#also part of it is that Moon is technically supposed to be having a panic attack and I don’t know how to write that

[evolnoomym]

1. This is me trying

Sugar-Daddy!Joel Miller x f!OC

General Masterlist | „Runaway Butterfly 🦋“ Masterlist

Summary: You may have gotten out, but the damage is done. As you look back on the past you take a step forward in the present.

Rating: 18+ explicit content mdni!!!!

Word count: 2k

Warnings: no y/n, f!reader, this is how my first OC Moon got born, childhood abuse, self hatred, alludes to sa & suicide attempt(s), 2 separate instances of underage OC getting taken advantage of, nothing to graphic, Weed consumption, panic attack, OC sexualizes herself, she has tits and ass

If I missed anything please let me know 🙏🏻

Authors note: This is the first chapter of my my first Series, it’s been sitting in my notes basically for about 3 months. (Can we believe I’ve been here for 3 months already 😅) I know it’s rather short but the following chapters will be a lot longer. No Joel except in photos, also the Hawaiian Flannel he wears in one of those is the same as @strang3lov3 owns, hers is inspired by Jim Hopper. Bug was also the one that told me to write, so it’s all thanks to her 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Shoutout to @saradika-graphics & @cafekitsune for the dividers 🫶🏻

Big thank you to for beta reading @fhatbhabiee & @jennaispunk 🦋🦋🦋

Disclaimer: English is not my first language so if you come across mistakes it might be due to that. I’m totally here for constructive criticism or feedback on how to improve. In general I appreciate comments, likes and reblogs greatly 👌🏻

Technically you are missing, you didn’t tell them where you’d go, they didn’t even knew you’d go at all. Though, you are sure that they are happy to be ridden of the problem, connecting all of them.

They took your pride, confidence, dignity and hope. They clipped your wings early on so you’d never get away, no chance at getting out of this nightmare. Always destined to be the black sheep, the picture-perfect scapegoat for all of them, and whenever something went wrong you got blamed.

No wonder you started to hate yourself, believing their cruel words. You were never good enough and they made you think it would be better if you would just be gone.

They tore you apart, made you hate the girl in the mirror till you just wanted to give up, they put all the blame on you, they used you as a little girl sized punching bag, they made you believe that everybody grows up that way.

Since both of your parents were equally unstable people, it forced you to grow up quickly, so you could take care of them. Never would you know who that real version of yourself could’ve been, without all the trauma, a loss to carry forever.

How should you have known that what happened was wrong, if you never knew anything else. You thought the violence and the loneliness was part of being a little girl.

With time you became something akin to a shapeshifter, trying to be whatever it took to fulfill their desires, if it meant to be loved. Even just the tiniest amount of recognition, was worth giving yourself up.

But those closest betrayed you. Turns out it was all for nothing at all. All the sacrifices you made were so entirely useless, breaking yourself down to become the version they might’ve liked best, trying fit the shape of their choice and satisfy their deranged ego’s.

You scraped together any amount of savings you still had and sold everything you owned that was worth anything. Your Dad and Grandma gave you some money and that was it.

They had pushed you so far, you felt the need to flee to an entirely different continent, almost a 15 hour fly and 525 miles away from what was supposed to be home, that’s what it took to get some semblance of freedom and peace. Austin became your home, it was a fresh start and that’s exactly what was needed.

To much happened, to many unforgivable occurrences. You couldn’t ever heal in the place they broke you in, surrounded by abusers. They might have forgotten, painted an entirely new picture of the truth for themselves, but you’ll always remember what really went down.

You could still vividly remember your brother’s frantic calls once he realized you were gone. He couldn’t believe you’d really go through on that childish silly dream, he always laughed at you for saying, you’d just pack up one day and leave everything behind.

Guess he’s not laughing anymore.

After countless attempts you finally gave in and picked up, only to met by loud thundering voices yelling at you. It was all about how insane you must be, so incredibly selfish, overly dramatic, over-emotional and weak for simply running away.

A coward.

As always it’s just about them, their feelings and what would be best for them. No care for what you’d want and what the best for you could be.

You tolerated more than anyone else would’ve, before ending the call. It was just an accumulation of empty threats, supposed to put you back in line, but it did the opposite. That phone call was the last time you’d speak to them.

8 months have passed since leaving, its now May and here you sit lounging in the living room of your tiny two-room flat. The soft, grey, cloud-like couch was one of your best investments, making it your second favorite place besides your bed.

Its Friday. The clock shows that it’s close to 6 pm, the early-evening breeze flows in through the open balcony and alongside the bustling noises of the streets outside. Cars honking, tires screeching, kids yelling, people laughing and birds chirping, all of it reminds of the overwhelming world waiting outside of your safe bubble.

You just pulled out your rolling tray, trying to quiet your mind, you’ve barely finished licking the paper. When your phone suddenly goes *ping* *ping*, a sound you haven’t heard before.

Normally that might make you anxious but today you are just annoyed by any sort of interruption to your routine.

„Ughhh.”

You begrudgingly get up to retrieve your phone from the kitchen counter. When you reach it and take a look at the screen you immediately understand what caused the strange sound.

A notification for the Sugar-Daddy website you had started using earlier this week. You have tried those odd websites before, at 16 thinking it would be a good idea. Back then you were already after the attention of a mature, wealthy and significantly older Men.

Looking back you always had a weird infatuation with men outside your age range.

Your first kiss happened, when you were 13 and still played with dolls. He was 21 and had just gotten his drivers license, already moved out and had a job. He took you on a walk, then sat down on an old park bench and just kissed you which felt like heaven,at the time. He was your Bestfriend’s older brother who knew exactly how madly in love you were with him.

Two years later, at 15, you thought that 25 year old police apprentice was seriously interested in you, convinced he’d make you his. But, no, he wanted to fuck a minor, he was after the thrill of something tight and young, to be the first to break you in and then throw you away once you served your purpose.

Even though you were foolish and naive, the perfect opportunity for him to use, it seemed your desperate want for genuine love chased him away before he could go in for the kill.

In those instances you were lucky that nothin worse happened, but at 17 the luck had run out or maybe what happened is what you get for making the mistake of trusting.

It was the friendly guy in your semester group, the one who was troubled himself but made you feel like it’s okay, he seemed to understand you. He became a good friend, he made you feel less alone and in the end he became the biggest nightmare.

Your trust was already broken and played with many times before him, but what he did was one too much. He changed the way you viewed the world, the way you lived.

You were deeply afraid of ever running in to him again, and when it happened you could practically feel the world stop spinning.

It was just a worst case scenario that never came true until it did. You remember that day like it was yesterday, it was supposed to be a quiet run to the grocery store, shopping with a friend. Standing in the bread aisle, you were waiting beside the cart for your friend to make her decision. You just stared down at the ground for a split second before looking back up and there he was. Staring at you with this awful smile of his. Ringing in your ears, shivers running down your spine and shaking hands were all you needed to know that getting out of there was more than necessary.

As you stood at the cash register the thought that it might not have been him weaseled itself into your head. The hope that it might’ve been just some mix-up got crushed when a voice behind you spoke up. That voice, the way he talks, you would recognize it anywhere. He was right there, the monster who looked so nice in the beginning was just a couple inches away. You could practically feel him breathe down your neck, just like he did that night. Keeping your composure was the biggest challenge.

Afterwards on the way home, in your friends car you broke down, never ever would you want him that close again. He contributed to you wanting to get away.

Now at 21, even after everything that happened, you thought about giving the Sugar-Daddy thing one last chance. The money would be nice, of course it would, living free without having to worry, having someone who takes care of you and you get to just enjoy living, is the dream.

You wanted to experience that, so the Profil was created, a few pictures were added showing your face, one displayed a peak of cleavage and another with focus on your backside, wearing tight pants that accentuate your plush ass all while you are just sweetly gazing over your shoulder.

Those photos were choosen with good reasoning, you believed that showing skin would attract more attention from the Sugar-Daddy’s.

A classmate once told you „You know...the only fuckable thing about you is that set of tits and that ass. Nothin else, well except maybe ur mouth,“ all while smugly laughing.

And he wasn’t the only one who said shit like that, so you believed it, showin off the assets it was and it worked but none of these man were really what you were looking for.

After 2 days of being flooded with messages, little to nothing came through anymore which you were a bit happy about, since the overwhelming attention was too much too quickly.

You are a recluse, three friends that’s all you got, two of them not even living in Austin. A lot of times you just want to be alone with yourself. Branching out like 6 years ago is not your style anymore and you started to regret putting yourself out there like this. You would’ve probably deleted the profile if it wasn’t for the awfully handsome Man who apparently took a look at your profile which caused the whole strange notification-sound.

You could only see his name “Joel Miller” but that was enough to peak your interest.

You take your phone, walk back to the couch and sit down. You scutch backwards till you can feel the pillow at your back to lean against. You open his profile and your mouth goes dry instantly. He looks to be about 40 ish, his brown-grey streaked locks are neatly styled, a well groomed beard adorned his face and those grey patches certainly made you squirm in place.

They showed his age and that is what turned you on. His amber brown orbs were quickly pulling you in. In some of his photos he wore expensive lookin suits, all highly professional. In others he looked more casual, wearing flannels and even a cute hawaiian shirt in a picture that must’ve been taken on a beach.

He looked big, 6ft3 tall, tan skin, with broad shoulders, biceps that could crush you and his hands, oh they are a sight to behold, you thought of what he could possibly to with them. How would they feel on your body, holding your hand, caressing your face, stroking your head or squeezing your waist.

You feel your cheeks get warm, heart rate picking up and there is a tremble in your breathing, all because of him.

You can already imagine how much power he would have over you with his entire body, you want that.

With all the gawking and fanning you lost track of the time, 45 minutes where spend looking at him, that realization made you feel a bit embarrassed but it turned into shock when the *Ping* *Ping* sound of again, this time with a notification that read ”Congratulations, The verified Sugar-Daddy has sent you a message don’t let him wait to long, swipe here to answer,“ and then his name ”...Joel Miller“.

Maybe he would be different to those before him, maybe you got your luck back and so you decided swipe.

Please don’t repost, copy, translate, or feed into any AI, thank you 🙏🏻

People I think might be interested: @aurorawritestoescape @milla-frenchy @joelmillerisapunk @joelslegalwhre @punkshort @burntheedges @almostfoxglove @taeslarityy @joelsdagger @littlemisspascal

Taglist 🦋: @joelalorian @msjarvis @stevie75 @la-vie-est-une-fleur29 @beefrobeefcal @baronessvonglitter @sherala007 @moonlitbirdie @thundermartini @sjc7542

Please let me know if you want to be added to the taglist or taken off 🫶🏻

[goldensunset]

Fun fact about N’s character theme: it’s based on prime numbers! I don’t know enough about music theory to tell you exactly how, but it’s neat that the composer took his mathematical affinity into account -moon

ya!!!! that’s what i was talking about w the arpeggios. that’s a detail i think is great fs….

don’t get me wrong it wouldn’t surprise me at all if n’s battle theme was some masterpiece of musical composition on a purely technical level that i don’t get because i don’t understand complex math and music theory terms. i tried researching the meanings behind his name and just exploded. i mean look at this. i do not go there

like i’m sure they were absolutely cooking something intentional. it’s all so nerdy. i trust they made their choices for a reason. but i still disagree with them

i guess what i was getting at is that like extra flavor details in the music like this are great but what’s underneath really matters too… the main melody plays the biggest role in storytelling here. in a critical plot moment you should be able to listen to a track and just Feel a certain emotion and get an impression of what the character is like or what the situation is like. is it happy, sad, fearful, determined? unsettling? does it actually distinctly lack a melody, and what does that say about it? like without having to study details like this behind the scenes.. you shouldn’t need a phd the song should just hit you y’know

like it doesn’t exist within a vacuum it exists in the context of ‘i’m fighting this guy who by now i know means well and has been lied to and is in denial at this point, in the hopes that he backs down from trying to change the world for the worse and admits he was wrong, so that we can please be friends’ i understand n is an unusual sort of person and that formulas and calculations are part of his character quirks. but also at his core he’s not a machine or something he’s a human being with a lot of feelings and beliefs. that’s like. a really important part of the narrative… ik he suppresses his thoughts a lot but like

ig i just would’ve expected more of that passion in him to come out during his decisive battle. you would not have to change that much about it to satisfy my conditions. like his standard battle theme works fine for him when he’s battling you just to like test and study you in a calculating sort of sense but in the endgame you’d expect it to be more dramatic. which is why i love the pokemas version where it gets fused with his castle theme it sounds absolutely perfect like that’s the n theme we needed

the like. main part of n’s battle theme like the melody part… it is full of dissonant intervals. again who knows there might be a numerical thing to it that i’m unaware of but y’know like those are the sounds that make you distinctly uncomfortable. that composers use to signify fear or evil. i once woke up in a feverish mini-panic bc that song made its way into my dreams. (and that actually made me appreciate it more not less. lol. if you strike fear into my heart that’s a compliment). and i know he is an antagonist and you should be at least a little bit afraid of him but see like that’s the kinda thing they did for like. ghetsis. the pure evil dude of all time whose name is actually music-related too. the man is so evil he got named after his own evil music. ok king

basically n my man he deserves more to his battle music than sounding scary and cold

buuuut i guess you could say that’s what his encounter theme is for. ‘prisoner to a formula’ has a distinct melody (although that song is creepy lol). and then in b2w2 it gets remixed into a major key and it’s now called ‘n’s theme’ so like yay for once mr natural harmonia has a memorable theme that sounds like he gets sunlight and fresh air and that’s definitively considered to be his character theme!! yay!!!!!

idk. maybe this is all supposed to represent how he suppresses everything he feels and withdraws into his shell and his mechanical obsessive habits while he’s battling. bc his heart is distinctively not in it it’s not true to who he is as a character and also he’s in denial and trying to talk a big scary game the whole time. like the music represents his outer self not his inner self which is imo not ideal for a decisive character battle. and especially not given that his battle theme is at its core basically the same in the sequel even after he’s undergone character growth they bothered to make a remix but still didn’t add heart to it. as if they still wanted your impression of him to be offputting. but who knows!

[amphiptere-art]

I've been on vacation and I don't know if I've shared any of these ideas. I think they've mostly stuck to discord conversations. So I'm going to post them out here.

Number one thing. Blue Moon will exist in arcade in a more... Standard fashion. Arcade Eclipse. While technically looking exactly like Blue Moon and supposed to be blue moon. Isn't really Blue Moon. They are blue moons origin. They are what Blue Moon was supposed to be. Blue Moon evolved far past that. So I'm going to be making a new Blue Moon in Arcade! As cannibalistic and teenager/child-esk as possible. Now of course dimensional travel does not exist in arcade. Magic does though. And so can shitty parents. I'm still working on this version. So I'm not sure what the new sporadic danger will be. But this is going to be based on after story Blue Moon a little bit. Where they are totally with crimple, and old lunar is a much bigger force.

Onward to objective number two. Which is something I've actually been holding on to for the Stardust arcade storyline. But vapor will be existing. Vapor still has a tragic ass backstory and suffers from abandonment issues. But they will exist. Hopefully I will get to the part where I explain their story at some point. As they will be fading out of Stardust arcade once I introduced them. But the basic is. Vapors smoke still does stuff. But it's more out of a magic-y panic. Vapor wasn't forgotten because of some star juice magic. But instead just because the company was being an ass and told everybody he was dead when he wasn't. Wondering around thinking is abandoned until the Stardust storyline catches up to him.

Another thing! Again to be introduced in Stardust. Sundown, Sköll, Leiðr, code Moon, are all existing. They will be introduced in Sundown for a small scene. Sundowns entire little town is also coming with. And also. For those of you who were really confused about that one post where I talked about how relationships are going by my own arcade rules now. Sundown and Sköll are a thing.

Also! The sulky star cluster. They are also being moved over because I fucking love them. Stories are remaining mostly the same except doled down, and singular worlds are just establishments. I still haven't quite settled on the biker gang concept. But they are leaning that direction. Where they are basically a gang of delinquents that wander around and just kind of do shit. They have a Hangout spot at Sundowns. Also to be introduced in Stardust.

Another thing. I have been calling this thing the Neptune pack. But it is essentially a pack of blood moons run by a leader. They are going to be a bunch of hyenas. Might play a part with vapor. But either way they are going to be a group of aggressive fighting robots. Only held together by what I can only describe as a gang leader. It's an interesting concept and it will be coming soon.

Another thing. I have been thinking of honey and cider. I'm currently caught between doing a similar thing that happened in sulky star cluster. Or trying to figure out what happened to their singular establishment that would lead to the same results as cannon. Might do a bit of both. But they will be coming. Although I think they will also be separated like it's tough to be a god AU. As their interactions have been quite sparse.

Last thing that is not related to arcade. I have come up with this concept of a clockwork sun, and shipwrecked moon. I have been listing off little scenarios in a discord. And I will definitely make a separate post for them. I'm just not going to post the whole idea here because this is mostly around arcade. But this little silly scenario is currently in the works.

Anyways I think that's everything I thought about over the vacation. Have a nice fun time reading this because I'm not actually going to write a shortened version until I have these figured out all the way. Toodles.

[outtoshatter]

Prompt 1: "It's not too late, let's go."

Fanfiction

Fandom: Teen Wolf | Sterek

Warnings: none | Rating: Teen & up

Trick or Treat or Trespass (also on ao3!)

“It’s not too late,” Stiles said. “Let’s go.” He held his hand out.

Derek squinted at him. “It’s two in the morning.”

“Perfect time. We’re too tired to second guess our decisions and you just said you wished you could.” His grin flashed, that wide, half-mad smile that Derek couldn’t resist.

“It’s too late,” he protested weakly. “They’re all closed.”

“How many times do you get to wish something and then make it come true?”

“You’re a little fixated on that,” he complained. “I was just talking.” He allowed him to pull him off the couch anyway. “None of them open until noon, judging starts at eleven.”

Stiles’s grin widened. “We’ll find some.” He had his phone out already, tapping away. “See, the Kimbers farm still has pumpkins left.”

“They’re closed,” he insisted.

Stiles tossed him a jacket. “So?” He shoved his feet in his shoes without bothering to untie them, making Derek wince, and grabbed his keys and a dark blue hoodie.

Derek got in the car, if only to stop him from hurting himself, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop Stiles or see what he thought he was going to do about their pumpkin problem.

It wasn’t that important.

He looked up. “Stiles…”

Derek just wanted to make an effort to be part of the community—not the weirdo shut-in—for once. He was friendly with most of his neighbors, they exchanged recipes and baked goods sometimes, and now there was this, a community jack-o-lantern contest. Time had slipped away from him, and now it was the 30th—technically the small hours of the 31st—and he had no pumpkins at all, carved or otherwise.

He’d been dozing when he muttered his wish, more a complaint than anything. He should have known Stiles wouldn’t leave it alone.

He parked under a group of trees at the very end of a gravel lot and pulled his hood up. “You can wait in the car,” he offered, that grin flashing again.

In the dark with only the weak light of the moon to illuminate him, he looked devilish, just for a moment, and then he was himself again, mischievous but human. He got out while Derek was trying to find words. The back opened, and Stiles dragged the wagon out of the cargo space.

Derek scrambled out. “How many do you think you’re getting?”

Stiles pressed a hand to his heart. “I was going to leave money to cover it, what do you take me for?”

“As many as I can carry.”

Derek scoffed. “What did the Kimbers ever do to you?”

Derek didn’t really buy it until he added, “Now, if it was Walmart, I wouldn’t bother, but they ran out of pumpkins yesterday.”

He pulled the wagon, then stopped when the wheels made too much noise in the gravel. He glanced at Derek. “Gonna turn me in?”

He sighed.

They stole into the pumpkin patch quite easily—the only fence was a low wall of hay bales more for looks than security. Derek kept his head down and hood pulled up, sure that there were cameras on them. There was a table by the entrance, probably where people paid for their pumpkins.

Derek’s heart pounded with both panic—they could legitimately get arrested for this, and what was he supposed to say to John when that happened?—and exhilaration that he couldn’t repress. He shook his head while Stiles checked over the options and wandered to the table. He chose one of the tiny pumpkins and used it to pin some cash to the table. He was positive he overpaid, but he considered it an after-hours fee.

Something rustled.

His head snapped up. He scanned the area around them, but there was nothing. Just them, the pumpkins, and, some distance away, the farmhouse.

Stiles giggled to himself, making him jump.

“Shh!”

He waved his hands, but he couldn’t stop the high, sort of giddy laughter he never could contain. “Let’s go,” he wheezed, dragging the wagon behind him. There were five pumpkins of various sizes piled inside.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Go open the trunk and start the car,” he whispered.

Stiles’s eyes lit. He fist pumped, then ran for the car.

Derek waited, head lowered, to give him time to get to the car. He lifted the wagon. The pumpkins were dense and even for him it was heavy, and the wagon’s shape was not made to be carried. He all but ran for the car.

Stiles was jittering around in the driver’s seat while he deposited the pumpkins and wagon, twisting around, drumming his fingers, and chewing his lips.

Derek closed the trunk and jumped into the passenger seat. “You better hope they don’t call the cops,” he hissed. “How will we explain to your dad?”

“We left money!”

“We were trespassing.”

“Pshaw.” Stiles backed out of the lot with the headlights off, and didn’t turn them on until they were back on the road. He reached over to squeeze his knee. “You’ll forget all about the trespassing and theft when we’re carving.”

Derek was never going to forget tonight, but not for the crimes.

They snuck their loot into the house like a couple of teenagers out past curfew. Stiles gleefully snapped out a plastic tablecloth and spread some newspapers on the kitchen floor while Derek dug out the carving tools he’d optimistically bought in late September.

The carving process was…long. The bowls filled with seeds and guts, Stiles became delirious and giddy and sloppy from lack of sleep, and the kitchen smelled like damp pumpkins. By dawn, Derek was feeling out of it himself.

“Just one left,” Stiles said, spreading pulp between his fingers and hands like spider webs. He held it out to Derek, then laughed wildly at whatever expression he made.

He turned the last, gutted pumpkin around so he could see what stencil Stiles had put on it. The paper was pasted to the front from the sticky pumpkin juice. He snorted. “Really?”

“Think you don’t have the skills?” He smirked.

“I can carve this.”

“Okay…” He was very obviously trying to goad him; the annoying part was that it was working.

Derek blamed sleep deprivation.

