#and Robin did all of their “’war paint’

[nympippi]

Which team are you rooting for? 🔵 or 🔴

[fanaticsnail]

Pet Play: Bartolomeo

Birthday Celebration Masterlist

Word Count: 3,500

Themes: Bartolomeo x f!reader, Straw-Hat reader, mdni, 18+, smut, nsfw, Dom!reader, pet!Barto, praise kink, oral, gendered terms and endearments used.

Notes: first time writing for Barto, and I adore him. Day 5 of my birthday event!

It had been eight agonizing days of traveling with your crew alongside the Barto fanclub. Whichever way you turned, there was another picture of your face thrust into your body, with teary eyes and pens offered for you to sign the image held within by your fans. You appreciated their assistance, and did enjoy the fact that your captain gathered himself a following of devoted individuals, but it had began to overwhelm you.

As a Straw-Hat, you were a deity to be worshiped upon the pedestal held by the crew and captain of the Going Luffy. It was initially quite confronting, which then dove into overwhelming, and now simply infuriating. Their blatant disregard for your personal space had managed to make your skin crawl, and your lack of privacy had you so pent up you could burst in a rage at any moment.

The Thousand Sunny had little to no privacy as it was. Even living with a small crew of a few individuals made it difficult to find time to yourself to rejuvenate your energy - let alone now sharing the same air as those who couldn't bear the thought of leaving you alone for more than was required to allow for your sleep.

What made it worse was the green-haired captain’s eyes. Those dark eyes upon his war-painted face would always find yours and beam up at you as if you were the most important thing in the world to him.

Captain Bartolomeo the Cannibal's were the eyes you would see each time you lay down to rest. Those eyes that looked up with child-like wonder as he expressed how much he adored you and his beloved Luffy. Those eyes you felt singe your back with their intensity each time you faced away, only to snap hastily anywhere else as soon as you caught him out.

It was too much.

A small call of your name broke you out of your seething, prompting you to turn to your two companions either side of you.

“Something the matter, dear?” Robin asked softly, checking you over with her knowing expression, “Have they been giving you a hard time?” She leaned back on her lounge chair to reach for her drink Sanji dutifully prepared for her.

“To be honest with you,” you confessed, piquing the interest of your copper-haired companion beside you, “This is the first moment I've had with just you guys since they came aboard.”

“Oh, I know,” Nami hummed thoughtfully as you spoke, darting her eyes towards the crowd and back to you once more, “Everywhere I go, it's just ‘Beautiful Miss Nami,’ or ‘Most Honorable Nami,’ or I think I got ‘Powerful Nami,’ at one stage - which I actually quite liked.”

Both you and Robin chuckled at her admission, garnering the attention of Bartolomeo as soon as he heard it.

To him, hearing the Straw-Hat women smile and laugh alongside him was the greatest symphony he'd ever witnessed. He felt compelled to tell you all as such, which prompted him to immediately rise to his feet and head up to the top deck towards the three of you.

“See, those names are beautiful, Nami,” you complimented her, which earned you a smile from her in response, “All I got was ‘Miss’. But yes, it's been really hard getting a moment's peace-.”

“-All of the beautiful Straw-Hat women in one spot, all lounging together like goddesses amongst us mere mortals,” Bartolomeo exclaimed with a wonder to his tone.

You groaned, hanging your head on your shoulder and pouting towards Robin. She chuckled and pursed her lips, giving a polite acknowledgement to Bartolomeo as he continued to sing praises of her ferocity and beauty.

He then focussed on Nami and spoke on her weather techniques and how much joy seeing her lightning gave him. His knack for storytelling and overemphasis on the words had you rolling your eyes and attempting to ignore him, but it was no use.

Each time you opened your mouth to speak to Robin, Bartolomeo’s growling voice barked out a whimsical wonderment towards Nami. Just as he began another tirade of how truly in awe he was to her polearm fighting techniques, you couldn't take it anymore and snapped at him.

“Down boy! Sit! Fuck, do I need to leash this guy?” you growled at him, causing him to immediately slink away from the three of you with his jaw slack. Before you had an opportunity to rephrase your wording, he plonked himself down on the floor, crossing one leg over the other and nodding at you in a frantic bob.

“You can leash me,” he whispered breathily, nodding once more with his eyes wide and wanting. “If it would make an angel more beautiful than anything my mind could conjure up in my dreams happy, I would do it-.”

“-Oh, stop with the praise, damn it,” you dismiss him, “Or I'll be forced to muzzle you too.” Nami sucked her bottom lip into her mouth to stifle her laugh while Robin drew her straw up to her lips and drank a small mouthful of the liquid.

Bartolomeo’s eyes rolled in his skull, his whine caught in his throat at the picture you gave him.

Of all of the Straw Hats, aside from Luffy, you were his favorite. He was always too nervous to approach you while either you or he was alone, simply because he felt as if he couldn't control what he would say to you. What was he to do, admit he had been in love with you the moment he captured your news clipping in his hands? Surely not.

“You don't need to muzzle me,” Bartolomeo confirmed with you softly, “I know how to behave. I can be a good boy for you.”

“Oh yeah?” you taunt him, leaning forward and challenging him with your glare, “You gonna be my good boy?”

Nami turned her head, her eyes wide while containing a squeal at the interaction between yourself and Bartolomeo. Robin’s smile grew in a large grin, her teeth now exposed and giving her an unhinged aura about her.

“I'll be anything you want me to. I can be your good boy,” Bartolomeo confessed breathily, your glare shooting sparks straight down to his cock and causing it to twitch against the seam in his pants. You reached forward, collecting his smooth chin in your fingers and smiling suggestively at him.

“Anything I want you to be?” you nod, looking down your nose at him and nodding suggestively. He mirrored your nod with his brows peaking at the center of his forehead. “Do you think you could start with being quiet? Then followed by you and your crew leaving us alone for at least two hours more than our sleep schedule every damn day?”

Nami burst out laughing, no longer able to contain her teeters. Robin’s soft chuckle joined hers, but your challenge never moved from your face.

Bartolomeo felt all of the air swell in his lungs at once, his breath snatched from him while being held beneath your stare. He let out a soft whimper, causing you to almost feel bad for him before he collected your right hand within both of his and tugged it tenderly away from his chin.

“If that's what you want, mistress,” he whispered, softly leaning down and pressing his forehead to your knuckles, “Then I'll keep myself and my crew away from you all when you need your space. I can be quiet. I promise.” He raised his head up and once again and beamed emotionally up at you, “I didn't mean to offend you with how much I like you all. I'll be quiet. I can do it, mistress.”

Your lips parted as he stood, releasing your hand from his grip and bowing low to you once reaching full stature.

“I'm sorry, ladies,” he nodded, raising his head to meet your eyes and depict his honesty, “I'll be whatever you need me to be. If you need me to be quiet, then I'll be quiet. I'll keep them all quiet. Again, I'm sorry.”

He backed away, causing your eyes to maintain their contact against his as he did so. Robin slowly held her eyes on yours and smirked as she noticed the slight hitch in your breath and fluster on your cheeks.

“Well, that was certainly something,” she chuckled contemplatively. “How did it make you feel?”

“A big ol', green-haired, sharp-toothed puppy dog following your orders,” Nami cooed beside you, causing heat to continue rising in your face and tips of your ears, “Did you see the way he looked at you? So devoted and needy.” Both women teased you with a soft coo, causing you to growl and hide your face in your hands.

“Fuck…” you whispered softly, raising your fingers to pinch at the bridge of your nose, “Something about the visual of him in a collar, leash, and muzzle did something. Damn it.”

“Hey, we don't Kink-Shame on the Thousand Sunny,” Nami pointed out, Robin nodding with a soft hum beside you in confirmation, “You wanna leash him, I'm pretty sure Sanji or Zoro might have something you can use. Or maybe Franky could make something for you-.”

“-You’re making it worse,” you growl at her. Her laugh once again rang melodiously through the top deck and down to the joint crew now being reprimanded by Bartolomeo.

“Don't you want him to be your ‘good boy’?” Robin probed you, “Have him sit by your heals and do little tricks to earn a reward?”

“Robin, damn it-!” you again groaned at her, “Not. Helping.”

“Would it help if we watched the door for you?” she shrugged nonchalantly, “Have you and Bartolomeo in a room together for you to invoke some discipline on the needy pup?” You turn and glare at her, causing her to place down her drink to raise her hands in submission.

“This was not meant with disrespect, love. I mean it,” she nodded at you, turning to Nami and nodding at her too, “We've all been pent up for a while, and you and the captain have chemistry together. Your auras align, and I'm sure he would want to continue exploring that with you.”

“Oh yeah? And what am I going to do?” you flail dramatically. Gesturing down to the bottom deck where Bartolomeo was gazing at you like a devotee up at his idol, you continued, “Go and say: ‘Alright pup, come and show me what a good boy you can be and follow some orders in my quarters’? Be real, Robin.”

“That's precisely what I'm saying,” she nodded at you, gesturing down to the base of the Thousand Sunny and shooing you with a soft flail of her hands, “Now off you go. Get your good boy.”

“Oh, fuck,” you whined, immediately feeling compelled to rise to your feet and leaving their company, “You're both so mean to me. I hope you're happy.”

“Not as happy as you're about to be-,” Nami snickered, only to be silenced by a scowl you sent towards her.

“I’m going to my quarters,” you growl at them both before taking a few steps towards the deck and peering down, “Let me have my fun.” Pursing your lips, you exhale a soft whistle to gather the attention of the cannibal on the surface below you. Clicking your tongue at him, you caught his eye and bobbed your head towards the hallway beneath the ship.

“That was always the plan, love,” Robin smiled at you. “We’ll make sure nobody bothers you until you're needed, which won't be for a while, will it, Nami?”

“Nope. Weather is perfect, and land isn't in sight for about four hours or so,” she nodded at you, “Go get that big puppy to learn some tricks. He looks like he'd be an animal in bed, and with a title like ‘cannibal’, you just know he eats well.”

With another exasperated sigh, you fled to the bottom deck towards the corridor where Bartolomeo was waiting for you. He was antsy, rocking on the balls and heels of his feet while avoiding your eye contact. Gently reaching towards the larger man, you flick at his chin to raise his eye line to your face.

“Does the offer still stand about being a good boy for me?” you tilt your head and dart your eyes between his. You hoped the tension you felt earlier was not unrequited, your pussy already beginning to gather a wave of arousal at your slit.

“Anything you want me to be,” he confirmed in a repetition of his earlier sentiment, biting his lip and gazing innocently up through his eyelashes at you. “Let me be your little pet. Collar me, leash me. I'm yours.”

A soft whine caught itself in your nasal, guts clenching in thick knots at his admission. Reaching forward, you take him by the hand and begin leading him towards your room.

Opening the door, he has a moment to take in the most hidden and intimate look at his second favorite Straw-Hat after Luffy.

The scent, the colors, the presence: the you. Everything was you, and he needed to commit each crevasse to memory in case you asked him to leave. While he was distracted, you reached below your bed and found your hidden lingerie collection and chose the items you thought he might enjoy.

While you would prefer to collar and leash him properly, give him a pretty name tag with your name on the inside of the material, you made do with an intricate slipknot to lovingly place over his neck made from a garter and a small length of rope used for bondage as a makeshift leash. Stripping yourself hastily from your clothes, exposed and completely bare, you finally turned and sat down at your desk and hooked one knee over the other.

He took another look at your bed before he finally turned away to view what you were doing with the rope. Turning towards you, his eyes grew so wide he felt they might flee from their sockets and roll onto the wooden floorboards.

“Well, don't just stand there gawking,” you rolled your eyes and revealed the little collar and leash, “Come here and let me put this on you.”

“Hhhgnm-...” Bartolomeo whined for you, dropping to his knees and wriggling along the floor while humbling himself before you. Once at your ankles, you leaned forward, giving him an eyeful of your exposed breasts and pebbled nipples as you drew the garter over his neck. Tugging on the leash, he played along to your motion and fell into your shin.

“Gonna be a good puppy and get a treat?” you tilted your head, gently parting your thighs and removing your knee from its place laced with your other, “Show me how much of a good listener you are?”

Bartolomeo felt as if he had ascended to another plane. A Straw Hat was giving him a behind the scenes tour of their quarters, and inviting him to be blessed with the opportunity of making them cum. He felt like his heart could explode, his panting breath picking up in intensity as he almost hyperventilated in glee.

“Barto…?” you softly checked in with him, “Is this too much? Would you like me to tone it do- OH FUCK-!!”

Barely giving you a moment to expel the words of concern, Bartolomeo surged forward and began nuzzling and whining against your cunt. His lips were pursed as he kissed every inch of skin greedily, tongue darting out to flicker at your crotch and taste your skin.

“Barto, w-wait-!” you attempted to reign him in, tugging the stretchy collar and trying to pry him away from your exposed area. In lieu of pulling him back, your grip on the collar only made him want to try harder to lick and suck your skin. Just as you pulled once more to pry him away, Bartolomeo managed to flick his tongue over your clit which had you cry out for him.

“Oh, fuck-!” you hissed down at him, “Barto, please make me cum?” You hooked your thighs over his shoulders, trapping his head between your thighs and angling his larger head to get a better angle on your entire pussy.

With one hand on the leash, you drew down your other and gripped his green hair while bucking up into his face.

“More on my clit please, pup,” you directed him, grinding your pussy against his eager smile. He immediately drew his lips up and circled your clit with a soft purse. Messily sucking on your clit, he parted his lips and kept the top lip rubbing the small bud while his tongue flicked and slithered against your slit.

“Mmm-! Fuck, good pup,” you whined, contorting your face in a pleasured scrunch and grinding into his lips. “Good listening. K-Keep going.”

Bartolomeo’s eyes never left your face, mapping and committing each motion to memory and whining into your pussy. His cock felt painfully hard beneath his pants. Already dampening the crotch of his patterned material, precum leaked from his small slit at the top of his cock at each small utterance of praise.

“There you go, good pup,” you keened for him. Your pussy was so wet, and with the additional combination of Bartolomeo's enthusiasm, you felt your ecstasy building rather quickly. It had been so long since you had a moment alone to think for yourself, let alone touch yourself, and it was beginning to show with how needily you groaned and whined for Bartolomeo.

“Mm, keep going. S-So close, puppy,” you praised him. Your grip grew firmer on the leash, fistfuls of green hair now burning at each follicle in a way that had Barto rocking and humping his pants while consuming you vigorously. He loved each moment, and he knew he was going to cum untouched as soon as you exploded over his face.

“Oh, baby, you're gonna make me cum,” you whine, feeling neediness continuing to take over your motions. He hummed desperately into your pussy, hoping you like the vibration he adds to your experience. He lulled his tongue out lazily, and bobbed his head messily up and down, while paying attention to your clit and slit.

You could ask Bartolomeo to do anything, and he would do it no questions asked. He would fuck your asshole with his tongue if that's what you wanted, have you sit on his face and ride him if you preferred it. All that mattered to him was making you cum. He needed to make you cum like the way his body needed water.

“Mmmfphmmm-!!” Barto babbled enthusiastically into your pussy, swiping his tongue against you with a ‘plap, plap, plap’. While the language was incoherent, the message was the same.

‘Cum for me.’

The pit in your stomach tightened to a point you felt it could snap, prompting your pitch and praise to get both higher in frequency and pitch.

“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck-! Barto, you're gonna make me c-cum-!! Oh, fuck. I'm cumming-!” You messily rode his face, holding onto the leash of your green-haired puppy while screaming for him. The world shattered like glass, your ecstasy cresting from your chest and swelling your bloodstream with pure bliss. Clear cum drooled out from your slit, Bartolomeo eagerly lapping it up while you chased your high.

As soon as you cried his name and warned him, he couldn't help it. Hot bursts of untouched release painted the insides of his pants and briefs as he muffled what sounded like your name into your pussy. Bucking wildly while sucking on your clit, he rode through his untouched high with his tip squished against his tight pants.

Coming back down from the crashing waves of bliss, you released the leash and his hair, peering down at him with a lazy glow illuminated in your skin.

“Good puppy,” you giggled at him, causing him to groan lovingly at the praise, “Lap it up, baby. Gotta get all cleaned up before I take that pretty cock you're hiding from me beneath those pants.”

Where Bartolomeo would usually say: “I don't think I can cum so soon, I just creamed my pants at the thought of you cumming in my face,” these were not usual circumstances. He was with his second favorite Straw-Hat, and he was not going to disappoint you.

