#and I live in continuous dread over how bones is gonna fuck up the next ep so badly

[toastandturnip]

sskk where Atsushi tells Akutagawa that he's allergic to like, peanuts or something and Akutagawa says "pathetic" or some shit and then they go about their day. but then the next time Atsushi majorly pisses Akutagawa off, he eats like, a jar of peanut butter 10 minutes prior to them hooking up

[spidercookie18]

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒖𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑪𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝑯𝒊𝒅𝒆

The Lost Boys 1987 AU set in modern time. None of the boys died, and all the Emersons/Star/Laddie/Frog brothers are vampires. This is explained later…

Tags: Talks of manipulation, mentions of loss of family, death , hunting a p3do, mild gore, mild claustrophobia, mild nudity, smoking, scenting, marking, use of magic, use of y/n, afab, use of she/her, I aged the boys up because I personally don't like them as teens. Warnings: This chapter discusses toxic behavior, survivor mindset, death. Summary: Y/N tries to leave for work, and David's toxic behavior rears its ugly head. Word Count: 8.4k Previous chapter here: Next chapter here:

“No one should suffer what I suffered. I still dread those scenes when man killed man. I lost my parents, most of my family, by running away.” — Milkha Singh

Chapter Seven

Sunlight began trickling in through the cave. The gentle rays slowly rousing your sleeping form. You stirred, naked, spare for the blanket lain across your body. A dull ache throbbed in your lower half, and you smiled at the memories that played through your mind.

A soft buzzing on the ground let you know there was a message you needed to attend to. You tried to roll over off your back, to find your phone and see what the message was but were held down by something heavy around your waist. Scratch that, you weren’t naked, there was a vampire draped across your body.

David’s arm was across your stomach, and his leg across your thighs. You squirmed under his weight; you hadn’t noticed till now how his limbs pushed your body into the mattress. You looked down at his arm and leg strewn across your naked form, he was still fully clothed, you never understood why he refused to undress. 

But this fully clothed monster lover of yours had you trapped under him. You tried to pull your arm out from beneath his; he was heavier than you’d expected him to be. You curled your arms up to grab at his arm and tried to pull him off, no dice. The smell of the stale iron blood on his coat began wafting through your nose.

“David,” you spoke softly, trying to get him to wake up, but he continued to snore quietly. The itchy wool rubbing against your skin as you tried to move him. “David,” you patted his arm, like you were tapping out, “David?”

No response.

You wiggled your shoulder trying to push him off with your elbow, but you couldn’t get his arm to move. You shifted your hips side to side, trying to get unstuck from your suction cup mate. You were starting to panic, the feeling of being trapped settling in your bones.

“David. Get. Off,” you grumbled, flailing against the bed.

You huffed, “fuck!”

You’d managed to pull one arm free from him, and slowly forced his arm to slide down your body and off of you. “Christ, David, how much do you weigh?”

With both arms free now, you sat up and pushed his leg down your lower half. You panted, trying to calm down from your claustrophobic experience. Hot, and beginning to sweat, you rolled over, trying to get out of the bed.

“Mmmm, no.” David mumbled, throwing his arms around you, pulling you close and back against his chest.

“David,” you whined, “let gooooo.”

“Nuh-uh,” he grumbled into your back, not opening his eyes.

You growled in frustration. “David, too tight,” you complained.

“Tough,” his arms wrapped tighter around you, nuzzling his face against your skin, his beard scratching you gently.

You coughed, “I gotta breathe,” you wheezed out.

“Uugh,” David groaned, easing his hold on you, throwing his leg back around your hips, like you were his living body pillow.

You gasped at the crisp air being let into your lungs.

“Stop being dramatic,” David griped.

You were pressed flush against his chest; one of his arms under your armpit, the other over your ribs, and they met in the middle, closed around you. You made soft noises, like high pitched grunts and whines as you struggled against his hold.

“If you keep doing that, you’re gonna have to deal with it.” David mumbled behind you. You could feel his hand wander to your breast and grope it through the sheet.

You let out a squeak when you realized what he was talking about; the thing that was poking your ass.

He chuckled, “atta girl,” he sleepily peppered kisses along your shoulder and back. You could feel a soft rumble coming from him, like a gentle vibration through your body.

“Are you…” you tried to turn your head to look at him, “purring?”

“What of it?” He snapped, an agitation growing in his voice.

“Didn’t know y’all could do that,” you wiggled yourself closer to his chest, “I like it,” you hummed. You pressed a kiss to your fingers, then pressed the fingers to his hand.

He purred louder, and you smiled.

You could feel the purring in every inch of your body, all the way to your feet and back. After a short while, you felt the vibrations die down, becoming gentler and gentler with each passing minute.

You let him fall back asleep before you tried to get your phone again. You reached your hand over the edge of the bed, and waggled your fingers at the tote strap till you could pull it close enough to grab the bag. You rifled around in it till you reached your phone. You had a new notification. It was 4 in the afternoon, much too early for any of the boys to be awake.

** New Message: 8 Hours Ago**

“Ugh,” it was work. You swiped the screen up and unlocked the phone to read your message. You sighed and tapped on the screen to respond. David felt you moving around again, and he pushed the phone out of your hand.

“David,” you scoffed, annoyed at him, “knock it off.”

“You knock it off,” he grumbled, “go back to sleep.” He pushed your phone into the mattress and away from you.

You jutted your shoulder back to push him off and grabbed your phone to finish typing your message. “It’s work, give me a sec.”

“No.” He batted the phone with his hand, “sleep,” he fussed.

“David, seriously,” you adjusted your hold on the phone, your tone sterner now.

He groaned and you continued to tap on the screen, quickly reading the details and sending out a few messages to confirm order and pick up.

You tapped on the photo and snorted. “Just great,”

“Hmm?” David hummed against your back.

“Someone wants a damn werewolf.”

“The whole thing?”

“Yeah, guess it’s some guy on city council.” You angled the phone over your shoulder to show David the picture, “you know him?”

David opened his eyes and grabbed the phone to inspect the picture, his arm leaving from around your waist. “Nah,” he continued to look at the photo, “wait, actually yeah.” He pulled his other arm out from under you. David laid on his back looking at the photo. “Guy likes to hang around playgrounds, if you know what I mean.” He looked at you, giving a look of disgust.

“Me and the boys have had our eye on him for a while, but he’s always got an entourage with him. Fucker got a whiff of us once a while back and we haven’t been able to get close to him since.”

“Gross,” you said, motioning with your hand that you wanted the phone back from him, “but that does kinda help me.” 

“Hold on,” David started tapping on your phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting my number in your phone.” You watched as he took a picture of the both of you. Your messy hair, smudged makeup, and sleepy look against his chest as he smiled.

“Hey that’s a bad picture,” you spoke, protesting how you looked.

“S’fine,” he continued to tap on the screen. When he was satisfied, David let you take it and you looked at what he saved his contact name as.

“Seriously?” You chuckled. The contact name was saved under ‘D’ with a series of hearts and a vampire emoji. “Oh, I’m gotta change that,” you started tapping on the screen.

“What are you gonna save it as?” David smiled, kissing into your shoulder.

“Captain fuck face,” you giggled out.

David tried to snatch the phone from you, “hey, stop that!”

“Noooooo,” you squealed as he started grabbing at you.

He sat up and tried to pull the phone from your hands. “Change it back,” he sat on top of your waist and reached for your arms that you held above your head.

You tried to keep tapping at the screen while evading his grasp. He finally managed to get a hold of your wrist and pinned both of your hands above your head.

You smiled up at him and let the phone fall to your bag on the floor.

You panted; David stared down at you with a look of hunger, and you tried to make an innocent face to avoid punishment.

“You are gonna get it,” David growled. He shoved his face to your neck, nipping and biting against your skin.

You squealed and hollered at the feeling. You squirmed under him while his beard and teeth tickled you.

“Ahh stop! Stop!” You yelped, pulling on your arms; trying to get free, but David easily held your wrists with one hand. His other coming up under the blanket to scratch at your chest and stomach.

“David!” You squealed, giggling under the assault of his mouth.

“Say you’re sorry,” he barked into your skin. You continued to giggle. “Say it,” he was teasing of course, but still enjoyed the sight of you.

“I’m s-so- aahh!”

“Will you guys shut the fuck up!”

“It’s too early for this!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The other boys yelled from the roost.

David snapped his head in the direction of the boys, “ahh shut up, you’re just jealous!”

“Booooo, boo David,” one of them yelled, and they all started booing.

You chuckled at them all, and David turned back to you, “fuckin’ fuckers.”

“I was only kidding,” you giggled.

David came down to peck your cheek with a kiss, “I know darlin’.”

He let go of your wrists and rolled off you. He laid on his back and kicked his arms and legs out. He yawned as he stretched, his arms and feet wiggling, smacking his lips as he let his limbs rest on the bed. David looked over to you while you sat up in the bed, rubbing the bite marks along your chest.

You let your fingertips trail over the purple marks. You felt David watching you, “take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

“Dunno where my phone is,” David laid on his side, watching you. “Guess I’ll have to make more when I find it.”

You rolled your eyes, “smooth.”

“Thanks,”

“I meant your brain,” you chuckled.

He huffed, “you’re gonna make me weep.”

You ignored him and began to look for the clothes you’d packed in your bag. Lord knows what David and Marko had done with your panties. You pulled a new pair from the tote and began to slip them up your legs.

“Well, I guess I aught ta head home soon,” you yawned, looking back at your lover.

“You’re seriously going after him?” David asked.

You reached for a shirt from your bag, a clean one, not the bloodied mess of a shirt you’d need to seriously disinfect. “I mean, not right now…” you replied, sarcastically. You looked for the shorts you had on last night.

“No,” David said simply.

“No?” You stared at David, holding the shorts in your hand, dumbfounded by his ‘matter of fact’ attitude.

“He’s too big for you to take down by yourself.”

You began to put the shorts on, “you just told me he knows you guys were after him. He obviously knows your guys’ scent.”

“I’m not letting you do it alone,” David stared at you, distressed, “we do things as a pack.”

You sighed, “It’s fine, it’ll only take a few days to-”

“A few days??” David stood from the bed, staring at you in disbelief. “You’re not doing it, end of discussion!”

You stared at him from where you stood by the other end of the bed; shock, and anger coursing through your veins. “I’m not asking for your permission, David.”

You both stared at each other; unyielding to the other.

The tension in the air was rising. You could feel your fists clench on reaction, and you watched as David clenched and unclenched his jaw.

You slowly walked to him. You tried to put your hand on his cheek to get him to look at you, but when you reached for him, he turned away. You sighed and sat on the bed; dejected. Unsure what to say, you sat quietly, while the minutes passed by.

“I’ll only be gone about four nights,” you whispered.

You weren’t going to let him talk you out of it, but pushing the matter would drive a wedge between you two. After being alone for so long, you almost forgot that you needed people. Even if David and the boys weren’t ‘people’, you knew in your heart that you needed them. You couldn’t bear to lose another family.

“Why so long?” David spoke, half turning to look at you.

“I’ve got to get y’all’s smell off me,” you joked, taking a handful of your hair and pressing it to your nose. “Whoo,” you took your hair away and sneezed, “you guys have been scenting me after all.”

David turned to look at you, his hands coming to your shoulders. His eyes shifted over your features, a nervous look across his face. “I…” he didn’t know what to say. He hated the thought of you being away. What if you needed them, what if they needed you?

You stared up at him, not wanting to make him feel like you were running away. You moved one of his hands to your cheek, and held your hand over his. “I can handle it,” you sounded sure of yourself. “Do you trust me?”

His eyes locked onto yours. Everything in him saying not to let you go, his instincts screaming against his mind.

“David?” Your soft doe eyes cutting through his thought. Of course, he wanted to trust you, but where had that gotten him. He wasn’t about to let another one of his mates run off where he couldn’t protect them.

“You can’t,” his words were like daggers in your heart. “I can’t let you do it,” his blue eyes holding your gaze. It was like you were about to fall into them, you could barely focus.

“D-da-,” you could feel him trying to sway your mind. If he couldn’t persuade you, he’d resort to his old tricks. The worst side of him always came out when he was frightened.

You felt the well of tears start to fill your eyes. His thrall more powerful than what he’d tried on you before; he had much more magic than you’d ever anticipated.

David watched the tears in your eyes overflow and spill down your cheeks. The ache in his undead heart growing. He knew this was wrong; he understood it, even through his fear.

After a second, you felt the fog in your mind dissipate. As soon as David released his thrall on you, you pulled from his grasp. You pushed your arms to the mattress and scooted back and away from him.

David tried to move, to reach out to you.

“Don’t,” you put your hand out. “Just, don’t.” You pulled your knees up to your chest and wrapped your arms around your legs.

“Y/N, I-“

“Just save it David,” you snapped at him. You hid your face in your legs in an attempt to hide your tears. Your voice came out muffled, “I don’t want to hear it.”

There was a pang in your chest. A sharp, stabbing pain, like your heart was breaking. You tried to will the anguish away, but it was no use. The tears easily flooded your vision. You felt so small in that moment, and you sobbed, quietly.

The sound of David’s clothes shifting let you know he was moving around. You could hear him standing next to you now. You felt his hand rest on your shoulder, and you pulled away on response. He let out a sigh, and you heard him begin to walk off.

You stayed in the bed, still clutching your legs, you watched as he walked off towards his alcove. He stood in his mess of memories he’d saved; he was looking for something, but you didn’t care about that. The only thing you could think or feel in that moment was the hurt in your chest, the anger that began to course through your veins.

How could you trust him so easily when he was just the same? The same as what you ran away from.

He’s just like what we promised we’d never let ourselves live through again.

No, he isn’t, he was kind, he’d shown us that. Until now, he’d never given us a reason not to trust him.

Now? Now we’d known him not even a month, and he already tried to lock us away.

But he didn’t. He stopped; he knew it was wrong! It was just a lapse in judgeme-

A lapse in judgement? Look what that got us last time!

You were at odds with yourself. The fear of your old life seeping through your own thoughts. You clutched your legs harder.

You heard the soft sounds of someone walking towards the bed.

“Here,” David sat down on the bed next to you. You looked up from over your knees, still half hiding your face. He was holding out the photo album to you.

“I’ve already seen that,” you grumbled, hiding your face back into your legs.

He exhaled and scooted a bit closer to you on the bed. “Yeah, I know you went snooping through my stuff,” he joked. “But you never asked me the story behind them,” he opened the picture album. The sticky plastic pages making a noise, like soft Velcro, as he flipped through them.

You looked up, still holding your legs close to your chest.

He picked up a dingey paper that was placed within a plastic holder. The paper was small, maybe four inches by two. The plastic card holder wasn’t much bigger. The clear plastic that covered the paper was a dirty, brownish yellow. He held it out for you to take it. You sheepishly put it in your hands, and you read what you could. You could barely make out his first name, and a year that read, ‘1860-something?’

“What is this?” You brought the paper closer to your face, trying to make out more of what it said.

“It’s my death certificate.”

You looked up at him. His tone so casual and lighthearted for what the paper was.

He chuckled, “yeah,” he leaned in to look at it too. He looked, almost reminiscent, maybe of his past life. His gaze softening as he looked at the paper, you let him take it from you. He gently thumbed over the dirty yellow plastic. He spoke, and his snickering got louder as he did, “y’know what they ruled for cause of death?”

You silently shook your head.

David was laughing now, “they said, they said it was ‘complications from gangrene.’” He waved his hand in front of his face “Course you’re gonna get gangrene when the fucking doctor is using the same tools on everyone. And,” he was laughing again, “and you know what the complications were?”

You stared at him, not moving. Waiting to see how this would play out.

“The complications, pfft, were from the doctors, ha-ha, cutting my fucking stomach open to pull out those goddamned .44’s!” He stayed laughing to himself. You were sure he was doing this to try and hide his real emotions.

You could see through it; he was angry, he was hurt.

“God damned friendly fire mother fuckers,” he gritted his teeth. You watched as his fist gripped at the sheet below him. “All because I was kind to someone from a different race,” he snorted. He chuckled, then exhaled, long and shaky, like he was picturing their faces in his mind.

You let your legs go and reached a hand out to David’s arm. He slowly regained his train of thought, and his ragged breathing slowed.

“I was, uh,” he paused; his eyes shifted nervously between you and the certificate in his hands. “I was 21 when I died,” he sighed out. “21 fucking years old. And all I have to show for it is this paper.” He gripped the plastic between his fingers. “This… this was all they sent home. There was no funeral, no headstone, no one cried when I died.” He stared off towards the ground, then back at you. “Not a single person cared that I was dead.”

He got silent for a moment, then placed the paper back in the book and began flipping through the pages again, “course, nobody got headstones in those days. Hell, if Max hadn’t found me when he did, I’da probably just been kicked into some ditch with the rest of-” he stilled. His mind flooded with the twisted and contorted faces of the dead soldiers he came to call his brothers.

“The worst part, is not dying.” He continued to flip through the pages of the book, his tone solemn, not looking at you. “Yeah, the pain isn’t great. It was fucking horrible. The waiting to die wasn’t fun either,” he tittered. “But, the worst part is not being able to protect those you care about.”

He reached his finger behind a picture, a bland image of a tree. He pulled out a folded hand drawn image from behind a polaroid. He unfolded the drawing, the paper was a deep orange, and the image was a smudged pencil, or maybe charcoal. It was a drawing of a young man and a woman. They held each other, the features were a bit smudged, but they appeared to be smiling.

David turned the paper for you to see, not willing to let it go. “This is my mom and dad,” his thumb slightly rubbed the edge of the old paper.

You stared at the couple, “they look so in love,” you smiled as you spoke.

“They were,” David started. “She always talked about how kind he was, how she wanted me to be like that. Brave, and smart, and kind.” He angled the paper a bit more for you to see, “but he died before I met him.”

His finger traced the outline of his mother’s face, “when she got sick, I tried to take care of her… but I was just a boy.” A smile grew on his face, remembering her, “she used to make the best pigeon pie,” he chuckled, “but, er, don’t tell Marko.” He looked back at you, “he says his birds are meant ‘to be loved, not to be eaten’,” David rolled his eyes. 

You snorted and relaxed your legs a bit.

“She taught me to sew, cook, forage, how to clean a fish, heh, she even taught me how to waltz.”

“Oh yeah?” You relaxed a bit more.

“Mhm,” you could hear the happiness in his voice. “She said she wanted me to be ‘a gentleman’, think I kinda missed the mark on that one,” David sighed.

“You’ve got her smile,” you tried to ease his mind.

David chuckled, he let his lip curl up to reveal his fang and licked his forked tongue across the sharp tooth, “eh, not anymore I don’t.”

You and David stared at the picture quietly. He spoke in a whisper, “she’d be real ashamed of the man I’ve become.” He pulled the plastic behind the polaroid and slipped the drawing back behind it.

David continued to flip through the book and found an image of him and the boys.

They were all wearing cuffed, pressed jeans. White t-shirts, and a flannel or their jackets; the collars were all ‘popped’ up. Their hair was slicked back; spare for Marko, whose curls were clearly defined in the old picture. Marko and Paul stood next to each other, their hands in their jacket pockets. Dwayne stood between David and Paul, his thumbs in his pant pockets, and David stood off on the right. His hands were clasped in front of his hips, they were all smoking cigarettes.

“This is the first picture we all took together.” David pulled the picture out of the album and handed it to you. “We’d been taking pictures of each other all night, but Max said we needed one of all of us.”

You took the photo in your hand.

“Nobody liked Max at that point; he’d been a real buzzkill all week. Getting on everybody’s nerve, trying to tell us what to do, saying we were being too ‘obnoxious.” David grunted, “course, I had to wrangle everyone up for the damn picture… but Dwayne has never listened to him,” he laughed. “So, I had to get everyone together.”

You brought the picture closer to your face to see the detail better. Marko already had a few patches on his jacket, David had his medal and the buttons, but the coat was different. Paul had a safety pin on his flannel, and Dwayne had his key necklace. He and Paul didn’t have their matching eye rings yet.

David leaned in to look at the picture too, he pointed at himself in the image. “That’s me,”

You leaned away a bit, “yeah, I got that.”

He pointed to Dwayne, “Dwayne lost his wife and kids in the red scare.”

You looked at David, surprised by his candid remarks.

“He was…I think 24 when we found him.” He moved his finger to Paul. “Paul’s sister drowned; he was 23 when he met us.” He pointed to Marko, “Marko lost his family to a house fire.” He looked at them all in the picture with a heavy heart, “he was 22 when I found him.”

You kept your gaze on David, unsure how to react. “So,” you started, “you’re not the oldest,” you joked.

David snorted, “not in human years, but that doesn’t matter now, eh?” He turned his head to you, his eyes full of guilt, “Y/N, I’m sorry.”

You scoffed and handed him back the picture. You scooted away from him a bit.

He turned his body, and reached out to you, “I am, I’m sorry. I-“

“I don’t forgive you,” you said angrily.

“You don’t have to; I just need you to know that I’m sorry.” His hands fumbled with the paper, he set it down on the album and moved it to the side. “I just…” his hands turned up, silently asking for your hands.

You hesitated, not entirely wanting to give him your hands. You stared at him, slowly putting your hands in his open ones.

He eagerly took them, and gently squeezed your palms.

“I needed you to see this stuff, I’m not like this just because, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. I don’t want you getting hurt.” His eyes searched over your features, hoping he’d gotten through to you.

You turned your face so you wouldn’t have to look at him. Your eyes fell on the photo album, the full pages making your mind wander to all the things David showed you.

“I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. Please,” David leaned close to your face now, and you tried to keep from looking at him. “I’m sorry, I just- if you need help, you know you can call us, right?”

You looked back at him. You saw his eyes flicker across your face, you saw his nostrils flare, and his face pinch with anxiety.

“You know that, right?”

You gave in, “I know that,” your voice sounded tired.

He pressed his forehead against yours, “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

You were still angry with him, still hurt. You could feel him purring again, it was soft, but you could feel it. Maybe if he was willing to change, you were willing to be patient.

David nuzzled his face against yours, and into the crook of your neck.

“I don’t want you to feel unsafe with me, with any of us.” His beard scratching at your skin as he continued to nuzzle you, “please, I’m sorry.”

You could feel him starting to nip at your flesh,

His nipping and pawing at you started to tickle, “okay, okay, just stop,” you gasped out.

You thrust your hands to his shoulders and pushed him away. “Calm down already,” you were giggling.

He brought your arm to his mouth and kept biting at your skin.

“Daaavid,” you heard one of the boys call from the roost.

You were trying to pull your arm from David’s grasp, while he ignored the other vampire calling to him.

You looked behind David; Marko was the first to wake, probably because he was such a light sleeper. He stood in the entrance to the roost, his hair disheveled from his sleep.

Marko walked around barefoot, switching between scratching his hair and his crotch. “David,” he called to his brother, “you gonna let er’ go do her thing?”

David ignored the curly haired blond, the banter he was trying to start wasn’t of importance to him at this moment.

“You could hear us?” You asked Marko, leaning back and away from David.

“Course we could. With David being a weenie about the whole thing.”

David kept kissing and nipping at your wrist, with his free hand, he flipped off Marko.

“Right back atcha buddy,” Marko chuckled and flipped off David as he walked off somewhere.

“We’ve been trying to tell ya,” Marko called out, undoing his pants and walking over to a deep hole off on the far side of the cave. “Max has been bitching about you falling behind on chores!” His voice echoed off the walls softly and you could hear him urinating, and sighing.

You pulled on your arm, and David finally released with a groan. “That lazy fucker never wants to do his own ‘dirty work’,” David grumbled. He pressed a kiss to your forehead before he walked over to the couch, waiting for the others to wake up. He kicked his legs out on one of the cushions, wiggling his toes through his torn socks.

You tried to ignore the sound of Marko urinating and looked for your socks and shoes. The sound of him groaning and mumbling to himself was audible as it echoed through the cave. You gathered the rest of your things and sat on the edge of the fountain.

David smiled at you, and watched you slip your socks on.

You sat on the fountain, slipping your shoes on, “really? Y’all in your 20’s?”

“Mhm, people think we’re younger a lot,” David toyed with one of the buttons on his coat. “It’s cause we’re so hot,” he teased, pretending to brush some 'long' hair out of his face.

You scoffed, “sure.”

You watched as one of the other boys came from the dark part of the cave. It was Dwayne, he was rubbing his eyes, and you could see his long dark hair flow as he walked, the wind catching it lightly.

Marko started walking back to where the couch was, you could still hear him scratching himself through the denim of his jeans. “Hey, come on man, put your dick away,” he griped at Dwayne, and you looked back to the brunet that’d come out of the roost.

He was fully naked. Standing proud and tall as he stretched his hands above his head.

You could feel a flush come to your face. You blushed, hard, trying to avert your gaze.

Now you knew why he walked like that.

David laughed at your reaction, watching you stare at the floor.

“David, tell the horse to go back to the stables,” Marko complained.

Dwayne finished his stretch and languidly flipped off Marko, still yawning with his other hand to his face. Through the corner of your eye, you watched his smile, the large, sharp teeth in his mouth catching your curiosity.

“Let him be, Marko,” David snorted. He patted his lap for you to go join him on the couch, and you obliged.

You sat atop David’s lap with your back leaning against the couch, he was sat up against the arm and you both watched as Dwayne went to go collect his pants from Paul’s alcove.

“Why did no one wake me up?” Marko asked David and Dwayne, alluding to the fact that there continued to be, ‘bonding’ after he went to sleep.

“Cause we were busy,” David laughed out, his deep voice rumbling through his chest and vibrating through your side.  “Right darlin?” David jostled you in his lap.

“You guys coulda at least told me, or something…assholes,” Marko continued to grumble. He walked over to the couch and sat on the last cushion, pushing David’s feet away.

“Now who is being a weenie?” David snorted.

“Ah ha you’re so fucking funny,” Marko sassed. He leaned over to press a kiss to your cheek, “mornin’, bella.”

You were still blushing when Marko kissed your cheek, and he knew it was because you weren’t used to seeing such a display as the one before you. This cocky vampire, parading himself through the halls of the cave, stark naked aside from his necklace.

“You better be getting dressed over there!” Marko chuckled; he’d cupped a hand to his face to amplify his voice.

You looked over to Paul’s alcove and could see a hand shoot up over the pile of crap Paul kept, to flip Marko off. You could hear Dwayne slip his legs through the jeans, he walked over with the button and zipper undone.

His bare feet gently rapping against the floor as he walked back to where you all were sitting. With himself put away, you sheepishly looked up to the brunet. The denim jeans were hanging off his hips, you weren’t entirely sure how they were staying up so well. His treasure trail was thick, and you had to pull your eyes away from where his downed zipper ended.

Your eyes tracked up his abdomen, and David bounced you in his lap, poking fun of your curious eyes. Dwayne’s fingers were in his hair, brushing the mane out of his face. “You okay?” Dwayne asked looking down at you, with genuine concern. The years of unashamed behavior making him forget that this wasn’t normal behavior for when someone had ‘guests’.

“She’s fine,” David smiled, bouncing you in his lap again

“She’s not used to watchin’ your big ole’ dick swing around like that,” Marko interjected.

Dwayne had about enough of Marko poking at him, “oh, I’ll swing this dick, keep talking like that.” He pointed his finger in Marko’s face.

The blush coming back to your cheeks. David heard you squeak and it made him laugh.

“Alright that’s enough you guys, you’re scarin’ her,” David spoke up.

Marko flipped Dwayne off and reached over the side of the couch to grab a beer. He popped the tab and it hissed. Dwayne stuck his tongue out at Marko and put his hands out to ask for a can. Marko tossed him one and Dwayne popped the tab and took a sip.

David had his hands around your waist, and he let his hands wander to the waist band of your shorts.

“Not on your life, mister,” you snapped at him.

“Yeah, I know,” David spoke, dejected, “you’re still mad.”

“Damn right I’m mad,” you pouted at him.

He placed a kiss on your arm, “that’s fine. Oh, don’t forget to send me that picture.”

“You’re pretty cute when you’re mad,” Marko spoke up.

David bounced you in his lap a bit and you rolled your eyes at them.

“Marko’s right though, David,” Dwayne spoke. He wiped a drop of beer off his lip with his thumb, David and Marko looked at him. “Max has been asking for you a lot, he said if you didn’t stop by soon, he’d have to come looking for you.”

David groaned, picking you up off his lap and standing you up. “Fucking guy,” he turned in the couch and his feet landed on the ground. “Can’t ever have anything nice.” David patted your ass and you jumped, he stood and looked back to the roost. “Where’s Paulie?”

“He was pretty ticked off with you guy’s waking him up earlier, so he’s probably still asleep,” Marko said, bringing the can to his lips, slurping the liquid.

“Paul!” David yelled in the direction of the roost.

No response.

David walked over to the entrance of the roost and hollered again, “PAUL!”

No response.

David sighed, shaking his head. He looked over to the boys and turned back to the roost. Marko covered his ears and Dwayne covered yours. The last thing you heard before you felt Dwaynes large hands clasp the sides of your head, was the beer cans hitting the floor. You all watched David open his mouth to take a deep inhale.

“PAAAAAAUUUUULLL!”

“WHAT?! FUCK! WHAT!!”

“Paul, come say goodbye!”