By eight AM, sunlight was streaming bright and strong into their kitchen. Stiles was slumped against Derek’s back, snoring gently into his shoulder. Derek’s fingers were cramping. He dropped the carving tool and flexed his hand, admiring his work

.He moved his shoulder. “Stiles.”

He groaned. “No…”

“Stiles.” He shrugged again, jostling him. “I finished.”

There was a snuffle against his shoulder, then a noisy yawn. “You huh?”

“Finished the pumpkin.”

Stiles scrambled then, arms wheeling and legs kicking as his tired brain tried to get all of his limbs moving together. He gaped at the Wolf Man pumpkin. “Oh, that is the best one.” He reached for it, then stopped, staring aghast at the dried pumpkin stuck to his hands.

Derek looked around their kitchen with dawning horror, realizing for the first time what a mess they had made. There were pumpkin guts on the lower cabinets. On the floor. On the fridge.

Stiles reached out and peeled some off of Derek’s cheek. He laughed softly and took his face between his palms, pulling him in for a sweet, sleepy kiss. “You go shower. I’ll clean this up.”

“There’s too much,” he said with a tinge of hysteria. “You haven’t slept. We haven’t slept and it’s on the cabinets-”

Stiles kissed him again. “Go shower and I’ll get started. Can’t make progress if we panic and never start, right?” He squeezed Derek’s face lightly, then let go.

Derek reluctantly left him to begin the cleanup, shuffling to the shower in a daze.When he was clean and dressed, he returned. The kitchen wasn’t spotless, but much more manageable. Pumpkin guts had been cleaned from all surfaces and tossed, the tools were in the sink for cleaning, and the seeds were washed and drying on a cookie sheet.

Stiles was bundling the tablecloth around the stained newspapers when Derek found him. He tilted his head up and smiled. “Just need to add the tea lights, then put them on the-”

Derek pulled him to his feet and kissed him in one motion, keeping his arm locked around his waist. Emotions welled up in his chest, a tangle of gratitude and love and fond exasperation, squeezing his heart until he thought it would burst. He cupped Stiles’s face with one hand, kissing him until his own knees went weak.

“Well,” Stiles panted when he pulled back at last. “Maybe we should carve gourds more often.”

Derek snorted. “Thank you for breaking into a pumpkin patch for me.”

Stiles smiled, his eyes hazy with exhaustion. “Anytime, anywhere, anything.”

“You just like trespassing.”

He looped his arms around his waist, melting against his chest. “Always seems to end well for me.” He nipped his chin playfully.

Derek growled softly.

“Let’s go set the pumpkins out and go to bed.”

They put them along the porch steps, with the Wolf Man pumpkin at the top, then retreated into the house, though it was a couple hours before they slept.

Derek woke up to a second place ribbon stuck to the stem of his Wolf Man pumpkin and a grainy still from security footage pinned under the wipers of his car.

Stiles laughed himself silly at both and made Derek pose for pictures with the pumpkin.

He loved him a lot. But he was definitely dumping pumpkin guts over his head later.

[shady-scripter]

The Shine of the Moon

Astrin belongs to me

Mossie belongs to @vio-starzz

These are OCs from a very cool rp discord server that needs to be revived because-🥺🥺

He knew that he’d find fae here. Alone. As usual. So he joined them on the rooftop under the dim white light of the moon.

Their legs dangled off the side. Part of Astrin thought that leaning over even a little would make him fall. He leaned over anyway.

He wished that he had brought wine or his cigarettes, but he was more keen on finding Mossie. He remembered the Mossie also drank.

There were times like that when he had to remember that they were immortal. Then there were times that he had to remember that he, too, was immortal, tied to the overworld until it was inevitably destroyed. And his life will continue even after that. So will Mossie’s.

He finds himself chuckling at his own grueling thoughts. He catches the glance Mossie gives him. He shows fae a smile, but his eyes didn’t match his face.

“You up here thinking too?” Mossie nodded. Mossie was usually thinking. Sometimes it was about how much of a monster they were, but no matter how much Astrin explained how similar they were, Mossie would never believe him when he called himself a monster.

Mossie went back to looking up at the moon. Astrin sighed. He didn’t really know how to be an older brother. It also made it harder that he technically wasn’t the oldest here.

He tried to remember his older sister, but when he did, the bitter memories of his mother came with it. He remembered when he would be beaten and his sister would stand to the side and watch as he screamed for her. What kind of sibling would stand and watch as their sibling was forced to bleed?

Not Astrin. That’s one thing he knew for sure. He’d die before he ever allowed anyone to take his siblings’ blood.

He sighed. How was he supposed to work with Mossie? He acted differently around everyone individually. Around Cyrus, he could be the weirdest man alive, but around Callahan, he needed to act strong and like the assassin that he is. All of that just to get the tiefling’s respect and yet, he’s not even sure if he’s earned it yet. Probably not.

Mossie raised fae’s hands and started signing. “Why are you up here?”

Astrin contemplated whether he should speak or sign. Most of him chose to be non-verbal for now. “I came to check on you.”

“Why?”

Astrin hesitated signing because I love you, it would probably make things weird or Mossie might run away. The last thing he needed was that panic he felt when Mossie disappeared. He remembered the first time it happened, when he had spilled all of his feelings to Belle and Rowena on the bloody bathroom floor. Only by the grace of the gods did those two not spill everything to the others.

He shook his head and tried to think about another response.

“Because I wanted to make sure you weren’t gone again.”

“Why does it matter if I’m gone or not?”

To Astrin, it felt like Mossie was fishing for an I love you, and it killed him internally.

“I told you before that I care about you.”

“But why?!” Mossie spoke. Fae’s voice was barely over a whisper.

Because I love you. The words were at the tip of his tongue. He opened his mouth, searching for a different response, but it took him too long.

“You don’t even have a reason! You can’t just…love everyone!”

“I don’t love everyone. I love only two or three people in this world.”

“Who are?”

“Cyrus, you, and-“

“Jaz, the same guy that walked right out of here without a single word.” Astrin paused, recoiling from what fae said. He felt a weight in his body drop. He felt heat rise into his face. The bluntness of fae’s voice angered him.

“Love is complicated Mossie!” He didn’t mean to shout.

Mossie stared at Astrin. He took a deep breath and prayed for his anger to dissolve. He looked down at the ground that awaited him when he eventually fell off of the roof.

“I’m sorry,” Astrin whispered, feeling tears start to swell.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Mossie shake fae’s head. He assumed that fae was disappointed in him. Who wasn’t at this point? “I’m sorry Mossie.”

But fae was right. How could you love someone who just left? How many days could you live in denial before you finally accepted that they were gone and they were never coming back?

He felt fae pat his back and another flare of anger sparked. He signed, wiping the loose tears away. He straightened himself and decided to stare at the moon.

“You know,” Mossie spoke. “I think that you’re like the moon…”

Astrin chuckled. “And that means?”

“You rely on others to be seen.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

[alildritten]

HAHA There is no schedule for my shenanigans I guess. So, uh, yeah. Chapter 20 folks! WOOHOO! I’m surprised I’m still doing this! I didn’t give up on it yet! Yay! Anyway.

Text like this: text is Nova thinking thoughts in their little brain. Click “keep reading” to read!

Start / Prev / Next

———————————————————————

Chapter 20: Occurences

Gregory burst into the daycare, yelling to get in the air. Both Sun and Moon jumped, scared by the sudden commotion. Nova panicked and grabbed both of them, and starting using the wire.

“NOVA!” They halt, realizing they grabbed the twins, one of which already can use the wire, and left Greggory on the ground.

Nova drops back down, accidentally putting both brothers on the ground, but grabbing Greggory.

Moon, already panicked enough, did not react well. They were on the verge of a mental breakdown, and Sun wasn’t helping the fact. Both were extremely scared, and paranoid of the other at this point in time.

“For pity’s sake, Sun doesn’t have a wire, Mo-“ The daycare doors are flung open a second time. Moon frantically picks up Sun, and shoots upward. Nova spots Freddy entering the room. Good thing Greggory warned us in time…

The twin animatronics were both on the verge of a panic attack. Sun, being in such close proximity to Moon and also not able to get away safely. Moon, scared that something bad would happen to Sun and also from all the sudden commotion.

“This way, you two!” Nova hisses quietly, hoping Freddy wouldn’t hear. They snake towards the twin’s room. Moon follows.

Once they all enter the room and land, Sun runs to the opposite wall, as far from the others as possible. Moon curls up into a ball, shaking wildly and unable to function anymore out of stress.

“So, er, sorry about that.”

“It’s alright, Greggory. They’re just…. going through a few things. It’s probably best to leave them be for a little while.”

“Oh. Ok. So, yeah. Freddy has certainly changed, huh? Hehe… hah….” The kid laughs nervously.

“I think everyone has changed.”

“Well, not Roxy, Monty, or Chica. They’re all still aggressive.”

“They shouldn’t be. So yes, they have changed, you little sh_t.”

“Hey!” Greggory sticks up their middle finger.

“Why have you happened to show up both times this has happened?”

“What, this virus thing?”

“Yeah.”

“I dunno. I just… came here. Coincidence, I s’pose.”

“Mhm.”

“You don’t believe me? You really think that I would do this? First, I’m still a f__king kid! And second, why would I? WHAT REASON WOULD I HAVE?”

“I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE YOU’RE TRYING TO GET US ALL DECOMMISSIONED!”

“FREDDY WAS MY FRIEND!”

“YEAH? BUT THE REST OF US WEREN’T, WERE WE? I ACTUALLY TRIED TO HELP YOU, BUT YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!”

“HOW WAS I TO KNOW YOU ACTUALLY WERE HELPING ME, AND NOT BUILDING UP FAKE TRUST?”

“How was I to know you were really just a sh_tty little kid…?” Nova growls, clearly upset.

“F__k you.” Greggory says indignantly.

“F__k you, you little f__king sh_tbag!” Nova snaps back.

“S-shut up, b-both of you!” Both look over at Sun.

“He started it!”

“WHAT? That’s not true! Nova started it!”

“I did not!”

“Did to!”

“Did not!”

“Did to!”

“I SAID SHUT IT!” Both look back over at Sun again. They have their hands over their mouth, looking shocked. “I-I m-mean, quit arguing…” They fidget nervously.

“But-“ Greggory and Nova say, in sync.

“N-No buts! I-I don’t want to hear it!”

“Fine…” Nova groans, while Greggory makes a “Hmph.” sound.

Sun turns towards the nervous heap on the floor that is Moon. “Moony? A-are… are y-you alright?”

…

Moon makes a whining noise, quietly rocking back and forth. Nova sighs, sitting down next to them.

“If it helps, I’m here. Everything’s fine. It’s all r-“

“NOTHING IS ‘FINE!’” Nova gets startled by the sudden loud response.

“Yes, it is. None of us got hurt, now did we?”

“B-but I’m h-here! YOU’RE ALL IN DANGER!”

“No, we’re not. Well, not because of you, at least.”

“BUT M-MY CLAWS! THEY HURT!”

“They can, yes. Only if you use them. And you now have the choice not to, if Greggory is to be believed.”

“What? We got rid of the virus, right? So we don’t have to worry. Well… we might, if Freddy finds a way up here.”

“The wall is too smooth, it can’t be climbed. And Freddy isn’t known for great jumping abilities.”

“The only way to get up here from the ground is jumping, like Sun does. Or a ladder…” All of them fall silent, hearing Freddy’s steps go clunk…. clunk…. clunk…

“You don’t think he actually found a ladder, do you?” Greggory asks, a little nervous.

“Where would he find one that supports his weight? All of the ladders would be made for staff only, right?” Nova continues, also a little nervous.

Both turn to look at Sun.

“Right?”

———————————————————————

[stormkobra-5]

Red Handed, Part 3

Pairing: Moon Boys (Mostly Jake this time around) x fem!Reader

Fic Type: One-Shot Series

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Moon Boys Masterlist]

Summary: You’re expecting something sexy from Jake when things get bad for him. Luckily, you’re there to help him forget, although it doesn’t go quite the way you expect.

A/N: This was supposed to be extremely kinky, but ideas started flowing after seeing the below gif. It’s now much softer.

Rating/Warnings: 18+ NSFW, Minors DNI, switch!Jake, sub!Jake, softdom!Reader, softdom!Jake, hurt/comfort, I know I said that Jake would get the kinkiest bits but I’m feelin a lot of softness for Jake rn tbh, dry humping, oral (f and m receiving), 69, multiple rounds, multiple orgasms, unprotected PiV, praise, making out, softness, fluffy fluff, Jake having something like a panic attack, mention of blood/violence but nothing too graphic

Blue balling.

That’s exactly what was fucking happening here. Or, wait, what was the term for blue-balling on a female? Okay, so, Google doesn’t answer jack shit anymore. Blue vulva? Is that it? Who the fuck even cares at this point. You would just like to get railed into the next dimension by at least one of your boyfriends.

It’s been a whole damn week. A week since Steven had his way with you in that back alley, a week since you returned the favor and ended up pegging Marc as well.

A whole. Fucking. Week.

Sex wasn’t usually on your mind 24/7, okay? It wasn’t on any of your minds 24/7.

Not until Jake– you called him a bitch for this– slipped his hands under your skirt at dinner, edging you to the brink so many times you couldn’t even see straight, and then. And then. Fucking… taking you home and going to sleep. “Not tonight, princesa, I’m too tired.”

“Well can’t you at least use your fingers?”

He’d chuckled at that. “Needy needy, aren’t you?” And then he was out like a light. Or, he pretended to be.

He knew you wouldn’t try anything with him even potentially asleep, not without his consent.

He also knew you wouldn’t try to relieve yourself, because compared to what the boys gave you, it was next to nothing. And you were too fucking stubborn.

Now, six days later, and none of them have done more than merely cuddle you. If you try to grind on his thigh or seduce him into bed, Marc will just smile and say, “Not in the mood right now, baby. I think you sexed me out for a couple days.” Steven was a little easier, although it was also worse for both of you. You just got so fed up with it that you straddled him, and before you knew it he had you pinned to the floor while dry fucking you to the brink of oblivion, apparently feeling depraved himself, before Jake forced himself to the front and tore himself off of you. “Nice try, gatita. Be patient.” As if you couldn’t hear him getting off in the bathroom. You’re pretty fucking certain he was moaning extra loud on purpose.

That was yesterday.

Today you’d just decided– fuck it. You’ll do it yourself. If he wants to be a prick, so be it. But as you opened the front door, your plans– and your horniness– flew right out the window.

“Jake!”

He sat on the couch, face in his hands, knuckles bruised and busted. He jumped when you shouted his name, eyes wide enough for you to see how black and dilated his pupils were– and the rest of the damage on his face. Bruised, bloodied, busted lip and temple, a long-since ruined bandage taped to the bridge of his nose. His driving clothes— the tux shirt and the tight black jeans— were covered in blood. The dark crimson liquid lazily oozed from the puddle of his jacket, his favorite hat tossed haphazardly to the other end of the couch. He looked like he’d been caught red-handed– which, technically, he had been. “Y/N…” He breathed. “Mierda… You weren’t supposed to be home yet, princesa.”

You didn’t say anything. You dropped your bag and raced to the bathroom, where you started scrambled for the first aid kit and a rag. You ran back out to a bewildered Jake. You didn’t dare mention the suit. You knew that he didn’t like to use it, didn’t like to be reminded of his servitude to Khonshu.

When you returned to kneel in front of him, regardless of the blood, Jake started pawing at your shoulders in a weak attempt to make you stand. “Amor, your clothes— you’ll ruin your clothes.”

You took his face in your hands, trying to search his eyes for any sign of physical pain— you knew by now to expect the mental toll that came with what Khonshu asked of him. It was a desperate, vain move to try and keep your tears stifled, your voice hardly a whisper as you gently wiped dried blood off his face. “Jake, honey… who did this to you?”

He still wasn’t used to this. To your tenderness. Your kind touches, gentle and soft, when all he has known was hits and blows. A combination of Steven and you, sweet, loving, you had helped him understand this. Helped him understand love. But he only understood it. That didn’t mean he was used to it.

So Jake— the very same midnight vigilante that had just literally broken the skulls of two men in an alleyway— crumpled into your caresses, pulling you flush against him and burying his face in your neck. He’d made you worry, and he didn’t like that. You didn’t deserve to worry. You deserved the world handed to you on a silver platter, garnished with all the stars in the sky and the moon as a side. His fists clenched in your shirt and your hair as he tried to anchor himself, tried to convince himself that yes, you were real.

“It’s not my blood,” He choked out, “it’s not my blood. It’s not my blood, it’s not my blood it’s not my blood it’s not my blood no es mi sangre no es mi sangre. no es mi sangre—“ He lost himself in an endless spiral of terror that he could only face with you. The only thing that mattered. The only thing he cared about besides Marc and Steven. The only other person in the entire universe that he loved. That he had never allowed himself to let go and love with, isolating himself except when ruining you in bed. Because he didn’t want to admit that. He didn’t want to be that vulnerable.

You held him. Cradled his head against your chest with a low sound of sincere sympathy as his chants of promising you that it’s not his blood break into choked sobs of relief. He’s home. He’s with you.

And he’s been horrible to you.

This past week he’s been an absolute dick to you. He’s put off your pleasure, and for what? Just for an explosive release with that new vibrator he had Marc buy? You’d been asking him, begging him, all damn week and he’d denied you. What if you get tired of it? What if you leave because he’s being a jackass? Marc and Steven don’t deserve to lose you too because of his reckless behavior. Such a small thing, and yet Jake felt it profoundly. You deserved to have love made to you whenever you want it.

“Lo siento mucho,” He apologizes, and he’s so distraught that he doesn’t realize that he’s trying to make amends in Spanish. “Lo siento mucho, amor, por favor, perdóname.”

Luckily, you’ve been around Jake long enough to understand most of what he says. “Oh, Jake… what are you apologizing for, sweetheart?”

“For being such an ass. You didn’t deserve being teased like that all week, you didn’t, I was awful to you and I’m so sorry mi amor—“

You pulled back, taking his face very gently in your hands, careful of his bruises, and kissed him softly. He emitted a soft sound of surprise, then relief.

Then Jake Lockley melted.

His whole tense body relaxed into your touch, pressing into you at the same time he pulled you as close as humanly possible. Despite his busted lip he kissed you desperately, running his tongue softly along your bottom lip and asking for entrance— asking wasn't something that Jake did. His shaking hands clutched tightly at your shirt on your back, pressing you closer to his chest.

You were unused to this. This gentle softness, usually reserved for Marc or Steven, was coming from Jake, who despised touch and thought the worst of everything, who expected you to leave them at any given moment. He was the protector of the system. Who was going to protect them if he were vulnerable? He never voiced these thoughts to you. You understood them through his body language, knew it from his alters. Understood from the alters that explained why Jake only fronts to fuck you into oblivion before disappearing again, otherwise only speaking to you briefly and then with short, curt words.

“Jake…” You breathed into the kiss, pulling back to look into his nearly-black eyes. It’s in halting Spanish that you say, “Voy a protegerte. Te voy a amar Y nunca, nunca te dejaré. Te amo, Jake. Te amo.”

Jake stared at you for several seconds, as if wondering if he had heard you correctly. As if he couldn’t believe it. You saw the redness in his eyes, then the tears, and then they fell; you wiped them away and kissed him slowly again, and he whispered against your lips te amo over and over.

Careful of his busted lip, you opened your mouth for him, letting his tongue slip in and trace yours, trail along every tooth and lick at the insides of your cheeks. Jake kissed you slowly, sensually, savoring you and your love. His breaths come in shuddering sob-hiccups that you tried to shush between kisses, pushing your tongue around his and deep enough into his mouth to make him moan.

He's still shaking.

“Jake,” You whisper into the small, minute spaces that occasionally appear between your makeout session, “It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, I promise; I’m never letting go.”

“Mi luz de estrella…” Jake breathed through his muffled sobs, pressing a deep kiss to your lips. He caressed your tongue with his, massaging it and pressing on it until neither of you could breathe. You broke apart briefly to gasp for air before diving back with more ferocity, teeth clashing and heated breaths mingling.

You felt Jake’s shaking hands reluctantly unclench from holding your shirt so tightly, your body pressing into his as his hands swept down and hooked under your shirt, only coming right back up to splay across your back. His fingers made something akin to claws, digging into your shoulder blades and ribs tightly enough to bruise— not with intent to mark you as was the usual, but as a cry for help. He was drowning in his own mind and he needed a lifeline, one which only you could provide.

His sobs turned to breathless whimpers and moans as he kissed you. You remained knelt between his legs, keeping a hold of his face for a moment before wrapping your arms around his neck. One of your hands reached down to trail up his spine, surprising you when he sharply sucked in a breath and licked deeper into your mouth, his soft moan unmistakeable. What was maybe more surprising was him practically arching his back at the touch, pressing his body into yours.

“Jake,” you whispered, pulling apart from the kiss enough to look him in the eye. If possible his eyes were bigger than before, very nearly black, kiss-swollen lips tinged slightly red from the blood of his busted lip. His face was flushed under his bruises, and as you pulled away from him he nudged his face against yours in a kind of desperate nuzzle, closing his eyes at the sensation of slotting his nose against yours. “Jake… Let me help you forget.”

Losing himself to your pleasure is one of the only things that helps Marc— he uses it as a grounding mechanism, proof that you’re still here and you still love him. It’s a rare moment in the bedroom where he trusts you enough to take complete control. Jake has never done that— even the once or twice you were pegging him, it was Jake in control of everything.

But you also didn’t want to take advantage of him. You needed him to know that you weren’t asking him this to get control over him; you didn’t want him to wake up in the morning and regret it. You were only trying to help, in one of the few ways you knew how with a man that didn’t like talking.

Jake held you tightly as he kissed you suddenly, deeply, messily, desperately. There wasn’t any of his usual hunger or demanding nature, only something akin to passion. Like he was trying to get as much of you as possible.

“Let’s go to the bed, hm?” You broke apart from him to say, running your thumbs gently over his cheekbones. “You don’t wanna do it on a chair, do you?”

Your little joke didn’t go to waste; Jake chuckled half-heartedly as his kisses trailed down your cheek to your neck, where he pressed his face into your skin, grazing his teeth here and there and nipping at your jawline. It was an effort to pull away from him enough to stand, guiding him after you and helping him to the bed. Jake gently pushed you down onto the mattress, crawling up your body to kiss you passionately. “Let me take care of you first.”