However long you were willing to spend with him was a blessing from the gods, and he would be held at your mercy until you were ready to tell him to stop. You were a goddess to him, and he was a zealot to your altar.

“Good puppy,” you praised him, scrunching up your nose and cooing down at him. “Now get on the bed. Behave for me.”

“Yes mistress,” he whined at you, giving you needy kisses to the thighs and aiding you into his arms to bring you to the bed, “I'll keep being your good puppy for you. I can listen.”

You couldn't help the small whine that fled your throat, truly relishing in his complete and total submission to you. You then caught yourself wondering how much you could get away with by calling him your good boy. Would he let you peg him? Would he let you tie him down? Would he let you ride his face? Would he let you bite him? Would he let himself bite you with his sharp teeth if you asked him to?

All of those questions would find their answer over the next three hours of senseless and animalistic ravaging taking place on your mattress, followed by such sweet tenderness you had never known prior.

He was so sweet to you, and you praised your good puppy until you both fell asleep in the arms of one another.

Tag list: @mfreedomstuff @daydreamer-in-training @since-im-already-here @gingernut1314 @writingmysanity @i-am-vita @indydonuts @feral-artistry @the-light-of-star @empirenowmp3 @racfoam @sunflowersatori @carrotsunshine @skullfacedlady @jintaka-hane @thenotsofantasticlifestory @jadeddangel

🎶"Happy Birthday to Me"🎶

If you would like to celebrate by indulging my caffeine and bubble tea addiction, my Kofi link is here.

[rad-batson]

Headcanons of Tim and Damian’s Love/Hate/But-Mostly-Begrudging-Love Relationship (They’re My Babies)

They will take EVERY opportunity to be a little bitch to one another

Tim: “Don’t get too close to me. You probably have rabies.” Damian: *actually bites him*

Damian tripped Tim once, which started an all out prank war that lasted several months. It only ended when Bruce walked into a glue trap and couldn’t reach his phone to call for help. But he couldn’t figure out who put it there so they were both grounded. (It was Tim.)

Tim teaches Damian to finish his vine references when Bruce tells them they need to “bond.” They proceed to try and speak in exclusively vine references and TikTok sounds during patrol. Bruce benches them for his own sanity.

Damian: “I’m not touching you” *gets pushed down the stairs*

Tim: “I’m not in your room” *gets hit in the face with a book*

Tim calls Damian short even tho he’s only like two inches taller for quite a bit of time (and Damian never hears the end of it after Tim’s growth spurt)

Family Game Night could go in one of two ways: they’re opponents and spend the whole night one-upping each other OR they team up and wipe the floor with everyone else’s pieces

Damian: “Just trust me.” Tim: *remembering that one time Damian tried to kill him* “Okay.”

Tim: “Don’t ask questions.” Damian: *recalling the multiple genocidal Tim variants* “Whatever.”

During one Wayne Gala, they make up this game called Freestyle Checkers where they choose guests as their “pieces” then subtly manipulate them into walking to their opponent’s side of the ballroom without talking to someone from the other team or they’re out. No one can know that they’re part of a game or their opponent wins by default.

Bruce is proud of them at first for being more sociable during galas until he realizes what’s going on and immediately loses five years from his lifespan.

Both have attempted to fake their deaths to get out of the same school project

They’re both notorious for stalking people to get information instead of just…ya know…asking like a normal person. So they’re bound to team up one day.

Like maybe it’s Bruce’s birthday soon and both are like “No, I’m getting him the better present,” but then they run into each other in the vents trying to find out what he wants and they end up trading secrets. Just brotherly things

Tim: “I need you to follow this guy for me. I think he’s our culprit.” Damian: “I would rather die than take orders from you.” Tim: “I’ll buy you that fancy oil painting kit you want.” Damian: *already changing into his Robin gear* “Where is he?”

Tim makes Damian play the dumb, helpless kid in all of their covert operations, which pisses Damian off until he gets so good at it that he uses it to his advantage and annoys the hell out of Tim when they’re paired up for public appearances

“God, he’s so annoying.” “Yeah, totally.” “What the fuck did you say about my brother?”

Damian is the only person who can get Tim to actually sleep for once. No one knows how he does it, but the strongest theory so far is blackmail

Tim “I’m ignoring Bruce’s instructions because they failed the vibe check” Drake and Damian “I can totally do this mission that requires four people on my own” Wayne teaming up behind Bruce’s back and immediately getting into deep shit but somehow making it out alive with the bad guys behind bars.

During one of said missions, they thought they were going to die and said “I love you” to one another. After they survived, they silently agreed to never mention it again.

Damian gifts Tim a new board that he designed for his birthday. It took weeks. Tim cries

[joeyfranchise]

𝟙𝟚 𝕕𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕚𝕔-𝕞𝕒𝕤: 𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕨𝕠

cindy lou who…

ex!joe x fem!reader

summary: the boy that you love is with someone new…

warnings: none, it’s just sad. sfw, but minors please do not interact with my page.

word count: 1.2k.

note: based on the song cindy lou who by sabrina carpenter. i also drew inspo from harry styles’ cover of girl crush, and heather by conan gray.

it was christmas eve again, and you were all alone in your apartment, deciding against traveling to be with your family.

with a glass of wine in hand and your coziest robe on, you sat on the couch ready to get comfortable and watch a christmas movie. for most of the day you moped around, sad you’d be spending christmas alone… but it was up to you to change that.

you scrolled through the endless amount of movies before settling on a favorite, love actually.

you sipped at your wine as the movie began to play, trying to immerse yourself in it. you thought about getting up and making a snack, but your phone buzzed, and that took all your attention. it was a text from your sister, nothing that really required your attention, but you opened it nonetheless.

attached was a picture of herself and her boyfriend in front of a gigantic beautifully lit christmas tree. she was smiling from ear to ear, and her boyfriend was looking at her so sweetly. the message along with it read “we miss you! wish you were home!”

you love reacted the message and responded back with a simple “miss you!” but all it really did was remind you how lonely you were. you exited out of your messages and turned your attention back to the movie briefly before opening up instagram, ready to doomscroll. movies could never really keep your attention, but you needed the background noise.

when you looked back at your phone screen, the breath was almost knocked from your lungs. the first post was from your ex… you weren’t sure why you still followed him.

in the photo, joe was standing in a grandeur hallway, poised in front of a beautiful archway that was decorated with beautiful lights and red and green holly. next to him was a beautiful girl, the one who you could only assume replaced you.

she had long, silky, perfectly curled hair. her hand was on his chest, her beautifully manicured nails painted with tiny candy cane designs. her makeup was gorgeous as she smiled up at joe, the wing of her eyeliner was perfect, her lips the most beautiful glossy red you’ve ever seen.

he looked so happy as he stared into the camera, and it broke your heart for a moment knowing that you weren’t the one creating that happiness. you swiped to the next photo. it hurt even worse than the first.

in this photo, joe’s hand was pressed to the small of her back and he was pulling her into him. he smiled down at her, and you could almost feel the love and adoration beaming from his eyes onto her.

you knew how it felt. he used to look at you that way.

you wondered how they met, what she did to pull him in. you wondered what it took for her to break down that hard exterior he had, how she was able to melt him down, how she got him to smile like this... to post photos like this. you felt physically sick looking at it.

you swiped to the last photo. she stood there between joe and robin, with joe’s dad on his other side. they all looked so happy, smiling in the christmas lights. you could feel the bile rising in your throat.

there he was, the man you loved, smiling so happy and in love with someone else. you wanted to hate her, but how could you? sure, she was doing things you used to do, but it seemed like she brought the light back to joe. you hadn’t seen him that happy in a while, especially not the last few months of your relationship.

you reminisced on christmases you’d spent with him, how it used to be you taking photos with his parents. how it was you who woke up with him in his old bed, underneath his star wars themed sheets and bedspread.

how you’d help his mom cook breakfast, you’d spend time with his brothers’ families, you’d open gifts with him. you giggled at how you’d sneak upstairs late after everyone was asleep to have a christmas treat, trying not to laugh too loud and wake everyone up.

you tried not to throw up as you imagined them kissing under the mistletoe that’d be hung above the hearth, just like you used to. you thought about how beautiful a ring would look on her finger, about how elated joe would be to give it to her.

you remembered everything you felt for him, when he won the natty, the heisman, when he was drafted.. you were there, you were in love, but the fire began to die. joe was becoming more and more unhappy, and you had to let each other go. and now, as you sat lonely, without even your family, here was joe. happy and in love with a beautiful girl, someone who wasn’t you.

you wondered if it was snowing in ohio, you were almost sure of it. would he take her outside and spin her around in the snow, just like he did with you?

it stung, but all you could do was force yourself to be glad for him. he deserved love, you knew that. you wanted that for him, even if it was with someone else. you wondered everything about her. what did she smell like? was her skin soft? what does her voice sound like?

she was everything for joe that you couldn’t be, but that was okay. you had to be okay with it. you noticed joe tagged her in the photo, but you wouldn’t bother scrolling her page, or if it was private, you wouldn’t send her a request. her life with joe was none of your business, even if it hurt.

you didn’t know if it’d be messy, but against your better judgment, you liked joe’s post. you were going to be happy for him, no matter what. you locked your phone, placing it face down on the couch as you stood to go make yourself some popcorn.

once you returned, you focused your attention back to the movie which left you bawling by the end. you finished your wine as well, and you gathered your dishes to take them to the sink before pulling the curtains closed. you stopped for a moment to admire all the lights outside before you had them fully closed.

you picked up your phone as you got ready to head to bed, your heart sinking as you noticed an instagram notification on your lockscreen. when you opened it, your hand instinctively flew to cover your mouth, your legs feeling shaky, almost like jello.

joeyb_9: merry christmas, y/n.

that was all it read, but it nearly ripped your heart from your chest. what made him message you, you weren’t sure. you started to sob, the cries wracking through your body. it took everything in you to respond, but you did, you had to tell him one last thing.

y/n: merry christmas, joe. i’m so happy for you.

and with that you were off to bed, dreaming of joe and his cindy lou who… the girl who wasn’t you.

all photos and dividers used are not mine. credit to original owners.

taglist: @slimshiesty @starsinthesky5 @kykysinlovewithafairytale @burrowdarling @joeyb1989 @loveyatopluto @toterry @unhingedfangirl @superheroprincess22 @burreauxsworld @definitelynotdomanique @samanthamark5 @superstarshitblog @fa1ry03 @wickedfun9 @xbriexx @venic-bxtch @burrowdarling @angels555 @idbe-theman @yelenasbraid @ladyluvduv @joeburrowshaircurl @joeybisbootiful @livinobx @blairsworld22 @jarring-behavior @joeyburrrow

[kibblz-n-bitz]

Putting On A Show

Summary: After liberating a country, you and Luffy have some "fun" in front of an audience.

8k words

Tags: Exhibitionism (obviously), multiple orgasms, squirting, a hint of humiliation, creampie, oral sex, penetrative sex, biting

I've worked so hard on this fic! I hope y'all enjoy (I know I did😉)

Laughter and joy filled the air. You let out a relieved sigh, turning to your captain sitting at the head of the table. Bandages littered his skin, reminders of their most recent battle. Despite them, he was laughing and clapping along to the music Brook was playing. 

It was a fierce battle on some random island you and your crew had managed to stumble upon. Some powerful pirate had taken over the land, and the people on it lived in fear. It was only a matter of time before your captain decided to defeat the other pirate, just because someone had shown him charity (All it took was a little girl giving him a sandwich). The strawhats were all exhausted from the battle, but ready to relax with a banquet held in their name. You smiled to yourself as you looked around at your crewmates. 

The king of the island approached your table. You were giggling and chatting with Nami about stealing when he cleared his throat, announcing his presence to the distracted pirates. 

“I cannot express my gratitude enough,” He began, “I never would have thought that pirates would be the ones to liberate my country as they were also the ones to enslave it. Please, help yourself to as much food and drink as you’d like. There’s plenty to go around.”

“We will.” Zoro and Luffy said in unison.

“There is another matter I would like to discuss with your captain.” He cleared his throat once more, trying to get the attention of Luffy, who had his mouth stuffed with food in a matter of seconds. “Walk with me, if you will.”

“Can I take this with me?” Luffy picked up the biggest bowl of meat he could find. The king chuckled with a “but of course.”

The king left with your captain and his food in tow, and the strawhats went back to their own plates.

“What do you think that was all about? Seemed kinda serious.” Usopp noted as he brought some noodles into his mouth.

“Maybe he’s giving us some treasure as a gift!” Nami squealed, her eyes practically turning into Beri signs.

“Or perhaps he’s lured our captain away so he could kill him while nobody was around.” Robin said. Usopp shouted “that’s not funny!” as Chopper and Nami stared at her with a shocked expression.

“Gimme a break. You think that old bastard could take out our captain?” Zoro huffed as he took a swig of his drink. His cheeks were a bit flushed, as he was well onto his 18th cup of sake. “He’s probably just thanking Luffy or somethin’. Nothing our captain can’t handle.”

You leaned back in your chair. Despite everyone’s dismissive behavior, you really were curious as to what the two were discussing. Like Usopp pointed out, the king looked rather serious. But Zoro was right, if he was a threat then Luffy could definitely handle it. Your captain was reliable like that, and it was one of the many qualities you loved him for.

Your relationship with your captain was relatively new. You had joined the strawhat pirate crew after they had reunited in Sabaody. It was a funny coincidence, actually. At that time, you had heard many stories about Strawhat Luffy and his wild behavior. Of course, most of your information came from news articles, so naturally he was painted as a violent criminal, untamed and extremely dangerous (As if his bounty wasn’t intimidating enough). But, the first time you had ever laid eyes on him, he was running around with some big ass backpack on, and a mustache- a poor excuse for a disguise. The marines were around and he looked frantic, unintentionally drawing more and more attention to himself.

You rolled your eyes. Was this really the guy who declared war against the world government? The same guy who fought at Marineford? Really? You decided to take pity on the poor boy as he ran around the archipelago like a chicken without its head. When he ran past you, you quickly grabbed the bag he had on his back and used its weight to shove him into a nearby alley. Surprisingly, the alley was wide enough that the bag fit. 

“What the hell are you doing?” You whisper-yelled. Luffy shook his head, as if he just now realized he was in an alley with you and not out in the open anymore.

“I’m looking for my crew. There’s too many marines out there. Stupid marines.” He huffed, crossing his arms. You fought the urge to laugh. He looked a little ridiculous with his disguise. 

“You’re Monkey D. Luffy, right?” 

“Yep. That’s me!” He grinned, before pausing and slapping his hands over his mouth. “I-I mean… Whoooo’re you talking about? I dunno that guy. He sounds kinda cool though.”

You laughed. He was such a terrible liar. It was almost… cute. The way he pursed his lips and refused to make eye contact as he pretended as if he didn’t blow his own cover a few seconds before.

“Don’t worry Luffy. I’m not gonna sell you out.” You snickered.

“Then why did ya help me?” He asked with a tilt of his head. You hummed to yourself, thinking. You weren’t entirely sure yourself. You just felt the need to help him when he was lost.

“I don’t know. I just figured you could use it. Your disguise is pretty shitty by the way,” You said as you stretched, considering your next words carefully. “I can… help you find your crew, if you’d like.”

The boy lit up. He jumped forward and grabbed your shoulders, his eyes shining like stars. You briefly regretted your decision, wondering if you’d made a mistake.

“REALLY? That would be great!!!! Thank you!” He practically shouted. You slapped a hand over his mouth as you noticed an officer nearby turn his head in your direction. There was no way in hell this boy could get around the archipelago by himself and not get caught.

“Could you at least try to be quiet? I’m doing you a favor here.” You chastised him and sighed, once again doubting your decision. “Do you know where you’re supposed to be meeting them?”

Luffy nodded and told you the grove he needed to be at. You weren’t too far away, but the minute you got closer to their ship Luffy took off, grabbing your hand and dragging you in the process. So much for leading him there, you grumbled to yourself in your head.

Once Luffy saw the Sunny he immediately catapulted himself towards it, taking you along with him. You didn’t expect him to take you with him. In fact, you weren’t even sure if Luffy was aware that he’d brought you along with him, because he never looked back once the Sunny came into view. You watched as his crew cried out and hugged him, feeling a bit out of place. You inched to the side of the ship, looking for a place to get off and back onto the ground. 

