two
This is the sweet soft "only I can calm my beast down" fic just before the monsterfucking cuz I can't just leave that unsaid
Title from "Howl" by The Unlikely Candidates
Warnings: light angst, mild hurt/comfort, fluff, swearing, pet names, werewolf AU, scent stuff, painful transformation with minor descriptions, temporary character death (silly)
Word Count: 948
Main Masterlist
First Love and Deepspace Masterlist
Second Love and Deepspace Masterlist
AO3
Tag List Form
Coarse, yet somehow soft, fur glides through your fingers. Powerful huffs of breath have it standing on end, shuddering with effort as the creature in your lap contains itself. Luke and Kieran are hiding in the safe room, no doubt. They have to. Otherwise, they'd be torn to shreds without a second thought.
You, however, are never safer than in these moments, your beast pressing his snout into your belly and your thighs and taking in your scent. You are the only one allowed to touch him like this, hold him like this - and the only one that can calm him down on nights like these.
"Good boy," you whisper into the electric air. His muscles are so tense, ready to jump up and lash out at anything that comes near. Mephisto is an unfortunate victim tonight, having been caught when he led Sylus straight to you. You're grateful for his sacrifice, and even more so for his mechanical nature that means it's not permanent. "I'm here, my love. It's only me."
Sylus whines low in his throat, a pleading sound that clings to your heart. You know he hates this. Hates becoming a monster. The first time you saw him is burned into his brain with every full moon. The way your eyes widened. Your arms coming up to protect your face as he charged right for you. The scream you let out as he toppled you into the ground. Your rapid heartbeat when he laid upon you.
The fact you stayed is a miracle in itself. He couldn't be more grateful.
You lean down to press a kiss to his fur, wherever you can reach with him laying like this. His claws curl into your back at the gentle contact, before quickly pulling away so as to not hurt you. He never would on purpose, but the thought of hurting you even accidentally destroys him. The amount of clothes he's torn and ruined just trying to hold you...
"It's almost morning. The sun's almost here. Just a little longer, okay?"
He inhales deeply. Your scent - the body wash and hair product and lovely smelling things you use - is like a sedative to his wild mind. Where normally he would be overwhelmed by all the sounds and smells of the world, here he can simply allow you to wash over him, block out the rest of the world, and put his instincts at ease. Of course, it comes with the caveat that any intrusions, be it smells or sounds, can be enough to set him off again.
You begin humming. The song doesn't matter. You can feel the muscles in his powerful back relaxing with every note. His fur does not stand so on edge. His breaths become less harsh and more even. This only becomes more true as the first rays of the sun hit the blinds.
It's always amazing to watch the transformation back into a man. It's painful - when he turns into a wolf, his cries and howls echo in your ears alongside the creaking of bones and tearing of skin - but also a relief.
His fur begins to shake as it recedes back into his skin. Bones pop and crack as they fit back into place. His fingernails - not claws - cling onto your shirt as his snout compresses into his strong nose. Until soon enough, instead of a half-wolf half-man laying across your lap, all that remains is a full man, laying on his stomach with his face pressed into your tummy and his arms hugging your waist, legs stretched out across the rug, entirely nude.
He sighs slowly, as if he's trying to adjust to his lungs once more. You comb now through his hair, soft and sweaty. Your other hand rubs reassuringly over his back, also slick with sweat, massaging his shoulder blades and spine after the transformations they endured.
You lean your head down slightly. "Okay?"
He nods and rubs his nose against your hip before turning his head to the side to uncover his mouth. "Okay... Did I hurt you?"
"No, I'm okay." You brush hair from his face. Though he doesn't open his eyes yet, his brow relaxes with the tender care you offer him. "You didn't even damage my shirt this time. And the boys are okay, too. But..."
He tenses, visible eye shooting open with a frown to look up at you. "But?"
You smile, though it comes out more as a grimace. You nod over to a pile of black feathers and exposed wires, sparking occasionally. "Mephisto wasn't so lucky."
He growls, closing his eyes once more and biting at your clothed hip. "Don't frighten me like that."
You laugh despite his upset. The sound puts him at ease. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I won't do it again." He can still hear the giggles bubbling out of you for the next couple minutes. Still, he's actually glad you can joke about his destructive nature. He'd rather have you laugh at him than scream because of him. "Do you want to take a bath?"
"Not yet. Just wanna stay here for a minute."
"You were there all night."
"Yeah, and he doesn't appreciate it enough. I'm just doing my due diligence, sweetie."
"Uh-huh. Well, my ass is starting to hurt."
"Tough."
You laugh again. He smiles for the first time since transforming. It's no wonder his wolf form is so infatuated with you when you make him feel like this normally, without heightened senses.
"Thank you for taking care of me tonight," he coos sweetly. "I love you, sweetheart."
"I love you, too, puppy." You bend over him to kiss his head. "In every form, always."
---
Tag List:
@the-golden-jhope @huen1ngk41 @armycaratlover @sylusfluffymeow @cheesemachine44 @nyx2021 @angel-jupiter @thelittlebutton @pikachuzhc @pomegranatepip @cordidy @an-ever-angry-bi @thejysemongko 
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fantastic-nonsense · 1 year ago
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......I actually feel bad for including it now because I didn't realize the story happened 1.5 years ago and not within the past 12 months (whatever. it's close enough), but it's the Bruce-Zatanna story "Bound to Our Will" from Batman: Urban Legends
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raccoon-in-the-danger-room · 5 months ago
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Sometimes I see reviews about D&W where people think Worst Wolverine's backstory is super lacking. That they expected something epic like how Mysterio tricked Logan to slaughter everyone in the Old Man comic run.
But that plot, at least to me, doesn't make The Worst Wolverine. It probably makes the Most Tortured Wolverine -- the story of a man slaughtering his own family with his bare hands because he was mind controlled. Which inevitably created a power vacuum so gigantic that the world basically collapsed as supervillains take over the world.
But the title of Worst Wolverine should belong to the Logan that completely abandons his most important moral value: to be the protector.
Sure, he tends to be nomadic and at times self-isolates, but at his core he truly knows what it means to be a pack animal: to be a part of a cohesive family unit, rely on others, be a guardian for the weak.
In a literal sense, a common backstory for him was that he just fucked off from human society after he mutated to live with a pack of wolves. He turned feral, but they also taught him about the importance of community.
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Even if you aren't a fan of the wolf background (which I AM because I think it's funny and dramatic as hell), there's other stories where he got taken care of by the Blackfoot Tribe and Lord Ogun before somehow winding up in the Weapon-X Program. Then, the Hudson family rescued him and helped him gain his humanity back after the adamantium experiments. He joined Department H, and sometime after, he found his place with the X-Men.
My point being that past or present, Logan has always belonged to a family. He needs it -- his human AND animal side both need it. He's not meant to be a creature of solitude. When he is, it's a form of punishment that he inflicts upon himself because he doesn't feel worthy to be around the people he loves or he's worried about hurting them. Or it's something inflicted upon him -- aka he's been captured and is being experimented on.
So what does all this tell us about Logan's moral code? He cares deeply for others because it's in his nature to be a part of a pack and he will do anything to protect them.
He's very caring towards animals (ex. looking after wolves that took care of him, mercy killing a bear in The Wolverine, and saving the horses in Logan). He tried to save Silver Fox's life when Sabretooth attacked her. When his wife Itsu was murdered, he relied on the advice of Lord Ogun to get vengeance for her with the Muramasa Blade. He joined Department H and Alpha Flight because he owed the Hudsons so much after re-acclimating him to society. He stayed with the X-Men because Charles gave him a home, family, and purpose outside of being a weapon. He enabled him to be the good man that he is by not only using his powers for the good fight but also being a teacher for the students.
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As a character, Logan was created to reflect the archetype of the cowboy/samurai with the morals of honor, integrity, and justice. He's also not afraid to be judge, jury, and executioner for the people he loves. He's a man of action.
So what is the antithetical? A man who dishonors himself by not taking his job seriously. A man of inaction who abandons those he loves. A man who doesn't seek justice but wallows in regret and guilt.
And what did the Worst Wolverine do?
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He let his fondness for drinking harm his work. While he was drinking at a bar, a group of humans invaded the X-Mansion and killed a large part of the staff, students, and X-Men. He entered a berserker rage where he murdered the invaders AND innocent people. He tarnished the legacy of the X-Men.
The title of Worst Wolverine doesn't go to the man who got brainwashed and killed without knowing. The title goes to the Logan who killed indescriminantly and didn’t want to stop.
He chose to walk away when they called out for him. He went into a beast state that made the public completely turn against the X-Men in just one night. Instead of making up for his sins, he just went back to the bar -- the very thing that killed his family. He did everything he could to go against his morals of honor, integrity, and justice.
He was a man who failed his family.
THAT'S what makes him The Worst Wolverine.
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corazondebeskar-reads · 5 months ago
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of rage and ruin - chapter six
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of rage and ruin series
chapter six
series masterlist | prev chapter | next chapter
werewolf!alpha!Joel Miller x f!omega!reader
word count: 4.8k
summary: you burn, and joel burns with you.
chapter warnings: dark, dead dove do not eat, a/b/o, alpha/omega dynamics, omegaverse, captivity, canon-typical violence, genre-typical violence, horror themes, graphic violence, abuse by captors (not by either joel or reader), body horror, viewer discretion is advised, dub-con due to heat, heat/rut, unprotected p in v, cum play, scenting, oral, angst, rut!joel has a filthy mouth, gratuitous use of petnames
for bonus angst pls listen to this 🖤
also on ao3
dividers by @saradika-graphics
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Something in Joel aches in a way it hasn’t for over fifteen goddamn years. Something that knew you were too soft, too weak, too goddamn good for him. He didn’t know you. Wouldn’t know you. Couldn’t know you.