“GOODBYE! FUCK!” Paul was screeching from the roost.

Dwayne removed his hands from the side of your head, and you turned to look at him. He was wincing with pain as he rubbed his ears, and Marko stuck his fingers in his ears to shake them out.

You rubbed your ears too, even with Dwayne covering them for you, it was painful to hear David scream like that. You felt it through your bones, you thought the sound had shaken the cave. You could still hear a ringing in your ears.

The boys had discarded their beer cans when they rushed to protect themselves from David’s scream; and now, the yeasty brown liquid gushed on the floor as the can’s laid on their sides.

“Gah!” Marko griped, still wiggling his finger in his ear, “I hate when he does that!” You could hear him hissing, or maybe that was from the scream.

“Don’t make me yell again, Paul.” David stood, with his hands on his hips.

“FINE!” You heard Paul land with a thud. “FUCK!”

“Dumb idiot forgot to turn again,” Dwayne chuckled, still rubbing his ears.

You heard Paul grumble as he walked up out of the roost. His feet scraping along the ground as he forced himself to come out where the others are. You watched as his wild blond hair turned the corner. His pants were half on, and he didn’t have his shirt or jacket, “What the hell do you want,” he hissed at David.

David gestured to where you stood, “Y/N is gonna be out of the cave for a few days.”

The other boys looked at you, surprised you were leaving. “I wanted to give ya a chance to say bye before she left.”

With that, Paul ran over to you and scooped you up by the waist. He held you easily a foot off the ground and shook you around in his hug. “Aww nooooo, whyyyyy?” His groggy, whiney voice piercing your already sensitive ears.

“Fuck, Paul chill out,” Marko continued to wiggle out his ear.

“P-Paul,” you choked out, your arms pushing against his shoulders, trying to break free. “I’ll be back in a f-few days!”

Paul stopped swishing you about and held you against him, still half in the air. He smooshed his face into your breasts and let out another whine, “but I didn’t even get to play with yoouuu-“

“Paul, let her go man,” Dwayne walked behind you and tried pry Paul’s hands off from around your waist. “Dude, put her down,” he grunted, trying to pull him off you.

“Nooooo,” Paul wailed.

Dwayne finally managed to get one of Paul’s fingers back and pull the rest of his hand and arm away from you. With his free arm, Dwayne wrapped himself around your waist and pulled you away from Paul. He set you down gently to his side and kept Paul away with the other.

“Knock it off dude, she already said she’s coming back.” Marko called to him from the couch.

Dwayne turned you to him. He cupped your face in his hands and thumbed over your cheeks. “Can’t wait for ya to get back, short stuff,” he placed a kiss on your nose, and you could feel the blush come back to your face.

You stuttered out a chuckle and Marko stepped you back from the brunet. “Real smooth, Casanova,” he poked at Dwayne.

“You’re gonna get it,” Dwayne eyed Marko as he walked back to the roost to find his jacket.

Marko rolled his eyes at the brunet, of course he knew what he was doing when he antagonized him. He turned his attention back to you; he pressed his forehead to yours and clasped his hand around the back of your head. His free hand cupping your cheek. “See you soon, bella,” he rubbed his nose against yours. You could feel him inhaling you; he softly kissed your lips, and slowly pulled from the embrace.

Marko took Paul by the hand and led him back to the roost, “come on you, let’s get you washed up.” Paul still sniffled as he turned to look at you one more time and waved goodbye.

You looked at David, who was watching the others walk off down the tunnel.

“Talk about a bunch of ‘weenies’,” he chuckled.

“Geez, the way they were acting, you’d think I was never coming back,” you rubbed your arm sheepishly.

David looked at you, “you are coming back, right?”

“Well…yeah?” You stood, studying his reaction. “Yes, for the hundredth time, I’m coming back,” you walked a bit to him, “I forgive you, ya big baby.” He closed the distance between you two. His hands slowly coming up around your waist. “Besides,” you pressed a kiss to his cheek, “you’d hunt me down if I didn’t.”

He laughed heartily into your skin. “No, I wouldn’t,” he chuckled out.

You cocked your head, as if to question his statement.

“Okay, yeah, I would.” he pressed his nose to your cheek. You could hear him purring softly, as he pressed a quick kiss to it.

“Or at least Paul would,” you tittered, “is he…going to be okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” David pulled from you to go find his key, “just gotta give him some lovin’ when you get back. He’s a bit sensitive.” He waived his hand nonchalantly in the air.

You could hear some screaming coming from where the others walked off to.

“No! I don’t want to take a bath!”

You looked at David, a confused look on your face, “um?”

“NO! STOP! Y/N HELLLPPP!”

“PAUL, YOU NEED A BATH!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO-”

David quickly produced his keys and grabbed your hand to lead you away from the screaming, “that’s our cue.” He swiftly turned you around and walked you out of the cave; you heard a series of yelps and yowls as you left.

David pulled up outside of your house on the driveway. He didn’t turn to look at you, he just sat on the idling bike, his head hanging low.

You moved your hand from around his midsection and placed it on his shoulder. “Hey,” you softly spoke, and he half turned to look at you. “It’s okay,” you wrap your arms back around him in a sympathetic hug.

He snorts and turns the bike off. David stood and got off the bike. He put his hand out to help you off, and you gently squeezed it as you stood. Your foot got caught on the seat as you tried to get off and you stumbled into David’s arms.

“Heh, if you wanted me to hold, ya, you coulda just asked,” David smiled down at you.

You scoffed and straightened your clothes. David began to walk you up the porch steps and you followed suit. When you got in front of the door, he turned to you. Something weighed heavy on his mind, though he tried not to show it.

“You really gonna make me stay away for four nights?” He held your hand in his.

You could feel his grip tightening as he waited for your answer. His eyes darting across your features, the look on his face making your heart ache.

You placed your free hand atop his and gently rubbed it with your thumb. “We both have things we need to do,” you reminded him, and his grip tightened more.

He grumbled and looked away from you, “I’m gonna come looking for you, the second the sun goes down.”

You chuckled, “I’d expect nothing less from a ‘big scary vampire’.”

He pulled you closer to him and growled against your neck, “you’re mine.” He nipped at the skin, “don’t you forget it.”

“Like you’d let me,” you laughed out.

“Damn straight,” he held you against him. David inhaled your scent, trying to hold onto you for as long as he could.

You both reluctantly pulled away from each other, and he waited on the porch as you opened the doors to go inside. He half expected you to still invite him in, and stifled his grief when you didn’t.

He stood on the porch, in the darkness, as he watched the lights inside turned off.

Once again, that annoying feeling was gnawing at the back of his head. He gritted his teeth, trying to will it away. No luck. David stomped back to his bike. He knew if he stood there any longer, he wouldn’t be able to drag himself away. He headed back home; it was killing him, but he couldn’t stay there.

The roar of the bike sounded as he started it. He pushed his feelings down and focused on getting home.

The bike rolled to a stop. He kicked the stand out and sighed as he got off. David knew he should get your scent off too, that way Max couldn’t yell at him. He stood on the edge of the cliff, watching the tide roll in.

David pulled out a cigarette from his coat and lit it. He brought the collar of the jacket to his nose and inhaled your scent. He hated that he was going to have to get your smell off him and his clothes. He cursed Max under his breath. He stared at the waning moon for a moment, wondering how things could be, if they had been different.

Did you love him for who he was? Could you love him and all his flaws? All the hate and anger that bubbled under the surface; the monster he believed himself to be?

He took a long drag of the cigarette, loathing the thought of how he never lived up to his mother’s expectations. How he longed to be kind, to be brave, to be the gentleman she always wanted him to be. He scorned himself for these thoughts.

“Fuck this,” he scoffed. He looked down at the water as it lapped up the edges of the lighthouse and turned to go home.

David walked down into the cave, feint whines and grumbles echoed off the walls as he stomped down the ‘stairs’. He stood at the base of the entrance watching his brothers hold down and dry off Paul.

Paul, was sat on the floor, in a towel, with Marko standing behind him, brushing and drying his hair out. Paul had his hands wrapped around his front in a pout.

He hated baths, and more, he hated not getting to dry off the way he wanted.

“Ya have to chase him down again?” David asked, sarcastically, because he already knew.

“What do you think?” Dwayne replied. He was sat in front of Paul and Marko, with a belt in his hand, waiting for Paul to try and take off.

Paul didn’t particularly care about being clean or dirty, but he hated getting his hair wet. He said it made him feel like a ‘wet rat’ and avoided it whenever he could.

Marko ran a brush through his hair, and with his magic he turned on a hair dryer. It was a peculiar sight; a normal hairdryer, except it had no cord, no outlet, no electricity, and it still turned on.

Paul happily wiggled around on the ground, chirping. He tilted his head back and shook his hair out in the warm air. He liked this part at least, and Dwayne stood to stretch.

“Hold still!” Marko grabbed Paul by the top of his head and straightened his sight. “Stay!” He scolded his brother, and Paul pouted, still wiggling with the feeling of the warm air.

Marko gently brushed Paul’s hair, and he hummed to him trying to keep Paul still. David walked over to his alcove, looking at all his things. He nudged a box with his foot and sat in the cot in the middle. He looked at all the things around the space and sighed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

Fuck, it’s only 8? David thought, he hoped it was much later in the night.

He saw a message from an unsaved number. He figured it was you. He saved the number and pointed the camera at the boys. He snaped a picture and sent it to ‘Babydoll <3’.

He looked over at his brothers, who were still bickering about Paul and his ‘grooming habits’.

New Message: Now

He opened it,

‘omg, is he okay?’

David started tapping at the screen. ‘Yeah, he’ll survive.  He just hates baths.’

He stared at the phone, waiting for your reply. After a minute his phone vibrated.

New Message: Now

‘Well good luck with them, lol.’

One Attachment:

David looked at the photo you’d sent him. It was the one he took on your phone earlier. He gently traced the outline of your lips and face with his finger, he stared at the image, and smiled.

‘I almost forgot to send it.

See you soon. <3’

David stared at the messages and the picture. His smile slowly faded, he grunted. What was he going to do these next few days while he waited…That nagging feeling was back.

He stood up, dropping his phone on the cot and took off his boots. He emptied his pockets and took off his coats. Barefooted, he walked towards the mouth of the cave.

David was going to walk around in the sea for a while till his mind cleared.

[myonos]

Partner In Hatred (pt 3/4)

• heeseung x female reader • e2l • wc: 1.3k

• genre: fluff, angst?

• warnings! mutual bullying(?), swearing, heeseung and y/n are both dickheads to each other 🤣 insults, rumor spreading, physical violence in the first part, mention of a bone breaking.

• summary: Y/N and Heeseung have been enemies since the age of 5. The universe keeps them in each others lives until one day when Heeseung moves away. After years apart, Y/N and Heeseung meet again after he moves back home for college. Both are dreading seeing the other again until they realize, they’re both hot now?

masterlist

taglist: @cowstiddymilk

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The girls planned a beach trip today; this is the first activity you’re doing since graduation. The wind blows through your hair as the sun strikes down. The plan is to soak up some sun and splash around in the water. You're an adult now, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself.

The sand comes up to the parking lot. You dig your toes in it. It’s warm, like a hug; it makes you feel fuzzy inside.

You don’t forget to apply sunscreen as you all lay down your towels. Your phone buzzes as you lay down, and it’s a message from Heeseung.

Heeseung

What are you doing?

You think for a second, maybe you should invite Heeseung here.

“Would you guys mind if I invited Heeseung to hang with us?”

They all squeal, yes.

“Tell him to invite friends, too. It’ll be fun!” Hanni says.

You

I’m at the beach with my friends. We’re inviting you, bring whoever you want ;).

Heeseung

Bet. We’ll be there in 20.

You smile, this should be fun.

The sun is crisping you up, like bacon.

After what you assume to be 20 minutes, you hear a horn honk and your name being called.

Heeseung steps out of a car with 6 other guys in tow.

The 6 other guys are Heeseung’s best friends. You’ve known them as long as you’ve known Heeseung. Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Niki. They’ve also known about your previous feud with Heeseung and were always trying to get you both to call a truce.

“Hi, you look nice,” Heeseung says as he sets his stuff down next to you.

You raise an eyebrow at the compliment. “I’m just wearing a bathing suit.”

“Well, yeah, but you still look nice. The color suits you.”

“Thank you.”

You turn away, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. You hope he can’t see them.

Abruptly, Heeseung is pulling you up.

“What are you doing?” You squeal.

“We’re gonna go play. Come on.”

There is no room for protest as Heeseung drags you into the water. You shriek at how cold it is, before splashing Heeseung right in his face. He wastes no time and splashes you right back. Now it’s war, again. Except this time you will not get into trouble. Back and forth you both splash, using arms, legs, hands, whatever you can.

You rapidly splash him, to where he can longer fight back.

“Okay, okay!” He shouts, “You win!”

You stop thinking he’s had enough. What you don’t expect is for him to rush forward, grabbing you around the waist. You yell as he picks you up over his shoulder. You smack his back as you laugh and he spins around, making you dizzy.

“Put me down!” You yell.

He puts you down and in your state of dizziness; you push him hard enough to knock him over.

You run back to shore, sticking your tongue out as you leave him.

You notice the other guys run over to tackle him and continue to play as you sit down on your towel.

“You two definitely like each other,” Ningning says, sipping her water.

Hanni and Yunjin hum in agreement.

“How? It’s only been a day since we met again!” You scoff.

“And in a day you went from past enemies to best friends who flirt.”

“You haven’t seen each other in so long, and you’re both hot as fuck now. Why not?” Hanni exclaims, throwing her hands up.

You’ll never be able to explain why Hanni gets so worked up over relationship stuff. Although, she proclaims herself as a “lover of love” and “matchmaker”. You decide to ignore them. You and Heeseung don’t have to like each other to be friends now, right?

You watch the boys play in front of you. Heeseung looks happy, happier than you ever saw him. You’re glad to see him happy, which is something you never thought you’d say. Looking back at the years you and Heeseung hated each other, you realize it was almost for nothing.

Here you are, no longer enemies, no longer the bane of each other's existence. You’re happy to see one another, even to hang out with each other’s friends. You never saw this coming for you and Heeseung, especially within a day, but you accept this new part of your life with open arms.

You’re going to the same college too. Maybe you’ll hang out even more then. But that’s coming, you’d rather focus on the present.

Your thoughts are cut short by Heeseung running up to you, again.

“What now?” You groan, but you can’t help matching his smile.

“We’re gonna play chicken, we want you all to play.” He refers to your friends as well, who protest but you interrupt them, “Of course we will.”

The girls groan except theirs are genuine. You, of course, partner up with Heeseung.

The others partner up accordingly and then it’s on.

You and Heeseung are strong, both known for being heavy-handed. You easily knock Hanni off of Jungwon’s shoulders, then you take out Yunjin. Ningning looks terrified and you can tell she will not try, so you put her out of her misery.

It’s a hard battle against the other guys who paired up with each other, Sunghoon is strong but after two quick pushes to his shoulder, you knocked him off Niki’s shoulders. With that, you and Heeseung are victorious.

“You two become friends and are suddenly inconceivable, it’s almost unfair!” Sunghoon whines.

“You’re mad, loser.” As Heeseung continues to taunt the other boys, they waste no time in, once again, tackling him. It’s an enormous pile of boys, so you and the girls venture off to the side to avoid being dragged in.

You decide to look through the clear water for shells. Maybe you’ll make a necklace.

Once everyone has calmed down, you’ve got many shells, enough to make a necklace for everyone. Hunger has also made its way to everyone, and you all decide to buy food at the stand across the parking lot.

It’s good, and within half an hour everyone has finished eating.

You spend the rest of the day at the beach, learning about one another and making plans to hang out again.

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As you lay in your bed, ready to sleep, your phone buzzes. Heeseung is calling you.

He’s put on speaker, “Hello.”

“Hey, I had a lot of fun today. I’m glad we’re gonna see more of each other.”

“I had a lot of fun, too. We all did. Your friends are really fun to be around. You are really fun to be around.”

You pause, thinking about what you’re going to say next.

“It’s funny that we could’ve been friends sooner had we just gotten over ourselves. Then again, I think everything happens for a reason.”

“I agree,” He says. “I called to thank you for today but also, I wanted to know more about you since we’re still new friends.”

“You wanna know more about me? Like what?”

“Like your favorite color, favorite food. Your hobbies, stuff like that. I enjoy knowing what my friends like.”

“Then I wanna know about you too. Let’s go back and forth. What’s your favorite color?” You hear him breathe over the phone like he’s preparing his answer.

“It kinda changes every once in a while but as of right now black, purple, and white.”

Your bathing suit was. Maybe that’s why he complimented it.

“Is that why you complimented my bathing suit? It was purple!”

“Yeah… that’s why.” You almost take notice of the pause before he speaks again. “What about you?”

“My favorite color is orange! People always question me when I say that but it has so many pretty shades.”

“I like orange. I kinda get that vibe when I look at you so it makes sense.”

Both of you go back and forth, talking about anything and everything you can think of. By the time you recall hanging up, it's past 3 am. You feel you’re in a movie, spending hours on the phone. With a boy no less. But it's not like that, right?

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please excuse any typos, etc i’ll go back through later ….or not.

[hereforhalstead]

Tell me that when you’re sober

*Gif not mine, credits to the owner*

• Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader 18+

• Requested: Yes:

“I fucking love you”

“Hang up and tell me when you’re sober”

• Warnings: Swearing - PURE FLUFF

• Summary: Jay isn’t happy with you bringing work home but leads to a confession he’s wanted to tell you for a long time.

• Words: 4215

• A/N :I slightly adapted this to fit it better and intended for this to be a short fluff but 4000 words later.. here we are😅Thanks so much for your request and hope you enjoy!

**

You groan and throw your pen down onto the table, this case was really getting the best of you and frustrating you to no end. You look up at the time to see ‘10.30’ flashing in the green light back at you. You run your fingers through your hair which was now borderline greasy with how much you had been absentmindedly running your hands through it as you’re deep in thought. Eyes burning from how much you had been straining them and a slight blister on your finger with how hard you’d been holding the pen as you cross examine the notes intently.

You didn’t realise how quiet the apartment was, the faintest noise from your neighbours TV and the cars rushing past on the street below was all you could make out. This wasn’t like you, you basked in the liveliness and thrived in busy environments, the ones where you barely have time to think so therefore don’t spend much time on the outcome. You picked the pen back up to click it on the papers that were spread out in a manic like fashion in front of you, it made sense to you but if someone else was to see they’d think you’d just picked up the lot and thrown them down in a huff.

You scan over the CCTV stills and traffic cam screenshots, as if you hadn’t been staring at them for god knows how many hours and by a much needed miracle something was going to jump out at you and you’d have your lightbulb moment. Instead, you’re greeted with the same dead end paths and pointless thoughts you’d been fighting relentlessly.

You hear the keys turn in the lock and normally you’d be out of your seat and over to him in a heartbeat, your feet hitting the floor as if you were a kid at Christmas on your way to see what Santa left under the tree but today wasn’t that kind of day. You tried to tell yourself it was just because you were tired and it wasn’t that you didn’t want to admit you’d had another night of little success after being warned about bringing the work home by Jay several times. He always loved to prove a point and you weren’t about to let him get another one over on you, you couldn’t handle those eyes boring down on you as he stands behind you to examine you work, even if it meant lying to him.

You jolt in your seat as you feel him rest his hands on your shoulders before dropping a kiss to the top of your head “why are you still working? How many times have I told you..” he trails off but you’re quick to cut him off with your best ‘I’m fine’ smile “Jay, I’m finally getting somewhere” you falsely admit and feel the pit of guilt instantly form in your stomach as his eyes light up, he probes his thumbs into your skin in a light massage “proud of you” he softly confesses as he continues kneeding your skin.

If you weren’t so determined to get this case tied up this easily would’ve lead somewhere else but you had your focused mind at work and nothing was going to change that. He remains standing over you as you scribble pointless notes onto your notepad, highlighting the odd name and photo as you go as if to convey you had some trail of thought but really you were just buying yourself time until he left your side.

A few minutes go by but to you it feels like hours, you hate what you’ve become in that you find yourself dreading seeing Jay when you bring your work home. Knowing he was right in what he says and that he only says it because he cares but you always wanted to prove yourself and especially to him. He managed to get you into Voight’s good books after pissing him off one too many times, you had a back bone and even though most of the time this was an admiral quality it sometimes backfired.

You and Voight disagreed regularly but you had now learnt how and when to bite your tongue for the best result in cases but there were times you just couldn’t. After coming to blows and being sent to ‘get some air and cool off’ Jay was quick to plead with Voight for your job back and luckily it worked and you were back in the department the next morning. This lead to you now feeling this internal debt had to be paid to your boyfriend to prove you deserved your place and it was worth him sticking his neck on the line.

The pair of you became increasingly serious, starting as partners with the occasional flirty comment or glance soon lead to the regular sting of jealousy or worry which was now the feeling of emptiness when you weren’t together. Some may say you moved on fast, having only been together just under a year and already basically living together. However, due to the uncertainty of your job you decided to not hesitate and wait for when everyone else said it was right and do what felt right for the pair of you. Even if this did mean earning raised brows from Jay when he comes home from a late night to see you hunched over a stack of paperwork that you’d bought home, god knows how many times you’d seen him do it but for some reason it was a different ball game when it came to you.

It pulled at your heart how caring he was, always keeping an eye out for you and sometimes even more for you than himself. As much as there’s endless amounts of perks for dating your partner it sure did come with its consequences and you learnt them faster than you were expecting. Jay throwing himself into danger because it meant protecting you, you leading on suspects on undercover missions to try and get them to confess to which Jay hated and heated debates on the best way to handle a case were just a handful to name a few.

But, despite all of those you truly wouldn’t have it any other way, as you see it as spending as much time with him as possible and being grateful to have him beside you and always in your corner no matter how he feels, he will always back and argue for you.

After Jay strolls into the bedroom to change into some comfier clothes you start to fold some of the papers to create a bit more space, the thought of waking up to this mess wasn’t the ideal situation as you’d find yourself working on them at the crack of dawn and hardly in the right frame of mind to work. That was Jay’s one rule that he never budged on ‘put it all away before you go to bed’, he had hammered this into your head hundreds of times that it became natural for you at this point.

Neatly shuffling the papers to stack them in a pile on the side, helped you to resist the temptation to take a peak at the late or early hours when you should be asleep. He caught you one time glancing at an open file at the dead of night and he was not happy to say the least so knew he had to put his foot down. He knew you were like him and would work until a case was done but unlike him, you rarely knew when to stop.

He would know when his vision starts to loose focus from staring at a screen for too long or he gets a headache from the scrunch between his brows as he examines some notes that it was time to call it a day whereas you, would pop a few painkillers and carry on.

You hear Jay’s phone ring from the other room, not really taking much notice as you continue to fold the papers and shuffle them in a pile but can’t ignore when he comes bounding out of the room over to you “Baby, Adam and Kim are down at Molly’s. You wanna go?” He asks and normally you struggle to turn down such an invite but tonight you just weren’t feeling it and it’s as if you not replying instantly already told Jay you didn’t want to go as his face falls “let me call you back” he mumbles into the phone before shoving it into his back pocket.

He continues in his strides over to you and crouches down in front of you, taking your hand in his as he places a light kiss to your palm “please don’t tell me you’re going to sit here and work and make me go to Molly’s alone?” He pleads, eyes in puppy dog form as by now he knows the best way to get to you.

You run your hand over his disheveled hair as he leans into your touch “I think I’m just gonna have a shower and head to bed” you lie through your teeth, knowing full well the second he steps out the door you’ll be back knee deep in your files with the added extra of knowing you won’t be interrupted by your concerned boyfriend.

He scans your face with a concerned look on his own, lightly running his thumb over your knuckles as he sighs “you promise me you’re not going to carry on working and that you’ll give yourself an early night?” He rightfully asks, you nod in response thinking to yourself that you can’t verbally promise as you were one to never break promises and especially when it came to Jay.

He reaches up to plant his lips on yours, lingering them for a few seconds before standing tall in front of you “give me a call if you want me come home”. He reaches to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear and you instantly regret not allowing yourself for be bundled into his arms as you crawl into his lap for the night but you knew you weren’t nearly as done with the case as you’d like and the only way you could continue was if he wasn’t there.

He heads into the kitchen to grab the coat he left on the counter but is back at your side within seconds, placing a glass of water on the table in alongside another kiss being left on the top of your head “make sure you drink that please baby” his voice slightly elevates in concern and you can’t contain the smile that spreads on your face at his worry for you.

“have a good time” you call out to him as he heads for the door “text me when you’re in bed and I want proof!” He yells over his shoulder and without looking you can see the smirk engraved onto his face “get out Halstead” you tease, earning a wink from your boyfriend as he exits the apartment to leave you again in total silence.

You pick up the glass of water he left and take a sip, struggling to think of the last time you hydrated yourself and thankful he knows when to think of these things for you. You lean back in your chair and cross your legs beneath you, slight hunch in your back from the pain of being in the chair for so long and now wishing you were still receiving the massage from Jay that you desperately craved. You shake your head to clear the the thoughts and pour yourself back into the notes. Re reading the interview script over and over again, eventually reaching for your phone to find the recording you’d sent yourself before you left the district to be able to listen back at home.

You chew the inside of your cheek at the sight of your lock screen, a photo you’d taken of Jay on vacation just after the pair of you became an item. His back was towards you and he didn’t even realise you snapped the photo of him looking out from the balcony window at the gorgeous beach front below, reminding yourself that everything you do is for him. As cringy as it sounds, you longed for his approval and praise as he was always so vocal about it, wrapping you in his arms after you finish a case report, sitting you between his legs as you work late on a report with the occasional kiss to your shoulder to remind you her was there or the way he just knows how’s to give you that look that says ‘you’ve got this’ was what kept you going.

You click play on the recording and sink back into your chair as it plays, leaning your notepad on your legs as you listen along. Laughing to yourself when Jay looses his temper or Voight makes a snarky comment to which they both laugh to made the listening all that much easier as it seemed to drag on for hours.

You checked the length of the audio on your phone and the combined clips had only been playing for just over an hour. With the faffing around when Jay came home and the breaks you took to replay certain parts, the time had soon passed. The clock now beaming down on you with the time flashing ‘12.45am’ made you toss your head back in frustration. You’d been round and round in circles, still getting no where and conscious of the fact Jay would be home soon.

You certainly didn’t want him to find you like this as you’d never hear the end of it, you have a stern word with yourself and play back Jay’s warning of packing everything away as you finally close the files you’d been staring at for far too long. You push them to one side and prop your head on your elbows on the the table, you finish the glass of water that had been sat at your side that was truly collecting dust at this point due to you forgetting about it. You glance down at your phone to see a text from Jay flash up on the screen

‘You in bed yet baby? Not seen any proof..’

You roll your eyes as you just know he’s been impatiently sat there waiting to hear from you ever since he left just a few hours earlier. You stare at the screen to debate whether it’s best to ignore it and pretend you’re already asleep or to lie to him again for the second time that night. You’re soon interrupted as his name lights up the screen, his toothy grin staring back at you from the contact photo he had set for himself after a night out reminding you how ‘you always make me smile so you deserve to see it when I call you’.

You hesitate to pick up but know he won’t stop until you answer, after having a few drinks the last thing you want is for him to bound home to you in a mood about how you didn’t answer his call. You sigh and slide the button to answer the call and can barely contain your laughter as you hear his drunken slurs on the other end of the line

‘You haven’t answered me you know?’ he moans, annoyance in his tone but also sounding like a child who hasn’t got their own way at the same time. You laugh to yourself but careful to not let him hear as this wouldn’t go down well “ was asleep” you hang your head in shame as you yet again lie.

‘Why are you lying to me? You were working weren’t you?’ He accuses and you’re stumped on how to reply, even without being with you he knows you better than anyone to which you always seem to forget. He huffs on the other end of the line after he doesn’t get a response, knowing he has you cornered. ‘Y/N please, just get to bed and I’ll be home shortly’.

“I’m just packing it away Jay, I only had a few more bits I wanted to do. I promise” you nibble on your fingertips in slight nervousness as he continues to groan down the phone.

‘What, like how you promised me you were gonna give yourself an early night you mean?’ He questions but you’re quick to reply “well actually, I never promised I just nodded” you chuckle to yourself, feeling clever with your response but Jay isn’t happy.

“Y/N I’m just looking out for you, I care about you too much to see you draining yourself over these things” he begins and before you can get a breath in he carries on his drunken rambles “I love you too fucking much to watch you not look after yourself, as much as I love to be the one who takes care of you I can’t be there all the time so I need to know you can put yourself first baby” you’re silent after his admission, unsure if he’s even aware of what he’s just spilled out

“Do you know what you just said?” You tease, trying to lighten the subject but the sigh on the other end tells you he was still in a mood.

“Yes Y/N, I said I love you too fucking much to watch you destroy yourself” he expresses in outrage but you were in too much of a shock to think of a clever reply “hang up and tell me that when you’re sober Jay”.

“I’ll be home soon” he cuts the conversation short before ending the call, you take a moment before placing your phone back on the table and you try to comprehend what just happened. He said I love you.