“Luffy, who is that?” a voice called attention to you. You blushed and pushed yourself to the rails, nervous under the infamous pirates gazes. This is it, you panicked internally, they’re gonna think I’m an intruder and try to kill me. Images of news stories warning of crew members like the hunter Roronoa Zoro and Nico Robin flooded your mind, and you swallowed. Your mouth was dry.

“That’s my friend! She’s the one who helped me get here actually.” Luffy chirped, running to stand next to you. The boy snickered, “If it weren’t for her, I would’ve been caught by the marines!”

“Okay, what’s her name?” Zoro asked, arms crossed and heads tossed to the side. God, he was fucking scary. Sporting a scarred eye and bulging muscles.

“It’s… uh...” Luffy trailed off, hand to his chin. He turned to you. “What’s ya name again?”

“STOP BRINGING RANDOM PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW THE NAMES OF ONTO THE SHIP!” Nami barked as she conked her captain on the head.

“It’s… Y/N. I didn’t know that I’d be meeting you all here, I just saw Luffy and it seemed like he needed my help, so…” You trailed off, unsure of yourself. You cursed yourself mentally. I’m making myself sound like a wet napkin, you groaned mentally. 

“Y/N!!! Welcome to my crew!” Luffy laughed and slapped a hand onto your back. You choked on your spit. What the fuck did he just say?

“LUFFY!” The entire group shouted in unison.

“Whaat? It’s no big deal. She’s really strong!” That much was true. You spent your days as an assassin and that required a lot of training. Luffy huffed and crossed his arms. “And anyways, I’m the captain and I want her on my crew!”

“Luffy, did you even ask her if she wants to join? She looks uncomfortable.” Nami let out a frustrated sigh, bringing a hand to her temples. “I have to apologize for my captain Y/N. He can be a selfish, reckless idiot most of the time. Would you like to join us?” 

You smiled. Of course he was. But the more time you spent with him, the more you felt drawn to him. He had some sort of boyish charm, wild and carefree. He inspired you, and you felt disappointed at the thought of leaving him and going back to your boring, repetitive life.

You looked at Luffy and met his gaze. He grinned at you. Maybe joining him was a good idea. Was it crazy to want adventure in your life? You weren’t sure, but you wanted to find out. Turning back to Nami, you nodded with a surge of confidence.

Smiling to yourself, you remembered your days with Luffy. You were both drawn to each other, and the crew noticed immediately. It didn’t take long for you to warm up to the crew either. They all loved you the way you loved them. And it didn’t hurt that you were quite attractive. Curvy and soft, you loved the way you looked and it was safe to say that others did too.

You were lost in thought when Luffy roamed back to the table, without the bowl. He had a weird look on his face, like he was thinking really hard about something. That was definitely a first for Luffy.

“Something the matter, buddy?” Franky asked. “What’d that old geezer want with ya anyway?”

“He told me somethin’ about me and Y/N,” He said as he scooped food onto a brand new plate. No clue where he even got it from. Your brow raised. “He said somethin’ ‘bout a tradition ceremony or somethin’. Has to do with me and her. He said there was free food! And treasure after the event ceremony thing!”

Nami squealed, fist bumping the air. You were still confused. “What event, Luffy? And what do we have to do with it?”

“Somfin abou a…” Luffy swallowed the food in his mouth he was trying to speak around. “Constipation… in front of an audience I think? He said it’s s’posed to be really fun for us though.”

Your face scrunched, you were even more confused than before. The rest of the crew looked at each other, equally as confused. They knew their captain gravely misunderstood something important the king had said, and it was up to them to decipher what he meant. They sat in silence for a minute before the king once again approached the table.

“Before those pirates had taken over our village, we had a tradition during banquets like these. A couple chosen for the night would feast, consummate in front of an audience, and be rewarded with riches and good fortune afterward.”

In a matter of seconds, Sanji spit the wine he was taking a sip of onto Zoro. You choked on your own saliva and, at the same time as Nami, cried out “WHAT?” Usopp flushed and Robin did as well, she brought a hand to her mouth with an almost scandalized gasp. Luffy looked around, confused. 

“Huh? What? What does that mean?” Luffy asked with a tilt to his head.

“Forget it! They’re not gonna do some weird sex show for you damn perverts!” Nami yelled, pointing at the king. His expression remained the same- a kind, seemingly warm smile.

“Oh it is certainly more than that. It is an act our ancestors have honored for a very long time. It is to honor the couple, to bring them good fortune. We see it as a tribute of sorts.” He tried to explain.

“Waow! Didn’t know this island was full of perverts.” Franky chuckled with approval.

“Well, it’s kinda too late to say no now, ‘cause I already agreed to it.” Luffy shrugged before shoving more food into his mouth. Your mouth went dry as another wave of shock passed over the group.

“YOU IDIOT!” Nami hollered at her captain. “Do you ever think about anyone other than yourself? Think about Y/N! What if she doesn’t want to do this?”

Luffy blinked, then turned to you. He hadn’t thought about that. Luffy didn’t really care whether or not people saw the two of you together. The captain lived without an ounce of shame in his body, so the prospect of food, sex with you, and treasure sounded like a really good idea. But the way you were staring down at the table told him you didn’t think so.

You were silent for a minute as the crew argued with each other. Looking up at the king, you asked, “How much treasure?”

The crew went silent as they waited for the king’s response.

“We have lots of gold and riches left from the old pirates.” The king stroked his beard in thought. “And since you’ve helped our kingdom, we are willing to give you half.”

Nami’s jaw dropped. She whipped her head to you, and you felt you knew what she was going to say. But instead, she sighed.

“Y/N… you don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.” She reminded you as she placed her hands on your shoulders. The navigator sat back down in her seat beside you as you stared at your plate once again, thinking. You could feel the crews’ eyes on you, waiting for your decision. 

You mentally weighed the pros and cons of actually going through with this. On one hand, you were a little embarrassed at the thought of showing such an intimate part of yourself to a bunch of strangers. But on the other, more convincing hand, there was a really big reward at the end. It’s not like you were going to see these people again anyways. Was an hour or two of getting plowed by your boyfriend in front of a crowd worth it for millions or beris worth of treasure? 

Yes, you decided, it was.

“I’ll do it.” You turned to the king. He nodded with the same smile on his face as before. 

“Very well. I will make preparations at once. Our servants will fetch you when the time is right.” With that, the king had left the room.

An awkward silence momentarily fell over the group. Usopp and Sanji stared at you with mouths wide, in shock. Nami was also surprised, if the look on her face said anything about it.

“Didn’t take you for a pervert either, Y/N!” Franky said with a chuckle.

“Y/N… are you sure you want to do this? It’s okay if you don’t want to… we’d all understand if you called this off.” Nami reached over to grab your hand, concern etched onto her face. “Don’t do this just for us.”

“Trust me, I’m not.” You reassured Nami and held her hand. “And I’m not a pervert either, Franky. I just figured that if Luffy doesn’t care, then why should I? It’s not like we’ll be visiting this island again. And besides- we’re pirates! I’d be damned if I’m letting all that treasure go to waste.”

“Well, if you say so. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.” Usopp shrugged, his face a little flushed.

“Hm? What do you mean, Usopp?” You placed your chin on your hand and leaned forward a bit, a shit-eating grin crawling onto your face. You narrowed your eyes at him across the table. “You wanna watch?”

You laughed when he screamed, a flush blooming onto his face. He sputtered and the others joked around, falling back into their casual banter. You watched them resume their old conversation when you felt a hand lace through yours. You smiled, knowing it was Luffy. He was physically affectionate, and loved holding your hand whenever he could.

“‘M sorry I didn’t ask ya first.” Luffy said as he finished off his 4th plate. That boy could eat. 

“It’s okay. Besides, this should be fun, right?” You nudged him with your shoulder, giggling at his wide grin. He nodded eagerly.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

You stared at yourself in the mirror, hands clammy and body cold. You were nervous, now that ceremony was moments away. 

Earlier, two maids came to collect you from where you were sitting with your crew. There was a small preparation ritual you needed to go through, they explained. They led you to some sort of spa-room, with various amounts of fruits and pastries on a table in one corner. They encouraged you to help yourself and relax. You took a warm bath, with sweet scented herbs wafting through the air and petals in the tub. After you had climbed out, there was clothing laid out for you. A white silk feathered robe, one that hugged your curves and felt smooth against your skin. Nothing else.

I guess they want us to get straight to the point, you thought to yourself. You rolled your shoulders, trying to shake the anxiety out of your bones. You wished Luffy were with you. He’d kiss your fears away and tell you that you’d be fine. He’d help you get out of your head and live in the moment. But he wasn’t here. The royal servants had you two prepare yourselves in separate rooms. A soft smile spread across your face as you thought of Luffy, who had probably eaten all the treats laid out for him and asked for more. 

Sitting on a cushy loveseat, you ate some fruit and anxiously awaited the servants’ return. Waiting like this would kill you, but it wasn’t like you could leave and find your boyfriend yourself. You would just have to sit here, just you and your brain, and wait to be called so you could have sex in front of a crowd. No big deal. 

A soft knock on the door saved you from your spiraling thoughts. The servant from before peeked her head through it. “Ms. L/N? The ceremony is ready for you now.”

They led you down a strange and looming hallway. You tried to psych yourself up. It worked at first, but started to lose its effect the more you walked.

“Y/N? HEEEEY!” You heard a shout from behind you. You didn’t get the chance to turn before a weight collided with your back, pushing you forward. Steadying yourself, you reached an arm back to pet through the soft, jet-black hair you knew you’d find. 

“Hi Luffy.” You smiled. You could feel your anxiety melting away in his presence.  You could feel the warmth of his smile as he tightened his arms around you and nuzzled into the back of your neck. This is what you loved about him. The way he was able to calm your nerves and make you feel so safe and warm just by being near him. “You excited?”

“Hmm? For what?” Luffy unraveled himself off of you so he could lace your fingers together. The two of you kept walking, following the royal servants. They claimed you two were nearing the ceremony’s auditorium. You raised an eyebrow at Luffy before realization dawned across his face. “Oh! That?” he shrugged, “I dunno. I’m more excited about bein’ with ya. I don’t really care if people see us, so it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.”

You blushed at Luffy’s boldness, but you had expected an answer like that from someone like him. With a squeeze of his hand, the two of you approached two large doors.

“Beyond these doors is the entrance to the stage, where you two will be conducting the ceremony. We wish you the best of luck and we thank you for all that you have done for us.” The servants bowed their heads and opened the doors.

You and Luffy looked at each other and you took a deep breath before nodding and stepping through them together.

You and him walked onto a stage. A large bed was placed in the middle of it. White sheets, a couple pillows, and a small nightstand with two water bottles were the only things there. You swallowed, mouth dry. You heard a few cheers as the two of you made your way to the bed. Luffy looked at you. He had a feeling you might be nervous, so he squeezed your hand before lifting his other to your face and pulling you in. His lips met yours. It was… surprisingly gentle. Normally Luffy is fueled by passion lit deep in his stomach. But when his face pressed against yours, he was sweet and soft.  

“Don’t think about them,” He murmured against your lips when he pulled back. He brought the hand that held yours to the other side of your face, cradling your head between his palms. He felt so warm. “Just focus on me, yeah?” 

You nodded and sighed into his mouth when he pulled you in once more. You were so wrapped up in your lips moving against Luffy’s you didn’t notice you were moving, until Luffy pulled away to sit back on the bed. His hands slid to your waist, pulling you onto his lap. He pulled his hat from where it hung against his collarbone to place it on the bed. His garments were similar to yours in that they were silky white, but he only wore baggy parachute pants held up with a drawstring. You assumed he was also bare underneath, if his half hard length had anything to say about it. You whined into his mouth as you straddled him, one hand buried in his soft jet-black hair. The other trailed down his neck and over the X-shaped scar on his chest. Luffy gasped into your mouth, his scar tissue sensitive. His hands tightened on your waist and he pushed you onto him, trying to garner a bit of friction against his rapidly hardening member. 

“F-fuck, Y/N…” It was Luffy’s turn to sigh into your mouth. With a shudder, he brought up a hand to undo the belt that held your robe closed. When it fell open, Luffy grabbed your waist- underneath the robe this time. You whimpered when his hand gripped your flesh and squeezed, his palms igniting fires against your skin. When he went to pull the robe off of you, you stopped him.

“Not yet.” You whispered against his lips when he tilted his head at you in confusion. He seemingly understood because he went back to wrestling his tongue with yours, your kisses becoming more and more heated as time passed. You swayed your hips against his, reveling in the whine that escaped from Luffy’s mouth. He seemed to get a little more restless, because he suddenly stood, giggling when you gasped against him. He turned around with you in his arms, before tossing you onto the bed. You yelped.

“L-Luffy!” You looked at him, scandalized. Luffy shrugged it off with a laugh, kicking off his sandals and crawling after you. He had a dark look in his eyes as he situated himself between your legs. The two of you laid together on the bed with your sides facing the audience. You figured Luffy did it this way so you wouldn’t have to face them directly, and your heart swelled with love for the man in front of you. He could be considerate when it really mattered, and it made moments like these all the more special. Your hand twisted into his hair and pulled him back down to you. He groaned into your mouth and rutted his hips into yours. He was hard, painfully so, and you wanted to help him the way you knew how. You locked your legs and rolled him over. He grunted in surprise at the position change, blinking up at you with wide eyes. You pressed a kiss to his lips playfully and pulled back to sit on top of him.

“Let me take care of you right now, m’kay?” You leaned back down and pressed kisses to his neck. Luffy groaned, head falling back against the pillow. His breath came quicker as you trailed kisses down his chest, pausing momentarily to suck on a nipple, before continuing downward. He was full on panting by the time you reached his navel. “Luffy… Look at me. Watch me.”

He brought his head up from the pillow and blinked his eyes open to watch you. You pulled back momentarily to undo the drawstring of his pants. You slid the silk down his hips, eyeing down his length as it slapped against his lower belly. He pushed himself up onto his hands to watch you move your hair out of your face and grip his length, hissing through his teeth as you gave it a few pumps. You brought it to your mouth and kissed the tip sweetly, before locking eyes with your captain again and dragging your tongue up the underside of his dick. He hissed as you traced the vein running along his dick, and grunted when you finally sealed your lips around his tip

“Fhh- Y/N… stop teasing,” Luffy whined, his hips squirming to try and get you to take more into your mouth. You grinned as much as you could and pushed his hips down against the bed. Deciding to have mercy on the poor boy, you tightened your lips around him and sucked gently, taking him deeper into your mouth. He groaned as he watched you bring a hand to stroke his dick, using your spit to help your hand glide easier. You whined at the feeling of his weight on your tongue, bobbing your head. Luffy was shaking, bringing a hand to card through your hair. You could tell he was trying to be patient and not fuck your throat the way he wanted to, so you decided to reward him by swallowing him deeper. He let out a cry before whimpering, “C-can I? Please?” 

“Please what, Luffy?” You pulled off of his dick with a pop and stroked him as you waited for him to answer. He squirmed and whimpered as you gripped him tighter. “Use your words.”

Luffy let out an exasperated sigh as he held your face, forcing you to look at him. “Can I fuck your throat? Please?”

You hummed and nodded, kissing his tip before opening your mouth, the flat of your tongue pressing against the underside of his dick. Looking up at Luffy, the two of you locked eyes as you sucked him deeper, deeper down your throat until your nose nestled in the coarse hair at the base of his cock. He threw his head back and groaned as his hand tightened in your hair, holding your head in place. His hips ground against your face. Drool spilled out of the sides of your mouth, your chin sloppy and messy. You tried to hold your breath as your throat constricted around his cock. When he finally loosened his grip on your hair, you pulled back to catch your breath. You didn’t take too long though, because after a moment you dove forward again, pushing yourself past the tears that slid down your cheeks. You hummed as Luffy used his hold on you to build up a steady rhythm, alternating between bobbing you up and down his length and stuffing himself down your throat.

Luffy was panting and whining, and you could tell he was close before he stuttered the warning to you. This made you double your efforts, sucking him down and swirling your tongue around his cock. Luffy let out a broken moan, and that was all the warning you got before he pushed you as far as he could go. You held yourself still as he released down your throat, swallowing as much as you could. Luffy always came a lot, so even when he released you and you pulled back you still had enough cum in your mouth keeping it full. You blinked up at him through teary lashes and swallowed, panting and finally taking the chance to catch your breath. Fuck, you looked absolutely wrecked. Teary-eyed, flushed, and face covered in drool and cum, you sat back on your haunches. At some point, your robe had slipped off your shoulders, revealing your gasping chest. 