But he didn’t need to. He didn’t have to ask to know you’d never felt a life bleed out under your fingertips, never felt flesh give way to a knife, never known the kickback of a gun, the twin reverberation as its bullet tore through a person. 
He hadn’t felt this clearheaded in years. No, he wouldn’t do you the disrespect of hiding behind the wolf. If he were to do this, to violate you like this, he’d have to live with it as the man. As Joel. 
As the real monster. 
It was the wolf’s nature, the wolf’s instinct. An undeniable pull. But the man?
He’d stomach this because he had to, but he’d brand it into the twinings of his soul. Another terrible thing, another debt racked up against him. 
He looks at where you lay against his chest and presses another kiss to the top of your head even though it hurts, oh, it hurts him to be soft. He flays himself for you because he must. 
Because it’s his fault you’re here, his fault you’re enduring this.
And because you’re his. 
He knows he’s wicked and damned for it, but you are his. His omega. It’s been you and him, slowly drowning by the cement blocks of the bond, ever since they shoved that cloth to your nose in the wreckage and saw the way your pupils dilated, the way your body recognized him as a potential mate. 
And he’s been fucked since the first time your sweet apple cider and oat scent permeated his cell. 
You’re his. Ain’t nothin’ in this godforsaken world can change that. Nothin’ but you, of course.
And he knows, he fucking knows, it’s about to be too late for you. Neither of you will come out of this whole. Neither of you will come out of this separate.
Joel’s been a monster for far longer than he’s been a beast, and he knows. You’re his penance. You’re the punishment. 
He’s doomed to bleed you over and over until you’re gone. 
He never wanted an omega. 
Not since Laura-of-the-Woods, Laura-of-the-dead-husband, Laura-of-the-unfailing-kindness when she should have shot them for doing exactly that to the only person she’d had left in this world who understood what they were. 
Not since she explained that her husband hadn’t lost his mind in the change and eaten her because, well, he’d almost tried. But instead, a wicked instinct, something stronger than hunger and violence, had sunk its teeth into the curve of her shoulder and made a place for himself. 
He’d marked her, claimed her, in that tense, fate-changing instance, his love for her beyond all reason heightened by his newfound nature. 
She’d turned omega, and he’d turned her his. 
And Joel had vowed to himself to never become the kind of beast that bound someone to the likes of him for all eternity. 
He thinks he understands it, though. The allure. This soft, precious thing in his lap, this needy, whimpering omega, begging for him. Like he’s the only one in the world that can help her. Help you. 
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And he is. 
You’re not of the right mind to consider yourself, or him, for that matter. You’re burning, melting, aching. 
And he’s not touching you. 
Joel’s lucky. He can switch, Can hide, Can bury himself in his other mind. He can blame the wolf or blame the man and live knowing it was never really up to him one way or another. 
Not you, though. You don’t get to change. You don’t get to shed your skin and guilt and pain. You don’t get to sink your claws and teeth into soft flesh and then simply shift and shrug it into the shadows. 
You have no choice. You must live with your choice. You will wake from this haze and remember, be forced to reckon with the way you rub your needy cunt against his thick thigh, the wiry hair slicked down as you soak him. The way you whine and whimper, these feral, nonverbal pleas for his hands, his tongue, his cock. 
The way you keened as he broke and gave in, his entirely human fingers slipping into you without another torturous moment. Two at once, a groan falling from his lips at the way your warm body makes room for him. 
It’s almost too much and it’s still not enough. Your hips meet his knuckles, a violent union, but even that ache doesn’t come close to the way your body craves his. 
One of you is a human and one of you is a monster, one of you can still form words and one of you can only cry out. One of you is moving slow and steady, calm and calculated. One of you is sharp nails and tight grasps, teeth in flesh and fists in hair. 
And it’s not the fucking werewolf. 
You should have never wished for more. Should have never wanted to change, to be allowed to be the beast. 
You will be, in your own way. But you don’t know that yet. All you know now is hunger. 
His fingers work double-time, a calloused thumb coming to rub at your clit. He thinks maybe, maybe, if he takes the edge off, he can have one more semi-coherent conversation. 
You cling to him, still sprawled there in his lap. Your body is clenched, not just around his thick, pistoning fingers, but at the waist, your core rumpled, bowed upward to him. Hands grasp his bicep and forearm, fingers digging little dashes into his skin. They’ll fade quickly, but he’ll remember. He’ll remember the way you needed him, how his little omega wrapped her body to his and whined so prettily. How your eyes fluttered shut only to fly back open with a gasp when he hit a new sweet spot and coaxed more liquid pleasure from your dripping cunt. 
The first orgasm takes you over quickly and doesn’t last, doesn’t linger. It’s like the time you and your friends did a Polar Plunge for the local women’s shelter back in the Girl Scouts, when everything was still pigtails and Claire’s BOGO clip-on earrings and mismatched tiger stripes and leopard print. 
It’s also nothing like that at all. 
It’s a shockwave, a heated blanket, a sharp slap, a warm embrace. It’s the most intense orgasm you’ve had in your life, and it’s over in a flash. 
And there’s Joel, whose hand still drips with your slick, shaking you by the shoulders as he forces you to sit. 
“C’mon, darlin’,” he husks, eyes dark and sharp. “Answer me.”
“Wha?” You mumble stupidly, though you think you’re entitled to be a little stupid. He just reached up your pussy and pulled out your brain, after all. 
“I said, you ain’t a virgin, right?” He seems to be begging. Praying to no one for the answer he wants. 
Luckily, it’s the truth. “Nope,” you say. “Not in a long time.”
His shoulders slump on a sigh. “Look,” he says as two curled fingers lift your chin. 
It’s not a smart move on his part, because that move might have done you in anyway, had you been two strangers flirting in a bar. It’s worse now that you’re, for lack of a better word, intoxicated by his hormones. The oaky musk has never been more alluring, and you just want to… you just want to…
You’re moving before you realize, going to bury your face in his chest, snuffling closer to your goal when he catches you by the chin and pulls you back. 
“Wait,” he scolds, and something about his tone of voice grates against your spine. 
You hold still, brows furrowed, something akin to anger beginning to boil. Wait? Wait?! 
His thumb strokes your cheek, and it’s as if the anger was never there at all. 
The whiplash has you dazed even more than his scent. “What’s wrong with me?” You ask him, eyes wide. 
His chest clenches. “M’sorry, darlin’. I told ya. It’s the heat. You ain’t… you ain’t gonna feel like yourself for a while. It’s okay, though. I’m gonna take good care of ya.”
There’s something pinched in the corner of your brain. Something tugging at it as you absorb his words. “Am I gonna die?” You ask softly, looking up at him with wide eyes. 
Joel’s face pulls tight, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “ No,” he snarls. “I told you, this is different. You’re mine .”
Instead of the shiver that should have run down your spine, there’s a burst of heat. 
Vaguely, you wish you had asked more about the other omega. The one… the one he killed. But the thoughts are fleeting, and his hands are holding you in place as you let them drift away.
There’s no room in your head for anything but him now.
“Joel,” you whisper, and he hears what you can’t say. 
“Hurts again already?” he mutters.
But you’re not listening. You’re back to burying your face in his bare chest, nuzzling the hair there, and snuffling over to push your face into the crook of his arm.
This time, he doesn’t have the strength to stop you. He growls, his hand cupping the back of your head and rubbing softly as he presses you in. A strangled moan escapes him as you nuzzle your face in his underarm, scenting yourself. Rubbing his sweat into your skin, bathing you both in each other. 
“That’s it,” he murmurs, sliding his hand down to rub at your neck, traveling down your spine. “That’s a good girl.”
A shudder runs through you, a matching moan on your lips. You want him to say it again. Need to hear it. You whine, stretching and straining to wrap yourself around him like a starfish.
He catches you by the hips before you can grind your cunt against his cock. The thin cotton of your panties is sopping, his lip twitching. He lifts you, splaying you out on the mattress. You squirm a little, the feeling of the blanket he gave you against your crawling skin easing the itch. 
His mouth is on you before you’ve gotten your bearings, a single claw erupting to slice through your panties and make way for him. Hot palms push your thighs back as he feasts. He tries to control it, tries to stay human for you, but the wolf can no longer abide your request. 
He manages to stay the man— mostly. Not that you can tell, because all you can see is his morphing face, nothing visible beyond the bushy brows and ears. 
Your hand finds its way down and tugs on one pointy ear, dragging a groan from his elongated muzzle. His tongue, that wonderfully long, thick, sandpapery tongue, plunges into your cunt and devours the plentiful slick gathered there. 
The noises he makes are obscene. The room fills with sloppy, squishy slurps and heaving breaths. He snarls and moans, you gasp and whimper, each gripping onto the other with no chance of release. Both branding the other with bruising, aching fingerprints, though only his marks will linger.
Unlike the first, this orgasm grants you no relief. Instead, you ache. You begin to cry, pathetic sobs replacing the communal ecstasy. Tears burn your raw cheeks, and something inside Joel snaps.
As he pulls away, licking slick from his fingers, his face melts back. He wipes his glistening beard on the back of his hand.
“Alright, darlin’. No more teasin’. I’ll give you what you need.”
“Joel, alpha, please,” you cry. Your body is yarn on a loom, stretched taut, fibers straining. Your hand reaches for his, needing to weave him through to completion.
You don’t even notice that you’ve plunged four fingers up your cunt, hips bucking desperately, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough. Nothing is enough. Why is he denying you? Why is he doing this? Doesn’t he want you?