Fair enough it wasn’t in the way you had envisioned, him confessing his love for you as you lay wrapped within his arms or him accidentally spilling his admiration during a teasing session you often had but he still said it. Whether he meant or it was just a drunk slip up was another question. You couldn’t let yourself say it back in case he woke up tomorrow and didn’t remember, it would pain you to let the last piece of your guard down for him to take it all back the next morning and the whole thing becomes a distant memory.

You finish tidying away the papers, patting yourself on the back for the great job you’d done of making it look like you hadn’t spent hours on end sat at that table, it now gleaming the exact way it did this morning. You place the glass back onto the kitchen counter and trudge into the bedroom, thudding down onto the bed as you lay staring at the ceiling. Wrapping yourself in the comforter and attempting to close your eyes but nothing was enough to push down that anxious feeling in your stomach. This isn’t how you should be feeling after your boyfriend says I love you for the first time and even though you’d both wanted to say it for a while it still didn’t seem real. You didn’t deserve him, all the things he does for you and the way he takes care of you didn’t seem feasible in your mind that it would happen to someone like you.

Moments pass and you hear the front door shut, his attempts to be quiet made you laugh into the pillow as you hear him lightly walk across the hardwood floor. Bumping into the doorframe as he enters, grateful the comforter covering your face to avoid him seeing your amusement of his drunken self trying to be quiet and navigate his way to the bed. You stay laying on your side, hand tucked under the pillow beneath your head and the other resting on your stomach. You hear his belt unbuckle and watch hit the beside table as he gets himself undressed, tempted to turn over and help him but knowing he would still moan at you for being awake no matter what state he was in.

You force your eyes closed, keeping your head slightly buried into the pillow as you feel the bed dip beside you. Within seconds you feel the all too familiar comfort of his arm latching around you, pulling you into him in one swift motion as he tucks his head into the nape of your neck. Your heart flutters as you feel him place a kiss to your back before further pulling you into him, any chance of a gap between the pair of you was well and truly diminished.

You stay facing away from him, now far too comfortable to move and knowing he will be asleep within seconds, as long as he was by your side and you were wrapped tightly within the safety of his grasp he would sleep anywhere. You soon feel the light puffs of air to your skin as he falls into a sleep, the occasional nudge into your back as he gets himself comfortable but after a while he lays still to signal he was finally asleep.

You lay there trying to ignore your thoughts, cursing yourself for being such an over thinker as the one who had sent you into this spiral now laid passed out beside you, unbeknownst to the panic he set off inside you as he falls deeper into his slumber. You run your hand up and down his arm to sooth yourself to sleep, thinking to yourself of how you’re going to forget what happened and tomorrow will be a new day.

***

You awake to the sunlight peering through the window, annoyed at yourself for not closing the blinds before you went to bed as the rays shine in your eyes. You turn in Jay’s grasp and jolt in his arms as you’re met with him softly smiling back at you “morning” he groans, his normal groggy morning voice now made more intense with the slight hangover he would soon be facing. You drop your head to lay on his chest, pressing your lips to his skin as he runs his fingertips up and down your spine and resting his head on top of yours as you lay in a comfortable silence. “Good night?” You break the air, knowing he certainly wasn’t in the mood to be talkative but if you didn’t have some form of interaction from him you’d go insane.

“Wasn’t the same without my girl” he tightens his grip on your waist, a soft pinch of your skin as he teases “but she was at home working when she promised me she wouldn’t, clearly choosing work over her boyfriend” he huffs into the top of your head as you bury yourself further into his chest.

“don’t go there” you warn as he chuckles in response “choosing to look at old case notes than spending time with your boyfriend, that’s a tough one” he continues to ramble, you detach yourself from him and turn to face him with stern look “I said don’t go there”you warn but he pouts his bottom lip at you as he raises his brow. You narrow your eyes at him and he cracks his serious exterior, bringing his hand to the back of your head as he brings it to him to connect his lips to your temple “It’s a good job I love you” he mumbles into your skin, pressing his lips onto yours for a brief second before allowing himself to pull back and admire your expression of shock.

“You remembered?” You question, still nervous he wouldn’t have a clue what you were talking about. “Of course I remember, you think I’d forget when I first tell my girlfriend I love her?” He tilts his head as he asks, you lean your head down onto him as he clears his throat “would help me if you said it back though, bit embarrassing if I’m the only one to say it” he jokes, grin encompassing his morning glow as he gloats “I love you too idiot” you roll your eyes at him, bringing your lips onto his for a chaste kiss. He brings his hand up your back and tousles it into your hair, keeping you in place as your lips intertwine before pulling back and running his eyes over the happiness beaming from your face “you have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that”.

**

inbox and requests open🥰

[yanderenightmare]

ooooooooooohhhhhhh bully!bakugo pleaseeeeee feed me! like I don't know if you do underage things like school, but you can keep it sfw

yandere bully ! BAKUGO KATSUKI

goodiebag WARNINGS: abuse, anxiety, bullying, paranoia, NONCON elements, stalking, manipulation, profanity, anger issues, arson mentions, trauma

TIP-JAR

PART TWO

IN CASE OF FIRE: PUSH ALARM

In many ways, Bakugo was her morning alarm clock.

A shrill shriek of a sound she wanted nothing more but to ignore and rake at her ears until she grew deaf. An impact, taking a toll on her whole day. Something to regret. And something to dread the next morning.

Something that follows her, haunts her, hunts her in the hours she’s without it and blares like sirens or howls from some great monster when it’s caught her.

Alarm clocks can’t push her to the ground though, that’s where Bakugo deviates.

And he’s always pushing. Toppling her books with a flick of his wrist. Pushing and squeezing and pulling at her like a rag doll. Pushing her into the wall. Pushing screams to come bursting from her lungs. Pushing tears to well up in her eyes. Pushing her sanity.

And now, pushing his knee in between the space of her thighs. Grinding her up against the wall in the barren hall of an empty school. Pushing and digging callous fingers into her thin uniform. Messaging the tender ticklish flesh of her midriff and keeping her in place. Pushing and seizing her breaths with his wicked grin. Teeth sharp and deadly and way too close to her neck.

“Let go!” She screamed. And the echo that reverberated throughout the hallway should have sent every packed classroom to flood the tight space.

But it was a field-day, which meant no classes and everyone outside enjoying the sun.

Except for her and Bakugo.

Cocking his chin in impish humour. He grinned too widely for it to be excused for mere casual bullying.

“Or what?” He coaxed. His breath fanning over cheeks. Wafting into her nose, making her entire face contort. “You’ll tell on me?”

He manipulated his voice to sound childish and whiny. Pouting at her. Yet the sheer maroon look of sadistic thrill was hard to put any mask over.

“Ha? You think this school is gonna give two shits worth a damn about some fucking nerd like you over their top student?”

He was too wrapped up in his frenzy to pay the weak fists banging on his chest any mind. Barely even registering them before they relented. Turning soft and careful, defeated upon his words, as they dragged sloppily down his stomach. Stopping where he’d hiked her skirt up around her hips.

She looked down. The realisation of her situation settling.

Not settling like an explosion, but like dust after the fact. Just like it did every time Bakugo trapped her in a corner.

She didn’t know why she even bothered fighting anymore, knowing how she always gives up.

Her breath hitched and hiccupping as she forced herself to bargain with her bully.

“What do you want, Bakugou?” It was more of a sniffle than a sentence. Meek and feeble and delicious.

But it was wrong in its essence.

“Katsuki.” He growled. His nose touching hers briefly, making her screw her eyes shut in pure crippling fear.

Another thing an alarm clock couldn’t. Come to think of it, perhaps he was rather the sound of bones breaking, or clothes tearing. His laughter like gunshots, and every move he made an explosion that left the ears bleeding and ringing.

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you for you to get it through your thick skull. It’s Katsuki.”

His grip on her waist tightened. And she was sure his claws would rip yet another one of her thin white shirts.

The disgusting instruction left her baffled each time. How he would force her to call him by his given name as though they were good friends as opposed to predator and prey.

“Say it.”

His features were blank in expectancy. Cold despite his fingertips warming.

“Come on! Fucking say it!” Spit flew as he barked his command as he pushed her just a smidge further into the wall.

Her whole body shook. Kept in place by the hold he had on her, but still trembling violently like a leaf caught in a storm.

“Katsuki...”

It was barely audible, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was rather overcome with satisfaction instead.

“Good.” He seemed subdued.

Calming down as his fingers relented their building fire. Cooling yet nowhere near comfortable.

“Good girl.”

It was close to a purr of some sorts and it made her stomach fold and topple in on itself, as he stroked a stray curl from out of her face. The action only resulting in even more locks of hair falling before her eyes as she shook her head as a means to swat his hand away. Where her own hands were too busy in their position on his chest, in a means to keep him at bay. But it was of little use as his face closed in on hers.

Leaning, towering, suffocating.

“Baku-”

Fear of what it looked as though he was about to do crippled the notion of it being ridiculous. But the protest was weak, even as her nails dug into the hardness of his chest.

Her voice overpowered by his, despite it being only a ragged whisper.

“Kiss me.”

Her suspicions where answered, but it only aided in her dread.

“Ba-”

She shifted her head to the side to avoid him. Panic consuming her.

But his large encompassing hand was quick in finding her cheek. Cupping it in its callous palm and forcing her to face him yet again.

“Are you deaf? I said kiss me!” He roared. The sound once again blaring like thunder from the gods in her ears.

However, despite his lips coming to attack her and the threat of his sharp fangs that could easily bruise her, she continued to push at him. Trying to pry him off her and run like the prey he had made it clear that she was.

“No.”

It surprised him to say the least.

Small, weak protests he could brush of with a shrug was nothing he wasn’t used to, but firm acts of retaliation was new.

Granted, he’d never tried kissing her. Always settling for feeling her ample supple flesh in his hands and seeing that sweet look on her face. Feeling his pants grow tight and jacking of in the school showers when no one was there to see him in the downright pathetic state.

“No?”

His brow quirked. His mouth a firm line until it once again sprung into his signature smirk.

“How about this? Kiss me and I’ll stop.”

Her eyes softened at that. Growing large. And he swore he could see her ears draw back.

There was no doubt she was surprised, intrigued, tempted.

“That’s right.” He drawled.

His thumb rubbed across her bottom lip and she was too consumed by his offer to mind.

“I’ll stop following you around, pushing you, calling you names. I’ll stop it all.”

He drew closer, to her ear. Lips ghosting her temple. Relishing the moment when he felt her shiver because of it.

“And all I ask in return is a little kiss.”

Pulling away, he looked content at first, but soon his features turned malicious once again.

“But... if you refuse... I’ll tell everyone about what a little slut you are. About how you love sucking my cock like a good little cumdumpster.”

She looked horrified at that. Her tears finally spilling over.

“But I-” She stuttered but he paid her no mind.

Already knowing whatever she was about to say.

“Who’s gonna believe you? It’s my word against yours. What are people gonna think? Huh? You think you’ll have any friends left after I run that rumour? Nah... you’ll have no one... and by that time, you’re gonna be begging me to kiss you.” His voice was frenzied.

And it must have purely because he was so lost in that craze, that he didn’t notice her leg coming to kick him in the groin.

She was thoroughly disgusted. Mostly with him, but also with herself to even having considered demeaning herself like that.

“Fuck you.”

His hold relented at the assault. And despite it being a mere temporary act, one he soon recovered from, it was enough for her to start sprinting.

“Fuck me?” He had to laugh.

And she was right. The noise really did sound like gunshots being fired at her as she ran for her life.

“That’s what the whole school’s gonna think you did come tomorrow!”

Falling onto the floor. His arms and legs spread like a starfish he couldn’t stop cackling, as though mad. Excited and thrilled, even with the stinging pain still spurring in his ball-sack. Heck, maybe even because of it.

This was fun. This was very fun.

His voice mellowed down.

“I’m gonna get you… one way or the other…”

Good thing he knows where she lives.

Good thing she didn’t live too far away.

Good thing she hadn’t kissed him.

Good thing he wasn’t forced to become a liar when continuing to force her to do as he wished.

Good thing there was plenty of broom-closets in the school.

Good thing she couldn’t do shit to stop him.

TIP-JAR

PART TWO

[bangtangalicious]

the glow up | kth (4)

pairing: taehyung x reader

summary: after going off to college, you & your best friend committed to working out. a year later, the results show, and you cant wait for your hot hometown friends to see you. now all you wanna do is wild out and have lots of sex, and enjoy it without feeling insecure

genre: smut, childhoodfriends!au weightloss!au (is that a thing) friends-to-lovers!au

word count: 2.2k

warnings: tittie sucking, fingering (dubcon bc jungkook is an ass), misogyny/sexism, public sex (locker room), creampie, unprotected sex, slight slut shaming, body image issues (please remember that there is no ideal body type and every body is beautiful)

part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7                                                    masterlist

“Hey y/n” You were startled at his use of your name as opposed to his endearing princess. He was dressed nicely in a black hoodie with his glasses on, but his expression was tense.

“Tae” You acknowledge him as you got into the passenger seat. You really really liked his car now. “Listen, you don’t have to be sorry about anything”

“No, I really do though. I could have just shut up and let you and Jimin have your happy ending” He huffed, “We both know it’ll ultimately work out that way anyway, I just added drama and I’m sorry”

You wondered exactly when Taehyung got so mature, or if he had always been this way and you just never noticed.

“Anyways…I hope its okay, but I invited Hobi and Jungkook to lunch with us” Your face dropped slightly, and he noticed. You hated that he was being awkward. You wanted to feel all the amazing things you had the other day all over again. Taehyung was a drug. You had a hit and now you wanted more.

“Tae…” You whispered, grabbing his hand and bringing it to your chest. His jaw clenched as he made contact with your heaving breast. “Please” You made pleading eyes at him allowing him to squeeze your tit slowly.

“Hood of the car. Now” He exhaled sternly. You did ask requested, finding yourself in a similar position, back over the headlights, legs wide open, licking your lips in anticipation.

“Sit up” He ordered as he pulled you towards him so that he was standing in between your legs. He pulled down your shirt color until he had access to your clothed breast, moving your bra cup aside and allowing his mouth to trail kisses from your neck—“Mmm you smell good”—to your collar—finally kissing your nipple.

He looked up at you with lust shot eyes as he flicked his tongue across before enveloping it into his mouth. He sucked like a baby, moaning into you, the vibrations from his deep voice stimulating you even more. It was a sigh to behold, as he gripped your hips to hold you against him and sucked you.

You cried out, breathing heavily with the way his tongue was splashing around in circles causing waves of heat to come over you. You liked the ways his lips felt around your nipple, and the way his tongue drew circles around it-you took note. So I’m into this. Huh. You were very aware of how damp your underwear was getting, as yoou ran hyour hands through his hair, clenching as you tilted your head back and moaned.

“You’re fucking delicious princess” He remarked, breaking away finally to admire how he had made you swollen. He ran his thumb over his work, giving one last pinch, making you squirm before he fixed your clothing, “But…we’ll have time for this later. Let’s get going” His eyes had a playful glimmer as he winked at you, riled up and unsatisfied.

Fucking tease.

You arrived at a small urban cafe in the more happening part of town. Hobi and Jungkook were already at a table outside, with tall mimosas in front of them. Jungkook had on flashy sunglasses but lowered them as he saw you approaching, giving you a flirty look and smirking slightly as he watched you walk. Taehyung pulled a chair out for you and you took a seat by Jungkook after giving Hobi a quick back hug.

“Cute outfit y/n. I love the baggy look” Hobi commented. Your face reddened, realizing it was probably really obvious you were wearing Jimin’s clothes.

“She looks hot as fuck.” Jungkook thirsted, shamelessly glancing at your breasts were faintly imprinting against the fabric. He downed the last of his drink.

As you guys shared a meal, you enjoyed conversing openly with Hobi and Jungkook about their sex lives. You appreciated how open and candid they were as you continued to attempt to understand your own desires more.

“Y/n how does it feel to be part of that crowd now” Hobi asked. You tilted your head in confusion. “You know...now that you’re the sexiest girl in town I bet everyone’s been making moves.”

“Yeah I’ve definitely been getting a lot more attention from guys. Shows how fucking shallow half of them are”

“You girls are all hoes though so it doesn’t really matter. Why else would you try so hard to look sexy, yanno? Like I could be hooking up with the same girl and no one else but I still wouldn’t date her because she’s probably gonna dip for the next best dick she can get.” Jungkook added. Taehyung rolled his eyes and kicked him under the table “Hey, I’m just being honest. Why else would you go through a glow up phase? We all did it at some point, we were like yeah I wanna get laid so I better bulk up”

“No Jungkook that’s what you did” Hobi chuckled. “Hot girls aren’t all hoes, and hot guys aren’t just hot so they can get laid. I don’t agree with that. But I do think that everyone needs to fuck around a bit before they settle into a serious relationship or anything. I think it’s healthy when people go around for a bit and then finally are like, yeah okay I’ve seen what’s out there so I can say for certain what I want” Hobi commented, changing the topic. He delved into some details of a recent relationship of his but unfortunately his words did not register with you as you suddenly felt a hand slipping under the waistline of your sweats.

You knew it had to be Jungkook, Taehyung would never touch you without asking. You mouth formed an O as his hand traced along your aroused folds, still wet from Taehyung’s quick tit suck earlier. You gulped, straining to keep your mouth shut as Hobi continued on. You glanced at Taehyung who was observing you very carefully, clearly aware of what was likely going on.

Jungkook slid a finger into your cunt and it sucked it in welcomingly. You bit your lip as he slowly retracted it, allowing you to hear the faint squelching of your tender muscle. 

He repeated his motions, causing you to move forward until you were barely hanging on the edge of the chair. You gripped the table tightly, knuckles whitening with the pressure. You wouldn’t dare look at Jungkook, knowing that seeing his face would probably send you over the edge.

He pumped his fingers in and out and you couldn’t help but feel a strange mixture of dread and enjoyment. Yes you were horny, Taehyung had ensured that, so being fingered felt great. But a ball turned in your stomach at the unwanted intrusion from your friend. Were these guys really like this to all the “attractive” girls they hang out with? Do they just constantly flirt and grope them? Ugh.

Taehyung pursed his lips tightly before he finally snapped. “Fucking Christ, just go ahead and fuck right here why don’t you” He folded his arms over his chest, shooting both of you a disappointed glare.

Jungkook slowly pulled his finger out of you and put it straight into his mouth,  and you finally made eye contact with him as he licked your arousal off of himself. 

“Y/n we’re leaving. God Jungkook did you even get consent you prick?” Taehyung spat at him. You got up and Jungkook slapped your ass playfully.

“She’s one of the hot girls now, might as well treat her like one. Text me babe” He sent an air kiss your way and you shuddered slightly. Taehyung gently took your wrist and led you away.

It was later that evening. Your heart was pounding, and a slight sense of dizziness overcame you as you sped the treadmill up even faster. Taehyung had agreed to accompany you to the gym and you had been sprinting as fast as you could for almost half an hour trying to blow off steam from the events that had happened at lunch. 

Jungkook’s words stuck with you, and in a fucked up way you felt like he was trying to prove a point. You felt the air in your lungs escape as your chest tightened. You were overdoing it. You knew that, but you wanted to feel numb. Wanted to feel the bliss of the aftermath of a super intense workout.

Your mind wandered to the biggest issue on your plate. Jimin. You wanted more than anything to go to him. To tell him what happened and get his advice. But you messed that up, and now you were no longer sure if it was worth messing it up. You had never been so conflicted in your life. Your bones screamed at you that your pace was getting too much, pain shooting up to your knees as you pounded your feet with every step. 

Talk about running away from your problems.

“Y/n!” Taehyung came over from where he had been doing weights and turned off the treadmill, bringing you to a rapid halt. You panted, sweat soaking you head to toe. Taehyung grabbed your arm to help you stay standing as you began to sway side to side with lightheadedness. You could see black spots paint your vision. He wrapped his arm around you and helped you walk into the locker room where luckily there was no one.

“I don’t wanna feel it Tae…I don’t wanna feel anything. This is all too much. I am so fucking confused. I miss Jimin, and what Jungkook did today I…” You held back a sob, “He’s right. This is what I want isn’t it? So why do I hate it so much. All you guys do whatever you want to these girls you usually get with and sexualize them so much and I’m just not used to it but that’s what I wanted right?”

Taehyung sighed, stroking your back, “Look princess…Jungkook and I aren’t the greatest people. After getting to college, you know how it is, we kinda all became fuckboys. The people we hang out with literally breathe to get off. Everyone fucks everyone else. And I’m no saint at all. I fuck around even more than Jungkook does, albeit I’m a bit more respectful about it, but it’s all the same game to us. I understand that this is all new for you but…I just want you to know that for me, I’m not treating you any differently because of this weight loss thing. I promise. They way I fuck you, the way I treat you…I would have done it just the same a year ago.”

“You say that but”

“I’ve wanted to have sex with you for years okay. I knew you before all of this fucking hook-up culture. I wanted you because I liked you. I still like you, even though we rarely see each other anymore. Not just because of your body. It happened now because you initiated it. I don’t know how else to get it through your head. And by God, what the fuck were you just doing? Were you trying to make yourself pass out? Why would you run that fast?”

“I just needed to relieve some stress okay”

“Then let me help you” His voice was husky and low. Time slowed down as Taehyung carefully leaned closer to you. He trailed his fingers down your sides and around the waist of your shorts, tugging the fabric ever so subtly. He remained still, breathing heavily with a heartbeat drowning out everything. “You can say no. Any time. Even if you realize later that you don’t want to do this anymore you can stop me. I won’t ever get mad and I won’t ever judge you” His voice was quivering before he grabbed your waist and pressed himself up close to you. “Do you want this princess? Can I take care of you?”

You nodded your head as Taehyung leaned down and kissed you while gently pushing you back against the lockers. He quickly pulled off your tanktop, not minding the sweat as he inhaled sharply. He lifted you so you could wrap your legs around him and began to slowly rock his body against yours.

He moaned into you mouth as he felt the impact of your bodies colliding. He spread your legs out wider and began to grind against you faster. You held back screams as he grabbed your breasts. Taehyung licked his lips and kissed you harshly, biting down your lips before mumbling “You’re so fucking hot princess”

“Taehyung” You finally moaned, giving him all the motivation he needed to grind faster. He slipped his hands under your sports bra and began to caress you. You cursed in pleasure.

Suddenly the two of you heard footsteps coming into the locker room. Taehyung allowed you to slide down as he quickly backed away. He took your hand and led you to a far corner of the room before sitting on the locker room bench and pulling your body down on his lap. You looked at him with concern, but Taehyung ignored it completely.

“Tae...you make me feel so fucking good”

“Yeah?” He grinned

“Aren’t we going to get caught?”

“I don’t care” He quickly tugged down your shorts as well as his own revealing his thick cock, with precum budding furiously at the tip, aching to be released. He helped you lower yourself onto him before he gripped your hips and began bouncing you up and down his length.

“Scream my name” He demanded, whispering darkly into your ear “you’re doing so good”

You whimpered, “Taehyung” you cried out as you felt yourself peaking, “Taehyung oh my god don’t stop,” You begged. He was shaking you so violently that you finally were pushed over the edge. 

You screamed his name louder than you meant to, feeling Taehyung smile against your neck. He let you get up off of him while he fixed his shorts. He was still aroused, but he didn’t mind. He just wanted you to feel good.

“Is everything okay we heard screaming?” One of the gym staff members walked in just as you had managed to get decent.

“Yes sir, everything is fine! She just saw a spider, poor thing” Taehyung pulled you back into him so you could feel his still hard cock against your asscheek  as the staff member nodded and left.

You waited until the footsteps seemed more far off. You turned around and couldn’t suppress your big smile as you made eye contact with Taehyung, who also grinned widely. He grabbed your waist and began to undress you again quickly.

“Hey that’s not fair. I wanna see your shirt off too” You pouted. Taehyung smirked, obeying you and pulling it off effortlessly. You traced the muscles on his chest that formed a perfect 11.

“Like what you see?”

“Jimin has a six pack soooo” You teased as you tugged on his waistline, helping him slide off his shorts again. Your eyes scanned him as he became naked and you licked your lips, “Yeah…” You met his eyes and giggled, “I like what I see”

“Yeah you better” He teased before attacking you with kisses again.

Taehyung slid back inside of your tight pussy while maintaining eye contact with you. He began sucking your neck playfully. He watched you carefully as he began to move in and out of you slowly, picking up the pace as he saw your positive reaction. Taehyung nuzzled his face into your breasts. 

“You’ve been waiting for this all day haven’t you” You teased.

“Yeah and what if I have” His voice was raspy, full of lust. The sound send chills down your spine and turned you on more. Taehyung could tell. “Oh you like that huh?” He continued to talk in that voice, grinning as he trailed kisses back up to your mouth.

Taehyung shifted you so your back was on the bench. He spread your legs and entered you slowly. You tilted your head back and just took it all in. After some pumping Taehyung lowered himself closer to your body and looked at you deeply.

“You close?” You asked him sincerely. Taehyung nodded, moaning slightly into your shoulder. You were unsure what to do to help him at that point, your orgasm earlier leaving you too spent for another one. So you decided to just tease him. “What was it that they say in pornos...oh right. You’re doing so good baby” You felt Taehyung’s hips buckle at your words, “Will you please cum for me? God you’re sooooo hot mmm, just like that” You played your most seductive voice and Taehyung knew you were messing around but it still turned him on. 

He kissed you chastely, hands grabbing your ass tightly as he came. He cursed under his breath & eventually fell into your lap in exhaustion.

<------previous                                                                   next-------->

A/N: im tired man idk

taglist: (lmk if you wanna be added!!) @honeyspillings @hollowtree10

[wendimydarling]

Weakness

Title: Weakness

Summary: Syverson and his wife get into an argument, and he shows her bratty ass how to mind.

Pairing: Syverson x First Person Reader

Word Count: 2017

Warnings: nudity, manhandling, penetrative sex, tickling.

A/N: Last request of the year, folks... I’ve got a full plate!

Could you please do a tickle fic with syverson where u guys have a fight, but then when he comes to bed late at night you tickle him to get him to talk. But then he gets annoyed at you and ends up tying you up and tickling you as a punishment, though it ends in fluff and giggles at the end? Love ur fics!

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How many times we gonna have this argument?”

I had zero desire to do this tonight but I stood there anyway, arms crossed, nostrils flaring. Everyone in the bar was cowering away from Syverson’s intimidating hulk of a stance, but not me. I’d been with him for too long.

The guy that hit on me was far in retreat but once again, I’d been embarrassed in front of everyone by Sy taking it too seriously. He was so protective and for the most part, I didn’t mind. But I consider myself a woman that can defend herself without the aid of a man, and when said man comes in and threatens to maul any man within a ten foot radius of me, my intimidation factor gets undercut by about fifty percent.

Syverson also had his arms crossed, his legs regulation width apart and back ramrod straight. His size alone was enough to terrify most women, and even some men, but not me. I was far too pissed. Sy furrowed his brow.

“I’ll not have anyone hittin’ on my woman, especially not while I’m there to defend her,” he stated firmly. I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air.

“We’re goin’ in circles, and I ain’t doin’ this in public, especially not tonight,” I snapped. I grabbed my clutch and walked out the door, hailing a passing taxi and getting in before I could change my mind. As I gave the driver my address, I looked out the window and saw Syverson standing there, his mouth set in a stern line. A pang of excited fear shot into my belly; I had just left my husband at a bar. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syverson made it home about twenty long minutes after I did. They had to have been the most agonizing minutes of my life, and that included the time he suddenly lost phone reception once when he was on tour. I got ready for bed while I waited for him to come home, but I knew sleep would evade me. Back and forth I paced, straightening the décor on our shelves and brushing my hair before finally coming to rest on the bed, my knees pulled up to my chest. 

I heard a car door outside and adrenaline coursed through my veins; the front door slamming shut near made me jump out of my skin. My body was rooted to the mattress, fingers fidgeting with the lacey hem of my cotton nightgown nervously. Sy entered our room, glanced at me briefly, then tore off his shirt and tossed it in the hamper as he barricaded himself in our bathroom without a word. I was in so much trouble, and my heart sank down into my stomach. Why of all nights did we have to do this tonight?

It wasn’t long before Syverson came back into the room, scowl still stubbornly etched on his face as he removed the rest of his clothes. He caught my eye and held it in silent warning; I didn’t dare look away. His belt was drawn out of its fabric station slowly and my ass clenched in apprehensive dread, but Sy just dropped it to the floor. My annoyance catapulted over my fear.

“Ya just not gonna talk to me then?” I snapped, shooting him my own glare. Syverson still didn’t speak, simply shucked his legs out of his pants and boxers and climbed under the covers, rolling over so that his back was facing me. That was the last straw.

“Sy…” I drawled, dragging a fingernail down his spine. He rotated his shoulder and huffed, but didn’t turn over. Determined, I tried again, spidering my fingers over the back of his ribs. Syverson spun around with surprising agility for a man so large and in a flash my wrist was seized. 

“Best not start somethin’ ya can’t finish, little lady,” he warned, shoving my hand away. He closed his eyes and settled back into the bed. Anyone else would have heeded Sy’s warning, but not me. I needed to talk about it. 

“Come on Sy, talk to me,” I pleaded. He just grunted. I assessed the situation, surveying his body for my plan of attack. His big arms protected most of his torso but the blanket had ridden down when he flipped over, and I could see the sharp point of his hip bone cresting through the waves of hair that graced his skin. Bingo.