“Fuck Y/N.” Luffy cursed as he pulled you in for a kiss. “Ya felt. So. Fucking. Good.” He gasped in between kisses. You whimpered into his mouth, shrugging the rest of the robe off and wrapping your arms around his shoulders. His hand found your waist as the other cradled the back of your head, deepening the kiss. You loved his hands. They left scorching trails in their wake, seemingly lighting up your body from the inside out. You wanted him so badly, the crowd of people watching you far from your mind. Your thoughts quickly vanished from your mind when Luffy swiped a finger through your folds, sighing at how wet he found you. He kissed down your neck as he slipped a finger inside of you. You sighed and humped his hand, twisting a hand into his hair. He smirked from where he was sucking a mark into your neck. He surprised you again by picking you up and turning around, laying you against the pillows.

“My turn!” He chirped against your lips as he began kissing down your body. He stopped to leave a few love bites, sucking on your neck and collar. When he reached your chest, he sucked a nipple into his mouth, bringing up a hand to play with the other. His other hand dove lower. You whined, squirming as he toyed with your clit and pinched your nipple at the same time. He kissed and nipped at your chest, delighting in the marks he left behind. He gave equal attention to your other breast before continuing his descent, groping and squeezing your body. He loved how soft you were. It made you really fun to cuddle and he loved the bruises his fingers would leave behind from grabbing your hips too tightly. He looked up at you when he finally reached your dripping cunt. He moved your legs to rest over his shoulders as he pressed kisses to your plush thighs. Using his hold on your legs, he spread them a little more, smiling as he gazed down at your wet pussy. He licked his lips, suddenly giddy. “Ready?”

He didn’t wait for your answer before he ran his tongue through your folds. Your gasp turned into a whimper as his tongue lapped over you more, flicking your clit. He groaned into your cunt at your taste on his tongue. Luffy continued with his languid swipes before pushing his tongue a little deeper, ducking past your entrance. This is where his devil fruit came in handy! His tongue stretched into you, flicking at your walls before retreating, only to repeat a mere second later. Your hips twitched and you whined out into the air before gasping for breath. Your hand reached down to run a hand into Luffy’s hair. The other grasped the pillow. Luffy looked up at you as he plunged his tongue deeper and deeper into you, playfulness shining in his eyes at your reaction. You moaned and writhed against him out of your mind with pleasure.

“M-more… Luffy,” You mewled as you clenched around his tongue. He switched up, pulling his tongue out of you and replacing it with his fingers. He huffed against your cunt, taking a moment to catch his breath. It didn’t last long though, because soon enough he nosed his way forward, sealing his lips around your clit. He sucked the bundle of nerves into his mouth as he dipped two fingers inside of you. Slick, wet noises filled the air. You cried out and writhed against him, causing Luffy to grunt and use his grip on your waist to pin you to the bed. “‘M so close Luffy please.”

You were mindless. Rolling your hips against his face, chasing your peak. It was clumsy but slow, with no real rhythm, but growing greedier by the minute. Your thighs began to quiver around Luffy’s head. This didn’t go unnoticed by him, as he doubled down on his efforts. He alternated between slow and fast licks against your clit, while stretching his fingers to reach and curl deep within you. 

“Mmf- Fuck! Luffy,” You gasped, voice wobbling. “I’m s- hnngh… S-so close I- haah… I’m gon-na -!”

Your hips lifted off of the bed, trying to twist out of Luffy’s grasp. He lifted your lower body up a little in his arms, mouth still slotted against your folds. This way you couldn’t hide from the overwhelming pleasure electrocuting your body. You often fought for your orgasms, but Luffy refused to let this one go. He held you tight as you moaned his name. A groan vibrated against your pussy as your release flooded his mouth. You gave up your thrashing, body bouncing a little as you slumped against the mattress. You moaned as you rode out your orgasm on Luffy’s tongue. He kept his mouth on you until you were twitched from oversensitivity. Running a hand through his hair, you gently pulled him away from your shaky thighs and spasming cunt. 

This boy was a mess. Your fluids covered the lower half of his face, glistening against the lights shining onto the stage. His jet-black hair was tousled from your pulling. He smiled at you as if it were just the two of you, seemingly ignoring the cum dripping off of his chin. 

“Y’taste so good Y/N,” Luffy pulled your face forward for a sloppy kiss. You whined at your taste on his tongue. He shuffled forward a bit before pushing you back against the bed. Before he threw himself onto you Luffy slid a pillow under your hips. Your legs slotted against his hips as he made himself comfortable on top of you. “I wanna… be inside of ya so bad… Can I?” He whimpered in between kisses.

You hummed, cradling his face in your palms as you pressed light kisses all over his face. He giggled before burying his face into your neck, his hips rutting against you. Like some kind of mutt, all slobber and excitement as he humped against your folds. You chuckled before shifting a little, angling your hips towards Luffy. You pulled him away from your neck and kissed him deeply. He seemed to get the message. Luffy lined himself up before pulling away from the kiss, a strand of saliva connecting your mouths together. He looked down to watch himself push his way inside of you. You threw your head back and whined at the feeling of him filling you up. 

A hiss turned into a groan as he finally bottomed out inside of you, pubic bone pressed against yours. His dick was long and thick, and he stretched out using his devil fruit powers, growing til his tip kissed your cervix. You expected him to start fucking you right away like he normally did. But when he didn’t, you blinked your eyes open and looked up at him in confusion. He smiled at you lazily and looked down to where the two of you were connected. You tried to grind down on him, to gain some sort of friction, but he used his body weight to pin you to the bed.

“Wh- Luffy?” You gazed at him, confused. “What are you-”

“How bad do ya want it?” 

…

“What?” You blinked at him, not believing what you’d heard.

“I said,” Luffy leaned forward, eyes dark and flickering with mischief. “How bad do ya want it?”

“Luffy, don’t do this, please. Not now,” You pleaded. “I can’t, it’s s-so embarrassing.” You seemed to remember now. You were in front of an audience. One that was eerily quiet, might you add. Your face burned with shame. He wouldn’t make you beg in front of them, would he? You shuddered, slowly turning your head to the audie-

A rough hand grabbed your face, turning you back to look at the man currently inside you.

“Don’t.” He growled. “Look at me and tell me what you want.” He ground his hips into yours for emphasis, delighting in your needy mewls.

You sniffled, tears pricking the corners of your eyes. God, of all the times to tap into his possessive, demanding side, he had to choose now. What happened to the sweet, docile Luffy who begged to put his hands on you? The boy who was happy just using your mouth? You couldn’t find him in this suddenly commanding man, who twitched inside of you at your distress. It wasn’t often he got like this, all assertive and dominant, but when he did you basked in his authority. He always fucked you a little bit deeper, a little bit harder when he was in this mood. You were happy to indulge him, to beg and submit to his every whim.

But not like this.

This was humiliating.

You whined and squirmed as you thought over your next words carefully. You decided to beg for mercy once more.

“I-I can’t.”

“Fine, I guess ya don’t want it.” Luffy sighed discontentedly. He pulled away from you, shifting to pull himself out of you before you stopped him. You wrapped your legs around him and pulled him back in with a small yelp. Your hands gripped his arms caged around you. Luffy looked down at you, a smirk pulling at his lips. 

“Please, captain…” you sniffled, tears of frustration spilling down your face as humiliation boiled within your veins. But you couldn’t deny the way you clenched down on Luffy as your resolve crumbled into pieces. “Please fuck me. Cum deep inside of me, please. Please. I need it so badly, fuck.”

He blinked at you.

“Fuck. Fuck! I need you to f-fuck me, captain. Please.” You sobbed, writhing on his dick. Luffy laughed, shifting on his knees and hooking his elbows into the crook of your legs. His trademark grin beamed down at you as shivers wracked your body.

“See? That wasn’t so hard!” Luffy snickered. He wouldn’t call himself a sadist, but he did find you crying and begging for him to fuck you kind of funny. “Okay, okay, fine. I gotcha.”

With that, he drove his hips forward. Luffy grunted as you clenched around him, your walls so warm and wet. His length hammered away at that spot inside of you, blurring your vision. You moaned, head rolling back against the pillow. He felt so fucking good. Your mind short-circuited and you couldn’t focus on anything other than Luffy’s length pounding you. With a loud groan, Luffy looked down to where you two were connected. He watched his cock pump in and out of you at an erratic pace. His mouth hung open, drool dripping down his chin and onto your belly. 

That’s when he saw it.

When he’d bottom out, a slight bulge would poke out of your lower abdomen. He wanted to see it again. He pushed into you as deep as he could, staring down your body as your back arched off the mattress. Luffy gasped and sat up a little more, lifting your hips with his hands. He used his hold on you to thrust deeper, harder, his tip knocking against the walls of your with each thrust.

“Ngh- Look, Y/N…” Luffy grunted and whined as you lifted your head, almost delirious but willing to obey him. “You can-ah! You can see me inside ‘f ya.”

You watched as he fucked you like an animal, desperate to bury himself within the deepest parts of your body. Your hands scrambled for purchase against the bedsheets, your eyes squeezing shut as you cried out into the air. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more overwhelming, your captain pressed the palm of his hand on your tummy, feeling himself slide in and out of you. 

You couldn’t speak. Your body was alight with pleasure, and you felt your peak rapidly approaching. The coil wound deep inside of you tightened. But this orgasm felt a little… different. You could feel the waves of pleasure intensify, like a dam fit to burst.

“L-Luffy I’m-” You were unable to finish your sentence, his length knocking into you just right. You practically screamed and threw your head back as you finally let go. Pleasure ripped through you like a tsunami, your vision spotting, hearing nothing but the pounding of blood in your ears. 

You heard it before you saw it. Your release squirting out against Luffy’s abdomen as he fucks you through it. Loud, wet squelches filled the air, mixing with the sound of your cries and Luffy’s groans. Luffy let out a loud moan, dropping to his forearms and hovering over you. He slowed down a little, opting for grinding his hips into you to catch his breath.

“Fuck Y/N… You’ve never… mnhh- done that before.” Luffy heaved, wrapping his arms around you and burying his face into your neck. You had squeezed so impossibly tight around you when you came, and even now your pussy flutters with the aftershocks of your orgasm. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, petting his hair.

“Luffyy…” You whined, your words slurring together. You warbled something about feeling good before kissing his neck. Everything else had faded away. All you could see, think, feel was him and how good he was making you feel. You wrapped your legs around him, caging him in. Luffy’s moans and whines rose in pitch.

“Y/N! I- hff- ‘m gonna-!” Luffy ducked his head into the crook of your shoulder and moaned, hips stuttering as he came. You moaned at the feeling of his warm seed filling you up. Luffy pushed in as deep as he could go and stayed there. He always preferred being deep inside of you whenever he came. He didn’t care about getting you pregnant, but he loved the way you twitched and whined whenever he came inside of you. With a sigh, he peeled himself away from you, sitting back to admire the mess between your bodies. He laughed.

“Wow, look at the mess ya made!” Luffy snickered. You pushed yourself onto your elbows, face flushed. You’ve never cum so hard before, and you hadn’t even realized you’d squirted until you saw the damage. Luffy’s abdomen and thighs glistened with your cum. His cum dripped from your cunt onto the soaked bed sheets beneath you. Luffy snickered, then brought a hand to grip your thigh. Using his hold on you, he flipped you over onto your stomach. You yelped and shot a confused look over your shoulder. “What? ‘M not done with ya just yet.”

His hands gripped your hips, pulling them upward, your back bowing into an arch. Luffy groped at your ass as he watched the last of his cum ooze out of your cunt. He didn’t like that, so he collected the fluid that threatened to drip down your thighs and pushed it back into you.

“L-Luffy! Just get on with it already!”

“Shishishishi! Sorry Y/N. I jus’ can’t help but play with ya.”

You yelped once more as you felt a hand collide harshly with your ass. Your head whipped around to look at him over your shoulder, face flushed.

“Wh-what the hell was that for?!”

Luffy shrugged with a snicker. “Dunno, just felt like it.”

“Well, give me a warning the next time you decide t- aahn!”

Luffy interrupted you by pushing inside of you in one swift movement. He shifted forward on his knees, leaning forward and nipping at your ear.

“Sorry, were ya sayin’ somethin’?”

He began to pump in and out of you, hard and deep. This position made it easier to hit the deepest parts of you, tip of his cock knocking against your cervix with each thrust. Fuck, any semblance of coherence you held onto slipped from your mind, Luffy’s cock fucking you dumb. You drooled onto the pillow beneath you, moans flowing freely from your open mouth. Luffy whined, driving into you faster. His hips snapped against your ass.

You squirmed and whined as his length pounded away at your g-spot. Your thighs quake, you can feel yourself fluttering around his length. You were reaching another orgasm rapidly, trying to stop it or slow down was futile. Luffy was going to fuck you through your orgasm whether you liked it or not. The repeated stimulation against your cervix and the barely-there stimulation of his balls slapping against your clit drove you closer and closer to the edge.

“Hff- I can feel ya tightening up ‘round me like a fuckin’ vice, baby.” Luffy groaned, his words breathy. He angled his hips, rolling his hips, trying to get you to cum. His arm reached around you, index finger circling your clit. You cried out and clenched down on Luffy. He moaned and you came, gushing around his cock. It wasn’t as intense as your last orgasm, but that didn’t make it any less euphoric. Fireworks danced behind your eyelids as you trembled and cried out in mindless pleasure.

“Atta girl!” Luffy huffed. Your thighs quivered and gave out, crumbling against the bed. Luffy fell with you, sweaty chest pressed against your back. He slowed down, letting you catch your breath for a moment, but still wanting to stimulate himself. He nipped at your ear. “S-so fuckin good f’me baby… Gimme one more, please?”

“Luffyyy,” you whined, words slurring together. Talking was no easy feat. Your tongue felt thick and too heavy to move. Your vision blurred and your face was wet from the tears staining your cheeks. Honestly, you weren’t sure if you could cum again. It’s not like the drag of his cock through your oversensitive walls was helping you, either. “I dunno…  ‘f I can- nnh.”

“C’mon princess, please? For me?” He pressed fleeting kisses against the side of your face and neck, desperate to feel you squeeze him tightly again. Your cunt fluttered and he groaned, wanting so badly to resume his previous pace. But not without your permission. “Please, please?”

Bringing your arms to hold the pillow underneath you, you ground your hips back against your boyfriend. Your nerves alight with oversensitivity, you moaned and squirmed on his cock. It was hard to speak, but you tried your best to show him that you were willing to try, were giving him permission to fuck another orgasm out of you. Luffy seemed to take the hint. He let out a soft chuckle and kissed your face tenderly, he was so in love with you. Nibbling at your ear, he sped up, thighs clapping against your ass. The sound of him fucking you mixed with his overstimulated whimpers in your ear made you whine and clench down on his cock. 

Luffy brought a hand underneath you to rub at your clit, delighting in the way you cried and writhed on his length. You were close, still basking in the aftershocks of your previous orgasm, he just needed something to push you over that edge and into euphoria. A lightbulb went off in his head at the same time that you fluttered around him. He just needed to press on you the way he did before, right? The heel of his palm pushed against your lower abdomen as his middle finger stretched to stay pressed to your clit. It was an awkward angle, but he was determined to have you gush all over him like you did before. You sobbed, practically screaming as your hips bucked, but you had nowhere to go since his hips kept you smothered against his hand and the bed. Your mind went completely blank. Stars burst behind your eyelids. 

“LUFFY! ‘M ssoohmygod ‘m gonna cum- ‘mgonnacumsofuckingh-”

Your legs kicked out as you squirted once more, your screams muffled against the pillow you bit into. Luffy was at the end of his rope. He kept fucking into you, your orgasm bringing him to his own. He bit down on your neck as he came, buried as deep inside of you as he could go. He growled as his cock throbbed and pumped wave after wave of his seed into you. Your forehead pressed against the pillow you had scooped into your arms, gasping for breath. Mentally, you were blissed out. Warmth spread through every part of your body, tingling with pleasure. Your thighs trembled even as you came down from your orgasm. 

Luffy was in a similar state. He slumped against you, chest heaving. His hands caressed the sides of your body as he came down from his orgasm. He licked at the deep bite mark he left on your neck. It wasn’t deep enough to draw blood, but definitely enough to leave a mark for the next few days, a week if he was lucky. Knowing that you’d be walking around with a mark left by him made his dick throb. 