“What— Jake—“

He grabbed your wrists, and you expected him to put them over your head and tie you up; instead, he slid his hands further up, entwining your fingers with his as he slipped his hips between your legs. “Mi vida,” he breathed, “Let me take care of you. You waited all week, let me make you cum a few times first.” Any protests you might have made were cut off with a moan as he rolled his hips into yours firmly, pressing his growing bulge to your heat.

His eyes never left your face as he slowly ground into you, not relinquishing his hold on your hands. “You like it like that? Just like that?” You could do nothing but desperately nod. He kissed the backs of your hands, a curl falling loose to dangle on his forehead. Jake moaned softly as his hips increased the pace, and you felt a familiar warm glow bubble up in your core. You moaned his name, and he gasped as movements became more frantic. His head fell forward as his jaw went slack, eyes screwing shut with a deep groan in the back of his throat as he ground into you. The sight of him allowing himself to give in to the pleasure when he usually sought to control it made you shift your hips to meet his, triggering a stream of unexpected praise. “Oh, good girl, good girl, doing so good for me mi corazoñ…”

Jake’s hips yanked back from your sudden reciprocation of his movements before he continued to frantically pound his clothed erection into your aching core, shifting so that he could hold your hands on either side of your head and kiss you deeply. “Jake,” You whined, and Jake thought you meant it as a means of asking for more. His hand started to slide down to the waistband of your pants before you stopped him. “No, wait; can you flip over?”

“Huh?”

You couldn’t help but giggle at his raised eyebrow and confusion before repeating yourself. “Flip over. Onto your back.”

“Oh,” He flushed, and you realized he wasn’t used to being given orders. His eyes darted around nervously and his tongue darted out to wet his cracked lips. “B-but I wanted to make you cum first.”

“I can still cum,” You promised, and he reluctantly rolled off of you to lay beside you on his back. His little sharp inhale as you straddled his hips made you giggle again; tough, scary Jake was starting to sound like Steven.

“Mi alma,” Jake rasped as you ground into him; his head fell back into the pillows as you tried to situate yourself, testing different movements of your hips to see how he responded, his hands helping your movements as they settled on your waist.

And then you found it.

Back-and-forth, a combination of pressure coming from below before a pulling sensation from above, had Jake wailing beneath you.

His eyes rolled back as he pressed his head back into the pillows, writhing against you and bucking his hips to try and get more of you. “Oh, oh baby, just like that, just like that, ohhh, agh, ngh, agh, yes, yes, yes— just like that, yes, dios mio, yes!” You couldn’t help but smile, because Jake had never been so vocal, so loud. You took his hands as he had taken yours earlier, pinning them on either side of his head as you slowly ground into him the way he liked. He rambled incoherently in Spanish as you rolled your hips, twisting and writhing and bucking beneath you with a truly blissed-out look on his face. “Yes, ohhh, you perfect girl, yes, oh that feels so good, agh, don’t stop, please don’t fucking stop—“

You’d never seen Jake like this. The sight was enough to make your ecstasy driven closer faster, to see Jake of all people writhing under you. “Jake, baby— I need you to cum— can you cum for me?”

Your words sent Jake over the edge fast and hard. His pelvis shot up into you as you came, drenching him straight through your clothes— a week of no sex apparently did wonders for how powerful orgasms could be. Your vision blacked out for a second as you clenched on nothing, body spasming against your lover. Jake cried out brokenly as he reached his release, and you watched in awe as he turned his head with a blissful smile into where your hands connected, nuzzling, kissing, and biting gently at your wrist as he rode out his high, rutting into you breathlessly as he soaked through his pants. The warm afterglow of your orgasms allowed you to see how truly vulnerable Jake had let himself be. His eyes were closed. He was under you. He had given in to the lust he’d felt instead of demanding from it. Probably the most surprising of all was his face wiped free of worry. He was smiling as he nipped blissfully at your arm. You’d never seen Jake smile. Not once.

“Jake,” you whispered softly, although it took a couple tries to get his attention. He rolled his head around to look at you, his chest still heaving as he struggled for breath. He looked at you right now as if you’d hung all the stars in the sky, a romantic gaze you’d never witnessed on him. “Do you trust me?”

“More than anyone,” He answered immediately, taking that plunge without looking back once. Jake Lockley had just given you his heart, risking being broken and shattered and being unable to protect Marc and Steven.

You didn’t realize you were crying until he shook your hands off his wrists to take your face in his hands and kiss you with all the love he could muster. You didn’t realize that he’d flipped you both over until he broke the kiss to smile at you— a big, carefree smile that you belatedly understood was contagious. You wrapped his arms around his neck, kissing his smile. “I adore you,” He said, arms scooping under your torso to pull you close to him. He nipped playfully at any skin he could reach, making you squeal with barely-contained laughter as his attentions tickled you. You felt him beam into your neck, whispering “Mine,” with each kiss, bite, and lick he delivered. “Mine, mine, mine.”

“Mine,” You echoed, nipping at his ear. Suddenly Jake burst into deep laughter, burying his face in the crook of your neck. “What?”

“We sound like those damn seagulls in that Disney movie you watched with Steven,” Jake wheezed.

Your face screwed up as you tried not to bust out laughing. “You mean Nemo?!”

“Sí! That’s the one! Those damn birds, when they all flew into the sail?!” Your belly laughs turned into screeching giggles when Jake’s fingers dug into your sides, tickling you hard and pinning you when you squirmed. “Mine, mine, mine!” He imitated the seagulls before descending into playful growls, nestling his beaming face into yours.

“Jake!” You squealed, trying to stop the onslaught of his hands from assaulting you. You’d never seen such joy in his eyes as he wrestled with you on the bed, playfully snarling at each other; you tugged at the straps of his gun harness until they were piled somewhere beside the bed, discarded and forgotten. He pulled your jacket off your shoulders as he sat back on his heels and helped you into his lap to kiss you, his smile never faltering.

Your hands went under his shirt as his went to the backs of your thighs. He kissed you up under your jawline, sucking softly at your skin as you untucked and unbuttoned his shirt. “Mi corazoñ…” He shrugged off the pesky piece of clothing before cradling your head in one of his large hands, angling his head to kiss you deep and heated. His tongue battled with yours, breath mingling, as he used his free hand to work your shirt up and over your head, only breaking the kiss for a second before hurriedly returning to it once the shirt was flung somewhere in the room.

Jake’s hands slid down your back, making you moan and arch your body into his. He whimpered, unclipping your bra and flinging it aside carelessly before his hands returned to roam your bare torso, exploring, mapping your skin as he laid you back against the bed. His kisses tore your breath away, even as he pulled back to drag them down your jawline, sucking and biting on your neck as his nimble hands worked on getting your pants down. Yours were much less coordinated, trembling as you undid his belt.

Jake’s hips canted forward, trying to chase your touch when you grazed his crotch. His mouth captured yours in a searing kiss, tongue-first, with a soft moan in his throat. Your body arched up into him with a blissful sigh as he pushed your pants down, sweeping his hands underneath of you to grab handfuls of your ass and brought your pelvis up to meet his. You weren’t sure where to focus: on him devouring your mouth with insatiable hunger, or his arousal being ground into your soaking core.

There was an admittedly awkward struggle as you both squirmed out of your pants and underwear while trying not to separate very far from each other. Even a few inches seemed like too far, and Jake was clinging to you like a horny koala. He licked the shell of your ear, whispering breathlessly, “Can I taste you?”

You nodded so frantically there seemed to be a real danger of you getting whiplash, the action making him beam and chuckle against your neck. “Gracías, mi amor.”

He slid down your body, pressing loving kisses as he descended to the wetness between your thighs. He paused only to lick at your hard nipples, pulling on them gently with his teeth. His name escaped your lips as a faint whisper when he pushed your legs apart to bite and kiss your inner thighs gently— not even hard enough to leave black bruises, like he usually does. It’s gentle. He’s leaving marks, but not harsh ones. His attentions there had your aching heat throbbing for him, jealous of the love he was showing to the rest of your body and needing him urgently. “Jake, baby, please—“

“Shh,” He responded immediately, eyes flicking up to meet yours. “Shh, cariño. You don’t have to beg. You’ll never have to beg me for anything ever again.” You understood, then. Maybe your hurry to tend to his wounds had made him realize just how much you cared for him, and maybe he has finally accepted that his feelings for you are nothing like thinking you’re just his sex toy, as he would have led you to believe wholeheartedly if not for his alters. He doesn’t have to pretend that he’s only using you for a quick, rough fuck, just a release and nothing more. He’s worshiping you, trying to understand your body better and ensure you get all the pleasure you could ever need, the pleasure he believes you deserve.

Jake blew gently on your sex, making you gasp— he didn’t even hold your hips down very tightly. He rested his arms around your waist, steadying you but not stopping you. His little puffs of air were all the warning you receive before he slowly, sensually licked up your slit with a soft moan, black eyes fixated on your face. You gasped, hips bucking to try and meet the slow laps of his tongue. Jake surprised you by guiding your hips, helping you to grind against his face. His strong nose caught on your swollen clit and you nearly screamed, then again when his licking immediately ceased so that his mouth could capture the sensitive bud of nerves.

Your back arched into the air, eliciting some kind of loud gasp when Jake sucked hard on your clit. He hummed with satisfaction before pulling back to lap flat stripes up your heat, licking into your walls and around them with the eager motions of a man starved. You moaned and whined his name, urging him on, although it came out as something near to a scream when he inserted a finger into your dripping cunt, then two, moaning against you at the sensation of your walls squeezing his digits.

He sucked at your clit, tugging on it with his teeth before pressing his tongue flat to it. “Cum for me, mi vida,” Jake moaned into you, eagerly drinking from you as you soaked his face with your release. He tried to catch every drop possible on his tongue, pulling away slightly with a hum of satisfaction as he watched your pussy clench on nothing with a dazed look in his eye. “Tan hermosa…”

“Jake,” you writhed against his body, already craving more of him.

His hands found your waist as he lovingly kissed your hip bones, trailing kisses up to your neck. “Sixty nine?” Jake breathed against your skin, and your heart leapt into your throat. “Por favor?” Once again, Jake was asking. He was requesting something in bed when usually he simply took it from you. Not anymore. Jake was letting himself love you, and you were relishing the connection suddenly strengthening between the two of you. Your heart leapt into your throat as you nodded, pushing on his chest in a way to urge him to lay flat on his back.

Jake immediately complied, helping you shift around until you could straddle his face; you flushed at the position, but he didn’t give you much time to care. He almost instantly captured your core in a filthy open-mouthed kiss, lapping and sucking anywhere he could. The erotic gasp that left your mouth made him chuckle against your heat, his hands massaging your waist lovingly. “Mi amor,” he purred into you, the sound helping you to relax against him. You were concerned a bit for his breathing down there, but you knew that if he truly couldn’t, he’d simply lift you off of him.

As Jake pleasured you from below, you leaned down, dragging your teeth gently along the head of his cock before taking him as deep into your mouth as you could without gagging. The base you wrapped your hand around, squeezing and twisting gently as Jake moaned, bucking his hips slowly into your face. It wasn’t long at all before you felt another orgasm bubbling up in your lower stomach, Jake’s movements increasing in tandem with yours until quite suddenly, he lifted you clean off of him.

You yelped with surprise as he turned you around by your hips so that you faced the headboard and the wall, setting you down on his bare chest. He reached up to caress your face, only adoration in his gaze as he stared up at you. “I don’t want to finish yet. I…” he swallowed hard, licking his lips. “Can I finish inside you, princesa?”

Jake never finished inside you, except for your mouth. Steven once told you that Marc had felt the same way, that cumming inside you like that meant a deep level of intimacy that they hadn’t been ready for yet at the time. Steven had risked it, taken that plunge with you, and then Marc had. So far you'd never given them any reason to regret it, and you didn’t plan on it. But Jake… He’d always finish on you, aside from your mouth, careful to pull out every time so that not even a single drop ended up in you.

Your hands cupped his face as you kissed him deeply. “You really want that?”

Jake nodded. Almost frantically.

You smiled and shifted so that you could kiss him more easily, before allowing him to roll you both over. He positioned himself between your legs as he pressed a smiling kiss to your lips. “Te amo, mi vida.”

“Te amo, Jake,” you breathed, sharply sucking in when his thick cock probed your dripping entrance. It was always a stretch for your boys, with their impressive size— lengthwise and girth-wise. So when he began to sink in— slowly, instead of his usual swift bottoming out— you audibly gasped. “Should I slow down?”

“No,” you wrapped your arms around his neck. “No, you’re doing so good for me, Jake.” He moaned at that, pushing himself deeper at a steady pace until he was completely sheathed inside of you. Your moans and gasps filled the room; you knew that anyone walking by the flat would have no trouble at all discerning exactly what it is that you’re doing in here, especially with Jake’s begging earlier. “Jake, baby, you feel so good…”

Jake hissed near your ear, gently rocking his hips into you at a slow grind. You felt him deep within you, his head bumping against something devastating inside you with every roll of his hips. His mouth captured yours in a heated kiss, his tongue sliding against yours slowly in a sensual dance.

You felt that familiar golden glow of tension in your lower belly, bubbling up from your core. “J-Jake—“

He deepened his kiss in answer, knowing exactly what you needed. His hand snuck between your bodies to graze where you were connected, massaging you there and making you moan loudly into his mouth. Taking advantage of your slack jaw, he pushed his tongue deeper into your mouth as the pad of his thumb found your clit, rubbing slow and catastrophic circles over it that had you seeing stars.

Your bodies writhed against each other, arching and pressing and squirming to get more of each other. Faint breathless whispers of your names permeated the room, mixing with the thick smog of sex and desperate panting. When Jake’s hips increased their pace, you shifted your pelvis to meet each of his thrusts, making him almost shout. “Princesa… I-I’m close, I need you to cum; cum with me, mi vida—“

You followed Jake’s desperate plea without hesitation, crying out as your body spasmed and clenched down hard on him. Jake’s hips snapped into yours with a Spanish curse punched from his lungs as he came, pulsing into your walls with a strangled groan.

You sank into each other’s embraces as you rode out your highs, gasping and trying to catch your breath. In the post-sex glow, you were vaguely aware of Jake sitting up on his elbows over you as his breathing slowed. It was a little difficult to open your eyes, but you managed it; and Jake, eyes filled with adoration, stared down at you questioningly. “...I want to take you out to dinner. Somewhere nice. If that’s okay.”

The way he hit his lip nervously, as if you’d deny him… You pulled him close, allowing him within range to kiss you softly. “Of course that’s okay. You don’t have to ask.”

“...Actually, I kind of do. How else would you know that I’m making reservations somewhere?”

You playfully smacked his shoulder, making him smile into the side of your face, pressing kisses along your cheek and temple. “Te amo, te amo, te amo.” His lips found yours again, and he nudged his nose against yours.

“Love you more,” You whispered confidentially into his ear.

“Impossible,” Jake leaned up again, tapping your nose with his index finger. “Literally impossible. I love you to the moon and back.”

“That’s a stupid pun—“ You scoffed and spoke over him as he tried to interrupt you. “And I love you more than all the stars. There.”

“Well, I love you just as much, so… We’re even,” Jake’s face slowly burst into a broad grin, and he chuckled. “I can’t believe we just went that fucking sappy.”

“We’re just that in love,” You pointed out as he kissed the corner of your mouth with a soft hum.

“So… It’s a date? Dinner at 7? Should I pick you up at your place? I mean I know you live here, but I can just drive around the block until you’re ready.”

“Jake!” You giggled into his hold, tugging gently on his messy curls. “You’re such a dork!”

“Hm, well. You’re no different, cariño.”

“True.”

Your laughter descended into calm, where Jake stared into your eyes and searched your face, deft fingers tracing your features and memorizing you. “...Te amo, mi vida.”

You returned his slow kiss, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Te amo… Mi alma.”

Jake smiled broadly into the kiss. “Thank you. For everything… For loving me. Us.”

You scoffed in disbelief, kissing him again. “Don’t thank me, Jake. If anything, I should be thanking you. You three are too good for me.”

“We’re not good enough,” Jake insisted into the skin of your neck. “We’re a fucking mess, mi luz de estrella.”

“You’re my mess,” you corrected. “And I’m your mess.” When he opened his mouth to argue, you cut him off, issuing a tap to his back with each admonishment. “Ah ah ah!” He pulled back to pout at you. “Nope. No more words outta you. Unless they’re happy.”

His mouth twisted into a smirk. “Happy. Happy happy happy.”

Jake burst into deep laughter when you lightly punched the shallow of his shoulder, pulling you with him as he rolled over onto his back. “You know what I meant!”

“I did. You’re just fun to mess with.” He pulled you close enough to kiss before helping you sit up. “Come on, mi corazoñ. Let’s get you to the bath.” He hissed when he pulled out of you, making you yelp. “Sorry; don’t worry, I’m gonna make you feel good. In a completely non-sexual way.”

You giggled without reserve into his neck as he picked you up and carried you to the bathroom, whispering promises of how well he’s going to treat you; and despite how many times you told him to stop, he still sprinkled little thank yous in there.

———

In the headspace, which duplicated the flat, Steven meandered around after reading another book and getting bored. Marc watched an old game on tv, taking no notice as Steven searched the rooms for something to do with no avail. With a heavy sigh, he decided to attempt co-fronting with Jake for a little bit, wondering what he was up to. Nothing illegal, I hope.

Steven frowned when he realized that Jake wouldn’t let him front. Immediately, he whipped around to look at Marc. “Oy! Marc! You tried fronting at all?”

Marc paused the game, making Steven’s jaw drop a little. Marc never paused a game, even if he’d seen it a million times. Never. “Oh shit. What happened?”

“Jake got hurt,” Marc replied, and Steven’s stomach dropped. “Y/N seen him.” Steven’s stomach dropped even further. “I was co-fronting for a few minutes, ready to take over for him… but Jake decided to admit how he feels to Y/N.” Steven’s stomach shot back up. He was surprised he was even still oriented enough to stand. Marc glanced at him pointedly, taking a sip of his coke. “Yeah. So uh… he went soft for her. Finally.”

Steven made a face like he was trying not to laugh. “That’s not a good thing for sex…”

Marc put his face in his hands. “Oh my god, Steven, you know what I fucking meant.”

“I did,” Steven nodded with a shit-eating grin, plopping down on the other end of the couch. “But that was just asking for a comment.”

“You’re learning too much from Jake,” Marc snapped, flipping the game back on with a frown.

“And you’re not learning enough,” Steven quipped, head tilting to the side. “I’m glad Jake’s finally telling Y/N how he feels, mate, but what about you?”

“What about me?” Marc was confused, Steven could tell. But he’s been thinking about how to help his alter for days. He’s not going to pass up the perfect opportunity to bring it up.

Steven faced him on the couch. “It took you how long to grow the balls to let yourself get pegged?” At Marc’s grimace, Steven hurriedly continued. “Why don’t you indulge in some of your other fantasies?”

“Like what?” Marc acted appalled. As if Steven wasn’t pretty much privy to his thoughts 100% of the time.

“Liiiiike, letting her tie you up? Letting her do whatever she wants to you? Blindfold you? Cuff you? Make you scream?”

“Shut up, man!” Marc snapped, aghast and flushing up to his hairline. Steven guessed that he probably hadn’t realized that he could hear him most of the time.

Steven struggled to keep from smirking. “Ight mate, that’s your choice. But whatever. I’m sure you can just sneak into the body whenever one of us tries that with her and we’ll let you take control.” With that, Steven left the couch and went back to his books, smirking to himself a little. The implication that Marc was being a coward would surely get him to act on his little fantasies. Honestly, between him and Jake, they’d been trying to get Marc to gather up the courage for ages now. His pining was making them feel bad for him.

Questioning his bravery was sure to do the trick.

Thanks for reading!

———

Spanish Translations (according to Google :|)

Gatita— kitten

Princesa— Princess

Mi amor— my love

Mierda— fuck

No es mi sangre— it’s not my blood

Lo siento mucho, amor, por favor, perdóname— I’m so sorry, love, please, forgive me

Voy a protegerte. Te voy a amar Y nunca, nunca te dejaré. Te amo, Jake. Te amo.— I’m going to protect you. I will love you and I am never, never going to leave you. I love you, Jake. I love you.

Mi luz de estrella— my starlight

Mi vida— my life

Mi corazoñ— my heart

Mi alma— my soul

Dios mio— my god

Cariño— sweetheart

Tan hermosa— so beautiful

Sí— yes

Gracías— thank you

———

Tags: @dameronsknight @sylkisdagger @atzlena @gucciboots @pastel-0-princess @poeticsorcery @rosaren2498 @love-on-the-murder-scene @wintergirlsoilder2 @blackcat-midnight-thatsme @multifandomsw @bookloverfilmoholic @khaotic-kris @hb8301 @soggumm @simonsbluee @adamcarlsenslvr @bluestuesday @magnet-girl @rosellacwrites @dweeb-central @ilymorepls @drwhofangirl1963 @loonymagizoologist @auszimbo @tealrivers @later-gators12 @izbelross @xcatnapsx @child-of-the-moon-gods @djarinsgirl27 @sokoviansorceress @eerievixen @cold-buffet-ham @upbeat-cascade @stark-kirk-rogers-grant-blog @candydancey @rqmanoff @jakelcckley @sharin4readers @lovely-cryptid @marc-spectorr @rmoonstoner @oscarisaacsspit @moonknightyws @hopefulfangirl24 @local-mr-frog @daawnsutopia @marc-spectorr @lovely-cryptid @poeticsorcery @evilcherries @smalls155 @kpopslur

[zodiyack]

Voice

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Female!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, PTSD mention, I think that’s it

Words: 1,797

Summary: Tommy wants to spend the rest of his life with Y/n. A peculiar little thing about life is that you never stop learning, and Tommy learns a thing or two, letting Y/n learn more about him in return...or is it him who learns from her?

Note: I suck at words, Tommy Shelby edition. And I couldn’t come up with a summary or title for this so know that if they don’t make sense together (or the story at all)...I know.

Taglist: @matth1w​, @redspaceace-writes​, @fandom-puff​, @darling-i-read-it​, @simonsbluee​, @sebastianstanslefteyebrow​, @captivatedbycillianmurphy​, @jenepleurepasbaby​, @stydia-4-ever​, @stuckysslag​, @marquelapage​, @i-love-superhero​, @psychkunox​, @tommyxshelby​

Masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist | Cillian Murphy Masterlist

The morning he met her was the first morning of many that his genuinely eyes opened since the war. Trauma had changed his life for what he thought was a permanent turn for the worst, but upon meeting her, it seemed that heaven was within his grasp once more. Impossible, he thought at first. Yet, later, when he put more thought into it, perhaps his redemption was actually there.