I crawled on the bed carefully, sneaking a hand beneath the blanket to where Syverson’s warm girth lay nestled between his thighs. He grunted again but shifted to grant me more access; he never could say no to a blow job, no matter how mad he was. I straddled his chest and palmed him softly, smirking as he fell straight into my trap. Instead of leaning over though, I drilled my fingers into the deep pockets of his hips, relishing the way he immediately started huffing and throwing curses my way.

“If ya ain’t gonna talk to me then I’m just gonna tickle ya,” I drawled, scribbling my nails over his sensitive flesh. Sy grunted and jerked but he couldn’t quite get his hands around my torso to reach, the tickles confusing his brain and causing him to lose focus.

“Hmmm… still don’t wanna talk?” I teased, “Fine then, perhaps I should move to yer feet.”

In a flash my ankles were yanked out from under me and I was rolled underneath Sy’s heavy frame, his nimble fingers finding purchase beneath him on my sensitive ribs. I squealed and scrambled for his hands, kicking at him as I tried to stop the tickles. He just climbed on top of me and flipped around to straddle my hips, instantly immobilizing me and removing any notion I had of making it out of this alive.

“Ya think ya can just leave?” Syverson growled, pinning my arms above my head with one hand and returned to digging his fingers into my rib cage. I squealed again and fought to escape, but his thighs were an iron vice around my hips and his rough hand effortlessly held my wrists, locking me in place so that he had all the room in the world to punish me for my behavior.

“Ya thought this was over just cause you were done with it?” His fingers drilled faster, their ferocity matching the scowl on his face as I laughed helplessly.

“Try again, little lady... we ain’t over ‘til I say so.”

With that, he reverted back to his silence. I screamed and pleaded with him but he ignored me, tickling any skin he could find. When he ran out of skin to tickle he simply created more, rucking up my nightgown to gain access to my belly and navel. I laughed and wailed but my cries met a stone wall; I was too ticklish for my own good, and Syverson was mad. 

He tore my nightgown completely off me and grabbed my wrists, and I took the brief moment to gasp for air. My respite was short lived however as I noticed his intentions; he was pinning my arms beneath his knees.

“No, Sy NO, PLEASE!!” I protested, pulling uselessly against his brute strength. I knew his game, I knew where he was headed and I didn’t want it. 

“I’m sorry,” I begged him. Sy stared at me, hands on his knees, glare still firmly lodged on his face.

“I told ya not to start something ya couldn’t finish,” he said coldly. His hands travelled slowly behind him, resting along the supple flesh on my thighs.

“I know, I--KNOW,” I gasped, kicking at him. Syverson shuffled my body as I spoke, spreading my legs and trapping them between his folded knees.

“Ya just... ya wouldn’t talk to me, Sy. I didn’t want to go to bed upset, not tonight,” I admitted, gazing up at him with round eyes. I struggled under his weight, trembling as his fingertips grazed along the inner tendons that connected my legs to the rest of my body. Sy gave me a look that said I better keep talking, so I continued to explain.

“I don’t need ya to defend me all the time,” I said softly, not wanting to look at him. I knew his face would show that he was hurt, and I was right.

“That’s what I’m here for, bug,” He whispered, staring at my heaving chest as he traced circles along my sensitive loins. I shivered. God, I wanted to reach out and hold him.

“But what about when ya aren’t here?” 

Syverson’s head snapped up to look at me, fire and pain flaring in his eyes. I could see that it hadn’t occurred to him that I still got hit on when he was overseas. Remorse and understanding fell over his features, and he nodded in submission.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Still, ya need to pay fer leavin’ the bar without me.”

His fingers picked up their pace and my face scrunched up in agony. I wasn’t gonna get out of this by distracting him, and I was left with no choice but to accept my punishment. Still, I had to try.

“Sy, no don’t--” I managed to get out before he was squeezing those tendons between his thumbs and fingers, pinching every last ticklish nerve along my thighs. I thrashed and screamed, the highest-pitched squeals tumbling from my lips as he laid waste to my secret weakness, fluttering his fingers all over my mound. Time lost all meaning; had it been five minutes? Ten? I didn’t know, all I knew was that instead of tickles, my tortured pussy desired nothing more than for him to split me open and fuck me into the next century.

“NO MORE!” I begged, “SY PLEEEHEHEASE!! NO MOOOHOHORE!!”

His fingers froze and Syverson cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Ya gonna try and fight back?” he questioned, positioning his elbows on either side of my head.

“No sir,” I breathed.

“Who do you belong to?” he growled. My eyes softened and I gazed at his face, desperate to touch him, to comfort him.

“I belong to you.”

“Good girl.”

Sy released my arms and I wrapped them around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder as he did the same to me, thrusting into me to be as close as he could. He was hard as a rock, it took no more than five seconds before he was bottomed out and we two had become one flesh. It was an old song and dance and yet every time still felt like the first.

 Syverson held me close as I clung to him fiercely, my tears weaving a wet trail into my hair as his embrace coiled around me, suffocating me in the best of ways.

“I’ll be back before you know it, bug,” He crooned against my cheek, but I could hear how choked up he was and I lost it. I would never get used to him leaving.

“You better be,” I sobbed, never wanting this night to end. Tomorrow brought pain, and separation.

“Now now, no tears,” Sy shushed, cradling my face in his hands and wiping the salt that threatened to stain my face. He thrust into me, hard and wanting and I gasped, pitching my hips to meet his. My cervix was on fire, the slightest movement would send me barreling over the edge into bliss. I saw a glint in Sy’s eye, one that told me he was about to be devilishly mischievous and my arms were brought to rest above my head, fingers interlocked with mine, and kisses alighted on my nose and neck as his lips found their way to my ear. 

“Keep your arms up, bug,” he ordered, his fingertips spidering softly down my arms. No, I thought, squirming my hips and then gasping in shock as pleasure rocked through my center. Not this. Anything but this. His voice came searing into my mind, sealing my fate with one phrase.

“Yer gonna learn not to start somethin’ ya can’t finish.”

[bubblesuga]

needy

“Tell me how good it feels to be needed. . .” 

Summary: Hoseok leaves for Seoul in less than 12 hours, and you’re desperate to tell him how you feel. 

W/C: 2,681

Genre: fluff, smut

Warnings: cussing, unprotected sex, slight daddy kink, slight exhibitionism (it’s car sex lol), dom!hobi, switch!reader, power play

The gentle breeze of the sea brushes your cheek lovingly, the smell of sea salt invading your senses while you watch the blue waves crash against the rocks a mile out from where you sit. Beneath you, your hand buries itself in the cold sand in an attempt to ground yourself further into this abysmal bliss. Beside you sits your best friend, Hoseok. 

Golden skin shines beneath the setting sun, the weather being just cool enough to turn the tip of his nose a soft pink. His smile is small, dragging his bottom lip between his teeth while his eyes travel up and down the coast line. You could stare at him for days. Hell, you have been staring at him for days. You want to memorize every inch of his face, you want to remember the freckle on his top lip and the way his dimples pop every time he jokingly scolds you because tomorrow he’s leaving you. 

You’re just hoping this isn’t the last time you see him. 

Of course you’re happy for your friend. You’ve been to every performance, watched every ribbon be handed his way, and stayed up late into the night to watch him practice the same choreography over and over again in the small garage at his parents’ house. It was only a matter of time before some entertainment label was ready to take him in. You just wished you had more time with him. Alas, you’re beginning college soon and Hoseok is beginning the rest of his life. 

He turns to you, his smile big. You drag your eyes up to meet his, “Yes?” 

“You’re staring at me.” he says simply. 

“And?” you tilt your head, raising an eyebrow. 

He laughs, “It’s kind of creeping me out.” 

You tear your eyes away, a blush creeping up your neck. “I- I’m sorry. I just want to remember you.” 

Hoseok reaches his arm around you, pulling you into his warm embrace as he coos gently, “Ah, lovely _____. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.” 

He’s always been good at comforting, a trait you’re sure he’s picked up from his mother. The way his hand gently clasps yours and rests atop of your thighs instantly sparks an emotion you had been trying to swallow this entire time because despite how much you tried to ignore it, you’ve fallen in love with Hoseok. 

It’s difficult for you to pinpoint exactly when your feelings came to fruition. Maybe it was at age 16 when he insisted you help him practice his first couples dance, a dance he had been dreading since the beginning of the year. His grip on you was strong, and he lead you under the guise of confidence despite having shaking knees. Or it could have been even earlier. At 14 years old he spent every night under the stars with you, talking about the possibilities of life and where the two of you might end up. It was the first time you rested your head on his chest and listened to his heart beat. 

With your thoughts reeling, you feel a tear slip out of your eye, “I’m just worried that you’ll forget about me.” It feels stupid to say, but the validity of your statement is far stronger than you thought. 

“Hey,” you feel Hoseok shift beneath you, his fingertips brushing your jawline to guide your head in his direction, “I could never forget you. I’ll be back regularly to see you, and before we know it you’ll be in Seoul right beside me.” 

He swipes a tear away and continues, “Besides, you’re too cute to forget.” 

His smile is big, but you still struggle to wipe away the melancholy. Hoseok notices, the grin dropping. He shifts completely, laying his back down in the sand while you fall with him, feeling his grip tighten on you. 

“Talk to me.” 

“Hobi, I-” you begin, but you feel your breath hitch in your throat. The hoodie on your body isn’t doing enough to keep you warm, anxiety chilling you to the bone while you try to process your feelings. It’s now or never, if you don’t tell him then you’ll regret it and he’ll be sent off to Seoul without ever knowing the extent of your feelings. However, if you do he could be completely caught of guard, disgusted even. He’d never be able to look at you the same and your friendship would be ruined. 

But you’re willing to take the chance, because he looks down at you with a calming aura completely engulfing your senses. You’ve forgotten about the beach, you’ve forgotten about the sand. All you know, is him. 

“Do you remember,” you shift your weight, your chin in the center of his chest, “in 6th grade when you were so terrified of your mother finally watching a dance performance that the only thing that could calm you down was me?” 

Hoseok nods, his slender fingers moving to push a piece of hair from your face. Still, his lips stay upturned. 

“And do you remember how you told me that you’re never going to meet someone better at hugging than me?” 

“Still haven’t.” He chuckles, wrapping his arms around your upper back and giving a small squeeze. 

“Well, what if I told you that I,” you take a deep breath, trying not to overthink your next words, “want to do more than hug you?” 

Instantly, Hoseok’s eyes widen and your jaw immediately drops. “W- wait hold on! Let me-” you smack your forehead, “that sounds really bad out of context. I just- I really don’t know how else to say that I am so absolutely in love with you.” 

Hoseok’s jaw stays slack, the smile previously shining his entire face is replaced with down turned lips and eyes so wide that you’re sure that they could fall out of his head.

“I knew this was stupid,” you say, “I shouldn’t have told you because you’re leaving and I’ll still be here and we’ll be living two very different lives butIfeltlikeIhadtotellyouotherwiseIwouldregretitfortherestofmy-” 

“Hey!” Hoseok cuts you off, and your mouth clamps shut with a small whimper. 

Your eyes anxiously bore into his, and you feel tears begin to well again, but before they could fall, Hoseok speaks again. 

“What took you so long?” 

“What?” You ask incredulously. 

“You mean to tell me that the entire time I’m pining after you and fighting off every guy that tried to ask you out, you were in love with me?” Hoseok laughs as if he doesn’t believe what he’s saying. 

“You fought off guys trying to ask me out?” 

“Every damn one of them,” Hoseok says proudly, “you wouldn’t believe how many times a guy would walk up to me to make sure that we weren’t together before they made a move.” 

You let out a giggle, “And what did you say to them?” 

Hoseok pulls your entire body on top of his in one swift movement, chest now against his and your face inches away from his. The proximity causes your skin to flush, your earlier chills long forgotten. 

Hoseok brushes his nose against yours, “I told them you weren’t mine yet, but you were gonna be.” 

With that, he presses his lips to yours. 

At first he moves slow, the cherry balm on his lips enveloping your taste buds with an infinite amount of electric bolts flying up and down your body in a symphony of pleasure. His hands move to your hips, the tips of his fingers digging in while he inhales your scent because finally you are right where he’s wanted you to be. 

He’s not the one to deepen the kiss, though. Instead, your hands grip the collar of his jacket tightly and you tug, signalling Hoseok to flip the two of you over. 

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” he groans into your mouth, “you feel so much better than I imagined.” 

“I’ve wanted this too,” you whisper, “for so long.” 

He grins, capturing your lips again as your legs spread just enough for him to slip between them. He slits perfectly between, his lean body pressing hard against your chest. Hoseok pulls away to begin trailing kisses along your cheeks, then your jawline, and you let out a sigh of happiness. He giggles against your skin, but it stops the moment he bites into your neck. You let out a gasp, arching your back into him. 

“Hobi,” you moan, “Hobi, please.” 

“You need to tell me how far you want this to go, baby.” His voice is much deeper than usual, the growl under his words shooting a jolt of electricity to your core. 

You ponder for a moment, debating whether or not you’re prepared to lose your virginity to your best friend. It certainly isn’t where you expected this to go but you’ve got no complaints. 

“Hoseok,” you grin, pulling his attention away from your neck, “fuck me.” 

His lips trail kisses until he reaches your ear, “That’s what I like to hear.” 

Without warning, he stands abruptly and tugs you upward. Hoseok grips your hand tightly in his as he rushes towards his car. The sun has finally set and the quiet beach which had become your favorite place to hang out was completely silent. When you finally reach his car, Hoseok opens the back door and bows his head. 

The butterflies in your stomach are swarming. 

You slip into Hoseok’s back seat and lay back, watching Hoseok take his place over you again. Slotting between your legs, you feel him grind harshly in the apex of your thighs. 

This is so much better than what you imagined. 

Hoseok’s fingers draw a line down your chest and to the hem of your sweatshirt, tugging gently. “Take it off.” 

It’s a demand you have been waiting to hear forever. 

Hoseok pulls himself off of you and watches you with dark eyes while you slip your hoodie off. Just like Hoseok had imagined, you wore nothing underneath. His sweet tongue dips out to lick his lips at the sight of you, your nipples instantly perking in the coolness of the car. 

“Your turn.” you smirk, loving the way his eyes dance hungrily across your chest. Hoseok doesn’t hesitate to do the same, his nimble fingers then moving to the waistband of his sweats to tug them down. You watch carefully, the grey sweats slipping down his thighs until his cock flies upward freely. Gloriously hard and ready, you lift your hips and slip your own pants down your legs at the sight. 

You’re astonished at your brazen actions, tugging him down to your mouth as Hoseok rolls his hips against yours. Before, you would have never tried something so bold. He doesn’t seem to mind though, because as you push him back onto the seat, he lets out a loud moan. 

Underneath the moonlight, Hoseok’s face is illuminated gorgeously. You slip onto the floor of the car, gripping his cock in your hand. It’s thick, curved, and mouthwatering. He tosses his head back as you stroke your hand up and down, his hips flexing beneath your grip. 

“God, do you know how much I’ve had to stop myself from getting you on your knees for me over the years,” he says, gasping when you lick the tip, “I’ve dreamed about you sucking my cock.” 

You sink your lips around him, dragging your tongue along the underside as you do so. He thrusts, letting out a small apology when he hears you gag around him. However, he’s surprised by the moan that vibrates from your throat while you take him as deep as you possibly can. 

He laces his hands through your hair, gently guiding you up and down, “Look at me,” he demands, “keep looking at me.” 

His chest heaves, and the thrill of having him mewling for more has you moving faster. You suck in your cheeks, watching how his face reacts to each movement you do. Suddenly, his eyes shoot open, “Fuck! No, stop baby. I’m gonna cum if you continue.” 

The gleam in your eye scares Hoseok momentarily as you continue to suck, practically having Hoseok rip you off of him while you let out a giggly. 

“Oh yeah, real funny,” Hoseok rolls his eyes, “don’t be a brat and come here.” 

“Yes, daddy.” You croon, not expecting the way his adam’s apple bobs at the use of the nickname. You merely smile at the affect you have on him, crawling upward and straddling his thighs. He doesn’t shy away from your movements, welcoming your lips on his. Despite the fact that this was your first time, you were very prepared to take Hoseok in his full glory. So, you sink carefully down onto his cock. 

Harmonious moans fill the car as you feel him fill you deliciously. The stretch burns, worse than you anticipated but nothing you couldn’t handle. Instead, you welcomed the pain, hearing him moan into your mouth as you lift yourself up and sink back down again. 

“Fuck,” his hands caress your ass, spreading your cheeks as you ride him, “so wet for me. Such a good girl.” 

“Yes,” you mewl at his words, “I’m your good girl.” 

“Yes you are,” Hoseok chuckles, “taking good care of daddy.” 

One of his hands moves in between the two of you, his thumb brushing against your clit. Instantly, a shriek leaves your lips at the unexpected feeling.  He grunts when your cunt clenches down on his cock, turning his thumb in harsh circles. 

With the added feeling of his thumb against your clit, your orgasm approaches you quickly. A swivel of your hips was enough to let Hoseok know how close you were, and he captures your lips quickly again. 

His hands grip your hips right on the tip of his cock, pausing your movements. You let out a tiny huff, but it’s soon wiped away from you when you feel Hoseok thrust into your cunt as hard as he can. Overwhelmed with the foreign yet amazing feeling, you let out a gasp and bite into your lower lip while you bury your face in his neck. 

“Come on,” Hoseok’s deep voice echos in the small car, “cum on my cock.” 

You feel your cunt clamp down on him, your orgasm washing over you in waves while Hoseok continues to thrust. “So good,” he presses his lips to your temple, “where do you want me?” 

He’s out of breath, but you want to give him the most pleasure you can. “Cum inside me.” 

That was enough to push Hoseok over the edge, a string of curse words falling out of his mouth as he fills your pulsing walls. Hot and wet, you immediately begin to feel it pooling out of you and back down onto Hoseok’s cock, but he doesn’t make an effort to move. Instead, he stays inside you while he brings you back down to him. 

“Are you okay, baby?” Chaste kisses a linked up and down your neck. 

You nod, “Better than okay.” 

You two lay together for a little while, and the sudden realization washes over you that he’s leaving you tomorrow. You’ve just lost your virginity to him, and he’s leaving. 

Yet you don’t regret a single thing. Instead, you sigh, “What am I going to do without you?” 

Hoseok didn’t want to think about the fact that his trunk is filled with his belongings and this is the last time he’ll see you for a little while. He just wanted to enjoy having you in his arms, but the inevitability of change was a mere 12 hours away.

Hoseok presses a kiss to your temple, and in his infinite words of wisdom, speaks huskily, “I’m going to work my ass of to make it big, you’re gonna move to Seoul, and we can be together. Until then,” he presses a small kiss to your lips before continuing, “we’ll video chat as often as possible. You’re mine now, ya hear?” 

You grin, “Yes, Hobi, and you’re mine too.” 

[dyingrosesandwriting]

Home (Yandere x Reader)

Word count: ~2100

“I can’t believe I wrote this.” Muttered a quiet voice in the dark.

“I mean, this is so repetitive and boring!” Exclaimed the figure in the dark, obscured by a blanket thrown over herself, light from her device creating a silhouette visible from the window. Not like anyone would see, or at least that was what you thought.

However, you were very wrong, as unbeknownst to you, a male sat right outside your window. He was cloaked in shadows and a hoodie, while wearing a grin on his face. As the unknown male peered through your window, you got out of the tent of sheets and walked out of your room to the hall.

“Now’s my chance” muttered your stalker with a chuckle, as he started picking the your window lock.

You stood in your bathroom, brushing your teeth, when you heard a noise come from your room, shaking, you put your toothbrush back and went inside to investigate.

“Hello?” You called out, your voice cracking. Your feet felt like they were freezing on the floorboards.

“I have a weapon you know!” You shouted, trying to intimidate whatever had intruded your house. You did in fact have a weapon,  which meant if worse came to worse, you could probably fight back.

You opened your bedroom door, heart pumping so hard it resonated through your whole body, only to find... Nothing unusual.

You searched through any places that an intruder could hide, behind your cabinets, behind your door, under your bed, and now your closet, the only place left, you had already armed yourself with a kitchen knife and a torch, and with a deep breath you swung open the tall door.

You gasped as you saw a man in front of you, he gave you a smile as you froze up, and spoke with a sickly sweet voice,

“Aww, you found me, babe!” He stepped out of your racks of clothes, revealing his tall, looming figure and something in his hands.

You tried to run, use your weapon, do anything, but fear had petrified you to your spot, and now you were being held down by the man as he held that thing in his hands to your mouth. You realised only too late that it was a chloroform rag as you started to fall unconscious. “Shhhh,” He hushed.

“It’s going to be alright...”

///

“Hey baby, I was wondering when you’d wake up!” Exclaimed a voice from... somewhere.

Yoy couldn’t seem to see until you had blinked a bit, but even then you disregarded the voice and tried to stretch your arms, trying to shake off the tendrils of sleepiness. But to your horror you couldn’t move your arms much at all. You looked around to try and find the cause of it, when you spotted that man from last night sitting at the edge of what was definitely not your bed.

"Did he actually kidnap me?" You thought, your mind started racing with questions, "What’s he going to do to me?" "Am I going to die?" "Why me?" Your thoughts were cut off though as he spoke again.

“Are you ignoring me babe?” He asked,

“You know that won’t end well. For either of us.” He whispered in your ear, causing goose bumps to erupt over your neck.

“Why am I here?” You squeaked out, holding back tears. The man noticed your fear and started rubbing your cheek despite your obvious discomfort, “You’re here," He paused, "Because I love you.”

“W-what?” You gasped out.

“I have loved you since we first met, in seventh grade, you helped me out all the time!”

“Remember?”

He stared at you expectantly, but you couldn’t remember him, you graduated a year ago, but you'd suppressed those memories long ago.

The man looked familiar though, not with a comforting sense of familiarity, instead with a deep seeded fear, like he’d been responsible for the ‘incident' at the end of seventh grade.

“You don’t remember me?” He asked her, his voice shaky and uneven. You were just about to answer when he’d started screaming,

“You fucking bitch! How could you forget me! We’re soulmates, or are you too much of a whore to remember that?”

All of his shouting had driven you to the point of tears, not like you weren't probably already going to cry. You had tried to hold them back but they flowed across your cheeks as you sobbed quietly, willing your captor to not notice them in fear of being hurt.

“I’m sorry...” He stated calmly, although you could hear his heavy breaths, and stared into your eyes as he started to stroke through your hair. You thought of slapping his hand away but thought of the consequences, and that you couldn’t move your hands.

“I should of known you'd forgotten, seventh grade was pretty traumatic." He sighed, but you felt like he was involved in that trauma.

“I guess I should reintroduce myself then,” He added, with a peck to your blotchy red cheek.

“My name’s Blake.”

“And you babe, helped me out when no one else would!” He shifted off the bed and grabbed a photo album, “Every single day I was tormented by those fucking bastards,” He seemingly struggled to keep his voice level.

“But you always saved me afterwards!” He added with a wide smile and opened up the album to a page full of photos of you, some were from behind, some were seemingly consensual, and others had been taken while you were asleep, and all of them made you incredibly uncomfortable.

You decided to just nod along.

“Did you ever even question why everyone hated me?”

“N-no.”

Blake chuckled and answered. “All of them made a fit just because I followed you home one day,” You felt bile crawl up your throat as your stomach began to turn.

“I was only following you to protect you from those creeps!”

“But, y’ know I taught them all a lesson babe.”

Blake's words had proved exactly what you were dreading.

He’d been responsible for the 'incident' in seventh grade.

///

I stood in front of the school bathroom mirror, freshening up before I’d head out with my boyfriend, or whatever we were now.

I'd confessed to him yesterday and he said he’d liked me too, although not as long as I had, so we'd decided to date.

After about five minutes I finished brushing my hair for the third time today and headed outside the main gate to meet him, but he wasn’t there.

After standing there and looking in every direction, I checked my phone; nothing.

I sent him a text:

where r u???

Sent

I waited ten minutes for a reply, but nothing, not even a ‘seen’. I started to search around, asking the kids who where still hanging around if they’d seen him. A group of them said they’d seen him following another dude through the hall,

“Great,” I thought, “he’s just gonna cop out on me before the first date.”

I figured I should at least find him and tell him my frustration if he wasn’t going to read my texts, so I headed towards the gym, presumably where one of his team members had probably dragged him off to.

As I walked through the hall towards the gym I heard a strange noise; Something muffled.

I quietly stepped towards the door it was coming from, the storage closet, and listened.

“So what did you drag me here for?” Someone asked.

“You took something from me,” Someone else answered back.

“What did I take?” The first person asked, the smugness feeling very familiar.

“YOU FUCKING KNOW!” Roared back the other person. Fearing things were gonna get ugly, I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. I looked around for anyone, but the halls were empty. It must’ve been way past the end bell now so the only people left were in their clubs.

I had one choice: to try stop this while I could.

I prepared myself and rammed the door with my shoulder with all my strength.

First try; it didn’t budge.

Second try; Something smashed in the closet.

Third try; if this didn’t work I’d need to go get help.

But thankfully, it did.

But I wouldn't be so thankful soon.

Just as the door busted open, I saw it. The beaten body of my boyfriend and a tall, dark figure grasping a baseball bat hunched over him.

I tried to reach out to him but the man grabbed my wrist, twisted it, and pushed me to the ground. Through the pain I held back tears as I tried to get up, but what I saw next had me begging for the blurry censorship my tears provided.

I got up, but before I ran for someone to break this up, I tried to punch this psycho while he resumed to beating my boyfriend to a pulp with his bat.

Instead however, he turned right around as my fist collided with his back and struck my shins with his bat, the residual pain keeping me on my knees after the initial strike.

“No, no, you’re gonna watch this,” A voice too deranged to recognise muttered.

He continued to senselessly beat the barely alive mess of flesh, blood and bone that was once my boyfriend into a pulp.

“It’s all for you after all.”

///

“No! No no no no no!” You cried in shock and terror.

“Oh, but yes!” He replied in a mockingly jolly tone, “You have no idea how fucking great it felt to crush that insect of a boyfriend!” He added, licking his lips and thinking with a nostalgic look on his face.

“Just... Why?”

“Why? Isn’t it obvious?”

“I told you already; I love you.”

“I just want you all to myself, tied up and away from all the fucking perves that want you for themselves.” Blake held you tightly in his arms, you knew better than to squirm.

“S-so you wanted them to hate me?” You cried in confusion.

“Well...  It certainly wasn’t part of the plan, but how could you have a relationship if everyone thought you killed your last boyfriend?”

“How could you not fall for me? The clumsy but charming guy of your dreams, who was always there?” He asked staring deep into your eyes.

“I mean seriously, how couldn’t you?!” He raised his voice, “I WAS ALWAYS THERE, BUT ALL YOU DID WAS IGNORE ME AND PLAN ON LEAVING THIS ‘DUMPSTER OF A TOWN’!” he continued, voice now booming in the small room.

Your eyes immediately dilated and your palms began to sweat, tears pricking at your eyes once again.

“YOU'VE BEEN TRYING FOR YEARS, FUCKING YEARS, TO LEAVE ME!”

“W-why?” He’d finally calmed down, and started almost crying himself, the sight made you feel an uncomfortable mix of smug and sorry.

No.

He's a murderer.

“I couldn’t live with the harassment anymore.” You started calmly, hoping you wouldn’t flare up his anger.

“Didn’t you want me to be happy?” You asked.

“But I need you to be happy.” He responded weakly.

You remained silent and decided to take a closer look at the room you were stuck in.

You were currently laying on a queen sized bed, with three layers of blankets and plain blue sheets.

The walls of the room were painted the same blue as the sheets, though it was hard to tell at first due to photos of you and posters covering most of the area.

"The room must be Blake's," You thought. "Which means..." Your stomach turned at the thought.

You'd have to sleep with this psycho.

And then what would happen?

He would push himself onto you, and you'd either have to accept it, or... You didn't want to think about what he'd do to you.

His threats when you didn't acknowledge him, the fact that he broke into your home and kidnapped you, and...

What he did to your boyfriend.

And how he enjoyed the aftermath of fear and bullying towards you. He stood by as people made your life a living hell. Because they thought you were a criminal, a murderer that was about to get what they deserved.

Maybe they were right. You did kill him. Who knows how many other deaths you were responsible for?

No.

He killed him. Blake did.

And all of this, that's what'll clear your name once you escape wherever this psycho is keeping you.

"W-where are we?" Your voice came out softer and meeker than you'd like, but maybe that would help. Get him to believe you were just scared and worried, though you really were.

The male sat in front of you, shaking a small amount.

"Home."

Uh, so this is kinda old, but then I added onto it and rewrote it to be x reader. I was mega hyped for this blog when I started writing this, even making a Pinterest board for this character, but I never actually described his appearance, and personality wise he is a pissbaby.

Bruh, my first draft on this account made realise I changed his name from Joey to Blake.