“You okay, baby?” He whispers in your ear, hand rubbing at your back soothingly. You gurgle a response, physically incapable of forming words while you were still coming down. Luffy chest vibrates from where he’s pressed against you as he chuckles. When he pulls away from you, you whine at the loss of his warmth. You’re finally starting to regain consciousness, though your words are slurred. “Luffy… ‘m tired.”

“Aww, are ya? I can take ya back to the ship if ya want.” Luffy sat up, drinking some of the water that was sitting on the table next to the bed. You seem to perk up at that, and he grins, setting the water back down before rolling off the bed. You seemed to forget about the crowd watching you, and though Luffy was aware of their watchful eyes he couldn’t bring himself to care. He picked up his hat from where it’d fallen onto the stage, placing it back onto his head. He didn’t bother with the pants. He nudged you to sit up, as you already started drifting off to sleep. “C’mon, Y/N. Sit up fa me.”

Luffy pulled you into his arms, lifting you up off the bed. You grumbled and wrapped your arms and legs around him, not unlike a koala. He giggled as you buried your face into his neck. He knew that when you woke up you’d probably flush with embarrassment at your lack of self-awareness, but he didn’t mind. You were so cute when you were all flustered. Even now, the way you drooled a little bit onto his shoulder was adorable. Luffy sighed with content as he carried you through the doors exiting the stage and down the hallway. 

The captain of the strawhat pirates was so in love with you it even startled him sometimes. The way you kept a level head when he was flying off of the handle. You helped rein him in without smothering him or cramping on his way of life. You balance him out. His heart did little jumping jacks when he met you, and the minute you offered to help him he knew he had to have you on his crew. So he didn’t mind carrying you all the way back to the ship, not at all. You were his, and he’d carry you for miles if it meant he could wake up next to you in the morning.

Thanks for reading! I may include an epilogue (or a part two) if I feel like it >w<

[magnoliasandarson]

gods of gotham- hermes

In the stories and myths, Hermes is ubiquitous, appearing at just the right times to cleverly trick a foe or impart a gift. He is ever-youthful, ever-cunning, and ever-giving. He is the messenger of the gods, the original jack of all trades. Travelers made offerings for his protection, diplomats prayed for his guidance, and merchants made sacrifices to gain his favor. But Hermes did not solely act with boyish mirth; he was a warrior god like his brethren, and his cunning and rage saw ichor and blood spilled all the same.

The friezes depict a young god, oft guiding flocks and travelers alike with his staff. His name was invoked at lodges and markets, messengers bore his sigil on their journeys, and shepherds carried his sacred tool. Silver-tongued and strategic, he was the emissary of the gods, sent to share divine guidance with the worthy. The gods and the people loved him, for he was useful. The helpful and clever- let them see him as such, let the darker aspects of his character be lost to time.

Hermes was not only a shepherd. His staff was not only for guidance. When the drums of war sounded, and the banners were raised, Hermes was there. Laying traps for enemies, leading assassins under the cover of darkness, and crafting deadly lies. He was the delivery service for divine justice, and it was oft… personal. He leveled cities and civilizations on whims, his violence was that of the gods of war, and he was efficient. The artists remember him as a genial youth, happily serving his betters; the paintings would never show him wading through the field of battle, nor would they show him executing the godly vengeance entrusted solely to him.

In Gotham, Red Robin served as a young vigilante. Small in stature and seemingly eternally youthful, he guided those seeking sanctuary to shelters and halfway houses. He was not seen as overly violent like his fellows, silver-tongued and strategic; he lingered in the shadows and plotted. The heroes and people loved him, for he was useful. The helpful and clever- let them see him as such, let the darker aspects of his character be lost from the narrative.

Red Robin was not only a guide. His bo-staff was not merely decorative. When screams sounded, and the bat-signal was lit, Red Robin was there. Laying traps for enemies, leading his team under the cover of darkness, and crafting deadly explosions. He was the delivery service for violent justice, and it was oft… personal. He dismantled corrupt governments and criminal enterprises in a single sleepless night, his violence was surgically precise, and he was efficient. The people remember him as another sidekick in the shadow of the Bat; they would never imagine his penchant for destruction, nor would they think of him executing the heroic vengeance entrusted solely to him.

Welcome back, Hermes- your people have missed you.

In Greece and Gotham, when screams echoed through the air and warriors and wounded alike prayed for salvation, justice arrived on swift wings. After the damage was done and the ashes settled, they would remember only the youthful helper. And he liked it that way.

[steddieasitgoes]

@steddiemas Day 15 Prompt: Spread Holiday Cheer

Tags: Established Relationship, Future Fic, Christmas Fluff, Sending Holiday Cards, Eddie Munson Loves Steve Harrington

wc: 1554 | Rating: G

Read on ao3 | ao3 collection

Eddie’s perched on the kitchen counter, two fingers deep in a jar of peanut butter when the front door creaks open and shut. Barefoot patter across the reclaimed wood floor until Steve appears in the doorway. He has a  stack of mail tucked under his arm. An open card clutched between his hands.

“Did Dustin tell us Suzie was pregnant again?” Steve asks. He swats Eddie off the counter as he walks to the corner they’ve designated for unopened mail. Dropping the mail on the stack of overflowing flyers and magazines they’ve yet to get through, he squints at the card in his hands.

“I talked to him yesterday and he didn’t mention anything,” Eddie mumbles, mouth full of peanut butter. “Why?”

“She definitely looks pregnant.”

“Sweetheart,” Eddie chastises as he winds the lid of the peanut butter back on the jar. “You can’t assume she’s pregnant just because she looks a little…”

The words fizzle out as he rests his head on Steve’s shoulder. His eyes take in the Christmas card in his hands. Henderson’s are always his favorite. The boy’s always had a thing for dramatics, something that hasn’t waned with age. Or the growing brood of kids he’s acquiring.

This year's card is Star Wars-themed. Dustin dressed as Han and Suzie in Leia’s white costume. Their oldest son is Luke, lightsaber held high. The twins in homemade R2D2 and C-3Po costumes.

The youngest has been painted green, channeling Yoda if Eddie had to guess. And of course, their dog rounds out the eccentric bunch in a homemade Chewbacca costume.

One glance at Suzie’s growing belly, stretching the fabric of Leia’s dress is all it takes for Eddie to confirm Steve’s suspicions. The message at the bottom of the card also helps.

“You really should read these with your glasses on,” Eddie teases, fingers reaching over Steve to tap at the message printed at the bottom. “Says here their “galaxy” is growing in spring.”

“Christ,” Steve says, shaking his head. “He’s building a damn sports team over there.”

Eddie snorts. “More like a D&D group. They’re going to be the Von Trapps of the Dungeons and Dragons world one day.”

With a snort of his own, Steve shakes Eddie off of him and crosses the room to their fridge. It’s not uncommon for the yellowing white door to be flooded with messages and cards, but it’s ten times worse during December. Eddie can barely get into the freezer without a card or two falling, taking their magnets with them.

Still, Steve doesn’t let the cluttered fridge stop him from hanging Dustin’s card up there amongst the rest. Eddie watches as he takes a step back, hands coming to rest on his hips as he admires the holiday spread in front of him.

Dustin’s card sits towards the top, sandwiched between one from the Sinclairs — a back shot of Lucas, Max, and their daughter Ellie hand in hand on a beach in California — and one from the Byers-Hoppers — Hop and Joyce sat in their matching rocking chairs on their porch with dopey smiles on their faces as they look out on their hoard of grandkids.

There’s a card from the Wheeler-Byers, too — a caricature of their family, the boys, and their army of dogs no doubt drawn by Will himself. It sits beside the one from El and Erica, a joint holiday postcard from Italy where they’re studying abroad.

Nancy and Jonathan are the most professional of the bunch — no surprise given Jonathan’s photography skills and Nancy’s perfectionism. The one of Jeff’s kids is one of Eddie’s favorites, the trio screaming on Santa’s lap while Jeff and his wife smile at the camera. A close second is Gareth and Freaks who decided to hit up the local JcPennys for awkward family portraits with their girlfriends.

Robin and Chrissy’s is front and center, the two of them kissing under the mistletoe while their daughter rolls her eyes in the background. Beside it is one from Wayne and Scott, a grainy shot that Steve took himself the last time they visited Hawkins. There’s one from Eden and Argyle from Missouri, which was news to everyone when it arrived.

A handful from Steve’s past students tacked up over each other along with ones from their coworkers. Fleeting faces in their lives, along with permanent fixtures.

In the center of it all is their card from this year. They took it back in July when prices were cheaper and Steve could order them in bulk without breaking the bank. They’re smiling at the camera on the couch in their living room, a silly Santa plush sits between them. Both in godawful ugly sweaters with Santa hats perched on their heads despite the sweltering summer sun peaking in from the bay window.

Maybe he’s biased, but he thinks theirs is his favorite.

Eddie’s pretty sure it’s the best one they’ve ever taken which is why he feels the wind knocked out of him when he spots Steve frowning at it.

“Everything okay, Stevie?”

Steve hums, prying his eyes away from the fridge to look at Eddie. He offers him a soft smile and a curt nod before excusing himself. Eddie’s pretty sure he hears him mumble something about needing to start this week's lesson plan.

Eddie knows it’s a lie — it’s the final week before winter break and Steve never teaches during it — but he doesn’t call him out on it. Instead, he lets his boyfriend slink out of the room. When he’s gone Eddie shifts his attention back to the fridge, eyes squinted as he tries to puzzle out what has Steve so bum hum bug all of a sudden.

He doesn’t get it at first. There’s nothing different about this year's cards than the hoards they’ve received in the past. Everyone who should be up there is up there, smiling wide at what this year has given them. Happy parents and smiling kids, wild pets, and even wilder adventures.

His eyes are making a third pass over the cards when it clicks. Eddie knows Steve’s not disappointed with the way their life has turned out, but it's clear from the cards littering their fridge that something is missing. 

Every card screams family, except theirs.

Well, Eddie thinks, that simply won’t do.

💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌

It takes three days for Eddie to pull everything together. The minute Steve leaves for work on the fourth day, he gets to work setting everything up. In a matter of hours, their living room gets transformed from a moderate Christmas room to one that belongs in those cheesy movies Steve always has on.

He’s relocated the tree to the middle of the room, decked everything out with garland and twinkling light, and hand-painted the Santa’s workshop sign he stayed up late making last night. After an hour-long call with Jonathan, he manages to get the camera and tripod set up.

Getting their pets dressed takes the longest, but after chasing everyone around and bribing them with a shit ton of treats he gets all 3 dogs, 4 cats, Parrot, snake, and bunny in their respective holiday attire. He’s putting the finishing touches on his own look when he hears the familiar creak of the front door.

“Eds?” Steve calls, voice tinged with curiosity. “What’s going on?”

“We’re taking our Christmas card picture,” Eddie says, appearing around the corner in a red Santa suit.

Steve blinks before slowly looking around the room. The dogs and cats all match in elf costumes. Pierce the Bunny and Ozzy the Parrot are somehow keeping elf hats on their head and Sizzle the Snake has a ribbon wrapped loosely around her body like the world's most delicate Christmas present.

Eddie watches as Steve takes everything in, lips parted in that cute confused look he always gets. Fish out of water, he likes to tease.

“Don’t worry, I have your costume here too,” Eddie says, holding up a matching red Santa suit.

“I’m confused, we already sent our cards out for the year.”

Eddie hums. “We did, but we forgot to include some very important members of our family in the card. Don’t you think our friends deserve to have all our beautiful faces on their fridges?”

“I mean, I guess? It’s going to cost a fortune though this late in the game.”

“Our family is worth it.”

💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌

It costs them an arm and a leg to get the cards printed and sent out in time, but it's worth it to see the smile permanently etched on Steve’s face as he tacks it up on the fridge, replacing their original card.

This time when he steps away there’s nothing but pure happiness on his face.

“I know it’s not the big family you dreamed of,” Eddie says, wrapping his arms around him as he admires the display. “But it’s still pretty great, right?”

“It’s perfect, Eds.”

💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌💌 💌 💌

The following year, Dustin’s isn’t the only card with a new face on it. Steve, Eddie, and their army of pets are joined by a pair of timid smiles. A brother-sister duo whom they’ve been fostering since February. If all goes as planned, they’ll be permanent fixtures on the Munson-Harrington card for decades to come. 

[soleminisanction]

Do you think Tim would have been more angry at Steph for starting the war games if she survived/didn’t fake her death? Or do you think the fact that she tried to fix it in the end would absolve her of that blame a little bit in his eyes?

I always love your analysis btw! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the world

That's a good question. An interesting complication to the answer being: does canon Tim even know that Steph was responsible for for starting the War Games?

It can be hard to tell because certain people muddled the waters a lot (cough Brian Q Miller cough no-nothing wiki writers cough cough) but near as I've been able to glean from reading the comics, so far as most people in-universe were concerned, the blame for the War Games gang war fell on Batman's shoulders. There was a big publicity campaign during the War Crimes arc that followed that outed Steph as the girl Robin, but it painted her as a martyr and laid all the blame at Batman's feet.

Near as I could tell, the only people who actually knew Steph was involved with causing the war were Bruce, Selina, Black Mask, and Cass; and Bruce also blamed himself. The only person who ever really held Steph responsible was Cass.

So the question is, was Tim only not upset because he didn't know about Steph's involvement? Personally, I like to think that, if Steph had lived/not faked her death, she would've been open about her part, and that she'd continue the arc she showed in War Games of newfound awareness and understanding of how her actions affect others.

And if she did that, I think Tim wouldn't be angry. Hurt, yes. I think the whole mess of emotions surrounding those days, especially the fact that she became Robin in part to deliberately hurt him, would irrevocably damage their relationship to the point where they couldn't date anymore, and they'd need to spend some time apart. Tim would go off to Bludhaven with Cass after his dad dies, and Steph would go... somewhere else, away from Gotham, maybe with her mom, to recover and figure out her own way to move on after everything.

But the parting, I like to think, would be more sad than angry, a mix of remorse and hurt and being glad they're both alive and just... knowing they can't be around each other right now. That they won't be able to stand doing that again for a while.

Eventually, after a few months or years, they might get back to a point where they've worked through the grief and trauma enough to be friends again. And it'll be a different relationship than they had before, but it'd still be good. Or maybe they'd just stay apart from each other and live their own lives. You never know.

So yeah, bit of a ramble, but that's how I figure it'd work. Steph really does show her best character during War Games so I'm inclined to say that people who met her in the immediate aftermath, especially people who knew her before and could see how she'd changed, would give her the benefit of the doubt.

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

Thinking about how when Chrom talks to Robin at the beginning of chapter 6, just after war has broken out, he specifically says "Not everything Gangrel said was a lie." And then his next line is talking about how his father waged war on Plegia, which makes it sound like, oh, okay, Gangrel was telling the truth when he said the former exalt led a crusade against them. But I'm wondering if the line that was truly eating at Chrom was actually "Yours is now a haven of hypocrisy." Because this is when Chrom goes into detail about how Emmeyn suffered ending the war and bringing peace to Ylisse, and he's, y'know, way more bitter about how the Ylissean people acted than anything Plegia did. He talks about how Plegians "rightfully remember" what his father put them through and he does mention that their desire for vengeance was part of the legacy their father left her to deal with, but what he goes into detail about, what he complains about, what he's really upset about is the Ylissean response. They hurt her and she hid the fact that she was suffering from everyone while continuing to work to heal them. And then they "forgave" her—Chrom literally uses scare quotes. Now, he doesn't say "those damn hypocrites" aloud, but the implication is pretty much "how could those damn hypocrites 'forgive' her when she did nothing wrong and they did nothing but attack her? They should have been the ones begging for forgiveness."

And like, this all started when he was 4 years old, you know? He brings up how Emmeryn wasn't even 10 yet when she became exalt, and that means he was only 4! It's been 15 years. He's had these feelings about the situation for most of his life! And then you've got Gangrel over here, mouthing off because he wants to start a war but he needs to be able to paint Ylisse as the aggressor, and he throws out "yours is a haven of hypocrisy"— How horrific and sickening must it feel to hear the enemy who openly claims to want all of your people dead make a statement about them that you agree with.

And perhaps Chrom is thinking about himself, too. This conversation is where he gives his "perhaps I must be death's agent" line. Emmeryn would never order Gangrel killed, and he wouldn't WANT her to do so, but he is fully ready to take the matter into his own hands. He believes in his sister's ideals. But. They're not as important as HER. Virtue isn't his priority and he knows it.

Honestly, the whole Plegia arc is such a dark time for him.