He snatches your wrist and wrenches it away, tongue clicking. “Naughty little omega,” he croons, “You can’t help yourself, huh? I’m bein’ so mean, tryin’ to get you ready, is that right?”
There’s some distant part of you that registers the way he’s setting up, that acknowledges his logic, but you just don’t fucking care. Fixing him with your most stubborn glare, you push your other hand to your leaking slit.
“If you’re not gonna help me,” you start, trying to sound as indignant as you feel. 
He brushes a thumb over your furrowed brow, gently guiding your hand away. His broad hand gathers both of your wrists above your head, his leg slinging over to pin you.
“Relax, sweet thing. I’m gonna give you what you need; I promise.” His free hand cradles your cheek, thumb brushing over your bottom lip.
Your mouth parts for him, mind blissfully blank as your legs spread, wrapping around his body. He presses his thumb in, rubbing it over your tongue, which chases it. You wrap your lips around it, every part of you welcoming him in. He groans as you suckle on it, reluctantly pulling it away, trailed by your soft whine and a string of spit.
“None of that, now. As nice as your pretty mouth is, we’ll have time for that later,” he murmurs, lips brushing your forehead.
You keen, beyond words. There’s nothing in your head now; it’s all been burned away in the fever. He pulls his hand back to reach between your thighs and gather some of the slick pooled there, stroking it over his length. 
“Hold still, darlin’,” he says firmly, lining the bulbous head of his cock up. When you feel it brush against your cunt, your hips cant up.
He lets go of your wrists to pin you by the hip.
“What did I say, huh? You’re gonna hurt yourself. F’you want my knot, baby, you gotta be a good girl and listen.”
There’s that tone to his voice again. The one that makes you feel like your muscles all fell asleep and now you’re filled with pins and needles. You settle, looking up at him with a pout.
“Yes, alpha.”
“Good girl,” he croons, a pleased little tug to the corner of his mouth. 
You squirm, preening as his satisfaction bubbles up inside you.
He leans in, holding himself over you with one hand, the other still wrapped around his cock. Even completely human, you’re taken by his sheer size. A hulking mass, and though only a fraction of his weight presses on you, you’re at his mercy. It should scare you. He should scare you. He knows that, but you don’t seem to. 
He rubs the tip through your folds, from your asshole to your clit. You’re shaking by the time he brings it back to your cunt and slowly, agonizingly slowly, begins to push inside.
He was right to try to stretch you first, to loosen you up with orgasms. You’ll pay the price of your impatience later, but now? 
It’s nothing but bliss.
He’s girthy and long, and you’re so snug around him that you feel every vein, every throb, every twitch.
You’re aware of the sting where your body fails to accommodate him, but it doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, because you flood around him, easing the way for him to overtake your limits and make a home for himself. Each inch has you seeing lights, closing your eyes against a kaleidoscope.
“No,” he grunts. “Keep your eyes on me.”
And you listen, of course. He’s glistening with the effort of holding himself back, muscles flexing. 
“Let me see you,” he says, gruff tone leaving no room for disobedience. 
You don’t move, though, staring up at him with your lips swollen and parted, eyes wide and rapt.
He shakes his head. “You that far gone, or my cock just got you speechless?” He snaps the strap of your sports bra. “If you wanna keep this, I suggest you take it off real quick.”
It’s over your head and lost somewhere on the floor before he’s finished speaking.
He groans, lunging forward to take a nipple into his mouth, suckling and flicking his tongue. As you lose yourself to the pleasure, he pushes the rest of the way inside.
Your hands fly up and grasp for him, burning themselves in the thick fur on his shoulders. The man is barely holding on, barely there as he buries himself, balls flush against your ass. 
“Sorry,” he slurs around his rapidly growing teeth. “Sorry, can’t—can’t stop it—”
You nod as his tongue unfurls to lick up your neck. “S’okay, I—” but whatever semblance of a clear thought you had breaks into a cry as he starts to move. 
You’re gone. You’ve been ground to dust and blown away. You’ve been left to sink slowly through a swamp. 
You’ve been chewed up and spit out, buried in compost, dissolved.
And so has he. 
As you move, clumsy at first, all bone and nail, as you begin to writhe and fall into a cresting cadence, there ceases to be a line of demarcation. 
There is wolf and flesh and violence. There is blood and hope and fear. 
He is not the man nor the wolf but something ubiquitous and all-encompassing. You absorb him into you, and so you are not a girl or an omega or a separate being. You are whole. You are held. 
You are found. 
And it’s not his cock that’s made you that way, just as it’s not your cunt that completes him.
No.
It’s teeth.
While his knot swells, your body splits for him, bleeds for him, lets him possess and fill and tear you apart. It’s okay. He’ll put you back together. You’re already patching him up, filling in the cracks. He’ll give you the same.
You wish you could say you were too lost. That you hadn’t begged him to do it. That he hadn’t begged the same.
But no, it was after. As he held you, a willing captive beneath him, as the fog of heat eased with each pulse of his cock, each load of his seed bloating you impossibly, that you blurted it out. 
Your mind was clear, and your instincts had never been stronger. You wanted it. Maybe you didn’t quite know what it was, or why, but it was the only thing you wanted. 
“Bite me,” you say, eyes wild.
He groans. “No, no, darlin’, I can’t. Don’t ask me that.” A beat. “Fuck. ”
He’s nearly the man again, his hazel eyes fixated on you, foreheads sticking together with sweat. He grinds, his knot securely locked inside your cunt, your overworked opening impossible to breach. His hips twitch at the same time as his lip.
“Alpha,” you whine.
“Stop,” he begs. “You don’t know what you’re askin’.”
His rejection hurts worse than the stretch. The image of him blurs with tears and he whimpers, wounded.
“Shh, darlin’, it’s alright,” he murmurs, stroking your head and cheek with tenderness in high contrast to the sharp claws so close to your delicate flesh. 
But you’re not scared. He’d never hurt you. You find that you know this, for certain, a deep knot in your gut. Well. In addition to the literal knot that certainly feels like it’s deep in your gut. 
“Alpha,” you whine, head tipping back. 
He groans. “Don’ do that, darlin’. I ain’t strong enough.”
He was wolf just moments ago. But he’s rolled back the change so that his teeth won’t rend your soft flesh to ribbons. 
No, it’s decidedly blunter teeth that shred you as he gives in, that sink so deep into the curve of your shoulder that you cry out, nails digging into his back. He holds on, growling, and you bring one hand up to card through his hair while he stays latched into your flesh. 
His eyes flutter shut, his face gone lax in a way you’ve never seen. It smooths out some of his wrinkles, the deep stress lines still there but a deeper peace taking over for just this one, beautiful moment. 
You squirm a little, writhing on his knot as it throbs and throbs and throbs in time with the wound on your shoulder. He draws away reluctantly, just enough to let the shift take back over so he can lap at the weeping mark with his rough tongue. 
As always, it soothes the burn, and you moan, trembling under his care. He nudges you with his snout, nuzzling against your cheek, and you wind your fingers through his fur just as you had his hair. 
His hips rock lazily, never drawing out but keeping the bulk of his knot rubbing against the deep parts of you normally unreachable, pushing something wild and untamable from you with each sick squelch. 
The wolf looks down at you with something intense that you don’t want to analyze. Not right now. Not when you feel “so good, alpha, so good.” So good, in fact, that you don’t even realize you’re babbling praises for his cock as he snuffles every bit of you he can reach, licking and nuzzling, bathing you in him. 
When his knot finally goes, you’re asleep. If he had feathers, he’d be ruffling his plumage in pride, but instead, he just shifts you so he can curl around you. Around his omega. His. 
More than either of you know. 
You float on the ocean, buoyed through a dreamless sleep. Later, you’ll tell him you think his cum is a sedative in the way his slobber is anesthetizing, and he’ll roll his big brown eyes and huff. Later, you’ll think about how his eyes change when he does, and you can’t choose a favorite. The wolf’s endless pools of bewitching brown or the soft green and gold flecks that herald the man. 
Either way, you’re adrift at sea when you wake to his very human fingers in your cunt. He wears the face of the man but the dark eyes of the wolf. At least, you think so, until he looks up and feasts on you with them, and you can see the darkness is just his pupils, blown large as he pushes his cum back inside you. 
“Y’took it so good, darlin’,” he murmurs. “Can’t let it go to waste now.” 
“Hmm?” You mumble sleepily, squirming as he frowns, using two fingers to scoop some off the blanket. He brings the fingers to your lips and you open obediently, floating in your haze as he feeds you your communion. 
You fall back asleep, fueling your sedative theory. He’ll roll his eyes later, but now? Now he hovers over you, cock rubbing against your hip impatiently, throbbing, aching, leaking. 
He fists it with the hand still sticky with spend, tugging mercilessly. His hips buck up into his hand as he grunts, biting his lip until it bleeds to keep from disturbing your dreams. With a harsh huff, his cum splatters across your body, but it doesn’t soothe the ache. He’s still hard as he spreads it across your breasts, rubbing it over your collarbone. 
There. He regards his art proudly, but it does nothing to quiet the way his heartbeat seems to have settled in his balls. He cups them, shifting them to settle on your thigh, nestled near the peak of your warmth, but it’s not enough. 
He nudges you, already thin patience fraying. 
You blink blearily at him, and look down at your chest. “Really?”
He blushes and scowls. “You smelled wrong,” he says, as if it’s something he can scold you over. 
It doesn’t matter, though. The combination of his scent and the way his cock is grinding against your pelvis has you squirming in place. He sits back on his haunches, lifting you up as you let out a surprised squeak. 