Edit: I fucking forgot to change his name once and used third person phrasing instead of second person in one part. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[whirlybirdwhat]

belong among the wild flowers

For kyo for the 2021 Sake Exchange!!!! I hope you enjoy <33333 READ ON AO3 - outsider pov, ‘you’ are the outsider pov, gen, straw hat focus

--

You’re a seller. A seller of flowers that is. Beautiful flowers from seeds grown all over the world, grown by you and your wife – and.

Well.

Grown by you now, but it’s all the same. 50 years and your flowers haven’t lost their vibrancy, only gained. 

This morning you smile, breathing in the cool air so soothing on your old lungs and head out into the fields of beautiful flowers, filled with oranges, blues, pinks, and –

Red.

There’s – 

There’s red in your fields, between the blues and the yellows. 

The reds are the complete opposite side of the farm, by your wife’s grave, because she loved the color so much.

What is red doing here?

“Shishishi!”

Ah.

The hackles in you calm. Its just a boy.

(Your wife had loved children.)

He’s small, thin, dressed in vibrant baggy blue shorts and a red tee, open to display scarring on his chest. His head is turned away from you, black hair flying in the wind to shield his face but –

There is gold upon his head. Golden straw.

Odd. 

(The last man who came here wearing golden straw had died, his death in the newspaper. Oddly, already, you hope this boy won’t be the same.) 

Its wrapped in a red ribbon, bright red. Red doesn’t belong. Red –

“Shishishi!” The boy laughs and turns to her again, smile wide, scar under his eye sloping and wave like, so much more faded than the angry red across his chest. “Ah! Old person! Do you know where these flowers came from?”

You blink. Once. Twice. Eyes darting to the watering can in your hand and to the dirty but lovingly patched overalls you’re wearing, then back up to him. “Come again?” Is all you can say, but he’s already off on a tangent. 

“Ooh! Pretty! Hey, old person, these are almost like the flowers from back home! And the ones on Robin’s flower beds, the ones from where she grew up – Shishishi, I’m gonna take a few, kay?”

And he reaches down, down down and –

“No!” You yell, sudden, grabbing his hand, and hitting him over the head with your watering can. “Don’t pluck those flowers young man!”

“Owwwwww-why do you have haki?” He rubs at his head, eyes wide, and huh. 

Who knew such a scrawny brat could know haki?

“It’s the New World, brat! All old people know haki!” You tell him, a faint whisper of laughter in your voice. “Stop stealing my flowers!” You snap again as his hands snakes out and snaps back with a rubbery twang. 

“But they aren’t your flowers!”

“Yes they are”

“No! They’re Robins!”

“NO!” You shout, forehead to forehead with this boy. “They’re MINE! I grew them! I loved them! They are mine to pluck!”

He stares at you, pulling back, head cocked to the side, before his eyes brighten. You look at him critically as you bend down, easing dirt back into place and burying a worm back into its home. 

“Ah!” The boy shouts, fist landing in his hand. “They’re your dream!”

Your dream…

You haven’t had yours in a long time. 

When you last did, it was with your wife by your side. 

You shake your head at the boy, irritation bleeding into melancholy. “No. These flowers aren’t my dream.” You ease a petal up, gently brushing off dirt and giving it a gentle kiss. Your wife had always laughed when you did that, right before she gave you a kiss as well. 

“What is?” The boy asks, bending down with you, sitting on his heels and now careful – so very careful – not to touch your flowers. 

“Mm?”

“What’s your dream?” His hand drifts to the same petal you are touching, and you look up, and oh – 

There’s earnesty in his eyes. Honesty. A raw kind of hope, a raw kind of belief. He’s open, and you can never understand him, never want to, never will be able to look deeper than that bone deep honesty but –

You know this boy is a pirate. Only pirates chase dreams as honest as this. Only pirates want dreams as honest as this. 

(How old is he? The last pirate you saw was an old man, and the closest to this boy’s age was still a cabin boy. You don’t think this boy is like that – he can’t be. He’s got too much in him for that.)

Your tongue speaks without your bidding, without your permission. 

“I used to have one. Don’t have it now.”

He gives you a look. And maybe – maybe his eyes catch on the lines on your face, the etches of sorrow, the pockmarks and signs of age and the places your wife kissed.  Maybe he knows that you’re a liar as much as this boy is not. 

“Then what do you want?”

Again – your mouth moves without you wanting it to. This boy has power, some strange presence, a compelling to him that you can’t seem to fight. 

“Well, the Duke’s head would be nice.”

The boy nods, standing up, casting a shadow on you as the sun rises behind him. “Alright! I’ll beat up the Duke for you, and then you’ll give me flowers!”

Wait what –

“Let’s go!” Unstoppable as a whirlwind, this boy grabs your hand and tugs you forward, and off you go,  running through the paths of the flowers and determination in his eyes. 

“BOY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” You scream, panicked, watering can left behind. 

“Shishishi!” Is all you get for an answer, a laughter like petal in the end and –

Well.

It’s been awhile since you went on an adventure like this.

-

The boy’s name is Luffy – Monkey D. Luffy.

(There hasn’t been a D. on this island since the last man with a straw hat.)

You learn this because a red-haired girl screams it when you crash into her, raging and furious, leaving Luffy with large bumps on his head. 

“MONKEY D. LUFFY!” She cries, fists raising down and bracelets and log pose catching in the light. “DON’T DO THAT!”

“Owwwww – Nami!” Luffy looks to her, giving her a long reminiscent of puppy dogs and pleading. 

Nami sighs, brushing off dirt from her orange overalls, and gives him her own look, something between terrible fondness and annoyance. “Don’t rocket!” She tells him, before tossing him a tangerine – one of your neighbors, by the looks of it. “Look!”

(You and your wife had walked through the groves when you were young and in puppy love. You had taken a flower and put it in her hair, just as your neighbors’ father had chased you out of the grove for theft. It had been fun.) 

Luffy catches the tangerine, looking it over, then up at Nami. 

“They’re just like Bell-mere’s!” Nami tells him, her eyes bright with something like nostalgia, so different from the rage only moments before. Her enthusiasm is earnest, just like this boy’s, and oh -  they must be crew. “I can’t believe Cocoyashi trees are all the way out here!”

The name catches your attention, with the disbelief, and you smile at her. “Our island, Flors, has plants from across the world – the rarest, prettiest, sturdiest you can think of. Are you from Cocoyashi? Must have been a long time since you saw trees like these.”

She gives you a glance, an assessing look, then tosses her head back and laughs. “No, I have my own trees back our ship. Ah – who are you?”

Trees on a ship? Tangerine trees? What- 

“NAMI!” Luffy interjects, before you can give your name, dancing on the tip of your tongue. “Which way is the Duke?” 

“The Duke?” Her attention switches from you to him in a moment. “There’s a Duke?” You don’t think it’s possible, but her eyes – they seem to turn into belli signs. “Where? Why do you want him? Is he rich?” She’s shaking Luffy now, and you can’t help but let out a laugh, same time as Luffy. 

“Shishishi! If I beat up the Duke, I can get flowers from the field for Robin!” He says, as if it makes perfect sense. It doesn’t. You aren’t sure where he got the idea that you would give him flowers, or that he’ll be able to beat up the Duke, but –

“Okay!” Nami says, brightly, soundly, understanding this wild boy. “I’ll find out where the gold is.”

Gold?

When had gold come into the equation?

“You go ahead – I’m sure if you run around enough someone’s going to come out and yell out you. Then I can have all the Duke’s gold!” In seconds, she’s pulling a staff from her waist, snapping it together and twisting, so that electricity crackles at the top. Her eyes alight, and there’s something dangerous about her. Something a bit deadly, a bit wanting, a bit fierce. “Be done soon Luffy! The log pose should settle by the end of the day, and I want to get out of here before the storm hits!”

Storm?

“Aye Nami!”

You remember deciding that this boy was a pirate, for how he talked about dreams.  You decide this girl must be a pirate, for how she’s unafraid of the storm, the wind, the weather. 

You stare at her, old limbs creaking, bewildered. She reminds you of your wife, when you had first met her, all wild hair and adventure. Something aches, quietly, inside your chest – but, strangely, this time, it isn’t a sad ache. 

Just a nostalgic one.

In  moments, Luffy arm is around yours, and he’s running, your feet off the ground and yourself carried in a side hold. 

“BRAT!” You say, elbowing him with Haki, but this time his own defense is up and you simply have to bear the running for now.

Seeing the island go by, faster than it ever has, you can’t seem to make yourself mad.

-

The next stop is apparently up in a tree, though why you can’t fathom. All you know is Luffy was running and running, and running despite your yells of terror again, and then he stopped, slamming you into his back. It had lasted all but a moment, before he was reaching a hand up and shouting that absolutely dreadful phrase –

“GUM GUM ROCKET!” 

-And dragging you high into the sky, crashing through branches, and into the waiting arms of a long-nosed man. 

He screams. 

You scream. 

He doesn’t drop you though, only settling you on the part of the branch closest to the trunk, and continues scream.

You stop, then start again, because there is a living plant wrapped around him, moving like a wolf, and a bug the size of your head fluttering next to his.  

You are a seller. A gardener. You deal with bugs. Just not the bugs this particular orchard has, because Old Man Johnson is terrifying and likes to collect bugs bigger and bigger than your face. 

Fuck, you think, looking down to the bottom of the forest floor but finding it far too high for your old, brittle legs, even with haki. 

Luffy has no such problem, falling off the branch only to bounce right back up, tumbling into the long-nosed man just as he had tumbled into Nami. “Usopp!” He cries, joy in his face and –

Usopp’s face, morphs from terror to joy and pride and happiness in an instant, his arms coming around to circle Luffy as if this wild boy had always belonged there. It’s sweet. It’s comforting. 

It’s rocking the sturdy branch you are sitting on, and you have no idea how Usopp is managing to keep his balance.

Then you notice the living plant pushing against Usopp’s back, the bug helping, and immediately understand how.

But not why.

Does this man have control over plants or something? A bug devil fruit? His crewmate, Luffy – for what else could Luffy be than his crewmate – has a devil fruit, you think, so it wouldn’t be so surprising.  It’s like magic the way the vines grows and growls, familiar to you in some distant way that you can’t quite name and – 

“Luffy!” Usopp cries, holding Luffy to his chest. “You’re here! When you shot off I tried to look for you, but had to fight a thousand giant flowers first! Each threatening to swallow me whole but I defeated them with my trusty slingshot!”

What? You start to think, something that you think is far too common with these people, before noticing the way Luffy’s face shutters at giant flowers and swallow whole. Odd, you think, odd, but you aren’t the only one to notice. Usopp’s face flicks over Luffy’s with careful affection, cautious notice, and then lunges into another tale. 

“It was after that I stumbled upon these! Look – Luffy they’re just like the island I trained on!” And Usopp shoves a bunch of seeds into Luffy’s face, seeds that split before your eyes and grow into beautiful figures and designs. 

Luffy’s eyes turn into stars as you watch. “OOOOO! From the mystery Island with the plants!”

“Ah Bowin Archipelago Luffy.”

“Bowie Archipelago!”

“Ah, close enough! Anyway – with these I can breed new types of Pop Greens! Like maybe a dragon!”

“A Yeti!”

“A giant tiger!”

“A giant!” They go on like that, trading amazing fantastical thing after amazing fantastical thing, each more incredible with the last, each with full surety that this thing could happen. It’s… its foolishness mixed with childish glee. 

(You remember looking after your neighbors’ children with your wife, watching as they laughed and laughed and laughed. They had the same tender joy that Usopp and Luffy have, though where the children were edgeless and free, Usopp and Luffy’s joy is tempered with age and hard muscle, truth of pirates beyond the fantastical wildness of dreams. Its joy brought into reality.

You wish your wife as here to see it.)

Usopp takes a pause from chattering with Luffy, and also a pause from making the branch bounce far to much for what you’re comfortable with. 

(Your wife had always teased you for your fear of tall, wavering places. It made you smile when you climbed crows nests for her.)

“I do wonder,” the long-nosed sniper ponders, “How these plants got all the way here. The Bowin Archipelago is in Paradise – nowhere near here.”

“Shishishi! Nami’s tangerines were here too!” Luffy tells him with glee. “And Robin’s flowers!”

“Really!? Amazing! Hey – who’s your friend? Do they know anything about this?” Usopp turns to you, gaze piercing like any sniper should.

You gulp.

Then register what he called you. 

“I’m not his-“

“They’re a mystery person!” Luffy cuts in. “I gotta beat up a Duke to get Robin’s flowers from them!”

You would face palm, but that would mean letting go of the trunk.

“A Duke!?” Usopp cries, a mix of fear and readiness. “Did you tell Nami? She’s going to want his money before you beat him up.”

The confidence these people have in this boy – you don’t get why. 

(Maybe you’re starting too. He’s pulled you away from your garden, hasn’t he?)

“Shishishi! Nami knows! She’s gonna get the gold while I beat him up!” 

“Do you even know where the Duke is? What if he’s strong? Terrifying? What if he has a thousand teeth and eyes and wants to eat me for picking his flowers – Luffy you gotta beat him up, you gotta!” Usopp chatters, wavering between fear and terror and sheer bravery. An odd one, this boy is. You like him though. 

“Shishishi! I will!” Luffy promises him, grin stretching wide on his face and promise ready on his tongue, not a doubt in his mind. “Just watch me!”

Usopp melts, just a little. Ease ripples through him, and he lets out a quiet, proud “I know.” Then – he turns to you. “Uh, would you like a ride down?”

Yes. Yes you would. You nod, before Luffy stretches out his hand and oh god not again, your joints are not good for this adventure –

“OI! SHIT HEADS!”

Luffy’s arm stretches back, a laughing tumbling out of his mouth and you turn to your savior.

It’s a man, in the most god-awful shirt you have ever seen, with boat shoes and horrible matching shorts. 

It’s a man, with blonde hair and cigarette and swirly eyebrows shadowing a glare on his face as he holds giant fruits from the seeds of the giant land of Elbalph inn either hand with ease.

It’s a man, who is floating in the air. 

You let out a large squeak but no one seems to notice. 

“SANJI!” Luffy cries, and this must be another one of his man crewmates, and just how many of them are on this island, exploring and racking up havoc. 

You spare a moment to consider how Sanji got over the giant fences Farmer Green had set up. Then you remember, right, he’s flying, and wonder how that’s happening.

Sanji gives a kick, and dodge Luffy’s lunge, letting him fall to the forest floor and bounce back up. “Hey Captain. You guys know where Nami-swan or Robin-chwan are? I found some rare fruits that I can use, and I want to give it a try.”

“Sanji! Meat!” Luffy cries, practically salivating. 

Sanji gives a shrug. “No meat, Captain. Haven’t found anything like that on this island – just plants, plants, and more plants.” Luffy sags where he stands, in a pout so childish, and Sanji’s next words come out in a rush that he tries to play off as nonchalant. “Me and the shit-swordsman can go and cut up a sea king. I think I saw some off the coast.” Here, his tone turns ponderous. “I could make a Sea King platter with this dressing – and palate that with a fruit salad or start shish-kabobbing if we are more pressed for time…”

“And dessert!” A voice pops up, tiny and squeaky, and a racoon dog in a hat pops up from behind Sanji’s shoulder. “You promised me desert!”

“CHOPPER!” Luffy and Usopp cries, and in an instant, the animal is  jumping from where it was clinging to Sanji’s back and into his apparent crew-mates arms. 

“Usopp! Luffy!” The animal cries, holding up his bag. “I was able to restock EVERYTHING I had from the Birdie Kingdom! Even the rare ones that only grew there! I even found the herbs that can help with heart stuff that everyone thought went extinct! This place is AMAZING!” There’s sheer glee in the animal’s – Chopper’s?- gaze and-

Oh dear sweet mother of oceans. The animal speaks. The animal has a name, speaks, and knows medicinal plants.

You want to faint. You want to go back to our flowers. You – you –

Chopper is right next you, holding a vial of spicy something underneath your nose, rescuing you from your faint.

You somewhat wishes he didn’t. You are old and quite done with this, you think. Are any of these folk even paying for what they are grabbing?

“Ah! You’re awake! Make sure to drink more water okay?” Chopper tells you, looking so concerned, and oh, he’s adorable. 

You nod, belatedly, then tune back into the conversation.

“…beat up the Duke for Robin’s flowers!” Luffy is telling Sanji determinedly. 

“Ah! Anything for Robin-chwan!!” Sanji twirls in the air, eyes like hearts. “I’ll help – ah, Never mind. I need to get these to the ship – this kind of fruit supposedly decays within five hours of being cut from the branch, which is why they’re so rare. I think the Duke’s mansion is that way though.” Sanji tilts his head, blonde hair shifting, and gestures to the distance. Luffy follows his line of sight like a dog after a ball. 

“Shishishi! Thank Sanji! Make a biiiiig feast for when we’re done! A party!”

“Alright captain. Chopper!” And Sanji turns to you and the tiny – doctor? Is he a doctor? – and calls over. “You coming with me or do you want to help Luffy beat up a Duke?”

Chopper perks up and turns from you, leaving Sanji to glance over you, mostly hidden behind the very fluffy reindeer. “With you! I want to make these medicines soon as possible so I can get more if needed.” 

Sanji nods, and gives another kick with his legs, keeping him in the air somehow – even with Haki, you have never seen this – and turns to Usopp. “Usopp?”

“Ahhh I would only overshadow Luffy if I went! Too little a job for me!” Usopp crows, hands on his hips, grin on his face. 

“Coward.” Sanji tells him, deadpan clear. You remember the tale this man told at the beginning and wonder what his role on this crew is. 

Usopp squawks but doesn’t deny it to both Chopper and Luffy’s uproarious laughter.  Sanji gives a sly grin, and in seconds, faster than you can tell, Chopper is back on his back and Usopp beside him on the branch. He nods to Luffy, and with a brief “See you, Luffy!” he’s off, kicking his way through the sky.

Usopp stares for a moment then starts yelling again, leaping fearlessly from branch to branch, and you realize, with sudden clarity, that it was not the bravery that was the façade, but the cowardice.  

Luffy’s crew is odd. You just want to wonder how he fits into it all.

-

Luffy takes you on his back this time, scratchy straw placed carefully on his head instead of crushed against your cheek. 

It’s running, so much running, and stretching and stretching.

You have time to think. To wonder. To question.

It builds in you, tumultuous and roiling. This boy – he’s running across the entire island, all for a chance for some flowers. He wants to face the Duke, the Duke who is so terrible, so terribly horrible, just for some flowers. For some Robin.

It’s clear he could so easily take them anyway – you may have haki, but you are no match for the muscles rippling under this boy’s back – but he doesn’t.

You’re dream,  he had said, and it marks him as a Pirate but it just makes you question – 

What’s his dream? Who’s Robin? Why is this straw hat so familiar? Who is he? Cabin boy or crewmate or something more?

You start with the simplest.

“Brat. Who’s Robin?” You ask him as he pauses upon the top of one of Flors’ giant mushrooms. He pauses for only a moment, before turning to you with the most blinding grin. 

“She’s Robin! My archeologist!” My, he says, like she’s his. My, he says, like he’s in charge.

My, he says, like he’s the captain, and suddenly, you realize that’s because he is. 

This boy, smaller than you were when age didn’t bend your back like a willow, with sloping and burning scars, and a smile like the sun – is a captain, the captain of Robin and Nami and Usopp and Sanji and Chopper, and more you haven’t met. A pirate crew in the New World. 

It humbles you, in a way you didn’t expect. 

“She likes flowers?” You ask, instead of voicing why, why does a pirate crew need an archeologist, why do they follow him, who are you straw-hatted boy?

“Yeah! She has a whole garden on the Sunny! And the flowers in your garden are from her home! She showed me a book of them once.” Every word is said with pride, and you wonder how you missed it all before, the way he cried Usopp and Nami and Chopper and Sanji with mine, and love, and protection all those times before. This boy is a Captain.

Then, his words strike you.

Home island.

Those flowers in your garden were from Ohara, given to you by a woman so long ago, a gift from her home island in turn for a glimpse of the stone at the center of Flors. Your wife had loved those flowers.

Ohara is gone now.

These flowers are all that’s left.

These flowers, and Nico Robin.

Oh, you think, oh. 

Straw Hat Luffy, 1.5 billion berry wanted man, laughs from where he carries you, dashing from mushroom to mushroom.

He’s so young, and yet, not really. He’s 19, or so the papers say, and he’s taken on all three of the government strongholds and come out almost on top each time, has fought emperors and warlords, saved kingdoms and islands. He’s young, but not in the naïve way, the childish way. Only the youthful way, in that his face still has baby fat and his smile has crinkles from laughter not rage.

(No one who holds a loved one in their arms like that is young. You speak from experience.

Your wife had been soft and bloodstained when she brush the hair from your face.)

He’s…

This boy – this man…

You have run out of words to describe him.

Suddenly, like before, like in your field of flowers, the words spill from your lips unbidden. This boy has revealed so much by only praising his navigator. You could so easily turn him in. Yet –

“The Duke is a cruel man,” You begin, not really sure if Luffy is listening, not really caring in the end. “He came here ten years ago, drawn by our beautiful, beautiful flowers and plants. He thought he could make a profit, thought he could earn billions from this place and – he – “

Luffy stops moving. 

He doesn’t interrupt. But –

There’s not a lack of care in him. In his eyes as he turns to look at you. It’s a lack of need. 

“I don’t need you to tell me this. The Duke hurt your dream, right?”

You nod, small, quiet. 

“Then I’m going to beat him.”

Simple as that, he smiles at you, not brilliant, not vibrant, but safe. Sure.

(I’m going to turn the world upside down! The last wearer of this hat had cried, so sure, so confidant.

The echo of that – louder and changed and triumphant – is here.)

Luffy moves again, and you don’t speak. You don’t think you possibly could.

-

(Here’s a story, that the future King of the Pirates will never know, but one that draws close to your chest.

You were born and raised on this island, collecting sea grass by the sea, when your wife had washed up on the shore, wild haired and half drowned. You had rescued her, your strange, sea-faring wife, and learned of her travels, her tales, her losses at sea. It’s a miracle she made it to shore.

It’s a miracle she wakes up in your arms, and offers you a kiss. 

You loved her then, and you will love her for the next infinity. She tended the gardens with you, loving the colors and the reds that you had saved her in. She loved and lived and so did you.

Then the Duke, cruel faced and greedy, had shown up, making each of you sell your wares in stead of trade, bringing in outside sales, and taken all of the profit for himself.  

Then the Duke, cruel faced and greedy, had fought your wife who was bold and terrifying and a pirate with her sword still strapped to her waist, even at 30, 40, 50 – 

And struck her down. 

That’s the end of the story, for you are just a gardener, a seller of flowers, with old bones and the haki your wife taught you, who once saw the Pirate King and the archeologist of Ohara, collected seeds from a thousand islands and planted them with care, who had a dream, once, shared with your wife but –

Your wife is dead, and so the story ends here.)

(A boy in straw is here, and so your story blooms.)

-

A voice sings out from the flowers, and it’s with joy that Luffy jumps down, rubber easing the impact that shocks up your back, to sing with a skeleton.

A skeleton, who has an afro and a guitar and who can sing.  

“Yohohohoho!” The skeleton laughs, melodious even without vocal chords. “Hello Luffy!”

“Brook!” Luffy smiles, “Franky!”

Who –

“YEOW LITTLE BRO! Isn’t this island SUPER!?”

A singing skeleton, and a cyborg, with a hair shaped into sunflowers. Sunflowers.

If it weren’t for the sting of the vial still sniffling in your nose, you think you would pass out again. The New World is weird – but not this weird.

Dear mother sea almighty – these two tower, yet are dressed in sparkling floral patterns and shirts. 

Luffy jumps into their arms without hesitation, setting you down just before he does in the first time since the tree and the other members of his crew. The cyborg – Franky, you think, by Luffy’s laughter – catches him easily, swinging him about and finally settling him on his shoulder, where the skeleton, Brook, places a crown of flowers around his hat.

It’s sweet, with love and adoration in every motion. This whole crew is like that, and it hurts you, emboldens you, does to you a thousand things to see them be like that. Loving, without restraints, without fear, whole and happy. It is incredible that this boy, only a teen, this man has been able to gather to him such authority, such power, such loyalty.

It warms you, you think. 

(It strikes a chord in you, you think, of something like jealous but not all at once. You want this, but you will never be a part of this crew, and you never wanted to have this, never knew it was missing before this but – here it is. 

Without you.

You miss your wife.) 

“Who’s this, Luffy?” Franky asks, gesturing to you with a large red hand. Flowers are painted over it, in the colors that the children use to paint the fences. Little handprints scatter about, and its obvious that these two had had a run in with the children of the island, and cared for them, gentle and loving. 

“Shishishi! They have the flowers Robin likes! From her island! I’m gonna beat up the Duke for them so I can get the flowers!”

It’s an old routine by now. You still don’t quite believe he can do it, no matter that you know he has beaten billion belli pirates and warlords and emperors. He’s just – The Duke is –

“Sounds perfect, Luffy! We beat a few of the Duke’s ah, lovely gentlemen there.” And the skeleton waves his hand to the path behind him, sweeped beneath giant flowers, to where bodies lay in the ground, bloody, barely breathing, and decidedly unconscious. 

All covered in the white uniform of the Duke’s men.

Oh, you think, feeling familiar rage bubble up at the sight of them. Oh. 

“They were picking on some SUPER kids! Had to put a stop to it, knew you wouldn’t mind.” Franky enunciates, striking a pose. “Zoro helped out, but we lost him when we turned away for a second.”

“He really blends in with all this green, Yohohohoho!” Brook snickers, and you remember bounty posters with a piercing glare and green hair and none too little blood, and wonder how you lose an entire ex-bounty hunter turned pirate.

You don’t think you will ever know what these people are. Ever. 

“Shishishi! We’ll find him!” Luffy reassures, already grabbing onto you again. 

“Bro, you’re just as bad!” Franky tells him, and you wonder with what? Before Luffy has hauled you onto your back.

(Maybe you should invest in hiring someone to do this. You haven’t been off your feet so much in YEARS.) 

“Shishishi! Bye Franky! Bye Brook!” Luffy shouts, ignoring his crew and dashing off into the woods yet again. “Sanji’s throwing a feast after I beat the Duke!” 

You leave the clearing, bouncing through sunflowers, to the sounds of cheers of “Knock ‘em dead Luffy!” and “A party! How delightful!”

-

Running, and running, and running. Always more running. Are these pirates always like this – running from location to location, dashing and jumping, never settling more than a moment?

“Shishishi! Yeah! What’s the fun in staying still?”

Oh, you said that aloud, didn’t you?

“You’re funny old person!”

“Oh, shove off you brat. What happens when you can’t beat the Duke?”

When, you say, purposeful, deliberate, smothering the hope in your chest. When. 

“I will.” Comes Luffy’s response, and you should have expected that, you should have but – 

“But-”

“I Will.” Comes Luffy’s grin, and – 

“Why?”

It comes out of your throat strangled, half dead because you don’t get him, you don’t, you don’t, an you don’t know why because this boy is just like your love and your wife, adventurous and outgoing. 

“Remember?” He looks at you, never moving, and oh,  you do. “The Duke hurt your dream! He can’t do that!” And he won’t, goes the unspoken promise. 

“Oh,” You say, like you said before, trying to commit that truth to heart. Oh.

-

It’s mid-afternoon by the time you arrive at the Duke’s mansion.  It’s gleaming white, made off the backs of the poor farmers of this station, who only wanted to grow plants and share seeds in peace. It fills you with rage. Horrible, horrible rage that consumes your very soul and makes your bones ache. 

The place where your wife last caressed your face burns. 

“This it?” Luffy asks you, and you give a nod. He slides you off his back, offering a steady arm for your to grab onto, and you both stare at the mansion. You have dreamed of setting this place on fire. Dreamed of it. 

Here, Luffy is ready to make it a reality. 

“Now – where’s the Duke?” Luffy tilts his head to the side, peering at the building. You peer with him, trying to remember where the Duke liked to make his nest when – 

“You! Peasant! Off my lawn!” Comes a voice, a voice that fills you with rage, from the Duke’s own personal garden. 

“Oi – what’re you doing old man? I’m trying to sleep here,” Comes another voice, younger with a deep timber and ooh–

Luffy’s tugged you by the wrist and you go over the hedge, landing squarely in front of – 

“Zoro!” Luffy cries, and tackles the man with three swords, lying on the ground.

Ah.

That’s why Franky and Brook thought this man would blend in. He’s so green. Like a little moss ball. A marimo! 

Adorable. 

Zoro caves easily to Luffy’s demands, catching him and moving aside so Luffy can find his own place wrapped around him, ease in every motion. Comfortability in every act. 

“Hey, Luffy – you know where everyone else is? I was beating up some of the weird guards around this place and wound up here.” Zoro asks, seemingly entirely genuine.

Luffy only throws his head back and cackles. “You got lost!” 

“No, I didn’t! This place moves that’s all! Like Usopp’s plants!”

“No, you’re just stupid Zoro.”

“I am not!”

“Are too!”

“A-HEM!” The Duke calls, interrupting, and to his credit doesn’t even flinch when the unimpressed glares of Zoro and Luffy land on him.

The Duke is – he’s towering. Eleven feet tall with muscles toned and strong, haki perpetually on his fists and a war hammer on his back. He wears pristine white suits, a flower in the lapel, red and plucked from your own garden, and his servants lay out a carpet before him, so he doesn’t have to deign to step in the mud in on an island of farmers and gardeners.