[medusapelagia]

The siege - Part Five

written for steddiemicrofic

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Prompt: One TW: suicidal thoughts, mention of character death WC: 1111

Part one: I’ll make you proud, Part two: Battle cry, Part three: Stupid but brave, Part four: Sorry

Eddie holds his son tight to his chest while staring at the army lined up just above the hills in front of the castle. 

Thousands of men were waiting in an eerie silence for the order to attack. They are too far for the Consort Prince to see their expression, but if he’s sure they are grinning.

Most of King Richard's soldiers died in the last battle, and the few that managed to come back are in no shape to defeat such an army. 

And that without the dragons. 

Robin, who was badly injured but managed to get back home to raise the alarm, told him that Vecna had a dragon. A huge real dragon. A dragon that killed Prince Steve, his husband.

One solitary tear falls from Eddie's eyes at the thought of his dead husband. They were supposed to spend a long and happy life together. But no, his brave and stupid husband had to go to war to follow his crazy father's order, and now he is dead and Eddie is a young widow with an infant child. Not that this was going to be a problem for long, Vecna's army would definitely attack them at first light, maybe even sooner. 

The kid in his arms let out a little whimper and Eddie coos him softly, trying to soothe him. Jonathan, their personal guard, is standing at the side of the door, one hand ready on the hilt of his sword, but Eddie can tell that his thoughts are with his family. His mom and his brother are hiding in the kitchen.

"You should be with them," Eddie says, still staring out of the window at the numerous torches shining in the night.

"My place is at your side."

"Your place is with your family."

"I promised Prince Steve-"

"Prince Steve is dead. Whatever promise you made to him, died with him." Eddie snarls, glaring at Jonathan who lowers his eyes.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

I'm sorry for your loss. 

How many times did Eddie hear those words? Too many. Still, they burned like fire every single time. Eddie's heart was bleeding. If it was for him he would have let himself fall from the highest tower to be reunited with the love of his life in the afterlife where he could finally make flower crowns for the king of his heart and they would be young and in love in the land behind the mist, but he has a kid, and no matter how badly his soul ached, he has to protect their child.

He kisses the crown of the head of his kid, while chubby hands get entangled in his long black curls. Caramel brown eyes stare at him with a toothless drooling smile. The same caramel eyes Eddie loved so much.

Eddie hugs his child tighter, letting him rest his little head on his shoulder with a happy sigh.

If they survive the attack somehow he won’t be ashamed to beg for his son‘s life, but somehow he doubts that Vecna will ever pardon the heir to the throne of Hawkins. The kid lets out another happy gurgle and Eddie makes the hardest decision of his life.

“Take him. Take your family with you and run. Vecna wants the castle, once all that is left is just a series of burning ruins he’ll be satisfied. There are peasants out there that will hide you if you tell them you’re the King's guard. You have to protect him. And when he’ll be old enough tell him that his parents loved him very much and that they are very sorry they won’t be able to see him take his first steps or say his first word.”

Steve was so excited when the magic potion Eddie took magically made him pregnant. He used to tell stories to their unborn child when he was still inside Eddie. Stories about kings and knights, and witches and powerful mages, and he used to paint a great future for their kid, as the best ruler Hawkins would have ever had, but at this moment Eddie would be happier knowing that he will be a safe and happy peasant instead of a great king.

“I can’t.” Jonathan mutters, “I made an oath-”

“Take him! Jonathan, this is not a request! This is an order. Take him and keep him safe.”

Jonathan’s hands tremble when he takes the sleepy boy into his arms. The baby stirs a little but a humming song by his father makes him fast asleep.

“How? The castle is surrounded.”

“Ask Robin, there’s a secret passage that goes from the King’s Hall to the back of the castle. None used it in ages, but before leaving Steve told me he made sure the passage was safe.”

“Come with us.” Jonathan urges him, grabbing him by his arm, “Your kid needs a father.”

At least one of them goes unsaid.

“I can’t. Vecna will search for the royal family to have us executed in front of everyone. No one outside the castle knows that we had a kid with a magic potion, he won’t look for him. But he’ll definitely look for me.”

Eddie kisses his kid’s forehead, “Be brave, little one. Your Daddies love you very much.” he whispers, then he takes off the ring Steve gave him when he asked for his hand in marriage and one of the ribbons he wears in his hair and ties the ring, putting it around his kid’s neck.

“I want him to have one thing to remind us.” Eddie whispers, “Now go. In a few hours here it will be hell.”

“My King.” Jonathan kneels in front of him, “It was an honor being your guard. I solemnly swear to keep your son safe.”

Eddie nods, he knows he will and Joyce has raised enough kids that he’s not worried, even if his heart breaks a little as he waves at his sleepy child and when he closes the door behind himself his legs give out and he falls on his knees, his chest shaken by his suffocated wails.

And then he sees it. The bright fire coming from a dragon's nostrils lightens the night and for a single moment, Eddie sees a huge brown dragon flying over the castle before landing on the hill and roaring in the night.

Staring at the most deadly creature in the world Eddie can’t hide his astonishment in front of such an amazing creature made of ember and ashes. With a creature like that in Vecna’s possession, Hawkins Castle's destiny is already decided and Eddie is happy Steve isn’t there to witness their defeat.

permanent taglist: @katyawriteswhump

[alexa-fika]

Headcannons;

When Nami is having nightmares about arlong, Zeus comes out of the clima takt to be there

Robin is always listening and loves to be around the chaotic strawhats bc she never had that growing up

Marco regrets not being able to help pops in the paramount war so he looks after sphinx to make up for it

Izou is honestly such a diva and I'm inlove with it, he definitely paints nails like a pro

During ace death he said if luffy saw dandon to say hi for him, imagine luffy and Sabo coming home to see dandon with a picture of ace during when he was part of the whitebeard pirates

Oooh, I can just imagine that, Zeus just cuddling up To nami to help her settle down, not thats one comfy nap partner

I can see that, all Robin had growing up was destruction and solace, being hunted down since she was a child and only able to survive because two people still had humanity left in them. Watching the Strawhats be little kids, I can imagined that would be all she wished back in Oharaz.

Okay for Ace and Pops, you are talking as if they died, which they din’t but IF THEY DID, which they din’t cause they are totally fine, lets imagine they did. Honestly I think this is sadder, in my opinion I think maybe Marco thought he could have done more, but I think he would be more concerned about not taking revenge, because he protected Pops, he protected Ace but when they they their demise what was heviest on his heart is that he couldn’t take revenge, he couldn’t throw himself at them because he had a whole fleet to lead because with pops gone, he was the Captain.

But I do thing that some time after, after he had nothing left I think Helping people in Pops homeland whats the only thing he could do to keep himself grounded, the thought of helping people where his father grew up kept him going trough his living hell.

Over With Sabo and Luffy, I can picture them coming home and seeing the picture and teasing Dadan about it. Dadan would adamantly deny it of course but Sabo and Luffy know better. I would take one step further, imagine Luffy convinced Marco to come along to visit Dadan and he told Dadan all about their adventures and all the mischief his kid was up to, she would be between like ‘that little rascal’ ‘He would always be up to no good’ and bawling her eyes out But thats just theoretical cause no one died y’know

Izou is 100% a Diva, we lowkey saw that Diva attitude when Whitebeard made Oden hang on for three days. And let me tell you that the little style going on board? It’s thanks to this man right here, otherwise they would be wearing rags and completely mismatched outfits. Everyone knows not to mess with my man’s face products because there will be consequences if they do. You can bet the women (nurses mostly) come to this man for advise on how to look better and to better their makeup techniques, and they even come to him for gossip and advise on the love department.

[jesterwriting]

Happy 200 Followers! 🎉🎉

To celebrate 200 followers, I wanted to do something fun <33 For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be doing a little music / lyric based event!! This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, so please, bear with me. That said, I’m incredibly excited to test this out, and if all goes well, I’m open do doing more events in the future!

My regular rules still apply, so keep that in mind and give them a little read. You can find them here!

- As a reminder, I tend to stick to gender neutral and male readers, but I’m willing to write female reader if requested specifically. However, I do reserve the right to default to gender neutral reader if I can’t find a way to organically incorporate gender into the fic :3

These are the characters I write for: Ace, Law, Koby, Zoro, Sanji, Crocodile, Shanks, Mihawk, Nami, Robin, Smoker, Tashigi, Buggy, Boa Hancock

- Please only send one character per prompt. I’m open to doing the same character multiple times, though! Especially if they’re my fav >:3

- To make a request, send in the name of the song the lyric is from and the name of the character you want for it. Make sure I know this is for the event in your ask! I can be a little dense at times, hehe.

- You’re welcome to be specific for a request, such as specifying if you want fluff or angst, or if you’d prefer the lyric to relate more to the reader or to the character you’ve requested!

- All that said, have fun and go crazy! I’m excited and i hope you are too <33 Have a wonderful day, and thank you for reading and/or requesting!! If you have any questions, feel free to ask or DM me and I’ll happily clarify :3

- Update: Just to clarify, I don’t do doubles of the same prompt. I don’t wanna get overwhelmed with the amount of requests! So, once a prompt is requested, I strike it through and it’s done :3

bad idea right?

↝ ”yes i know that he’s my ex, but can’t two people reconnect? i only see him as a friend (the biggest lie i ever said)”

↝ buggy x reader

red flags

↝ “the best movie of all, the masterpiece of art called: human centipede!”

↝ robin x reader

cowboy casanova

↝ “he’s a good time cowboy casanova, leaning up against the record machine.”

↝ cowboy!ace x reader

bitter water

↝ “i am not a fool entire, no i know what’s coming. you’ll bury me beneath the tree i climbed when i was a child.”

↝ boa hancock x reader

maybe

↝ “you loved me holy with your cross and your disease. did you feel that close to god when you had me on my knees?”

↝ crocodile x reader

anniversary

↝ “giving you up? what are you on about? never give up believing in us.”

↝ sanji x reader

quiet

↝ “i’m not yours, and you’re not mine, but we can sit and pass the time. no fighting wars, no ringing chimes, we’re just feeling fine.”

like a dog

↝ “and so my soul could soar with my heart on the altar of science, like an obedient dog.”

recover

↝ “i’ll give you one more chance to say we can change or part ways. and you take what you need, and you don’t need me.”

the vampire waltz

↝ “oh, i feel it being drawn out, the blood flowing steadily into your mouth. this dark night, cruel and cold, you whisper softly, ‘honey, you’ll never grow old.’”

↝ vampire!sanji x reader

bridezilla

↝ “i’m gonna run down the aisle and tongue kiss the priest, dance on your mother like an eight-legged freak. i’m gonna stuff my face and eat the whole damn cake. baby, i can’t wait for my perfect wedding day!”

alien, alien

↝ “alien, that’s right, i’m you alien! your heartstrings pulled and deftly lulled, i’ve caught a shooting star.”

↝ crocodile x reader

dangerous thing

↝ “something about you is soft like an angel, and something inside you is violence and danger. i knew from the moment we met, you are a dangerous thing.”

↝ law x reader

me and my husband

↝ “and i am the idiot with the painted face, in the corner taking up space. but when he walks in, i am loved, i am loved.”

↝ law x transmasc!reader

like the dawn

↝ “you were the brightest shade of sun when i saw you. and surely, you will be the death of me, but how could i have known?”

↝ mihawk x reader, fluff

halloweenie v: the moss king

↝ “i am the moss king, here in your house. you sing the song with your wicked mortal mouth. sing to me sweetly, call to me now. there’s a hundred hauntin’ spirits in the trees lookin’ down.”

↝ zoro x reader

[aishangotome]

Alfons Sylvatica: Chapter 5

Chapter 4 Premium Story

♡———♡

Alfons: Good morning, little robin.

(Huh... this voice is...)

Kate: ... !!

Alfons: Oops.

She jolted awake, and he, who had been close to her ear, swiftly moved away and lay down on the bed, smiling.

Alfons: In the end, we went all the way, huh?

Kate: Ah, ah... ah...

Alfons: What happened? You're making those noises. I haven't done anything to make you moan like that this morning.

Kate: Aahh! Don't remind me!

That's right... just like before, I have a clear memory of last night.

(I... again, mistook Alfons for my lover... and, did those things...)

But, in the first place, it's Alfons' fault for deceiving and embracing me.

I glare resentfully at the smile in front of me.

Alfons: I understand what you want to say. Please, I will gladly accept any harsh criticism.

Kate: It's cruel to deceive me again, it's cowardly to manipulate people's hearts without permission!

Alfons: Is that all? Your vocabulary is surprisingly limited.

(This, this man...)

Kate: Y-you, d-demon...!

Alfons: Ah ha! "Demon"!

Alfons: I like it, it's a phrase that suits you, a lover of theater.

He clapped his hands mockingly, and suddenly furrowed his brows in a theatrical manner.

Alfons: But, isn't it a bit much? Calling me a "demon"... to the man who was, even temporarily, your "lover"?

Alfons: Last night, you begged me so many times, looking so pleased...

His eyes approach, slipping into my heart like a whisper, and I involuntarily recoiled.

Alfons: You were gasping so loudly that the whole castle could have heard it.

Kate: …… huh!?

(Gasp…… huh? U-uh, lies…… I don't remember that……)

Alfons: …… It wasn't just a one-night stand, we've become quite involved, haven't we?

My pale face flushes instantly.

Kate: I-I…… I never intended to have this kind of relationship……

–I try to say I didn't, but the words catch in my throat.

Because I remember how I clung to the pleasure he gave me yesterday.

"This is what I want right now"…… Was it the illusion of love, or my own will that made me think that–,

(I…… I don't, know)

As I fall silent, he continues with amusement.

Alfons: Hehe, yes, you're right. If we were to say who's more at fault, it's 100% me.

Alfons: You could sue me and win, but what will you do?

Alfons laughs without a hint of remorse.

His smile is infuriating, but now I don't know what kind of face to make or how to wave my hand.

I must be his perfect plaything, since my face changes with every word he says.

(I won't let him do whatever he wants anymore...)

Kate: I'm not going to sue you.

Alfons: Oh, how forgiving you are.

Kate: But I won't let you play me around anymore.

Alfons: A declaration of war? Well, that's brave of you.

Alfons: But how do you plan to stop me?

--CHOICES--

I won't tell you!

I'll find out your weakness

I'll figure out a way

-------------

Kate: I won't tell you!

Alfons: Very clever. It's wise to keep your cards close to your chest.

Alfons: Well, even if you did think about it, I doubt you could find any weakness of mine to exploit.

Kate: ....!

Alfons: Oh my, have I hit a nerve?

Alfons smiles confidently.

Kate: A-anyway! I don't want to be shown any more illusions.

Alfons: Why do you dislike illusions?

Kate: Because... I don't want to miss anything important.

Illusions cannot become reality.

Kate: When I can't see reality, I might be missing something important.

Alfons smiles pityingly at my words.

––As if to say that I don't know what "reality" is yet.

Alfons: ...There's nothing more important than feeling good, Miss Kate.

Alfons: Life is a tragedy. You need an escape. Don't you agree?

Alfons: It's best to paint over all the scary and sad things with fun and forget about them.

As he whispered seductively, he captured my fingertips on the sheets and gently intertwined them.

Even though I should refuse, saying, "Please stop," his gestures, his touch––for some reason, they stimulate a soft spot in my heart.

(……As I thought.)

(Whenever Alfons touches me like this……)

(It's when I'm about to be consumed by negative emotions.)

Fear, sadness––he tries to stir up those feelings with playful sweet talk and drive them out of my heart.

(You could say I'm being taken advantage of in my weakness, but...)

Somehow, it feels more accurate to say that he became my escape rather than him using me for pleasure.

(Is that why……even though he's doing this to me, I––)

I can't completely dismiss Alfons as a despicable villain.

(But……)

Kate: Forgetting everything because it's painful, that's……unhealthy.

Alfons: People forget, Ms. Kate. Forgetting is a natural self-purification process.

Alfons: Besides, aren't unhealthy things more attractive?

Alfons: Isn't it boring to live a healthy life?

He always whispers words that are the opposite of common sense.

But––for some reason, his words gently resonate with my heart.

(Probably, the harder reality is)

Alfons: I'll make a prediction.

I raise my eyes at his voice.

I'm sure what he's going to say is nonsense.

Yet, a slight sense of anticipation makes my heart beat faster.

Alfons: When you remember yesterday, it will definitely be less about a bloody and serious murder scene, and more about...

Alfons: ...the shameless and exciting sex we had.

Kate: Wh-What!?