So the next time he saw her, he took a deep breath, reminded himself that he was no longer a boy, and went for it. Alas, his confidence joined him under the definition of cowardice in the very least second; she titled her head, innocent eyes sparkling with curiosity as she awaited whatever he had to say. But no words left his lips. She snatched them away with something even Thomas didn’t know of.

“Are you alright?” She asked, the concern in her voice lifting his spirits high as a warm feeling entered his body. It was the first time in what felt like centuries that a feeling as happy as that coursed through him.

It was also the first time that he was left without words. He tried, opening his mouth as if it were as easy as that to get the things he needed to say out, but he was still without anything but air.

“Sir?” Her brows furrowed. He couldn’t tell whether she was getting annoyed, scared, or just overly frightened for him, but he closed his mouth and reminded himself to breathe. Do not forget to breathe.

Was he sure he was a man? Or was he a boy once again? The same boy before the war who would blush and flirt teasingly, who held so much joy that his cheeks hurt.

And then it happened.

A smile grew upon his lips and he nodded.

A chuckle of relief left her mouth and she lifted her hand to her chest, resting it over her heart. “Oh thank fucking god- I admit, I was rather worried there. For both you and I!” She averted her eyes for a split second before redirecting them to his. “If you aren’t in any trouble... Is there anything I can help you with?”

The words were still lodged in his throat. So he did the only thing he could think of and sheepishly shook his head, turned, and left.

More interactions occurred between the two until one day, when she showed up at his office in search of a job. Lizzie knocked at his door, announcing that he had an appointment.

“Send ‘em in.” He replied lightly, not even lifting his eyes from the paper in front of him. Lizzie took a second, waiting for the moment that would never come- the one where he took a second away from work to actually look people in the face, but gave in with a sigh and closed the door.

“Go on in, hon.” She nodded her head to the door, returning to the typewriter and resuming her work.

It was silent aside from Lizzie’s typing. The click clacking of the keys, letters stamping the ink onto the paper, the quickness of her fingers at work. Y/n got lost in it momentarily before the noise suddenly ceased. Lizzie lifted her head, a brow quirked as she stared and waited for Y/n to enter Thomas’ office.

“Finally. Ahem, I suppose you’re here for...” Tommy started when the door squeaked open again but trailed off when he finally lifted his head. He couldn’t blink away the surprise, not this time. She truly caught him off guard.

And, apparently, him her.

“So he speaks? ...Ah- my apologies! Yes, Mr. Shelby, I’m here for a job...and, not on the topic of occupation, I would like to mention that you have a lovely voice. I think I’d enjoy hearing it more often.”

She definitely heard more of it.

Tommy gave her the job, and with it, a relationship. At first they were strictly boss and employee, but soon, it sparked into something more. Friendship. Good friendship. Close Friendship. 

Then ...Romance.

The day came where Tommy learned a lesson or two about love from someone he deeply admired and respected. Someone close, someone he loved but not in the way he did Y/n. Polly Gray payed her nephew a visit and taught him the thing he dreaded but knew he’d have to face eventually.

“If you want her to some day be your wife, then you have to let her in!” She’d taken a liking to Y/n as well. After all, she was technically Y/n’s boss as well, so she met the woman and didn’t hesitate in accepting their relationship. “She knows what you let her about this business, but one day she’ll either want to know more or find out on her own accord.”

Pol wasn’t just talking about business. She meant honesty in every way he could describe it. The depressive sides he hid from even his family, his brothers whom suffered the same aside, and so much more the world had yet to see. He could either hide it or show her, but one day it would come into the light.

It was true, and unpleasantly so. The downside to being part of the Peaky Blinders was one that came with life in general; Love wasn’t easy. If he wanted, he could just force Y/n out of the country, forget about her, and move on. She’d be safe and he’d be happy knowing she was, but deep down, he was too much of a coward to do something like that. Too afraid of what could happen to her, to her feelings, to his own...

So Tommy listened and grew a metaphorical pair. The night he planned on opening up to her, an uneasy feeling nagged at his gut. This was his one shot. His shot at being with the love of his life, creating a family and knowing what it feels like to be loved by someone, and not in a platonic way. He held onto the feeling she gave him and used it to power his courage.

“Are you alright, Tommy?” Her gentle hand that previously combed through his hair came into contact with his jaw. Not harsh, but gentle. Softly guiding his head, she forced his bright blue orbs to meet hers. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Her hand moved up slightly to caress his cheek. Thomas leaned into her touch, closing his eyes and reveling in the moment. He truly felt youth envelope him whenever he was with her. His demons faded as if they never existed in the first place every time her presence was with his.

Then, he lifted his hand to meet her wrist. He took the other with the same grip and opened his eyes, looking into her with the same admiration she had only mere minutes ago. “I know.”

“Then tell me...what’s bothering you?”

Tommy thought for a second, but just as the first time he tried to form words, his cowardliness came a ’nocking on his door. “It’s nothing, love. How ‘bout we sleep, yeah?”

Y/n hesitated but nodded, curling into his side and drifting off slowly. It took him a bit longer, but by midnight, the two were out cold. Of course, he never stayed asleep long. She didn’t know that, however. Tommy never let her stay the night until tonight, afraid of what she would think of his softer, more fearful side when he was too overwhelmed to hide it.

He awoke with a start, chest heaving heavily and breath so terribly uneven, one would think he were on the brink of death. That’s what he felt like. As though he were on the smallest ledge, seconds away from cracking down the part of which connected him too the land full of life and dropping him into the deepest pits of hell itself. Tommy’s nightmare woke Y/n too.

She was drowning in concern the second her eyes snapped open. “Tommy- Tommy!” He couldn’t help but panic, the PTSD too much for him, “Hey- hey, I’m here. Okay? It’s me.” she didn’t blame him. Instead, she gripped his wrists like he did hers and softly ushered him back into his calm state. Her whispers were reassuring and brought him back to reality, soothing his mind with powers similar to a siren’s.

“Y/n- I’m sorry-” He spoke hurriedly after she lit a candle- it provided them with enough light to see one another, not that the moon didn’t already do that enough.

“Don’t be. From the looks of it, this isn’t the first time this has happened.” She didn’t sound tired, not even a blink of sleep left in her eyes nor voice. “Tommy... Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tommy was a little taken aback by her lack of fear or other emotions like disgust, although he couldn’t quite think of a single reason as to why she’d feel that of all things, but answered her as honestly as he could. Just like Polly told him too. “I’m not sure... I was...cowardly. Though you’d be ashamed or something.”

She squinted at him, “Why on earth would I feel ashamed?”

A few seconds went by of his eyes darting around as he mentally searched for a possible answer and he came up blank. Thomas shrugged, “Fuck... I don’t even fucking know.”

They shared a chuckle, hushed but still very much real. Y/n caressed his cheeks again, tracing his beautifully sculpted features with gentle fingers.

“I love,” her eyes scanned his face lovingly, “every part of you. Whether you like a detail about you or not, I will love it with every fiber of my being. The good, the bad...the mildly confusing,” he chuckled with her, “I love it.”

Y/n pulled away from him and leaned him. She blew out the candle then readjusted her position under the sheets, squirming into Tommy’s side and resting her head atop his chest. It rose and fell with each breath he took, his torso lifting her head and dropping it as carefully as one would rock a baby.

“I’m here now, and I’m here to stay. We can either stay awake or, you can lie down with me and get through this shit together. Either way, I’m not letting you face anything else alone.”

“Y/n-” He was going to tell her that it was fine, shove another lie to hide his worries despite inevitable discovery.

“I mean it, Thomas. For as long as I live, you will never have to carry your struggles by your lonesome. So, in the morning, you can tell me what I’m gonna be helping you with.” She paused before cracking a smile. “After all, you know how much I love your voice.”

[hangekitty]

Hange x f!Reader Oneshot

Summary: Squad leader Hange is a very busy scientist, so having Moblit and Y/N on their team is a great benefit to their work; so much so that Y/N finishes Hange’s work so that they get time off! Little do they know that the socially awkward Y/N has a passion for astrology, so one night she works up the courage to take Hange star gazing!

Genre: Fluff, Smut 18+

Warnings: spanking, cunnilingus, fingering, swearing, 69-ing, this oneshot is GOOFY af

Universe: canonverse

Word count: 3.9k

A/N: This oneshot is based on the song Space Girl by Frances Forever, I love this wlw song so much I just had to. In this one shot Hange’s pronouns are she/they but I mostly use they/them pronouns! Although in the song the singer refers to her space girl as a ‘cancer’ (astrological sign) I have left the reader’s sign ambiguous so you can insert yourself in! Also I don’t know how advanced the canonverse is with astrology, especially with astrological stories behind the constellations but we won’t focus on that its just a cute (probably inaccurate) oneshot. AFAB!Hange. I am so sorry it’s so long for a oneshot!! I just love them so much 🥺

When squad leader Hange Zoe is in the zone, they will work throughout the day and throughout night with no breaks and no signs of stopping; unless they quite literally pass out. If ever they got in that position of dropping at any moment, you and Moblit would be there to either complete the work or to catch Hange before they fall. You had always admired Hange’s determination and stamina, that alongside their eccentric personality, had you weak at the knees.

If you were honest with yourself, you had quite fallen head over heels for Hange the moment you saw them, their smile felt like a kick in the heart and a thousand butterflies in your stomach. It wasn’t until you helped Levi bathe Hange did you realise your feelings towards them, desperately looking away from their body with great embarrassment. Levi always rolled his eyes at your actions, but he’d usually have a faint smirk on his face as you try and wash them whilst attempting to keep your eyes closed. You and Levi were quite close, despite his quiet (and rather passive aggressive demeanour), a friendship with him was meaningful and he definitely cared more than he’d let on. He, alongside Moblit were the only ones that knew of your passions with astrology and space; he’d always say something like “it’s quite fitting, you’re head is either in the clouds or up Hange’s ass”. The funny little bastard.

Your captain would tease you regularly, especially when he noticed your longing stares; whether it be out on expeditions or back at HQ. He’d reach for your head and shake it, waking you up from your day dream. “Your obsessive pining will get you killed, scout” and “Keep it together space girl” were a regular thing Levi would say. You couldn’t help it, Hange was your moon and all the stars in the sky, all things you’d happily gaze at forever.

As mentioned, the bathing sessions were a great opportunity to get advice (and teased) from Levi. One bathing session he told you that he’s pissed off that you hadn’t revealed your feelings yet. How could you? Hange probably didn’t feel the same way, and neither did they have time for it! Changing the subject slightly, you would say “Poor Hange, always working so hard!”

Its true, Levi would usually have to knock them out to bathe them because they worked so much; you suppose the only ick that bothered you about Hange was their lack of hygiene - they just can’t help it. All of that energy dedicated to work, they rarely had any spare time to do anything else; but you were determined to make today different.

You heard of a meteor shower that was expected around 11pm that night, a spectacle you were adamant not to miss. You decided that if any time was the perfect moment to reveal yourself to Hange, tonight is the night. You day dreamed the whole day, picturing the two of you under the stars. Between paperwork, you would check regularly and calculate the time and position of the moon whilst the meteor shower happened; it had to be perfect.

“A waxing crescent” You whispered to yourself

“A what what?” Hange fluttered over to your table making you jump, you attempted to hide the paperwork of calculations; absolutely nothing must be revealed otherwise the surprise will be ruined.

“Squad leader H-H-Hange! I uhhh nothing!!” You stuttered, looking to their perfect, smiling face. You wanted to both die and dance at the same time, to grab them by their collar and kiss them passionately. Hange leans on your desk, looking at you with a cheeky grin.

“I do hope you’re doing your work scout! You don’t want to be working for 2 days straight like last time!”

“That won’t be the case tonight Hange!”

“Oh?”

“I recon if I work solidly for the next 2 hours I will be completely finished!”

“Really? Ugh I technically have like 4 hours left of paperwork too do, I don’t really even have time to scold you on how obviously distracted you are Y/N” Hange sighed, lifting their goggles up to pinch the bridge of their nose. Your eyes light up, seeing their face without goggles was just...

“Well if you give me part of your work, we will be both finished in 3 hours. Anything else that needs doing I will do!” You offered, Hange darts their eyes at you, an excited expression on their face. Without any warning they grab your hands into theirs and puts their face mere inches away from yours. Your face heats up, staring at their lips, you hold everything back from just leaning in to kiss them.

“You’d do that?? For me?? Well aren’t I lucky to have such a kind assistant!!!” Hange exclaimed

“If you both give me some of your work, I am happy to complete whatever’s left” you hear Moblit say across the table. Your eyes turn to him as he gives you a knowing wink. Gods bless Moblit. “That way you two get to leave early tonight, I hear there is some kind of astrological event on tonight”

Your face dropped, as much as Moblit was helping you, he must have looked at your notes as he walked past; nosy dickhead. Hange placed a hand under their chin and thought for a moment, before they had the chance to say anything about it (worrying they’d say its stupid or something) You stood up in your seat.

“Squad leader Hange! We can watch it tonight together if you’d like!!!” You blurted out, sounding more authoritative than you’d wanted. Hange’s eyes widen and observe your shaking body.

“But what about work?? I am sure after this paperwork needs doing they’ll be-”

“I’ll do it! Even if it means I work into the morning. It’s something that Y/N is passionate about so please!! I can always get Nifa or Abel or both to help me out!” You could hear the panic in Moblit’s voice. You take what you thought about him being a dickhead back, he’s doing you such a favour. The both of you look at each other and then back to Hange, trying to gage what their response will be.

A roar of laughter fills the room, followed by a long sigh. “As long as you are sure Moblit, that is real sweet” Hange turns to you and grabs your hand again. “Tonight’s a date then, what time and where?”

‘A DATE???’ You panic to yourself, did they really call this a date. You scream in your mind, wanting to just faint there and then. You collect your emotions and take your hand away from theirs, coughing into a fist. “10:15, walk south from the back entrance of HQ and head towards some bushes and the oak tree. I will meet you there” You said, you wanted to be far enough from HQ so you wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Sounds perfect! Now, lets get some work done!” Hange exclaims, sitting back at their desk and scribbling even faster than before.

The three of you continued to work, you were the first to finish and left the office to get changed into your casual gear. You pull out some perfume that you saved months up for from the market, it was a beautiful scent that you only used on special occasions. You looked in the mirror and hyped yourself up, “come on Y/N you are a lover and a fighter. Titan killer in the streets, pussy killer in the sheets” You slap yourself for saying something so embarrassing out loud.

Once dressed, you head out to the spot with blankets, pillows and a couple of lanterns; if you were to be there a while, you wanted to be comfortable. Once everything is laid out, all you had to do was wait. You felt the nerves building up, as time passed and drew near to Hange’s arrival, you had looked at all of your notes over and over. You lined star charts up and spotted all sorts of constellations to point out to Hange when they were there, you looked at the notes with all the stories behind the constellations and tried to identity any planets that were visible. You kicked yourself, wishing you’d be able to afford a telescope; apparently Saturn is aligned with Mars and that would have been an incredible sight to see.

You hear a noise behind you, oh lord here they come! You scramble at your notes, looking at the more complicated details and stuffing them into your bag.

“Y/N I could do with a little bit of help!!!” You hear Hange yell out, clear struggle in their voice. You stand up to see them behind the bush holding a very large telescope. You rush to their side and help carry it in front of the blankets.

“Hange! Where did you get this telescope from??” You exclaim with delight, Hange’s face blushes at your excitement and rubs their neck.

“Well after Moblit told me that you’re passionate about astrology, I took a deep dive into what is so special about tonight. A meteor shower right? And the planets Mars and Saturn?? Well so I uh....spent my savings on this baby to see it” Hange said awkwardly, your mouth agape and eyes wide, they spent all of their money on a telescope just for this?

You lunge forward and give Hange a massive hug with excited giggles. “Hange thank you so much!! It’s going to be so amazing I promise you!!!!”

Hange blushes wildly, resisting the urge to kiss you. “Well, it’s nice to see someone so excited over science just as I am, makes me feel a little less weird”

“Oh trust me, in school when we were taught about astrology I seemed to be the only person interested! I would spend hours just researching the constellations and zodiac signs! No one really wanted to be my friend, so uhhhh well I suppose I shifted my focus on Titan fighting and work with you and your science squad. It’s not space, sure, but I too felt lonely in my hobbies!” You explained, Hange’s heartstrings felt a tug, picturing you as a kid is just too cute.

The two of you carried on with conversation, you pointed to the sky and explained the stories behind the constellations. No matter how complicated the story or science, Hange seemed to want to know more and more; you even had to pull out your notes to answer their questions. In Hange’s mind, they had spoke about the science of titans for years and never bothered to ask you where your true passions lie. They questioned why they never asked, perhaps they were too nervous? Hange always put on a mask of being this optimistic, eccentric scientist and even acted cocky in front of you, but secretly they were just as insecure and shy towards you. They wanted to get to know you, but of course the element of dying at any point worried them; if they got too attached, especially romantically, it would hurt more. However, since the two of you are out there, looking at the telescope and talking so much, Hange’s fears lifted, even if it was for an evening.

Using the telescope, you pointed it in the direction of Mars and Saturn, both planets basically next to each other, a wonderful view to see. They weren’t super clear of course, the telescope wasn’t that powerful, but you could clearly see Saturns rings; something Hange got super excited over, asking you millions of questions. It wasn’t until the both of you sat down, waiting for the showers to come did you gulp and turn to Hange.

“Hange, I hope you don’t mind but I really would like to talk to you” You began, nervously fumbling with your fingers

“We’ve been talking all night??”

“AHH no I mean I have to say something okay. Please don’t say anything until I uhh finish because I just kinda wanna blurt it all out okay??” You really are stuttering and slipping up on your words, Hange gives a reassuring smile and nods. “Okay, I uhh...” You were interrupted by the meteors shooting across the sky. Mesmerised, you didn’t move your face away from Hange, just your eyes, they took this opportunity to lean in and kiss you. Your eyes widen in shock, what are they doing?? They’re going to miss the meteor shower! Despite this, you relax and close your eyes, leaning into them and deepening the kiss.

“Hange...”

“As you were sooo distracted, your turn has been cancelled. I’ll go first. Y/N I really like you, I have done for a while, and I know you and Levi bathe me together, and sometimes...sometimes I hear you”

“Ahhhh!!!!” You yell out in embarrassment, Hange lifts a finger to your mouth

“Ah ah ah, I am not finished yet! I find you breath taking, I even get so overwhelmed by the way you just stand there! It makes me want to work harder, so much so I would purposefully knock myself out so you could bathe me...oh gods that sounds bad. Not in that way I JUST REALLY ENJOY HEARING YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CAPTAIN!!!” Hange is now the one getting all flustered, waving their hands erratically. They didn’t want it to sound weird, but they aren’t exactly experienced in expressing their feelings.

“Hey no I get it, sort of...but yeah I really like you too and I guess I’ve never...I UGH words” You pathetically confess, earning a laugh from Hange.

“We’re not very good at this are we, space girl?” Hange moves their arm around you and pulls you in to a hug. Your eyes light up at your little nickname, they definitely do listen to yours and Levi’s conversations. You take this opportunity to kiss Hange, feeling their soft lips on yours.

“You’ve showered haven’t you?” You smirk into the kiss, Hange looks at you, confused and a little insulted.

“How ... whaaaa?”

“You smell delicious” you say boldly, in fact Hange did shower before meeting you tonight, for the first time in ages. They of course laugh at you, and confess. You both sit there for a moment, watching the rest of the meteor showers, colours of gold and silver shooting across the sky.

“How beautiful” You whispered to yourself, Hange looks at you and smiles

“Not as be-”

“Nope. That’s so cringey” you joke, Hange slaps your legs earning a weird moan/yelp from your lips. You cover your mouth in embarrassment. Hange looks at you with curiosity, what a response to just a playful slap. Hange’s face confidently smirks, taking your chin in their hands.

“What was that?” Hange asked seductively, walking two fingers up your thigh. You shiver at how foreword your squad leader is being.

“Nothing...”

“Do you think I’ll be able to get another noise like that out of you?” Hange moves their face forward, practically whispering next to your ear

“I uh...oh look the meteors! They are still going!” You panic, the air is thick, your heart fluttering at how close they are getting. Not that you wouldn’t want to...it’s just moving so fast that you couldn’t barely keep up.

“The meteors can wait”

“I mean technically...” you’re words at cut off by Hange kissing your neck, testing the waters a little before going right ahead. You softly moan out Hange’s name, heaving a little bit at the intensity. So long have you envisioned yourself in this position, being kissed by your squad leader; you’ve thought about it and you’ve touched yourself to it. You may be feeling a little awkward now, but you shiver with anticipation to see how far this could go.

“Are you okay?” Hange asks, looking at you with a little concern, they can feel you tensing under their touch, even shaking a little. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable”

“No! No definitely I’m okay I’m just inexperienced. I mean I’m not but it’s different when it’s you because I...I like you and I want to do this but, can we start off slow?” You ask nervously, Hange gives you a tender kiss on your forehead and holds you close.

“If you ever want to stop, please tell me okay?” Hange asks, you nod at them eagerly before pulling them close in for a confident kiss. You lean back onto a pillow, allowing Hange to hover above you, lips still connected. What a feeling this is, never would you imagine getting this close to them; you savour every moment. Hange sits up and takes off their shirt, revealing a binder underneath before taking that off too, your eyes fall to the exposed skin; a lump in your throat. There Hange is, straddling you and pinning you down, half naked and stunning.

“Gods...” You whisper under your breath, Hange snickers at your cute expression before attacking your neck. They plant several erratic kisses all of you, earning a mixture of moaning and giggling.

“What happened to going slow?” You chuckle out, Hange stops immediately and changes their expression.

“I can slo-”

Hange’s words are cut short as you flip them over underneath you, their eyes wide and breaths manic, that is until you sloppily kiss their lips. Hungry noises leave either of your throats as you fight for dominance; you suppose the issue here is that the both of you are so eager, so keen to please that you clash - but in the best possible way. One final flip and you find yourself locked onto the floor under a very horny squad leader. And by locked, it means having Hange gripping your jaw with one hand and the other being intertwined with yours.