You hate him. You hate him. 

Something flies in the air, landing perfectly on the Duke’s white clothes.

A – a booger?

You look to your right, and there is Luffy, picking his nose and looking entirely unimpressed. “Heh – Who are you?” He asks.

The Duke, pale skinned and furious, goes red.  “I,” He declares, pompous, his servants cowering in the background, “Am The Duke of Flors, Lord” –“

“Ooooh, you’re the Duke! Zoro doesn’t he look like the axe-dude?” Luffy cuts the Duke off before turning entirely to Zoro. Zoro, for his part, cocks his head to the side.

“You know, if I cut off his arm, he really does.”

You stare.

The Duke stares.

Luffy wheels back his hand and smashes his fist into the Duke’s face, coated in haki and a direct hit to the man’s face.

There’s a cracking noise and a scream as the Duke goes flying. 

You stare.

The Duke is too far to see.

Zoro snorts. “What he do?” He asks. Luffy cocks his head toward you and Zoro gives a hum before settling back down into the ground. “Wake me up when you’re done. The bastard interrupted my nap.”

You stare.

Zoro snores.

The Duke comes crashing down from the sky with furious screaming, fist cocked back, only to be met with Luffy bouncing him off and back – blowing himself up like a balloon.

You stare.

The Duke screams.

Luffy laughs, and jumps into the fray, easily knocking back the guards that attack him, and Zoro defending himself easily with one sword as he lies down.

(He has three swords though. Why? Why do you need three swords? You are so confused.)

You stare, surrounded by  guards attacking you as this invincible fortress, surrounded by walls of white and a legacy of blood, begins to be torn down. The Duke comes back, white clothes ruined, trading blows with Luffy who almost looks as if he’s toying with him. In the midst, a skeleton and a cyborg appear, riding atop a motorcycle of all things, knocking down entire walls of this palace that should have never been. 

Usopp appears, the same time as the aerial squadron of the Duke’s arrives, and giving you a small nod head into the battle without a second of fear. He’s – he’s no act of bravery, and now, yyou think you could believe in every one of his tales, as you watch plants bloom to life to become dragons and snakes and forces of nature hundreds of feet tall. Chopper, the small raccoon dog – he’s different now, charging and shifting forms in an instant, and he’s a zoan, but you thought zoans had three forms. 

Not seven.

Not – Chopper crunches something and grows and roars – not eight. 

You are frozen, held in place, even as Sanji comes to drape a jacket over you before heading off, by this crew.

The Straw Hat Pirates, they are called. Dangerous they are called.

And they are.

But you can’t help but feel anything but awe as you stare at them, magnificent and beautiful and deadly, wielding nature and bending it to their very whim. They know they can win – and they know that this is nothing. 

They’re having fun while they do this, with amazing feats and sights that you – even living in the Grand Line, the New World, thought you would never see. The last straw hatted man who came through here, walked these fields and touched these flowers – he had nothing on this. 

“Ah!” A voice next to you says, loud enough amidst the explosions of laughter and fear, familiar and sweet. “Should have known this was where Luffy got up to!” It’s Nami, with a large bag on her back. 

You give her a look, then look at Luffy – now fighting the Duke in the sky, with a giant fist, covered in haki and fire.

This boy – 

“Amazing, isn’t he?” Nami asks you, settling down and adjusting the solid gold crown on her head. “He saved all of us – saved entire kingdoms. Just because we were his friend.”

Really!? Amazing! Hey – who’s your friend? Do they know anything about this? Usopp had said, and Luffy hadn’t protested.

Friend.

The Duke had hurt your dream, and here Luffy is, destroying an entire kingdom for you and your dream. 

It’s – it’s incredible. This boy, he – 

“He’s the man who will be King of the Pirates,” Nami tells you, nothing but truth ringing loud and free in her voice. “And we’re going to follow him, and chase our own dreams.”

Tears well up in your eyes as you watch the Duke fall from the sky, chased by a man made of rubber, chased by a king in a straw hat, chased and chased and chased and –

“So,” Nami smiles to your side, looking into your face. “Are you ready to chase yours again?”

The Duke slams down into the ground in a flurry of petals and red, and oh – 

It’s red. Red your wife’s favorite color, wife the color of your favorite colors, red the color of the horizon and everything god, red, red, red –

Red, the color of the ribbon around a straw hat, and red, the color of the vest of a king. 

It’s beautiful. 

“Yes.” You say, trembling as the Duke fails. “Yes – I’m. I’m ready. My dream – my dream –“

Luffy raises a fist, and delivers a single punch that frees your entire island, avenges your wife, saves you. 

He smiles as he does it, a grin on his lips and a shout to the sky – “I’M THE MAN WHO WILL BE KING OF THE PIRATES!”

It’s red.

“My dream is to collect all the flowers in the world! To shelter them! Even the flowers at Raftel!” It’s like an oath, spilling from your lips, last said hand in hand with your wife but now – now alone, but not, because your wife may be gone but she’s still here – never forgotten, always loved, and alive in your shared dreams.

Nami smiles, Luffy laughs, and you think red looks beautiful in your garden.

-

There’s a party on the shore, next to a ship with a sunflower head, decorated in flowers and the fruits of the island. The Straw Hats celebrate, as well as with the other residents of the island, who praise them and thank them and welcome them, lading their arms with all sorts of delicacies.

You aren’t there. Neither is Luffy.

Instead, the two of you head back to your farm. This time your back is straight and there’s a smile on your face. You stand tall and on your own but not alone and – 

It’s good.

It’s good.

Luffy smiles at you, gentle and brilliant, and you look to the fields where the flowers he wants are – 

Being tended to, by a woman with long black hair and a tender smile. A fishman is next to her, blue and tall, seemingly awkward amidst the yellows and blues and delicate petals, but just as willing to stand with who you can only assume is Robin. 

“Luffy!” She cries first, so happily, showing the petals to Luffy. He jumps into her arms, swinging her arounds, and in quick motions you carefully take the plants from the earth to wrap into a boquet, roots attached to be easily replanted, and had it it Luffy. By the time he sets Robin down, he’s pressing the flowers into her hands.

“For you!” He says, bright, and you know he gave you a dream back  but –

You know, in truth, he really defeated the Duke for his crew. For his family, his nakama. For Robin, to see this bone-deep happiness on her face. 

She smiles, and later you will hear tales from the guards of the stone, who speak of a women who could read the ancient script inscribed upon It while having a thousand arms but – 

For now, you see a woman gifted the world, and know joy. 

The fishman beside her – Jimbe your recognize, first son of the sea – gives a laugh and oh, is there red here, is there love here.

This boy, this king to be, Luffy, he came in and swept you all like wildflowers in the wind, simply to make one person happy.

Amazing, you think, looking around your island that’s unchained and your dream restored and your fields filled with red, how one man’s selfishness, leads to an island’s freedom. 

-

You wave goodbye from the cliffside, your wife’s grave beside you. Upon the ship of a king is a bag, to be filled with the flowers of the island at the end of the sea and returned to you after that.  You had been given a hug before you left, one made of rubber limbs and crushing weight, and watched as he rejoined his crew and celebrated another adventure. 

You had watched the party they had upon the shore, so wondrous, so amazing, and had watched them sing out victory over the crowds, with chopsticks up their noses and a rock star as their backdrop.

The Straw Hat pirates – their names dance on your tongue.

How amazing, how wonderful, how world-shaking to know them, even for just a moment. 

You have met straw hat wearers and archeologists and kings but never – never have you met anyone, just like them.

So you wave from the shore, your wife with you, and belatedly, tragically realize that you gave them your dream, but never your name.

Damnit!

[brightest-ideas]

(Continuation of this fanfic, again pretend it was posted yesterday lmao. Trigger warning for abuse and misgendering)

Jack had been waiting on the porch for roughly two hours now. During the first hour, his eyes had been firmly focused on the road, straining to see against the dark night if the next passing car was his father's, hoping that the next one would slow down and turn into their driveway. That enthusiasm slowly died down as time passed. Now, the middle Bright brother had been leaning against the railing for some time, looking down on the ground below him with his head resting on his hand, the light from his house only dimly illuminating the outside, he could barely spot the dark asphalt road just up ahead. Still, every time he heard the distant roar of the engine and the tires against the road, his head would perk up and he would look over, only to get disappointed once more as the car sped right past him.

He never got why Mikell liked dark, cold evenings so much. The crickets chirping were more irritating than anything, and you could only stare at the same starry sky so much before it became repetitive and boring, not to mention the annoying bugs trying to bite him. Jack much rather preferred staying inside, where it was warm and pleasant, with the yellow light illuminating everything perfectly, no scary dark corners or shadows to be found anywhere. He only ever liked staying on the porch if it were with his brothers.

The boy had long since lost sense of time and was about to head back home, when he heard yet another car, this time slowing down and pulling over into their dirt driveway. Jack's face lit up with the biggest grin and he practically jumped off the porch stairs as he saw his older brother come out of the car.

"Mikell!" He raced over, practically crashing into his brother and almost sending them both flying to the ground, thankfully for them both the older boy managed to catch himself on his crutches before he lost his balance.

Mikell wheezed as his brother made an impact with his chest and hugged him tightly, thankfully not too hard as to not hurt him...much. He visibly winced, but his expression softened as he looked down at the teen who had by now buried his face tightly against his older brother's chest.

"Ow, hey, asshole-" He patted Jack's shoulder. "Mind my ribs."

"Oh-" Jack pulled away slightly, his face flushing in embarrassment as he realised his mistake. "Sorry."

"Jennifer," Before Mikell could reply, their father's harsh tone had gotten both of their attention, Adam walking around the car towards them. "I thought I told you to be in bed before we came back."

"But, I- I wanted to see Mikell." Jack stammered out.

"And for fuck's sake, take that ridiculous hat off your head."

Before Adam could grab the cowboy hat, Mikell had already placed his hand on top of it, holding it firmly on his sibling's head as he met their father's gaze.

"I think it looks good on her."

Adam scoffed and turned back to his car, locking it. "Whatever. Just take the brat to her bed."

"Sure thing, your majesty." The eldest mocked before quickly hopping away on his crutches before their father could make a scene, Jack very quickly following him, leaving their parents to talk near the car alone.

As they neared the stairs, the younger boy started to pull the hat off of his head, only to have it firmly put back into place by his brother.

"You can keep it." Mikell pulled his hand away, grinning. "It suits you."

"It's a bit big for me, don't you think?"

"You'll grow into it." He carefully started to hop up the stairs.

"Or you just have a huge bubblehead."

Mikell laughed out as he stopped at the very top of the stairs, watching his brother climb up after him. "If you think some broken bones are going to keep me from drop-kicking a child down the stairs, you're wrong."

"I think you'd just fall over because of that massive head of yours if you tried."

"Why you-!"

Before he could grab him, Jack had already dived for the door, getting away from his brother as fast as possible.

"I think you'd be surprised how fast I can go on these crutches if you keep testing me, pipsqueak."

"Not fast enough, old man!" Jack stuck his tongue out at him and quickly disappeared into their house.

"Old?!" Mikell huffed, limping after him, squinting a bit as the warm yellow light hit his eyes. "I'm only twenty-two." He turned briefly to close the door behind him. He leaned against the wall, balancing mostly on his crutches as he managed to kick his shoe off.. "If you keep calling me old, you're setting yourself up for one hell of a life crisis in a few years."

He stood back up and hopped ahead towards his brother, but before Jack could even come up with a comeback, they were quickly cut off by a loud pair of footsteps coming towards them from the living room.

"Mikey!"

Mikell yelped as he had almost lost balance once more as he felt his youngest sibling crash into him, thankfully on the side of his healthy leg, and grip tightly onto his waist. He could only briefly look down at the small girl who had buried her face in his stomach before he remembered something, quickly bringing one of his crutches up, stopping TJ in his tracks as the boy almost rammed into the tip of it. A sense of dread creeped onto the eldest's expression.

"Don't."

TJ's face fell, though he stepped away, he knew more than enough what would happen if he made accidental skin contact with the man. "Sorry…"

Mikell put his crutch down with a soft tap as it hit the wooden floor, looking at his brother for a moment. He missed TJ a lot and he was sure the boy missed him too. He laid one hand on Claire's back, still looking at TJ, before he let out a long sigh. "Alright…but be very careful."

The youngest of the brothers lit up instantly, practically jumping over in excitement. Careful as to not touch Mikell's skin, the youngest boy wrapped his arms around him and nuzzled his face against his chest, with a bright smile on his face.

Mikell tried to relax into the hug, leaning back on his crutches and lifting his chin up, trying to make sure that TJ would not touch him. He let out a loud exhale, letting the tension leave his body as he closed his eyes, smiling just slightly. It felt so good to be back home, with his family. He missed the warm light and chatter, he missed their hugs and talking to them, he missed singing Claire to sleep, telling TJ stories and bickering with Jack. He missed it all, even the little annoyances.

"I missed you all too." His tone was soft and soothing, he gently ruffled Claire's hair and even hesitantly rubbed TJ's back as the two pulled away eventually. He slowly readjusted himself, pulling his crutches closer to his body so he could properly stand on them again. He then looked at the teen leaning against the wall and grinned. "Except for you, Jack, you're a nuisance."

"Hey!"

Mikell chuckled and gestured for his youngest siblings with one of his crutches, waving it towards upstairs. "Now come on, it's late and you two should have been in bed a long time ago."

TJ looked at his sister, walking ahead of her with a slight bounce to his step. "Hey Claire, wanna race me to your bedroom?"

"Yeah, yeah!" She giggled happily and ran ahead as fast as her little legs could carry her, her brother quickly gaining on her but sliding on the wooden floor just near the stairs, grabbing the railing to not fall on his face.

"Try not to hurt yourself, alright?" Mikell called out after them, a slight worry in his tone, but it's not like they were going to listen to him anyway. He limped along past Jack and the living room, heading towards the stairs as well.

Jack watched as his two younger siblings climbed up the stairs like a pair of rabid animals then glanced at his older brother with that usual bastard grin of his. "You need help going up the stairs, grandpa?"

Without a word, Mikell brought his crutch to his brother's shin, making him yelp loudly. He fell to his knees, gripping where his brother has hit him.

"Fuck!" He hissed, looking up at his brother who just snickered at his misery.

"That's what you get, I warned you already." There was a hint of amusement in Mikell's tone as he circled around the teen and continued on his way.

"You think you're gonna win this fight, mister cracked-ribs?" The boy quickly jumped up to his feet and raced ahead of Mikell, spinning around to face his brother. He immediately paused when he saw his expression visibly fall, amusement being quickly replaced with worry.

"Jack, your eye…"

Ah. Fuck. He almost forgot. "Oh, it's-" He pulled the cowboy hat over his face in an attempt to hide the mark. "It's nothing. I just fell."

But Mikell wasn't that easily fooled. He reached over and gently stroked his brother's cheek with his thumb, making him wince in pain. "He hit you, didn't he?"

Jack frowned, lowering his head, though his eyes still focused on his older brother. "Please don't get angry at him."

"He hit you." Mikell hissed through gritted teeth, feeling his blood boil.

"You're hurt." Jack had already grabbed Mikell's arm, fearing he was already planning to storm out the front door and scream at their father. And he wasn't exactly wrong. "Please, don't do anything stupid, he'll hurt you."

"Jack-"

"Mikell, please." He pulled himself closer, wrapping his arms around the older man's torso. "Please. You won't win this argument, he's just going to hurt you. Please just let it go…"

"I…" Mikell sighed heavily, letting his frustration leave his body with the big exhale and his shoulders falling, propping his chin against the top of Jack's head. "...Fine. But the second I'm healthy again, that bastard better watch his back."

"Thank you."

"...Okay, well, TJ and Claire are waiting for us. Come on."

[bucketofcowboys]

Just A Whisper Away

This fic is based on the interaction between Majima and Saki at the end of her substory in Y0... I just read that line and couldn't get it out of my name for so long! I just had to write this! I hope you enjoy this super fluffy-friends-catching-up fic that no one asked for :)

Relationship: Saki (Yakuza) & Goro Majima, Implied Goro Majima/Kazuma Kiryu

Fandom: Yakuza (specifically 0)

Warning: Canon Typical Violence, but it’s just fluff

Words: 3,869

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29074707

Saki's mind always seemed to wander whenever she walked to work in the morning. Not many people walked around the Sotenbori streets this early in the morning, so most of the time her waypath was empty and quite peaceful. It gave her enough silence to live out old reminders of times past. Each block seemed to have its own special memory tied to it. Some silly, some sad, some dreadful... some she looked back on fondly and some she wished never happened. The city weaved together to create a place where every street had a story.

So, her morning walks to the office were her favorite part of her day. She just strolls around the early morning cityscape and relives memories with a special fondness. Her favorite street to walk down was definitely Sochofuku street. Though the alleyways that twisted and turned into the old Sunshine cabaret club had been cut off, passing by the new Club Four Shine still gave her nostalgia. Sometimes she would say hi to Yuki, but oftentimes she wouldn't be there in the morning. Their scene was more late night, and Saki was quite too busy for that nowadays. She visited whenever she could.

Passing by the club always made her think about her time working at a hostess at Sunshine. She was fortunate that Majima took her in when he did and took her away from the abusive situation at her old club. The year she spent there was put in the box of fond memories in the back of her mind.

This morning she was brought back to that evening after her last training with Majima. As she snuggled into her warm fuzzy coat to brace herself against the cold winter wind, she remembered how she rushed out of the club to make it to a meeting that decided the entirety of her future. How she ran into the wrong person, how everything was almost taken away because she refused to ask for help. How Majima came to the rescue. Saved her life.

"Majima-san... you taught me that sometimes it's okay to ask for help... so if I ever find myself in another hopeless mess... will you help me?" 

She carried the burden of everything on her shoulders back then. Her family deepened on her for money, she was saving up to go to nursing school, and she couldn't just be a hostess without putting forth her best effort. She thought that everything had to be on her because she didn't want to burden anyone else...

He smiled at her.

"Sure thing. You just whisper my name, and I'll be there. Bam."

She smiled up towards the gray winter sky. She never actually got to thank him for everything he did for her before he left... It was just one day he was there and the next he wasn't. She would be lying if she said she wasn't heartbroken when he left. All the girls were. Even Youda was upset.

Saki's mind was too busy being stuck in the past to notice that a man was walking towards her on the street. Before she could catch up with reality, she knocked into his shoulder. The man stumbled and barely kept himself from falling to the ground. She quickly turned towards the man and gasped.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention! I'm really sorry!" She clasped her hand over her mouth to try and cover her embarrassment. The man looked mostly unscathed from what she saw, but he turned to her and anger could be seen clearly on his features.

"What the hell! Watch where yer goin' dumbass!" The brash man sneered. She frowned.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I really didn't mean to..." She tugged her sleeve back and checked the watch on her wrist. She read the time and it said 7:27. Shit... she couldn't be late today, she had an urgent patient to take care of that morning. "Have a nice day, sir! Again, I'm very sorry!"

She turned away to continue on her walk to work, but was quickly stopped when the man grabbed the back hood of her coat and tugged her back towards him.

"Ya think sorry is gonna cut it, bitch? Do ya know who I am?!" He grabbed her by the shoulders firmly and she struggled against his hold.

"I'm sorry but I have to go!" She shoved the man off of her, but he grabbed a hold of her arm and held her in place. 

"You ain't goin' nowhere!" He threw her into the nearest alleyway. She scraped her knees on the biting cold concrete and knocked her head against the brick wall behind her. Pain began to bloom from her injuries and adrenaline ran through her blood, hot.

She hadn't fought someone in years. Ever since Majima scolded her for her recklessness... she stayed out of fights. She tried to focus on her future and stayed away from trouble. Its not that she didn't believe in her abilities... but she was significantly weaker than she was before. 

"Get away from me!" She screamed, holding her arms up to protect herself from any further attacks.

"You think ya can just disrespect me like that and get away with it?" 

"I didn't do anything! Help!" She called desperately. The only response to her cry for help was her own echo bouncing on the walls of the alleyway. 

She flinched when she saw the gleam of something sharp catch her eye. That's when she really began to struggle hard against the man's efforts. She kicked at his legs with as much effort as she could, but he grabbed a fistful of her hair and slammed her head against the wall. Bobby pins fell from her previously neat bun, and her vision began to go spotty and black around the edges.

She felt dizzy and nauseous and her head pounded in time with her racing pulse. The situation brought her back to the memory she was reminiscing on mere minutes ago. She was sure she would be in this exact situation if Majima hadn't come to the rescue. But now... Majima wasn't here. Hadn't been here for a while. She was strong, but she wasn't strong enough to fight against an armed man. 

"...just whisper my name..."

The only thing she could think of was that phrase playing over and over in her head. She knew it was meant to be a passing reassurance, a small joke meant to never be thought of again... but now it seemed like a lifeline. 

"M-Majima..." She breathed out so quiet she could barely hear herself say it. She almost felt embarrassed at how helpless she felt. She promised him long ago that she would ask for help when she needed it... and she needed it desperately now. 

"Speak up, princess! Got somethin' to say?"

"Majima-San!" She screamed out, calling his name in hopes that maybe, somehow, he would hear her cries. That maybe, by some miracle, he would come and save her. That he would keep his promise from so long ago.

"Huh? Majima-Han? That your boyfriend or somethin'? Go ahead bitch, cry. Ain't nobody comin'!" Her attacker laughed as if he had said something funny. He then raised his dagger, ready to strike. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered herself with her arms. She braced for the sharp bite of metal. But, after a few moments of waiting, she didn't feel it. 

Instead she heard the sound of metal clattering to the ground and a sharp gasp of pain coming from her attacker. Her eyes shot open and when she looked up she could barely believe it.

It was him.

She had to do a double take just to see if she was imagining it or not. Everything about him was different. His long, neat, tied up hair was now short, his sunken in look had been replaced with a more plump healthy glow, and his beautifully tailored tux had been scrapped for a tacky snakeskin jacket. But that eyepatch and the angry twitch of his bowed lips was enough for her to know that this was her Majima. 

"Yo..." His voice rung out deep-- which was never a good sign. Majima only ever spoke that way when he was really mad. It was rare for anyone to hear him talk like that in the cabaret club. The only time she ever heard him talk like that was when dealing with particularly rude customers... or when he protected her all those years ago. "What the hell do ya think you're doing?"

He stood tall behind her attacker, his gloved hand in a vice like grip around his wrist. The man hissed in pain and tried to pull out of his hold.

"What the fuck, man! Step off!" He yelled as he struggled to pull away. He used his other hand to throw a punch in Majima's direction, but he quickly ducked his head out of the way before it could collide. He twisted the man's arm behind his back painfully and he squealed like a pig. He shoved him face first into the wall opposite of where Saki still sat on the floor. His face scratched against the rough concrete and a groan left the man.

"Sorry, ya rat bastard, but I don't let people get away with hurting my friends like that. Ya understand?" He growled into the perpetrator's ear like he was spitting venom. He shoved him harder against the wall and earned himself a cry in response.

"Majima-San..." Saki whispered in disbelief. She was half convinced that the man had knocked her out and she was now in the middle of a head trauma induced coma. He glanced back at her with his good eye and offered her a friendly smile. It contradicted the raged one he wore speaking to her attacker.

He pulled the man from the wall and held him up in front of Saki.

"Now... you're gonna apologize to this lovely lady... or I'll break your bones... ya understand!?" The man nodded quickly, sniffling back a tear before stuttering out.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" He cried out. Majima let out a pleased hum at his apology. He hesitated for a moment before loosening his grip on the man. The man took the opportunity to run as soon as he could. But before he could get only a few steps away, Majima punched him so hard in the jaw that he hit his head on the nearby wall and blacked on on the concrete.

Majima stepped over to the newly unconscious man and nudged him with his foot. He seemed to be completely knocked out cold. Majima sighed.

"Ya get what ya deserve, asshole." He turned back towards the, still very stunned, Saki. That familiar, warm smile came to his lips and he stepped towards her. "Ya alright?" 

He offered his hand out to her, and she quickly took it. He hauled her up to her feet and brushed some grime from the ground off of her winter coat. 

"I..." Words were lost from her. She didn't know what to say... She hadn't seen Majima for years, and then all of a sudden there he is. What was she meant to say? "I didn't think you would come." She admitted. 

"Good thing I was in the neighborhood then, yeah?" He chuckled softly. She just stared up at him in disbelief. After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, Majima spoke once again. "Ya alright? He didn't knock ya up too badly did he?" 

He reached forwards and gently pressed a gloved finger to a slowly forming bruise near her hairline. She hissed in pain, and reached up to gently push his hand away.

"I'll be fine... just a few bumps and bruises..." Nothing she couldn't fix herself. 

"Ya sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure!" She pouted up at him. Their bickering reminded him so much of the old days back at the club.

She still was trying to process the fact that Majima Goro, Lord of the Night, and the man that saved her life--not once now, but twice, was standing right in front of her. Finally her confused face cracked into a smile. A bright smile filled with the joy of memories past and an old friend brought back from the dead.

"You big lug, I can't believe you actually came!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a warm embrace. "It's been too long, Majima-San..."

An awkward beat of silence passed between them where Majima just stood still without much reaction, but eventually the man warmed up to it. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and squeezed her just hard enough to know that he missed her too. Eventually the two old friends fell apart and Saki smiled up at him.

"Where ya goin'? I can walk ya there so ya don't get fucked over by another brute." He offered with a nonchalant shrug.

"I'm heading to work right now. It's not too far from here." He perked up at that.

"Where do ya work? Not another cabaret club, I hope. Been a severe lack of good ones in Sotenbori since the 80s..." She began her slow pace back to the office, and Majima followed close by her side. For some reason, the fact that she was definitely going to be late didn't bother her anymore. She needed to catch up with him.

"I work at the hospital," She answered and got a surprised face from Majima. She snickered, "After you left, I went to nursing school, got my degree, and the rest is history..."

"Ya really did take my advice then?"

"Of course!" He gave her a look that could only be compared to that of a proud father looking at a succeeding daughter. Sometimes she forgets that Majima is almost the same age as her. He always acted like a concerned older brother, so she always imagined him as being years above her in age. Really there was only about a two year gap between them.

There was a pause where the two just walked down the cold Sotenbori street in silence. Saki kicked her tennis shoes on the ground before looking back up at him.

"What about you, Majima-San?" 

"Haw?"

"You kinda just up and left one day without a word... I want to know what you've been up to!" 

"Oh..." he paused for a moment and looked off into the distance, as if he was thinking. Probably trying to figure out what holes he can put in his story and get away with without her noticing. 

She knows he's yakuza, she knew since the 80s. Though a tux can cover up an irezumi, it can't cover years worth of wear and tear on the soul and an eyepatch she still never got the story behind. She was sure everyone at Sunshine knew he was yakuza, they just kept quiet about it. It was so odd to imagine the kind and quiet Majima being a brash and unforgiving crime boss. But, when she and the girls saw him fight, there was no question. Even less of a question now that his irezumi peaked past his snakeskin. 

She distantly wondered if he was freezing just wearing that, but he didn't seem to be reacting to the cold winds that brushed by.

She allowed him a moment to construct the PG rated version of his life in the past 20 years, and then he finally spoke.

"Not much, honestly. Left Sotenbori and started livin' in Kamurocho..." he rubbed at the buzzed off hair on the back of his head... she kinda missed the long hair. He did still look dashing, even if it was short. 

"Open up any new cabaret clubs?" He shook his head.

"Nah. I did open up a construction company though." 

"Really?" She couldn't imagine Majima at a construction site... but at the same time she could. It was odd. It's like there were two sides to Majima's coin. One a more kind-hearted and soft side and the other brash and hard. "I never knew you could build things, Majima-San..."

She remembered a time when Majima had to order a new vanity for Yuki after an incident involving a live wire and a spilt drink... she doesn't think Majima or Youda ever did manage to finish building that vanity... Spare pieces of wood and screws were strewn across the back room for months, and late at night before going home she could hear Majima cussing out the instructions. So she couldn't imagine him actually being able to build things.

"I don't build, that's my team's job." That made more sense.

"Then what do you do?" He froze for a moment.

"Uhh... managin'. Stuff like that."

"I see." She had to stifle a giggle.

She took a turn down the wrong alleyway, but she didn't stop and turn back. Neither did Majima. He followed blindly as she led him in circles around the block instead of actually heading towards her destination.

"Do you have a family now, Majima? Are you married?" 

"Nah, not really my thing." 

"A significant other?" She noticed that he froze up at that question. A smirk came to her lips. 

"I-I guess? I don't know. It's complicated with him..." 

"Ooooh, so it's a him? What's he like?" She asked, becoming increasingly eager to continue this line of questioning. She took another wrong turn, but this time he grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back onto the right path.

"Wrong way, busy bee. Ya don't wanna be late for work, do ya?" She pouted.

"Don't make excuses, tell me about him!" He let out a long sigh and glanced upwards towards the sky. It was almost as if he was asking whatever God there was for mercy. 

"...I've known him for a while now. I met him as soon as I came to Kamurocho." He finally began talking, she bit her lip to keep herself from smiling too hard as he explained his love story. "We... didn't exactly start off as friends but now I think we're pretty close."