He sets you on his cock. There’s no preamble. He impales you on it and immediately begins rutting up as you scramble for purchase, grabbing his shoulders. He’s doing all the work, fucking himself with your tight, wet heat. 
Not that you’re complaining. It’s maybe the hottest thing anyone’s done. All you can do is hold on and thrill him with your breathy moans and gasps. 
“That’s it,” he murmurs, holding you to him. “I know what you need. Just take it, yeah?”
You nod against his shoulder. “Yes, alpha.”
He moans at your easy compliance, bouncing you roughly on his cock. “Gonna take my knot again, baby,” he grunts. “You’re gonna take it and you’re gonna take my whole fuckin’ load.”
You can’t even respond, each thrust knocking the breath from you. Instead, you occupy yourself by licking and nipping at the strained tendon of his neck. 
“Bite, little omega,” he says in that tone, the one you can’t seem to resist. 
So you do. It’s what you really wanted, anyway. To feel his flesh give way for you the way you are for him. Your teeth aren’t sharp, but still, they sink into him like a fist grasping a stone from a riverbed. 
He hisses as he breaks under your tongue, moaning as you lap up the blood beneath. His knot swells, and you refuse to loosen your grip, jaw set around the strong line of muscle, and he wants to tuck you into the wound and keep you there. 
The days are a blur. You’re not even sure it’s days. You sleep, you fuck, you don’t separate from one another. You do, eventually, stop biting him, but you’re a mess of claws and nails and teeth and fangs and so much cum. He stuffs you with it until it leaks out and does it again. 
Until you wake up and find him on the other side of the room. He’s all man, dozing with his bare back against the chilly tile wall. 
“Joel,” you rasp, mouth thick with sleep. 
He cracks an eye and closes it again. “Go back to sleep. You need it.” 
“Come keep me warm,” you mumble. 
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The chill in his voice counteracts any good the blanket was doing. “Why?” You ask, cringing at how small your voice sounds. 
He grunts dismissively. 
“Don’t do this,” you snap. “Don’t you dare shut down.”
“Don’t worry,” he sneered. “You’ll still have the other one.”
“Don’t fuckin’ run from this. You bit me. Not the wolf.”
“Don’t talk about shit you don’t understand.”
Don’t. Don’t don’t don’t. It’s all either if you can say. There’s no room for any allowances here, only the bitter space growing between. 
You crack first. You’re allowed, you think, since you’re flayed open and raw while he gets to be untouchable. 
“Joel,” you whisper. 
His head snaps up to look at you, arms still guarding his heart. Your face must say more than you’d like, because he heaves a heavy sigh. 
“I’m the only alpha here,” he says. “You wouldn’t choose an old bastard like me out there.”
“I wouldn’t choose any of this,” you say, but it’s the wrong thing. 
“Goddamnit, darlin’, don’t you think I know that?” He stalks over, gripping your shoulders and leering down at you with a scowl. “I’m not a good man. Far from it. But before this,” he gestures at you vaguely, “that was a line I ain’t never crossed. Never put a hand on someone like that who didn’t want it.”
“Bullshit,” you say, softer than a whisper. 
“What’d you say?” He says, shadows brushing over the lines of his face as he looms over you. 
“Bullshit,” you grit louder. “I know you r-raped your last omega. The one you killed.”
He pulls away from you with a hiss, like the fever that still lingered on the edges of you had scalded him. “You know that, huh?” He growls. “S’that what you think?”
“Cheryl told me. She said you didn’t make it ten minutes without going after him.”
“Yeah,” Joel agreed. “We fought. I ain’t proud of it, but I did not rape him. Jesus Christ. S’that what you’ve thought of me this whole time?”
Despite the rage brewing in his eyes, you can see the hurt, too. More like you can feel it, and a whimper slips from your lips before you can stop it, cheeks burning as you realize your mistake. 
“I-I thought… I’m s-“
He cuts you off, cupping your cheek in one great, human paw. His thumb brushes over the dry skin there, unable to resist the pull to comfort you. That whimper damn near did him in and he can’t believe the power you have over him already. 
“Just… drop it,” he mutters, and pulls you in against his chest so you can bury your face and apologies there. His hand cups your head, a gentle stroking of his thumb on the back of your neck sending spidery shivers skittering, goosebumps bursting in their wake. 
“S’okay. I gotcha, darlin’,” he murmurs mindlessly, kissing the top of your head. 
He doesn’t need to say it, though. 
You know. 
next chapter
tysm for being patient during my hiatus. ily and i hope this lives up to your expectations i'm v nervous be niceys to me pls
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kittenshift-17 · 7 months ago
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Omg I feel like any teen wolf fic (sterek fic) you write would be amazing, on that topic ur an amazing writer and I’m glad that one day I stumbled upon one of your fics. And also speaking of sterek fics (or any teen wolf fic) do u have and recommendations on what to read for that fandom???
Okay, so I took my time with this one because I had read some, but not a lot... but oh boy, did I deep dive into the research to bring you some top tier Sterek Fic Recs.
TOP 20 STEREK RECS
Play It Again by metisket ***I LOVED THIS ONE***
In which Stiles goes along with one of Derek’s plans and ends up in an alternate universe as a result. He should’ve known better. He did know better, actually, and that means he has no one to blame but himself.
“Laura wants to lure the kid in with food and kindness and make a pet of him, like a feral cat. Derek wants to have him arrested for stalking. They’re at an impasse. (And the rest of the family is staying emphatically out of it in a way that suggests bets have been placed.)”
So Shed Your Skin and Lets Get Started by halfhardtorock
He's sixteen and in the woods on the wrong side of the town-line and he's so fucking fucked.
He knows he's not supposed to run, they teach that to you in preschool (don't run from a Were, back away slowly and walk with care), but they never told you how it would feel, standing alone in the dark with your heart beating in your throat as those glowing eyes tracked you from the shadows.
Don't Feed the Wolves by Amazonia_8
Stiles took the dare, because what else was he supposed to do when the whole lacrosse team was chanting his name? Even though the werewolf pack had left Beacon Hills years ago, nobody was stupid enough to set foot on the Hale property.
Except, apparently, Stiles.
Now he's got a feral werewolf following him around town with the sole purpose of claiming Stiles as his own.
so now you've got the best of me (come on and take the rest of me) by mangotangos
"It doesn't matter how hot Derek is, how Stiles barely comes up to his shoulders or how Derek's hands could probably fit really snugly around his waist. None of it matters, because he's basically a glorified babysitter for the foreseeable future and Stiles wants him out. Operation annoy Deputy Derek Hale into leaving begins now."
~or, the one where Stiles' dad hires Deputy Derek to be Stiles' bodyguard, Stiles hates him on principle and then 2 seconds later falls in lust (and love) and tries to seduce him into bed with his sexual prowess.
There Are No Wolves In California by kitsunequeen
Hunter!Stiles accidentally hits a wolf with his car and can't bear to leave him in the road to die. It's not till he gets the wolf home that he sees its eyes glow red... ------- Even everyday roadkill is upsetting, but this thing… Moments ago it was probably a majestic beast, and now it’s a mangled pile of soon-to-be rotting flesh. He presses a shaking hand to the only part of its chest left intact, not even thinking about whether it'll give him rabies or some other awful disease.
He’s about to pull back when something even crazier happens.
He realizes the wolf is breathing.
(not so) Pure Imagination by theroguesgambit
"There is a world where whenever someone fantasizes about you, you can physically feel it, but you have no idea who is thinking it about you."
Stiles knows it's wrong, but he's been Fantasizing about Derek and he can't bring himself to stop. Derek doesn't know who's taken an interest in him, but he's enjoying it way more than he probably should.
Little Wild Animal by DiscontentedWinter
Derek Hale finds a feral human on his pack's property. Humans are supposed to be extinct. But then, Stiles is full of surprises.
The Darkness Inside by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)
The sheriff watched him for a moment, then he sighed and turned slightly. He reached out to open a cabinet door beside him, and pulled out a shelf. It was on a track, so it rolled out of the cabinet fairly easily, and held a small CCTV. Derek frowned and inched his chair to the side a little bit so he could get a better angle.
He was looking at a teenager, or someone at least young enough to be the same age as Scott. He was sitting on a bed in what looked to be a larger room, the area he was in surrounded by four glass walls, with his legs crossed and head tilted.
He was also staring directly into the camera, as if he knew someone was watching. A creepy smile slowly slid onto the teen’s face, and he held up one hand, wiggling his fingers in a slow, eery wave.
Derek felt his mouth run dry. He didn’t know who this kid was, but he didn’t like him.
“Who is that?” he asked quietly.
“That,” said the sheriff, “is my son.”
What I Did On My Summer Vacation by grimm for missingsun
There's something weird about Beacon Hills that Stiles can't quite put his finger on. The way everyone in town knows his name the day he arrives. The way they insist the melancholic howling that echoes through the forest every night is just a dog. The way his dad denies getting a dog, even though Stiles comes home to find one sprawled across his bed, some big black thing whose eyes gleam red in the right light. The way that massive oak tree out in the woods vibrates under his touch, pulsing with sickly life.
There's something weird going on in this town, and Stiles is determined to get to the bottom of it.
Patterns of Intention by drunktuesdays
Derek looked like the stuff of his deepest fantasies. His shirt was rumpled where Stiles had his hands in it, and he was breathing hard as well, chest heaving. His eyes—his eyes were glazed over and he looked stunned, like he’d been—like Stiles had—
“No,” Stiles said, blood draining from his face. The word was croaky and felt like it had to be wrenched out of his chest. “God, no.”