“Be my good little space girl, let me see you” Hange unbuttons your shirt, one button at a time, almost painfully slowly. 1...2..3...4...and suddenly your chest is on full view. You attempt to cover yourself, but too late, Hange is already kissing every bit of skin they can see, uncapping your breast from your bra like a hungry animal and latching their mouth onto a free nipple. They graze their teeth and tongue over your sensitive bud, sucking slightly. You reach a hand up to their head and grip their hair slightly, enjoying the sensation. Whilst you are so distracted, Hange reaches a hand down to your trousers, you don’t even notice them unbuttoning them; it was only until their hand was ghosting over your underwear did you look down. They then press a finger against your clothed pussy, feeling your growing excitement.

“Wet already?” Hange scoffs against your breast, you can’t even answer; either from embarrassment or your panting. Hange thinks back to your little yelp, they would love to hear you make such a noise again. “Over my knee sweet pea” Hange ordered, without hesitation you stood up and allowed Hange to sit down, here you bend over their knee, raising your ass into the air to give them all the access they need. After pulling down your trousers to your ankles, they take extra time to look at you; you’re hot and bothered, shaking a little in anticipation. Hange looks to your perfect ass, stroking and groping it slightly, thinking about all the little red hand prints they will leave on you.

“Such a good girl” Hange mewed before landing a harsh slap across your cheek, you yelp out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. Enjoying the noise so much, Hange slaps your ass over and over, allowing little to no breaks between each hit - you knew this isn’t quite how spanking works but it feels good and Hange definitely was enjoying watching your ass jiggle with each slap.

“Ow!” You yell out, that last hit was a little too hard; Hange, feeling sorry kisses your now extremely red behind.

“I’m sorry, I got a bit carried away; here...” Hange moves their hand over to your underwear again and slips under the fabric to stroke your aching clit. Whatever pain you felt had all disappeared to the sudden wave of pleasure that is Hange. They spread your pussy a little, allowing their middle finger to trace your folds and stop at your clit; here, Hange uses their middle and index finger to rub the sensitive nub, interchanging their technique from circling to a forward to back motion. You could feel the knot build up in your lower abdomen, imaging yourself cumming onto Hange’s fingers. That was until they pulled their fingers away, you let out a disappointed moan and looked to your squad leader with pleading eyes.

Without word or warning, Hange lowers themself down and repositions you over their face. You were now suddenly close to Hange’s pussy, unfortunately still clothed, as you fumble at their belt you could feel Hange lift your ass up a little and look down to see what you’re doing. They smirk, hands leaving you and helping you pull down their trousers and underwear; much better.

You wasted no time but to dip your head at their entrance and lapped up their juices, hands either side of their propped up legs and making sure to be especially rough on their clit. Hange moans out painfully, how long had it been since they were in this position? Your ass is forcefully lowered onto Hange’s face, you feel them lick and suck at your clit, feeling your knot tighten one more. Your legs begin to shake, you won’t be lasting long and Hange can just sense it.

“Y/N look! The meteors are going again!” Hange yells out, you stop licking and look immediately up to the sky; but this was a trick because Hange pulls you down further, inserting 2 fingers into you and eats you out rougher than before, earning an eruption inside you, bursting and almost painful as you cum hard onto their mouth and fingers.

“Venus~!” You strangled out, shaking heavily above Hange who cocks their head to the side.

“Venus?”

“Uh..yeah sorry I don’t know why I do that...” you breathlessly panted out

“Don’t apologise, its cute” Hange strokes your ass, giggling at their little space weirdo. You position yourself above Hange, taking them by surprise as you cup their pussy with your hand.

“Got you” Was all you could say before inserting two of your fingers inside your squad leader. You arch your fingers inside of them, using your thumb to draw circles over their clit as they pant and whine under you. Using your free hand you grab both their wrists and hold them above their head, giving you full view of their body. As you finger fuck them, you reach down and kiss them, moving your lips from theirs to over their neck, sucking hard; making sure to leave a dark mark. That was it for Hange, their whole body trembles and cums undone; what you didn’t expect was the flood that left their body, squirting all over you.

“Globular Cluster!!!” Hange screams out, they were a hot mess, melting into the blanket. You crawl next to them and snuggle into their chest. They begin to stroke your hair, leaving forehead kisses.

“Globular cluster?” You ask cheekily, Hange laughs and pats your back.

“Listen, if you are going to scream out space words during sex instead of my name, I might as well do it too!”

“That is too adorable”

“As are you Y/N, do you think my space girl could love an earth...ehhh girl?”

“There is a gender neutral word for that you know, earthling” You giggle, Hange huffs a little, cheeks dusted with a pink blush.

“But yes, this space girl loves her earthling” you say, kissing their head. The both of you spent the rest of the evening just staring at the stars, Hange continuously asking questions including “What’s my zodiac sign?” and “Is yours compatible with a Virgo?” - not that it particularly matters whether you are astrologically compatible with Hange, you already knew you were.

[mca-attack21]

Shape Shifted - part 2

Hi guys! This is the next part of the Stiles Sis Fic series based loosely (and even that is generous) off of season two episode two. For the rest of this series and more of my writing, click here.  Enjoy!

You were starting to contemplate how you were going to explain what was about to happen to your father, when by some miracle he got called back into the station. Your relief was short-lived though as with every minute that passed, Isaac was struggling more and more. His senses were on overdrive, he felt every muscle in his body, and both his senses and emotions were heightened. He felt the fear of the hunters, the sadness of losing his dad, the anger at his dad for being in this position in the first place. But he also felt safe being with you and an overwhelming need to protect you, he was trying to channel into that and ignore everything else. What had you called it earlier? Finding an anchor. Maybe for now you could be his anchor. 

“Isaac, you still with me?” you asked after he had zoned out for a minute. 

“Yeah, sorry.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, you’re doing great. I just wanted to check in, is there anything you need?”

“Just keep talking, it helps. Keeps me focused.” 

So, you decided to catch him up on everything that had happened in your life since that fated night before school when Scott got bit. Before you could finish though, you were cut off by Isaac’s sudden shift in demeaner. His teeth were clenched, breaths forceful. He tensed up and was on the verge of losing control all together. 

“Isaac,” you said cautiously. 

“You have to go, I don’t want to hurt you!” 

“Listen Isaac, this is the worst of it. Right here, right now, you just have to fight it out a little longer and it will all be over.”

“I can’t! Please go,” he struggled, all but growling. 

“Isaac I’m not leaving, and you aren’t going to hurt me. You are the strongest person I know, you just need to focus on what it is that makes you human. Find an anchor. I believe in you, you can do this,” you reassured him, taking a step towards him. 

Isaac recoiled away from you, afraid of what he might do. Deep down he could feel it, the bloodlust, he could hear your pulse, he could...  what were you doing?

He looked at your hand which had reached for his now clawed one. You gently took it in yours and carefully placed it over your heart. You were grounding him the way you used to do when he had panic attacks. He could feel your heart beat and the calming rise and fall of your chest.

“Hey, look at that,” you spoke. 

Isaac looked up and realized for the first time that his claws and fangs had retracted. His senses were still heightened, but it was more manageable. He glanced at the clock, he had made it. Relieved, he pulled you into a tight hug and you let out a breath that you hadn’t even known you were holding.

“Congratulations on making it through your first full moon.”

The two of you didn’t say much else, electing instead to crawl in your bed and allow the exhaustion to take over.

Meanwhile:

When Scott and Stiles arrived at Scott’s house, the plan was for a quiet night in. That was at least before Allison called. Apparently, she overheard a conversation between her grandfather and her dad in which it was revealed that Isaac’s dad was killed by something supernatural, but not a werewolf. If that wasn’t bad enough, they were sending hunters to Isaac’s house, with the intention to put him out of his misery if he so much as looked at the full moon. On top of that, they were apparently suspicious of Lydia as well.

“We have to do something, if Isaac’s at his house Y/n’s there too,” Stiles realized.

“You’re right, but with the hunters there we can’t just show up or they’ll expect something,” Scott added.

“I’ll go,” Allison decided, “his father was just killed, so I can say I was just checking in on him as a friend. Besides, nobody knows that I know about him or their plans.”

“You are not going alone, it’s too dangerous,” Scott argued.

“I’m an Argent, they won’t do anything to me, besides, I can handle myself,” she reminded.

“They might not, but if this is Isaac’s first full moon, I’m not taking that risk. I’ll meet you there,” Scott decided, hanging up before she could object.

“I gotta go. See if you can sneak into the morgue or the station or something and get photos of what happened to Isaac’s father. After that maybe swing by and check on Lydia,” Scott instructed as he searched for a hoodie. 

Before Stiles could say anything else, Scott was sprinting out the door and towards Isaac’s house. Careful not to be seen, he made it inside and was soon met by Allison. It was soon revealed that neither you or Isaac were there.

“Where should we check next?” Allison asked, “Scott?”

“I thought I could control this,” Scott struggled.

“It’s okay Scott, what do you need me to do?”

“You have to leave. I can’t - It’s not safe,” Scott said as his breathing began to speed up. 

“I’m not leaving you Scott, there has to be something we can do,” Allison decided bravely.

After some thought, it was decided that Allison would lock him in the freezer. They same way Isaac’s dad had done to him on far too many occasions. She reluctantly tightened the chains around it before locking them. She had originally planned on staying by Scott’s side, but she heard noises coming from upstairs. She thought that maybe it could have been you and Isaac, so she cautiously made her way up.

But instead it was one of her father’s men who had come to take out Isaac. She knew that she had to keep him from going downstairs and discovering Scott at all costs, especially if he wasn’t fully in control.

Upon seeing her, the many questioned why she was here and where Isaac was. Before she could lie though, a lizard-like creature burst through the window. She screamed and raced forward to get a knife before backing herself into the corner. The creature didn’t even glance in her direction, its sole focus on the hunter before it. Before she or the other hunter could react, it swiped the back of the hunter’s neck and then brutally shoved its claws in his stomach and dragged them up through his chest. Allison screamed again at the gruesome sight, not prepared for the horrifying gurgling noises that followed.

In the basement, Scott was doing everything in his power to escape the freezer. He had never heard Allison scream like that and he knew that she was in danger. He could protect her if he could just get out! He furiously pounded at the lid until it finally popped open. Within seconds, he was upstairs standing between Allison and the...what is that thing?

But as soon as he arrived, the creature darted off into the night.

He didn’t even consider following and instead turned to Allison holding her arms as he looked for any sign of injury, “Are you alright? Did it hurt you?”

“No I’m fine. It didn’t touch me,” she said softly trying to ignore the shock of the whole situation. Scott pulled her into a tight hug for a moment before his eyes met the body and pool of blood that were mere feet away.

The scent of the blood was nauseating, and the smell of Allison’s fear was not much better. “We have to get out of here, before more hunters show up” Scott said leading his girlfriend away from it all.

Meanwhile: 

Stiles had completely struck out at the police station. The case photos that he snuck in to get weren’t even in his dad’s office. And as he was trying to sneak out of the office, he was caught by one of the deputies. Lying on his feet was not a strong suit of Stiles’ and he was forced to sit there and wait until his dad came to collect him.

He was agitated as this was supposed to be a quick in and out so that he would still have time to check on Lydia. He pulled out his phone and debated whether or not to call you, he knew you were probably still mad at him, but he was both worried about you being alone with Isaac (especially with the hunters involved) and he knew that you would be far more likely to get a response from Lydia than he would. 

He swallowed his pride and dialed your number only for it to go straight to voicemail. So either your phone was dead, you are ignoring him because your mad, or your in trouble. Great. He decided to call Scott next but once again, there was no answer. Feeling a growing sense of dread, he decided to call Allison, and then he realized that he still didn’t have her number.

Before he could call anyone else, his dad arrived with a disapproving look.

“You know that it is a crime to break in to the police station, in to the sheriff’s office, so do you wanna tell me what the hell you were thinking?”

Luckily for him, Stiles had been provided with enough time to think of a valid excuse, “Honestly, I was trying to figure out what you knew about Isaac’s dad’s case. Y/n and him are close and I wanted to see if there was anything that I could do to help.”

“You can help by being there for him, not by committing a felony and trying to get me fired,” your dad rolled his eyes.

“Do you know where Y/n is?” Stiles tried changing the subject.

“She is at the house with Isaac, where I am supposed to be to keep an eye on him as he is still technically a suspect in a murder investigation,” his dad sighed, Stiles had good intentions, though he always seemed to have a knack for putting his nose where it didn’t belong. “Come on, let’s go home, we’ll talk about this later.”

Stiles felt somewhat relieved, though he still didn’t like the idea of you being alone with Isaac. Then he realized that he needed to distract your guys’ dad so that he wouldn’t accidently find out about Isaac’s secret. However, that wasn’t a problem as he was soon called to a crime scene. Another murder. He told Stiles to go straight home, and then quickly left the station.

It was as Stiles got in Roscoe that Scott called him back. He briefly explained what had happened and what he saw of the creature. After Allison had calmed down, she went to Lydia’s so she would have an excuse for being away from home. At this point it was after midnight, and the power of the moon was starting to dwindle. Scott asked is Stiles had heard from you at all, and Stiles told him that he knew you and Isaac were at your house, to which he was headed now, but that your phone was off. Stiles also told Scott that he should go home and lay low, but he doubted his friend would actually listen. 

When he pulled into the driveway he mentally braced himself for what he was going to find. His thoughts went back to Scott’s first full moon and his bloodthirst and complete lack of control. And that was Scott, he couldn’t even imagine what it would be like for someone like Isaac who had been through everything that he had been through. He made his way upstairs and hesitated momentarily outside your door. He took a deep breath and opened it, allowing the light from the hallway to flood in. He was slightly shocked to see that you Isaac were laying on your bed. There were no signs that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

The light woke you up and you squinted to see who opened your door. It was Stiles, you rolled your eyes debating whether you wanted to deal with him right now. As he started to close your door, you forced yourself out of bed careful not to disturb Isaac.

“Lydia was completely fine tonight,” you say from Stiles’ doorway startling him, “I figured you would want to know,” you turned away.

“Y/n,” he called after you, “I am sorry about earlier.”

“I know you are,” you said sincerely, “and it’s fine. We can talk tomorrow about what happened today and Isaac, and everything else.”  

You decided to grab a glass of water before heading back to bed when you noticed that there was someone pacing outside your front door. You recognized Scott and stood there and watched him for a moment. It was weird, in all the time that the two of you had been friends, you couldn’t remember ever getting into an argument with him. You would be lying if you said his words hadn’t hurt you, but you reminded yourself that they weren’t truly his words. So you turned the lock on the door, “You know, you could have knocked, rung the doorbell, called, text, or even yelled instead of standing out here like a dork. Maybe my brother is starting to wear off on you,” you joke half-heartedly.

“Y/n I-” Scott started.

“You were dealing with the full moon, and said some things that you didn’t mean. But you are a high school student with the weight of the world on his shoulders and you didn’t ask for this. Every time you turn around it seems like there is one more obstacle between you and any chance that you have of living a normal life. It’s okay Scott, even you are allowed to have a bad day every once in a while.”

“That’s not an excuse, and I really am sorry.”

“Well, I accept your apology and later I promise to catch you up to speed on everything that happened. But its late and I’m exhausted.”

“Are you sure we’re okay?” Scott asked, confused at how you could possibly not be mad at him. 

“We’re good, I promise. Now come inside and get some rest, you can have your choice of Stiles’ room or the couch,” you said, grabbing him some blankets.

As Scott laid down on your couch, he started to think. Maybe Isaac being a werewolf would be manageable, after all the two of you were close and Scott knew that would work in your favor later on. Derek had to stop though, with the hunters on high-alert this was the worst possible time to be converting innocent teens into werewolves. His thoughts then drifted to that creature he saw and how scarred Allison was. One thing was for sure, tomorrow was going to be a long day.

[talas-starlight]

Scarred Spirit - Zuko x fem! reader (pt.3)

SUMMARY: this takes place around the end of book 1 - but uhhhh I deadass don’t know how to give a summary for this without giving anything away soooo enjoy!

WORD COUNT: 3.7k

WARNINGS: mentions of death and suicide. Scars. Swearing. Non- sexual nudity. Nightmares. Panic attack ish.  mention of torture.

KEY: italics = internal thoughts & *** = flashback

OTHER PARTS:  pt1   /   pt2 /  pt4   /   pt5   /   pt6

MASTERLIST: Here!

You’d been walking in the back streets of the capital with your face turned to the sun for the past two hours. The black mask shielding the bottom half of your face hid the sigh that left your lips as you finally approached the palace.

Fucking finally.

Even though you were a Fire bender, it didn’t make it any less annoying as the sun blistered down of the completely black outfit you were wearing. It covered every piece of your skin from your neck, down to your feet. Even your scarred fingertips were hidden from the world.

As you neared the gates, they immediately began to open, inviting you in with open arms. This made you one of the few people, apart from the royal family, that didn’t need to prove their identity to get in. All the guards knew who you were and what you did for the Fire Lord, promoting you from being a prisoner to one of the most well looked after people in the entire Nation. Technically, they were never instructed to provide you with immediate access. Yet, as rumours spread throughout the palaces’ echoing halls, their fear of you doing what you did to all those people when out on missions, seemed to override those basic routines.

Normally you’d scoff at how silly it all was, the fact that they feared a 16-year-old girl almost made you feel sorry for them. As guards of the Nation they should stand with pride and confidence. You suppose that’s what happens when even though they don’t see it, they have nothing to be prideful about considering who their current ruler is. Regardless, today you appreciated their diligence, storming through the gates, and making your way straight to the throne room. You didn’t even give anyone an initial glance. You were pissed. This had been the fourth mission in a row where you were sent to take out some random high position person from some other nation. All this travelling back and forth began to get on your nerves.

Maybe it was from the heightened stress of the most recent task. This one, in particular, set you off because of the minimal information you had to take them out. All you were provided with was that they were from the Water Tribe, and had been at sea in a fleet for multiple years, taking down Fire Nation units.

Gee thanks! Give me a few weeks, and I’ll track down this mysterious person you don’t even know the name of and be on my way! Hmmm, now my first plan of action will be to flip a gold piece to decide if I should swim to the Northern or the Southern tribe to gather intel! Just you wait Ozai. I’ll take that stupid, pathetic, floppy thing you call a beard and drag you into the fire in front of your throne you piece of-

Abruptly cutting off your internal rant, you walked past the guards who immediately opened the doors to the throne room as they saw you approaching; noticing the long braid down your back alit in your raged fire. Reaching the middle of the throne room you didn’t even bother to bow, throwing a Water Tribe necklace splattered in blood to the ground. “It’s done.”

The guard closest to you hastily picked it up and climbed the stairs to hand it to Ozai for an inspection. Eyeing the tribal necklace in the guards’ hand, he made no move to take it away from him physically. Ironic how he has slaughtered so many yet refuses to get real blood on his hands.

“Prove yourself.”

You instantly provided him with the report you memorised on how you conducted the mission with details on an weekly basis. This ensured you actually went through with the assassination- you suggested that you could bring back their head two years ago, but apparently that was too gruesome to be in the presence of the great Fire Lord. There were no pauses or stutters as you rehearsed it on your journey back to the capital.

“Present the details of the savage.”

You held back a sigh, this was always your least favourite part. “The person you sent out for went by the name of Hakoda. He was of the Southern Water Tribe and Chief to one of its smaller villages. During my time undercover in the tribe, I acquired knowledge that his wife was disposed of under the assumption that she was the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe and had two children. It is also to my knowledge that his children are currently travelling with the Avatar. Through making connections with the villagers, I set out to sea in search for him and managed to gain access and trust upon the main ship when they were docked in an isolated part of the Earth Kingdom for supplies. I went under an alias of a homeless non-bending orphan from the Northern Water Tribe wanting revenge on the Fire Nation for slaughtering my parents. When it came time to dispose of him, I did so in the middle of the night after faking a nightmare, seeking him out as a father figure for comfort. I used his own weapon against him as he held me, speaking words of comfort, expressing that I was safe and how I was like a daughter to him. A daughter who would have been a great older sister to his children. During this moment of emotional weakness for him, I assassinated him before he could have even registered that I would have been an awful sister. Leaving before dawn, I made the scene look like a suicide with a letter expressing in detail how being away from his children was too much to bear.”

Ozai looked up from the necklace, satisfied with the briefing. “Hmmm, well-done y/n. Tell me, what do you know of his children?”

“Nothing of great importance other than knowledge of them travelling with the Avatar.”

“Very well, you may have a day’s rest and will be informed of your next task tomorrow evening. Your payment for your services is already in your quarters.”

You bowed knowing you were lucky he let it slide when you walked in. “Thank you, my Fire Lord.”

Exiting the throne room, you made your way to your living quarters, looking forward to the sensation of washed hair, clean clothes, and your bed.

When you finally made it back to your room, you let out a sigh of relief immediately ripping off your mask. As the years went by, nothing seemed to get easier, and nothing seemed to stop. You cherished the moments of silence, the brief period of time where the universe aligned in such a way that you were able to pretend this wasn’t your life. One mission after another, constantly lying to do what needed to be done, amid all the alias’ you made up, you wondered which one really demonstrated who you were as a person. The idea of having to settle with the Fire Lord’s personal assassin didn’t necessarily make you giddy with pride.

You made your way to the bathtub that awaited you in the adjoining room, peeling off the once breathable fabric, off your body as you went. The tub was already full as the servants went to prepare it when they heard the word of your return. You finally unravelled the braid holding your hair together, yet another symbol of the job you committed yourself to. On the first day of training, you were told that if you were caught, your affiliation with the Fire Nation should be buried with you.  

Your skin shuddered as you entered the chilled water, easing your mind that warm water would never satisfy in this Nation’s climate. You leant back with a small wince as your scarred back made contact with the tub. Growing up, it wasn’t uncommon for other assassins to have some form of physical scarring whether that be from training, a mission gone wrong, or punishment from their supervisor. In some unusual way, you were never insecure about it, only annoyed that you had to sleep in odd positions because of the sensitivity.

You began to drift, succumbing to the cool, soothing water around you. Between the stress of returning to the capital, and the stress that awaited you on your next task, you allowed yourself to let go. Free yourself of any thoughts. In your current state, you weren’t scarred. You weren’t trapped in what seemed like a never-ending cycle of duty. You weren’t anyone to anything.

As the moon began to shine through the windows into the bathroom, you woke up with a start, water splashing onto the tiles around you, your heart racing and sweat soaking the unsubmerged parts of your body. Running your hand through your hair, you fought the urge to let out an overwhelmed sob. Nightmares were a common occurrence for you, but this one settled under your skin like a scratch you would never be able to itch.