She watched as he fidgeted with the seam of his gloves. She had never seen him act so shyly before. He must really like this man.

"Do you love him?" She asked, and he quickly jumped back in surprise.

"Hey! You don't just ask someone that!" He scolded, his Kansai accent exaggerating each word. He threw his hands up in faux rage and she giggled. 

"Sorry, sorry." She apologized between smiles that hurt her cheeks. After a beat of silence she added, "So... do you love him?"

"Sakiii..." he whined, but this time she didn't back off. She looked up at him expectantly and he sighed. 

"I-I... yeah... I love him." He finally admitted. She could see the flush on his high cheekbones. Cute.

She shot him a grin, but spared him from any more of her torturous questioning about this mystery man that had Majima's heart in his hand. Though, she did wonder what this man was like... during their training they spoke about women Majima was into, but never men. Maybe he was into tall dark and handsome guys? Or more of the femenine types? Maybe even big soft types? Probably one who could cook. He always said that a meal was a way to a man's heart. 

"What about you? You got anyone?" He asked.

"Yeah... I got someone." She smiled fondly into the distance as she had a moment of recollection.

She had met him a few years back. He worked at a Takoyaki shop she frequented, and one day he sat down and spoke with her on his break. They hit it off right away and the rest was history.

"I actually just got hitched last year! You see?" She held up her hand and showed off the gold and diamond encrusted wedding ring that sat perfectly on her finger. He leaned forwards and turned his head so it was in the view of his good eye.

"Ooooh, looks pretty. I guess he didn't skimp out on ya did he? Suppose that makes him a keeper, yeah?" She nodded along.

"Yeah... I think he's a keeper." 

Their walking slowed and eventually stopped when they finally made it to the front of the hospital. Saki stared up at the building for a moment. All the desire she usually had to work had been sapped out of her, and all she really wanted to do was walk around town and talk to her old friend. But, work was still more important than that. She sighed softly before turning to face Majima.

"This is the place. Thank you for walking with me, Majima-San." She thanked him with a short bow.

"Of course. I couldn't just let ya walk alone after an attack like that." Her head was still throbbing, and the bruises on her were beginning to settle into a dull ache, but she would be fine. She would be in worse shape if Majima hadn't been there.

"Well... it was good seein' ya again, Saki-Chan." She nodded in agreement. He turned to leave after that.

Saki couldn't help but feel an overwhelming feeling of dread as he left. He would walk away and into the shadows and then poof! He's gone forever. Never to be seen again. Like dust blown away in the wind. A ghost only remembered in stories and whispers of the past... she didn't want him to be a ghost.

"Majima-San!" She called after him before that snakeskin jacket could faze out of sight. He turned back to look at her, and she had to cup her hands around her mouth to speak loud enough for him to hear. "Don't be a stranger! We miss you!"

She could see the flash of his smile, even with the distance. He cupped his hands around his mouth as well and shouted back.

"Just a whisper away, Saki!" His voice echoed against the alleyway walls, and he spared a small wave before turning away again. 

This time, as he turned a corner and left her vision, that dread was gone. He didn't have to be a ghost, or an old memory, or dust. She would see him again. She was sure of that. 'When?' was a question that could only be answered with, 'eventually'. And she would wait until that eventually. 

For now, though, she turned towards the door of her office building and stared at the blue painted Kanji on the door. She sucked in a deep breath, and pushed it open. Sure, she was going to get scolded for being late and fretted about because of the bruises on her face, but she didn't mind. She had almost forgotten that she was even attacked. She was on cloud nine after seeing her old friend again. 

During her lunch break for the day, she immediately got on her phone and made a call. 

"Hello?" Yuki's voice came through the receiver. Saki couldn't help but smile brightly when she heard her speak. 

"Yuki-- you won't believe who I just saw!"

[consumedkings-archive]

i. too close to stars ✤ wesley brooks x elliot honeysett

words: 1.7k

prompt:  “why are you looking at me like that?” taken from this list!

rating: rated p for Pining, lmao

warnings: mentions of blood, like blood being all over ‘em, uh. lots of elliot pining. and then ruining things for herself : ) wes belongs to @risenlucifer thank u for letting me love on ur boy!!!!  (ಥ﹏ಥ)

There’s blood everywhere.

It should be troubling. It should be—the taste of it floods her mouth and she’s wrenching her shirt out in the river, soaking wet and cold down to her bones. Late Autumn light kisses her skin where the blood isn’t smeared, and Elliot’s fairly certain she’s gotten a most of it out of her hair after an unfortunate plunge into the river.

“Ugh,” she says, dropping her shirt on the ground and wiping the back of her hand across her cheek. “I’ve got it in my mouth.”

Beside her, Wes laughs—the kind of laugh that’s a little hysterical, like they didn’t just plunge someone’s poor jeep into the river after barely scraping out of one of the Cult’s outposts with their lives nearly untangled. Nearly undone. Nearly—

“You’re gonna make it worse,” he tells her, hoisting himself to his feet and closing the little bit of distance between them. “Stop scrubbing. Give me the shirt.”

“I just got the blood out of it.”

“Honeysett,” Wes chides, and she huffs, holding the wet shirt out to him. He takes it, flicking some of the water out of it before he starts using it to mop the dried blood off of her face, one hand holding her jaw while the other works diligently.

This close, she’s reminded—painfully—of how handsome he is. His brows furrow at the center of his forehead, and then smooth out; the corners of his mouth tick upward in a smile whenever their eyes happen to meet, while she stands obediently by and lets him fuss over her.

Too handsome, she thinks, almost bitterly, eyes flickering down to the cupid’s bow of his lips for a second. For a place like Hope County. What’s a guy like him doing here, anyway?

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

His voice jolts her out of her thoughts, and she feels the flush immediately crawling up her neck and into her cheeks. Wes arches a brow, lofty and casual, despite the way his words are a clear call-out of her gazing.

“I’m-I-I’m not,” Elliot manages out. Fuck fuck fuck fuck get it together Honeysett, fuck, come on.

Wes hums. “You’re not?”

“L—” She feels her lip pout a little. He’s teasing her, she realizes too late, drawing a nervous little laugh out of her. “I’m not looking, I’m just—I can’t move my head, you know, your hand and—”

“Uh-huh.”

“—and you’re making fun of me,” she finishes after a second, watching the way the corner of his mouth ticks upward, his eyes glittering playfully. “Aren’t you?”

There’s something a little rueful about his expression. He finishes mopping the blood off of one side of her neck, his hand steady on the juncture between her shoulder and neck, calloused fingers spreading warm against her skin. She’d long ago shucked her deputy’s shirt in favor of something that didn’t restrict her with buttons, but now there’s more skin than usual available to be touched and she feels exposed.

“I’d never,” Wes replies after a moment of thoughtful respite, “make fun of you, Elliot.”

His eyes aren’t meeting hers, not quite, and she thinks it’s better like that because maybe if they were making eye contact she could be bursting into flames.

“Not true,” she protests weakly, watching him wring the wet cotton out, rivulets of rusty red sprinting down his forearm. “You make fun of me all the time.”

“I poke fun at you.” He lifts his chin a little in defiance of her assertion. “That’s not the same.”

And now he flashes her an actual grin, this one with teeth, and his eyes do lock with hers and—ah, yeah. The flood of heat straight to her face makes her quickly turn away, reaching down into the river to splash her face and scrub at whatever blood might still be in her hair. He seems content with her wordless response—perhaps because she’s sure her blush can be seen from space, it’s so nuclear-hot—and leaves her to complete the look of wet dog.

It takes about ten more minutes of dunking and rubbing before she’s sure she’s got most of it out, and when she trudges back to where Wes is sitting in the sun, he’s still wearing that expression of amusement.

“What?” Elliot asks, her mouth turning into a frown. “Deputy Brooks, mind sharing with the class?”

“Just think it’s funny,” Wes replies.

“What’s funny?”

“How you were like “I’m not looking”, as you were lookin’.”

“I—” Elliot stifles a sound of frustration, which only serves to throttle the sound on its way out, making it more obvious than ever. “Listen here, buddy.”

“All ears.”

She plops onto the ground next to him, wets her lips as she tries to think about how she wants to say the thing she’s trying to say. Easier said than done, as such things often go; it’s no less difficult with Wes’ eyes on her, landing heavily, but this also isn’t new. It’s always felt heavy when he looks at her—like there’s nowhere to hide.

“I can about hear the dial tone going off in your head,” he says to her, not unkindly.

“Well, look,” she huffs, wringing water out of her hair—it’s getting long, and she’ll need to chop it soon, but for now it’s just a minor nuisance—before she shakes the water off of her hands. “Maybe I was looking.”

He blinks, like her answer isn’t what he’s expecting. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” She kicks her legs out, propped back on her hands against the soft, warm earth, the sunk Jeep shimmering beneath the surface of the deepest part of the river. All things considered, the day is a pretty one—warm enough to get doused in river water, and quiet enough that if she closes her eyes she might be able to trick herself into thinking they aren’t in a metric fuckload of danger all the time. “Maybe I was looking, and—you know, I think that’s fine.”

Wes barks out a laugh and says, “So are you gonna tell me why you were giving me the big doe eyes?”

“I was not!” Elliot snips, but she’s smiling in spite of her embarrassment. “I don’t even know how to begin giving someone doe eyes.”

“You do it all the time,” he tells her, bumping her shoulder and tilting his head to look at her. There’s a little moment where his eyes flicker, she thinks down to her mouth, and the flush crawls up her neck and into her cheeks again. “Give me doe eyes.”

“Do not,” she mumbles, fixing her gaze elsewhere. On something, anything that isn’t Wes and his eyes and his Seeing.

“Do it to Joey, too. When you want her to share her food—”

“Um, that is strategy.”

“—but I like it best,” he continues, drawing her eyes to him again, “when you give them to me.”

Ell pauses. Her chest feels a little tight, and there’s panic rising tight and hot in her throat, but it doesn’t matter in any way that counts because she doesn’t think she could look away if she wanted to. And she doesn’t.

After a second, she asks, “Why?”

Wes exhales through his nose a little. “Feels like you want something,” he says after a minute, eyes searching her face, “from me.”

It’s a bad idea, continuing down this little thread, but the self-preservation is gone and Elliot plunges on impulsively, “What if I do?”

Maybe it’s the sunlight or the feeling of coming down from an adrenaline high or the taste of blood in her mouth, but her stomach wrenches with something red-hot and cruel when Wes looks at her and says, “You’d just have to ask, Ell.”

What do I want? She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know how to say it, or how to ask, or where in her mind to go looking for the things that would make her happy—

(Except she does, she does know what she wants from Wes, because it’s not the first time she’s thought about it and certainly not the first time she’s been caught looking—)

—and it feels a little hopeless, a little dreadful, to be sitting there and thinking that she could be so close to feeling a shred of comfort if she really wanted it and being unable to follow through.

There’s not a lot of time to dwell on it, not beyond opening her mouth and feeling her brows knit together, because the sound of distant gunfire and shouting has their attentions snapping back up to the road.

The moment is broken; the magic is gone; the clock has struck midnight. Wes pulls himself to his feet and then grabs her hand to haul her up, and he says, “No rest for the wicked.”

It’s hard not to feel the stinging realization she has done herself a disservice again, that her panic and pain have paralyzed her from something that could be good, but like any poison in her body she swallows it down and she smiles.

“Especially not for a couple of sinners like us,” Elliot agrees. They set off across the field, skirting the river and climbing up the slope to where the ground turns into black tar pavement, heat radiating off of it in waves in the late afternoon heat. When she looks down the road, she can see the source of the shouting; a couple of resistance members, and Eden’s Gate stragglers, tied up in a mini shoot-out of their own.

Wes rolls his shoulders and says, “I mean it, you know,” which pulls her eyes back to him.

He’s looking at her. Of course he is—in the way that he does, making her feel seen. It’s enough to make her stomach wrench with that feeling again, and she realizes that it’s longing she’s feeling, welling inside of her, filling her up like a wineskin.

You’d just have to ask, Ell.

“I know,” she says after a moment, a little smile coming onto her face. “I believe you.”

He nods once. It’s a short gesture—a brief end to the conversation that she imagines he will now leave for her to pursue when she would like to. Wes never pushes her, not really, not in the ways that would make her shut down; this time is no different.

“Alright, Deputy Honeysett,” he announces, attention razer-focused again, “what say you we get back to work?”

“That’s Junior Deputy to you.”

“Don’t you think you deserve a promotion?”

“I’d like to refrain from taking on more responsibility, actually.”

Wes flashes her a grin, bumping her shoulder playfully with his before he sets off. And for just a little while—for just a moment—Elliot feels like everything might just be alright.

As long as he doesn’t catch her looking anymore.

[rejectofsociety]

Febuwhump: Day Eight

Prompt: “Hey, Hey, This Is No Time To Sleep

Summary: On the Endgame battlefield, Peter finds himself overwhelmed by outriders and some heroes swoop in to (hopefully) save his life.

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Word Count: 1,877

Written for: @febuwhump

✧༺✦✮���༻∞　　∞༺✦✮✦༻✧

The outriders tore at Peter’s suit, their claws digging underneath the plates of armor to rip at his flesh. His extra, steel limbs formed a cage around him, but they only protected him for a brief moment before getting torn off effortlessly. The alien screeches rang in his ears and made his bones quiver. Too overwhelmed by the dog pile of aliens on top of him to fight or even move, Peter could only curl up in a tight ball with his arms hiding his vulnerable head as much as possible. Tears of terror streamed down his cheeks and his lungs frantically drew in and released breaths of dust-polluted air as he hyperventilated helplessly. Claustrophobia engulfed his body as all he could feel was thousands of pounds of outrider bodies smashed against him and their talons and teeth tearing away at him ravenously. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but fierce claws slashed across his face and the next thing he knew, his vision was blurred by his own blood in his eyes and his head was spinning. He coughed and choked as the world began to disappear around him. He felt as though he were falling endlessly into a pit of darkness, with nothing but the sounds of alien screams to accompany him. The little spider’s heart thundered in fear, then shifted into nauseating palpitations that only added to his lightheadedness.

Then, everything went dark.

“Hey!” Steve called to anyone who was listening, “those outriders, what do they have?!”

Sam swooped down to get a better view and fired his guns repeatedly at the outriders that hunched over a bloody lump like dogs feeding on roadkill. Too absorbed in their snack to notice the bullets, the outriders ignored Sam as if he were a bothersome fly.

“A little help!” He barked the request.

A blast of energy sped past the Falcon and pummeled into the pile of aliens. Everything the energy touch was instantly sent to hell, and Sam only got a brief glance at the alien’s chew toy before Carol swiftly swept it into her arms.

“What is it?” Sam asked, flying high in the sky to meet her.

She looked down at the bloody lump in her arms and her entire face went ghostly pale as her eyes widened. He opened his mouth to nervously repeat his question, only to be interrupted as she sped away to a small, hidden cave created by the ruins of Avengers Compound. Sam raced after her, his heart pounding in his throat anxiously. Don’t be Bucky, please don’t be Bucky. I fucking swear- his mind desperately rambled.

He stumbled to a landing inside the cavern where Carol was hunched over a body with her hands desperately clasped over a wound on their neck. Sam hurried to her side and looked down at the bloodied body. His stomach lurched at the sight, and he only recognized the Spiderman from the small bits of sleek, red, armor clinging to his smallish stature.

“Oh shit,” Sam spat under his breath and immediately knelt down beside Carol and clasped his hands over another wound.

The boy’s face was sabotaged with deep claw marks, one going right through his left eye while his sides were shredded with holes and tears were teeth and talons had met in a desperate effort to consume him. Sam grimaced as his hands were rapidly coated with warm, thick blood yet he refused to budge. Did he believe that he and Carol could save this kid with only their hands? Absolutely not. But for fuck’s sake they had to try. Peter had so much life left to live, he shouldn’t have been out on a battlefield and fighting aliens. He should have been with his family, comfortable and safe and not worrying about if he would survive the next five seconds.

Sam knew nothing of this kid, but in that moment he couldn’t help but be filled with fury. If this boy died, his blood would be on Tony’s hands and Sam wouldn’t let him forget it for a second. It would stain Tony’s skin for the rest of his life because it was Tony who recruited a fucking fourteen year old child to battle full grown adults. And why? Why a child when he had a list of potential heroes that he could pull out at any given moment just by asking an artificial voice in the ceiling? It was because Peter was young, eager, maybe even a little scared. He was all too easy to manipulate and blackmail into getting on Tony’s side of a war he didn’t understand. He still didn’t know what he had been fighting for.

Sam was yanked out of his thoughts as Valkyrie landed at the cavern’s entrance on her Pegasus and Steve slid off the creature’s back. The captain rushed across the cave to meet the two others who kept their eyes glued to Peter.

Steve’s heart sank at the sight and he knelt by the boy’s head. No one could bring themselves to speak, it almost seemed like they were afraid that by speaking they would hurt Peter further. Of course, they had to say something sooner than later.

“He’s breathing,” Carol quietly observed, “...just barely.”

Steve rested one hand on the side of Peter’s face gingerly, “kid, I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t realize how young he is,” Sam observed through gritted teeth, “Stark’s gonna get an earful when this is all over.”

Peter whimpered softly in agony, all though he truly wanted to scream endlessly until his lungs gave out. Every nerve in his body was on fire to the point he almost passed out the moment he regained consciousness.

“Peter?” Carol called, “can you hear us?”

“I...” he barely managed to wheeze out, his voice so weak that it could hardly be heard.

His eyes began flickering closed once more and Sam’s heart skipped a beat frantically, he could practically see the boy’s life slipping away. It was slipping away right through his fingers— almost literally, seeing as their was all too much blood escaping his clasped hands— and he found himself thinking: I can’t let him die. I can’t lose this kid. This was only his second encounter with the spiderling, but he was already determined to protect him from any harm.

“Hey,” he snapped, yet his tone was gentle, “hey, this is no time to sleep. Stay awake, Spidey.”

“Y...yessir,” Peter croaked out.

Valkyrie jogged over, suddenly realizing how concerned she was. Steve had honestly forgotten she was there.

“Let me take a look at him,” she demanded.

Sam and Carol both scooted out her way as much as they could without taking their hands away from Peter’s wounds. Valkyrie sat on her knees and examined each gaping wound, forcing herself not to flinch away— every time she thought she had laid eyes on the worst of it, she’d look a little to the left or the right, up or down, and something worse would meet her gaze.

She tore her eyes away from the boy, then her eyes trailed to meet Carol.

“You have magic hands, don’t you?” She recalled.

“Yes,” Carol replied, “I’m Carol.”

“How much control do you have over your hands?”

“Enough.”

“Can you warm your hands up just enough so that they burn him?” She requested.

Carol raised her eyebrows, “good thinking.”

“What are you thinking?” Steve asked.

“By burning his flesh, the bleeding will slow down,” Sam explained then looked back at Carol, “please hurry.”

She nodded then sprawled her hands across the wound on his neck, gradually heating up her hands while also being careful not to blast the boy. Peter’s expression began to twist into one of dreadful agony as the burning heat seared his flesh. Steve and Valkyrie’s hands snapped over his body, holding him down as he screamed between gritted teeth. His muscles tensed against their grip and his body trashed reflexively.

Carol worked swiftly and seamlessly, doing her best to drown out Peter’s cries as she wished there was a way she could save him without hurting him like this. Steve muttered to Peter, telling him he was strong, saying he would be okay, anything he could think of to comfort him. The spider continued to cry out and trash until his body completely gave up and went limp with exhaustion. Not long after, Carol finished up her work and sighed heavily with her hands coated in crimson blood.

“Has anyone seen Peter?” Tony asked through Steve’s earpiece, his voice tight with anxiety.

“Yeah,” Steve replied, “he’s with me.”

“Thank fucking goodness,” he sighed in relief, “I’m coming over.”

“He got beat pretty bad,” Steve warned, “but please come over.”

The four heroes exchanged anxious glances as they listened to Peter’s hoarse breathing. Carol’s hands rested on Peter’s arm, Steve kept one on his shoulder, Valkyrie’s gently played with his matted hair, and Sam lightly touched his other shoulder. It was like they were so terrified of loosing him, they physically refused to let go of him. Peter didn’t mind in the slightest. Even has he clung to consciousness ever so desperately, he could feel the people around him and that was the only comfort he needed.

Tony clumsily landed in the cavern soon enough. He raced to Peter’s side and the small group scooted away for him. Sam grit his teeth, but forced himself to fight back any comments.

“Oh shit, kid, I-“ Tony held one of Peter’s hands in his, his entire body trembling with anxiety.

“Is okay...” Peter grunted, “M’sser Stark, ‘m okay.”

The hoarseness of Peter’s weak voice only frightened Tony further, “god, Peter. This is all my fault, I-“

“We can’t keep him here,” Valkyrie interrupted upon hearing an explosion outside.

“Y-you’re right,” Tony nodded and the others agreed.

“I can take him away from here,” she offered, “there’s room on my Pegasus.”

“That’s so cool,” Peter mumbled, still hardly conscious.

Sam smiled down at him then looked back at Valkyrie, “please take care of him.”

Soon, Peter was gingerly placed on Valkyrie’s Pegasus and she carefully transported him as far away from the war as she could. When she flew through the thick of the battlefield, Sam, Carol, and Tony accompanied her, keeping the enemies at bay.

Tony’s anxieties were rocketed high into the air without Peter in his sight. He needed to see him, was he okay? Was he still alive? Had he reached safety yet? Tony needed to see him, he just had to. He needed to ask FRIDAY if his heart was still beating and watch the AI display his heart rate and assure him it beat steadily. He needed to watch Peter breath in fresh air and watch his mouth move when he spoke. He needed to hear his horrible jokes and-

“Tony, look out!” Strange cried before shielding Tony from an aerial attack, “stay focused!”

“Right, right,” he shook his head, as if shaking Peter out of his thoughts, “sorry.”

Strange had already seen this all. He knew what happened to Peter, and he wasn’t worried about whether he would live or die— he already knew the answer. Part of him wished he could tell Tony how it would play out, but the rest of him knew that was against the rules. If he stated the future, it wouldn’t happen and there was only one way to win, regardless of casualties...

[prismatica-the-strange]

Au Zombie apocalypse (but more like the movie Fido

While I did watch the film (and absolutely loved it!), I didn't really know how to write it as an AU, so I went more for a 7 Days to die meets Tyler Posey's Alone.

Word count: 2014

Warnings: Blood, violence, swearing

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

"Jackpot!"

"What'cha got?" Cam comes up behind her to look into the cabinet.

"Enough to last us a while," Bunny grins, shrugging off her backpack and shoving cans from the shelves into it.

"Dread found a buttload of nonperishables," he says into the radio on his shoulder, "What about you gu-"

He's cut off by the sound of gunshots from two floors up where Daniel and Vala are going through apartments.

Bunny freezes, hand gripping the worn, bloodstained handle of the fire ax on the counter next to her. Everything goes quiet.

They wait for what feels like forever with bated breath until Daniel's heavy breathing crackles through the radio, "We had a group of infected, but we took care of it... Keep an eye out, those shots could have attracted more."

Before she can even let out a breath of relief Bunny sees a figure shambling up behind Mitchell.

"Behind you!"

She manages to pull out her sidearm as the zombie tackles him. She fires a few times and prays she was quick enough to kill it before it bit him.

The infected goes limp and she nudges it with her toe before pushing it off him.

There's a lot of blood, she wipes away as much as she can but she doesn't see a bite mark, just the gash on his forehead.

"Mitchell's unconscious," she says into her radio, "Zombie took him down and he hit his head, I don't see a bite."

"Keep your distance, just in case," Daniel answers, "We'll be right down Bunny."

"Hey! It's just me!" Daniel says when she points the Glock at him.

"Announce yourself next time dumbass!" She snaps, pointing her gun to the floor. "There's infected around, I could've killed you!"

He glances up at her when he kneels next to Mitchell, checking him for bites or deep scratches. "We'll bring him back, but he'll need to be watched closely, are you okay?"

"'M fine, let's get him back to base." She assures him with a small smile.

"Guys!" Vala skids to a stop in the doorway, "We've got an entire pack of runners headed right for us, if we're leaving, we need to go now."

"Help me with him," he looks to Bunny and she slings one of Cam's arms over her shoulders, helping Daniel get him to his feet.

Vala takes point as they drag him down the, now darkening, hallways of the apartment building. The group makes it to the truck without incident, Vala climbing into the bed with Cam and the supplies they managed to raid.

The compound was a small, red-brick school that they had reinforced. Two floors, lots of rooms, a flat roof that was good for patrolling on, and a chain-link fence surrounding it that they had wrapped and topped with barbed and razor wire.

"This is Raid Team One to Base, come in Base," Bunny says into the radio hooked to the dash. "I Repeat, This is Raid Team One, we're coming in hot, ETA 8 minutes. Base, do you copy?"

She gets back nothing but static and she looks to Daniel in the driver's seat.

"We have a man down and sprinters on our ass. ETA 5 minutes. Base, please respond." Nothing, "Damnit Walter! You'd better have that gate open when we get there or I swear to fuck, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

... "This is Base to Raid Team One, what is your current Eta?"

"Fuckin' finally!" She holds the mic up to her face again, "One minute Walter! Get that gate open NOW!... And tell the doc to be ready for a bleeder."

"What in the hell happened?" Sam asks as they unload Cam from the back.

"One of those new silents," Bunny grimaces, wiping her sleeve at the speckles of dried blood from her cheek, "Fucker got the drop on us."

"Hey!" She stops the group just inside the gate, the sound of gunfire echoing from O'Neill and Teal'c in the watchtowers as sprinters hurl themselves at the fence, "You know the rules, I can't let you in until you get a bite check."

"Damnit, Sam! Mitchell's dying!" Daniel snaps, "We don't have time for this!"

"I won't be the reason we have another outbreak!" She argues, pulling her pistol from its holster.

"Both of you calm down!" Fraiser interjects, rushing in with a gurney, "Sam, put your gun away, and Daniel..."

She looks at him pointedly, "Roll up your sleeves. Rules are rules, no exceptions, not even you."

He does as she says as she scours Cam for bites, Bunny and Vala also rolling their sleeves and pant legs up for Sam to inspect.

After getting checked out, Bunny brings the raided food to the kitchens, Daniel trailing closely behind her.

Once they make it to their quarters, an old English classroom, he pulls her into his arms.

"You're sure you're okay?" He asks, looking her over again.

"I'm fine," she assures him, "A little irked that we had to leave before we finished looting, but physically, I'm okay."

"Good," he sighs, pressing his lips to her forehead.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

"We should take the mountain." She says, fingers drumming against the table in the war room.

"Not this again," O'Neill sighed, running his hand over his face, "That place is swarming with infected."

"But it's also loaded to the teeth with Ammo, MREs, and medical supplies." She argues, "Enough to last at least a few years. Jack, we've nearly picked the rest of the town clean, there's not much else to raid, what do we do then?"

"And or med supply is running dangerously low," Fraiser cuts in, "The stock in that mountain could save a lot of lives."

O'Neill huffs and slouches against the wall next to the window, looking out in the direction of Cheyenne Mountain.

"We need to take inventory of our current ammo supply before we make any hard decisions," He says, "If you can get the floor plans from the town office and draw me up a workable plan for this, we might- and I stress the word might- be able to get this thing off the ground."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

"So you finally got O'Neill to agree?" Cam groans from the bed in the makeshift infirmary, "How the Hell did you manage that?"

"Persistence."

"You annoyed him into it," he clarifies.

"Something like that," Bunny laughs, "Daniel and V are prepping the truck to raid the town office to hopefully get the floor plan."

"Document snatching, I don't envy you there."

"Yeah... So how are you doing? Feeling hungry for human flesh?" She jokes, "Craving my sweet sweet bone marrow?"

"Nah, the doc checked me out, I am 'infection free' as the kids call it."

"That's good, I hope to see you up on your feet soon, I don't like being down a man." She pats his arm and makes her way to where the rest of the team is getting ready to head out.

"How's he doin'?" Daniel asks, lifting the weapons duffle into the bed of the truck.

"Cam is Cam," she shrugs, "Bit of a concussion but otherwise still the same, we lucked out."

"Yes, those new Silents are beginning to be quite the problem," Vala says, climbing into the back of the truck.

"We'll figure it out," Daniel nods, "We learned to manage the sprinters, we'll get a read on these ones too."

"You guys ready to go?" O'Neill asks, walking up with Teal'c, his hands in his pockets.

"Just about," Daniel says, "What's goin' on?"

"With this new variant out there, I know I'd feel a lot better if you took Teal'c with you." He tells them, "So you're taking Teal'c with you."

"Hop in," Bunny motions to the truck, and Teal'c nods before stepping into the bed and shutting the tailgate.

The town office is mostly empty, with only a few zombies stumbling around, easily incapacitated with melee weapons.

"Where do you think they'd keep the floorplans?" Bunny asks, scraping the blood off her ax on the side of a desk.

"Archives are in the basement if they had them at all," Daniel explains, "Uh... Teal'c and Vala, you guys take guard up here, Bunny and I 'll check out downstairs."

Their lights shine around the dusty folder-covered shelves as they try not to kick up any papers that litter the ground as they go.