Wants & Needs by MadcapRomantic
Derek Hale has been participating in the Beacon Hills Mating Run for a decade, each year coming up without a mate. His mother, convinced this is his lucky year, persuades him to run one last time.
Enter Stiles, a young Omega with an unwanted Alpha nipping at his heels.
Family or not, Peter is determined to have Stiles.
But convinced they are True Mates, there isn't anything Derek won't do to keep Stiles safe.
I don't know why, but I guess it has something to do with you by LunaCanisLupus_22 for xXxClassifiedxXx 
“You smell like me,” the guy says, scowling as he crowds in and Stiles staggers back between the coats and finally hits the wall. “Why do you smell like me?”
He barely lets out a garbled sound as the blood rushes to his cheeks. “No reason,” Stiles yelps, struggling to get his footing and grasping at a whirlwind of puffy fur.
Or the one where Stiles goes thrift shopping and steals an alpha's shirt. And gets a lot more than he bargains for.
Sleeping Dogs by starsystems
Let sleeping dogs lie. Prov. Do not instigate trouble.;Leave something alone if it might cause trouble.
Derek Hale is asleep in Stiles's bed. And it just escalates from there.
Because of course it does.
We've Written Volumes (in Blood and Scars and Ink) by notthequiettype
Stiles is on his back on hard-packed dirt. He's cold and there are leaves stuck to his neck and there's a four inch gash in his side that he thinks he can feel his ribs through. There's so much blood around him he feels like he's floating on a pond and everything is so much dimmer above him than it was a minute ago, which is saying something because he's in the dark center of the forest in the middle of the night. And the worst of it is that he's alone, totally alone with the smell of his own blood drowning him and the soft side of him run through by a tree.
As his eyes slip shut, the last thing he thinks is, "This is going to kill my dad."
In Case You Didn't Know by Blu_Crowe
Stiles moves into the lofts, and he and Derek start to get closer. Unfortunately Stiles is a moron, and Derek is bad at feelings. They figure it out... Eventually.
Stilinski's Home for Wayward Wolves by owlpostagain
“At least your puppies knock first,” Stiles snorts. “Here I thought their alpha raised them to be well-mannered.” 


“There’s a sign,” Derek responds stiffly. 


Stiles, whose curiosity outweighs even his hardest of grudges, abandons his chilly façade of nonchalance in a heartbeat. He jumps right up and all but pushes Derek out of the way in his effort to get to the window, and sure enough when he leans outside there’s a laminated strip of cardstock duct taped to the vinyl siding: 


DON’T FORGET TO KNOCK Stiles gets cranky when we scare him
---
Or, in which Stiles Stilinski moves to Beacon Hills for his junior year of high school and accidentally adopts a pack of teenage werewolves.
Lock All The Doors Behind You by entanglednow
He has no idea what you're supposed to say when you find one of your...werewolf acquaintances, completely out of their mind, growling like they're about to see what your insides taste like. There's no handbook for this. Stiles is thinking that if he survives he might write one.
Feral Formalities by Aleandri
"There was silence as no one seemed to breath at the table.
Derek had just gifted Stiles, an unmated Omega, with food.
Right in front of another Alpha.
Who he was on a date with.
To discuss being heat partners...."
*In which, Stiles presents as Omega, and everyone wants a piece of the alpha-baby-making ass!*
for a good time, call... by EvanesDust for kalika_999
Stiles unlocks his phone to send out a quick text asking his father what he wants to eat, even though he’ll get salad regardless, and notices a strange number on his recent call log.
His face scrunches in confusion before realization dawns on him.
Oh shit.
Events from the night before peek through the hazy fog of his mind. Stiles thought, or he was hoping, that the phone call was a dream. But there it is, staring at him in the face—a one minute and 57-second call to an unfamiliar number.
Oh God.
Did he seriously call someone—possibly an alpha werewolf!—for phone sex?
...Or the one where Stiles drunk dials a very grumpy alpha werewolf and propositions him for phone sex. Hilarity, misunderstandings, and feelings ensue.
Golden Boy by trilliath 
Apparently it still amuses his uncle to buy sex slaves for him, no matter how steadfastly he refuses to use them. Derek ducks into his tent with a resigned sigh, prepared to dress and reassign whatever new beauty Peter has bought him. They do make for loyal servants, so he can't really complain about Peter's 'gifts'. But it is annoying to deal with, to have to spend his evening sorting out a slave instead of being able to go right to bed. It's just something he has to learn to accept as a byproduct of serving alongside his uncle.
But when he lays eyes on the boy laying amid his furs, he finds his breath catching in his throat. His skin is golden with the candle-light glimmering against the sheen of oil that has been slathered on his bared body. His lips are parted, and they work over inaudible words or sounds. His skin is flushed, nipples peaked and pierced with simple but unexpected golden rings. He's spectacularly beautiful in the candlelight. The many glowing candles that have been added to his usual lighting cast glittering edges and shadows, imbuing an almost unearthly golden color to his skin.
It's enough that Derek hesitates.
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see-arcane · 2 months ago
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You can’t make people ship ships the way you want to ship them though. People can ship Orlok and Ellen in any way and under any lenses they really want to. Also judging by how interviews of cast and crew go they also wanted people to ship these characters and don’t view Ellen as abuse victim or CSA victim. It’s indeed kissy kissy vampire movie in a way as Ellen literally kisses Orlok on the lips and they have quite sensual vampire sex. I understand you can have frustration with some shipping or shippers and you are free to vent but you can’t change that people ship things or how they view and ship these things or how they view movies. People don’t look at movies and world with your eyes nor should they.
Don't want this to turn into a Thing, so I'd like to cap the topic off here.
I do not have a problem with people shipping Ellen and Orlok, or Thomas and Orlok, or Ellen and Thomas, or any combination thereof. Same goes for the actors/director who clearly wanted an element of attraction happening in the dynamic(s). It is gothic horror centering around the amorous and fucked up triangle these characters make. Ship happens.
What aggravates me is not just the bleaching and rose-colored glasses phenomenon with some folk's very literal non-joking interpretation of Orlok's attentions as purely ribald-romantic, but how it locks into a much longer, much more headache-inducing tradition that keeps getting grafted onto a very Specific kind of relationship in stories like this.
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Persephone and Hades. The last living wife standing and Bluebeard. Mina Harker and fucking Dracula.
Every time. Every single time that there is a Girl and an Aggressive Admirer/Predator involved in an original telling, it gets garroted, dragged through a Valentine Card printing press, and spat out the other side, either in genre-blind reinterpretations of every violent act or full-on spinoffs as Beauty and the Beast-flavored naughty xxx romance 😜 (Don't worry, she totally wanted it, she was just playing hard to get uwu)
When the girl is hunted. When the girl is imprisoned. When the girl is raped. When the girl has her life and the lives of loved ones threatened in order to make her compliant with what her attacker wants. No matter how much slaughter or entrapment or physical or psychological abuse is branded into the mythology or book or film, the rosy romantic revamp keeps happening.
I'm not going to sit down and go full hack psychology about the mechanics of forbidden fruit/desire/escapist kink involved in people's enjoyment of these stories. I love those stories! Can't get enough of the fucked uppery involved with narratives that take something like Love or Desire--traditionally upheld solely as Virtues reserved for curing a villain of their evil or firing in a glittery beam from some magical high schooler's wand--turned into something dangerous, maddening, and horrific. I eat that shit up.
What annoys and worries me is the lack of comprehension, or else outright ignoring, of the bare minimum of reality within a story in favor of sanitizing and filigreeing it into 'Just a naughty ;) romance~' wherein the Aggressor was definitely for real just a misunderstood suitor the Girl wanted all along..! as long as we ignore all the bodies and the repeated assaults and the bodily chucking her when she said a thing he didn't like and the point blank gaslighting and the attacking and entrapping her as a teenager as she screamed and went into the first of many many seizures and the fact that she was willing to die in order to kill him
Obviously I can't stop people from seeing what they want to see or thinking what they want to think. Imagination Land has no borders and folks can do whatever. I'm not going around with hardcover editions of Dracula, pummeling errant shippers for their transgressions.
I am just venting. Because venting and languishing and praying for actual critical thinking to make a comeback in media literacy is all I can do in the face of so many people reinventing the Coppola Wheel and stapling it over a work that is itself hammering the audience over the head with a plot about coercion and twisted relationships and murders committed en masse to make a girl put out for her stalker
Give it five years, we'll see Nosferatu: A Love Tale in theaters, directed by Luc Besson, in which the tragic Prince Orlok pines for the time displaced period piece goth girl, Ellen Murray, who is so very sick and tired of her boring boorish throwaway fiance, Thomas Hutter and longs for Orlok's leather clad embrace.
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koiiiji · 6 days ago
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the wolf hunts tonight
author's note ; in honor of my 22, here is jinrang smut. kinda part 2 to this. also! i mostly used translator today bc im in hurry and really tired, so this is unproved as hell!
author's note 2 ; small explanation and theory before i start. so since Jichang was policeman in countryside after Gitae got him, i can imagine that whole Seoul police was under him, when he was a king, OR he had a great connections and levers of pressure on the police, because how else you can be policeman after criminal past? and since Jinrang ended up in Seouls prison i connected that reader and Jichang may had an agreement🤫🤫
tw ; MINORS AND EMPTY BLOGS DNI!!!!