Air seemed to close in on your lungs, no matter how much you tried to calm yourself down, all you could focus on was the fact you couldn’t breathe. Hastily fumbling, and tripping as you got out of the tub, you forced yourself to reach for the first clean robe you could get your hands on. As your thoughts mixed into on jumbled heap, you desperately tried to get it together.

He believed you.

They all did, you knew it in the way that the guards struggled to hide back their expressions of discomfort as you described how you oh so easily manipulated a grown man, warrior, and chief, only to kill him.

It was a lie. All of it. Yet why did I dream of them finding out now?

You’ve never assassinated anyone since that general three years ago, and you most certainly never killed Hakoda. From the very moment you accepted the offer, you knew you’d never go through with the commissions. During the brief period when you trained and got back onto a healthy diet was when you mentally formulated how you would conduct each “killing”. It was simple, you’d carry out the mission as you normally would, but in the time you were supposed to spend working out how to dispose of them, you helped them create a new life for themselves. You didn’t bother trying to shield the truth from them, knew the Fire Lord wanted them dead. While it sent them into a panic, in the long run, it made everything a whole lot easier. They could never go by who they once were, and needed to move far, far, away from wherever they lived. The lives they once knew erased, cutting off all ties.

Idiot. Why did I have to make an exception now?

Instantly dismissing the question that wriggled its way into your head, you began to journey to the kitchens in desperate need for a distraction. You knew why you made the exception.

***

Three weeks ago, when you were on the ship with Hakoda, you did actually have a nightmare, prompting you to go out onto the deck to clear your mind. The air was crisp, eliciting goosebumps across your skin. Quickly letting out a breath of fire, you began to regulate your body temperature as you noticed Hakoda already looking out to the never-ending expanse of the ocean. As an experienced warrior, he heard you approach.

“Y/n? The moon has been out for a long time now, you should be asleep.”

Sighing, you stood next to him, joining him in looking out to the sea. “Nightmares.”

He nodded in understanding. “Do you want to talk about it?”

There was no fear in your voice as you recounted the altered memories of your torture, he already knew who you were, where you were from… what you did. All things considered; he took everything pretty well, barely holding it against you. To him, you were just a kid who was sucked into this life, making the best with what you had.

Finishing your poor recount of the nightmare, you turned to face him. “I have to go back soon. I’ve been pushing it by staying for an extra month. We need to make a plan for you to leave. You need to start a new life.”

He knew this conversation was coming ever since he managed to persuade you to help them out for a while. After all, he seemed to look straight past the wall you put up to know that you wanted Ozai’s reign to end. Despite respecting your boundaries, when you took off your mask in front everyone on board, the scar on your neck that travelled beneath your long sleeve shirt as it encompassed your hand, was enough to know that you suffered just like everyone else.

“Y/n, you know I can’t do that. My children, Sokka and Katara, they’re travelling with the Avatar right now, and I haven’t seen them since they were young. I can’t just leave and have you fake my death like that, Bato told me how much hope that knowing I’m alive brings to them! If I go and word gets out that you ‘assassinated’ me… it will crush them. Their close relationship with the worlds only hope is too much of a risk. I need them to be strong. The world needs them to be strong. I’m sorry y/n, but I can’t.”

You stared at him processing his words. Ultimately you knew he was right, but you couldn’t go back after such a long time just to say you failed. The Fire Lord would destroy you. “I understand where you are coming from. I do, but you can’t seriously expect me to go back with nothing! What do you expect me to do?! Oh, sorry Fire Brain I couldn’t kill him because something suddenly possessed me to feel bad about how his children might feel! Don’t worry, though, I didn’t care every other time I knew about other targets’ children! Unless you have some genius plan, I’m sorry, but Sokka and Katara are just going to have to suck it up. Let’s be realistic, yes, this MAY damage them and their duty to support the Avatar, but at least you can go back to them when this war is over!”

He ran his hand over his face, clearly trying to stay calm and collected. “I know, y/n. That’s why I’ve been up all night making a plan, but you’re not going to like it.”

You crossed your arms, scoffing at him. “The fact you’re suggesting something other than what I have ALREADY planned makes me not like it… but let’s hear it.”

He attempted to start with the parts of the plan he knew you’d agree on, which didn’t last long. “Well, we can incorporate some of your plans into it, that being we fake my death taking by tribal necklace back to the Fire Nation splattered in the animal’s blood. Yet everything else? We’re scrapping it.”

Biting on your tongue, you fought the urge to scream at how stupid this was sounding.

Relieved you didn’t bite back, he continued. “I’ll stay with the crew and then-“

That was enough for you to lose control. “Okay, I’m sorry did you just say you want to stay with the crew?! I am supposed to be taking out the LEADER OF THIS FLEET! If you stay with them and continue to attack vulnerable units, they will know, and they’ll have my head!”

“I know y/n! Which is why, when you’re gone, Batu will temporarily take over as captain until further notice. I, on the other hand, will only help plan the attacks stay in the background until it’s safe. Now, as for my kids, we’ll send them a letter letting them know I’m safe and hopefully a location so I can reunite with them.”

“But what if-“

“The letter gets intercepted? It’s just going to have to be a small risk.”

Taking a deep breath, he tried to bring the conversation to a less hostile level. “More often than not, there is no perfect plan. You should know that, by faking all of your assassinations since working for the Fire Lord. Which might I add, is the biggest risk you could possibly take. It will all work out in the end; trust me. But, this is your playing field, if you truly think me disappearing is the only way, then we can go ahead with the original plan.”

Sucking in a breath, you stared at Hakoda as if he grew two heads.

Did he just give me an option?

“W-what do you mean what I think?! You literally just said that you CAN’T leave your children! You gave me an alternative plan, and now you’re saying that if I disagree you’ll do as I say? That doesn’t make any sense.”

He let out a laugh, amused by your concerns. “Y/n, you have been trained in this area and executing the fake assassinations all on your own for over two years. No one knows the ins and outs of how the Fire Nation plans things like you do. If you think my plan is severely flawed and both of us are bound to get caught, I will trust your judgement in which is the best to conduct. Yes, I said that we should be thinking of my kids and the Avatar, his destiny is bigger than any of this, but everyone should be allowed to choose what they want to do, I am just allowing you to expand your options.”

With a final breath, he truly looked at you with sincerity, “I trust you y/n.”

It all seemed too much. All your life it felt like there was only one obvious pathway; do what it takes to survive. Everything he said was right, and it dawned on you that for once the decision you were about to make had two genuinely good choices. Hakoda gifted you with that privilege. Either way, you would save his life and yours. Yet you knew that the new pathway presented to you would lead you something bigger, just like he said. You couldn’t take one of the few good things away from his kids.

Overcome with emotion, you hugged him. “Thank you. We’ll do it. You need to stay.”

He hugged you back as you began to cry.

***

After spending the remainder of the night stuffing your face in the kitchens, you didn’t go back to sleep and started to train with whoever was willing until it was time to hear of your next target. By no means were you looking forward to it, but you were ready to distance yourself from the last mission as it regularly filled your mind.

I wonder if he actually put Bato in charge and stood down? Stop thinking about it y/n. It doesn’t matter anymore; you’ll never have to see him again.

As the sun started to disappear into the Fire Nations skyline, you headed for the throne room knowing you shouldn’t keep Ozai waiting.

I can’t wait to see the show he has prepared for me. I wonder how dark he tried to make the lighting this time. Ooo! Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get 20-foot flames! Then I won’t have to see his ugly beard.

Entering the room and bowing before him, you fought back a snicker as it truly felt like the room seemed darker than usual.

“Y/n, you have come a long way from being a traitor and prisoner to the Nation to one of the most valuable assets. Your next task will be the ultimate test of your loyalty to me. I have trusted and sent my daughter Azula on a mission to bring back my traitor of a brother, and my failure of a son.”

Your heart skipped a beat. Azula was no stranger to riling you up whenever you crossed paths over her brother, and you were well aware of the encounters he had with the Avatar. But not once were you brought into the dysfunctions of their family. Now all of a sudden you were formally addressed by Ozai who was mentioning these events to you? It made you hyper-aware of the scars that stretched along your left side. The only personal connection you had with Zuko.

“While she undoubtedly has my complete trust, and I do not doubt her abilities, she lacks experience. Azula does not have the knowledge of the world, and fighting styles from the other nations like you do. For that, I am entrusting you to take care of the collateral damage. If things are to go wrong, if she is faced with a circumstance hindering her ability to do her task, it is your job to finish it. Even if that means harm must come to her, the mission is the utmost priority. Should you fail, do not underestimate the consequences you’ll face if you ever step back into the Nation.”

In your best attempt to keep your composure, you replied in a cool but firm tone. “Of course, my Fire Lord.”

“Good. You leave at dawn and do not return until my daughter succeeds.”

Bowing in acknowledgement, you began to leave. But you quickly halt your movements as you hear his voice again.

“One last thing y/n. Azula is not to know that you are tracking her at any stage during her mission. You are to distance yourself, only intervening when there is no other option.”

You bow for the last time. “You have my word.”

Making your way to prepare supplies for your journey, you fight the urge to curse out the entire royal family throughout the halls.

Babysitting duty. I was tortured for eight fucking months. Trained to boredom by Zemin’s brother, Piandao, for one month, and some knock-off fire bending master for a week because he didn’t know how to control me, and went gallivanting across the nations to fake assassinations. Not only that but also assist them in making new lives for themselves, FOR BABYSITTING DUTY! ALL BECAUSE HIS SPOILED, SOCIOPATHIC DAUGHTER WITH AN SUPERIORITY COMPLEX ISN’T EXPERIENCED ENOUGH?!

In your silent rage, you make it back to your room trying to reason with yourself that you shouldn’t kill Azula the second you both cross the Fire Nation boarders.

A/N: so…. Did I have y’all in the first half? LMAO AHAHHA.

Also I really thought I was going to have the gaang in this one #fool (oopsies) I really didn’t think the hakoda portion would consume so much of the chapter :/ BUT!! They’re definitely in the next one

Thanks for reading though! On the bright side I’m (finally) on my mid-semester break!!! Woohoo! I’m so excited to wrap up this semester wowies (uni has been kicking my butt),, but this does mean I’ll have more time to write so you guys might get a chapter earlier than normal 😊 Anyway, as normal feel free to message me or leave a comment!

TAGLIST:

@slythergirlimagines​​ @mangoberry43​​ @eridanuswave​​ @whiskeywinter89​

@kaylove12​​ @simplyfandomish​​ @khaleesi-of-assassins​ @callums-keith​

@ilovespideyyy​ @calciumcow​ @blackhood5sos​

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Sorry for disappearing! Real life stuff. You all know the feeling. 

Gonna finish up the battle training arc~ 

[No. 10 - Breaking Bakugou]

(Technically there could be a Breaking Bad-kugou joke here. Just saying.)

Character sheet! I love how Katsuki’s described repeatedly as ‘explosively X’ for each part of him. Especially him being explosively petty. Also, confirmed canon that the skin on his palms is especially thick - likely from the callouses from the blowback of his quirk! Which means he might not necessarily be able to feel things under his palm or even fingers, depending on just how thick those callouses are. 

(Also pfft, Hori telling Katsuki to pull up his pants already.)

In case you’ve forgotten how big the explosion Katsuki just set off was. Man, just look at all the damage, I’m shocked the building didn’t outright collapse. I mean, I guess buildings are a bit sturdier than movies like to show, but still, all those cracks and faultlines, especially on the neighboring buildings… 

Anyways, neither Tenya nor Ochako are prepared for how much the building is rocked by said explosion. Ochako recovers faster and decides to take advantage by tapping her fingers to her palms and then running for the bomb. 

(Also, the bottom of her shoes squish. How is that at ALL practical to run around in???)

Tenya realizes what she’s doing and moves to intercept, while Ochako thinks about how all she needs to do to win is to touch the weapon. She leaps over Tenya, having made herself weightless with that previous palm-tap technique (as Tenya realizes out loud), and then dispells it on herself in order to let gravity take her right towards the prize. She mentions as she falls that that special move takes a lot out of her.

Tenya, however, has the speed to yoink the bomb out of her way before she can grab it, shocking her and distracting her so that she makes a tumbled landing, her helmet bouncing away as she rolls back-first into the wall. Tenya notes that her quirk is no threat so long as she can’t touch anything, and slides back into his ‘villain persona’ as he tells her to keep struggling as he continues to waste her precious time. She grits her teeth as she mumbles that she’s counting on Deku, likely to come through with another distraction for her to get the weapon.

Yes, Katsuki is totally calm and rational right now. Honest to god, why was he given those gauntlets? Also, just noticed that Izuku’s got a layer of clothing/something under his costume, since that is not his bare skin. Seems to be a bit more explosion-resistant as well? Or perhaps that’s just shounen physics at work.

Katsuki taunted Izuku, and Izuku picks himself up while noting how the explosion was directed forward, thus giving him a ranged attack. Which makes sense considering that he can’t direct the energy of his normal explosions from dispersing in all directions equally in normal situations. Izuku puts a hand to his headset, asking after Ochako, and Katsuki calls Izuku out on ignoring him.

Kirishima asks All Might why he’s not stopping the match, saying Katsuki is crazy and looking to kill. All Might, however, thinks otherwise, considering some of Katsuki’s previous statements.

Ahahaha even his tentative complement of Katsuki’s ‘restraint’ is immediately redacted by the ‘just that petty’ comment. Also, All Might can hear everything all the students are saying, headset on or off, while they’re out there in the field. And you want to know something interesting he heard two chapters back?

I have to wonder how much All Might knows about Izuku’s history versus what he keeps to himself… I can’t imagine Izuku would mention the bullying, so this might have been the first he was hearing about it. :)

Anyways, he calls Katsuki out on using that move, noting that massive attacks like that being used indoors could easily bring the stronghold down around them, and that it’s a bad move for both heroes and villains, as well as a good way of losing points. All Might then thinks about how he should be stopping the match as a teacher, but…

(All Might knows it's the responsible thing as a teacher to stop the match immediately, but he also knows that his successor NEEDS to be able to prove himself as an equal to someone who looked down on him and bullied him before now, especially with Izuku so determined to not lose to Katsuki for once. It was a quiet kind of passion, one he hasn't heard from Izuku before, and he can't take that chance away too quickly, even if he wants to intervene and knows he should be.

And yes, I know his reasoning for his hesitation is more directly mentioned in a bit, but it’s a good place to remind people who seem to think he was thoughtlessly irresponsible here that he knew damn well what he was doing, and that it was for Izuku’s sake that he held back from ending the match early.)

Katsuki complains about the chastisement, while Izuku confirms Ochako’s location in the bomb room and starts trying to plan again. Katsuki leaps forward at Izuku with renewed intent to beat him into the ground, startling Izuku as he realizes he has no way to dodge, only counter-

Katsuki learns FAST from his mistakes in battle, and it shows. 

(Also, just realized there wasn’t an underlayer for Izuku’s costume, it was just that scrap of sleeve looking weird in that image. My bad!)

Shouto explains what just happened - Katsuki feinted with his first explosion while using it to leap around back, and then used a double explosion to maximize the force behind the blow to Izuku without being thrown back out the hole he made earlier. Yaoyorozu notes that while Katsuki doesn’t seem like a thinker, his battle strategy is fairly intricate, while Kaminari gripes about how good he is.

While Izuku is recovering from that attack, Katsuki sweeps in with an announced reight hook, Izuku barely having time to turn to look before he gets fucking clocked in the side by Katsuki’s gauntleted arm. He then grabs Izuku’s right arm, spins him around using a series of small explosions to build momentum, and then bodily slams Izuku down into the ground while saying Izuku is nothing compared to him. 

Izuku realizes Katsuki’s giving him no time to think, and that he’s just to strong, so he has to use ‘it’, aka One For All. The class is in shock, one saying that his actions are torture and that he could have ended it with the capture tape already, while another notes that it’s not very hero-like, and a third that they thought Izuku was good, but that Katsuki’s battle sense is unbeatable, and that he’s all instinct.

‘A part of him seems calm’ my fucking ass. 

Izuku surries away in a panic while Katsuki looms after him. Ashido comments on him running, while Kirishima says that it’s not manly, but Izuku doesn’t have a choice, even if the situation is odd (i.e. probably noting that Izuku hasn’t used his quirk yet, even though he knows how strong said quirk is since he was in the same arena as Izuku.) Izuku slams against a wall, bracing himself for Katsuki’s next move.

Katsuki demands to know why Izuku won’t use his quirk, and whether Izuku is mocking him, like he always has since they were kids. Izuku says Katsuki’s wrong, but Katsuki barrels on, saying how he knows Izuku is looking down on him. All Might thinks more about stopping them, but that he can’t take this from Izuku. Izuku says that it’s because Katsuki’s awesome that he wants to beat him.

The two of them are yelling at each other now (very shounen moment), Izuku about how he wants to win and beat Katsuki, while Katsuki tells Izuku to stop ‘looking at him like that’. All Might is in the middle panel between them, thinking about how he hasn’t seen izuku this pumped since the ‘I wanna be a hero’ thing. The class is looking on, someone noting how confident Katsuki is. All Might continues to think as the two boys move in for their respective attacks, noting that this battle is necessary for Izuku’s future. 

Izuku’s right arm crackles with the power of One For All as he begins to shout out his smash, while Katsuki’s prepping an explosion in his right hand. Kirishima shouts how bad this is and is almost begging All Might to stop this, and All Might is shaking with nerves as he holds back. He is just in the middle of telling the two to stop when Izuku shouts at Ochako, startling All Might into stopping. Ochako grabs the pillar, Tenya is confused, and Izuku watches Katsuki while he thinks about how he can’t measure up in a one-on-one fight, but.

Seriously, how did this building not collapse at all during this exercise???

Anyways, Ochako swings the pillar around, slamming all the other debris blown upwards towards Tenya in a ‘Comet Home Run’. Tenya says it’s no home run (which I imagine has to be in the exact same tone as ‘that’s no moon’) while shielding himself from said debris, which means he misses Ochako taking another flying leap towards the bomb until it’s too late.

Meanwhile, down below, Katsuki is looking at the damage done in absolute shock, like, he’s absolutely SHAKING as he repeats his belief that Izuku’s been mocking him from the start. 

Izuku’s right arm is in ragged disrepair, and his left he used to block Katsuki’s explosion is not exactly in better shape. He’s quivering as well from the shock and pain as he tells Katsuki that he didn’t want to use his power because he can’t - the blowback messes him up too much. It’s like Aizawa-sensei said, but it was all he could do at that point to win. 

This is really just a fantastic way to end the chapter. All Might’s hesitation as what just happened sinks in before he announces the win, Izuku finally collapsing unconscious as his body gives out on him, and Katsuki’s worldview thoroughly shaken as what just happened sinks in for him as well. Like, look at that, that is SUCH a mess of emotions he’s experiencing.

What a roller coaster of emotions. What a good character growth moment for everyone. 

I suppose next chapter, then, is the fallout and some stuff from the other kids in 1a. Hopefully that will go up this weekend!

[oliviareviewsnasu]

Olivia Reads Fate/Stay Night ~Fate~ Route (Blind Readthrough) Part 1: Intro Sequence and Rin!

Before we begin with this readthrough I'd like to personally thank anyone and everyone who has come here to listen (or read I suppose) my maddened ramblings. You truly make it worth it. Now on to the readthrough. Intro Sequence By now this intro scene is engrained even into my mind and there’s not really much to say about it. As this is a blind review however here’s a basic summary of the events: Shirou, in a state of desperation, summons perhaps one of the most famous characters in the franchise to fend off an unknown attacker. The King of Knights stands before him and asks the iconic line: “I ask of you, are you my master?”. She then states that their fates (heh) are now entwined before the scene fades to white leading into the Rin prologue. On the more technical end; the music in the Realta Nua version is phenomenal. as is Ayako Kasumi’s performance as Saber even this early on in what would be a long career

What I think the anime (Unlimited Blade Works in particular) doesn’t quite convey is Shirou’s mystique and awe in the face of the King of Knights, nor his poetic heart. He’s clearly much much more intelligent and thoughtful than quite a few people give him credit for.

By all accounts this is true in a both a literal and meta-sense. 17 years later people are still discussing the franchise with nearly the same vigor as larger properties like One Piece or Dragon Ball. As for the literal, well, we all know Shirou’s dark fate. On the topic of darkness, I love how they portray Arturia. Awash in the light of the moon while Shirou is cowering in the dark. The contrast is beautiful and highlights just how important of a role she’d play in the would-be-hero’s future. What I find to be fascinating is how much imagery is loaded into these first few moments. That, coupled with Shirou’s prose, makes for a gorgeous introduction. My only issue with it is the whiplash bait-and-switch from Shirou’s perspective to Rin’s; especially with the knowledge that we’ll need to essentially re-read that part to begin with. It weakens some of the dramatic tension and choreography. Prologue: Day 1 (Part 1) And so the Rin prologue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along- And so the Rin proloAnd so the Rin prologue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along-gue begins, in bed, with traumatic memories and regrets. So an ordinary morning for this reviewer. It’s also the first mention of the Holy Grail War that took place during the events of Fate/Zero. Rin’s final memories of her father do pull at my heart-strings however. Wanting to make someone laugh before you see them off is, in my opinion, a noble pursuit. Given what I know of Tokiomi from the events of Fate/Zero I can also agree that his character was perhaps one of the finer among the mages. At least compared to Kiritsugu “Sign a magical contract, can’t shoot, hire someone else to first for me” Emiya, Kirei “My religious views make my sadism and hedonism weird for me” Kotomine, and Lord El Melloi “Old Money, Old Magecraft” Archibald. Sound wise I’ve been listening to the flashback music for nearly ten minutes as I’ve been writing this up and I’m starting to see stars so we should probably move along-

-Only for the lovely siren song of the world’s most annoying alarm clock to start ringing.

I agree with you there Rin, I feel like I’m being attacked as well. Terrible assault on the ears aside, we learn that Rin has been up late at night studying her Father’s will. A hobby that not even I would recommend. After struggling to get out of bed in time for class (Rin really is my spirit animal), she promptly complains about the coldness of her home. As someone who lives in Boston and has never heard of Central Air, this is painfully relatable. Have you had to sit on a toilet seat with ice in the bowl? I don’t recommend it. After the most uncomfortable scene of someone humble-bragging about their rich (literally in this case) background (likely because she can’t to anyone else), she explains that she is in fact a mage and what that entails. Persecution, isolation, and regular communion with forces beyond what most can comprehend. She also goes on to reference the 5 magics (familiar if you’ve played Melty Blood or read Tsukihime, something I’m sure to cover at some point).