"It's too fucking quiet," Bunny hisses, eyes darting over to Daniel, her knuckles white as she grips her flashlight, "Daniel."

He turns to look at her, but her eyes and light are trained on a spot on the floor. He follows her line of sight to a bloody bootprint on the cement floor, "That's not ours."

"It's still wet," she grimaces and he shines his light around their immediate surroundings.

"They're still here," his eyebrows knit together, "We should go."

"We need those plans."

"We don't even know if the plans are here," Daniel argues, "Even if they are, is it really worth risking our lives to a band of Rovers?"

"We risk our lives every time we leave the compound," she frowns, stepping past him to continue her search.

"Is someone there?" She calls out and Daniel rolls his eyes, grabbing his radio.

"Teal'c? This is Daniel, we think we could have a Rover situation here, keep your eyes peeled."

"Understood."

The sound of shuffling papers alerts them to another presence a few shelves over. Daniel pulls his gun, pointing it in the direction of the sound, pulling Bunny behind him without a second thought.

"Come out," Daniel orders, "Calmly with your hands behind your head. We're armed."

A small figure slowly shuffles into the light, hands clutched tightly around a raggedy-looking stuffed moose.

"Jesus Daniel, it's a kid," She tries to move past him, but he stops her.

"Are you alone?" He asks, "Is there anyone else here with you?"

Their eyes start to glisten with tears and they start sniffling.

"M-my papa he-" They hiccup, "He told me to hide. B-but he hasn't come back!"

"Honey, how long ago was that?" Bunny asks them.

"F-four days ago."

"Oh geez," Daniel slowly lowers his gun and looks to his wife who carefully approaches the child.

"Did your dad tell you anything else before he left?" She asks softly, unscrewing the cover of her water bottle and handing it to them.

"S-something 'bout getting bit," they pout, taking a sip.

She turns to Daniel.

"He can't be more than five," she whispers, "Daniel we can't just leave him here."

"I know."

"What's your name, sweetheart?" She asks as Daniel radios the new information to Teal'c and Vala.

"H-Henry."

"It's nice to meet you, Henry," she smiles warmly, "You're gonna come with us, ok? We've got food, water, and a nice safe place to stay."

"But... but my Papa!"

"Honey, I'm sorry but I don't think your papa's coming back," she tells him, "Now you need to come with us to where it's safe."

"Ok."

"I need to make sure you weren't bit too, can you roll up your sleeves for me?"

He nods and does as she says.

Once she's sure he hasn't been infected she picks him up and he clings to her.

"We just need to find something before we go."

"I think I've got it," Daniel calls from the other side of the basement, after a good 40 minutes of searching through musty old files.

He meets Bunny near the stair and unfolds one of the blue documents. Shining his light through it he smiles when they see the layout of one of the complex's floors.

"Hell yeah!" She grabs his arm, and grins, "Let's get these back to base."

"It's okay," she reassures the young boy when he whimpers, holding her tighter when she goes to set him in the front seat of the truck, "I'll be sitting right next to you."

"Base this is Raid Team one," she says into the dashboard radio, "The mission was a success. We found a new survivor and we're headed back. ETA 15 minutes."

○●○●○●○

There will be a part 2 (or even more) because I really love this AU and want to write more for it

Taglist: @mysg1spacemonkey @sgcprometheus @i-am-morrigans-apprentice @malcolm-reeds-pineapple @witching-things @reeseykins @abnormalvampire64 @girl-obsessed-with-things @gatez @myro-tse @just-a-si-fi-nerd

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes 23: Struggling

“Join me…” Shiva called out to Summer, extending her hand. “It’s been so long.” Her voice was like a siren, tempting and calm. “Aren’t you tired of being so helpless?”

Summer’s entire body seemed to be drawn towards the words. Inch by inch, her feet took her a step closer. However, not without resistance. “No…” Summer muttered, her mind clouded. Her right hand held back her left from reaching out while her legs did their best not to move. “No, this isn’t….I don’t…”

“Don’t try and fight it. You know how this all ends if you do.” Shiva smiled, “Nothing but dread. You keep telling yourself you’ll get stronger, that you can stand alone but you can’t. I’m not the only one who knows it either. How many times do you think your family can save you? They’ll die trying, because they love you despite all reason. Can you live with that? I know you can’t.”

Tears ran down Summer’s face. With all of her power, Summer still made her way forward. “Leave them...alone. Please…” she asked, knowing who she was dealing with.

“I’m not the one hurting them. If you were stronger, then you wouldn’t be here right now, begging. Does it hurt, the weakness? I know it must be unbearable.” Shiva cooed. “You’ll never be enough.”

“I’ll...I’ll stop you.”

“Ha, you can’t even stop your legs right now. Gods, it’s really embarrassing it’s taken me this long to have you. I mean seriously, you’re pathetic. Every pill you take, I spit out. Any cut you carve, I make it like it never happened. I know you know that very well….”

Summer’s eyes begin to dim. The pounding pain in her head banging like a drum solo. Desperately she wished it stopped. Summer wished she’d stop, completely. Shiva had made it very clear though. Summer wouldn’t be done until Shiva said she was done. The will to reach for her was too great, and the pain eased with the gap between them closing.

Shiva smiled tenderly as she watched Summer get closer and closer to the ice. “See? I knew you’d see it my way. Don’t you want the pain to stop.”

“Y...Yes” Summer uttered, losing her grip on her mind. “I….just…...want to……” her will all but left. Not that it mattered. What good did her resolve do her anyways? Every attempt was a failure, a struggle for air that only made what she had left painful. In the end…. “Stop hurting.” Another step closer was taken with ease. Frigid air and Shiva were the only thing Summer could recognize. The world itself seemed to simply...disappear. Until...nausea, right in the pit of her stomach. It began to grow and feel like a hollow pit until, boom! The gap between herself and Shiva has increased greatly. She seemed to get smaller and smaller as Summer felt her soaring backwards until something hard crashed behind her, turning everything to darkness momentarily.

Weakly, Summer opened her eyes. The right side of her face felt cold to the bone and was obstructed by snow. “Wh...what is?” Summer looked in front her to see a white flower at eye level with her. “That...I was wearing that. I fell?” Her mind began to clear and body started to ache. A breeze blew the flower closer. It was only then she noticed the flower was stained red. It was only then… she remembered who gave her that flower. “Ver...onica?” A pair of legs walked into vision but not the pair she wanted to see. Summer looked up to see Shiva looking down at her.

“Yet again, a person is hurt because of you. But don’t fear. That’s your blood.” Shiva said, watching the red substance begin to run down the side of Summer’s face. She bent down and pointed to the lake. “Unfortunately, Veronica has an entirely different problem.”

Summer barely manages to turn her head enough to see the girl in question laying on the ice; the cracked ice. The gravity of the situation makes Summer go wide eyed. “Oh no…” she mutters. Her arm reaches for her blade to find that it is not on her hip. It had fallen off and several feet ahead of her. Summer began crawling but another wave of pain shot through her head, stalling her progress.

Shiva chuckled. “Hehe, oh this is quite the problem isn’t it? That stupid girl knocked you away somehow for your own good, but also managed to hurt herself. I’m not even sure if she’s conscious.”

“Ver...Veronica!” Summer yelled, “Hey! Answer me!” She could get no response and could barely notice the girl moving. Most likely wincing in pain. Summer knew that feeling in her stomach from early was familiar. Veronica must’ve phased her hand or something inside of her body and then sent her flying back by being tangible again. The blow must’ve been too much for Veronica and sent her flying as well. Summer didn’t know if Veronica had thought the plan through and got it wrong, or if she was grasping at straws to do anything. Either way, things weren’t looking too good.

The ice cracked and crumbled a bit more, spurring Summer to continue her crawling to the best of her ability. Every inch gain increased the pain yet again and made her want to vomit at this point. There was no way she could make it to Veronica, but with a blade there was a chance. Still….

“Veronica! Really need you to wake up right now!”

Shiva walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, watching Summer struggle in agony. “I don’t know what you think you do but I’m telling you it’s gonna fail at the rate you’re going. Even if that girl was awake, is she okay to walk? Let’s say she can. That ice is cracking mighty fast and we both know just how cold that water is. Don’t forget you’re a miracle, my little Summer. That girl though? I’d give her two minutes before dying of shock and hypothermia.”

Summer tried her best to ignore Shiva’s words. The vile girl could tell by the tears Summer tried to hold in that the words had made an impact. Shiva kept watching as Summer’s arms trembled and clawed at the ground to drag her body inch by inch. Strained breathing and grunts of pain never stopped and only got worse as Summer tried to move faster when the sound ice cracking got louder. The intrigued smile Shiva usually had was changed to a more neutral face.

“I could save her you know?” Shiva said, getting up. She walked leisurely alongside the wounded girl. “You’d heal in seconds and be able to refreeze the lake with a snap of a finger. You should have no problem tapping into my power. You did say you’ll stop me so you shouldn’t have to think twice about it. Unless...you’re just all talk? What do you say Summer, think you can gamble your life to save hers, or are you too scared to do anything that matters?”

It was a trap, plain in simple. Yet it made Summer falter nonetheless. There was no doubt in her mind Shiva wouldn’t consume her with ease. The chance of holding any kind of fight in this state would be essentially handing a victory over, but that didn’t change the fact that for a few seconds Summer would be able to save Veronica. The fear was what came after that. A fear Shiva must’ve been aware of, because she bent down to whisper in Summer’s ear.

Shiva said in a calm and deceptively caring voice, “I won’t hurt her” before stepping back with her hand stretched out again. Summer’s arms gave out and she laid in the snow, desperately trying to move. Her options were limited. Less than limited. They were gone.

“I’ll fight you…” a voice said.

It reached Summer and Shiva, shocking them both as they looked towards the lake. Without warning, Veronica started moving.

The girl slowly brought her arms in front of herself and began weakly pushing up to her stumbling feet. Pieces of her arms and her left cheek felt numb and burning red at the same time from frostbite. Her knees buckled briefly as she did her best to remain stationary so avoid disturbing the ice further. “I can’t hear her, and I can’t see her either. But...that rotten stench is oozing from you so much I can’t even lay down without feeling disgusted. I don’t know what’s she saying to you but Summer, I fucking swear….”

Veronica lifted her head and stared at Summer with intense catlike eyes and clenched, gritted fangs that bit back the pain. “If you do anything she says, I am going to give you that fight you wanted and beat both of your asses! Is that clear!?” Veronica extended her hand.

Shiva rolled her eyes. “Such nonsense. Just who the hell does she think she-”

“Fuck off…” Summer exhaled. Both of her arms raised up, then slammed to the ground. Mustering all she had, Summer pushed herself up. First to her knees and then to her feet, rising slowly while bearing the pain. “As if...I’d listen to someone like Shiva...about anything?” Summer extended her hand toward the lake with her right arm while the left one braced it with all the grip she had. A single glyph formed under Veronica’s feet at first. Then, another appeared in front of it. And then another, and another; until six total formed a bridge to actual land.

Veronica began to limp from glyph to the next slowly. Each step took more strength than the last until finally she was close enough to fling herself onto solid ground. Weak and injured, Veronica muttered, “See? That wasn’t so hard.” Blacking out right after.

The glyphs and ice came apart while Shiva could not process what she had just witnessed. Biting her nail, she looked back to Summer, who was staring at her with a cold glare that Shiva found deplorable. “Tsk, don’t look at me that. The only reason this is going this way is because that girl over there was capable of walking. Without that you’d still be suffering in silence!”

“You know there’s dignity in just cutting your losses right? Looks like the only failure today is you.” Summer scowled, “Now just go already. It’s over.”

Shiva raised an eyebrow. “Sure about that? Last time I checked, somebody spent an awful lot of time just now drowning in never feelings.” Shiva stepped aside and directed her attention to beady red eyes that were looming in the tree line.

Summer looked around to see only several sets of eyes. That was still far to me in her current state. She looked back at Veronica and kept her eyes on her. No grimm was around her, yet.

“Still think it’s over?” Shiva hummed.

Summer said nothing. Before she could act, a breeze went over her body that stung her wounds before all of her pain began to fade. Not only that, but Summer also felt just a little less tired as well. Confused, she looked back at Shiva and found no one there. Just herself and the grimm that lurked.

“You are so lucky I can’t have you mauled to death in a forest. Yet again you’re only gonna live through this because of me. Count your blessings.”

Summer dove towards her blade and tumbled into a sprint towards Veronica, going as far to slide into a crouch in front of the girl. Summer put a glyph under them and raised it to the sky, watching the beowulves make their approach. Though physically healed, Summer’s body felt so fatigued and riddled with aches that it made the idea of fighting daunting to say the least. Oh well though. Not much choice at this point. Right now it was more than her life at stake. She looked back at the sight of Veronica’s injuries and gritted her teeth. If those injuries left scares…

“Fuck it.” Summer jumped off and dove down right on top of a grimm with her sword right through its neck, freezing it from the inside with ice dust. “I’m so sick and tired of this. All these mistakes, and for what!?” She snarled. The grimm shattered. Summer landed on her feet with frustration in her eyes and grief in her heart. Her hands were thrown up in the air as she yelled at the grimm. “Well!? Come and get it! I got your despair right here!”

The howl of her sorrow met ravenous hunger of theirs, making them attack. Without a witness in sight to observe this fight, it would be hard to even say one happened. For even though her wails rang loudly, Summer began to sound more monstrous and human.

xxxx

It is often said things happen for a reason. For better or for worse, the invisible threads that tie people together tighten and unravel at the whims of fate. Veronica was never one to put much thought in such things. But if she were to, then it would appear fate had decided that the cold forest was no place to unravel.

Groaning in pain, her eyes began to open to a world of light. “Mmmgh, where…?” Her vision adjusted. No longer was in the woods. Veronica was in bed, the guest bed in the manner; in her black nightgown no less. She looked to her left to find an IV drip by her bedside, hooked to her arm. Next to it was a platter of sandwiches that smelled like every barn animal imaginable. Veronica’s stomach was quick to growl. Reaching for one made her wince in pain. It was only then she realized her body had multiple bandages wrapped it and gauze on her left cheek.

“Oh yeah. I got thrashed.” She sighed. Veronica tried moving her right hand but found it weighed down. She finally looked right and gasped. Her senses must’ve been out of whack, because she somehow managed to ignore a sleeping Nick at her bedside who held her hand, tightly. “N-Nick!?”

Her shout stirred him awake. “Huh?” He rubbed his eyes. “Hey….oh? Oh!? Hey, you’re awake! Do you know how worried I was!?” He sat on her bed. “What happened out there?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Last time I checked I was quite literally on thin ice. The pun was given no positive recognition. “What? I quip a little when I’m out of it. You know this.”

“Yeah. That one one was just….anyways, I think it might be better if you went first. Actually, do you remember anything to begin with? Penny didn’t say anything about brain damage when she patched you up but it’s like we saw you get hurt.”

Veronica rubbed the back of her neck. So Penny was the one to tend to her wounds. Made sense. If it had been Nick, Veronica may have died from embarrassment. Emergency or not, having him change her would be too much to handle.

“Veronica? You still with me”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” She smiled, “My mind wandered, but yeah. I remember.” She propped a pillow up and leaned back against the headboard. “I had taken Summer to the woods to have her fight some grimm and work on her outfit. I thought seeing her fight up close and learning about Shiva would help make the perfect outfit for the tournament. I recently became aware of just how real she is.”

“You didn’t...force her to come out did you?” Nick asked, concerned. It was comforting when Veronica looked at him like he was insane. “So that’s a no?”

“Of course it’s a no! I just got the worst luck imaginable and found what apparently is ground zero for Diamond Dust. So that lake is the spot huh?”

Nick folded his arms and frowned. “Yeah, that’s the spot. I’ve been there a few times after the fact, but Summer never has. Well, until today.”

“Figured. She- hey? Where is she?”

“Resting by now. Don’t worry, she’s safe.”

“Wouldn’t say I was worried. Not with twisted power like that.” She muttered. Veronica continued her story. “Anyways, I guess the shock or something was too much for her to deal with. Summer completely ignored my calls to her and started walking to the lake like a zombie. Ice and cold air blew around her so crisp it cut skin. Getting her attention verbally wasn’t working and I wasn’t about to see what happened if she stood on the glowing mass of dust and ice; so I punched her.”

“You…” Nick tilted his head. “Punched her? And it worked?”

“Well, it wasn’t a normal punch. All that wind and ice made it physically hurt to get close. I touched her once and it messed up my right hand.” Veronica started flexing it. It hurt but it didn’t seem permanently damaged. “I used my semblance the second time so all that wind around her went right through me. I put my fist in her stomach and then boom, shockwave. I wasn’t really thinking much about it, as you can see.” She gestured to herself, “I’m not messed up with dust or anything now, right?”

Nick smiled, “That’s not how that works. As in the dark we are about Diamond Dust, we know it’s not as easy as touching it. Penny said you’ll make a full recovery. No long term damage, and no scars.”

Veronica let out a sigh of relief. “Well I guess I can live with today then. I’ll be honest, I was terrified you might tell me my fingers would never be the same or they had to be cut off.” She laughed about it, but in order to push that fear down. Her dreams and love for creating clothes wasn’t harmed. “After I hit her I got knocked down by the blast and landed on the ice. After that...it’s pretty hazy. I know I managed to get off the ice because of Summer’s glyphs, but that’s it.”

“I see. That matches up then.”

“What does? Summer already said her piece?” Veronica raised a brow.

Nick gave her a nod. Veronica couldn’t help but feel a little bad. “I guess we’re leaving out the part about the fight and having Diamond Dust to begin with. Not that it matters too much. I doubt already having it made this situation happen, but it may have made it harder for Summer to snap out of whatever trance she was in.” Veronica thought.

Nick noticed the silence again and hit worried. He looked at the IV drip briefly before feeling his hands start to tremble anxiously. He managed to take his eyes off of it and looked back to what mattered. “You sure you’re okay? I figured you’d be hungry but you haven’t touched a single sandwich. That and Penny said you were understandably a bit dehydrated.”

“Don’t worry, You’re the one who said I’ll make a complete recovery. I’m only not stuffing my face right now because I don’t wanna look like an ugly animal starved of a meal in front of-” he turned around to face away from her. “.....”

“We did this last time, remember? Now you can eat and I can tell you what happened next.”

Reluctantly, Veronica’s eyes shifted between the platter and Nick. Yeah they did this before but it was still a bit embarrassing. “I swear if you turn around Nick... I’ll be very upset” Yeah, that sounded better in her head.

“I won’t.” He chuckled, “Eat up. As for your question earlier, I knew something was up with Summer because I could feel it.”

“Oh yeah, she did mention something about you having this uncanny twin thing to know when Shiva takes over.”

“Yeah it would be cool if I didn’t fear the worse every single time it happens. Mom, auntie, and I all immediately pinged the location and off we went. Dad came too. By the time we found you both, you were unconscious on a glyph and Summer was cornered by grimm. She must’ve put up a fight considering several were dead already but I’d to think about how long she would have kept them at bay. Summer passed out the moment she saw us. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her up most likely. Dad healed what he could before we got you both back here where Penny did the real medical work.”

“You must’ve been so worried.” Veronica said, solemnly. “Guess the blame should fall on me this time.”

“I’m not interested in the blame game. I’m just glad we’re past this. You done eating? Kinda wanna flop on the bed.”

“Hehe, go for it.”

Nick leaned back and went limp on the bed. He looked up to see Veronica smiling at him with a thumbs up. He returned the gesture. “I need a break from everything.”

“Whaaaat? Nicholas Schnee wants a break?” She sarcastically gasped, “maybe you’re the one who needs bed rest? Still sick?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m feeling fine. Auntie might’ve beaten the sickness out of me. She’s actually pleased with you for once by the way. Summer expressed just how much you bailed her out of danger.”

Veronica sunk into her pillow. “Like I cared about either of their opinions. Especially your stick in the mud aunt. She’ll still shoot me icy looks.”

“Can’t you take a win? Why are you so negative about everything.” He pinched her leg.

“Ow! I’m injured here!? Also I’m not negativ, I’m just telling the truth. Despite the genes, Xiao Long optimism isn’t-...hey, where is ma? If anybody was gonna be at my bedside I would’ve bet money on her?”

Nick sat up. “Well you know, she freaked out after seeing you for a second and stayed a long time. But then she had to leave to-” A click of the door cut Nicholas off before he could finish. Yang and Blake came in anxiously.

Yang spoke first.“Hey Nick, how’s Ver-” her eyes locked with her daughter’s. The teenager blinked rapidly in confusion. Yang however, she started tearing up and lunged at her with open arms; Blake only seconds behind. “You’re awake!!!”

“Veronica!” Blake said estactically. The two mothers carefully wrapped their arms around their daughter and showered her with love.

“Pick your mom up.” Nick finally finished. “Yang went to pick your mom up.”

“Gah! Yeah, I can see that!” Veronica wheezed, pushing them off to breathe. A little space please!? It’s hard enough to breathe as is! Mom, why are you here so early!?”

“I got a call saying you were hurt! Why wouldn’t I come early!?” Blake said firmly.

“That’s not- I meant how!? Did you just drop everything and hop on some super speed air Shai don’t know about? Menagerie isn’t a pleasure flight away.” They both finally got off of her. Veronica watched her parents look at her as if she said something weird. “What?” She said, raising a brow.

Nick caught her attention with an awkward laugh. “Hehe, so uhhh, one other thing. It’s not Saturday anymore. It’s Sunday afternoon. You uh...been unconscious for around thirty hours.”

“.......” Veronica looked around for a scroll until

Blake handed hers over. That forest incident had to have happened at around 11:00 am since her and Summer left early, so the fact that the time was 3:00 pm and was more than a little suspicious. Veronica sat in silence for a moment, processing. Then...she dropped the scroll. “I lost a day of progress….”

“That’s what you’re worried about!?” Her audience yelled.

“Yes! Nick, you are the last person I wanna hear say that!” She pointed. “This is a mess! How long was Summer asleep!?”

Nick scrunched his face. “Three hours.” He said, slightly whispering. “She heals real fast.”

“Well good for her!” Veronica shouted sarcastically, ignoring the fact that doing that really hurt. “I hope she’s well rested, because we have shit to do.” Veronica tried getting out of bed. A pain in her left side made her wince and putting weight on her right leg made it buckle the moment it reached the floor.

Blake quickly braced her daughter with her hand on Veronica’s stomach to stop the girl from falling forward. “You need rest. Don’t move.”

“Mom, we both know I will try to move anyway. So instead of being a brace, can you be a crutch instead and get me to the door?” Veronica asked needlingly. She had no will to argue. Her eyes got all big to sweeten the offer. Blake let out a sigh then got under Veronica’s arm to support her. Veronica smiled, “Thanks.”

“Mmmhmm.” Blake grumbled, annoyed over the fact she bought into puppy eyes. “Yang, get the door please?”

Yang did just that and looked into the hall. “Uhh fair warning, Summer hasn’t been taking visitors since yesterday and that hasn’t changed it looks like.” She stepped out of the way for them to see Jaune knocking on the door. “This isn’t his first time trying to get her out of the room.”

Nick let out a sigh. “Leave it to dad to keep trying. Summer has been down ever since we found her. More than usual. Maybe give her some space?”

“I recognize your suggestion, but….” Veronica continued out her room with Blake’s house. There was no reason to act any different now from how she always treated Summer. “I’m going anyways.”

“Ver- ugh, at least choose your words carefully please?” Nick conceded. He also was way too drained to argue with anyone. Yang patted his back and followed the two faunus. Might as well see how this turns out.

Thump thump thump, the low sound of Jaune’s knuckle hitting the solid wood door hit rhythmically. “Summer, please talk to me? You didn't have dinner last night or breakfast today. You have to come out eventually.”

“Just go away…” she said, devoid of energy. “I’ll eat later. I just wanna be alone right now, please?”

Jaune pressed his head against the door. Hearing her like this was rough. Forcing Summer to come out wouldn’t help, and telling her how worried people are would only make her feel bad. He knew his daughter though. Summer wasn’t just gonna come out on her own if she didn’t have to. The sound of footsteps brought Jaune’s attention to his approaching friends and family. He moved from the door and gave Blake a side hug. “Not how I wanted to greet you when you visited but I’m glad the trip was okay.”

“Good to see you too, and yeah. I wish it wasn’t because of an emergency. Where’s Weiss?”

“She’s with her sister and Ruby inspecting the lake. They should be back before long.” He looked at Veronica. “How are you feeling?”

Her ears fell down and she avoided his gaze. “Uhhh I’ll manage just fine. Th..thanks for helping treat my injuries when you did. I probably would be worse off if you didn’t.” Veronica said, awkwardly. When it came to Jaune, she could never find herself to act normal. Being calm was always top priority around him. If Jaune Arc doesn’t like you, then clearly you’re a bad individual. Same rule applied for Ruby. Veronica couldn’t explain why their opinion weighed a bit more than others. They just did. “Summer awake?”

“Yeah but-” Veronica knocked on the door before Jaune could finish.

“Hey, Princess.” Summer pressed her head against the door. “I have no idea why you’ve been shacked up in your room since yesterday and frankly I don’t really care.”

Blake frowned. “Ver-”

“What I do know is there’s no way you’re guilt tripping yourself over me, because that would be crazy. Not like you would have expected anything like yesterday to happen, so an apology would be stupid. Just as stupid as if I felt bad unintentionally taking you there in the first place.” Veronica sighed, “Shit happens. Far as I’m concerned...we’re even. The only thing you should feel bad about in regards to me is if you aren't wide eyed and attentive Tuesday evening to try your outfit on. Are we clear?”

They all waited for a response, but none came. Veronica groaned. “Ugggh, I said...are we-”

“Okay! Fine…I hear you.” Summer grunted, more energized than before.

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t respond. You better see me with a better attitude. Also stick that schedule I gave you. Eating and school wise. Having a pity party doesn’t excuse you from it.” Veronica nagged. She had said what she wanted to. No reason to stick around further. Veronica smiled at Jaune. “Well, at least you know she’ll at least be out for school tomorrow now.”

“I guess that’s one way to handle things.” Jaune wasn’t sure if Veronica was simply irritated by Summer, or if that’s her definition of tough love. The look on Blake and Yang didn’t help either. They were just as confused. “Do you really think you can make an outfit in two days in your condition?”

“I was about to ask the same thing.” Nick said, concerned. Yang rubbed his head and laughed however. “Wait, she can!?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve seen her make an entire collection in three weeks before. It was impressive. Concerning, but impressive.”

“I wouldn’t brag about that. All of them were terrible.” Veronica admitted. “I was crazy to try that, but this is different. I came here with your clothes for you both, remember? I’m not working from scratch with Summer’s. All I need is the finest materials Remnant has to offer in terms of dust and sewing machinery. I’m sure the Schnee family wouldn’t mind giving me access to such things?”

Nick rubbed his chin dramatically. “Hmmm I think we can find it in the budget.” He laughed, pulling his scroll out to make a note of it. “You’ll have it by tomorrow.”

“Then we’re officially back on track then. I could start prep now.” Veronica hummed, until Blake flicked her nose. “Ow!”

“You are getting rest right now and can start tomorrow. This isn’t a negotiation, it’s a command.” Blake said sternly. “Haste makes waste.”

Darn! She was right and Veronica knew it. Resting did sound good though. There was no hiding how fatigued her body was. “Fine, you win. Back to the fluffy bed I go.”

“Nick can you take her back? Yang and I still have unpacking to do. As well as formally announcing we are here in Atlas before the world starts panicking. I miss being like a ninja in the shadows.” Blake sighed.

Nick took her spot under Veronica and walked her back into her room. Blake looked at Jaune warmly and patted his back as the three friends began walking. “Still worried about Summer?”

“All three really. They all felt shaken up in their own way. Nick seemed pretty passive.”

Blake nodded “Veronica too. I think they’re stressed out in a variety of ways. Has she been eating properly.”

“As much as I can get her to.” Yang grumbled. “Nick has been a big help with that. Most of the credit is his. Before all of this, Veronica did ask to spar out of the blue and took my gauntlets. I figured she was still upset from the fight at school but maybe it was because she planned on going into the woods too? Not sure how much Nick or Summer told her about Shiva, but I guess that doesn’t matter now.”

“It could.” Jaune spoke, clicking his tongue. “She may have wanted to be prepared for anything. Wasn’t enough though. Anyways, I think a couple days of rest might do Nick and Vee well. Summer though, it could go either way.”

“Parent life, remember when things were simple?” Yang said.Jaune and Blake looked at her, confused. Thinking about it, they had a right to be. “Yeah you’re right, it’s never been simple. Never felt this complicated either though.”

“I think I know what you mean.” Jaune said cautiously. This anxious, looming thought in the back of his mind made his heart race. “We’re missing something important. Not just about Shiva, but our families in general. I don’t know what it is, but…I feel like we can’t afford to miss it.”

A mournful expression reached his friend’s faces. He was right. Despite their best efforts, loving their kids wasn’t enough; being there for them apparently wasn’t enough either. Deep down they all knew the lives they built had begun to crack somewhere in the very foundation of it all. If nothing is changed then it’ll all come crashing down. Like a house in an avalanche.

Alone, Summer hugged her knees tightly and stared vacantly into the mirror; wondering when she’d finally be able to recognize it.