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the gallery hummed with low conversations, the clinking of champagne glasses punctuating the air like a melody. warm glow of the chandeliers bathed everything in golden light, casting elongated shadows across the intricate artwork you had carefully curated. it was a night meant for celebration — a night that marked your new beginning.
you never believed in your premonitions, but now, standing here, you were thankful that you asked Jichang for help and did it right in time. before someone named Lee Jihoon started get rid of the first generation one by one, and before Jinchamg himself he met his end. you’d disappeared, pulled out of the game at just the right time. it was easy enough — easier than you wanted to admit.
with well-placed bribes and Jichang’s connections in police and other departments, laundering the money had been frighteningly easy. a few forged documents, a favor traded in whispers, and suddenly — you ceased to exist.
your past was erased, your sins scrubbed clean with ink on police papers and deception. no chains. no skeletons in the closet. no connections to first generation.
but nothing in this world came without a price.
Jichang had made that clear.
a favor for a favor.
you wanted out? fine. he would grant you that much. a life free from the underworld, a future untouched by blood and gangs. but freedom was never free.
Jichang just needed a big beast in his trap.
the wolf of Busan was a good prey. he needed to be caged, and you were the perfect bait.
everyone knew about you and Jinrang. everyone knew the way he looked at you. the way he spoke to you. the way he treated you.
it wasn’t difficult. a few fabricated documents. carefully worded requests. the papers placed neatly before him, nothing amiss, nothing to suspect.
“just sign them for me.”
oh, what a sweet voice you had.
and he signed. without hesitation. without suspicion. because when it came to you, Jinrang never thought twice.
the moment the last stroke of his signature hit the page, the weight of your betrayal crashed down like a death sentence.
a second later, chaos erupted.
restaurant, once a place of quiet luxury, became a warzone of raised voices, the scrape of chairs against marble, the cold, metallic click of handcuffs locking into place.
four officers slammed Jinrang forward, his face crushed into the polished wood of the table, his breath forced from his lungs as they restrained him.
he didn’t resist. but when his head lifted — when his dark, unreadable eyes found yours — you broke.
you couldn’t move. for a moment.
couldn’t breath. for a moment.
you wanted to say something. anything. but your lips wouldn’t part, and your body felt as if it had turned to stone.
officers were speaking — reading him his rights, listing charges, their voices blurred and distant, drowned beneath the deafening pounding in your ears.
and, as if on autopilot, you walked away.
the weight of his stare burned into your back with every step, but you never turned around.
not when his voice finally rose, raw with confusion, with fury — with betrayal.
not when the officers tightened their hold, shoving him toward the exit.
not when you heard the unmistakable growl of his rage, thick with something dangerously close to heartbreak.
you kept walking.
it was simple.
you had your freedom now.
what is his few years in prison, in comparison with your freedom?
he deserve it he is a criminal.
just as were you.
the truth sat like a stone in your chest. but now fortune was enough to last a lifetime, to start a new life. but guilt had a way of making even the most luxurious silks feel like shackles. still, you had done what needed to be done. for yourself. and that alone had to be enough.
it wasn’t.
that’s why you were here tonight, surrounded by the faceless elite in the heart of your own carefully curated gallery. art was a lucrative and safe business, a playground for the rich, where money changed hands without question. perfect place to start anew.
and the night was perfect. until you saw him.
a flash of silver in the crowd. long white hair, sharp eyes scanning the room. Baek Sang.
if he was here, then…
your blood turned to ice, and a sharp, electric terror surged through your veins.
the wolf was here.
you scanned the room frantically. he was lurking somewhere, blending seamlessly among the guests, prowling, searching. for you.
step back.
pulling out a gun in a room full of wealthy patrons would be suicidal. running wasn’t much better. but staying still? that was worse.
another step.
your fingers tightened around the fragile stem of your champagne glass, pulse hammering against your ribs. your mind raced, sifting through every possible exit, every route that would get you out.
step.
you still can slip out. you have the means, the resources — if you will be fast enough, if you move—
bump.
the impact sent a shudder through your body. the glass nearly slipped from your fingers as you collided with something solid.
too solid.
warmth. a wall of muscle, steady, unyielding.
fingers, warm and confident, wrapped around the delicate stem of your glass, effortlessly plucking it from your grasp. the faint scent of leather and traces of cologne invaded your senses as a deep voice ghosted over your ear.
“going somewhere?”
Jinrang.
the rasp in his voice sent a shiver down your spine, but what truly paralyzed you was the way his stubble brushed against your neck when he spoke — deliberate, teasing, dangerous.
guests around you remained blissfully unaware of the predator in their midst, of the way his fingers lingered just a little too long against your skin as he lowered the stolen glass to his lips.
he took a sip.
then, with the same leisure, he leaned closer, whispering —
“take me somewhere quiet.”
it wasn’t a request.
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the world around you blurred as you guided him through the hall, each step deliberate, controlled. no one noticed. or maybe they did, but no one would dare interfere. he had that effect on people.
once inside the storage room, the door clicked shut behind Jinrang, and you refused to turn around. you could feel his energy a coiled spring ready to snap.
Jinrang’s presence behind you was suffocating, his broad frame crowding the space, leaving no room for escape.
“you sold me out.” his voice was eerily calm, but there was something underneath — something dark, something simmering just beneath the surface.
you swallowed hard.
he stepped closer. the heat of him ghosted against your back, heavy, inescapable.
“i rotted in that cell,” Jinrang murmured, his voice deceptively calm. “thinking about you, thinking about how you set me up. about how easily you slipped away, got your new life.”
your pulse pounded in your throat, each beat a countdown to something inevitable.
your fingers curled into fists. “Jinrang—”
a rough hand slid around your waist, pulling you flush against him. your breath hitched.
the warmth of his body burned through the thin fabric of your dress, every ridge of muscle pressing against your back. then — lips. his mouth grazed the curve of your neck, hot and unrelenting.
“Baek insisted on your death,” he murmured, voice laced with calmness and boredom — but you weren’t fooled.
you felt it, the way his fingers trailed up, slowly, languidly, until his hand settled right at your throat.
a little pressure. not enough to cut off air — but just enough to remind you of what he was capable of. your pulse pounded beneath his palm.
“and yet…”
the air shifted, and suddenly, his other palm was on your waist, firm and possessive. his breath, hot against your skin. you shuddered when his lips brushed the curve of your neck, a cruel mockery of intimacy.
“i have my own ideas for you.”
a sharp inhale left your lips as his hand glided up your torso, fingers pressing just lightly enough against your throat to make you aware of the power he held. his grip wasn’t tight — yet. just a warning. a reminder.
everything in your body screamed to run.
you gritted your teeth, forcing yourself to move. with a surge of adrenaline, you pressed your heel hard into his leg and tried to break free. he hissed in pain, but he won’t give you opportunity to run away again.
you twisted, aiming to break free, but he was faster. his palm sank into your wrist, a sharp, possessive grip that had you gasping in pain. tears pricked your eyes, but you didn’t stop. summoning every ounce of strength, you jerked your head back, aiming for his forehead —
— but Jinrang anticipated it. his fingers tangled in your hair, yanking you back with ruthless ease. a cry tore from your throat as your back arched against him, the sudden force pressing your body flush against his. now, arched like a snake, your back bent and your ass resting right on his crotch, you looked into his eyes without breaking contact.
your breath came in ragged gasps. his dark gaze filled with something unreadable — rage, lust, hunger.
“you fight like a wildcat,” he murmured, his grip tightening slightly. “that’s what i always liked about you.”
his fingers flexed around your throat, his lips ghosting over your skin once more. the line between his rage and desire blurred dangerously, and you weren’t sure which side of him you feared more.
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thrust.
the ring tasted metallic in your mouth as you drooled on his finger. Jinrang's movements became more urgent, pounding you into the wall with each thrust. his words were punctuated by the rhythm of his body against yours.
“i was gentle with you,” he growled, his voice low and husky.
thrust.
“gave you everything you wanted,” he repeated, each word emphasized by the force of his movements. the thrusts came faster, harder, each one a reminder of his words.
“and how did you repay me?” he demanded, his voice rising in intensity, his body pressing against yours with a fierce urgency.
your eyes rolled back, overwhelmed by the sensations and the emotions swirling between you. the metallic taste of the ring lingered, a stark contrast to the warmth of his skin against yours. the world around you narrowed to the space between your bodies, the only sound the heavy breathing and the pounding of your hearts.
“why?” Jinrang growled in your ear, his voice low and menacing, punctuated by the force of his thrusts. the stubble on his chin tickled your neck, an unpleasant sensation that only added to the turmoil inside you. his breath was hot against your skin, sending shivers down your spine with each movement.
“i... i...” you mumbled, trying to gather your thoughts as his body thrashed against yours. sensation was overwhelming, his cock moving against the sensitive spot inside you, sending waves of conflicting emotions through your body. fear and desire tangled together, leaving you breathless and helpless.
“i wanted out of the game,” you stuttered, your voice trembling. “i don't want to do black business,” you whined, the words barely escaping your lips. your body betrayed you, responding to his touch despite your mind's protests.
the sounds of your bodies moving together grew louder — the thrusts, the squelching of skin on skin, the slap of his balls against your clit. it was a cacophony of sensations that left you breathless, the air thick with the scent of sweat and desire.
“well, you'll have to come back whether you like it or not,” Jinrang said, his voice dripping with a predatory hunger. his words sent a shiver down your spine, a mix of fear and anticipation that only fueled the fire between you.
“n-no...” the thrusts became indistinct, sharp and fast, each one a reminder of his control over you. your body arched against his, despite your mind's resistance, as if drawn by an unseen force.
“you'll come back and help me get back what i lost wiyh your help," he growled, his body moving with a fierce urgency. his eyes seemed to burn with an animalistic desire, a hunger that couldn't be satiated.
the rhythm was relentless, each thrust a declaration of his dominance. the world around you melted away, leaving only the two of you, lost in a vortex of desire and anger.
a low, animalistic growl rumbled from deep within his chest as he pressed deep into you one last time, hitting your cervix. the pain was sharp, making you yelp and your knees buckle. but even in the pain, there was a twisted pleasure, a satisfaction that came from being claimed so completely.