What I find to be interesting here is that she fundamentally separates herself from the rest of humanity, treating herself as an outsider despite living what she’d consider ‘an ordinary life’. She shows longing and desire for the things that everyone else has access to and seems to disdain magic on it’s own. But to paraphrase Rin: “Let’s put off difficult discussions, they can wait till they’re old.” As Rin heads out she grabs a rather suspicious (and important) pendant that she managed to find after decoding Tokiomi’s will. It makes me wonder, did he lock up the Tohsaka family heirlooms in various vaults; hoping that someday his heir or maybe one of hers would be able to open them? Was he trolling his daughter? Or am I reading too much into this? Besides her finding the mystical cure-a-spear-to-the-heart jewel, Rin goes on to explain how Tohsaka family magic works. Essentially by slowly storing magic in jewels to draw upon at a later date. I’m reminded of Stormlight and its use of spheres, but that’s besides the point. There’s also a brief discussion of magic crests and how they’re essentially all the magical experiences of her predecessors engraved into her arm. Fun. Rin then goes on to finally leave her house after nearly thirty minutes of getting ready and shows a remarkable knowledge of German. Something that even I haven’t quite managed to master. There’s some brief world building with this area of Fuyuki being a blend of Eastern and Western architecture (as an architect myself this is fascinating to me) and draws a line of parallel between Rin and Shirou. Rin lives in a fancy Western-style mansion and longs for the future, while Shirou lives in the Eastern-style Emiya Residence and yearns for ideals that don’t quite exist anymore. As Rin hurries off to school, a sense of eeriness and unease washes over us, only for us to learn the most terrible and terrifying fact of all. She got up early and so her early morning panic was wasted. Oh and we also meet Ayako who is as exhaustingly energetic as usual. Somehow Rin’s clocks were all an hour fast. She suspects Tokiomi’s work, but I doubt the Tohsaka family Patriarch was one for pranks. Ayako drags Rin off the almost exorbitantly fancy Archery range and they begin to discuss their mutual search for a partner. Have I said that Rin is my spirit animal? I’m sure I must have by now.

This is the first glimpse we get at Rin’s competitive side. Ayako may have been the one to initiate the relationship, but any strong rivalry requires mutual input from both parties. A solid example of this can be seen in the relationship between Sanji and Zoro in One Piece. If I were less astute, I’d prop Ayako as up a potential antagonist later on during the route. As for the contest itself, it’s petty in the most realistic of ways. Attempting to get a boyfriend or girlfriend just to rub it in the face of your rival? I’ve definitely experienced that in my (admittedly brief) lifetime. Well we’ll have to find out another time as I’ve come to realize just how long this document is getting. Join me next week and we’ll continue along with the Rin prologue and hope we get to her summoning of Archer. This has been a fascinating look at the series I’ve adored for so long, just seeing the characters thoughts on the most simple of matters has been an eye-widening experience. This is Olivia Reviews and I can’t wait to see you next time.

[sleepless-in-starbucks]

Natural Space and Drawn-On Suns

Summary: In a world filled with soulmates, Roman had long ago accepted that ve was never going to have one. The Universe had chosen to be a bitch to vim, and ve was stuck with that. So even though it was very in-character, Roman thought it was pretty rude of the Universe to make vim fall so hopelessly in love with two soulmates, too. Content: (Not actually) unrequited love, (mutual) pining, mention/reference to various (minor) injuries, technically one very minor reference to self-harm, panic attack, some poorly timed laughing, references to not sleeping well/bad sleeping habits, happy ending; nb!roman, nb!remy, genderfluid!logan, all characters are implied to be aromantic, soulmate au Ships: QPR rolosleep, pre-established losleep Note: For the majority of this, Logan uses the atlantis pronoun set- a/lan/atla/atlan/atlantiself. I mention this because the ‘a’ pronoun confused me many a time while writing, and I don’t want it to confuse you while reading

~

Confessions. Roman loved them…

...as tropes.

In real life? Not so much.

Maybe it would’ve been better if they weren’t soulmates. Maybe it would’ve been better if ve had a soulmate of vis own. Maybe it would’ve been better if Roman’s concept of romance existed past poorly written dime novels and cheesy romcoms.

Maybe it would’ve been just as hard if all the odds were in vis favor.

But as they stood, they weren’t great.

And yet… Roman still wanted to confess.

No, scratch that.

Needed to confess.

Ve couldn’t go on like this. They were just… so in love. Almost too in love, depending on who you asked, but Roman never saw it like that. Maybe that’s because ve’s biased. Ve found ve didn’t care that much.

They were real soulmates, unlike some of them. Some matches never clicked. Some took time.

Logan and Remy took time, but they hadn’t needed it. You could see it in their every action, their every word, their every small glance at the other. They didn’t even have a good meet-cute and they still fit better together than any couple Roman had ever seen. From two strangers forced to share the last seat on the bus to soulmates who’s every move around the other was laced with something, something more than love, something that was made from the stars themselves.

And it was etched across their skin too, the stars and constellations that decorated Logan’s skin at every spot Remy had bled and the planets on Remy that marked the spot of Logan’s every bruise. Space flowed in their veins and held them together.

Roman wasn’t as lucky. For all the beauty ve had seen in soul markings, it had only ever been on others. It had never been scales on vis burns or flowers on vis scars- better put, never markings on vis skin where vis soulmate’s had been marred. Because ve didn’t have a soulmate.

And that had hurt. Hurt worse than the tiny cuts and bruises that had near constantly lined vis arms until high school, in the hopes that vis soulmate would see them and know Roman was there. Hurt worse than going through high school watching people laugh as swirls and hearts appeared on their skin, ruminating on what their other halves could be getting up to. Hurt worse than seeing the college couples roaming campus, hand in hand, matching in injuries and patterns and bright smiles filled with adoration for the other. It hurt to know the universe, or fate, or whatever had abandoned vim, had left vim to yearn for the sort of connection it was supposed to give vim but didn’t. Left to yearn for desires that would never be fulfilled.

So, of course, in response to vis anger and betrayal and annoyance, the universe (or fate, or whatever) had sent vim Logan and Remy.

Aka, it had stabbed vim in the back and asked vim if ve had anymore complaints about vis situation.

Remy was an astronomy major who was sassy, aloof, and very vocal about the fact that they couldn’t wait to be away from earth and to the stars. Logan was a marine biology major who was withdrawn, sarcastic, and eager to sink into the depths of the ocean. Complete opposites heading in the same direction, Logan had called them once, her head on Remy’s shoulder while they did their homework and muttered about how space didn’t have homework.

Roman had watched them from where ve had been working on vis own bed, wishing that direction was towards vim.

It wasn’t going to be, of course. Multiple soulmates existed. If Roman was meant to be a part of their happiness, ve would’ve been their soulmate.

But ve wasn’t.

And that should’ve been the end of it. Ve should’ve moved on, should’ve settled with the fact ve was only ever going to maybe find love with others like vim, should’ve been happy to be Logan and Remy’s friend and nothing more.

Vis heart had other plans.

It refused to give up. It refused to move on. It refused to accept the kindness Logan and Remy showed vim as acts of friendship and instead went searching for proof of something closer.

Remy bringing Roman a coffee when they got one wasn’t Remy just being nice to and considerate of their roommate, it was a gift and sign of affection. Logan helping Roman with some of vis homework wasn’t them just trying to be helpful, it was an excuse to spend more time with Roman. Them inviting Roman so many places with them wasn’t just a gesture of friendship but instead a precursor to actual dates.

Vis heart was wrong, of course. It didn’t actually mean anything that Remy had vis coffee order memorized or that Logan always leaned so close to vim when showing vim vis mistake or that ve couldn’t remember the last time the two of them had been on a just-them date (even when Roman hadn’t been able to come to the outings they had invited vim on, they always ended up cancelling anyways, normally staying in with vim instead). Vis heart was still wrong, still seeing things that weren’t there.

So why was Roman entertaining it? Why was ve going to confess to Logan and Remy, admit that ve could see the galaxies on their skin in their eyes as well, lay vimself open before them even though ve knew ve would only be met with rejection?

Partially because ve knew it was the only way to crush that hope, once and for all. The only way to get over them was to know ve could truly never have them. Even if it stung like poison and burned like magma, Roman needed them to stare vim in the eyes and tell vim they liked vim, but only as a friend.

It was mostly because Roman was a lovesick fool.

So, here ve was. Sitting on vis bed, dressed up nice in a white dress layered in red, good looking but not uncomfortable, feeling like a complete wreck.

The three of them were supposed to be going to dinner. Some place nice, nicer than Roman was really used to, especially for something as simple as friends hanging out. But Remy had said they were also celebrating Logan’s most recent test score being absolutely stunning (and Logan just being stunning in general), so Roman had accepted it. And ve was going to tell them then, after ve had snuck around them and paid the bill vimself and when the meal was at end, so when things went horribly ve’d be able to just leave right after. It was a simple plan. It was a great plan. Ve even knew the outcome, so it was a guaranteed plan too.

Yet there was a pit in vis stomach the size of the moon and it felt like there were stars in vis throat, stealing vis breath as ve tried to breathe around them. Because for as good of a plan as it was, there was still one problem: Roman.

Ve didn’t want to know that Logan and Remy didn’t want vim. Ve didn’t want them to tell vim they only liked vim as a friend. Ve didn’t want that hope to be crushed.

But ve couldn’t keep going on like this either, couldn’t keep pretending to just be their friend, couldn’t just swallow down vis affections like a bad aftertaste. No, Roman had two choices left to vim, and the fact that they were a rock and a hard place didn’t matter- ve had to pick one.

Roman’s phone dinged, and ve didn’t need to check it to know it was Remy, letting vim know that they and Logan were there, ready to go. Roman just had to reply that ve was ready, or even that ve needed another minute, and then head out and meet them, and go to dinner, and… and…

Apparently, there was a third choice: end up destroyed, right smack dab in the middle of the other two options.

Ve wasn’t sure when ve had slipped off the bed, but ve must have, since the ground beneath vim was no longer soft and no longer allowed vim to press vis fingers into it. Ve was vaguely aware that vis phone was buzzing more, more than it should have, probably, but ve couldn’t truly bring vimself to care. Ve couldn’t bring vimself to care about anything, right then, anything that wasn’t Logan and Remy and messing everything up and dreams that would never come true and the blood roaring in vis ears and now that ve was thinking about it was ve even breathing anymore, did that even matter anymore-

Warmth, heavy and real, on vis shoulder. On instinct, Roman sucked in a breath, and though it was shaky and weak, it was something. There was something- someone- someones- in front of vim, but Roman couldn’t focus on them, the single breath ve had gotten not nearly enough to last long. Soon enough, ve was choking again, choking on stars ve had never had and never would.

More warmth, this one warm but tempered, prepared, steady, took one of Roman’s hands, pulling it away from vim until it was planted against a warm surface, one that was moving up and down in a controlled manner, slight squeezes of vis hand inviting vim to try and follow the pattern. And Roman tried to, ve really did, not knowing why ve trusted the warmth or why ve wanted to follow its suggestions, but ve did, so ve tried, and tried again and again and again even when ve couldn’t keep with the pattern just right, the warmth on vis shoulder supporting vim the whole way through.

As Roman’s breathing started to even out, so did vis focus start to come back. Vis gaze seemed to be pointed solely at the floor, but Roman could see the two figures in vis peripheral- pressed slacks and polo matched with a lovely tie, and a dazzling dress that lesser fools might’ve called garish. Ah. So it was them.

Some part of Roman was nagging that this was an issue, that there was a problem here, but ve was still occupied with the much too difficult task of breathing to worry about it much. Ve slumped over more and more with every breath, fairly certain ve was leaning against Remy, but not aware enough to care. They certainly didn’t seem to mind, their arm slipping over Roman’s shoulders and pulling vim closer to them.

“It’s alright, you’re alright, you’re okay.” They soothed quietly, their voice gentle and melodic to Roman’s ears. “Let’s get you back on the bed, yeah? Comfier up there, angel.”

A warning bell popped up in the back of Roman’s mind, something about the importance of nicknames and petnames, but ve ignored it in favor of nodding and breathing. The grip on vis shoulders tightened, and a moment later ve was vertical, only to almost instantly go back to being down. Logan was grabbing Remy’s pillows off their bed, placing them along with Roman’s, so that when Remy properly laid vim down ve was still supported mostly-upright by the pillow stack.

Remy helped settle vim, coming to sit down on the inside of vis bed, partly pressed against the wall and next to Roman’s head. Logan sat in a similar spot on the edge of the bed, frowning at Roman while Remy brushed vis hair out of vis face.

For a few minutes, they stayed like that, Roman quietly breathing while Remy and Logan sat next to vim, Remy having moved on to playing with vis hair while Logan’s hand rested on Roman’s shoulder, reassuring and constant. It almost would’ve been perfect, being so close and relaxed with them, were it not for the reason they had ended up like that in the first place.

“So,” Remy said, finally, breaking the silence gently, “are we going to talk about this?”

“About what?” Roman asked, vis eyes have fallen shut at some point, though ve was still very much awake. Ve was pretty sure ve knew what Remy wanted to talk about, but a bit of playing-dumb and buying time couldn’t hurt either way.

“Oh, just the fact that you were having a panic attack a moment ago.” Remy said, tone faux conversational but unable to completely hide the undercurrent of worry in their voice.

Roman half-shrugged. “It’s nothing.” Ve answered. Because it was nothing, really. All secrets came to light eventually, so it was for the best Roman keep vis under wraps for as long as possible, and deal with the fallout whenever it occurred naturally. A simple conclusion that ve certainly hadn’t needed to panic over. And now that it was figured out, ve was okay, so it was nothing.

Remy didn’t seem to agree. “Oh, yeah, because struggling to just breathe for five minutes is clearly the result of nothing.” They snapped. Roman flinched, and they immediately drew away from vim in response, looking away, expression abashed.

Logan reached across Roman, placing a hand on Remy’s arm in support, and Roman tried to ignore the lurch in vis stomach at the loving gesture. A looked at Remy for a moment, the two of them seeming to have a silent conversation before Remy nodded, looking reassured as Logan turned atla gaze on Roman.

“Remy’s just concerned, Roman, as am I. And with good reason.” Logan said calmly, though there was a look in atla eye that Roman knew well from late nights when Remy couldn’t sleep. “While panic attacks can be brought on by small things, we’ve never seen you have one. That suggests that whatever caused it is very important- at the very least, it’s not ‘nothing.’”

“And even if it was something ‘small,’ we’d still want to know.” Remy tacked on, voice deliberately much softer. “You’re upset, love, and we want to help you as best we can.”

With breathing no longer as serious of an issue as it had been, Roman was able to make the connection between nicknames and petnames and the alarm that had been going off in vis mind- Remy used a lot of nicknames interchangeably as petnames, but there were a few that they only used for people they cared dearly for (aka Logan).

Amongst those few? ‘Angel’ and ‘love.’

Roman forced vimself to keep breathing normally, well aware hyperventilating more would only be a cause for more concern for the other two. And they were already concerned enough, with Remy calling vim by nicknames that were meant for people closer to them then Roman was and with Logan looking at vim with a fond sort of worry reserved for Remy and Remy alone. So worried over vim they were treating vim like ve was someone close to them. Like ve was someone who truly mattered.

Like ve was someone who was their soulmate.

And all of a sudden, Roman was back to the problem of confessions. Ve couldn’t go on like this, no matter how badly ve wanted to pretend ve could. Ve needed to let them know ve was fine, that the panic had been over something silly that they couldn’t fix anyways, so they could realize how much their attempts at kindness came off as cruel. It would hurt, but it would ultimately be for the best, and Roman knew that was what mattered in the end.

Ve cleared vis throat. “It was… it’s about you guys.”

Logan and Remy both stiffened at that, casting each other a quick glance that Roman couldn’t decipher but ve didn’t miss either. Ve felt bad, well-aware that vis phrasing could’ve been better, but ve needed the build-up. Ve knew if ve tried to say it all at once, ve’d just chicken out, and that would get them all nowhere.

“Roman, if Remy or I have ever done anything to greatly distress you-”

“No, it’s not that.” Roman said, cutting Logan off.

Logan frowned, once more glancing over at Remy, who offered an equally confused-but-worried expression. Logan looked back at Roman. “Then… what’s wrong?”

Roman took a deep breath, steeling vimself. “I’m in love with you. Both of you.”

Dead silence. Roman wasn’t surprised. There wasn’t really a good way to react to that, after all.

“I’m sorry.” Roman said quietly, feeling ve had to fill the silence with something, anything. Ve needed to apologize, anyways. “I know you’re soulmates and I know you don’t- I know you just see me as a friend. And that’s- that’s fine, really, I love what we have, I just- I’m sorry.”

The silence once more stretched out as Roman finished, focusing vis attention on vis feet, trying to ignore the tears stinging at the corner of vis eyes in anticipation of all the words that were to come.

And then… laughter.

Hesitant at first, but louder soon enough, startling Roman into looking over and its source. Remy was leaning against the wall next to them, laughing, trying not to look at Roman as they did so. Ve looked over at Logan in confusion, not finding any answers in lan covering atla mouth with atla hand, hiding a smile or a frown Roman wasn’t sure. Ve supposed vis hopeless love could be seen as funny, or perhaps a joke, but… well… this wasn’t one of the outcomes ve had really expected.

“I’m- I’m so sorry, baby, this is a horrible reaction.” Remy said after a moment, once more looking at Roman and smiling for some reason or another. They looked happy, really happy, more happy than a bad joke about Roman’s love could possibly make them- right?

“And likely misleading.” Logan pointed out as well, though a sounded amused. Once more, Roman glanced between them, trying to figure out the joke ve wasn’t a part of.

“I know you guys probably think this is a joke, but I’m being serious.” Roman said, frustrated. Ve just wanted them to acknowledge what ve had said, acknowledge its ramifications, acknowledge what it meant for vim and for them all. “It’s not funny.”

Remy stifled their laughs at that, though they were still smiling, a sweet, fond thing that Roman wanted to see forever even if ve knew ve didn’t deserve it for a second. “We know, Ro. It’s just… bad timing, I think.”

Logan nodded, atla face set back into a neutral expression, save for the twitch up at the corner of atla lips and the soft look in atla eyes. “Roman, do you know why we were going to dinner tonight?”

“To celebrate your recent test score…?” Roman said, slowly, fairly certain that was the right answer but unsure why it mattered right now.

“I haven’t taken a test in at least two weeks, so no, not that.” Logan responded.

Roman frowned and looked towards Remy. “You said-”

“You kinda put me on the spot, hun.” Remy excused, chuckling a bit. “It was the first thing that came to mind as to why we’d all be going out to such a fancy place- I didn’t think you’d buy it, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain when you did.”

“Oh.” Roman said, accepting the answer before frowning harder, still confused. “But if that’s not why we were going out… what was the actual reason?”

“Good word choice there- Ro, we were going to ask if you wanted to be our partner.”

It was Roman’s turn to be silent, looking between vis two friends and squishes quicker than ve had been earlier, waiting for their expressions to break, for them to laugh, for them to mock vim for falling for it. But they didn’t, they remained looking the faintest bits amused but mostly fond, fond for vim, and Roman had the vague feeling ve was going to start crying soon.

“But… you’re soulmates.” Roman said, not wanting to crush vis hope but not wanting to only offer it false chances. “You’re not fated to be with anyone else.”

“Technically, no.” Logan agreed. “Which is why we didn’t want to tell you the true purpose of this evening. I confess, we were… worried. Roman, you’re attractive-”

“Very attractive, incredibly handsome.”

“-and talented-”

“So amazingly talented.”

“-and just generally, as they say, a ‘catch.’”

“A wonderful catch.”

Logan gently hit Remy’s arm, atla expression one meant to be of annoyance for being interrupted but coming off only as in love. Remy just smirked back, and Logan rolled atla eyes, and turned back to Roman and looked at vim the exact same way a had been looking at Remy, just minus the poor attempts at faux exasperation.

“And yet, you never seemed to show any interest in having a partner.” Logan continued, frowning just the tiniest bit. “We assumed you held to old traditions- the idea that you couldn’t be with those who were marked for soulmates, only others who weren’t.”

“Which is why we were going to go to such a nice restaurant.” Remy explained. “We figured, hey, if we ask and you say no and everything’s awkward, at least we’ll be awkward in style.”

“That was your idea alone, Remy.”

“We’re soulmates, love, everything I do is your problem as well.”

“Unfortunately.” Logan muttered, rolling atla eyes even as a smiled. Remy matched atla smile before leaning over to kiss atla cheek, smile growing when Logan’s cheeks dusted pink at the action. “You are being a distraction.”

“The best.” Remy responded cheerfully. They leaned back to their side of the bed, moving forward a bit so they could hold the side of Roman’s face, their smile having taken on a slightly dopey look. “We could go through all the exacts of falling for you and worrying about falling for you- and we will, later, if you want- but I think you have enough of the gist for now, darling.”

Roman met Remy’s eyes, slightly addicted to looking into them, the dark brown so often hidden ve wouldn’t want to look away even if they weren’t filled with a happy, bright sort of affection. “So… what now, then?”

Logan laughed, softly, the sound immediately drawing Roman’s attention to lan, watching with adoring fascination as a smiled gently at vim. A looked away for only a moment to take one of Roman’s hands in atla own, pressing a soft kiss to the back of it, making Roman blush.

“Now, assuming you are amicable to the idea, the three of us get together queerplatonically.” Logan explained, simply and sweetly.

“As partners.” Remy added, shifting their position on the bed so that they were closer to Roman and pressing a kiss to vis forehead as they did so. Roman blushed harder, a development Remy looked delighted by.

“You guys are acting like we already are partners.” Roman pointed out.

“Well, you have admitted that you hold queerplatonic feelings for us, and we’ve confessed to having the same for you.” Logan pointed out, now holding Roman’s hand between both of atlan. “Apologies if we are making inaccurate assumptions, but there appears to be no reason for us not to be partners already.”

“Lo, love, you’re sounding a little impatient there.” Remy said, teasingly, smiling at Logan from where they were reclining beside Roman’s head.

Logan just rolled atla eyes. “It has been twenty-two near-insufferable weeks of you complaining about how pretty your roommate is and twenty-one messy weeks of falling for vim too because you wouldn’t stop talking about vim. We have confirmation that ve returns our affections. I wish to now show these affections. Any delays in me doing so are only further annoyances.”