(As I thought, he was up to no good!)

Kate: Th-That's not true!

Alfons: Oh my, you don't have to be so embarrassed.

Alfons: You blush so easily at the slightest thing, you're so cute.

I slap away his hand that's stroking my flushed cheeks.

Kate: I'm blushing because I'm angry!

Alfons: You look lovely when you're angry too.

Kate: ……Wh-!? Don't say such nonsense……

Alfons: Let's play again, Ms. Kate.

Kate: Wait……

Alfons quickly slips out from under the sheets and leaves the room.

Leaving only the lingering scent on the bed.

Kate: He's gone……

This is the second time I've seen him off with such a casual back, as if we weren't lovers last night.

My chest aches slightly as I watch his back disappear behind the door without looking back.....This must also be because of the illusory feelings of love he made me feel.

-

After getting dressed, pushing down my complicated feelings, I left the room to ask about last night's mission.

William was in the common room and told me what had happened.

William: The captured men were secretly transported to a warehouse owned by the Crown.

Kate: Were you able to find out anything?

William: Yes, they were interrogated last night and spilled all sorts of information.

William: They claim to have been hired by the workhouse manager to "cleanse" the slums.

Kate: Cleanse...?

To clean, to purify……The literal meaning and what was actually done are far apart.

(The workhouse is a place to give jobs and food to the poor....)

(Killing the people there is "cleansing"....?)

William: Do you think you can write a report about last night's mission?

William asks me, as I'm still trying to understand.

Kate: No……I don't think the two "cursed" people were guilty.

Kate: If it weren't for them, there would have been more victims.

William: Even though they're murderers, retraining a person and twisting their thoughts?

Kate: ……I thought there are things that can only be protected by doing so.

William: I see. You're a clever and realistic robin.

William, with a cheerful smile on his lips, accepted my thoughts without affirming or denying them.

William: Will you be able to continue accompanying us on missions?

Kate: ……What do you mean?

William: I'm wondering if the memories of last night will cause you any trouble.

(Memories of last night––)

The scene of the horrific massacre, which I had convinced myself was a play, should come to mind.

––But the voice that cursed me brings another scene to mind.

When you remember yesterday, it will definitely be less about––

(To remember Alfons's prediction at a time like this……!)

My trembling and fear are replaced by his indecent prediction.

(I'm trying to think about important things, so please don't bother me……!)

I desperately shook off the illusion of Alfons in my head.

William: Kate?

Kate: I-It's okay. I can continue to accompany you on future missions without any problems.

Kate: Please tell me about the mission and what's next.

William: The kind of missions that Alfons and you go on will be a little further down the road.

William: ……In a few days, I'm scheduled to go talk to their employer.

Kate: If that person is the mastermind……will this series of incidents be solved?

William: Well, I don't know. The orphanage director the other day also used the term "cleansing."

William: But there was nothing to indicate a connection with the current workhouse manager.

William: Their ideals are aligned. They use similar terms.……But there's no direct connection.

Kate: So……

Kate: There's someone higher up who's connecting them……or manipulating them?

William: –It's the Crown's job to find out.

-

Roger: I'm curious to discover what makes Al tick, aren't you?

Liam: And you're tailing him for that? Kate, you're quite the naughty girl.

Kate: Sorry, and thank you for helping me.

Liam: Not at all. I'm happy to do anything I can to be of service to you, Kate!

––This all happened just a little while ago.

William told me to take it easy today, and I was about to head back to my room when...

Alfons: ..............

I saw Alfons going out alone in the daytime, even though it wasn't for a mission.....I asked Roger and Liam, whom I happened to meet, to follow him.

(I'm grateful to them for going along with my sudden idea.)

While walking sandwiched between the two of them, I glance at Roger on my left.

(Come to think of it……)

Roger's ability is to hear sounds within 100 yards.

(……I wonder if he heard anything about last night.)

I suddenly get anxious, and my heart starts to beat unpleasantly.

Roger: Hm? What is it, lil lady?

Kate: N-Nothing.

I turn my face away, and after a beat, Roger raises his voice as if he remembered something.

Roger: Ah, I "didn't hear" what happened between you and Al last night. Don't worry.

Kate: What!?

(Can Roger hear my inner voice too!? Did he notice my heartbeat……!?)

My mind goes completely blank, and I freeze. Roger waves his hand in front of my face.

Roger: Hey, are you okay?

Kate: Y-Yes! But how can you say you "didn't hear"……because your ability...

Roger: Calm down. My ability allows me to pick and choose the sounds I want to hear.

Roger: Or rather, I trained myself to be able to do that.

Roger: At first, all sorts of sounds came in indiscriminately, so it was tough.

Kate: I see, that's good. ……By the way, last night, Alfons and I didn't do anything special.

When I hurriedly deny it, the two look at me in exasperation.

Liam: ……Kate, it might be a little difficult to deny that.

Roger: Even without super hearing, unfortunately, it's obvious.

Kate: ..........

I turn my face away from them in silence, blushing with regret and embarrassment.

(Even though Alfons was showing me illusions, I was really out of it yesterday……)

I force my gaze towards Alfons to hide my embarrassment, and see him going down a dimly lit staircase.

(Is there a shop in the basement……?)

Kate: What's down there……?

Roger: A bar.

Liam: He often drinks in the afternoon.

(He's really unhealthy……I thought he was out partying at night and sleeping during the day, but drinking in the afternoon is also a daily routine.)

He drank hot tea without hesitation, and I feel like he doesn't take enough care of his body.

(I'm a little worried about his health……)

(No, no, I shouldn't be worried about Alfons……)

(I'm here to find his weakness.)

(Rumors that he wouldn't want spread, or something he cares about that could be used for leverage……)

(That's why I'm here!)

Roger: What do you want to do? Should we go in?

Kate: ……Yes. Will you two come with me?

Roger: I'll accompany you for a beer.

I nod, of course, at Roger's conscientious suggestion.

Kate: It's a deal!

As I was about to leave the alley and look again at the shop Alfons had entered, Liam lightly tapped my shoulder with his fingertip.

Liam: Hey, we'll be spotted like this……Let's disguise ourselves a bit.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 6.

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[rtfics]

So I'll say it yet again.

AI IS THEFT. IT TAKES THE WRITING AND ART DONE BY AMATEURS AND PROS LIKE ME AND VOMITS IT INTO SHIT USED BY PEOPLE WITHOUT TALENT, DEDICATION, OR ETHICS. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR USING AI.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS OR YOUR OWN ART OR USE NONE AT ALL, UNLESS YOU'RE PAYING SOMEONE ELSE TO WRITE OR DRAW FOR YOU.

I DID NOT SPEND LITERALLY DECADES WORKING HARD AT IMPROVING MY WRITING AND DRAWING TO HAVE SOME TALENTLESS ASSHOLE USE A SOULLESS FUCKING MACHINE THAT REQUIRES THE ENERGY OF A SMALL EUROPEAN COUNTRY TO WRITE A FANFIC OR MAKE FANART.

IF YOU USE AI YOU'RE A THIEF. PERIOD. FULL STOP.

From The New Yorker:

Is A.I. Art Stealing from Artists?

By Kyle Chayka February 10, 2023

According to the lawyer behind a new class-action suit, every image that a generative tool produces “is an infringing, derivative work.”

Last year, a Tennessee-based artist named Kelly McKernan noticed that their name was being used with increasing frequency in A.I.-driven image generation. McKernan makes paintings that often feature nymphlike female figures in an acid-colored style that blends Art Nouveau and science fiction. A list published in August, by a Web site called Metaverse Post, suggested “Kelly McKernan” as a term to feed an A.I. generator in order to create “Lord of the Rings”-style art. Hundreds of other artists were similarly listed according to what their works evoked: anime, modernism, “Star Wars.” On the Discord chat that runs an A.I. generator called Midjourney, McKernan discovered that users had included their name more than twelve thousand times in public prompts. The resulting images—of owls, cyborgs, gothic funeral scenes, and alien motorcycles—were distinctly reminiscent of McKernan’s works. “It just got weird at that point. It was starting to look pretty accurate, a little infringe-y,” they told me. “I can see my hand in this stuff, see how my work was analyzed and mixed up with some others’ to produce these images.”

Last month, McKernan joined a class-action lawsuit with two other artists, Sarah Andersen and Karla Ortiz, filed by the attorneys Matthew Butterick and Joseph Saveri, against Midjourney and two other A.I. imagery generators, Stable Diffusion and DreamUp. (Other tools, such as DALL-E, run on the same principles.) All three models make use of LAION-5B, a nonprofit, publicly available database that indexes more than five billion images from across the Internet, including the work of many artists. The alleged wrongdoing comes down to what Butterick summarized to me as “the three ‘C’s”: The artists had not consented to have their copyrighted artwork included in the LAION database; they were not compensated for their involvement, even as companies including Midjourney charged for the use of their tools; and their influence was not credited when A.I. images were produced using their work. When producing an image, these generators “present something to you as if it’s copyright free,” Butterick told me, adding that every image a generative tool produces “is an infringing, derivative work.”

Copyright claims based on questions of style are often tricky. In visual art, courts have sometimes ruled in favor of the copier rather than the copied. When the artist Richard Prince incorporated photographs by Patrick Cariou into his work, for instance, a 2013 court case found that some of the borrowing was legal under transformative use—Prince had changed the source material enough to escape any claim of infringement. In music, recent judgments tend to be more conservative. Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams lost a 2013 case against the Marvin Gaye estate, which alleged that their song “Blurred Lines” was too close to Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” The intellectual-property lawyer Kate Downing wrote, in a recent essay on Butterick and Saveri’s suit published on her personal Web site, that the A.I. image generators might be closer to the former than the latter: ​​“It may well be argued that the ‘use’ of any one image from the training data is . . . not substantial enough to call the output a derivative work of any one image.” “Mathematically speaking, the work comes from everything,” Downing told me.

But Butterick and Saveri allege that what A.I. generators do falls short of transformative use. There is no transcending of the source material, just a mechanized “blending together,” Butterick said. “We’re not litigating image by image, we’re litigating the whole technique behind the system.” The litigators are not alone. Last week, Getty Images filed a lawsuit against Stable Diffusion alleging that the generator’s use of Getty stock photography amounts to “brazen infringement . . . on a staggering scale.” Whatever their legal strengths, such claims possess a certain moral weight. A.I. generators could not operate without the labor of humans like McKernan who unwittingly provide source material. As the technology critic and philosopher Jaron Lanier wrote in his 2013 book “Who Owns the Future?,” “Digital information is really just people in disguise.” (A spokesperson from Stability AI, the studio that developed Stable Diffusion, said in a statement that “the allegations in this suit represent a misunderstanding of how generative A.I. technology works and the law surrounding copyright,” but provided no further detail. Neither DeviantArt, which owns DreamUp, nor Midjourney responded to requests for comment.)

Visual artists began reaching out to Butterick after he and Saveri filed a lawsuit, last November, in the related but distinct realm of software copyrights. The target of the earlier suit was Copilot, an A.I.-driven coding assistant developed by GitHub and OpenAI. Copilot is trained on code that is publicly available online. Coders who post their projects on open-source platforms retain the copyright to their work—under certain licenses, anyone who uses the code must credit its creator. Copilot did not. Like the artists whose work feeds Midjourney, human coders suddenly found their specialized labor reproduced infinitely, quickly, and cheaply without attribution. Butterick and Saveri’s legal complaint (against OpenAI, GitHub, and Microsoft, which acquired GitHub in 2018) argued that Copilot’s actions amount to “software piracy on an unprecedented scale.” In January, the defendants filed to have the case dismissed. “We will file oppositions to these motions,” Butterick said.

Butterick told me that, given the proliferation of A.I., “everybody who creates for a living should be in code red.” Writers had their turn to be spooked in January, when BuzzFeed announced that it would use OpenAI’s new large language model, ChatGPT, to augment its creation of quizzes. McKernan, who draws income from print sales as well as commissioned illustrations, told me they suspect that the amount of work available in their field is already declining as A.I. tools become more accessible online. “There are publishers that are using A.I. instead of hiring cover artists,” McKernan told me. “I can pay my rent with just one cover, and we’re seeing that already disappearing.” They added, “We’re just the canaries in the coal mine.”

In some sense, you could say that artists are losing their monopoly on being artists. With generative A.I., any user can become an author of sorts. In late January, Mayk.it, a Los Angeles-based music-making app, released Drayk.it, a Web site that allowed users to create A.I.-generated Drake songs based on a given prompt. The results could not be mistaken for actual Drake tracks; they tend toward the lo-fi and the absurd. But they possess a certain fundamental Drakeness: lounge beats, depressive lyrics, monotone delivery. The company’s head of product, Neer Sharma, told me that users had created hundreds of thousands of A.I. Drake songs, a new track every three seconds. The site drew upon software resources such as Tacotron and Uberduck, which generate voices and offer specific voice models, including one trained on the œuvre of Drake. The Web site includes a disclaimer that the songs it generates are parodies, which are protected under fair use, and Sharma told me that the company didn’t receive any complaints from Drake’s camp. But the site has already shut down. The project was designed “just to test out the tech,” Sharma said. “We didn’t expect it to get this big.” The team is now preparing more “A.I. music drops.”

As Sharma sees it, the increasing accessibility of A.I. means that “everything just becomes remixable.” The artists who might thrive in this scenario are those who have the most replicable or exportable “vibe and aesthetic,” he said, among them Drake, the rare pop star who has embraced his status as an open-ended meme. Fans could already dress like Drake or act like him; now they can make his music, too, and the line between fan and creator will blur further as the generative technology improves. Sharma said that the company has heard from executives at music labels who are interested in exploring the creation of A.I. voice models for their artists. He predicted that musicians who resist being “democratized”—giving creative agency to their fans—will be left behind. “The people who could win before just by being there will not necessarily win tomorrow,” Sharma said.

A startup called Authentic Artists is seeking to bypass human artists altogether by creating musician characters based on A.I.-generated styles of music. Its label, WarpSound, features “virtual artists” like GLiTCH, a computer-rendered figure derived from a Bored Ape Yacht Club N.F.T., who plays genres such as “chillwave” and “glitch hop” in endlessly streaming feeds of auto-generated music. Authentic Artists’ founder Chris McGarry told me that the character is meant to give a face to the A.I. machine. “We wanted to answer the question, what is the source of the music? A semiconductor or cloud-based server or ones and zeros didn’t seem to be a terribly interesting answer to that question,” he said.

Listening to Authentic Artists’ music, however, is a bit like trying to enjoy the wavering buzz of highway traffic. If you’re not paying attention, it can serve as a passable background soundtrack, but the moment you tune in closely any sense of coherent sound gives way to an uncanny randomness. It called to my mind a much-memed comment that the Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki made after being shown a particularly grotesque A.I.-generated animation in 2016: “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” I wouldn’t go quite so far, but Authentic Artists’ project does strike me as an insult to human-made music. They can manufacture sound, but they can’t manufacture the feeling or creative intention that even the most amateur musicians put into a recording.

Kelly McKernan sometimes snoops on conversations about generative A.I. on Reddit or Discord chats, in part to see how users perceive the role of original artists in the A.I. image-making process. McKernan said that they often see people criticizing artists who are against A.I.: “They have this belief that career artists, people who have dedicated their whole lives to their work, are gatekeeping, keeping them from making the art they want to make. They think we’re élitist and keeping our secrets.” Defenders of A.I. art-making could point out that artists have always taken from and riffed on each other’s work, from the ancient Romans making copies of even older Greek sculptures to Roy Lichtenstein reproducing comic-book frames as highbrow Pop art. Maybe A.I. imagery is just a new wave of appropriation art? (It lacks any conceptual intention, however.) Downing, the intellectual-property lawyer, argued in her piece that the prompts that users input into A.I. generators may amount to independent acts of invention. “There is no Stable Diffusion without users pouring their own creative energy into its prompts,” she wrote.