“you're not just coming back,” he hissed in your ear, his breath hot against your skin. “you're going to work for me. for as long as you put me in prison,”he added, holding your limp body up on your wobbly legs with his free hand. his grip was firm, possessive, a reminder that you were his now, bound to him by more than just words.
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a/n ; i don’t really like this so pls don’t take it seriously, i just needed to getting closure with it, either it won‘t leave my mind😵‍💫😵‍💫
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weepingtalecowboy · 1 month ago
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Wererabbit legend
Fanfic prompt:
the bunny legend twist is really funny
And considering how both the twilight curse and the darkness induced curse in link to the past work differently
The twilight curse turns you into your most innermost animal (in the case of link and people consider that it has something to do with the triforce that makes link different ) or just straight up turns you into a ghost (like literally the rest of all hyrule)
But considering that the curse found in the dark world specifically says that it is a reflection of your heart and therefore already works differently than the twilight curse as you can be a monstrosity with no real limits other than how Messed up you are
Wouldn’t it be beyond messed up when legend picked up the twilight shard but his innocent rabbit appearance just didn’t happen
Because it just triggered his dark curse
Like for all he says he finds it annoying it probably would hurt a lot more to realize that this soft vulnerable part of him doesn’t reflect who he is
At least not anymore
The curse in link to the past can turn you into a monstrous beast more often than not
Like that must hurt to end up a dangerous jaded beast
the messed up rabbit equivalent of one because the appearance of a predatory rabbit in many media signifies the loss of innocence as it twists into pure violence against what hurt them once
(Interestingly enough a white rabbit with red eyes is usually the symbol for it or one who wears a rabbit skull on its head instead of a face )
So let him be a little nightmare and hate himself as he takes the form of a monstrosity once more (fucked up were rabbit legend my beloved)
And like that would essentially be a feedback loop for him because the more he hates how he looks the more it would reflect on the outside
The worse it will get for legend because he hates even more how he looks
And it shows again
Being a bitter, snarky very confrontational lil guy… legend probably would dial up the self destructiveness pretty fast even if he is fighting not to be a monstrosity (feedback loop my beloved would work against him every step of the way)
Meanwhile twilight has to watch in horror as legend turns into a snarling creature thing and runs off full monster mode
Like twilight just turned around and the first thing he sees is a…”thing” that probably is legend
Then legend freaked the hell out and ran into the woods in fear of what he just turned into
And twilight realized that being a wolf of rather average size is not something to complain over
So Wolfie chase it is
And when he gets to him it only seems to get worse because this is going into melted eldritch horror territory by this point
...and he still has the ability to talk like a person and is being self deprecating about it
Legend be like : “I am such a monstrosity …”
Twilight: “no no it’s alright”
Legend : “I miss my uncle”
Twilight: “oh, that’s deeper than I wanna go”
And also they probably have to get the chain not to shoot at him or else it probably would get even worse than it already is
Or get sky… but for that he needs to drag legend out the cave he crawled in and leave him unsupervised
And it very much isn’t going great in the slightest already
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jinx-xxed · 7 months ago
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Beautiful Thing Caged
Chapter 1; Strange sight
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☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ .。.:*
A/N; My first multi-part fic!! I’ve never been able to commit to one before so I’m really hoping I’ll be able to see this one through cuz I have some good ideas for it :]. I hope you enjoy, that’ll help keep me motivated too!! Also thanks to my bestie for the idea for the chapter titles ♡
This writing is based on this fan art ! It made my jaw drop to the floor when I saw it and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Part 2 ⇨
Summary; The First Order Agencies have come across a new, strange creature and it becomes your job to study it. You get far more than you bargained for.
Content; Werewolf AU, modern AU, werewolf Kylo Ren, human reader, scientist reader, soulmates, angst, feral Kylo, like legit feral bro does not know about human society, there’s a part where he eats a bunch of raw meat (I did not enjoy it), Kylo’s being studied in a lab, he studies you too, he’s scared and sad and angry (what else is new), lots of tension, neither of you know how to feel
[Each chapter will have specific content warnings. This story will eventually have 18+ content.]
Wc; 3.5k
☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ .。.:*
“I’m sorry?”
You look down at the sheets that had just been slid to you across the mahogany desk. It’s a thick packet stapled together, the papers perfectly crisp and white. On them is paragraph upon paragraph detailing the new assignment that your superiors at First Order Agencies have decided to place on you. Your hands reach forward from where they’d been resting in your lap to tentatively flip through the packet, your brows creasing further with each page.
Studying an unknown creature. Studying something that nobody knows what it is or where it came from, something that the only thing people know about it is that it’s incredibly dangerous. You briefly scan over the pages dedicated to the description of the creature—black fur, wolf like appearance, supposedly male, huge, able to take on a humanoid state. You see that in place of a true name, it’s been given the label of OB-2637. Written at the bottom of the description is “BEWARE CREATURE, WILL ATTACK. STAY IN DESIGNATED OBSERVATION BAYS FOR SAFETY.” Lovely. There’s no pictures attached so your imagination is free to run wild, thinking up an image of a hulking beast with drool covered teeth and ragged fur covering its misshapen body. You shudder.
“Wh- why is this being given to me?” You ask, looking up at the one who’d given you the papers. He goes by Hux and he oversees your sector of the Agency, making him your boss. “I’m just a nature observationalist. I feel like I’m not-“
“You’re the most qualified one in this facility.” Hux states. He sounds uninterested, his shrewd face giving no insight as to what he thinks about the Agency housing a dangerous, unknown creature of unknown origin. “We agreed that with your knowledge about the “wild world”, it would probably give you the most insight on this… thing. You’ll be paid generously for your work based on your findings if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
You’d seen the amount they were offering you, it was certainly nothing to scoff at. You shake your head. “No, that’s not what I’m concerned about. I’m more concerned that this seems above my level. I’ve never dealt with something like this since I’ve been here.” You say. You’ve been with the First Order for almost five years now. It’s a government agency that’s kept tightly under wraps, mostly because the Agency deals with things that they think “normal civilians” shouldn’t be made aware of. It took a lot for you to get accepted into this position.
Hux leans forward against his desk, the dimness of his office making his features look even crueler than usual. “If you really doubt yourself that much, then you don’t have to take this job. But I’ll make it known that if you turn this down, it’ll go to the next best person and I don’t think they’ll be as… compassionate towards this thing as you will be.” He says. His tone is so heavy, so serious. It holds so many implications that have your palms sweating. He shrugs as he relaxes in his chair. “I’m sure they’ll probably end up killing it. Theres a lot of people in this place that want to dissect that creature piece by piece. So it’s not just about your qualifications, it’s about how you’ll decide to treat another living being—that’s why you were the first pick.“
You swallow and your spit almost gets stuck on the lump in your throat. You look again at those papers, at what will be waiting for you in those lower levels of the facility. You think over Hux’s words, you roll them around in your mind in the same way you’d roll something in your mouth to get the taste of it. You know that he’s right, that anybody else would kill this creature just to get a thorough look at it. Anything in the name of science, after all. You know the people working in the First Order are not kind-hearted, most are cruel and cold. You have few friends in this place, even after the amount of time you’ve spent here. Your answer becomes clear to you. You don’t want this creature to die.
“I’ll take the assignment.” You say at last, steeling yourself so you don’t lose your nerve. You can do this. Surely it won’t be that hard? You just need to observe some type of animal, find out what it is, where it came from. That’s your whole job. You do that every day.
“Good choice.” Hux nods. He digs something out of a drawer. “Sign this and then be on your way.” He gives you an NDA, one that’s specifically catered towards this assignment. You’ve signed countless versions of these since you started working for the Agency, so it’s nothing new as you fill out everything you need to. You think nothing of them now, it’s not like you have people in your life to tell about your job anyway.
Hux takes the paper once you’re done. “Floor twenty. Your badge has already been approved for access. You shouldn’t experience any trouble.”
That’s a stern dismissal if you’ve ever heard one. You stand from your chair, smoothing out your lab coat as you go. You grab the packet of information; it’s not much but it at least gives you something to go off of. “Thank you, sir.” You say. Hux merely grunts in acknowledgment, already buried in the paperwork for something else.
You leave his office, taking a deep breath when the door shuts behind you. Holding the packet close, you walk through the halls of the building’s upper floor. When you think about it, the above-ground section is like a mask to the public eye. It’s all of the boring offices, gaudy paintings littering the walls, carpeted floors. It’s unassuming and basic and meant to hide what lays below the surface: all of the Agency’s experiments, their studies, and their classified documents stuck behind vaults. That’s where most of the employees are, that’s where your own office is. There’s few people upstairs and the ones you do manage to pass don’t even spare you a glance on your way to the elevator.
One of the two elevators opens a second after you press the button. You step inside and hit the button for the twentieth floor. The door closes without anyone else inside, leaving you blissfully alone. There’s no classic elevator music that plays, there’s only the sounds of the machine working to keep you company. Your hands frequently change position on the papers you hold to try and keep from drenching one spot in your sweat.
It feels like an eternity before the elevator begins to slow and there’s a resounding ding as it reaches the twentieth floor. The second lowest floor in the facility; you can’t even imagine how far underground you are. The hall you enter in to is pure white, fluorescent lights bouncing off the walls and floors. There’s nobody you can see and you know based on your packet that the only other people involved in this assignment are guards and a few nutritional specialists. You’re on your own.