Remy laughed. “Well, you heard my starshine.” They said, grinning at Roman. “Have anything to say in your defense?”

Roman bit vis lip. “We’re not soulmates.”

“Logan’s parents were soulmates and they divorced two years after they had lan.” Remy said. “Meanwhile, of my five parents, only one set of them were soulmates, and all of them have been cheesy and in love as long as I can remember.”

“So while your fears in that particular regard were valid… using it as a defense is not.” Logan told vim, squeezing vis hand, reminding both that a was there and that a was tired of waiting. “Anything else?”

Roman didn’t respond at first, taking a moment to think, but ve wasn’t sure why ve bothered. It was a little laughable, how quickly vis fears over being in love with them fell apart once the soulmates thing was out of the equation. Ve knew they were polyam, as Remy had mentioned it multiple times over the past few weeks- something Roman was now realizing may have been on purpose- and if they liked vim back then there was no need to worry over unrequited love.

Really, there wasn’t even a reason to think. They loved vim, and they didn’t care that ve wasn’t their soulmate. What more could Roman want?

“I guess not.” Ve said, finally, offering the two of them a smile that ve knew came off as awkward but ve hoped also came off as sweet, or fond, or nice, or any one of the dozens of things they were. And from the way Remy smiled back, brighter and happier than Roman thought ve had ever seen them before, ve had the feeling vis smile was just fine.

“Finally.” Logan said in direct contrast, moving from sitting on the edge of the bed to being stretched out across it, pressed into Roman’s side in mere seconds. A peppered kisses across the entirety of the side of Roman’s face, ignoring vis once-more rapidly rising flush. As quickly as a had started, Logan settled, pressing atla face into the crook of Roman’s neck, muttering to atlantiself about what sounded like the annoyances of pining over stupid pretty people.

“Wh-what just happened?” Roman asked, looking over at Remy, wishing ve could pretend the stutter was from exhaustion and not how flustered ve currently was. Not that it seemed Remy would’ve bought the ‘exhaustion’ excuse anyways, chuckling at Roman as they glanced over at Logan fondly.

“Logan’s officially claimed you as a partner.” Remy explained, tone soft and loving. “A’ll never admit it out loud, but a’s very cuddly with the people a loves. A’s been ranting about how warm you look for weeks now.”

“Oh.” Roman said, equally soft, looking at Logan’s messy dark hair, covering any part of atla face that Roman might’ve been able to see past where it was pushed against vis neck. “Is a asleep?”

Roman was answered by a huff from Logan atlantiself, tightening atla hold on Roman and shifting atla head. Remy chuckled again, reaching over to run a hand through Logan’s hair, Logan humming contentedly in response.

“A will be soon enough.” Logan’s hums turned annoyed. “Oh, hush. You sleep worse than me and you know it.” A more questioning hum. “Roman’s also tired and has nowhere to be, ve will not mind if you fall asleep wrapped around vim.”

“But dinner-”

“Has been cancelled since we saw you having a panic attack.” Remy cut vim off smoothly, still playing with Logan’s hair as they kissed Roman’s forehead. “Your only evening plans are to lay here and let Logan cuddle you and probably take a nap while you’re at it.”

“I think I can get behind those plans.” Roman replied, loath to move or disrupt  Logan in any way. “And afterwards? When a wakes back up?”

Remy shrugged. “A’ll still want to hold you, so probably watch a movie. Or take turns talking about how much we love you. Or find all your scars- I know you have a lot, sweetheart, you were a trouble child- so me and Lo can map them out properly.”

“Map them out…?”

“I was thinking suns.” Remy answered, their hand moving from Logan’s head down atla arm, tracing over one of the constellation patterns there. “Bright and energetic and beautiful.”

Roman realized what Remy meant as ve looked at Logan’s soulmarks, and at the black sketch of saturn on the back of Remy’s hand from where Logan had accidentally trapped atla hand in a door. “That would be… nice.” Ve decided quietly, looking at the planets and stars and thinking suns would look nice amongst them. “Could you also…”

“I think you’ll wear the universe very well.” Remy said by way of response, their hand slipping all the way down Logan’s arm so that they could hold atlan. They moved back, pulling their joined hands over Roman’s chest, Remy using their free hand to rest their head on. “But for now, you should probably try to get some sleep, angel.”

Though ve wanted to argue, wanted to say ve wasn’t tired and would much rather talk to Remy about just how long the whole mutual-pining thing had been going on, vis earlier exhaustion from the panic attack was creeping back in, and with Logan pressed against vis side and Remy just as close resisting its call had become nigh impossible. So instead, Roman wrapped an arm around Logan, holding lan even closer. Ve curled up a bit, getting comfortable, before glancing back at Remy. They were still resting on their hand, eyes open but half-lidded, watching Roman and Logan with a tired smile.

“Don’t you need sleep too?” Roman asked as ve settled vis head over Logan’s, reveling in how close and warm and soft a was.

“I’ll go to bed soon enough, don’t worry.” Remy assured, softly kissing the top of Roman’s head. “Sleep well, love.”

And Roman did, feeling melty from the fondness in Remy’s voice, feeling warm from Logan against vim, and feeling only pure joy at the thought of being a part of Logan and Remy’s universe.

[alvacchi]

Phantom Thief Hanako-kun AU Story: When They Truly Met

(Image from AidaIro!)

This is my concept story based off of the AU! Enjoy!

---

-The story started off when Yashiro asked Tsuchigomori why he retired from the police force and opened up his own private detective agency

-That didn't mean the private detectives and police force wouldn't work together from time to time but still

-Tsuchigomori replied that he didn't approve of Teru's violent methods towards criminals no matter the offense. Teru was one of the top promising policemen in the force.

Tsuchigomori had his personal reasons supposedly.

-Tsuchigomori told her to go join the police force then but Yashiro refused

-Yashiro, on the other hand, had a crush on Teru. She thought he's only trying to protect people. He was popular in the police force and she considered him a senpai.

-Yashiro is Tsuchigomori's apprentice and she wanted to learn from him as he's more experienced

-She believed it was better if she impressed Teru with her detective skills once she mastered them

-Yashiro asked about the latest heist note from the phantom thief Hanako

-Both of them were doing their jobs of helping to catch the thief. It had been their mission lately.

-Tsuchigomori forbade her to go this time though

-Yashiro asked why

-Tsuchigomori: "Minamoto Teru is going tonight."

-Yashiro gasped since Teru doesn't often come. He's mostly busy with other cases that were more urgent

-But was it really just Teru?

-Tsuchigomori went over Yashiro's problems during their previous heist searches for Hanako

-Like getting lost

-He also told her Kou and Mitsuba were not going either because it's going to get dangerous

-Yashiro questioned this because heists never brought any harm but entertainment for Hanako fans

-Tsuchigomori shooed her off though, saying she's got a lot to learn

-During the night. It was a full red moon

-The heist was happening and Yashiro was missing out.

-Yashiro was out of her apartment at the time, grabbing groceries for her and her little hamster Black Canyon

-She also bought new kitchen appliances since her old ones were getting worn out

-When she came to her door, she heard a noise inside

-Panicking, she prepared some self defense with a frying pan and kitchen armor and blindly charged in to hit the intruder

-When she opened her eyes, she found a bleeding Hanako on the floor

-'Oh no! I murdered him!' She immediately thought.

-But then after calming down a bit, she realized the bleeding wasn't from her frying pan but the chest area

-It looked like a bullet wound

-A bullet? Was there gun violence?! But who used a gun?

-She attempted to call 119

-Hanako grabbed her arm to stop her from calling the hospital, panting heavily

-A doorbell rang and pounding door knocks were heard

-Yashiro hid Hanako in a blanket without thinking

-She answered the door to find Teru

-Teru asked her if she's seen any suspicious activity like a certain phantom thief

-He was hunting Hanako down

-That's when it clicked to Yashiro that she's hiding the thief since the shock blinded her from thinking of his identity

-Recalling the bullet wound, for a second she doubted Teru but she fought that doubt. Surely not Teru, right? He had a whip and a sword but a gun?

-Her morals clashed and an internal conflict started

-Wasn't it too cruel to hand Hanako over at his most vulnerable moment?

-It was so unusual to see him in such a state, since he seemed to be having the time of his life at the heists

-Was this what Detective Tsuchigomori meant by dangerous?

-But Hanako hadn't technically hurt anyone from any of his heists

-She didn't even know his motive behind his stealing

-So she lied

-She said she hadn't seen anyone

-Teru took her word for it and went to search around her apartment building

-Yashiro let go a breath she didn't realize she was holding

-Then, she started agonizing on the fact that she lied to her crush

-She slapped her cheeks as she realized Hanako was still bleeding to death

-She went over to check with him and threw the covers off

-Hanako was unconscious now and Yashiro quickly checked his pulse

-It was faint but there

-He's still alive thank goodness

-She realized the wound seemed to be slightly bigger for some reason and his hand was tightly clutching onto something

-It's the bullet

-He took out the bullet with the new knife that was laying nearby

-She must have dropped her bags in pure panic

-Okay, this guy was crazy

-Did he want to die faster or something

-He must have fainted in the middle of applying aid to himself

-How did he not scream in the process

-Recalling that Hanako didn't want to go to the hospital, Yashiro assumed that it was because he's a wanted criminal

-She thought he was lucky that she learned first aid from Tsuchigomori as part of her detective work

-Also that she was living alone in her apartment

-So, she patched him up real good and left him to sleep somewhere

-During the patch up, she tried to feel for any gem he could be hiding

-But there were none on him

-Strange since he came back from a heist

-Did he fail to steal because of Teru? That'd be a first.

-Finally when her attention was off him, she realized she would have to clean the bloody mess

-And her window was broken

-The most likely case being Hanako crashed in through there

-Staring at Hanako asleep, she noticed a black cat mask on the side of him.

-Black cats were told to bring bad luck to those around them.

But that can't be right. That's just a superstition.

-Did Teru believe in it?

-Nonetheless, she had to pay for that window damage. Or make an unconscious thief do so when he wakes up

-By the time she woke up the next day though, Hanako was already gone with a note on the side that he would come by later tonight

-If Yashiro wasn't mad last night, she was pissed now

-Aren't phantom thieves supposed to be gentlemen?! He gave her nothing but trouble!

-She was really going to let him have it when he comes

-The time came and Yashiro found Hanako right at her window

-It's not even the first floor. Of course he had to make a grand entrance

-Yashiro grabbed him and pulled him into her room with anger

-She yelled at him for leaving suddenly even with a note

-Hanako: "Ow is this how you deal with your patient? I'm sad and hurt."

-Hanako told her that he had to go pick up the jewels he left

-Oh. So he was hiding them somewhere else

-Yashiro: "I'll have you know I'm a detective! I could arrest you right here! Right now!"

-Hanako: "Correction. You're a detective's apprentice. You wouldn't have the authority to arrest me."

-Yashiro's eyes widened.

-Hanako: "Hehe surprised? Your window happened to be conveniently close enough to land."

Yashiro: "How do you know who I am?"

Hanako: "I have my sources. How did you think I was able to have a successful heist every time?"

-Hanako walked closer to Yashiro and Yashiro stepped back until she was up against the wall.

-He was really close and dominating over her, quite teasingly

-If Yashiro had a wild imagination, it was like a kabedon with both hands.

-Hanako: "Besides, even with authority, did you really think you could arrest me?"

-Yashiro flustered and quickly pushed him off, though careful not to touch his wound.

-Yashiro: 'Don't fall for it, Yashiro Nene! He's not even your type!'

-Yashiro: "Why do you steal?"

-Hanako only smiled at her.

-Hanako: "That's for you to find out, my dear detective."

-Yashiro pouted at the comeback.

-Hanako: "Let's make a deal."

-Yashiro: "What?"

-Hanako: "I'm indebted to you so why don't I come over at night once in a while? We could get to know each other."

-Yashiro: "Are you kidding? That's breaking my moral code! You know I can't do that!"

-Hanako: "You're curious though, right?"

-At that moment, Yashiro couldn't deny it. She indeed was. She couldn't shake off the incident from last night. Maybe Hanako had a reason for being a phantom thief. And maybe there was more to him than meets the eye.

-Yashiro: ".......Fine. We have a deal. But don't expect me to go easy on you during the heists!"

-Hanako: "Wouldn't have it any other way~"

-Hanako closed in again to kneel down and place a kiss on her hand. He looked up and grinned at her.

-Not so soon, Yashiro just kicks him out of her apartment, already a blushing mess.

-And so their relationship began.

[lonelyreputation]

Drunk on a Sunset | 3 #ShawnMendesWritingCircle

A/N: Week THREE!!! Can you BELIEVE 🥳 Bc I can’t sdjfs Too busy having too much fun collaborating 🥂 Here’s part three to @mendesficsxbombay​ absolutely wonderful co-workers series!! Previous parts linked below!! Can’t wait to see where the next part goes (hopefully in an ~angsty direction sljfdkl)!!!

I wanna shout out @saysweartogod-og​ for being an absolute inspiration to me and always brainstorming with me in the wee hours of the night 🤧 Love you to the moon and to Saturn 💫 (she also created this circle game so props to her)

Part ONE | Part TWO | Shawn Mendes Writing Circle MASTERLIST 

Warnings: None // WC: 2.1K

Tour was everything and more Shawn could have ever imagined.  Sure, he’s traveled the world and met plenty of fans before, but something about this tour was special.  And he knew that the reason why this tour felt extra special.  All he had to do was look to the left, squint hard enough to see through the pink lights that came from the screen behind him, and see you singing along to his songs.

It was a sight he was sure he would never grow tired of.

With the fluttery feeling of butterflies he felt whenever he saw you, it was quickly followed up with flashbacks to that night.  The night of your birthday that he wished he remembered more of, that he wished had played out differently, a night he wished you remembered.  Shawn told himself that everything happens for a reason, that maybe you were supposed to stay Andrew’s tour representative, but he wanted to be so much more with you.

All he wanted was to be in your presence, but he couldn’t stop the nagging he heard in the back of his mind that said to leave you alone.  Sure, he walked on eggshells around you, but your presence was so alluring, that he always chased the feeling.

There had been a travel day––flying from Turin, Italy to Barcelona––and then the day before the show was full of stage set-up and rehearsals.  Shawn tried his best to get you to hang out with him, but you were always whipping out an excuse from your back pocket.  And yes, he knew you had actual responsibilities because this was your job, but he became suspicious when he thought more about it.  You had hung out with him whenever you had a spare moment, mostly just watching films on his tour bus or hotel room, but you never spent more time than necessary with him.

So he was going to try and spend more time than necessary with you.

He helped you bring in the merchandise boxes to the stalls in the arena, he helped you set up his green room with the production coordinator, and he looked over your shoulder when you were with the lightning director making sure everything was working in line for the show.  He knew that he was probably acting a bit childish, but if you didn’t remember what happened that night, he was going to try his damn best to get on your good side.

The day of the show came and Shawn wasn’t able to help much because he was needed to do his responsibilities.  Because just like how helping Cez, and reporting everything back to Andrew was your job, being a performer was his job.

In his pastel yellow hoodie, you stood off to the side, and watched as he flipped the microphone in his hand every now and then, as he walked along the stage for soundcheck.  He was incoherently singing the melodies to the songs you knew frontwards and backwards at this point, and you couldn’t help but feel a small smile tug at the corner of your lips.

He always made you smile, and you had butterflies in your stomach all day yesterday when he helped you with your tasks, but there was part of you that still didn’t know how to act around him.  You were happy that he wasn’t making your business relationship with him weird, but you could tell that he was overcompensating because he thought you didn’t remember that night.

Ever since you heard him stumble while putting his jeans on and sneak out of your room, you were on the same page as him in regards to pretending the night never happened.  Him leaving the warmth of your sheets was confirmation that he thought what happened that night was a mistake.  Although, you thought it was the most miraculous thing that happened.

His touches were gentle, his words were sweet, and his smile was infectious.  That night was a dream in every way possible and you were looking forward to waking up and spending the rest of the day in bed with him.  But he obviously didn’t see it the same way.  So, you tried avoiding him, but his presence was so captivating that you couldn’t avoid him any longer.

“Y/n,” Cez brought you out of your daydreams, “Will you go see if Alessia is in her green room? They want to test her lights one more time with her on stage in…” he looked down at his phone, “15 or so minutes.”

“On it, boss.” You smiled as you whirled around to walk away from the stage.

You walked down the back steps of the stage, almost tripping on the last step, as you walked further back into the arena.  You flashed your “ALL ACCESS” tour credential badge to the security guard who stood at the end of the hallway to the green rooms and he let you through without any trouble.

When you got to Alessia's room, you knocked on the door twice, “Alessia! Can I come in?”

You heard a cheery come in and swung open the door with a smile.  While Shawn’s crew did have people on the younger side, you clicked with Alessia the most.  You plopped down on the couch next to her and laid your head in her lap with a sigh.

“Aww, Y/n,” Alessia rubbed the top of your head with the tips of her fingers, “Talk to me.”

You let out another sigh, “It’s nothing.”  Alessia gave you a pointed look, knowing that it wasn’t nothing, and you closed your eyes, “Something might’ve happened with Shawn.”

“Did he fall off stage again?”

A laugh escaped your lips, but it was quickly left for the empty room to pick up, “Something happened with Shawn…And me.”  Her fingers stopped their languid movements as she just looked down at you for you to continue your confession, “On my birthday we kinda––slept together.”

You expected Alessia’s eyes to bulge out of her head and your confession, but her face stayed neutral, “And what happened in the morning?”

“That’s just it,” you shut your eyes, the embarrassment you felt in the morning when he left crept up in your stomach, “Nothing happened because he left.”

“Typical boy move.”

“Alessia,” you whined, “He’s my boss––”

“Technically Andrew’s your boss.”

You glared at her, “Well, he’s my boss’s boss.  I could get fired.” Panic filled your system as your breaths got shorter, “My reputation could be ruined because of one drunken mistake––”

“Hey, hey…” Alessia’s words were soft as she offered you a small smile, “One, Shawn would never fire you.  And he wouldn’t let Andrew fire you either,” you rolled your eyes, “And two, do you see it as a mistake?”

Of course you didn’t see that night as a mistake.  You weren’t even that drunk.  But he left in the morning before you thought you were awake so he obviously saw it as a mistake.

“He left when he thought I was still asleep,” you sucked in a breath and looked up at your friend with sad eyes, “He definitely sees it as a mistake.”

“But do you?”

You shook your head, “I really like him,” you said just above a whisper, “But we can’t––”

“There are ways––”

“You know better than anyone else how misogynistic the music industry is,” you sat up and looked at her with wild eyes, “If word gets out that I slept with my boss––Don’t correct me again––” you cut her off when you saw her mouth begin to open, “–I would be done for.”

She offered you a sympathetic smile, “Try talking to him.”  You let out a laugh, but she held up a finger, “He might surprise you.”

“I got my answer when he left–––”

“Y/n?”  Cez calling your name through your ear piece cut you off, “Is Alessia lost?”

“Shit,” you swore under your breath as you shot up from the couch, pulling Alessia up by her wrist, “They want you on stage to test lights.”

Alessia nodded, “I'll give Cez an excuse,” she gave your hand a reassuring squeeze as the two of you walked toward the stage.

Cez directed Alessia to where they wanted her to stand to test out the lights as you stood off to the side. You were checking the rest of the day’s schedule on the Master Tour app when someone bumped their hip against you; you looked up to see Shawn smiling down.

“Need help with anything?”

You clicked your phone shut and shook your head, “I think everything is pretty much set––Unless Cez says otherwise––You just have your fan Q&A in an hour.”

“Cool,” He nodded his head and rocked back and forth from his heel to the tips of his toes, hands behind his back, “Wanna do something?”

You were about to say yes, but part of you knew you had to put some distance between each other.  You had to try and make your relationship with him as professional as possible.

“Promised my mom I would call her when I got a free moment,” you saw his face fall at your little white lie, “Which I should probably…Call her now.”

Shawn nodded his head, trying to hide the hurt of your rejection as he kept his stare focused on Alessia, “Calling your mom––Yeah, yeah––Family’s important.”

“See you around, Shawn.” You waved at him and walked off the stage.

Shawn watched you leave until you were no longer in his sight.  All he wanted to do was make you see him in the way he saw you.  He’s always wanted you to feel the way he felt whenever he heard good news; he always wanted to tell you first.  He’s always wanted you to feel at peace in his presence because you always calmed him down.  He wanted you to feel everything he felt towards you, and when he saw Alessia bouncing off stage, he knew he had to ask her for help.

“Just talk to her,” Alessia said as they walked around the lower mezzanine level until Shawn plopped down in a seat with a defeated sigh, “She’ll appreciate that more than trying to get me to tell her that you like her.”

He slumped down in the hard seat covered his eyes with a hand, “But I left in the morning, Les,” he peaked an eye through the slits of his fingers, “She probably doesn’t even remember that night.”

“You’ll never know unless you talk to her,” Alessia sat down next to Shawn and angled her body to face him, “You’re twenty-one, this isn’t grade school.”

“Just help me make a plan up––Just so she––So she knows I like her,” Shawn sat up straight, leaned forward so his face was close enough to Alessia’s eyes so she could see how desperate he was, and took her hands in his, “Please.”

“Shawn––”

“Hey––Oh…Oh––Wow––Um, sorry,” when Shawn heard your voice, his eyes widened as he whipped his head around so fast it would’ve qualified as whiplash, and removed his hands from Alessia’s, “It’s um––Shawn, you’re needed at the Q&A and Alessia wardrobe wants you.”

“Y/n––”

“Doors will be opening soon,” your voice was barely above a whisper, hurt evident as you glanced at Alessia whose eyes were just as wide as Shawn’s, surprised to have ben caught with Shawn,“Might want to go somewhere people won’t see you.”

You walked away without another word.  You valued your friendship with Alessia, but after confiding in her that you really liked Shawn, and seeing them so close together, it made you question her authenticity.  And it made Shawn’s sweet gestures all the more confusing.

Of course you were upset, you made a beeline to the nearest bathroom and locked yourself in one of the stalls to stop your shaking hands.  But how could you be mad at them? Rang in your head;  people love them together.

A relationship with Alessia would definitely be a lot less messy than anything you could give Shawn.  They were both creative, professionals in the music industry that understood the demands of being an artist, and had an undeniable chemistry.

If this is what he wants, you unlocked the stall as you went to wash your hands as you thought to yourself; then you were going to be strictly professional with him so he wouldn’t get any ideas that you wanted to be something more with him.