McKernan told me about Beep Boop Art, a Facebook group with forty-seven thousand followers that posts A.I.-generated art and runs an online storefront selling prints and merchandise. The images tend toward the fantastical: a wizard hat or a lunar landscape in a Lisa Frank-ish style, or a tree house growing above the ocean. It may not be a direct riff on McKernan’s work, but it does reflect a banal over-all sameness across generated art. McKernan described typical A.I. style as having “this general sugary, candy look,” adding, “It looks pretty, but it tastes terrible. It has no depth, but it serves the purpose that they want.” The new generation of tools offers the instant gratification of a single image, shorn of the messy association with a single, living artist. One question is who gets to profit from such works. Another is more existential. “It kind of boils down to: what is art?” McKernan said. “Is art the process, is art the human component, is art the conversation? All of that is out of the picture once you’re just generating it.” ♦

[steddiebang]

death. (pull up to the second window, please)

Author: @acidicbarkbeast l Artist: @kaspurrcat l Artist: @astradews Posting on Saturday, November 25

The fight has been won, and the war is over, but not without its casualties. While Eddie wakes from his coma, he is devastated to find that Steve has, inexplicably, not been so lucky. With doctors at a loss, El recruits Eddie, Robin, and Dustin, to delve into Steve’s sleeping mind, and find what has its claws sunk into their friend and babysitter. What they discover is the bloody mess of Steve’s various past lives— and deaths. The group must not only find the real Steve, but also convince him of his reality; one where Vecna is dead, and where they can finally have some peace.

Keep reading for a sneak preview!

CW; implied suicide, mentions of injury, mentions of death

“Someone’s here already.” Dustin said, pointing. At the shoreline, there was the silhouette of a fellow sitting on a rock, though the dying sun cast them in shadow, “You didn’t accidentally bring anyone else in, did you? I mean, could you?”

El shook her head, eyeing the back of the stranger curiously.

“Do you think it’s some malicious entity?” Robin asked, holding onto Eddie’s arm, “Like an evil spirit? Maybe Steve’s being haunted.”

“No.” The girl tilted her head, calculating. She crept slowly toward the still figure, and the others seemed to hold their breath in anticipation. A few steps behind, they trailed her, shoes rolling over rocks and small pebbles. The person didn’t react to their presence at all, as much as they were making their presence known.

From his distance, Eddie could tell they were wet, as if having been in the water, though they sat perfectly still now. It was only a bit disconcerting, but where supergirls walked, he would trust to follow.

“Steve?” El asked, and all but the boy in question perked up at the name.

Everything clicked suddenly; those broad shoulders, the rumpled camo jacket, the burning red of a dirtied scar looping around his neck. His hair, usually well-tousled and gravity-defying, was flat and plastered to his forehead. He didn’t move.

Eddie looked past an unresponsive Steve, out over the quarry. In the distant middle of the water, protruded some metal arm, and from that, bellowed mouthfuls of opaque exhaust. The smokey plume rose till it dissipated clear into the painted clouds. Eddie could smell it; long put-out, burning fuel. What had happened here?

“Steve.” Dustin tried, and then Robin too. There was another bloated moment of worrying silence, until Steve breathed a quiet sigh, and seemed to come back into himself, like a spirit possessing a body. Still, he said nothing. Eddie walked around the group, placing himself between the water’s bank and Steve’s empty gaze.

“Harrington?” He prompted, and Steve’s wide eyes snapped to him, bright and yet not, like weak sunlight through morning fog.

Eddie inhaled sharply at the fragile state of the younger, cracked like dropped porcelain. One side of his face was bruised a sickly myriad of blues and lilacs, dark splotches where the vessels beneath had burst. A belt of shining stars, pin-pricks of sharded glass, had embedded themselves into the damaged skin, where thin trails of blood trickled down Steve’s jaw and dripped onto his clothes.

“Eddie…?” Steve wondered, squinting as much as he was able. A spider web of blown veins washed the eye on his bad side a pale red, lids puffy and purple. That eye was duller than the other, half-way swollen, and seemed to track him lazily. He chuckled airily, “I must really be losing it.”

“‘Evie?” Robin pleaded, a wobble to her voice, “What happened?”

Looking down at his hands, Steve’s fingers spasmed. He clenched them into trembling fists, and instinctively began running his thumbs over his smallest knuckles. Still looking away, only mildly delirious, he mumbled, “I thought it would work. I thought it would hold— It was supposed to.” He shook his head forcefully, “I had no choice. ‘Always the idiot.”

Eddie took the liberty to walk to his other side, where he could closer see the punch of dried blood matted into his hair. He couldn’t make any sense of things. Why were they at the quarry of all places? Why was Steve all beat up? Did he get into an accident?

El stepped forward, frame strong and face unmoored. It wasn’t out of stoicness, but of compassioned knowing, understanding that the sooner they completed their duty, the sooner they could comfort Steve in the waking world. She said, “We are here to save you. You are dreaming. You need to come with us, and wake up.”

He turned to her fully, raising his head from his slumped shoulders. The setting sun sparkled across the beads of glass knitted into his cheek. It was almost ethereal, “Dreaming…?” He breathed, looking sad, “I can’t wake up. I’m dead.”

Read more on November 25!

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Blind Love

Quick Robin & Original Character(s) ficlet.

Set many, many years in the past, during one of the periods where Rogh "went mad for a bit".

Tw: insanity, delusion, grief, animal death

Aelfwyn and her sister had never been close. Their parents had done little to discourage rivalry and resentment between the two as they grew up. Quite the opposite in fact. Competition was seen as healthy for children growing up in their harsh, war-loving tribe. But their patents had taken it to extremes, showering one child's victories with praise and scolding the other, then when the girls turned their bitterness on each other, they were told to wrestle it out and not stop until one drew blood.

That blood had typically come from a nose bleed or a deep scratch across the cheek from sharpened fingernails. A couple of drops at most.

Not an entire puddle, enough to fill a goblet fit to offer to the Morrighan, gushing from a hole in one of their skulls after a blow from a rock had caved it open. As Aelfwyn stood and stared down at her own corpse, she thought maybe even her cruel parents would think this a tad too far.

Breathing heavily, she heard a thud as the rock fell to the ground. Her sister, Lliefa, was standing over her, pale as the snow. The anger that had burned in her eyes moments before as they'd scuffled was replaced with an almost childlike expression of terror and loss.

"Wynny....Wynny, sister, I am so sorry..." She began to weep, the tears falling down her cheeks disturbing the painted symbols that had been given to her on her coming of age ceremony only a few days earlier.

Only eighteen. Twins, though they didn't resemble each other. Lliefa had inherited their mother's emerald eyes and blessed red hair, while Aelfwyn had her father's square jaw and plain brown locks. Lliefa however, did have his temper.

Maybe that's why Aelfwyn found it hard to cling to her anger when the truth of what happened hit her. That was her body, her face that she'd seen from the rare reflecting glass that they were lucky to have hanging in their hut. It was her blood that soaked the grass.

She was dead. Killed by her own blood. But Aelfwyn could see the blow hadn't been intentional, or at least Lliefa hadn't been in her right mind at the time. If she had, she wouldn't be falling to her knees and throwing herself over Aeflwyn's body to weep as she now was.

Aelfwyn sighed, closing her eyes. Grandmother always advised her to breathe out all her unwanted rage as an offering to the Morrighan, or to Wotan. She knew she should be furious at her sister right now...but all she felt was sadness and pity.

Blood crimes were one of the biggest affronts to the gods. Siblings could slay each other in fair combat. But this had been a blow while her back was turned, an attack spurned from Aelfwyn saying cruel words she'd regret forever.

There was nothing she could do to the girl that would be worse than what the fates had in store for her.

"I forgive you, sister. Please, just return my body back to the tribe. Let me receive the proper rites so the gods will take me to the next world." She pleaded, reaching out to touch her sister's shoulder only for her hand to pass through.

The contact made her retch. She gagged, stomach lurching, despite not having eaten all day. They'd been sent out to hunt, their parents offering a reward to whoever came back with the largest kill.

She supposed Lliefa would win hands down. Aelfwyn hoped their parents would keep to their word.

It was rather painful to watch her sister try to carry her back to their settlement, being the shorter of the two of them. Aelfwyn tried to follow close, hoping her words with pierce through the veil.

"No don't pull me by my head! Look, you're making things fall out, that might make me dumber in this world!" Even in death, her sister still managed to vex her; "Maybe if you learned how to bind and carry your kills better instead of leaving it to me!"

But before she could rant some more, Aelfwyn took another step and then was shoved back in the opposite direction. She turned, blinked in confusion, then tried to follow again.

Same thing. Back away from the path.

"Sister! Sister, I'm trapped! Please do the ritual properly so I can be free, please! For Danu's sake, don't skip the part where you eat my heart!"

"Shh!"

She froze. Who just shushed her?

Turning to her left, she spotted a figure sat against the base of a tree. He'd managed to camouflage himself with the foliage as she'd approached but now she could spot the skin of a....man.

No, wait.

"Are you....Are you the Wild God of the Dead?!"

"SHHH!" He said again, a finger on his lips.

"Oh, I...sorry." She lowered her voice, not wanting to anger him if he was a god.

Though his image didn't resemble any carvings she had seen.

"Me just got her to sleep." He muttered, one arm curled against his chest.

He wore the most basic and mis matched selection of furs. No real fabrics or patterns. There were those who chose to live fully out in nature away from the tribes but they were usually shamans and nomads. This man looked as though he'd never slept in a hut in his life.

Or death, she supposed.

"Are you a spirit too?" She asked, quietly, stepping closer; "What's your name?"

"Dunno."

"You don't know your name?" She frowned.

He shook his head; "Name in shadows right now. Can't be bothered to go find. Shadow where memories go to hide when brain too loud and scary."

Definitely not a god, Aelfwyn realised. The man sounded like those in her tribe who smoked too much of the relaxing leaf until it wore off and paranoia sent them mad. How long had he been here?

"I'm Aelfwyn of the Horseli. What was your tribe called?"

The man blinked, tucking his arm up again; "Tribe no have name. Children of Moonah. Other tribe be children of Sunne. Other children of Earth Mother. Good tribe and...bad tribe."

"Where are they now?"

"....Gone. Gone up to stars. Me stay. Me always stay." The voice sounded so very old, even though there wasn't too many signs of age on him as one would expect. No grey hairs, hardly any wrinkles.

His blue eyes that didn't quite meet hers stared out in a deep, agonising loss that chilled her bones.

"You're all alone here?" She asked.

He began to laugh; "Ha....Ha ha! No, silly horsey tribe lady! Me not alone. Me have Moonah! Your tribe....They give thanks to Moonah, yes?"

Something in the way his brow furrowed told her she should answer carefully.

"We call her Rhiannön. Yes, we give thanks and ask for her blessings each month."

"Oh....Yes, have seen you and tribe do ritual at Moonah ston. Very good. We come and join you, though you not see us."

"Us?"

"Me and daughter."

"Oh. You have a child here?" She glanced around.

The man nodded; "You...want to meet?"

"Yes, I love kids. How old is she?" Her heart stung as she realised she'd now never have ones of her own, not in that life.

"She...She only just been born..."

Aelfwyn blinked; "I thought you said she was with us on the last full moon?" Almost a month ago.

"Me did."

It took a second for the penny to drop, horrifying Aelfwyn at the realisation. Of course if the baby was a spirit, like her father, she would still be a newborn if that was when...

"I'm....I'm so sorry."

"Why sorry?"

"I...never mind," She shook her head; "Can I still see her? I'm good with babies, I've helped my mum deliver a few."

"Okay...if promise to be very careful..."

"I swear by the gods."

The man leaned forward and pulled back a section of his fur covering his front. Aelfwyn nearly startled back before she heard the tiniest snuffling sound.

Peering closer, she spotted a tiny ball of grey fur curled against the man's chest. It twisted, mewling a little, then poking out a black dot of a nose.

"Ain't she bootiful. Me very proud dad." He smiled down, "Say hello to Horsie Lady, Kya."

"....It's a wolf pup." Said Aelfwyn.

Another chuckle from the man; "No, no, no, that just fur me swaddle her in. She look just like me, see? Have same ugly nose."

There may have been a wild resemblance between the two creatures but she was certain the little thing was not a human babe.

But the man was looking at it with as much devotion in his eyes as any parent she'd seen when holding their baby for the first time. She doubted there was anything she could say to convince him otherwise.

Aelfwyn forced a smile; "She's lovely. Her mum not here?"

The man's face darkened with weariness and pain.

"....Go up to stars with rest of tribe...They all go up and leave us behind..." He sighed and then twitched his head; "Too many babies. Mum can't feed them all. Little one die. Me wait. Me watch. Me listen to her cry and beg for milk but she left behind. Just like me. So I wait. Then when she stop cry, I pick up..."

Except the cub was still crying for milk it would never receive, nuzzling its nose against his skin and finding nothing to sate it.

"...She mine. She my cub. Her cry just like my Kya so she must be same...spirit reborn, yes?"

He seemed to be trying to rationalise it, probably due to how Aelfwyn was looking at him. She couldn't hide her doubt.

But then the druids did say part of their souls returned to the earth to be born anew.

"I understand." She nodded, wanting to placate the man; "Can I hold her?"

"You have milk for her?"

"Uhh...no." Even if she did, she didn't think that was something she'd be comfortable with in any world.

The man shook his head; "She keep wanting milk but I tell her that Daddy no have boobies to give milk. Have to wait until Mum come back with brothers and sisters. Not long now..."

She no longer knew if he meant his real family or the wolves that had abandoned their runt.

Aelfwyn looked down at the pup again. Its eyes were closed, probably forever, but it wriggled and pawed against the man.

"Shh, shh, little one, we safe. Horsie lady good me think...." He rocked the pup close; "She know my scent. My skin. It always dark for her, you see. She won't know who you are if I hand over. Might think me left...Can't ever leave. Never."

"That's okay. I won't take her-."

"No, no, no," He clutched the cub tight, shaking his head fearfully; "No take. Not last one. She all I have. Please."

"I said I won't touch her. Not if you don't want me to." She dared to reach and touch the man's shoulder instead.

He struggled to steady his breathing as he looked at her with those haunted eyes.

"....You have leak in head." He whispered.

Aelfwyn touched the back of her skull and felt the indent along with a moist matt in her hair. When she looked at her fingers there was no blood.

"Sibling rivalry." She tried to jape, as it was all she could do.

"Me try to stop. Yelled at you both to shut up so no wake baby."

"Sorry about that." She sat cross legged beside the man; "Maybe I can make it up to you by helping you look after her? Children aren't supposed to be raised alone."

He nodded; "....Everyone raise together. Peace and love..." He stroked his thumb over the soft, velvet ears of the cub; "She miss her mum and siblings and cousins...She miss a lot of people."

"I bet she does." Aelfwyn whispered, her heart aching for the poor man.

She'd always thought of wondering spirits as mysterious or wise, even playful. She'd never expected one to be so sad.

"Here..." The man carefully handed the cub to her; "Mind head. Best she get to know your scent."

"You sure?" She never thought she'd feel so honoured to be passed a wolf pup.

He nodded; "We family now. Aelfwyn of Horsey Tribe."

The pup whined in distress as she was moved away from the only source of comfort she knew and into Aelfwyn's arms. The man kept his arm close to her, the sleeve of grey wolf fur close to the pup's nose.

"Me here, Kya. Daddy right here. Daddy always stay." He promised, voice cracking; "She not hear me before when I say...When she and her mum found body and they scream...she not hear me say I here..."

His voice trailed off again as his eyes glossed over. Aelfwyn held the cub up to her skin above her dress so it was resting just above her heartbeat.

Her other hand reached to squeeze the man's fingers.

"She hears you now. She knows." She did her best to reassure him, just as she'd seen her mother do to anxious parents.

This was a whole other case she hadn't been trained for.

"You look tired. I bet she's been keeping you up all these nights like babies do." She said, softly.

The man nodded, "Been waiting for mum to take her turn...She be here soon...She always come back to visit....Be here very soon...."

"I'm sure she will. How about you try to have a nap? I'll look after this one. She'll be safe with me, I swear."

Hesitation and fear twitched in those lips again for a moment. Then he saw how the pup was starting to yawn and relax against Aelfwyn's chest.

He smiled, his eyelids clearly heavy. When had he last slept? No wonder he'd lost his mind.

"You wake when they come back? Please?"

"I will."

She tugged him to lay on his side and use her thigh as a pillow.

"Be good for horse lady, Kya. Daddy just take little sleep. Be good girl..." He whispered before closing his eyes; "Be good...Stay...Must always stay..."

Aelfwyn sighed, stroking the man's ragged mane while cradling the pup in her other arm. This was not how she imagined spending her afterlife. She hoped her sister would hurry up with the ritual so her spirit could move on...

Assuming that's how it worked. She wondered if she was desperate to become the same as the man on her lap, trapped and driven insane, clinging to whatever shred of company he could and convince himself it was his lost kin. The thought terrified her.

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we Kya." She whispered to the cub.