The halls of this floor hold few doors, instead mostly housing holding cells and laboratories. You use your badge when you come upon authorized entryways, that unsmiling face in your picture getting you the beep you need to pass through. You’re halfway to where you know you need to go when you begin to hear strange noises. Clinking chains, the faint snarl. Sounds of struggling. You really should just turn back, try to ignore all of this and pretend you don’t care about the fate of some defenseless animal. You know you can’t though, so you keep walking on unsteady legs.
There’s one final door you need to pass through, one last door keeping you from a sealed fate. You feel the sense of foreboding prickling the back of your neck, your shirt sticks to your spine from your perspiration. The door beeps in response to your badge, your hand hesitates on the handle. It opens into a massive room, snow white in color with a black rim. Theres very little inside it; there’s data pads built into the walls for recording observations and there’s a one way window stretching along the right wall. You don’t know who would be on the other side. The room is separated by a massive pane of reinforced glass, stretching from floor to ceiling, spanning the entire length.
You finally see what that glass is meant to keep in and everything seems to freeze. That’s no animal, no creature, or bizarre thing. It’s nothing like what they made it seem. That’s a human. A human male kept in a cage, thoroughly restrained. His body is just the same as yours, albeit much larger and far more muscled, but he has the same limbs, the same fingers and toes. No paws or excess fur, just sharp black nails at the ends of his fingers that have put claw marks in the floor. His attention turns to you then and you see his face. He’s what you’d describe as beautiful; his features are both sharp and soft at the same time, his nose strong, and his pale skin dotted with moles and freckles. His face is framed by waves of black hair and he’s captivating, even with blood smeared on his chin and neck.
Your eyes meet. God, his eyes. They’re human, they’re round and the pupils are blown out with his emotions. Even from your place at the other side of the room you can tell the honey brown color and you can see the fear swimming in them. If you didn’t dismiss it as you being crazy, you’d say there was some sort of spark that flared between you both for some inexplicable reason. Like there was a sort of understanding rooted deep down that you didn’t get. Then it was gone.
And then the frozen second snaps and everything is thrown back into motion. His expression shifts into something angry and fierce and he makes an attempt to lunge at you. His movements are so powerful, even with every limb bearing thick cuffs with chains connected to the wall, even with one around his neck. He comes so close to the glass, his hands reaching in your direction, those claws scraping uselessly against the floor. You flinch back on instinct, your breathing coming fast and hard. It’s then that you see the ears and tail on the man. They are indeed akin to a wolf like the papers said, black ears sitting in his hair and a large, fluffy black tail protruding behind him. When his mouth opens in a snarl, you see the unnaturally sharp canines that he has. They’d rip you apart in no time.
He tries a few more times to get at you before realizing it’s useless. It’s probably not a new feeling for him. He retreats to the back wall where the chains are connected, making them go slack and giving him more movement. He tries to shrink himself—an impossible task with such a huge body—his tail coming to wrap around his feet. He doesn’t have much within his cell—only a small cot and a singular blanket as a bed in one corner, and a toilet and sink in the other corner.
You swallow. You realize how long you’ve been standing there without moving so you force your wobbly legs to take one very small step forward. Then another and another until you’re about halfway towards the glass. He watches you with such intensity the entire time it makes you nervous. You try to take another step before he growls at you, a deep and rumbling sound that has you freezing. When you retreat, he stops.
“Okay. I’ll stay here then.” You say, standing in the spot you’d been in before that last step. This is where you’d begin. Small things to make him more comfortable in this unfamiliar environment; you’d follow his rules.
Seeing no chairs around you, you lower yourself to the floor. It’s cold even through your layers but you don’t mind. You have no room to complain when you look at him with no shirt or shoes, nothing to really keep him warm besides thin pants and that blanket on the cot. You study him in silence, just like how he studies you. You feel confusion over the conflict of the report versus what you see before you. The report had first described a wolf-like appearance that could take on a humanoid form but all you see in front of you is a human man with wolf ears and a tail. Maybe they’d overexaggerated?
Now that a fragile peace has settled between the both of you and he’s sitting still, you’re able to see the scar running along the left side of his face. It travels all the way down his collarbone before finally stopping. It’s deep and jagged and you can only imagine how badly it must’ve hurt; he’s lucky he didn’t lose his eye from it. Looking over him, you see he has a multitude of scars all over the planes of his body. He’s a fighter, then. With the way he’d lunged at you as soon as you entered, it doesn’t take you by surprise.
You clear your throat from your nerves. You begin with stating your name. You don’t even know how much he can understand you or if he can at all but you continue anyway. “I’m not here to hurt you. I know you probably don’t trust that, and I understand. We just want to know more about you.” You say. You inwardly cringe because this all sounds so weird to say to another human. You clasp your hands together tightly in your lap. “If you can speak, it would be a huge help if you’d explain some things about yourself. What’s your name and age? Where’d you come from?”
You don’t get a response—you didn’t expect one. He sits there with his knees up to his chest and his face partially hidden by his hair just staring at you, his eyes so wide and telling that it’s hard not to meet that stare. This is how it’ll be then. That’s fine, you’re used to sitting in one spot for hours and watching for an animals every minuscule movement. That’s what you end up doing, merely watching him and studying his body. Every twitch of the finger, every tense of the muscle is something you keep note of. It’s a good way to get a basis of information about what you’re studying so you always have something to compare to. You log everything in your mind for now, thinking how you’ll need to remember your laptop for next time.
There’s a sudden noise that leaves both of you startled. You sit up straighter and his ears perk up as a door to the right inside his cell opens. His wolf ears flatten back against his head and he scoots farther from the door, his chains clinking with the movement. You watch curiously as a human-shaped, somewhat janky robot enters with a plate balanced in its hands. You never see much of the Agency’s robots, mostly because most of them are unfinished and unpolished, but it seems they’re useful when real people don’t want to get near a deadly thing. The robot drops the plate unceremoniously on the floor and you notice with a start that blood splatters. The robot leaves.
Both you and the beast-man look at the plate before he decides to move towards it. You make another mental note about how much he surveys his surroundings before deciding what to do, as if weighing all options and possibilities.
The plate is rather large and holds a copious amount of raw meat, seemingly from multiple different animals based on the coloring and sizes. Blood slowly drips off the edge of the plate, pooling on the white floors. You can’t help the revulsion you feel looking at it as he inches closer, sniffing the scent of meat and blood into his nostrils. His eyes widen at it, pupils expanding, and he immediately takes a massive slab into his hands. His teeth tear into it like it’s paper, those fangs ripping it apart as blood drips down his chin. Despite your disgust, you’re also fascinated. So his digestive system can handle raw foods—like a wolf. I wonder what the layout of it is. What kind of bacteria is in there? You think, pondering over the idea as you watch him eat like a beast.
He finishes most of the plate, leaving only a few tinier pieces that he pushed aside. He must not like the taste of that particular animal. He seems more at ease now that he’s been fed, the worry of whether or not he’d get another meal satiated. He’s unbothered by the blood on his clawed hands and face as he sits back down and returns to watching you. When his eyes find you again there’s a shiver that goes down your back. There’s something in them you can’t place and it creates a weird feeling in your gut that you can’t decipher.
The rest of your day goes by without a hitch. You sit on the floor and study the beast-man in silence. You don’t try talking to him anymore, you’d rather not make a fool of yourself if he won’t say anything back to you—if he even can. He doesn’t do anything, there’s nothing to do in his cell anyway. He sits and watches and at one point he laid down on his back facing you so he could still keep an eye on you. There was one last meal time where you got to see him eat a bunch of raw meat again which wasn’t… great for your own appetite.
Hours passed before the lights finally began to dim, meaning the facility was shutting down for the night. There’ll still be people working the entire time, of course, but they shut down a majority of the power in the unused areas. You sigh to yourself, unfolding your body and getting up with a grunt from the stiffness in your limbs. The beast-man who had been drifting off before is now fully alert, wide eyes watching. You go to move towards the door and he growls at you. It startles you, makes goosebumps pick up along your arms. You look back at him with furrowed brows, confused. “I’m leaving, alright? I won’t bother you anymore.” You huff. This is what he wants so why is he getting pissy? You feel annoyed about his attitude for a second before you remember he’s the one stuck in a cell and you’re not. He has a right to be mad with you.
You sigh again and go to the datapads in the wall by the door. Since you don’t have your laptop, you take a few minutes to input the things you observed today that you’ll just transfer over later. You find yourself writing down a lot more than you thought you would and it makes you feel accomplished, like you actually did something today. When you’re finished, you put your hand on the door handle, ready to leave. But you pause, you look back at him and you know it was a mistake instantly. He looks so sad, so alone and afraid in that large, white room. You struggle to tear yourself away and open that door before you do something crazy.
You shake your head as you enter the hall, the door locking firmly behind you. Your mind feels like it’s shut off while you retrace your steps; back through the winding halls, back up the elevator, back into the main building. Back to your car where you grip the steering wheel with a deadly force, staring blankly at the road on your long drive home. Then finally, back to your small house where there’s no lights on inside because there’s nobody waiting for you.
You unlock the door and step in, a wave of something like loneliness washing over you when you do. It’s strange, it’s never been like this before. You try to ignore it as you shed your lab coat and make a simple dinner and sit on your couch. You don’t move for a moment, your brain deciding that now is a good time to rerun everything from today. That was a man. It wasn’t a beast, not really. And they have him stuck in a cell like that. It’s inhumane, isn’t it?
You find yourself with your head in your hands, groaning loudly as some form of release. “God, what have I gotten myself into?”
☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ .。.:*
Part 2 ⇨
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